Jamie Hamilton

Yeah, they didn't create too much from settled possession situations.

It was more the transition moments to get the big Havertz chance and then the pressure to get the goal from the Donnarumma mistake.

But yeah, lots of energy, lots of high pressing and aggressive approach from Arteta, which I thought was good for the game.

Of course, there's how he plays on the field, which is, as we've seen in recent weeks, and I would say throughout the season and at Lyon, before he came to Manchester City, an incredible sensitivity to the game situation, his incredible touch, incredible dribbling ability to interpret and solve really difficult football problems.

When I say something like,

the most important footballer in the world.

I think, yeah, from a symbolic perspective, that's got a lot to do with Cherokee playing under Guardiola, right?

Because, you know, the description you just read out of Cherokee there doesn't exactly sound like a typical Guardiolan player, right?

I remember, was it Zlatan describing how Guardiola likes the good little boys or whatever it was at Barcelona?

So, yeah, having this kind of apparently rebellious figure, this maverick guy, doesn't exactly seem to fit well with that.

But what we've seen, I think, play out through the season, which I found fascinating as one of the...

one of the subplots or narratives to this season, is this tension between Cherki and Guardiola.

And I say tension, you know, not always in a negative sense.

I think it's positive as well.

But Cherki has almost a defiance, right, in the face of Guardiola, and explicitly so.

there was the assist in the away match against Nottingham Forest when he was speaking to French television after the game and he was asked about some of the actions during the game and Cherki said they particularly liked that one because it went against the instructions of the coach, right?

Guardiola wanted him to stay wide but Cherki drifted across it and got involved and

And we've heard Guardiola talk about how, you know, Cherokee needs to essentially learn, you know, where to be on the field, to play closer to Haaland, to not drop so deep next to Donnarumma, I think Guardiola put it.

And we get this tension right between a player like Cherokee who wants to always be around the ball and be active and connect and create things.

and a more, you know, spatialised system approach from Guardiola who wants players to occupy zones in certain moments of the game.