VIEW: United vs Arsenal. 2-0

Media Reaction: United 2-0 Arsenal, 12th March 2011

Paul Wilson, the Guardian

Manchester United are still on for a treble, while in under a fortnight Arsenal have gone from fighting on four fronts to concentrating on the league, if that hoariest of euphemisms may be permitted. If Arsène Wenger's players concentrate really hard they still have an excellent chance of denying United the title, though this FA Cup defeat was an immense psychological blow. Not only did United win as if the blip of the past couple of weeks had merely been a bad dream, they did so with a much-changed, almost unrecognisable side...

Oliver Brown, the Telegraph

It is an absurd garment, far too large for him, and
on the loneliness of the Old Trafford touchline last night he seemed to be
retreating deeper into his consoling warmth as Arsenal’s season folded around
him.

For Arsenal to tumble out of one
competition out of the four they once contested might be passed off as an
accident. To slip from two in nine days was unfortunate. But to lose in three
in the space of a fortnight looks like carelessness.

If you were an investor, you would never put your
shares in Wenger, so dramatically does his stock fluctuate. But as of this
morning, they are in freefall. Bookmakers are already offering odds of 9-2 that
he will not be at the Emirates next season.

Barely two weeks ago, the Frenchman had allowed
Arsenal’s disciples to dream of an unprecedented quadruple. To have frittered
away three-quarters of that possibility so quickly invites suspicion that his
work in progress, his fabled faith in youth development, may never reach
fruition.

Birmingham, Barcelona and
now Manchester United: they
form an unlikely trinity in the dismantling of Arsenal’s dream, but Wenger’s
side, just like their predecessors across five silver-bare years, showed that
they have more than one susceptibility...

Quick Reaction, Republik of Mancunia

1. I was fuming when I heard the line-up. I’ve tried to limit knee jerk reactions to the team news given the amount of times Sir Alex Ferguson has made me look a knob head for doing so but I couldn’t hold back today. I was furious. Hearing that Michael Carrick and Darren Fletcher were now also injured allowed it to make more sense but I couldn’t understand having Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes on the bench when we were playing a midfield like that. At this rate, we were going out of the FA Cup and who was to say our players would then show up against Marseille. Fabio, who hardly ever plays, and when he does, has been put on the left wing maybe once. John O’Shea, who has been used mostly at right back was the better half of the central midfield alongside Darron Gibson. Then Rafael, who again, is not a winger. This was obviously before I knew that Wayne Rooney was going to be sitting back with the midfield. Still, to play that 4 against a passing team seemed to be like total suicide.
2. The Twins are good are getting forward from their full-back positions and today we saw their value as wingers. The two combined 15 minutes in when Fabio put it on a plate for Rafael to score, but his header was high. It was a taster of what was to come though. Fabio raced forward then played through a great ball to his brother with the outside of his boot. Rafael then passed it back to Fabio outside the box, who tapped it to Rooney, who played in a great ball to Chicharito. A fantastically placed header from the Mexican lead to a great save from Almunia, before Fabio tapped in the rebound. I love those twins.
3. Whilst those two lads were definitely a highlight, there are several positives to focus on today, most important of those, Antonio Valencia’s return. Wow. I was expecting when he did come back, whenever that might have been, it would take him a while to settle, and that would be fair enough. It was like he had never been away. The second goal was all about him. There were just 17 seconds between Van der Sar rolling the ball out to him and Rooney making it 2-0. We’ve got a winger again! Nani has done a great job down that flank this season and the idea of him and Valencia being available for our last few games should fill us all with massive hope. It was great to see him out there again.