Archive for February 17th, 2008

Man Utd 4 – 0 Arsenal: April is what will really count

1 comment February 17th, 2008

I may not be the first to say this, but: it’s a funny old game, football. About a month ago we were beaten 5-1 in the Carling Cup by Spurs, and Arsene came out defending our performance, saying we didn’t deserve such a humiliating scoreline. And, I have to admit, I agreed. We played some super football and were immensely unlucky on the counter-attack. Last night, however, we got beat 4-0 by Man U, and were probably lucky to escape with just the four goal deficit. We were absolutely dreadful.

There is no excuse for the performance we turned out yesterday. We had quality players like Hleb, Cesc, Gallas and Toure on the field, and to a man they reached levels of ineptitude that I wasn’t convinced were possible. I was willing to accept defeat going into the game, but I will never willingly accept the standard of performance we witnessed from the team last night. Not only were their minds already on Milan, their bodies may aswell have been in Milan – they were second to every ball and cowardly in the challenge.

You can tell from Arsene’s reaction he felt let down. Nobody, however, was more let down than the 9,000 travelling Arsenal fans. Like myself, they won’t be despondent about the defeat – most went knowing we’d field a weakened side and that the competition was not a priority. But they would have expected more heart and courage from a side that was facing one of its major rivals.

I’m not going to pick out individuals for criticism, because we were woeful to a man.  Poor kicking aside, Jens Lehmann probably deserves a repreive for keeping the score in single figures.  The rest had a day to forget.

However: beat Milan and Birmingham in the next seven days, and it will soon be forgotten.  Last night was not a disaster, but it’s ramifications could be disastrous if we allow it to upset our season.  After the Tottenham game we responded with an excellent run of form – we urgently need to do so again.  The next few games will determine whether yesterday represents a discerning sacrifice or a sickening waste.

Perhaps the most significant piece of fall-out from the game will be that after the dropped points against Spurs and City, United’s confidence is soaring once again.  Furthermore, they’ve been handed a significant psychological advantage for the league fixture in mid-April – a game that is far higher in Arsene’s list of priorities.

In order to counter that, we need to make sure we’re in a sound position come that time – starting on Wednesday, against Milan.  Yesterday is history, but Wednesday could be legend.


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