Man Utd 1-0 Arsenal: 3 Positives & 3 Negatives From The United Defeat

Arsenal slumped to their second defeat of the season with a 1-0 loss to Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday. Here, Gunner333 gives us 3 positives and negatives from the game.

This often gripping encounter between two giants of the English game was gifted with the spice of the contrasting starts to the season both sides have had. The Gunners sat top two-points clear of Liverpool before kick-off whereas Moyes’ Manchester side were rooted in eighth a full 8 points off the pace.

As the game commenced both sides were desperately seeking a win while Fergie sat in the box watching his apprentice lead his side into one of the Red Devils’ toughest matches of the season.

Neither side could speed up the tempo and  the first ten minutes of this well-awaited affair fell rather flat. Rooney looked sharp and his early effort was deflected comfortably into the arms of Szczesny. Seeds of frustration were planted by Arsenal as Ramsey – despite his top form of late – gave the ball away more times than once in the middle if the park.

Just over twenty minutes on the clock and Arsenal’s frustration rapidly changed into absolute agony as former Gunner Robin Van Persie was left un-marked and powered home a header from Wayne Rooney’s well delivered corner. Signs of the old Arsenal back-line being exhibited from a set-piece.

Half time and some worried Gooners were pondering whether or not Arsenal’s great start may be coming to an abrupt halt. Second half underway and Wenger’s men came out fighting. A first real attack from the Gunners as Ozil’s impressive quick passes almost created a golden opportunity for Giroud to pounce, but the Frenchman failed to get there.

Questions arose of Mertesacker’s influence as we struggled defensively with the German’s absence, although Vermaelen was not playing poorly though.  Input of real chances faded out late in the game, but a chance to equalise came when Sagna’s divine cross just eluded Dane Nicklas Bendtner by a matter of inches.

One final chance for glory vanished and the Gunners sink to only their second defeat in the season so far this season. I will now highlight three positives and negatives from this performance.

Positives

1. Gibbs Still Looking Good: Once a young English prodigy, Kieran has proved himself as a solid first-team regular. His consistency and ability to stop the most dangerous wingers in the league is impressive and if we are to win a trophy this season, his form is paramount.

2. Dictating Game Well: The tempo was key today and in the second half in particular we read the game well. From back-to-front we hold our lines by keeping possession and rarely rush our play. We play through the centre comfortably and can feeds the full-backs at the right times. Theo’s return will be highly welcomed though!

3. Still A Decent Performance: The only goal of the game came through a rare piece of lapse defending at a set-piece. Aside from this, we limited United’s chances and it was hard to see that the Gunners were away at times. An excellent unanimous attitude was shown today and we consistently work very hard away from home. We just lacked a little spark in attack.

Negatives

1. Work-Rate Can Make Us Vulnerable: Many players have an extremely high work-rate but their pressing can sometimes leave us exposed. For example, Sagna and Gibbs like to bomb forward and press high up but if we lose possession they can be caught of out position and teams can hit us on the break. United often looked to take advantage of this so more discipline is needed, especially in the big games.

2. Clinical Finishing All That’s Missing From Forwards: Giroud is usually incredibly good at holding up the ball and linking up with our attackers, but he’s not a deadly goal-poacher. If Theo returns soon then maybe will see a drastic change but a new striker is still a must in January.

3. Ozil And Cazorla Lacked Spark: It was a rare off-day for our creative duo. Both Santi and Mesut were below par today and it resulted in us failing to create many clear-cut chances. Hopefully it was just a blip and they’ll be back to their creative best against Southampton.

Thanks for reading and feel free to comment below.