Guardiola showing he is capable of adapting to the Premier League

Two things have preoccupied Pep Guardiola about his Manchester City team in recent weeks. First, he has been dissatisfied with his players in “both boxes”, as he says. City have not been able to make full use of the chances that come their way while - at the same time - being too generous at the other end. Opportunities inside their own area are finishing too often in goals.

Second, the “second balls”. Guardiola has spent an inordinate amount of time worrying about second balls. He’s seen his team lose challenges, concede possession and concede goals on the breaking ball all season long. In his mind it was about time he did something about it.

On the both boxes front, well, Guardiola suffered a nightmarish opening seven minutes against Arsenal.

A decent chance for Kevin De Bruyne went begging at one end, and down the other, seconds later, Alexis Sanchez slipped a ball to Theo Walcott to open the scoring. Inside their own box City – again – had been caught.

Arsenal only had one shot on target in the entire game and scored from it; typical. A defensive performance with more aptitude from them on would conceivably have given them all three points.

After the Walcott goal Guardiola walked towards his bench, tucked his head under his chin and put his hands in his big manager’s coat. He looked like a man who’d just had to put up with his last bus zooming by. To compound his disappointment, Raheem Sterling put a gilt-edged chance off target with City’s very next attack.

De Bruyne’s pass to the England winger was the finest ball of the day until his assist for Leroy Sane in the second half, and sorely deserved to be nodded home. It was shaping up to be another one of those days for Pep and his team who can think outside the box well enough but cannot always do good enough work within it.

Manchester City had created enough inside the opening stages to be 2-0 up but - instead - were 1-0 down.

Guardiola has refused to entertain the idea of English exceptionalism since arriving in the Premier League and that’s fair enough. But there is one major exception in the game here.

At Barcelona and at Bayern, his teams’ successes were largely dependent on what happened between the boxes; that is in the control of the midfield sector. It is why Guardiola has played with what would appear to be a disproportionate number of midfielders in his teams. Lock down the midfield and – usually – you lock down the result.

Not so in England. Aside from the top five or six teams – it’s not beyond the realms of expectation for teams to miss out the midfield altogether and aim bombs straight into the danger zone. It’s happened to Guardiola with City and he’s conceded not only chances but goals this season. That – game by game – is new to him and something he’s recognised that’s in need of attention. Control the boxes and you control the result.

Thanks to Sane and the standout Sterling City did manage to control Arsenal’s box at least. Control of his own team’s is not yet there. Two excellent goals against a stretched opponent made full use of the natural wingers’ inclination in the young pair and safely squirrelled the points away.

The equaliser – which Arsene Wenger and his club’s supporters will have to watch with their hands in front of their faces – owed much to Pep’s second new priority – those second balls.

Petr Cech hit an awkward goal kick into the midfield – not deep enough to tilt the offensive balance of play – and City came away from the duel with possession. At last, Pep’s team had won a crucial second ball.

David Silva fed Sane a pass that only he can and the former Schalke man kept his cool to slot home. That City won a breaking ball is no accident. Guardiola revealed after the game that his squad had spent two-and-a-half hours over three days last week practicing only second balls. That is the level of detail that went in to an attempt to control an aspect of the game that is usually very, very hard to control. Guardiola deserved credit and he should be proud of himself and his team.

Some of the criticism towards Guardiola has veered on the personal this season; a suggestion there’s a false sense of modesty that somehow betrays the success and standing of the man.

Guardiola tells everyone he’s learning – day by day, game by game. It’s not always easy to ascertain when Guardiola is being entirely truthful or deliberately pulling a red herring out of his pocket.

But on the learning aspect, you’d have to concede that Pep is being sincere. The proof is there.

He conquered on Sunday a man who’s been in this country – in charge of his team – for 20 years. Nothing in what City did was revolutionary or avant-garde. They competed better and eventually made full use of their chances; like a good Premier League should do against Arsenal. This was all done without Sergio Aguero and Fernandinho - his two most important players – and no Ilkay Gundogan either.

Wenger – instead -must reflect on the same old failings. His team wilted physically and could not organise themselves well enough to avoid conceding chances – and ultimately goals – on the counter attack.

He neglected to use Olivier Giroud in time with the knowledge that Aleksander Kolarov and Nicolas Otamendi had been struggling under the high ball. He didn’t ask his forwards to limit Claudio Bravo’s options on goal kicks, allowing the goalkeeper to aim short passes to his centre backs on the sides of his box and to Fernando down the middle.

That’s a fundamental part of Guardiola’s weaponry and one which allows him to get into the opponents half in full control of the tempo. Guardiola had a better idea of how to damage Arsenal than Wenger did about City.

Guardiola  - evidently - is adapting and evolving; picking up the characteristics to overcome his rivals. As for Wenger – well – what’s the opposite of evolution?