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Sunday, 13 March 2011

7 defenders and a win (vs Arsenal)

By: Shaun | March 12th, 2011
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fabio It felt good to finally be on the right side of a result at the end of 90 minutes. Feels like an eternity since we’ve experienced that and it may be due to the long unbeaten run we had earlier this season. To then suffer back to back defeats with the performance against Liverpool being especially poor was something we weren’t accustomed to. While I’m not saying that winning is a right by any means, it’s something we come to expect from the team as United fans.

Impressions:

1.I was utterly bewildered when I saw the starting 11 that SAF rolled out. SEVEN DEFENDERS?!?!?! What was he thinking? Had he really lost the plot? The fact that we had Giggs, Scholes and Valencia on the bench with our only true recognized midfielder in the starting 11 being Gibson did not make things any easier to swallow. Honest to God, my reaction upon seeing the lineup was to hope for damage limitation. It just seemed a receipe for disaster-inviting wave after wave of Arsenal pressure while defending with numbers. I’m glad SAF proved me wrong.

2.When your midfielders just don’t cut it anymore, why not play defenders? That’s genius. Not entirely original however since we’ve all entertained thoughts of playing Rafael and Fabio in more advanced positions in light of the poor performances by the likes of Obertan and Bebe. O Shea did an okay job in a slightly defensive midfield position as well.

3.The first goal was nice. Great link up play between the twins, Rooney and Chicharito culminating with Fabio keeping his cool and blasting it into the roof of the net. How many people out there thought he was going to mess up and shoot way over? I sure did.

4. Arsenal never really got going. Maybe it was the shock of seeing us lineup 7 defenders against them? But they never clicked the way we know they’re capable of. By their normally high standards, I thought they were a tad poor.

rooney goal 5.Valencia looked good out there after coming on and this bodes well for us in Nani’s absence. It did not look like he had missed months of game time and will surely step in permanently to the right wing role once he regains full match fitness. He was a constant threat and I imagine Rooney especially will be very excited about the Ecuadorian’s return.

6.Our defense was probably the busier of the two with Smalling being very solid at the back. Man of the match however was undoubtedly VDS. Seriously, how is this man playing at this high level at his age. To the people in charge, please pay him absurd amounts of money and bring him back next season.

7.Not sure why we would have brought Scholes on with Marseille looming around the corner. He had a super pass over the top toward the end that Rooney completely skewed wide. Aside from that however, he was a defensive liability and can consider himself fortunate to not have gotten sent off.

All in, a good enough performance to secure a ticket to the next round. We need to stay in contention for the FA Cup since the league title still hangs in the balance and it is my opinion that Arsenal still have the upper hand in that race.

Bring on Marseille!

Some Related Man United Posts:Still undefeated (vs Arsenal)Undeserved win (vs Crawley Town)Marching on in controversial fashion (vs Liverpool)Arsenal: Cry Cry Cry Crybabies!More post Arsenal game thoughts

Category: FA Cup, Manchester United, Match Reports

Tags: Antonio Valencia, Chris Smalling, FA Cup, Fabio da Silva, Manchester United, Match Reports, Old Trafford, Rafael da Silva
Tweet « Nani Bleats | Home | NickJust a thought on Scholes coming on late and his "tackles"... This yellow means that he misses the next two matches we play in either the league, so maybe it was a calculated move considering we play Bolton at home next and West Ham away, both winnable matches without the Ginger Prince, especially is Fergie wasn't planning on playing him next weekend anyway (I think he starts on Tuesday and would have been rested on the weekend). Its a much better time to miss two matches now than later in the season.kekawow, compliments on such a balanced article... I was developing a stereotype about Man Utd fans that they are all biased, bordering on blind... glad to be proven wrong.mattlike arsenal fans you mean? BUT BUT BUT WE...titan49well played you lot. you wanted it more and deserved to win. a part of me wishes we had as much desire as your boys showed out there today. we still have a lot to learn. oh and for me, without a doubt, Nemanja Vidic is the best player in the world in his position.

see you in the league. (we have to do you over at some point right?)

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Monday, 13 December 2010

Still undefeated (vs Arsenal)

By: Shaun | December 13th, 2010

table12132010 It’s finally hitting me that we’re still undefeated. Granted, Chelsea next week will be our biggest test yet, but we have played Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs and City and compiled a nice 3 wins and 1 draw against that lot. Not too shabby I would say even if those 3 wins have come at OT.

We reverted to a 5 man midfield to counter theirs with Berba once again being the casualty for this tactical formation. Sir Alex when asked prematch stated that this was the formation that we’ve employed to great effect against Arsenal in our past encounters. So it was tough to argue with that even if Berbatov was our (sort of) in form striker.

The pace of the game was cautious to begin with as both teams tried to ease their way in without opening up too many gaps in the back. Our midfield had the upper hand and seemed to be a littler tidier with their passing than the visitors. Rooney worked hard up front alone and did a more than capable job with Nani and Park supporting him on the flanks. Chamakh who played a similar role for Arsenal didn’t get close to the quality of service he’s been accustomed to and was a quiet figure all night.

Anderson who exploded onto the scene in what feels like an eternity ago with a stellar display tracking Fabregas in his first season played with similar authority in this one shutting down the passing lanes and together with Fletch, quelling the threat of Wilshere and Nasri. Ando seems to be putting together a string of good performances which is an encouraging sign for United fans. Park worked hard as always dropping deep to help out on the left side of midfield with Evra seemingly sucked into the middle on more than one occasion. His industry was matched by some luck/skill a couple of minutes before halftime.

t1larg.park Nani made a run into the box and his attempted cross was deflected and with pure instinct, Park shifted his body and got a touch on the ball which looped in over the young keeper. I wasn’t sure if it was down to skill, luck or a combination of the two. Regardless, we took what felt like a well deserved lead into halftime. United were clearly the sharper of the two with Arsenal misplacing passes and not looking anything like the side that regularly dazzles the audience. I personally, love watching their style of football, but their output in today’s game was a poor imitation of their usually high standard.

The second half resumed with more of the same although Arsenal did a better job of keeping possession and applying pressure to the backline. Any would be threats however came in the form of crosses into the box that were dealt with commandingly by Rio and Vidic. Van Der Sar had a relatively easy game as he was well protected by the 10 players in front of him.

Wenger brought on a half fit Fabregas, Van Persie, and eventually, Walcott, in an attempt to find a way to goal. Nothing transpired with Fabregas failing to really get into the game. Without needing to press for a goal, United never committed too many players forward and Walcott never really got the chance to show off his pace.

We had a chance to further distance ourselves in the 74th minute when a penalty was awarded against Clichy for handling in the box. It seemed a tad harsh as there wasn’t any clear intention on the Frenchman’s part to deflect the ball with that part of his body. It was given nonetheless and purists would argue that justice was served as Rooney’s penalty was blazed high over the bar. Not often that you see Wazza missing one so badly. Then again, he is English, so that’s never out of the question.

Arsenal tried to push for an equalizer as the minutes ticked away, but never really tested Van Der Sar with their closest effort being a volley that Walcott skied over after he found himself open inside the box.

It is now 9 wins, 7 draws and 0 losses after 16 games played. If we can somehow emerge with the 0 losses still intact after the encounter at the Bridge, we will be well positioned to really create some distance between ourselves and our rivals come the new year.

Some Related Man United Posts:The Berba Show pt 2 (feat Blackburn)Top of the group (vs Valencia)The return of Rooney (vs Wigan)Park to the rescue (vs Wolves)The Berba Show (feat. Liverpool)

Category: Anderson, English Premier League, Manchester United, Match Reports, Old Trafford

Tags: Anderson, Arsenal, Berbatov, English Premier League, Manchester United, Match Reports, Nemanja Vidic, Old Trafford, Premiership, Sir Alex Ferguson
« The Manc Bossa-Nova | Home | aderowNot the most exciting of much tbh
Park's header looked more awkward than chicarito's against stoke lolRealM_malaysia89yawn. a very boring match for the neutral i must admit. at what point did either team string more than several consecutive passes together? i should have taken a nap instead.blog comments powered by Disqus