Result: Manchester United 3-1 Arsenal
Competition: Premier League
Date: Sunday 4th September
Venue: Old Trafford
Arsenal: Ramsdale, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko, Lokonga, Xhaka, Ødegaard, Saka, Martinelli, Jesus
Subs: Turner, Tomiyasu, Cedric, Holding, Tierney, Smith-Rowe, Vieira, Marquinhos, Nketiah
Manchester United ran out 3-1 winners at Old Trafford, despite a largely dominant Arsenal display, to end the Gunners’ run of wins.
Man United’s goals came from Antony (on his debut) and Marcus Rashford, who bagged a brace. Saka scored Arsenal’s only goal.
PRE-MATCH
This season’s trip to Old Trafford saw Arsenal arrive in a confident mood – enjoying their best start to a season since 04/05. Mikel Arteta’s men were looking to make it 6 wins out of 6 to start the season, which would be the first time it’s happened since 1948.
However, Erik Ten Hag has started to get Manchester United playing after losing their first two games of the campaign. It promised to be the toughest challenge so far for the Gunners.
Arteta recieved a big boost before the game as Aaron Ramsdale, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Martin Ødegaard were all passed fit. Zinchenko returned to the side after two games out of the team.
FIRST HALF
Manchester United kicked off and started with a period of sustained pressure. But a clearance by Sambi Lokonga saw Gabriel Jesus out-muscle Lisandro Martinez and win a free-kick. Martinez was lucky not to be booked.
Man United’s bright start continued and new signing Antony used a clever chop to find Diego Dalot, who put a cross on Christian Eriksen’s boot at the back post, but the Dane fired wide. Soon after, William Saliba popped up on the edge of the Man United box at the end of a well worked set piece, but fired high and wide.
Then 12 minutes in, Arsenal thought they broke the deadlock after a fantastic breakaway goal from Gabriel Martinelli. However, the goal was chalked off after Paul Tierney was told to review a challenge by Martin Ødegaard on Eriksen, which was deemed to be a foul. Soft.
Arsenal were first to receive a booking, naturally. The yellow card came out for Saliba’s first foul of the game, as he tripped Jadon Sancho on the halfway line.
Half an hour in and Arsenal were really asserting their dominance with excellent passing moves and creating more chances more frequently as a result. Martinelli forced a decent save from David De Gea into a save after he headed for goal from an Ødegaard cross.
But it was Man United who took the lead against the run of play on 34 minutes. A fine pass from Marcus Rashford whose pass found it’s way through to the debutant Antony – who slotted home past Ramsdale. 1-0 Man United.
Arsenal continued to trouble Man United, but their lack of cutting edge on the final ball held them back. This was epitomised by a lovely pass and go between Ødegaard and Saka, but the latter failed to pull the trigger on the return.
SECOND HALF
Arsenal continued their dominance of possession after the break. Their pressure told on 51 minutes when Jesus played a perfect cutback to Ødegaard who completely fluffed his lines and skewed the ball wide. Soon after, Saka fired a vicious shot just wide and was then clattered by Tyrell Malacia, but the unwritten rule that a defender can take out an attacker after a shot has been taken lives on.
As we approached the hour mark, Man United made the first substitution of the game as their goalscorer Antony was replaced by Cristiano Ronaldo.
Bang on the hour, the Gunners hit back. Arsenal nicked the ball in midfield and Ødegaard’s pass was cut out just as Jesus was pulling the trigger, but it fell to Saka who calmly slotted home. Saka has been playing excellently of late, but there was plenty of noise about his lack of goals. Well, now there isn’t.
But for all the dominance and growing belief amongst Arsenal faithful and players alike, that they could go on and grab another goal, it was Man United who once again scored against the grain. A slow-to-react Saliba, could only watch as Rashford was slotted through the middle of the Arsenal defence and rolled the ball home to regain the lead. 2-1 Man United.
It was the 73rd minute when Arteta decided to make a triple substitution. Emile Smith-Rowe, Eddie Nketiah, and new boy Fabio Vieira came on for Ødegaard, Lokonga and Zinchenko. An attacking change, with shades of kitchen sink, that would see Vieira make his Premier League debut.
But seemingly before Arsenal could even sort out where everyone was now playing, Man United scored a third. Eriksen just stayed onside before he broke behind the Arsenal defensive line and had Rashford for company, who he fed the ball to and the latter couldn’t miss. 3-1 Man United.
Arsenal won a free kick in the 81st minute, well within shooting range. It was Granit Xhaka who took it, but hit the top of the wall and wasted one of the last decent chances to get back in the game.
As the final whistle blew, the air was taken out of Arsenal’s robust form, but perhaps not the stuffing. It was a game that the Gunners dominated for long periods, creating plenty of chances, but their lack of killer instinct and susceptibility to the counter proved terminal in the end.
It’s Everton at home next, and it’s important Arsenal make this a blip rather than the start of a downturn in form.
Bad news, we have a poor record away v United (and Utd haven’t lost a home league game they were winning at HT since May 1984…). But we are still top of the league!
And it was on Boxing Day last season that we recorded our 5th win…
It’s a well known fact: but in big games like this the first goal most often decides the outcome. And Paul Tierney delivered again against us. The f*cking c*nt
Paul Tierney and Lee Mason both come from Salford. They’re probably walking home celebrating with the fans. Martinelli”s goal should’ve stood. Pathetic. Man U had a 2 man advantage there. That said we miss Partey’s presence in midfield and we’re sliced open. Arsenal should’ve been thinking about a credible backup for him well before the close of the transfer window. I think he’s only managed 58% of games for us. Not good enough. We
Anyone else see the 4th official Simon Hooper laughing along with ten Haag after they went 1-0 up?
@arseblog, why are thumbs up and down restricted?
It was for me but started working again now
Ref was abysmal. Regardless we clawed our way back but unfortunately we don’t have a number 6. Lokonga didn’t need to give the ball away at a crucial area like that; we had all the momentum at the time.
Sambi had a really good game. I think we have a very good player there.
Mostly he was good. Young guys will cost us points from time to time. Let’s not slaughter him. I’m gutted about the result and the lack of cutting edge today. That error shouldn’t have cost us the game
As a CDM? I don’t really think so. People hate Elneny for sideways passing but as a 6 that’s really what you need. Recycling plays as quickly as you can, maintaining the team’s shape, mopping up on any potential counter attacks. Not threading thru balls when there’s little to play for or when the team is out of shape. How many times do you see Casemiro or Rodri play an exquisite pass? Very rarely.
Sambi is clearly still thinking like an 8 sometimes. On their 2nd goal, a DM should just make a simple pass back to the CB instead of forcing a forward pass as the last midfielder. Hope he learns fast as we don’t have many options at the moment.
I didn’t look at the last two goals closely. Seem to it was Ben White that played Man U cunt onside for the 2nd goal and then our defense let Eriksson run between them.
Regardless not utterly devastated with the loss. We played well and dominated. Perhaps another night we win this game. Let’s focus on the next game.
COYG!
IMO Ben played well. If I remember he was in line but just leaning forward. I thought it was close enough for a look by VAR. Ben also damn near saved both their later goals and was an unlucky bounce off his leg that foiled Ramsdale. I love our aggressive play. I love our young players. I admire Arteta and thoroughly enjoy watching this team play…and grow. COYG!
The ref wasn’t abysmal…the team was, you are drawing 1-1 and you decided to attack them in their home turf knowing week how they countered against Liverpool.
We had to for the win, not just sit back, I stand with Mikel on this plus knocks to Odegaard and Zinchenko means team will be out of shape, which is okay. I think we played really well barring some defensive lapses against a team which largely plays on the counter.
At that point they were there for the taking, whether it was the right way to go about it or not, is another thing.
3 sloppy goals and Mikel’s desperate triple subs (straight out of Wenger’s Wiltord/Kanu era) is what killed us
You are getting downvotes but I’m not sure why. Too many players are goal shy and prevaricate rather than take it by the scruff of the neck and have a pop. It seems to be a balls things. Martin Eli clearly doesn’t possess that problem neither does Jesus but others dither and it makes it much more comfortable to defend against. Let’s not pretend we haven’t seen it in other games this season. We knew we needed a DM long before Partey got injured he has missed 40% of the games since he signed FFS. Elneny is now near the… Read more »
Spud Alert 🚨
He got caught out in an area of the pitch he didn’t need to be in probably as a result him getting cocky as we were completely dominating them.
That deep position is so important in the style we’re playing and you need to be so positionally disciplined, which is probably why its a position for a more mature player. 95% of the match he played well but it’s that 5% when you get caught out!
Not having a no 6 is on Arteta and Edu.
Sambi is a number 6. He had a good game – I enjoyed his performance.
I bet he is versatile, like most of our players.
So we’re back to the days of outplaying Yanited on their turf and losing to daft goals, how nostalgic
I am seriously fuming. It irks me so much to outplay them, only to get sucker-punched.
Despite this loss, I am proud of the players. Today, I confirmed that we are a much better team now. Roll on Thursday!
We lost this game when we decided not to buy a central midfielder. They bought where they needed to and their signing delivered. Simple as that.
Playing a left back up in midfield works against certain teams but not those with fast counter attackers. The defense was all over the map when we lost the ball.
If partey would have played this would have been a different story i think. :/ We would have needed cover in that position.
Even if we had bought one he wouldn’t have started anyways. CDM is not a position where you just go inside and play. It needs time.
“Simple as that”. I thought you were going to write “end of discussion” as well. LOL
Nah not really. But might as well do it next time. We are “supposed” to belive in our team to win no matter what the opponent is and what circumstances we have. To be honest i think its a bit strange. It was quite obvious that this was going to end like it did.
That’s a really reductive statement, I’d agree if we had *no* central midfielders but Lokonga looked pretty good from what I saw and with game time he’ll only improve. Sure, none of us wanted to lose this game but VAR was the biggest contributor to the result, not the lack of transfer activity.
Thumbed down for using “reductive” soz
Sorry, guess that was the beer talking 😅
But not sorry as it was absolutely the right word to sum up that comment 😜
He might be a really good player some day. Im not saying he is a bad player or did terrible, just that someone like Savic would have done a lot better and maybe we would have won.
Bent
Played really well after first ten minutes. Such a shame about result. Arteta got the subs wrong today, we can forgive the mistake, we were on top there was no need for three subs. I would have just swapped esr for Xhaka. Shame I’m not manager 😂. We are still top of the league. Bounce back boys. COYG
I believe Odegaard and Zinchenko were not 100% to complete the game. We need to protect them because season doesn’t end here. Subs were as needed.
early days, was always possible to happen. pity we made it easy for them for the 2nd and the 3rd – not sure trying out the offside trap was a good idea.
still – it means nothing in the grand scale of things if we bounce right back in the next PL game – here’s to hoping it’s exactly what’ll come to pass!
I hate Antony.
I hate mctominay. He literally looks like a high school bully.
W*nker.
McTominay’s WWE audition with that suplex on Jesus will probably make his end of career highlight reel. Definitely the kinda bloke you’d run over if he crossed in front of your car
Add him to the list of Paul Tierney, Dalot, Fraudnaldo, and worst of all Bruno. I don’t think I could restrain myself against Bruno. He needs a stiff right hand to his repulsive face
He is going to be more odious than the prick, Richarlison… isn’t he?
I hate Roy Keane. The cunt.
Roy Keane is the dad of all the Man U cunts.
Just add Paul Scholes, Gary and the lot of them to that list. Despicable pricks.
Keane is worse than all of them combined.
Gary Neville was cool though.
No he wasn’t.
He was a cunt.
He still is.
So do i
Lokonga adds nothing again in midfield. First time ive seen Arteta change out a cm middle of the game. Although cant fault the club, we did try to bring in Douglas Luis.
Sambi played well. We dominated for most of the game.
Lokonga played well. He surprised me. The mistake that led to the 2nd goal aside, he was brilliant.
And where was he at the first goal? There was a reason why Gabriel had to push up to win the ball. He is a fake footballer, only good in the eyes of the fans, yet our manager constantly tries to avoid having to play him.
Lokonga slowed the game down too much. We needed to me much more incisive generally. Too slow in midfield and too hesitant in the box. Still, we are top of the league and Man United aren’t.
He’s playing the wrong role, he’s not a DM, it’s Arteta’s and Edu’s fault he’s having to play there.
He ought to have gone out on loan this season (probably Ligue 1!) and we ought to have signed a top class midfielder. Those little mistakes here and there will lead to goals and dropped points.
The fact is midfield is a mess and has been for a long time now. The only top level midfielder we have is Partey, and he is only available half the time.
Disagree.
He is a fine developing player and deserves our support.
Today was all about the United players being given everything by VAR and a referee as bent as fuck.
Nothing to do with our lads; for long periods we outplayed.
And we’re still top of the league, so take a chill pill and see the game for what it was – a stinking pile of corrupt shit.
The var decision was correct. Saka could have gotten a yellow for diving too. We did dominate with the ball, but that doesnt matter if all it takes is one ball and they are through on goal. Cant help but feel that with partey this game would have been an easy 1-0.
Problem is he is not a 6. Will do fine against Everton and so on but I’m praying Partey is back when the October run comes.
*We outplayed them
Well. Sambi was decent on the ball as he always is. But off the ball he finds himself out of position too many times. He wasn’t where he needed to be at crucial times
stupid mistakes over and over. we had some excellent spells and the result doesnt reflect the performance overall. still, if we dont take our chances or tidy up, we won’t be up there
I hate McTominay.
I see what you did there: you want a clean “I hate McTominay” thread. I’m here to support you, brother.
Yeah, when karma finally catches up with that wanker, I’ll shall laugh my balls off – especially if it involves a couple of stalks and a stretcher.
Think the thing I hate about him the most is that he doesn’t even do us the courtesy of being as shit as he’s often made out to be whenever we’re up against him. Complete hacker of a player and never going to be a midfielder that runs games for united. But annoyingly serviceable in that part of the pitch. The dick.
The Eric Dier of this United team if you will 🤢
It’s as if we just lose our heads when It’s ManU away.
i absolutely dispise this game. Good its over for this season at least. Cant stand them.
losing on two counters away from home, idiotic
Nah.
The only thing idiotic today were the match officials and VAR.
Same old same old really. We don’t seem to know, or are too arrogant to change the way we play against the bigger teams or the ones that purely play on counter. I fear exactly the same thing against that lot down the road. It’ll be a repeat.
Another Poor performance from Saka & Martinelli, superb match from Jesus
Lol. What game where you watching? All three of them were brilliant. Martinelli and Saka are still growing and with time will get the calmness you need to play these big games. But even at that, they did terrorize the United defense today.
Don’t know what game you were watching pal.
They both put the ball in the net and both goals should have stood.
Jesus was good but would have been brilliant had he had the correct protection from a non biased ref.
What’s for sure is we’re going to have to do it ourselves as we’re not going to get any help.
Before the game I thought a score draw would be a good result. Had the substitutions been a bit less gung ho we may have got one. Anyway let’s win the next five.
Substitutions were horrible. Unless he was injured, why take off the main player for progressing the ball from front to back, in Zinchenko.
Otherwise, I just didn’t like the swaps. Saka was useless other than the goal. Just having a lot of the ball doesn’t mean you had a good game. I did agree with Odegaard going off, but not sure why Sambi came off, as I thought he was having a decent game.
Saka is incredible. He always beats his man
You know after all of the VAR controversy yesterday and people beginning to take notice of the corruption, I thought the officials would lay low today. How wrong I was – just a brazen pack of cheats. That said, I achieved full bingo on my prediction yesterday. Shit finishing and naive defending. Check. Outplay Utd in their own backyard and still lose. Check. Get done over by a bent referee. Check. Utd debutant scores after doing nothing the rest of the game. Check. So fucking bored with all nowadays
It was written. I don’t feel sick because I made all the same predictions. However, I’m still annoyed that we outplay this club time and time again and always get caught on the counter. We always have a red decision that turns the game. That Martinelli goals stands and this game is 3-1 the other way, so annoying.
Arsenal top of the league after 6 games?
Stay calm Jeremy, it’s going to be a great season.
We have some great footballers.
Played well, sucker punched twice, very frustrating.
Happens all the time against top teams.
United is not a top team though
Don’t panic, my fellow Gooners. We lost but we played well. Saka’s getting back to his best. Vieira’s little cameo was very promising. We’re still top of the league. Let’s take it on the chin and continue the forward momentum. COYG
Yep… I think we are going to fall in love with Vieira reall fast! Not afraid to make key passes and to take shots. Hope he fulfills his massive potential with us. He is the one I am looking forward to watching the most on Thursday (’cause he surely starts that one).
Same old old Trafford refereeing an absolute joke!
Old Toilet.
Suicide football in an away game at 1-1. Why were we defending so high against a counter attacking team? Our attacking play is nice but we did lack a cutting edge today. Positives to take today that we dominated away at Old Trafford. Negatives? We should learn to balance attacking with sensible defending.
This is hardly a new thing but boy the state of timekeeping in football is abysmal. 4 mins just for the VAR review in first half – 3 mins added time. Easily at least 10 minutes of just plainly observable dead time in the 2nd half – just the 4 minutes added on thanks. Timekeeping should be done properly (25 or 30 minute halves, counting down – that’s how much football we’re getting anyway – with stoppages actually… stopping the clock) instead of this jazzy nonsense.
Arsenal had plenty of possession but couldnt score against a ten men wall. Mu played on the counter and Arsenal paid the price.Where were the markers when Mu scored.
MA shd have known better
“MA shd have known better”
Indeed
and again for the next time
Man U was there for the taking after Saka’s equaliser; so, I don’t blame the boys for going for it. Two lucky breaks undid us. That’s okay. These things happen. If I learned anything about this team last season, they don’t lie back and feel sorry for themselves. They’ll be back against Everton in the EPL.
Meanwhile, I saw enough of Fabio Vieira to be excited. That pass to Martinelli was divine!
Stay calm, support the team and go again. Yes, there were errors but a lot of promise in that performance.
We do need a number 6 akin to the truly great Gilberto Silva ( possibly the most underrated player in Premiership history).
Oh well, not the end of the world, but a frustrating afternoon nevertheless. As soon as our opening goal was disallowed, I knew we’d get fuck all else. They were allowed to kick us up in the air at will. How the fuck Scott McTominay got away with half of what he did is beyond me – but then again, it helps to have right cunt of a ref on your side and that’s what United had, all fucking afternoon. So, fuck them, fuck their supporters, fuck the ref, fuck VAR and I hope Roy Keane’s beard becomes infested with… Read more »
Spot on! I also get the impression, judging by a minority of comments, that a few individuals (I don’t use the word “fans”) have been waiting impatiently for a defeat so they could let rip.
Can someone explain to me what we, t wrong
Cos we were in control of the game until something happens which I could not describe.
It’s the Old Trafford aura… started with one of my favorite Arsenal teams of all times (The Cesc Fabregas days).
The ref and VAR were pro United. Simple as that.
Where are those Arteta process boys….breaking when it matters most. Didn’t buy a midfielder to cover for injuries, trust a Lokonga that to me will never be good enough for us. Total lack of discipline leaving the midfield for the 2nd goal.
Everton next…don’t think we will win that also.
We are not ambitious enough, and it will likely cost us the Top 4.
Get back under your rock you miserable sod, you’re no Arsenal supporter. The team played well and if you can’t see the progress then you’re determined not to look. It’s disappointing to lose to that bunch of thugs but we’re still top of the league and we go again. I was proud of our Gunners in difficult circumstances against the players and the ref.
With all due respect fella, why don’t you fuck off!
Go and have a look at the league table, clay brain.
Knee jerk reaction here. These boys will be dying to make amends. Everton will lose at the Emirates. I hope you are not deceived by their heroics against Liverpool. This will be no derby.
Frustrating afternoon but a way better performance in a “big” game than some of the crap we put forward last season. We are moving forward in a big way and though the subs didn’t work out today I’m way more confident about depth than last year. Glass half full here.
Same. A bit like the City game we lost 2-1 last season albeit less impressive. Deeply frustrating result but shit happens; clearly a lot to be pleased with in terms of how we brought the game to them.
Obviously gutted by the result but lifted by what I saw on the pitch and our performance 95% of the time. We were not lucky today, got some “strange” referee decisions though we didn’t helped ourselves with a few iffy moments in defense.
On to the next
An excellent Arsenal performance. For the bulk of that game we were the better side. But, like I told you before the game, we always manage to find a way to lose at Old Trafford. Just like last season we faced a bang-average United team and handed them an undeserved win. A c**t of a referee, poor finishing and naive defending cost us the game. We had a good goal disallowed and then didn’t take our chances. At 2-1 we were still in it until our tactical genius of a manager ruined it with naive substitutions. Our exposed defence was… Read more »
I thought we lost the game in the middle. Ball progression was ok. Sambi did well. Zinky coming inside helped too. But at the same time we were a bit too open. We just couldn’t manage the turnovers and transitions which were clearly ETH’s tactics. I do wonder if we would have had a different outcome if TP or ME played to mop up in the middle in the few instances we turned the ball over. That said, if given the choice at the start of the season to win 5, lose 1 and remain top of the league, I’d… Read more »
Bang on with Partey, it would be 3-1 to us. I so missed him in the midfield.
Played better than them but very naive to be sucker punched ! Every reason to be positive even though the ref was abysmal yet again ! Something has to be done & it’s not just been us this weekend either !!!
Sad to lose but the signs are still promising (apart from the frustrating lapses in concentration when defending).
Top 4 is all I expect.
And if Arteta fails to deliver, we find a new coach.
Are you big Stan’s messenger?
So proud of the boys. Played them out of the park. Not going to make excuses, but playing like this, we’ll tear them apart at home. COYG!
we’ll see
Like all seasons, will be filled with ups and downs. Let’s hope the real fans way outnumber the whiners. The crap attitudes of some is comical. Really looking to see which youngsters rise to the opportunities…since we have the youngest team out there…that should be just about everybody!
How can it be right that the ref & VAR both come from Manchester! Some very iffy decisions
Exactly! We wouldn’t get a ref from Islington, Chelsea wouldn’t have one from Kensington so why are they allowed refs from the local area just cause it’s easier for them to get home on a Sunday. I don’t care who they support, Mike Dean never officiated Liverpool or Everton because his from The Wirral even though he supports Tranmere
Eventhough I am extremely disappointed at the result, I have to first of all applaud the team for the 5 games winning run.
That said, I posit that we lost this game in the middle of the park. Last week, I said… I hope Lakonga’s performance doesn’t lull management into a false sense of security insofar as the midfield position is concerned. One week later, we loose because our opponent controled the mid-field and our defence was left unprotected.
That said, I am proud of this team and feel like our ceiling is very high.
Come on you goons!!!
Same old arsenal. Play a high line against a counter attacking team and then we lose the ball and our defenders are chasing the attackers from behind. Any Arsenal fan knew this was going to happen. All 3 of uniteds goals were exactly the same. Why is this so difficult to figure out. Happens all the time against counter attacking teams. I told my friends this would happen. And when we gave the ball away we didn’t swarm to try and win it back. Our defenders were left exposed.
spot on!
How was Rashford’s second goal not offsides? He was miles ahead of the second defender when the ball was passed to him.
He was behind Eriksen so it wasn’t a forward pass
Got it. Thanks.
arteta once again showing how weak he is tactically
take out all the controlling mids (sambi and zinc) to leave xhaka in the position he is worse in the team. huge gap in the middle for utd to counter.
it was written defeat all over at this point.
why did we need to play such a high line when we just needed to avoid defeat.
hopefully this defeat puts the team back on track.
We go for a win, nothing less.
Just like the last two games where we came back eh? No one will ever be perfect and it let us down today, but he’s made changes that have turned draws into wins
We played to their strengths and we messed it all up. Scored a goal and we really should have just sat back and defended. That was naive. Thought everybody would have been happy with a draw.
Vieira looked quality and that was my only positive.
Losses are ok but it really now depends upon how we bounce back.
Nah, it was absolutely worth trying to win a game in which we were completely dominant.
jesus was still top with his attitude.
but arteta tactics is still weak
Let’s on get on Arteta’s back. I thought we just got a bit over excited by our recent wins and kept going even after the goal that we scored and that is where I thought we were naive. We are still a very young team and I guess we will learn.
Not the result our performance deserved. But small errors cost us dearly.
Yes, I think that’s right.
I personally wouldn’t bang on about VAR, the officials or whatever (I don’t think anyone has mentioned there’s an “r” in the month as a reason yet). I’m sure there will be instances this season when VAR and officials are lauded on this website when things go our way in a game.
We did (very) well for about an hour but then things went a bit pear-shaped. It’s a learning experience so I’m sure we’ll learn from it. Let’s see what we can do against Everton.
I hate Fernandes.
Better side for most of it, but sloppy goals and silly subs cost us.
Sambi did well, but we need a proper dominant nasty #6 as back up to Partey (Danilo)
Think the players will have learned a lot from that though……👍
5 area we lost the game
-their couch was superior
-officials were with man united
-united were aggressive
-our defense was poor for their counter attacks
-big gaps in our midfield
Where did they get their couch? I didn’t notice it watching the game, 3 seater leather Chesterfield I presume.
Old Trafford Special that foul was. No other club gets that decision & it changed the game because they reverted to ETH’s brand of anti football once they took the lead. How many times are we gonna get done on the counter against United? I swear if you looked at their last 100 goals against us, about 75 of them would’ve been from our naivety & leaving the back door open
Totally agreed! Not easy playing against 11+3+ the whole fu****g VAR-teame
We had a soft underbelly today in midfield. Everybody knew apart from Arteta and Edu that we needed a like for like replacement for Partey. He isn’t going to play for a whole season, Arteta. Conte had Holjberg but still brought Bissouma in. What we needed to do in the midfield during the break wasn’t rocket science.
We move.
I think we should use the defeat as a reality check. We played plenty of good football, lots of possession etc and showed real spirit to pull a goal back in the first hour or so, but we were wobbly after they scored their second. Anyway, although we didn’t pass the first big test of the season today it’s not the end of the world. The next test is how we come back from this first defeat when we play Everton at The Emirates. Let’s hope we can get a really good win to restore the youngster’s confidence, which may… Read more »
I am probably going to be unpopular with this, but I have been a little underwhelmed with Gabriel Jesus. I was expecting more goals from him – especially today. Three from six is OK but is not much better than Laca if I am honest and hardly something to write home about. I look at what Haaland is doing at City and how many goals he scores from so few touches in a game. That is positioning and finishing at its finest. I can only dream that Arsenal could have a player like that. Jesus works hard and hassles the… Read more »
Yes, I admit to feeling the same (although be prepared for negative votes). Comparisons with Haaland are not really fair though – that man is a goal-scoring machine, the best in Europe in my opinion. Jesus is a good team player but he was bought primarily as a striker as you say. For me he just doesn’t get into enough genuine scoring positions (close up and personal, so to speak) so his goal tally is “OK” I guess, but not anything out of the ordinary so far. Time to improve of course, but we do need to put good chances… Read more »
I think he is a great player – his attitude. work rate and technical ability is fantastic, but his positioning needs to improve as you say. The experience he needs to develop this comes from playing week in and week out and in his defence, he did not get that with City.
Hopefully that will develop at Arsenal..
You’re so right , you will be unpopular.
I mentioned before that I thought we’d sign a real number 9 and use Jesus out wide at times, where some games would suit him more. I agree he’s a wonderful player, but not sure we should have put all our scoring eggs in that particular basket. Time will tell.
Sincerely I thought Zinchenko was going to be used as a DM while Tierney as a LB which would have given us a bit of balance. Well done to the boys. Would’ve prefer a Fabio & odegaard midfield drop Xhaka but the leadership Xhaka brings can not be overlooked