There’s one thing I’ve been thinking about a lot since our FA Cup win. Why does Arsenal match up so poorly against ManU recently?
The Invincible season our first game was a 0-0 draw, and the next a 1-1 draw and in both we barely created anything except in the second where Henry belted the ball in from outside the box.
We met in the FA Cup and they beat us 1-0. We didn’t create much there either. Same in the 2-0 defeat this season. The 4-2 defeat, well we scored two, but once ManU took they lead that was pretty much it.
Exception is the Community Shield where ran circles around them, Reyes? best game in an Arsenal shirt.
Contrast that with how Chelsea beats ManU almost at will. Even teams like Norwich do better in creating chances than us.
What is it about our manner of play that they find so easy to counter? You even see Darren Fletcher a journeyman if there ever was any, bossing Vieira in the midfield
Is it mental or tactical?
8 Responses to “Arsenal vs. ManU Question”
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May 27th, 2005 at 12:11 pm
they beat us twice (one through cheating) and finished 3rd by a distance
we beat them twice and got a sheild and a cup
May 27th, 2005 at 12:27 pm
I think this may go down as the eternal question, A-G. Maybe we find out when we die, which would be nice. ;^)
The only thing I can think of is they get under our skin and throw us off our game. Some managers thrive on the more fang-bearing elements to the game, and choose players that do too. Could be why United can get shut out by Norwich, and take it to us only a few short weeks later. Rivalries bring out different things in different teams. The reason that they’re behind us is probably because they don’t show up for just any game. Its got to be a fight. The Arsenal seem to strive to meet every challenge equally, and for the most part we’re good at it. Perhaps where we temper our game in order to play the brand of football that we do leaves us exposed mentally to the sheer tenacity and hatred that United feel for us.
Pound for pound, its pretty even if the game becomes a rough encounter provided both teams decide to play that way. Unfortunately, the most recent opportunity to go head to head in a straight up football match passed us by when Wenger chose to play more defensively in the FA Cup final. United came to play that day, and had we been up for it physically, we would have edged them in normal time.
It seems Wenger saw our overall fitness drop against B.City, and went with the 4-5-1 and a gamble. For that, he was shrewd. We have no idea of knowing how we could have been beaten had we decided to go with our conventional game plan in this tournament. I may not agree with the choice he made, but that’s why he’s the manager. It may have been the only way and he would know better.
I was worried that the players would mentally shut off after the Everton game. It had it all and seemed to be our last hurrah for the season in the home kits, Edu, Dennis, etc. It may have registered as our “final” match of the season with all its trappings. Not sure if that’s what happened, but according to Wenger and the 2-1 scoreline at B.City, there’s evidence to suggest it.
How do we beat United? Get them to play football with us. Get us to play football with them. If we can do that, with the new mental strength coming from old and young alike that’s learning to ignore the media and the past, we’ll win every time.
Good post.
May 27th, 2005 at 12:27 pm
Great way to look at it! We win the big ones!
May 27th, 2005 at 1:14 pm
I would imagine its part mental / part tactical.
We could have beaten them in the 4-2 match at Highbury. It was alot more open than usual… we just plaed poorly defensively.
I watched the FA Cup … twice.
I dare say Darren Fletcher didn’t come close to bossing Vieira around… not it the games I watched!
May 27th, 2005 at 2:39 pm
It’s obvious, Arsenal are too one-dimensional.
The top 3 in England is miles ahead of the rest, so Arsenal are good enough to win most games in the Premiership whether we are one-dimensional or not. As soon as we come up against a well organised team with top quality players, we struggle.
Hence why in the Champions League, where the quality is much higher all round, we always fail miserably.
May 27th, 2005 at 5:23 pm
More I watch the FA Cup final more I’m amazed at how they outplayed us.
TOO many lateral passes on our part. And too many sloppy passes and giving the ball away. Not enough spreading the ball around. Too much unwillingness to take on the ManU defenders, only exception being Robin. It seems everyone else made a lateral at the first sing of opposition.
May 27th, 2005 at 9:04 pm
WE WON THE GAME!
Get over it. It was a ONE off style, based on having no Henry…
and… WE… WON!
Do you really think we will be playing that style next season? why go on about it?
May 28th, 2005 at 11:33 am
Some of the stuff I saw was bewildering to behold, but according to Arsene, we were in a collective coma. Why we were so physically and mentally drained is anyone’s guess. I attribute it to the Everton game among other things. We pulled out all the stops and closed the season in our heads. It was the grand finale. And as much as we wanted to win, it was as if we had used up every ounce of creativity we had left. Happens to a lot of big clubs all over Europe, and with United having botched their season up good, they were up for it. I think the combination produced the bludgeoning that we all came to see.
But we did win it on arguably the worst form all season. That’s what great teams do.