Big Sam Praises Arsenal’s ‘Dark Arts’ Against Man City

Arsenal’s tactics during the second half of Sunday’s 2-2 draw at Manchester City divided opinion.

After having Leandro Trossard sent off just before the interval when the Gunners were leading 2-1, Mikel Arteta side were widely praised for frustrating City – who only managed to score an equaliser in the 98th minute.

However, others were less impressed with what they described as time-wasting and even ‘dark arts’.

Former England manager Sam Allardyce was asked for his take on Arsenal’s tactics during an appearance on talkSPORT on Tuesday.

Allardyce clearly approved of how Arteta’s men stifled City’s flow, having deployed similar tactics against some of the Premier League’s biggest teams while in charge of Bolton Wanderers in the 2000s. 

City’s players were annoyed by Arsenal’s apparent time-wasting after going down to 10 men

When asked if he was a ‘master of dark arts’ during his managerial career, Allardyce replied: ‘Aren’t we all when we need to be? 

‘Depending on what the situation is, I think when you’re playing with ten men you’re entitled to do what you feel is necessary to get a result against the best team in Europe, if not the world.

‘What a sterling job they [Arsenal] did of it. There’s always going to be time wasting.’

Allardyce then recalled how his Bolton team’s time-wasting against Liverpool had been so effective that opposition manager Rafa Benitez reported him for it.  

‘I remember Rafa Benitez putting a massive report in on Bolton for time wasting at Liverpool,’ he said. ‘I laughed all the way home because we got a result.’

Former England and Bolton manager Sam Allardyce was impressed by Arsenal’s tactics

Managers Allardyce (right) and Rafa Benitez (left) pictured in September 2006 during Bolton’s 2-0 win over Liverpool in a Premier League game at the Reebok Stadium

Allardyce added: ‘All the best time waste when it suits them. They [Arsenal] time waste a lot more because they’ve got 45 minutes with ten men to try and get through.

‘Normally, when it happens and there’s only one goal in it, the time wasting starts with maybe five minutes [remaining] or injury time where people will run the ball into the corner and keep it there or get a knock and go down and waste a bit of time.

‘You’ll always notice the goalkeeper will catch the ball with nobody on him and then he falls on the floor. Then he gets up and that’s another few seconds wasted.

‘I think the referee [for Man City vs Arsenal] could have done more from the start, not just with the time wasting but with the physicality of the game.’

That referee was Michael Oliver, who dished out nine yellow cards on Sunday, including two to Trossard.