Not the send-off that Manuel Pellegrini would have wanted.
Here are five things we didn’t learn from the 2-2 draw between Manchester City and Arsenal.
If Eliaquim Mangala is actually a defender
If we’re led to believe that a fully-fit Vincent Kompany is a Rolls Royce of a defender, then at times, Eliaquim Mangala looks like the tangled wreckage of a written off 1980s Skoda.
Yeah, he’s big and powerful, but he’s also got a knack of leaving a gap between him and his marker that’s wider than the Manchester Ship Canal – as highlighted for Olivier Giroud’s goal.
Wow, what is Mangala even doing on that corner? Starts making Giroud, is blocked off, hunts the ball, misses ball and Giroud heads home.
— Jonas Adnan Giæver (@CheGiaevara) May 8, 2016
How Danny Welbeck would have celebrated
With the result at the Etihad of such great interest to Manchester United supporters, many of them excitedly predicted their former favourite to have a decisive say in matters…
https://twitter.com/ffsRooney/status/729329885131513857
Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be. A knee injury cut Welbeck’s afternoon short, meaning the ‘For you, Louis’ message that he almost certainly had printed on the vest he wore beneath his Arsenal shirt remained concealed.
Why Joe Hart finds his team-mate’s calamitous defending so goddamn funny
If it’s not Mangala’s tendency to forget to mark his man at set pieces, it’s Gael Clichy momentarily forgetting which team he plays for and doing his best to guide a header inside Hart’s far post.
It’s enough to give any other goalkeeper an itchy, flaky scalp with rage, but not the England number one. Instead, Hart sees the funny side.
https://twitter.com/GregPierce2/status/729327900269412353
Why Olivier Giroud ever needs to take a second touch
Okay, so he may have had a bit of a goal drought of late, but the big Frenchman chipped in with two of the most telling touches at the Etihad.
Given his physique, he’s always going to win headers – as he did for Arsenal’s first – but his deft flick to set up Alexis Sanchez was also impressive. Perhaps Wenger should ban him from taking more than a touch next season?
What a Manchester City team with heart looks like
City weren’t awful, and were in most people’s eyes the better side. But still, in a must-win final home game of the season, it was all a little bit flat. Perhaps it was tiredness from Wednesday night in the Bernabeu but in the last 10 minutes, but the only real chance for the home side was Wilfried Bony’s crossbar-rattling volley.
Worst season in a few years as a Man City fan, complete shambles actually, Otamendi and Mangala out
— Zii (@MlalaziZibusiso) May 8, 2016
Four years ago, a battling City side struggled against a relegation-threatened QPR. They weren’t fantastic, but ultimately found a way. How different things were today.
