Santi Cazorla 'makes the team click' says Thierry Henry as Arsene Wenger talks of delight at Arsenal performance against Manchester City

The Gunners won 2-0 at the home of the champions

Sam Dymond
Sunday 18 January 2015 19:43 GMT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger praised his team's discipline following their impressive 2-0 victory away at the reigning Premier League champions Manchester City on Sunday.

“We were disciplined, well-organised and very quick to come out at the start. We kept good control of the game, and could have even done better on the counter attack.

“We played high up in their half, and very deep in our half. It worked because we knew we wanted to make space very tight in our third, especially in front of the box where (David) Silva is so influential. We did it well.”

Ex-Arsenal striker Thierry Henry, making his first appearance as a pundit for Sky Sports, was also quick to commend his former club for their change in approach to such a fixture.

“Usually Arsenal win a game by passing the ball, but today they defended well as a unit and they were brilliant.

“People mention (Alexis) Sanchez, but when (Santi) Cazorla is playing in the middle, you can see what he can do. He’s the man who makes the team click.”

Cazorla's penalty goes in
Cazorla's penalty goes in (GETTY IMAGES)

The Spanish midfielder, who opened the goalscoring from the penalty spot and was voted Man of the Match, admitted that "today the team had a good spirit.”

Meanwhile, Cazorla's team-mate, Aaron Ramsey, also spoke of a more disciplined Arsenal performance.

“In the past we’ve been too open, and we wanted to put things right. We defended as a team today.”

Such a methodical and defensive display was also remarked upon by another pundit, Graeme Souness.

“I didn’t think Arsenal were capable of playing like that. I always thought they were too easy to play against, and today they were the exact opposite. The word was discipline."

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in