Man Utd vs Arsenal

April 11, 2008 | 108 Comments

[Update: LDE's preview has been added]

With each passing week, the sense of disappointment has increased. It is quite unfortunate that all of Arsenal’s weaknesses have been on display for everyone to see. Their “dirty laundry” was out in the open starting with the Carling Cup loss when the first signs of tensions within the squad emerged. And what happened in the games after the 2-0 Blackburn win has been documented enough times. Still for me each new game started with hope that maybe, just maybe Arsenal will spring into life. Despite all their problems and bad patch of decisions given against them, Arsenal still find themselves only 6 points adrift at the top with 5 games to go. All of Arsenal’s lifelines have been used up for this season. Their fate has not been in their hands for a while now. So the only thing Arsenal can do is to win all their games and hope for the best.

As for me, I can only offer another story when I think of Sunday’s game.

[Climatic Scene of 2008: A football odyssey]

The Hero walks into a room packed with 88 opponents. The young Hero is brave and confident and calmly proceeds to take on each opponent one by one. After he has dispatched about 40 or so men, he is still standing strong yet panting a little. However, by the time he has taken out 66 men, he is clearly tired. Unfortunately, there is no time for rest as the Hero only came by himself, leaving all his sidekicks home. Also, some of the Hero’s sidekicks were still nursing their wounds from previous battles. The last 12 opponents prove to be quite tough for the hero as he is repeatedly beaten up and injured.

The Hero is knocked out and finds himself lying on the floor, almost lifeless. Just before his eyes shut, he remembers why he is fighting in the first place. He is fighting for a better future, a future where good and virtue would prevail. Images of his 19 year old son flash before his eyes, and with the speed and agility of a young boy, he gets up and knocks out the 88th person. Victory is achieved. Or so the hero thinks.

A rule for an action movie is to only celebrate when all the corpses have been confirmed terminated. One never turns their back on some half-dead opponents. As the Hero is limping away, one solitary opponent rises and delivers one final blow to the hero. The hero is knocked unconscious. The room doors open and in walks Fernaldooney, an old rival of the hero. Fernaldooney looks at the lying body of the hero and is delighted. He can finally put his rival to rest.

[Flashback]: The Hero and Fernaldooney have a long history of rivalry. In total, the two have been involved in 202 fights with Fernaldooney winning 81 and the hero claiming 76 wins. The remaining 45 fights had to be abandoned for various reasons like the arrival of police, etc. However, in the last 13 Premier fights Fernaldooney and the Hero are tied with each claiming 4 wins & the remaining 5 bouts drawn. There have been some memorable victories claimed by each rival with the Hero winning historic fights in 1998, 2002 and even in 2006/2007 while also suffering some humiliating defeats as well. Also, there was one fight in 2004 where Fernaldooney cheated and won a fight unfairly. [End Flashback]

Fernaldooney feels no threat from the Hero and is moving in for the final kick. However, the camera pans towards the ground and shows slight movement in the hero’s right hand.

###@@@@@@
##%#%#%#%# Missing Reel ##%#%#%##$###%#$######

[End. Roll credits]

Confused Audience Member #1: “What the f*** was that about?”
Audience Member #2: “Damn. That bastard Tyler Durden took the final reel home, again!”
Audience Member #1: “Who the hell is Tyler Durden?”
AM #2: “You know that guy who worked over at Fincher’s Club F. on 19th and 99th”
AM #1: “Nope, no idea who he is.”
AM#2: “Well he often takes reels from movies and then splices them on matinee shows on Sat and Sun.”
AM#1: “So when will this reel show up?”
Audience Member #3: “I believe going by his track record, he might show it on a morning show on Sunday.”
AM #2: “At this theater?”
AM #3: “No, probably at Theater D”
AM #1: “Well, hopefully the ending is worth it”
AM #2: “Yeah who knows, if things go good for the Hero, there might even be a sequel.”
AM #1: “Who knows. The Hero was pretty badly bruised.”
AM #2: “Yeah. But come on, who does not like a happy ending?”
Am #1: “Well, let’s see what Sunday brings.”

Here’s LDE’s Analysis:

I’m finding it really hard to think tactics for this game. I’m finding it really hard because on paper and form-wise it looks like an absolute mismatch. It looks an absolute mismatch because United’s front line is on absolute fire and anyone who plays seem to score goals. I don’t think football wise we’re any poorer or better than United. I think Arsenal and United play arguably the best football in the premiership albeit with very contrasting styles. In big games; no matter how much you want to argue form goes completely out of the window. Like in a derby; However badly Spurs are playing they will always always raise their game for The Arsenal and will give us a game. Same here..

Lets take a quick tactical look then shall we. Rooney and Ronaldo against Gallas and Senderos. The Roo man never never fails to score against us; just like Adebayor always scores against Spurs. So if we count one goal from him and one goal from Ronaldo off his left hip muscle it means we have to score 3 to win. Ideally though it’ll be nice if we can stop the 2 from going in in the first place itself. It’d also be nice if for a change people stop being blind about the number of aerial boobs Gallas has made as well; which have contributed to Senderos being beaten on the ground(Like the Second goal against Pool..ouch that hurts)..Still if WillyG can pop up with a crucial winner like at the Emirates; I’ll take a gaffe anytime. Maybe the experience of Gilberto isn’t such a bad thing after all in the closing stages of the season. If he can mark Ronaldo out of the game along with the two CB’s then we might have a chance. I’m fairly certain Tevez will not have too much joy against either Clichy or Kolo; Sagna got injured at the worst worst possible time IMO. Someone made a wonderfully insightful point about Clichy getting shut out by Dirk Kuyt…big big point. Just proves once again how important fullbacks are to Arsenal; more than any other team. If Clichy n Kolo can get forward more often than not we make muchmore of an impact. Which leaves me with an interesting question:

When do you know Arsenal are not playing well?
1) When Hleb and Fabregas begin to lose the ball in midfield.
2) Clichy/Sagna stop getting forward

Hence its imperative for our “wingers” to somehow force Right Back X and Evra to defend or drag them around. This so that our fullbacks can get forward and put crosses in or link up with the forwards…yes we score from crosses as well this season. Now if Clichy keeps getting forward or Kolo keeps getting forward I’d like you to carefully watch Ronaldo and how many times he is the one doing the closing down. I fancy you’d see very few…more often than not you will see Carrick,Scholes or Anderson closing the wing play down to release Ronaldo upfield === Ronaldo is not a winger. Anyway that hardly matters. Since all three of United’s strikers drive through the middle most of the time; the role of Fabregas and Gilberto becomes very crucial to ensure that Anderson, Carrick or Scholes do NOT find Ronaldo and Rooney even alone against our CB’s. This is the key to prevent United from scoring. Also a little more discipline from set pieces might help a little more.

Lastly to our strikers, RVP surely surely has to score. Arsene will play a 4-4-2 at OT; not a 4-5-1 — all the noises point very firmly in that direction. If RVP scores tomorrow and we win everything is forgiven; all those missed chances and all those injury months out. With Vidic out United are vulnerable at set pieces and Ade who has improved in the air or Gallas/Toure/Gilberto/Senderos could exploit this to our advantage. Rio cannot be at full fitness though I’d hardly want to think too much about it. Wes Brown is no better or worse as a CB than any of our CB’s including the much maligned Senderos….sorry. Owen Hargreaves will probably play at RB which is a very solid option; wasn’t he the best player for eEngland when he played there in the WC??

It’ll be tight and we need to win this in the mind before we win it on the field. How much of the mental baggage will the guys be able to put aside and come back and fight if we go 1-0 down? If we’re able to take it into the last quarter at 1-1 there’s a big big chance of us winning the game. However I doubt we’d be able to do it that easy — United are a (much as I hate it) side on championship winning form and it’ll take a lot more than just hard work to stop them. We need a win — not a draw tomorrow. So then we can build on that and try and win our last 4 games and take it to the last week somehow where anything can happen.

An optimistic gooner I am and will always be – ManU 1 – Arsenal 2

Posted by Sachin | Filed Under Mailbag