Shkodran Mustafi admits it was important for Arsenal not to lose at Old Trafford although he also lamented that his teammates might have done better than a 2-2 draw.
The German’s header snuck over the line to break the deadlock on 26 minutes but the Gunners twice failed to hold their hard-fought lead on a frantic night of action.
First Anthony Martial tapped home on 30 minutes and then Jessie Lindgard netted less than 90 seconds after Alex Lacazette had bundled the ball past David De Gea.
After the game, Mustafi made clear that four points from two tough games inside four days was not a bad return.
“In the second half the game opened up a little bit and both teams were trying to win,” he told BT Sport.
“At the end of the day, we did quite well to come to Old Trafford…it’s not an easy place to come and win. We tried everything to get the three points.
“We went in front, conceded after that, went in front again and then that’s where we need to be a bit more clever and more sensitive of danger and not concede a second one.
“We’ve had two big games, Tottenham on the weekend and then Man United away and we took four points from two really difficult games. I think we can move on from there.
He added: “Obviously, when you play a derby [like we did on Sunday] you’re quite in it and you give 120 per cent. We’re not here to look for excuses.
“We could have done better today, we had a lot of opportunities and when we were going forward we were quite dangerous, a lot of crosses, especially a lot of crosses. And from our right side, as well.
“If we are a bit lucky we can get all three points but we’ll have to take the one point. It was important not to lose. We didn’t. Now we have to move on from here.”
Bittersweet, all things considered. To take a point from Old Trafford would have been considered great in the past. Even though they’re pathetic now, they made this game a prison riot.
Defending was poor straight after the goals. Still things to work on…
damn it you beat me to it again
Agree but we missed Xhaka’s passing ability at times tonight. I think this game would have suited him well and he would have been able to set another & better tempo in the passing game from deep.
Yes, we definitely could, but I’ll take it. The season is long and our unbeaten run contiunuous.
Also, smart rotation is going to be crucial. Looks like we’ve lost Holding and Ramsey as well, let’s hope it’s not too bad but I’m worried about Holding. Thank god Koscielny is back, though.
*continuous
Continues?!
**continues
haha
I agree but Leno seems to really shit the bed when something unexpected happens. Like that meathead tipping in from the free kick on the weekend and Lingard poking through today. The confidence will come though I’m sure.
Agreed, Leno’s inability to save point-blank shots after his own teammates play the opposition through on goal is a major flaw he needs to iron out sharpish.
I love the sarcasm.
God I hate those cheating scum & their scumbag of a manager…
They’ve spent so much money and all they are is a glorified and very expensive bunch of dirty, cheaty, divey scum. They were with ferguson and they are now. You’d think they’d try to play some good football, but they never have. The ref and linesmen bottled it as usual, even with their offside goal they didn’t beat us, and what sort of twat pulls someone’s hair? And what sort of referee lets him get away with it? Well done to the lads for putting up a good fight, I just hope the injuries and knocks aren’t as bad as… Read more »
We could have nicked that. With a little more luck, we could have!
Ignoring their offside, one thing is for sure…Fellaini is a dirty prick
My theory is that the refs are totally distracted by his freak show appearance to notice the cuntish behaviour. I could be wrong, but we have a tendency to stop up and stare at car wrecks …
Considering how much physical and mental energy was spent on Sunday, (our cramps and injuries were eceident) I’m quite impressed that we were dominant at Old Trafford in the last 15 mins and in terms of clear cut chances. Despite how crap they are they don’t lose that much at home.
*evident
Should’ve been: “We tried everything, except defending….”..
Well…tonight Fellaini showed he is at the right club indeed….what a horrible excuse for a footballer..(let alone a human being…dirtbag!)
He’s a dirty scum!
How did that ugly wanker manage not to be ejected?
Who else thinks Man U’s strategy was to kick us out of the park and not really play football? And to be honest, the ref let them get away with it most times. Proud of the lads though. Come on you GUNNERS!!!
Hand up here. As said before, it was like we were playing Stoke, ffs. Terrible display considering the talent that is on that team.
Could not agree more! Defend, foul, repeat. Really disgraceful for a club with that size and stature.
Guys.. what do you think of Guendouzi? What a lad!! Impressed with his work rate.
Yes, young and smart for his age in football terms. I love his approach and it is amazing to think that he and Torierra could be here for years to come. That said, I missed Xhaka. He has a different vision and composure when paired with our little pitbull. <3
Almost felt we thought it was too easy.
Did the difficult thing and then switched off.
First goal against us, ball watching. Iwobi should have moved quicker to cover. Holding etc did n’t exactly react fast enough.
Second goal, we were asleep at the restart. That ball should not have been allowed to bounce.
Can’t even blame Mustafi this time. And that’s the problem, all the focus have been on certain players like Granit and Mustafi but we still make mistakes without them involved.
I said it before the game yesterday, but I was a bit disappointed we didn’t throw a tactical curveball to start with last night, moving to a 442 or 4321 or something. For all his many many faults, cuntbucket can set up teams to frustrate and by setting up his team EXACTLY to match ours, matching the best players he has to nullify ours (Matic on Torreria, Bailly on Aubu, his fastest front three against our back line) he was able to stop us controlling the game. This is the worst United team in living memory. If we’d come out… Read more »