Feb 01
United Thump Arsenal; Close Gap on Chelsea
United continued their dream run of the past few weeks; the ten days has been compared to the famous period in 1999 in this Richard Williams piece, but let’s not elevate this to those levels just yet. However, yesterday’s performance — if not the string of them over the past ten days — could perhaps be termed the watershed moment of our season, if this leads us to something of significance, come May.
United, prior to the 4-0 win against Hull, were a stuttering side — huffing their way one game, blowing away teams in another, and getting thoroughly outplayed a few times too. There were solid reasons to think the side were disjointed and seemingly going nowhere. We had to see something that made us believe we were the real deal. And to Ferguson’s credit, considering the lack of reinforcements we got following our sale of Ronaldo, and the myriad injury worries in defence, he still held the side, keeping it in touching distance of Chelsea.
I was vocally critical of some of the decisions he made prior to this run. Even after Hull I was only guarded in optimism because — let’s face it — Hull are a rubbish team. The two-legged tie against City changed it somewhat. There was a sense of new-found urgency. But more than just urgency, there was cohesion that actually produced something tangible. Be it Tevez’s now ill-advised hand gestures, Garry Cook making a colossal tool out of himself, yet again, or the return of Ferdinand — albeit briefly — there was something that changed.
Significantly, the form of some of the lads over the past week are worthy of discussion. And that segues nicely to Sunday, and the Emirates Stadium.
The weird thing about the past few weeks has been the success of the 4-5-1/4-3-3. I think it’s weird because, other than the Carlos Quieroz days, when we could have a rotating forward four, this formation has always been our plan B. But here it was, employed by Ferguson with renewed success. It’s actually become a potent force. We destroyed City over two legs [sadly, I only got to watch them recorded] and gave Arsenal a nice, shall we say, rogering. But this has worked chiefly because Nani has suddenly emerged like a new signing, and a midfield trio of Scholes, Carrick and Fletcher have gelled superbly well. But — and wait for this — Rooney has played the role of a lone striker flawlessly.
Often we’ve seen him bogged down doing fruitless defensive duties, running around at the cost of being there when a chance presented itself up front, or just missing the percentage shots whenever he is there.
There are still those percentage misses — and he is no Ruud or Gerd Muller. What he has become is a potent mix of the old 18 year old marauding fearless kid and the understated maturity and intelligence age has brought upon him. And while we’ve groaned in frustration over the earlier half of this season at his ‘lack of form’ or mused if he’s actually regressed, here he was, silently mutating into a masterful performer on the big stage — causing pundits to scurry away, taking refuge in platitudes about United becoming a one man team now. Right; and, as was rightly mentioned in the Soccerlens Facebook page, that one man has been changing every few games.
Oh, and what about Arsenal? Well, they had a brief 10-15 minutes of dominance earlier in the first half. That was it.
I don’t want to gloat here. But here was a United side with a fair few things to prove, and throw right back at Wenger. The thinly veiled barbs at Fletcher [that somehow he was a proponent of anti-football, when his disciplinary record is comparable to, er, Fabregas], the myth that Arsenal are somehow above long-ball football [observe Arsenal carefully during their run to the Champions League final in 2006, and Arsenal yesterday when they pinged balls to Bendtner's head when things weren't rosy.] They play long balls like every other team in England. They do it less than others, and they certainly have no right to those self-righteous horses that Wenger thinks he deserves to mount. A little bit of focus on defending, a defensive midfielder who does not become the invisible man, are just some of the things he needs to work on to give his side that formidable look.
I wouldn’t go to the extent of calling this men vs boys. It was just a fine footballing lesson from a side that had its head firmly on the football, and minimal whining [another accusation made earlier]
This was also Nani’s best performance since that FA Cup 4-0 hiding of — you guessed it — Arsenal. [Surely you remember this outrageous bit of show boating that got the likes of Gallas all riled up?] Over the past few weeks his biggest weakness [his head] seems to be showing signs of being ironed out; be it maturity, as Ferguson pointed out, or a renewed run of games, long may it last.
Hopefully Arsenal can rebound from this and, as the manager said post-match, give Chelsea a battering next week.
Here’s his post match that I’ll leave you with. Watch it before it gets taken down:
PS: There is of course the strange comments from David Gill that I touched on in the preview yesterday. I hope to do a more detailed piece on it later today and possibly post it tomorrow. But till then, soak it up. Have a great Monday.
Related items from Red Rants:
- Boro v Man Utd: Preview
- Porto it is then…
- Arsenal vs Man Utd: Preview
- Betting Preview: Manchester United set to thump Burnley
- Newcastle 1-5 Man Utd: Newcastle Taken To The Cleaners At Home
Tags: Match Reports
Opti (541)
Stephen (487)
RedDevilEddy (459)
Craig Mc (348)
Moscow is my heaven (272)
@ ScotJimland,i find the term Tattie Munchers a bit offensive
eh sweaty sock? remember your country is named after my people, in fact we used half of Scotland as a holiday camp 
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Fucking Get in! Only 2 points now, gonna be rooting for Arsenal on Sunday!!!
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@EduardoDaVinci4: You’re not wrong, and you’re not alone. Many people find his acts despicable, and my bet is he’ll pay the price.
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@phoenix red: 1-0 to Phoenix here, how is Scotty gonna respond?!
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@Red Ranter:Share yer far east drugs m8, lmao.
I am left thinking he scored won way or another tonite! an good on you too, all i am intersted in is A big 12. in my life time. Smile huge it can happen, as i keep preaching, ano its boring we got the best manaager in the league.
I looked at a few Arse blogs… today, tippy tappy, nice pass to fab, to nasri, to bendy to fab, to eduardo,” ohh nice shot”
Us rooney, pass , Nani, rooney”goal” simples.
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@phoenix red: and u dont think i am smiling like fuck with that result, get over here, save me using a greasy milk bottle
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right thats me, done…I’L get of my cloud tommorow but , i will still be high. A great win for us against the le arse, but in my simple opinion as big a result tonite.
Come on you reds.
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@Scotjimland: OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, 1-1 now!
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@ ScotJimland, a greasy milk bottle!! we have enough of them in Ireland thanks. Now if you were to offer me a wee dram, i’d still say get fucked, irish whiskey is far superiour
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as for Tiny Tears scoring away from Home, all this moral pontificating is pure hypocracy, especially coming from Media Whores. Wankers the lot of them. As for tiny tears himself, he’s still a cunt of major proportions, so i’m sitting on the fence laughing my arse off.
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@Jay wire: Foster is better than Almunia.
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@Red Ranter: Can’t waaaaaaaaaait!!! Been Waiting for almost an year!!! Get in!!
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@EduardoDaVinci4: You are right, what Terry did was wrong but like I said earlier, there are two sides to every story and even if he doesn’t have a good excuse for his actions, his actions are his and he has to take ownership of them, not us. He’s wrong but it’s also wrong for a hypocritical and corrupt society like the west to look down on him like a child molester or murderer, when half the fucking population is committing adultery and ten percent incest, don’t you think?
I think you are a solid person Eddy and I admire your loyalty and your morals but don’t stand too high on your pedestal because in life you are going to have to find that you will need to balance judgement with leniency and with sympathy and mercy. We all make mistakes but relatively few of us are so in the public eye that our every moves are scrutinized and then judged in a humiliating kangaroo court called the media and public opinion. I think of one of my true heroes the great baseball pitcher Roger Clemens and how badly he has been raked over the coals of public opinion for SUPPOSEDLY taking steroids. No concrete proof has ever been found, just the word of convict and a man looking to cop a deal to stay out of jail. Yet this man and his Hall of Fame numbers has been vilified and found guilty in the court of public opinion on the basis of nothing. Even if he did take steroids, there is no proof yet the man’s reputation and his legacy is permanently tarnished because of a society and a people who do not care to get to the bottom of the truth anymore. Instead they just determine it even if there is a shadow of doubt. Even Congress wanted to pursue perjury charges against him but found nothing on him. Yet the man is mud now. How fair is that. I blame the media and the ass clowns who work in it who are only concerned about ratings and selling print and who no longer care about sifting through all the shit to get to the truth. That is why people like you and I have to keep an even temper and not overreact to things regarding athletes and celebrities. Remember, tis sublime to forgive.
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@EduardoDaVinci4: That’s the problem mate, men usually aren’t thinking when they are shagging, because if they were, they would most certainly think twice most of the time. Women are trouble at the best of times. Men drink, party, take the odd social drug and then they wonder why they get into so much trouble. It’s because they generally have shit for brains and are ruled by their libido’s. If men actually had common sense and resisted the smell and look of a fine pair of heels, they would live longer and have more money to boot. Just my opinion. Some say I’m bitter.
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@Scotjimland: Arsenal is done. That loss to us will have demoralized them and so I expect Chelsea to kick their asses and end their delusions for the title. 3-1 again, this time for Chelsea.
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@gator: All this means is we will either draw or lose our next game. Anytime Chelsea opens the door for us, we don’t seem to want to kick it in. Instead we slam it shut.
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just watchin mutv, Utd v Bolton 03 a certain Cristiano Ronaldo just came on as a sub to make his debut, seems like only yesterday
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am suspecting the gettesburg adress nothing snappy and funny
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Nite lads lets stuff them SAILORS, my bet US 7 pompey 1
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@Grognard: I think they’ll really be done if they lose to Chelski – they know it too.
If they have any fight at all, we should see it here!!
I suspect you’re right though, and their day was done last Sunday. Bunch of wooses!!
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@phoenix red: …and what a ride it was!!
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@Grognard: Anyone who sleeps with his best mates girlfriend at worst is a classless cunt and at best is a classless cunt.
Would you have any respect for him as a leader, as a person you can trust? No. Hell no. Mr Capello will have a meeting with him, and then he will ‘resign’ as England captain. You don’t shit where you eat, man.
Hopefully Rio will be the next England captain. Or Hargreaves
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@Traverse: I don’t get why this is such an outrage in “liberal” England.
Terry slept with a friend’s ex-girlfriend. Besides Terry’s wife being angry/sad, I don’t see why Bridge has a reason to act like such a puzzy and the rest of England attack Terry with such fervor. Lastly, I don’t see how he would ever lose captainships anywhere because of this? It was Bridge’s EX-girlfriend, regardless of how much Bridge still loved her.
Let Terry and his wife work this out amongst themselves and let football be football. There is no room for pussies in football
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@Traverse: Rio is banned for infinitely many matches after his infinite appeal failed and Hargo is injured for the next 10 seasons.
Only Gerrard and Rooney are worthy england captains, but then again, I hope england falls flat in South Africa to allow Denmark a better chance
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@Scotjimland: From what my fortune-teller told me, Utd win 2-0.
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@Redrich: I agree with you. After some brainstorming there are only two options.
1. Either Wenger will play to avoid losing by employing a defensive 451 and hope to strike on counter OR
2. Since Chelsea is a slower team than Utd, he will not be worried about Chelsea’s counter attacks and instead focus on maximizing possession and hope for some slick 1-2 passing breaking apart Chelsea’s defense. Fabregas must play out of his skin together with Arshavin and Almunia to avoid another skinning.
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Then again, let’s have Utd win first. If Utd win against Portsmouth (Saturday?) then the Chelsea-Arsenal game will be a must-see for me. I am getting so excited already…
BELIEVE!
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@[OPTI]Madschester United: I am hoping a draw in Chelsea – Arsenal game. For United it will be the best result. United will be on the top after this week (if they win 3-0 or more).
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I want chelsea to beat arsenal coming weekend. With their result against Hull, our fate is now in our own hands. Therefore i rather it be a 2 horse race than a 3 horse one. As it is, WHEN we beat them blues, we got top.
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@Grognard: Tehy have plenty of examples of this on Talk Sport, Radio Five Live and Sky pundits have all supported him, and he is overrated in my view I can watch a good player and dislike them also mate I am no blind.
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@Bryan’Robbo’Robson: If Chelsea manages to defeat Arsenal then it will be all over for Arsenal.
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@Ab Kr: If its a draw though, and United beat Portsmouth – we will be level with Chelski on points. I am praying for a draw, that way both teams lose two points, and Man United win
.
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United have 5 games coming up now, and it will either MAKE or BREAK our season! We have to beat Chelski and the scousers at home, Villa away without Rio or Vida, and Man Shitty and Everton away, together with AC Milan
. These games will prove whether our resurgence is real, or temporary. I don’t want to knock the boys, but without our best defence out, we do struggle a bit – and Arsenal weren’t too far away from scoring 2 or 3 themselves if I am honest!
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United’s bond issue is in danger of falling flat after analysts confirmed it has become one of the market’s worst performers this year. read more here http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/manchester_united/article7013260.ece
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@vanderberg: Mate, I’d say a lot of that is due to FAN demonstrations, and uncertainty of what is going to happen with that. Not the right time to buy, with fans pushing to get rid of Glazers!
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@Scotjimland: I love the eloquence & flair with which you express your views..! The milk bottle one cracked me up.. lol
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@Stephen: Look mate, I have watched John Terry play for club and country now going on six or seven years and as far as I am concerned, he is not overrated. You and I can hate him all we want and many in the media may hate him as much as they choose, but it doesn’t take away from his ability or his accomplishments. He’s a quality defender and a supreme cunt. Two roles he has perfected.
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@CraigMc: It’s a long way to go mate and it’s far from over after the next five games. I look at it differently. Although beating Chelsea is vital, beating Liverpool or Villa are not. United have to look at the situation as how many points can we afford to drop in the last 14 games in order to win the league. Both us and Chelsea have the same amount of games and one has to see that Chelsea’s form hasn’t been all that stellar this season either. So my feeling is if we go 10-2-2 the rest of the way, we have a shot. 12-1-1 would most certainly win it for us. What I do know however is that it is coming up to crunch time and I cannot see us winning the title if we drop more than 8 points the rest of the way.
Chelsea is far from being the unbeatable juggernaut and i see them dropping points too. That’s why the game against them is so big. We must beat them and hope that Arsenal, City, Villa, Spurs and Liverpool all gang up and take points away from them. We have City, Villa and Everton still and on the road. Very tough games as well as the Blues and Scousers at home. Games that will all be tough and games where we cannot afford to drop too many points. I expect us to struggle at Villa Park and at Everton and playing City again will be tough at their park as they will be out for revenge. Liverpool has become a tough nut for us to crack and Chelsea will always be a tough nut to crack regardless of when and where we play them. Lets see if I’m wrong at the end of the season. I predict we have to avoid losing more than 8 points from a maximum of 42 points. We have 52 points now so lets say it will take 87 points to win the league. Very reasonable I think in a strange season where nobody has really shown the desire to run away with it.
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@Grognard:
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@[OPTI]Madschester United: Tiger woods had to quit his whole sport!
This is the same John Terry who gives £20,000 private tours of Chelsea’s training ground. England Captain is a role that should be deserved, and he doesn’t.
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@[OPTI]Madschester United: A note on Hargreaves from SAF..
“I would like to see him make the squad for the Champions League fixtures against AC Milan, but we won’t rush him.
“We are being patient with the rehabilitation following his knee operations and he is alternating his training with the reserve and first-team squads, working for two days and then resting a day.
“It’s a matter of him regaining his confidence and, when he is able to train every day, that will be the moment for him to return to match play.”
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Kaka is being shown up at Madrid.
Great player but never rated him in the super-elite group of players.
Yes, that was random.
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@[OPTI]Madschester United: God aften min ven I see you use a fortune teller also.I have crystal balls, but that,s a problem the Doctor is trying to Adress.
Il take a 2.0 result, but personally I think your prediction is a tad cautious,if we cant put 5 past them at the Theatre then, its a win nothing else.We need to make it convincing.
I have a choice of football on view tonite Rangers(teddy bears) v St Johnstone(Saints) or Inter v Fiorentina.Thats such a tricky choice innit.So off to Italy it is then San Siro here i come.
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@Merlinus: i AM called a lot of things in real life and on blogs,mostly 4 lettered ones, eloquant is a new one.? is that edible.
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@NicoQB: Kaka means shit in Albanian
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@Scotjimland: Hvordan i huleste heite kan du dansk?!
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Almunia is a shit goalkeeper.
Honestly
Yeah, I really mean that
It’s true, he is shit
FOR FUCKS SAKE MATE, ALMUNIA IS THE WORST KEEPER IN THE PREM!!!
I won’t even bother discussing this with you anymore…
And they say I know squat about football……………..
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@EduardoDaVinci4: Veldig morsomt, I heard The burd Terry shagged, has shagged most of the Chelchavs. Its true she has a soft heart,matched only by her head
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I hate math…
Important, I know, but I still hate it…
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@Scotjimland: Jeg er norsk, men lett å forstå dansk
Som Englesk og Skotsk
I bet she has shagged Cashley as well, the way he cheats around I wouldn’t be surprised. Can’t understand why though, Cheryl is hoooooooooooooot!
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