Micah Richards: Pep Guardiola’s approach vs Arsenal was ‘Mourinho or Allardyce style of play’

Micah Richards felt Pep Guardiola’s approach to facing Arsenal had more in common with the pragmatic stylings of Jose Mourinho or Sam Allardyce than it did the Catalan’s usual way of doing things.

The Manchester City boss came under scrutiny for picking the same starting line-up as in their two previous games, against Manchester United last Sunday and Napoli in the Champions League on Thursday evening.

City started the game well and went ahead after just nine minutes at the end of a rapid counter-attack that Erling Haaland both started and then finished off.

But Guardiola felt that the result was the right one overall after Gabriel Martinelli lobbed from a 92nd-minute equaliser – despite conceding that ‘Arsenal were better and we were incredibly tired’.

That goal came from a defensive lapse on City’s part as the back line were caught playing too high, allowing Eberechi Eze to play the ball through for Martinelli to go one-on-one with a stranded Gianluigi Donnarumma.

Up until that point, though, Guardiola’s side had spent the second half digging in and defending against a pretty toothless Arsenal attack – an approach that surprised former City defender Richards.

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Speaking on Sky Sports after the game, Richards said “It was a different type of City, and the possession stats (67% in Arsenal’s favour) tell you that. When it comes to the game today, as well as Arsenal have started the season, you expect Man City to dominate the ball.

“In the second half [Pep] changed that and went to a 5-4-1 and went for transition-based football, which we’re not used to seeing with Man City.

“But I understand what he means in terms of Arsenal being the better team today. [Arsenal] dominated the ball, they just couldn’t do what they needed to do in the final third, and [Pep] adapted.

“How many times have we been here on a Saturday or Sunday and said managers need to adapt?

“That’s not Pep’s style of play, that’s a Mourinho style of play or an Allardyce style of play – but it can be effective, as we saw. It was just that one moment of not concentrating.

“But in terms of the schedule, there’s players on the bench that Man City could have played today. They’ve gone with the same time as they did [against Manchester United and Napoli].

“It’s obviously because they were playing well: in the derby they did really well, against Napoli it was a tiring game because they’ve sat in a low block and they’ve had to try and unpick that.

“Today, Arsenal just had too much energy for them, so he’s adapted to the game that it was today.”