Arsenal’s fantastic week and
excellent run of away form were brutally ended yesterday as Manchester United
defeated the Gunners by the narrowest of margins.
Having defeated Liverpool and
then Borussia Dortmund, the Arsenal faithful would have expected their side to
be brimming with confidence going into this game. After all this is not exactly
the most formidable United team ever faced by the Gunners. But Arsene Wenger’s
team started very slowly in this game with the manager later describing them as
being nervous. It was very similar to the first half against Dortmund in fact,
as the home side attempted to take the game to Arsenal, without really ever
troubling the away goal.
In defence, the Gunners again
appeared to be very well organised and disciplined, with United appearing to
struggle to break down the opposition despite the late withdrawal of Per
Mertesacker through illness. But going forward, Arsenal just could not get
themselves into the game. Giroud wasn’t able to hold the ball up and the
Gunners attacking midfielders, Ramsey, Ozil and Cazorla could not exert any
influence on the game. Giroud did not have his normal energy yesterday and
maybe playing the lone role game after game is starting to take its toll on the
Frenchman. His position in the side is crucial to the way Wenger wants his team
to play, because when Giroud holds the ball up the attacking midfield
triumvirate can make forward runs and get themselves into positions where they
can hurt the opposition. Arsenal’s attack floundered yesterday, particularly in
the first half, with wayward passes not helping matters either.
With Flamini coming back into the
starting line up alongside Arteta, Wenger decided to push Ramsey out wide to
accommodate Ozil in the more central role. However this was a mistake by the
manager. Surely with Ramsey in the form of his life, Wenger should have
deployed the Welshman in his favoured position, through the middle, rather than
on the wing, where he is less comfortable and therefore struggles to affect the
game. With Cazorla and Ozil also largely marginalised, it was somewhat
frustrating to see Wenger waiting until the final few minutes to switch Ramsey
into the middle of the pitch.
While the Gunners managed to go
in at half time all square against Dortmund and then pushed on in the second
half, unfortunately, they could not repeat the same trick again yesterday.
United weren’t exactly producing mesmerising football or peppering the Arsenal
goal with shot after shot, but they managed to get themselves into the lead,
taking advantage of poor Arsenal defending from a corner.
The perennial debate of whether
to defend set pieces by man marking or zonal marking reared its ugly head again
as Robin Van Persie rose at the near post to head the ball past Kieran Gibbs,
who was stationed on the line, to give the home side the lead in the 27th
minute. Ultimately, if a side decides to defend zonally, they have to attack
the ball and this was the fatal mistake which cost Arsenal dear yesterday.
Giroud should have attacked the delivery from Wayne Rooney, but was instead
slightly caught on his heels, allowing Van Persie to meet the ball largely
unchallenged. On the line, Gibbs moved towards the middle of the goal and maybe
could have got his head to the ball had he remained on the post, although the
chances of him being able to clear it would have been slim.
Arsenal were much improved in the
second half as they attempted to take the game to United. However the Gunners
struggled to get in behind the home defence and although they enjoyed the
greater possession, most of their play was in front of United and therefore
relatively easy for the home side to deal with. The Gunners have often taken
the lead in their games so far this season and then seen the match out from the
front foot. However, whenever they do go behind, a glance towards the bench
highlights a lack of real attacking options to change the game. Yesterday, although
Gnabry did appear to have the skill and speed to threaten the United defence,
he was not given enough time to influence the game while the introduction of
Bendtner is hardly going to strike fear into the opposition. Without any pace
on the wings for the majority of the game, Wenger would have been looking to
his full backs to push forward and provide this much needed width, but with
Arsenal struggling to keep the ball in the final third, it was difficult for
Gibbs and Sagna to regularly support the attack.
On the few occasions he did get
forward, Sagna caused the United defence great problems, with two wonderful
deliveries into the box which only needed a touch to fly past De Gea. The first
eluded Giroud while the second, in the dying minutes of the match, was mere
millimetres away from being turned in by Bendtner. Although Arsenal could count
themselves unlucky on both occasions, both instances did highlight the lack of
a real out and out goal scorer amongst the Gunners squad. A true goal scorer in
the mould of a Javier Hernandez or even Lukas Podolski has the knack of being
able to sniff out a chance, he gambles and anticipates and is invariably always
in the right place at the right time. A true goal scorer would not have stood
still as Giroud did, or desperately flung out a leg in sheer hope like Bendtner,
Hernandez would have made a run in an attempt to get on the end of the first
Sagna cross and been positioned just a few centimetres more forward for the
second, ensuring he was in the right place at the right time to capitalise.
On such fine margins games and
titles are won and lost. Arsenal were far from their fluent best yesterday but
didn’t deserve to lose the game. This weekend’s results
have highlighted just how difficult this league is and the fact that all the
top teams will drop points throughout the season. If Arsenal are to be serious
title contenders they must now react well to this defeat and push on in their
next league game at home to Southampton.
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