Match Reaction vs United

[IBK]

Saw this post on Arseblog and liked it....

Whenever United think they might not be technically superior to their opposition, they compensate with energy, pressing and harrying, winning most of the 50-50 balls, forcing mistakes from the opposition. Rooney was a one-man disruption machine yesterday, and the rest weren't far behind.

These tactics are not a surprise, we've seen them many times before. Assuming you don't have the players to go face-to-face in a slugging match and hope for a points victory, then the only way to win in such circumstances is to make the ball do the work.

You need to be like Jackie Chan in a fight scene, moving so fast every punch misses its target. If you pass the ball before every onrushing United player gets to you then you suck the wind out of their sails. Even Rooney would give up after an hour of chasing shadows.

Arsenal have the players to do that, but Wenger bottled it, and in the first half there was only one team at the races and it wasn't Arsenal. They were better in the second, playing at a higher tempo, and the introduction of Wilshire added energy, though he seems to be a bit of a loose canon these days.

[Özim]

United do us regularly it should come as no surprise they beat us again, everytime we play them it's largely the same, they seem to want it more. Maybe Wenger should try something different it's been a long time since we've beaten them. I can still remember how great it felt winning games against them in the Henry days when we always felt we had a great chance, these days it's almost like we're beaten before we even start.

I thought we could get a result last weekend but was still tentative despite their awful start, our great form and the fact they have a new manager who hasn't managed to stamp his authority or style yet. If we ever had a great chance of winning it was last Sunday, we're not going to get such a good opportunity for a while I don't think, next time we play them I reckon they'll be a much more settled/confident side.

[Letters]

Often we've gone to OT of late they were clearly a lot better than us and it was more a matter of pride than anything. We've generally raised our game and dominated possession but to little effect and they've caught us on the counter-attack. It happened with wearying regularity and predictability. This time I think we're more than a match for them, the first half performance was baffling, we just didn't turn up. It does seem to be a mental thing. We were better in the 2nd half but still not good enough. Very disappointing because we're good enough to get something. The important thing is how we react, the international break has come at a good time on this occasion, we've got 3 winnable games in the rest of November.

[Munchies]

http://observer.ug/index.php?option=...ews&Itemid=114

In Iganga, a staunch Arsenal football fan is looking for a home for his family after he lost his house in a bet over a game between English clubs Arsenal and Manchester United.

Before the game, Henry Dhabasani staked his two-roomed house in a bet with Rashid Yiga, that Arsenal would win the game. On his part, Yiga staked his new Toyota Premio car and his wife that Manchester United would win.

The two put their stake in writing, with local leaders and fans witnessing the deed. Dhabasani, married to three wives with five children, fainted at the end of the match on realizing Arsenal had lost the game 1–0. On Monday, several Manchester United fans stormed Dhabasani’s home and threw him and his family out.

[Letters]

I told a colleague he could have my house if Chelsea won the CL a couple of years back.



That's why I now live in a cave

[BOBN]

Ozil will really come into his own when Walcott returns, someone who can run behind the defence. Stretch the game.

Even henry and bergkamp took time to adjust.

Meh, after the sunderland game where Walcott missed a few chances people are calling for him to be dropped. Now hes Ozils saviour when it suits. Im not allowing Ozil this excuse.

[Fist of Lehmann]

Saw this post on Arseblog and liked it....

In general 'bottling it' is such a lazy accusation, but in his email Wenger conceded as much.

...we paid the price for being too tentative and nervous in the first half.

and

It's hard to say whether our recent record at Old Trafford was a factor.

Psychological factors are difficult to interpret and consequently difficult to fix. Ultimately however I thought other factors were more influential to this result than any mental issues. Which is annoying, because winning there would have gone a long way to slaying those particular demons - if they existed.

When our passing is slow and our movement sluggish we have looked flat. On the occasions it's happened this season we have not been punished because our defensive organisation has been good and our ability to put one or two deadly goal-scoring moves together is inherent in the quality of our players.

That flatness is going to happen with tired, overplayed players, so the measure of our squad depth will be borne out over the course of the season. We've coped brilliantly so far but we need get players back. The virus was just a shittily timed piece of bad luck.

[I am invisible]

It's a mismatch of styles in their favour at the moment - that's the biggest problem we have against them. For all the improvements we've made this year (and we have improved), we're still basically playing the same football that all Wenger Arsenal sides play, and that suits that same, simple tactic they've been using against us for the last 6 or 7 years. Even in their current ageing, slightly-declining state, we're still talking about the same Man U squad and the same group of players who have been doing this to us for years - they must know the routine in their sleep by now!

What makes it so frustrating is that we all know exactly what they're going to do - you can see it coming a mile off, as, I'm sure, can the manager and the coaching staff - but without more variety in the options we currently have available, there's not really much we can do to adapt our game? We have a little bit of choice between some quality options in some areas, but most of those options (e.g. our midfielders) all play the same sort of football, so we're talking about variances in form and fitness, composure vs aggression, etc more than tactical changes - where our shape and style of play are concerned, all we can really do is carry on playing the same quick-passing game and hope that, on the day, we're just so quick and sharp that they're chasing shadows. Perhaps we can choose whether we sit back and let them make the first move, or whether we take the game to them from the off, but that's about it.

On the plus side, I think this is one of the last big hurdles / mental hang-ups left that this squad has to overcome (beating a Mourinho Chelsea side being the other), and I think we're getting closer - even with home advantage and a (near enough) full-strength squad against a side that's carrying a lot of injuries / illness, and has just played two other gruelling games in a week, they still only managed a tight 1-goal win. I really don't think it will take much for us to turn them over in the return fixture - if we can do it to Munich and Dortmund then we can do it with this lot...

[Xhaka Can’t]

Meh, after the sunderland game where Walcott missed a few chances people are calling for him to be dropped. Now hes Ozils saviour when it suits. Im not allowing Ozil this excuse.

Let me get this straight. Theo missed a bunch of chances.

Chances that were laid on a plate by Ozil.

Am I right so far?

If so, how does this demonstrate how ineffective Ozil is when playing a ball through to a teammate with pace?

[Globalgunner]

The problem is that in these big matches but especially against United, Wengers philosophy is not."How am i going to win this game"? but more, how am i not going to lose. To prevent losing he plays every single senior player he has available to him. Hoping that their combined experience will see us through. He therefore deploys the players in a form that will suit as best as possible but not one that allows the talents of each player to come through. Ramsey on the wing doesnt work, never has. He is a central midfielder, so is Ozil, He needed to drop one of flamini or Arteta and play Gnabry on the wing, Ozil, Ramsey behind Giroud. A winning formula. When the team play badly, he says they were tentative, while he sits at the side doing sweet FA. You cannot win by playing not to lose. If United had not scored we would have most likely kept on playing the same shit in the 2nd half.