VIEW: United vs Arsenal (a). 0-1

I Heard 'Em Say*...

Henry Winter, the Telegraph




Mayday, Mayday, Mayday. A distress signal lit up Manchester United’s
efforts to inch towards the finishing line of the great Premier League race on
Sunday.

The leaders
deservedly lost to Arsenal, giving Chelsea the chance of overtaking them
when the top two meet at Old Trafford next weekend. Call it Summit Sunday.

Only three
points adrift, Chelsea can rest up all week or work in training on sorting out
their attack. United are otherwise engaged, focusing first on the second leg of
their Champions League semi-final against Schalke.

Leading 2-0,
United are expected to rotate with Sir Alex Ferguson indicating that Paul
Scholes, Dimitar Berbatov and Michael Owen would start on Wednesday.

Ferguson
certainly needs his main men like Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs, Antonio Valencia
and Javier Hernandez fit and firing for Chelsea’s epic visit. Absent with flu,
Giggs’ supreme use of the ball was badly missed against Jack Wilshere and
company...

Kevin McCarra, the Guardian

Arsenal have overcome Manchester United at last, just when it seemed that the reliability of Sir Alex Ferguson's side was beyond dispute. They had not been beaten by the Gunners in a span of seven games, spread over two-and-a-half years in all competitions. United have now faltered just when a great deal is at stake. The lead over Chelsea in the Premier League is down to three points because of Aaron Ramsey's goal.

For the first time, the manager and players must sense jeopardy on this front. They will, indeed, be particularly glad now of the 2-0 victory against Schalke in Gelsenkirchen that relieves the return in the Champions League semi-final on Wednesday of nearly all of its strain. Energy and concentration should be conserved for the arrival at Old Trafford next Sunday of Chelsea, who will head the table on goal difference if they can win there.The prizes are still within reach of United, even if the anticipated Champions League final with Barcelona at Wembley will be a severe challenge.







The Republik of Mancunia

1. For the past few years, we’ve beaten Arsenal pretty much every time we’ve played them, whether that be in the league, the European Cup or the FA Cup. Since the last time they beat us back in 2008, the only time we didn’t beat them was the draw penultimate game of the 08-09, when we only needed a point to win the league. We have employed the same tactics for pretty much every game and it has worked, with Arsene Wenger bizarrely not coming up with a Plan B when facing us, given that Plan A didn’t work. So, why did we change things? Why did we play like only a point would do, knowing that a win would more or less win us the league and that playing for a draw meant we were taking a big risk?
2. As has been the problem in every away game, our midfield didn’t get enough of a say. Whilst Michael Carrick has been great in our recent European games against Schalke and Chelsea, he did little to impose himself on the game. Despite his new deeper role, he only made one tackle all game and was guilty of the sideways/backwards passing which has started to limit before yesterday. If Carrick was bad, Anderson was horrendous. At least Carrick was receiving the ball and passing it on, which is more than can be said of Anderson, who was on the pitch for almost an hour and attempted just 17 passes. Compare that with Ramsey (62 passes), Song (58 passes) and Wilshere (53 passes) and you see just how atrocious that is. He shits on Fabregas? Well, Arsenal’s captain wasn’t on the park and Ando didn’t even come a close 2nd to the younger replacement.
3. For my criticism of our tactics and midfield, we would have got away with the point if not for a momentary lapse which came after the substitution of Anderson. Antonio Valencia came on to play on the right, Nani would switch to the left, which would leave Park coming in from the left to play a central role alongside Carrick. There were just 49 seconds between Anderson going off and Arsenal scoring, with Park failing to track the run. Arsenal created nothing other than this one chance but in playing for a draw, we took the risk of one lapse of concentration costing us the game.

*or how I
can't be f**ked to reflect on such a shit, detrimental result without
causing serious damage to both my body and laptop.