Manchester United 2 – 1 Arsenal (Arshavin 40, Rooney (pen) 59, Diaby (og) 64) Highlights here; Arsene’s reaction here
Arsene Wenger will receive an apology from referees chief Keith Hackett after the farcical ending to yesterday’s game. Having seen his Arsenal team throw the game away by conceding two calamitous (Diaby-olical?) goals, Wenger’s frustration at seeing what looked like a late equaliser disallowed saw him kick an empty water bottle up in the air.
The fourth official Lee Probert advised referee Mike Dean to send Arsene off, sending him climbing back into the stands to sit among the fans who throughout the game had abused him with the sickening chant referenced in today’s headline.
Not that you would know that, watching the tv coverage or reading today’s papers. It is remarkable that the press seem to have collectively decided to gloss over the abuse dished out by the Old Trafford crowd. It turns my stomach. The balls Arsene Wenger displayed in standing in front of them, however, almost laughing in the face of their taunts, was something to take real pride in.
The same, sadly, cannot be said for yesterday’s result. The first half was an evenly contested affair in which we acquitted ourselves well – Robin van Persie and Andrey Arshavin went close, before the Russian was clattered by Darren Fletcher for what looked a certain penalty. Mike Dean, however, saw otherwise, and allowed play to continue.
No matter: when Arshavin collected the ball just moments later, frustration fuelled his right boot as he launched a thirty yard rocket into the top corner. Ben Foster arguably ought to have done better at his near post, but the element of surprise overcame the goalkeeper and allowed us to take the lead.
As the second half kicked off I expected an onslaught from United, but it never came. Dimitar Berbatov and Michael Owen remained on the bench, and if anything we started the brighter – Arshavin skipped down the left and pulled back for Van Persie, who looked certain to fire home our second. Unfortunately, Foster redeemed himself with an instinctive save that ultimately played a huge part in deciding the game.
Soon enough, from nothing, United had found an equaliser. Ryan Giggs played a clever pass between Sagna and Gallas, and Manuel Almunia charged out at the feet of Wayne Rooney. Seeing the keeper coming, Rooney knocked the ball out of play and went to ground, allowing Almunia’s outstretched hands to clatter into his feet. It was foolish goalkeeping – Almunia didn’t need to rush out, let alone make contact. Rooney, meanwhile, did just what Eduardo did in midweek – the difference on this occasion was the goalkeeper. If Almunia had employed similar nous to Celtic’s Artur Boruc and withdrawn his arms, Rooney would have undergone the embarrassment of collapsing to the ground without contact. Unfortunately, the Spanish goalie didn’t make that choice, and a penalty was (correctly) awarded.
Rooney tucked it away, and from then on it looked like a real test. As it was, the test was over within five minutes, and I’m sorry to say we failed. Shortly after a Van Persie free-kick had crashed against the bar, a Ryan Giggs free-kick from the right was swung into no-man’s land, and for reasons only he will ever truly understand, an un-pressured Abou Diaby nodded the ball beyond Almunia and into his own net. The only sense I can make of it is that he was trying to knock it over the bar (unneccessary) or into the hands of the goalie (insane).
We responded relatively well, throwing on attackers to try and nick and equaliser. In stoppage time it looked like we’d done it, with Van Persie firing in, only for William Gallas to be correctly judged offside. Cue the Wenger nonsense.
It was a frustrating game to watch. I thought United were really quite poor. They picked a team which mirrored our formation, but it left them bereft of attacking threat. A front three of Nani, Valencia and Rooney isn’t quite the Ronaldo/Tevez/Rooney/Berbatov threat they could offer last season.
We had some impressive performers. Gallas and Vermaelen looked solid again, and neither goal could be attributed to them. Andrey Arshavin was, as usual, a ghostly threat – not involved in the majority of the game but offering vital flashes of brilliance in the final third.
In midfield the trio of Song, Diaby and Denilson lacked the sharpness and intelligence of captain Cesc Fabregas. It’s quite the midfield quartest we’re missing (Rosicky-Nasri-Fabregas-Walcott), and had a couple of those players been fit yesterday it might have made all the difference.
Upfront, Robin van Persie came close a few times, and now needs a goal to give him the confidence he requires to be a real threat in that central striking role.
What’s important now is that we don’t allow the result to detract from the fact that we put in yet another solid performance. Silly mistakes were made, and those need to eradicated, but there is no reason to panic. Furthermore, the Eduardo furore and this latest nonsense over Arsene being sent off are the sort of things that can bind a squad together. It’s us against them, and our greatest teams have always thrived on that dynamic.
The international break is almost upon us. Wake me up when it’s over.
Yesterday those of you who follow me on twitter might have heard my rambled audioblog on the Eduardo situation. If you didn’t, why not give it a listen now:
Unsurprisingly, Arsene Wenger made similarpoints more eruditely and succinctly than I ever could:
“I find it a complete disgrace and unacceptable. We won’t accept the way we have been treated in this case for two reasons. One, I believe that you can debate whether it was a penalty or not. This charge implies there was intent and a desire to cheat the referee. Having watched the pictures again there was nothing conclusive. Two, it singles out a player in Europe to be a cheat and that is not acceptable. I believe that, first of all, there are two cases in this case and that Uefa has taken action that is not defendable.”
I don’t know if it’s a “disgrace” to punish a player retrospectively, but it is a disgrace that this case has, as Arsene points out, been ruled principally by the media:
“This case has been ruled by the media and emotionally by Scotland, by the Scottish FA and by Scottish people working at Uefa.”
The fact that football’s European governing body has allowed themselves to either be ruled by such pressure, or use it to bring about rule changes it has desired for some time, is as shameful as any ‘dive’.
Anyway, enough of this. We’ve got other things to worry about and bigger fish to fry – this afternoon we face Manchester United at Old Trafford, no less.
Fortunately, our good start to the season takes some of the pressure of us going into this game – United may be favourites, but they need a win a lot more than we do. If we were to come out on top, however, it would start to make all that talk of title challenges a fair bit more credible.
Cesc Fabregas will miss the game with a hamstring injury, but Arsene believed in the in-form Diaby, Denilson and Song can compensate. Ahead of that I’d expect Van Persie and Arshavin to be joined by Bendtner, who might be picked to utilise his height advantage over the hateful Patrice Evra. The back four has begun to pick itself, and Manuel Almunia may well wear the armband between the sticks.
Arsene Wenger spoke yesterday of the temptation not to involve Eduardo today. Frankly, I can’t think of a more fitting end to the week than if he were to nip off the bench to score the winning goal.
It is a miracle that a Champions League draw ceremony that involved princes of darkness like Michel Platini, Edwin Van Der Sar, and John Terry resulted in such a kind group for us.
AZ Alkmaar, Olympiacos, and Standard Liege join us in Group H. The fact that two of those sides are competing in their first ever Champions League group stage tells you something about the quality of opposition we will face. When you consider that we could have drawn a group with Inter Milan, Athletico Madrid, and Wolfsburg you begin to realise how lucky we’ve been.
One man who might miss two of the six group games with suspension is Eduardo. Frankly, I don’t understand why Eduardo should be banned when so many before have gone unpunished. A two-game ban for what is a yellow card offence seems absurd. As Ivan Gazidis eloquently put it:
“I’m sure Uefa will look at it and if Eduardo should have been awarded a yellow card they will take whatever action they think is appropriate.”
Like, say, a yellow card.
Eduardo will, however, be eligible for Saturday’s huge match at Old Trafford. A positive result there and our promising start to the season will suddenly seem more than just, well, a promising start to the season. Cesc Fabregas has a 50:50 chance to be fit, whilst Aaron Ramsey is almost certain to be out after tweaking his knee on Wednesday.
There are a matter of days left in the transfer window and it’s all quiet on the Arsenal front. Everton’s move for Sylvain Distin perhaps suggests that they’re no longer after Philippe Senderos, whilst Villa’s signing of Richard Dunne is yet another potential destination for the Swiss defender ruled out. At this stage, with time to replace him so limited, I’d be inclined to let Senderos stay. He’s been a good servant to the club and potentially losing him on a bosman at the end of the season wouldn’t be the end of the world. Who knows – he might even start to fulfill his potential and earn a new deal: if Alex Song can turn into a first-choice holding midfielder then anything is possible…
Finally today, a new Nike piece on Theo Walcott. Walcott will be absent at Old Trafford on Saturday, but will hopefully be back in time for when our Champions League group kicks off on the 16th September against Liege.
Last night, to win the penalty that gave Arsenal the lead, Eduardo da Silva dived.
He subsequently scored the resulting spot-kick, before Arsenal went on to add a further two goals, rendering Massimo Donati’s spectacular late strike no more than a consolation.
Today, the back pages scream about Eduardo’s cheating in such a way that you would be forgiven for thinking it alone had decided the tie. Sky Sports News’s yellow ticker tells you that the CEO of the Scottish FA wants Eduardo retrospectively banned, whilst Glenn Looven’s comments, which were he English would be deemed xenophobic, are just more firewood for the pyre the press are erecting for our Croatian striker.
Let’s start by making one thing clear: I do not approve of Eduardo’s actions. I think what happened was that he anticipated contact from the goalkeeper and looked to exaggerate it to ensure the award of the penalty. As it was, Boruc managed to avoid a trip and Eduardo went down regardless. The referee, confused by Eduardo’s fall, incorrectly gave a spot-kick.
Perhaps Eduardo was wrong to be looking to win a penalty at all. But he’s not the first, and he won’t be the last.
There are two things at play here:
1. It suits Celtic and Scottish football to pin the blame for the massive gulf in class between the two sides (and thus leagues) on one incident, whereas in fact they were out-classed over 180 minutes.
2. If Eduardo’s deceit had been spotted, and he had been booked for simulation, the incident would have been instantly forgotten.
With talk that UEFA will now a launch an investigation, perhaps it would be best if Eduardo receieved a retrospective ban. If he accepted his punishment with grace and apologised for his actions, it would help hold back the tide of bad will that the press and opposition fans will send surging towards him.
It’s a shame that we’re talking about this when we ought to be focusing on another strong performance from an Arsenal side that sees us comfortably into this afternoon’s Champions League group stage draw. The fact is: Celtic can bleat all they like, but this tie was over after their disastrous result in the first leg.
Our superiority was confirmed by two other excellent goals. The first saw Nicklas Bendtner backheel into the path of Diaby, who touched off for Emmanuel Eboue to nudge it past the defender and fire home. Then Andrey Arshavin, introduced as a substitute, scored within two minutes of his introduction by collecting a pass from Aaron Ramsey, spinning his man and tucking his shot into the corner – his first Arsenal goal since his fourth at Anfield.
The performances of the likes of Denilson, Eboue, and Eduardo show the degree of depth we are building in the squad. I still feel that a centre-back and central midfielder wouldn’t go amiss, and perhaps the guarantee of Champions League money might convince Arsene to dip into the transfer market in the next few days.
There’s no point trying to turn a good position into a bad one: Arsenal did extremely well in the first leg of this tie with Celtic.
We’re now in a position where even a defeat could take us through tonight, if it was just by the odd goal. It looks like a very tough task for Celtic to turnaround, however bullish their manager or players might be about it.
With that being said, it remains imperative that Arsenal’s concentration is consistent throughout. It’s only half-time in the tie, and were we to concede the first goal tonight I’m sure there’d be a few nervous jitters in the stands – and that’d soon transmit to the pitch. With that in mind, I expect Arsene to name his strongest defence – Almunia in goal, behind Sagna, Gallas, Vermaelen and Clichy. After being rested at the weekend, Alex Song should come in to shore up the midfield. With Cesc Fabregas out with a hamstring injury (albeit with a chance of being fit the United game), the in-form Abou Diaby is likely to play alongside one of Denilson or Aaron Ramsey.
Upfront, Robin van Persie has played a good few minutes already this season, and may be protected ahead of the weekend. That’d leave room for Nicklas Bendtner to come back into the side, alongside two from Andrey Arshavin, Emmanuel Eboue, and Eduardo.
An early goal for us would go a fair way towards killing the tie, so hopefully we play as we have thus far this season – with pressure high up the pitch, looking for an early goal.
Predictably, Arsene was asked about some transfer speculation that’s been doing the rounds. My increasing suspicion is that we won’t see anyone arrive before the window closes, and that view was only compounded by the manager’s declaration that he was not interested in St. Etienne’s Blaise Matuidi.
Perhaps any move would be contingent on the sale of Philippe Senderos. The player did agree terms with Everton on a move, but that seems to have since stalled. It’s clear Senderos is not being considered for selection at the moment, but I’m sure that would change (out of neccessity, really) once the transfer window expired.
Finally, a world where a thirty-four year-old with a history of injury problems can get a five year deal anywhere is a mad, mad world. Only in football, eh?
I’ve a feeling tonight could be entertaining. Come On You Gunners.
