Arsene Wenger believes Arsenal deserved a draw at Old Trafford but were made to pay for a nervous first half during which Robin van Persie headed Manchester United’s winner.
As was the case in both games last year the turncoat Dutch striker found the net before the break this time flicking a Wayne Rooney corner into the top corner over a stranded Kieran Gibbs on the line.
Reflecting on the manner of defeat, Wenger admitted to Sky Sports he was frustrated that the game was decided by a set piece.
“We have given a lot this week, at Liverpool, Dortmund and today, and I think a draw would have been fair today.
“We have been strong recently on set-pieces and I was surprised that we got caught on the near post.
“It is difficult to lose the game the way we did. Overall to sum it up – we conceded a goal to a set-piece and in a big game that can make the difference.
“In the first-half we were too nervous and rushed our game too much, and lost too many balls and did not track the ball and on the corner the goal came from one of these balls.
“The second-half we had a real go and played our usual game and we came very, very, very close many times to score, but we have to digest it and come back after the break in a strong way.
“The heart was in the game, the desire was there – maybe a bit too much in the first-half.”
Due to another interlull it’s a full 13 days until Arsenal’s next game (at home to high-flying Southampton) – a frustrating state of affairs no doubt, but thankfully we’re still top of the league by two points.
Could have been better, wanted a point, frustrated with the way we played. We need to put this one behind us and focus on two good wins against Liverpool and Dortmund and move on.
Also on the plus side, Spuds and Shitty lost.
Agreed a point would have been a solid result. In my (realist) opinion though, I thought that after the 0:1, although we controlled parts of the game, we were never really threatening and never in a position to really score, let alone turn the game. These kind of games often get decided by set pieces or corners and such games make a difference at the end of the season.
From a psychological point of view, this is bad because now ManU really is back in the game.
don’t be too down about the result tonight.
What we have achieve so far is great and this is a lesson that we can learn a lot from and bounce back. Against top teams this season I’d like to see us play counter attacking.
We have not got a top prolific strike force and physical potential to really take the game to them yet.
We do, it just has to be serviced before Giroud spends a full 90 sprinting back and forth defending and trying to hold up against 4 defenders.
Giroud’s good at simple text-book movement and finishing.
Facing defenders, he is average. He loses the ball or makes bad passes backward which shock me every time and his team mates too.
That’s not to belittle all his contribution and improvement.
Our passing football looks brilliant when it comes off. But to beat top teams or at least have a square one with them, we need to add more dimensions to our games.
Poldi, Ox and Theo can give us some of that. Unfortunately, they are still some way from coming back.
▲▲▲ That is bang on!
Giroud unfortunately will never go all aguero/suarez-esque and beat his man, though we do appreciate all his other qualities he will always come up short against a blanket defence that needs a moment of magic, individual brilliance etc. It’s not something he can up and change hence January will be vital we get a new striker in to compliment girouds weaknesses….
nowadays, if a CS feels isolated up front, he has to drop deep to get balls and draw defenders out so that other forwards could get in. Even TH14 had to do so a lot of time.
But Giroud he’s not very good at keeping the ball and passing. Therefore, him dropping deep is not always helpful. Teams will know that if they have a physical defender to close him down, then he’ll certainly be isolated.
To my mind this was a classic mid-table team snatching victory from a top-team, due to mitigating circumstances: 1) Disruption of our defence due to illness; 2) Dilution of our attack due to injury. Now, unless I’m very much mistaken, United had their first XI on the field till Vidic’s injury. They did an excellent job of defending but had to rely on a set-piece for a goal – essentially the Stoke gameplan. They couldn’t break down our patched up defence from open play when the game was at 0-0. They couldn’t add to their solitary goal when we went… Read more »
Still clear at the top, which isn’t a bad straw to clutch.
As straws go, I’d say that was a curly one with it’s other end in something delicious and alcoholic
Ozil: “we will K.O uniteds season”
Why do players say such b/s? if anything it serves as the motivation our opponents need. And given his performance today it sounds even more ridiculous…
didnt say that, that was a sun title to stir up tensions. amazing how people still gobble up murdoch’s bullshit
People would respect your opinion if you were able to read and understand stuff.
Just a shame we couldn’t make it a trifecta this week. Still 2 wins out of 3 is not bad. We didn’t deserve to lose that one considering how awful United were too.. But even the best of teams gets done by a corner every now and then. Anyway we have even a tougher test against sotty next!
A bad day @office we need to dust this off n start another winning streak from the next game after d interlull.Gunners on top
Although we weren’t dominated and defended pretty well as a unit, you can’t not turn up and expect anything other than a loss.
This defeat hurts considering the opposition was not great, yet we still seemed to lack confidence
Still top of the league table and i will take that on any other day. COYG!!
I was a lil disapointed with the wayward passing and especially by gibbs keep giving the ball away and that attempt of a header off the line was pathetic my granny could have jumped higher than that! As short as gibbs is he should be able to jump head level with the crossbar! And we wouldnt have lost the game. We could have and should have passed utd off the field as we did against liverpool. Im hoping its a temporary setback but we need to strengthen the squad a couple of key injuries could crush our fantastic start
If i had the flu i would play through it for the Arsenal.
Sign him up Arsene.
Southampton will be no pushover, so hopefully today will refocus some minds, after the Interlull.
Anyways, on the same weekend, it’s the Scouse derby (at Everton), Spuds play Citeh, Utd go away to Cardiff and Chavs at West Ham.
5 pts clear here we come!
Wake me up when Giroud score against the top PL teams….
He scored against Sp*rs when they were up there. And Scoring against Dortmund and Napoli isn’t bad at all.
Giroud scored against Sp*rs, scored against Napoli, scored against Dortmund, set up against Dortmund… He doesn’t need to always score, he’s doing fine.
you’ve been sleeping through all the games, can’t be bothered to wake you
First proper frustrating game of the season (not including Villa) and it felt horrible after the positive run we’ve been having. Lots of misspent passes and it’s a shame it took us 45mins to get back in to the game. Cannot wait to have the likes of The Ox and Poldi back as well as I think it will give us so many more options from the bench. No offence to Gnabry, because I think he put in a good shift when he came on, but a more experienced head to turn games is what we needed. Another frustrating thing.… Read more »
Cheer up, guess who lost at home to Newcastle 🙂
Well, the conversation will be that when push came to shove, Arsenal did not pass the championship litmus test. Hopefully, Wenger wil rather see this as proof to dip into the pocket and buy that much needed world class striker.
So we dropped 3 points against United while City dropped 3 against Sunderland and Chelsea dropped 3 against Newcastle. Have they also failed the championship litmus test or is it a case of dusting ourselves off and starting again?
The problem is not the drop of points. It’s how tame we looked that concerns me.
If we have a fair share of control of the game then we can hope another day we’ll beat them.
Of course we should just dust off, learn lessons and work hard. That’s all we can do for now.
We have just finished a week in which we played Liverpool, Dortmund, United and apparently had our team ravaged by illness. No wonder they looked tired….
No, it goes beyond dropped point. The conversation hasn’t been about those other two but about Arsenal who haven’t won the championship in quite a while and are now aspiring to sitting at the top of the table. This certainly is a game that never should have been lost and Wenger knows that. A world class striker the likes of Luis Suarez would have made the difference today not a fucking sub like Bendtner. The point of emphasis is that the January transfer window provides the window to fix this glaring quality striker shortness.
Based on this game I feel comfortable we will beat them at our place next year. Of course, it would be better if Bendtner was shipped out to….any fucking where really…and we had a different kind of striker of proven quality to bring on. Someone like Costa or Chicarito or Martinez would do nicely.
Should have some rested players and some back from injury as well, so not too upset.
Hope HFB feigns an illness to get out of the French games.
Wait till we have our wingers back.we should keep in mind that what we have achieved so far ,we’ve achieved it without poldi,theo and ox.I’m really optimistic of our season once we have these players back cause width is our main strength.COYG
A united defeat is so devasting to me. Seeing that number 20 celebrating a goal against us just makes me lose my mind. I know Sp*rs are our historical rival, but Utd i hate them soooo much more.
They’re so disrespecful to us and they’re always the one breaking any of our running record.
We missed Rosicky and Per so badly, they are both crucial players!
Yes, badly missed Rosicky’s infectious energy and runs!
I think most gooners would’ve taken 6 points for our last 3 games if it was offered last week.
Theo
Podolski
Ox
Three players that will offer the much needed cover. We should keep the belief; this time last year we were sitting in a Europa league spot. When are aforementioned stars return, and after some January purchases we will be able to go on to win a long awaited trophy. Our players are knackered: unfortunately, B52 and Gnabry are not effective enough to be cover – as I mentioned, Poldi, Theo and Ox are top quality. COYG!
I thought Gnabry had a great impact when on, should have started
Gnabry could start of course, technically. However, the game is very physical and he’s too young to survive that.
Bendtner is not the reason for this loss. Our lack of another striker, missing theo and poldi etc is. We looked absolutely shattered. Mentally and physically, the Dortmund game was always going to take a lot out of us, even though we won. Wenger should give Montreal more of a chance. We can’t play the same 11 week in week out and expect to win. Glad wenger didn’t use tiredness as an excuse to the media – but you could see how lethargic they were.
Spot on. We looked shattered and our concentration levels were way down. Our passing game requires such precision and concentration to be effective and when the energy levels were lacking as much as they were today, it makes it very difficult. United looked the more energetic team, and even at that I thought they were only fractionally good for the win. Defensively sound but limited overall game under Moyes. Giroud looks shattered atm and there are several others in need of a rest. In my mind at least I think of friendlies as a fairly relaxed interlull for the players.… Read more »
Hopefully we fucking massacre soton on the 23rd to make up for this.
I just find it frustrating that we had to lose to this fucking average manure side that play basic ass football. I just wish the team could’ve asserted themselves more and played a bit more fearlessly from the start.
coyg.
Aaarrgggghhhh!!! I hate those bastards. I’ll have a foul taste in my mouth until we bash them at the emirates in February. If it’s killing me I can’t imagine how Arsene must feel. He’s putting on a brave face but you can sense that the scum are the one club he wants to set fire to. cunts!
Wenger has to fucking leave and take vermalon with him
But you fucking need to leave this blog first and crawl back to your shit hole fucking spurs crack head.
yeah! spur’s mole!
Wenger: “We deserved a point.” No we didn’t. We would have deserved a point had we actually turned up. I said yesterday that our best hope of winning this game was to have a real go at their dodgy defence – that’s what West Brom, Southampton and Stoke did. Instead, we showed them far too much respect, especially in the first half. Apart from the goal they did sweet fuck all to hurt us, because they couldn’t. And I bet even their fans were embarrassed at how negative and defensive they were. The only good thing to come from this… Read more »
He wasn’t supposed to say in public that “We deserved to lose” right?
We didn’t deserve a draw because we were bloody awful!
Don, you are an idiot.
I swear the commentators for NBC Sports would jizz their pants every time man u got the ball. Praised every little thing man u did, barely even acknowledged that Arsenal were on the field.
Absolutely agree. Bugged the shit out of me. Glad someone else noticed.
I think Wenger got his tactics wrong from the onset. Who was playing on the right of midfield….Ozil or Ramsey?? Or none?? He played both Flamini & Arterta at the expense of one wide player. If Ozil is playing on the right, that is not his ideal position and most importantly he is not strong defensively. Wenger should play Ozil in his No.10 position, play either Flamini or Arterta (not both) and put Gnarby on the right flanks from the start. I think you will see a different game with this lineup…and also a different Ozil performance. Ozil has to… Read more »
Ramsey was playing on the right, Ozil was drifting around as usual. I completely agree with you that we are better with Gnabry on the right and Ramsey in the ‘2’ in front of the defence, but let’s not forget that Gnabry was ill ahead of the game, so that was an extra factor for Wenger to consider.
Özil should’ve been the first to be substituted off though, he had a dreadful game.
… thinking about it, sending Nacho on to bother Smalling and stretch the play would’ve been an idea. He’s pretty direct, quick, able to take on a man and a natural wide player to boot. Everything we were missing yesterday.
Yes, by playing two holding midfielders, Arsenal was setup to play defensively at the start which appears not to be the way to play manutd away, going by recent history of our games with them.
It is just sad that even if Man. Utd are last on the table, they would always find a way of beating us. Let’s learn from City, they keep the ball whenever they play Utd. I think these losses are to be linked to physocological rather than footballing reasons. They should always believe they can do it.
Manure away is always the one to get out of the way. If we had to pick one of the last 3 “big games” to get beat I would have to choose this one. If we loose to smashers they go above us, if we loose to Dortmund then the knockouts become a tough ask. We lost this one and that leaves us 2pts clear at top, favorites to top CL group, and still five points clear of the northern monkeys. I will take them apples all day long.
Thoroughly disappointing. Considering Chelsea, City and Spurs dropped points, was a great opportunity to extend the buffer (we will need it) Not quite sure why Wenger babbled on about this game setting a bench mark. Thought it made it more difficult for us. That man Van Persie still has the hoodoo over us. Hope we do ourselves justice and trash them at the Emirates. Basically showed United too much respect and were punished. Flat display where we needed to display hunger. Still plenty of work to be done. Hopefully we come back from the break with some much needed reinforcements… Read more »
All stats(bar the scoreline) indicate we were superior. I wouldn’t be too worried with this result. That’s about the worst i’ve seen United play in my time And we never turned up. I reckon they have more to worry about than we. There’s every reason to be optimistic especially should all our wide players be fit and available. Some of those Sagna crosses lacked the presence of the wide player as Cazorla always drifts inside. That’s just about it for that game. On the bright side, TV5 was solid. We’re becoming a more complete team with able replacements. That for… Read more »
This is going to garner a lot of thumbs down, but I find it worrying that for most of the games we have played this season, the verdict has been that “We got a result, while playing poorly”, which is the hallmark of champions/big teams. While this is undoubtedly a good habit to have, when are we actually going to play well? Is there going to be a five nil tonking of any side this season (without any disrespect to the other clubs)? We most certainly have the players to do so. Yet, for most of the games, we have… Read more »
We’ve usually scored early and then just shelled up and seen the game out. We’re more than good enough defensively to play this way, but we lack to pace to counterattack effectively without our quick players like Walcott or the Ox. So we’re not delivering the impressive scorelines, but we’re getting the results. Once our direct players come back the scores and the highlights will be more impressive.
In the meantime, our stingy defense ensures that one or two goals a game are usually enough to get the wins.
Another stat is that in the 4 games that we have conceded first, we have lost 3, and drawn one. This isn’t a pattern yet, and I hope that the return of Walcott/Podolski will address this. More than anything, they are goal scorers. We could do such players, given that most of our midfielders and Giroud like to lay it off for some one else to shoot.
We didn’t do to badly to be honest not many teams go to old Trafford and have all possession and restrict Man U to 2 shots on target all game bit of luck and belief from players we would if got on the end on both sagna s beautiful crosses
yes you are right… i believe luck played a fast one on us… despite rotating our team, there was a team play amongst our team. moreover i believe Giround needs to understand how to play the top teams in EPL… you dont get too many chances and you dont waste even a half chance… man u is just 2 games of our EPL title race… we dont need to focus on them but rather on our team… lets move on and maintain our top spot… at the end what matters is who wins the title not who defeated or won… Read more »
Well, i know it hurts to lose to manure, but they didnt have the kind of week that we had, or key player injuries….so,no need to feel in the dumps, its nothing that a bit of rest wouldnt fix COYG!…….on a lighter note, for me, those “vicious” sagna crosses, coming in all night long, were a thing of beauty to behold! Manure couldn’t deal with it…..pity we were a bit off peak to make the most of it eh!
Is it only me or does anyone else also feel that we have been below par in executing set pieces this season?
Frustrating result. Below-Par performance. But the last few seasons we have come away from Old Trafford having lost and been completely out-played, and then being effectively out of the title race. Yes, we lost, but we had a bad day and Utd were forced to play 10 men behind the ball for most of the match, and we’re still top. It shows how far we’ve come. We now have the Interlul to re-charge(most of the players), and then go again. We’re still top. We’ve still got much more to come from Ozil, Santi, Theo etc…. The positivity needs to be… Read more »