English FA Premiership/ Manchester City 1 Arsenal 0: There is something about Arsenal that can make even the most dreary supporters quicken their step en route to watch them play, but trophies are not awarded for presentation. There is no award for Back-Heel of the Season and, memo to Arsene Wenger, there has never been an open-top bus parade for the team that gets the most oohs and aahs.
One of Manchester City's directors described Arsenal's football as "ballet" and Stuart Pearce blew out his cheeks as he reflected on the number of occasions "they cut us to ribbons". Yet when it comes down to the nitty-gritty Wenger's team have a solitary Premiership point and are already playing catch-up. City could conceivably be in for a slog against relegation, so for Arsenal to lose against them was a prime demonstration of why the most attractive team in the Premiership are not necessarily its best.
The early evidence is that Arsenal will decorate the league rather than direct it. The difference, it seems, is that Wenger's priority is to make Arsenal the champions of good football whereas Alex Ferguson and, in particular, Jose Mourinho and Rafael Benitez, take a more pragmatic approach.
That Arsenal are England's most attractive team is probably undisputed, but the concern of their supporters is whether their biggest strength is now also their biggest weakness.
The most watchable side are frequently the most frustrating. Arsenal are wonderfully incisive yet infuriatingly blunt. Theirs is pass-them-to-death football, little flicks here, little flicks there, and when it comes off it looks brilliant. Yet there are times when they end up looking foolish.
This should not be mistaken, as it was by Wenger afterwards, as a directive for him to abandon the sharp, one-touch passing and introduce a more direct brand of football. Time and again they manoeuvred into dangerous positions only for their players to try an extravagant pass when an attempt at goal was the better option. Why shoot when another pass will do? Thierry Henry's performance was a case in point. Ditto Robin van Persie. Alexander Hleb and, latterly, Tomas Rosicky also caught the bug.
"It's been like that in our other matches too," Wenger accepted. "We have to be more clinical but we won't change the way we play. It's the only way we know."
City huffed and puffed, rode their luck and four minutes before the interval their perseverance paid off when Trevor Sinclair brought down a long, diagonal pass and the badly exposed Justin Hoyte checked his run for a clear penalty.
Pearce, who knows a thing or two about playing left back, had instructed his players to target Ashley Cole's young stand-in, a ploy that both managers later acknowledged.
Joey Barton scored from the spot and from then on there was an element of desperation. They also came up against a team who made up for their inferiority in terms of passing by making sure they matched their opponents for endeavour. Republic of Ireland defender Richard Dunne was the pick and on the occasions when City's defence was breached the fit-again Nicky Weaver seemed intent on establishing himself as one of England's finest goalkeepers.
City's manager will return to more galling matters this week when the club conclude the internal disciplinary process into Ben Thatcher's forearm smash on Portsmouth's Pedro Mendes.
Thatcher was told to stay away on Saturday, although he will be permitted to return to training today. In his absence, his team-mates deserve immense credit for managing to shift the emphasis back to the club's more attractive qualities.
- Guardian Service
