Jan 26
Fast and hard, fast and hard.
Those were surely the words of Wenger prior to the game on Sunday. United could be considered lucky in this eventual deserved victory. Several blatant misses from Arsenal, including a six yard sitter from Van Persie, portrayed a thoroughly open game that was genuinely anyone’s for the taking from the outset. Maybe luck was a part, maybe it was justice as United seemed to dominate most of the possession, although possession alone does not justify victory. Aresnals intricate passing and wily attack was a constant threat that United just about dealt with, although should this have even mattered considering Arsenals youth and Uniteds considerable experience?
Why were United even this close to a really inexperienced arsenal side? Were they tired? No reason to be. Were they caught out tactically? Not by any means, in fact they looked tactically superior for the most of the game. There was perhaps a pace issue, with Rapheal and the other defenders being outdone for pace on several occasions. Is this the real weakness in the current squad?
Going forward there didn’t seem to be too much of a problem, with even Valencia getting on the score sheet, however, the opportunities that they presented to Arsenal were plentiful. Why was this? Are Uniteds defence too slow? A difficult question as previously this is not even something I would have considered. I think that naturally they are far from slow. We’ve seen the full backs bursting forward many a times with pace. Perhaps instead it was more due to concentration. Against top opponents you must be on top form and this seems likely to be the real reason why this game was even as close as it was.
Against Liverpool this weekend they must show more of the usual resilience at the back. Although Liverpool are not currently performing and they don’t have anywhere near the quality they once had, it is always a tough game. Essentially it could boil down to; focus and win, lose your concentration and we might not be so lucky.
My name is Iain, my Bio is now on the Writers page under the About tab. Please, feel free to comment and share your views.
Iain (@Jesters_Shoes)
Related items from Red Rants:
- A Word of Caution
- Rossi’s future at Manchester United
- The Academy Returns. MUFC v Bolton: Preview
- The Day After The Day After: Valencia 0-1 Manchester United
- Anderson Glad to be Back
Tags: Manchester United
Opti (541)
RedDevilEddy (459)
Stephen (454)
Craig Mc (344)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
That’s not how I saw the game. I thought we dominated for large parts and on an other day it would have been 4-1 not 2-1. I don’t see any big negatives at all.
An away win against an other top club is always good. It’s silly to complain about the margin. Will you be moaning if we only just beat an equally mediocre Liverpool team this weekend? I certainly won’t, I’ll be over the moon.
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Arsenal only created 4 chances during the whole game, 1 of which came from a Smalling slip, whereas United created 10+ goalmount chances! I felt comfortable throughout, didn’t think Arsenal got a sniff of the action
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Gotta say that if Nani really is injured for 2 months it gives Ashley Young a real chance to prove his worth. Him and Valencia on the flanks seems, for me at least, frightening. We may become more predictable without Nani, but somestimes that can be good for strikers. It’ll give us some proper width that’s for sure, Nani has looked more like a LAM for me since he moved to that flank but Young would give us two wingers staying wide and swinging balls in, could be massive for us.
*Not saying losing Nani is a big blow to us, he’s been one of our best performers this season and every team on the planet would want him in their side. There really is only one player who could properly replace Nani and that is Ronaldo, I really wish him a speedy recovery but we’ve never really seen Young and Valencia play together and those two are, in theory, a perfect match where wingplay is concerned.
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There are 3 spell errors in this article.
Anyway, I agree with you we were very very lucky last Sunday.
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Morrison is gone, I guess:
From Fergie about youth at United:
“Most of [the youngsters] have been involved in the first-team squad this season; the two Keanes (Michael and Will), Larnell Cole, Jesse Lingaard, Zeki Fryers, Paul Pogba and young Ryan Tunnicliffe, who is at Peterborough and playing regularly in the Championship at the age of 18. That’s good going.”
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Thanks for your comments guys, really appreciate it.
Chris: I agree in that an away win is always good, particularly against Arsenal. I think the article was more aimed at analysing the game from a certain perspective as opposed to a moan. As you say a win is a win after all.
Eddy: Thanks for your views. I believe the official stat reports confirm Arsenals 14 goal attempts to Uniteds 9. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/match/2012/jan/22/arsenal-v-manchester-united
This may have seemed slightly different in game as United were quite dominant for the most part.
Completely agree with your views on Nani and Young. He was so bright earlier in the season and it will be great to see a bit more game time for him.
Parjo: If you could highlight any spelling or grammatical errors I would be very grateful and happily correct.
Opti: The youth do indeed look very strong, as always. I hope we can more of them in the coming months.
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By involved Fergie means sitting on the bench.
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It’s because of days like today I’m a United fan, bring it on!
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Can anybody explain to me why the fuck Liverpool have gone out with a 5-4-1 formation, AT HOME? I know their players are tired after the midweek but JEEZ, talk about strength in debt!
It’s because of days like today we need Scholesy. Don’t be surprised to see one fly in from 25 yards!
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