Cesc Fabregas and Roberto Mancini reflect on the match at Eastlands
Cesc Fabregas the captain of Arsenal has hailed the fantastic performance of his team against a star studded Manchester City team, as Arsenal won 3-0 at Eastlands.
Dedryck Boyata was sent off with just 5 minutes into the game, and that certainly did have a bearing on the match. Frenchman Samir Nasri got Arsenal the lead, before the half Fabregas missed a penalty. But in the 2nd half
Alex Song and Nicklas Bendtner scored a goal each to kill off the match.
While talking to a TV channel after the match Fabregas said that the team played unbelievably well today. He added that there was a great sense of purpose and planning to his team. The Spanish world cup winning midfielder said that he
had been out for a while due to an injury, and has just been trying to feel his way back in the team. But probably a match of this magnitude was exactly what he needed to get right back on the horse.
Cesc went on to say that there is a lot more to do as far as the season is concerned, and he is not someone to get carried away with one good result. However he added that the team is really coming together and things are looking up. Fabregas
who was hunted hard by Barcelona in the summers said that, the team is thrilled by the win but the focus is quickly back on the next match that is a Carling cup match against Newcastle in midweek.
After the match understandably there was a lot made of the early sending off, and it was said that had City played with full 11 men it may have been a different game. Fabregas however refused to believe that. He added that it did not matter
much that City were playing with 10 men, he went on to say even if City had 15 players on and we had just 11 Arsenal would still have won the match. Cesc said that it has always been the Arsenal’s approach to keep attacking, and that is something that City
could not cope with.
Arsenal has moved up to the 2nd place in the title race and are at par on points with Manchester United and Manchester City. Better goal difference is what lifts them to 2nd. The 23 year old said that
5 points difference at the top is nothing at this stage of the season, and admitted that Chelsea have been playing great football. However he refused to consider Chelsea as title favourites.
"Chelsea are looking strong but they have to play a lot of the big teams. We have to keep calm and think about the Carling Cup and then we think about West Ham next Saturday and getting back into the league," said Fabregas.
Meanwhile Manchester City manage Roberto Mancini has a whole different view of the match, and insisted that his team was short handed due to the early sending off. The Italian went on to say that if it was 11 against 11 it sure would have
been an entirely different story. The manager praised his team and said that despite being one man short his team played well, and hung in there till the 2nd goal went in.
"I think it was the worst moment to go down to 10 men but I am very proud of my players. They played well and stayed in the game until the second goal.
Roberto Mancini added that Arsenal has always been a team that plays quick one touch football, and he did make counter plans before the match. But once again it was due to the reshuffling he had to do early on after the red card that meant
that pre game plans went out of the window.
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