Joe423Lowest point I believe for Arsenal. What Wenger does in the next few days could shape their whole season, though you can't get carried away as this wasn't a full strength Arsenal team. Nor was it a full strength United team either, I suppose.
There was no battles in the 3 in midfield for Arsenal. They didn't close down and tackle either Cleverley or Anderson quick enough, Anderson in particular did very well this game, his clever chip allowing Welbeck to open the scoring.
RVP besides his goal looked disinterested in my opinion, he just seemed to wait for the ball to come near him rather than moving wide and coming deep like he does in most games.
United's fluid front four dragged Arsenal's kids all around the place, so many times the full backs left huge gaps and one of the centre backs push up without the other one joining in, and because of this Jenkinson was sent off trying to get back and knocking over the United forward running through. Coqiuel(sp?) looked okay actually, but he just sat and never really pressed Rooney.
Rooney was superb, especially once Coqiuel went off. His goals may have all been set pieces but their was that Cantona-esque chip that hit the post and the half way line attempt. The pass he played that was like an arrow before dipping right in front of Smalling near the end was brilliant.
Walcott looked okay, the only Arsenal player who looked to be caring, and got his reward scoring right on half time to give Arsenal some hope. Arshavin on the other wing was lazy and frequently left Traore in 2 vs 1 situations.
The wide players on United's team linked well with the forwards and both looked dangerous. Young was superb with two screamers and a bunch of assists. Nani was more frustrating but showed absolute class with his cheeky chip on the 5th goal.
De Gea looked good today, a superb stop from a Van Persie volley and a good penalty save, bit slow reacting for Walcott's goal but if it was any other keeper we would probably just ignore it. He has all the ingredients to be a top keeper, in my opinion, and the mental side of the game will come with age.
Where do Arsenal go from here? and are United over hyped or the real deal? Let us discuss.
(I should have checked the Arsenal defensive midfielder's name before doing this, now that I think about it.)
28.08.2011
