Pep Guardiola says he told Man City to stop the ball getting to Arsenal star Martin Odegaard

Add as preferred source on Google

Pep Guardiola has admitted that he told his Manchester City players to stop Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard from getting on the ball last night.

The Gunners fell to a disappointing 3-1 defeat at the Emirates Stadium after City turned on the style in the second-half.

Arsenal dominated for large periods of the game but gifted City two goals after mistakes from Takehiro Tomiyasu and Gabriel Magalhaes.

Arteta would have been happy with his side’s performance going into half-time after Bukayo Saka cancelled out Kevin De Bruyne’s opener.

But Guardiola has admitted that he told his players to make some adjustments going into the second-half.

Guardiola told City players to target Odegaard

Speaking to Amazon Prime after the game, Guardiola said Ruben Dias was tasked with getting closer to Odegaard during the second period.

“Second half we were much, much better. [In the first half] we let them play in the build up, in our shape. When you let them play with Jorginho, Xhaka with Alex [Zinchenko], they found the players in behind Odegaard and the other one, the players behind and the runners outside,” the City boss said.

“In the second half at half-time we adjusted a little bit. Ruben [Dias] was really good, going more aggressive to Odegaard and we controlled more of the balls.

“We played more and more, and Erling [Haaland] helped us a lot because one against one we had to do more long balls and he used his power to enable us to do it.”

It’s no surprise to hear that Guardiola wanted his players to close Odegaard down last night as the Norwegian playmaker has been pivotal to Arsenal’s success this season.

The £30 million man was influential in the first-half, but it seems that Guardiola’s tactics paid off thereafter. 

Arsenal will be kicking themselves after handing City two goals in a game where they dominated for large periods. Eddie Nketiah also missed two big opportunities, but the Gunners still have a game in hand over Guardiola’s men.

Arteta will have to get his side back on track at Villa Park this weekend after their recent slump.