United V Arsenal [Sat 16 May; 12:45]

[General]

I'm still not too worried about us going forward, I think it's matter of Wenger finding the right formation and the best position for some of the players we have here. Also, confidence and players hitting form plays a huge role as well.

I'm not convinced about our attack - I'm worried that while the players have talent that they've forgotten how to utilise it = poor movement & decision making. Furthermore I'm not convinced that ANY of our striker options are suited to the lone striker type role with pace of ball movement.

As for the confidence thing - part & parcel of having a team of development projects.

We've always given United problems when we've starved them of the ball and this is exactly the setup we needed for the CL tie. Isn't it bizarre that when we had nothing to play for, Wenger suddenly goes with conventional wisdom by playing Cesc in his right spot, Diaby where he can be useful and Nasri in a role he was growing in.

We clearly lacked confidence in the final third and United looked nervous but you could clearly see that for once in a long while, the shape of the team looked right just as it did when we beat them at Ashburton. It just goes to show Wenger's hypocrisy and incompetence in the past few weeks, especially his performance in the CL tie.

 

[Anzac]

I'm still not too worried about us going forward, I think it's matter of Wenger finding the right formation and the best position for some of the players we have here. Also, confidence and players hitting form plays a huge role as well.

I'm not convinced about our attack - I'm worried that while the players have talent that they've forgotten how to utilise it = poor movement & decision making. Furthermore I'm not convinced that ANY of our striker options are suited to the lone striker type role with pace of ball movement.

As for the confidence thing - part & parcel of having a team of development projects.

We've always given United problems when we've starved them of the ball and this is exactly the setup we needed for the CL tie. Isn't it bizarre that when we had nothing to play for, Wenger suddenly goes with conventional wisdom by playing Cesc in his right spot, Diaby where he can be useful and Nasri in a role he was growing in.

We clearly lacked confidence in the final third and United looked nervous but you could clearly see that for once in a long while, the shape of the team looked right just as it did when we beat them at Ashburton. It just goes to show Wenger's hypocrisy and incompetence in the past few weeks, especially his performance in the CL tie.

Ironic that we've taken 4 points off them in the PL.........

 

[thegame24]

we are the second best team on head to head with big 3

 

[Anzac]

we are the second best team on head to head with big 3

means nothing as we've often won those battles in the past & still lost the war.

 

[Sover]

So we didn't win, but heh, we did OK.

Fabianski: Took the goal kicks as well as can be expected of him. Even without having a shot to save his positioning looked a bit iffy for a couple of free-kicks. Should not be anywhere near the first team.

Song put on a good performance.
Toure did well
Gibbs did well
Sagna needs to work on his crossing

Diaby is an enigma. Don't see what he contributes at all.
Fabregas did OK. Still not the same since coming back.
Nasri seems to be our most consistent player at the moment.
Ashavin was quiet by his standards.
Denilson did the job he was asked to do.

RvP does not do well in the sole striker role.

Subs:
Bendtner: Out wide, AGAIN! Why?
Walcott, struggles against a team sitting deep and not having space to exploit behind them.
Eboue: Did what he should be used to do; Covered an injured full back effectively.

Still, even knowing Man U only needed a draw, there was only one team going to win it and that was us . That has to be something worth celebrating.

Doesn't it? :|

 

[ibby]

we are the second best team on head to head with big 3

means nothing as we've often won those battles in the past & still lost the war.

Exactly, the ones that really count (the Champions League semi and FA Cup final) we've lost.

 

[General]

The ref was appalling, yellow card to literally every player on our team.
.

Mike Deane ranks up there with some of the worst referees we've ever seen in the PL. Shocking performance. After everything that went on at Birmingham last season, one can still never forget his incompetence that day. I wonder whether the Cardiff (or Swansea) fan would've been better off hitting him with a brick rather than a coin.

 

[hackajack]

Their counters failed because we were sharp and aggressive in the middle, especially Kolo, Diaby and Denilson.

We dominated them, just couldnt find the key in the final third. Which is nothing to be ashamed of, they do have the best back four in the world.

Exactly, they couldn't get the ball and dropped their midfield 3 back to defend with 7 or 8. That's why there was no space in the final third. As General said above exactly the set up and performance we needed two weeks ago.

 

[Sover]

The ref was appalling, yellow card to literally every player on our team.
.

Mike Deane ranks up there with some of the worst referees we've ever seen in the PL. Shocking performance. After everything that went on at Birmingham last season, one can still never forget his incompetence that day. I wonder whether the Cardiff (or Swansea) fan would've been better off hitting him with a brick rather than a coin.

14 fouls by United
18 fouls by Arsenal

5 Yellow cards for us and not ONE for them! WTF?

The guy was a joke.

 

[General]

I actually thought Wenger's decision to sub Nasri and Arshavin were forced because it looked like one of them was going to get a red card, the way the ref was behaving. Same guy who sent off Eboue so you can't blame Wenger if he was paranoid. At one point - he walked Nasri and uttered something and the next minute he booked him for an innocuous clip on Evra. Even replays showed that Arshavin didn't touch O'shyte, let alone deserve a booking. Song booked for a shoulder to shoulder charge with Christina yet no booking for Tevez stamping Cesc from behind. Like I said, the Cardiff fan would've been better off with a brick.

 

[hujja]

Do red cards carry over to next season? If so, then his decision made sense but otherwise, it was as baffling as it got.

Reegardless, well played I suppose, even though it looked like United were playing in third gear.

Did anyone catch Kolo taking the piss on Ronaldo's stepovers?

Legend!

 

[thegame24]

Yes cards always carry over i think.

 

[-vapour-]

Did anyone catch Kolo taking the piss on Ronaldo's stepovers?

Legend!

Haha, was a brilliant moment. It appeared though that the commentators didn't really pick up on it. But he absolutely tortured Ronaldo, and won a throw in off him after, immense!

 

[Nela]

Credit to Song and Toure who I really doubted before the game. They did very well.

Also thought Denilson was one of our best players. Put in some crucial interception and tackles. Keeps it tidy and is our only CM with disciplin to stay back. We missed that in the CL games.

Gibbs is coming along nicely. But I was shocked to see him given the job of marking Ronaldo on a corner?

Bringing on Theo against compact defenses is pointless IMO. He doesn't have the close control, technique or creativity to add anything in those situations.

Bendnter should be starting ahead of RvP who can't seem to stay on his feet.

 

[patrick42uk]

The ref was appalling, yellow card to literally every player on our team.
.

Mike Deane ranks up there with some of the worst referees we've ever seen in the PL. Shocking performance. After everything that went on at Birmingham last season, one can still never forget his incompetence that day. I wonder whether the Cardiff (or Swansea) fan would've been better off hitting him with a brick rather than a coin.

14 fouls by United
18 fouls by Arsenal

5 Yellow cards for us and not ONE for them! WTF?

The guy was a joke.

He seemed to book us on every challenge then ignore it completel when a Mau U player committs a worse foul. It was a strange performance from the ref.

 

[ricky1985]

Decent performance, but I think Man United's performacne highlights just how incredibly important aggression and desire are to a teams success. They looked totally toothless today because they didn't have the belief or inlcination to attack.

We are like they were today, all the time.

 

[Anzac]

He must be on some sort of quota system for dishing out cards, and then reached it with us so didn't bother with ManU. Or is it that he favours the Home team?

 

[hackajack]

Decent performance, but I think Man United's performacne highlights just how incredibly important aggression and desire are to a teams success. They looked totally toothless today because they didn't have the belief or inlcination to attack.

We are like they were today, all the time.

That's bollocks they wanted to win in style in front of their own fans but they found they couldn't.

 

[General]

I think today's performance highlighted how incredibly * Wenger's tactics for the past few weeks have been, especially the decisions to deploy Cesc as a second striker and Nasri a DM. Surprise surprise - he also finally switches Theo to test O'Shea and he needed Fletcher to help him out. Too little to late.

@ Anzac - Forget it mate. Mike Deane is an idiot and you always get that at Old Trafford anyway. Last season, they were literally gifted the game by Howard Webb. The level of refereeing in the PL is scandalous at times.

 

[AnthonyG]

Man, quite a lot of moaning/whinging b/s in the last few pages or so. It was particularly amusing to see each and every wince as teeth were pulled to enable some credit to be thrown Denilson's way.

I guess people are disappointed that their predictions of a thrashing fell flat on their collective arses.