EPL - Man Utd v Arsenal - Mon. Dec. 13 | 20:00 | SS1

[dreamLord]

It was Wilshere's duty to offer Clichy protection, or it ought to have been. One of the benefits of using a triangle midfield is that the two deepest midfielders can cover the entire breadth of the pitch on the defensive end. Song should be protecting Sagna and Squillaci. Wilshere should be protecting Clichy and Koscielny.

I don't think a midfield of Song and Wilshere is suited to this though - you need a runner like Flamini for just 2 players to cover the entire breadth AND mark the opposition CMs. That's why I wish Wenger would shift to the 2 banks of 4 while defending. This isn't possible with Arshavin on our LW though, so, even though he's a brilliant player, I wish we'd replace him next season.

 

[USArsenal]

The save on Anderson was brilliant by Chesney, but it looked to me as though Rooney was offside when the ball was played that got him in behind then.

I thought that till I seen the replay, yet again it was Clichy playing him onside.

Fair enough qs. It looked offside for sure but I haven't seen a replay admittedly. I'll take your word for it.

have to agree with QS.. when you saw it live, it looked blatantly offside, but when they showed the replay, it did look as if Clichy was playing Anderson onside

 

[caldeltatrojan]

Dang it Clichy!

 

[Rorz]

why are people (HollandGooner) saying that their forwards (i.e. Rooney?) bullied our CB's? i didnt find that to be the case at all.. they got pretty lucky with their goal, and other than that, they had a few chances, but it wasnt due to anyone being bullied.. in fact, i would say that our CB's kept Rooney pretty much quiet the whole game

I pretty much agree with your analysis here completely. In fact, I thought the whole post was spot on.

Yep. Most of the saves Sczcesny had to make were from Rooney having to shoot from distance - the defence as a whole was solid the whole match. Clichy let Nani come too close on a couple of occasions but he basically had to deal with him by himself the whole night.