Arsenal vs Man Utd review

Final Score:

Arsenal 2-1 Man Utd

Nasri 22 Rafael Da Silva 90

Nasri 48

OK so at some points I really wanted to break my T.V. in half I was that annoyed. We were totally disappointing. We had some wonderful chances but did we take them, no? Even Arsenal had a lot of chances to be honest and if everyone took their chances it would've been about 5-3 to Arsenal.

A good start for the Reds:

We got off to a great start. We were passing it about, moving around, playing allround great football. The chances came already and we should've buried them to be honest. Wayne Rooney had an excellent chance at the start of the game. There was some great passing play and can you guess who was at the centre of it? Dimitar Berbatov. He passed it back to Wayne Rooney who unmarked but Rooney skived it over the bar.

Wayne Rooney wastes his first chance and what a chance it was. It should have been 1-0 to United but he just stuffed it up. I've been saying for quite a while now that Wayne Rooney is too inconsistent and has too many of "those days". This was one of "those days" for Rooney.

Arsenal score, some would say against the run of play:

OK I went on about the poor defending in my previous blog entry, this one won't be any different. Arsenal had a free kick on the right hand side. It was swerved in to the back post. No one in an Arsenal shirt was there and Berbatov, unbalanced, headed it out. The header went to Samir Nasri and he controlled it and smashed it goalwards. It took a deflection of Gary Neville and went in the back of the net.

First of all, it wasn't Berbatov's fault. All Berbatov was doing was clearing the ball from the area. Secondly, it was infact Gary Neville's fault. He should've been marking Samir Nasri. Was he? No. He was in the box lollygagging and when suddenly he realised Nasri was unmarked and had a chance he came running out. The ball hits him and goes in. Terrible defending by Gary Neville.

Utd's poor defending continues:

Man Utd continued with the poor defending. All four of the defenders played their part in terrible defensive play. One attack I'll point out is in the fourtyth minute. Arsenal had the ball on their left hand side of the pitch. Nicolas Bendtner and Theo Walcott were in the box. The defenders in there were Rio Ferdinand and Patrice Evra.

Ferdinand and Evra were just standing in the middle where as Bendtner was behind them and Walcott was at the far post. The cross came into the box and Bendtner was incredibly close to getting a head onto the ball, if he did it would've been a sure goal. Evra and Ferdinand were both in the middle with Bendtner, yes both of them, but neither marked him.

The ball went to the far post where The Walcott was after missing the head of Nicolas Bendtner. Patrice Evra should have had this covered but did he? Of course not. He was still holding hands with Rio Ferdinand in the centre of the box. Walcott shot it and narrowly missed.

Arsenal start second half perfectly:

OK so after going into the changing rooms knowing you're 1-0 down and playing very badly, I thought Alex Ferguson would give his team a bollocking and turn the game around. Instead Arsenal start attacking a few minutes into the second half.

Cesc Fabregas had the ball at his feet and made a great pass through to Samir Nasri. Nemanja Vidic should have been marking him though. He had run off to some other place and Nasri was on his own. Nasri smashed the ball into the back of the net for the second.

Nemanja Vidic took the blame for that goal. It was just terrible, terrible defending throughout the game. I was shocked, I honestly was. The Man Utd skipper and three of the best defenders in the world, defending so badly was just shocking.

Neville is finally taken off:

After sixty three minutes of terrible defending, and even attacking, Gary Neville was put out of his misery and taken off by Fergie for Rafael Da Silva, a young Brazilian full-back whose twin plays on the other side of the pitch.

Gary Neville had been incredibly poor throughout the game in both attacking and defending. He was the cause of the first goal, he failed to mark Samir Nasri who struck the ball hard at goal and then it was deflected of Neville and went in.

When attacking, Man Utd had many chances but Gary Neville wasted quite a few. The ball went to Neville and instead of keeping possession, passing the ball on to the attackers, he thought he was superman and shot from about thirty yards out and gave the ball to Arsenal.

His replacement Rafael Da Silva got off to a great start. He made a couple of great tackles, already the second best player of the game for Man Utd which said a lot.

Fergie comes to his senses and replaces Rooney but it's too late:

As much as I love what Fergie's done for the club and I think he's one of the best ever managers of all time, he is just adamant that Wayne Rooney will do well every game. The fact of the matter is that he won't and he doesn't deserve to start based on current form.

Carlos Tevez should be starting in every game but why isn't he? Fergie is brainwashed into thinking that Wayne will play well every game. When Fergie finally brings Tevez on it's too late for him to make a difference.

I think that Tevez is a superb player who hasn't put a foot wrong this season. I fail to see why he starts on the bench where as Rooney is in the starting eleven every game, based on current form. Tevez was brought on with thirteen minutes to go. He can't really make much of a difference then. Man Utd are 2-0 down and his team mates are low on energy. How is he going to do well then?

Man Utd start to play well but it's too late:

Man Utd did start to play quite well for the last ten minutes but they left it too late again. Well attacking wise when they finally started to pass it about again and show that bit of elegance that they hadn't done all game.

Rafael Da Silva was playing very well in my opinion. He was making some great tackles and winning the possesion and turning the run of play. He was also making some good runs down the wing and being good support to Cristiano Ronaldo.

Utd score but it's already over:

Man Utd did finally score and it was Rafael Da Silva who did it. He pulled one back in injury time with a cracking left foot volley into the corner from the edge of the box.

Rafael was Man Utd's best player for the game despite only playing twenty seven minutes. He made such great tackles and attacking wise he was aware. He's already looking so much better than Gary Neville.

Even in injury time when Man Utd were finally looking good, Nicolas Bendtner had a chance to bury the game for the Gunners. Poor defending from Man Utd (again!) meant that Bendtner was unmarked and dribbled his way past Ferdinand and Vidic who just fell to the ground to easily but his shot went over the bar as he was off balance.

Conclusion:

It was a poor performance by Man Utd. Attacking wise, we had enough chances to win the game easily but we were unable to get that finishing touch, that finishing shot and get the goal. I was pleased that we created chances but very disappointed that we didn't make the most of them.

Defensively we were awful. With the exception of Rafael Da Silva who came on as a sub late in the game, the back four were atrocious. They weren't marking the Arsenal players which were the cause of the Arsenal goals and many goal scoring chances. They didn't close down the attacks either. Terrible game for the defenders (bar Rafael.)

Player performances:

Edwin Van der Sar: He conceded two goals and was very shaky at times again. I think Van der Sar may be past his best by date now. He's been too shaky at times to be Man Utd number one. He was Utd's first good keeper for a long time but his time has come to an end and it may be time for Foster to take over.

Gary Neville: The worst player on the pitch. What more can I say? He lost the ball. He gave away possesion. He didn't mark the Arsenal players when he should have and that's why the first goal was scored. He gave the ball away and ended Man Utd attacks when he went forward as well.

Nemanja Vidic: He had a very bad game as well. It was his fault for the second goal. He should have been marking Samir Nasri when the attack happened. That wasn't the only time he left his player unmarked. He also fell to his feet to easily and went in for too many sliding tackles unnecessarilly.

Rio Ferdinand: He had another bad game and as well as the rest of the defence did very bad. He also was not marking players when he should've been and he made some poor passes which went to Arsenal players.

Patrice Evra: I'm just basically repeating what I said for the other three defenders. He was very poor and wasn't marking players when he should have been. He was easily beaten by Theo Walcott on the left hand side and was not very good today.

Cristiano Ronaldo: He had an OK game. He had a great chance from a Park Ji-Sung pass but wasted it. He didn't have his elegance he usually has and that's probably why he didn't do too well.

Anderson: I think he had a good game to be honest. He ran around trying to get involved and made some solid passes. The only reason he was subbed was to get the breakthrough and he was just unfortunately the only player that could've been.

Michael Carrick: He wasn't really involved in the game. He was quite quiet to be honest and therefore had an average game. He also had a great chance early on in the game from a corner clearance. He should have taken the shot and took his chances.

Park Ji-Sung: He had a great game. He was the second best player for Man Utd, behind Rafael. He was running up and down all game as usual. I just love his determination and will. He is such a brilliant player. Maybe not brilliant like Ronaldo but brilliant in his own way.

Wayne Rooney: Again, he had a bad game. He had two wonderful chances early on in the game that he should have finished but he didn't. He's having too many off games and wasting his chances. He should be stripped of his starting place. That may sound harsh but Tevez should start ahead of him.

Dimitar Berbatov: I think he had a good game. He was getting involved again and was at the centre of the attacks at the beginning. He was making some great passes and runs. He was very unfortunate to be offside for two of them. The only thing I can say is that he's going to wide. He needs to be in the middle for the finish along side Rooney.

Rafael Da Silva: He was Man Utd's best player despite being on the pitch for only twenty seven minutes. He made some great tackles in defence, something none of the other defenders did today. Attacking wise he was very impressive as well. He was very aware of his surroundings and gave some great support to Ronaldo. His finish for the goal was sublime. A very impressive prospect.

Ryan Giggs: He wasn't on the pitch for long and didn't really do much. He had an average game as he didn't get involved to be honest because he wasn't on for long enough. Not much to comment on.

Carlos Tevez: I feel that he was trying too hard. He was running up and down the pitch and calling for the ball in every position. He wasn't being greedy, he just wanted to prove himself. He needed to stop for a moment and think about his runs and positioning. He's no use to anyone if he runs to the corner flag and calls for the ball there.

Wow that article took long. Well that's all from me for now.

Maninder signing out.