About the most interesting thing to happen during today's match between the Red Devils and the Gunners was the fact that Ryan Giggs came on in the second half and made his 800th career appearance for SAF's side. Without a doubt the game was a huge disappointment yet both managers should be pleased with the 1-0 ManU victory. Although I full well almost fell asleep during the second half of this one, a few positive things did shine through. Hopefully soon to be naturalized British citizen Manuel Almunia was my (and many others' I presume) man of the match. If any of the other 3 keepers left in the CL, on their current form, had been standing in the Arsenal goal today, the Manchester scored would have tripled at least. This game was such a disappointment that I cannot even speak highly of the single goal that was scored. A weak effort at clearing the ball in the six yard area will always hurt you one way or another and in all truth and honesty it was God's way of making up for Carlitos' missed effort seconds before which led to the corner and subsequently the goal. Other than that, there really weren't too many bright spots. I can go on forever writing about everything that went wrong with today's game but for the sake of your precious time and boredom I will only touch on a few issues I feel are the most important. If Arsenal want to become a side which can win not only in the Premier League but also in European competition then they need to start acquiring proven players. I completely understand that Wenger's style includes the players' upbringing and youth coaching but in every case but one (today at least), the system has failed. The one bright spot today on the field was Samir Nasri. In my opinion he was the best player on the field other than his goalkeeper and maybe Wayne Rooney. The kid is a central midfielder with excellent ball control and the ability to go up and defend, but still needs to improve his weaker left foot. My complains to Wenger start with Theo. Completely unheard of today, unable to use his speed against a half decent defender in Evra, Theo Walcott needs to go on loan to a team like Everton or Villa where they play a strictly English style, straightforward, clean cut, with over the top long balls which he can latch on with his speed. Only on a team like that can he be the star and score goals. End of story. When he plays on such an international team like Arsenal where he is THE ONLY Englishman he looks lost. For whatever reason Arsene stuck him on the wing and restricted him from cutting inside where I believe his speed and cracker of a shot can be lethal. Another player who I was unable to comprehend neither his playing style nor the fact that he was actually on the pitch was Alexandre Song. Playing such an important position, in such an important game should not be left to someone with his lack of experience and awful touch. Barca has Yaya, Chelsea has Essien, Liverpool has Mascherano, is it really that hard to find a good defensive midfielder out there? Forget the market, Arsene has one on his bench. Why not Denilson? He's been holding up the defensive midfield role week in and week out in the Premier League and has been doing a damn fine job! And to go along with that you put alongside him poor Abou Diaby who cannot play for his life. Overall I think Wenger's style is appropriate for more experienced, older players because the young-ins don't understand. Arsenal attempts to play a style in which they try to conquer one area of 5 yard grass at a time and eventually hope to get a goal but against better teams this tactic doesn't work. They seem to want to give that extra pass over and over until they finally end up losing the ball. Attack the goal! Don't be scared! Especially on counter attacks, DO NOT step on the ball and wait for support, you only give more time for the defense to reset. Attack the defenders one on one, mano y mano, what's left to lose? Don't get me wrong, Arsenal have an excellent core of players like Fabregas, Adebayor, Van Persie and Arshavin but i believe if they want to win on a more consistent basis, and in European competitions they need their supporting cast to be more seasoned veterans. Manchester United today on the other hand did the bare minimum to get by. Yes, Sir Alex is rightly pleased with a small 1-0 victory but he should not be too excited about his teams playing style. Although they undoubtedly controlled the game, the team didn't look as sharp as they normally do. CRon was frustrated, their midfield was lax, and Ferdinand and Vidic didn't have much to do at all. When Giggs came on he brought a little bit of life that was missing but it wasn't enough. He was offside, it was an excellent call, which reminds me to commend today's referee crew who did a fantastic job, especially the Danish CR, Claus Bo Larsen, who did not bite at Ronaldo's weak dives. The best non-goal effort clearly belonged to the Devils' #7 who hit the crossbar with the type of shot that will be attributed to him for many years to come, but the problem with the effort is that it did not come from an organized attack but from a broken defensive mistake. Manchester cant rely on mistakes like that for too many goals although Almunia was beat and the ball sure dipped a lot. Other than that, not much to say. Quite a boring game (2nd half more so than the 1st) and I really hope that the return leg in London will bring much more excitement than this one did.
Thanks for reading,
FootyFetish15
