Arsenal v Man United review – No luck and no points for gutted Gunners

Louis van Gaal changed his tactics to try to surprise Arsenal and counter his team’s defensive problems, with three central defenders and with Luke Shaw and Valencia playing as wing backs in a midfield five, with Rooney and van Persie up front. But it was not really working as the Gunners tok control of the first half and really should have scored at least one goal before the break.

Wilshere had an eventful half. He could have been sent off, should have won a penalty and found himself one on one with De Gea. But while his finish should have been better, the United keeper was in top form and he also denied Chamberlain and Welbeck with great work.

United did have some chances themselves, mainly in the last 10 minutes but it would have been terribly harsh if they had scored. The Gunners were on top again after halftime and Welbeck brought another top save from DE Gea in the first few minutes, although our striker should have done better.

But we then lost Wilshere who had been one of our best players after a bad tackle from McNair on his left ankle. He was replaced by Santi Cazorla but Arsenal were behind straight away. Fellaini was offside but not given and then Szczesny’s clearance fell to Valencia whose wayward shot hit Gibbs and went in. And our unbelievable bad luck was compounded with Szczesny having to be replaced by Martinez.

Somehow, without a single shot on target, the jammy Mancs were ahead. And then, of course, we had to take more risks and while we were doing good things going fowrds we did look mure vulneranle at the other end. And it looked like we would need something special to beat their Spanish keeper.

Wenger had just one sub left and he brought Giroud on for Ramsey with 20 minutes left. And Arsenal went on the attack and played some fantastic tricky football as we beseiged their box, but the goal just would not come. But as the clock ticked down we had to throw caution to the wind and while nothing ran for us, United got the chance and hit us on the break with a second to seal the win. It could have been three as well as Di Maria missed from another break.

And then with four minutes of injury time left, Giroud scored a beauty into the top corner. But another late comeback was not to be this time. Arsenal will play much worse and lose but I don;t think we will lose many games playing as well. THe fact is, though, that United go above us into fourth and we languish in 8th place.

Tags De Gea Rooney Wilshere

260 Comments

    1. Watch the anger boil over after Dortmund are done stripping & spanking our defense! AKB’s campaign for Arsene will grind to a halt eventually!

      1. how are people blaming Wenger today? was it him who missed all those chances? we played well we just couldn’t finish it. and I’m not defending Wenger at all because I want him out and Klopp or Guardiola in. but it wasn’t actually his fault.

        1. How do you explain Mertesacker playing so far upfront. Where is the manager to yell at him to stay back. Why is a CB playing RB and a LB playing CB? Why does Arsenal have any proper Strikers who can finish? Why is Ramsey playing in the first place. Where is Rosicky, Cambell and Poldi?

            1. Why is Bellerin clearly not ready? He’s done OK when he has played. He’s better at RB than Nacho is at CB. Monreal has played pretty well this year but it isn’t about how he plays. He’s just not a CB and will get beat in the air every time. ManU simply didn’t create any opportunities to exploit Nacho because they sat back. Monreal presents a big exploitable weakness and is going to get killed the air against teams that can cross the ball.

        2. Of course it was his fault.
          Wenger didn’t buy a WC striker.
          Wenger didn’t buy defenders.
          Wenger didn’t buy strong players.
          Wenger didn’t buy a DM.
          Wenger has no tactics.
          Wenger plays players out of position.
          Wenger plays boring football.
          Wenger is a mid table manager at best now.
          Wenger doesn’t let Bould manager defense.
          Wenger plays an average LB at CB.
          Wenger overplays players.
          Wenger doesn’t have the faith of the players.
          Wenger subbed an under performing Carzola on.
          Wenger didn’t tell Mertersacker to get back where he belonged.
          Wenger didn’t sub Podolski on (the one man that could have sealed that game as the ball was in or around UTD’d box for most of the game?
          Now what were you saying about it not being Wenger’s fault…?

    1. no not bad- just tired of seeing mourinho take the royal piss of wenger- an being proved right- over an over again!

      im beyond hating mourinho now, hes a winner an hes right.

  1. One commenter summed it up for me on Facebook with this excerpt:
    “Hubris (/ˈhjuːbrɪs/, also hybris, from ancient Greek ὕβρις) means extreme pride or self-confidence. When it offends the Gods of ancient Greece, it is usually punished. The adjectival form of the noun hubris is “hubristic”. Hubris is usually perceived as a characteristic of an individual rather than a group, although the group the offender belongs to may suffer consequences from the wrongful act. Hubris often indicates a loss of contact with reality and an overestimation of one’s own competence, accomplishments or capabilities, especially when the person exhibiting it is in a position of power.” This is our problem with Arsene Wenger!

    1. But we did beat man city 3-0 in the community shield! Chelsea are the only team winning when bad! Titles theirs!
      Must say before the game it was all about utds missing players and again never arsenals! I still feel with all players back, some desperately needed new buys in the window, then top 2 or 3 is a possibility!
      All teams need some luck and we ain’t getting any………
      Despite dortmunds league form I still think klop is the man to take us forward if/when the boss has too go!
      Why are podolski, rosicky and even Campbell all sitting on the bench? Lukas & Tomas are game changers!, as for Joel well what’s happening there?……….

  2. Im sorry but i have to say this AKBs are destroying arsenal not wenger,do want to know why?because they will act later as if they didnt see it coming

  3. And people are just chatting Wilshere hate just because they don’t like him because of a certain player..

    But look at that game, the moment Wilshere came off we lost any drive in midfield, just look back, his last contribution was that drive towards the United area. From then how many times did we attack from midfield?

    Wilshere was poor at shooting but he was our best midfielder today before getting injured.

    1. You are deluded,Wilshr would even not be on a bench of any big team.The lad has no any special quality,not a good dribbler,not a great passer,not a a good tackler,not fast and not combative(give up on chase).
      The only reason Wilshere plays is because he is a favourite of Wenger.
      The old man has decided in his mind that he will nurture young british players in order to get praise by the media,who cares if they are not good enough to make Arsenal a winning team.the guy like the french and and the british.He went for Debuchy and Chambers over Serge Aurier who was cheaper…..
      At the end of the day,he goes back to his wife and millionaire house in his milionaire car while you poor sod are crying over a defeat in your miserable life.
      The same for the mediocre millionaire players of Arsenal.They having a laugh right now in the arms of their models girlfriend while you are moaning.They get richer doing poo and you get poorer in trusting them.
      good luck brother

      1. Behave mate. He starts for england. At least jack gives everything. It not his fault that we got crap like arteta merts and monreal. There is one man to blame- wenger- he is not like a manager he just puts out the players and they just get on with it. Merts thought he was striker! Where was wenger?

        1. Apologies to Jack,I was too hard,he is a garsenal player and he does his best.
          The problem you see come from the fact that as an Wenger favourite he is made to play every games even when not in form and sometime at the place of some more deserving.
          I think and that count for the national team you should play on merit.
          The team globally is just not strong enough to challenge for title due to Wenger transfers and tactics unfortunately.
          I like all the arsenal players even if they are not the bests and at the end of the day,they are millionaire with i suppose a nice life,I am just a poor sod(no jealousy)
          Words can hurt surely but the million may hepl to sweeten it.
          Most of the fans are there by passion that why you get harsness but they all love the team and players.
          I wish Jack and all the players good but I say my point without ill intention.

    2. loool you deluded mug, wilshire was disgrace hes soo over rated rubbish, how he missed that simple shot plus losing balls counless times and lucky to stay on pitch your soo clueless

  4. Wenger became too emotional and too anoxius, hes not anymore wise, strategic, fresh, full of passion but he wont admit it, he loves club much and his pride makes him stubborn.
    Anyway i would gladly sacrifise one seasson with bad results so he leaves another.
    We need new manager, thats for sure.

    I still feel sorry to what he did to vermalen, i was quite sure kos@ verm with gibbs and maybi calum would be best back four. Instead he left dumb mert, another problem CDM, omg hes too emotional with artreta and flamini and they both fail big, the 3rd problem is definetly manager head which seems in veins of old image.

    1. In fairness, Per is a nice person & a good player. I really like the guy & wish he had all the other great defensive traits that all these other players with @$$hole personalities have… BUT he’s NOT good enough for Arsenal. I feel the same way about Arteta. However, they can still earn a few thousand quid elsewhere & we can replace them with sturdier, quicker, & grittier characters who will spare nothing to win a game. This season won’t be pretty. We are going to face a lot more heartaches and we can’t jump ship right now, but at the end of it, will need to man up & realize he’s not good enough to lead Arsenal in today’s changed face of the game! He still needs to go!

  5. For the third game running Wenger says in th epost mathc conference;

    “Defensively we were a bit naive. We were not cautious enough.”

    Yet he still plays the same players in defence every game.

  6. I thought Arteta was good today.

    No goals were his doing, and we all knew once we concede that late it will be like taking candy from sleeping baby.

    Monreal also did alright today, what could he do to prevent 2 nd goal, nothing.

    Overall we were beaten by a lesser team, this is becoming a problem.

  7. The boys did play decent football but luck was not on our side. If you watched, you would have seen better. They went away with two clear offside calls and one led to goal. Welbeck needs to improve and Ramsey needs to sit on the bench to read game, he seems to be loosing it. Alexis also needs to be a team player and stop being too selfish. Ox was very good today and Chambers has football sense. The team needs to sit and watch their games to figure out the problem, we get too carried away that we forget that the other team wants to score goals too. Overall, it was a decent game.

    1. Good points. I hope Ramsey goes on to be a club legend but right now he has no claim to even being on the bench for Arsenal. It is so painful watching him because every poor performance just reminds me of how good he was last season.

  8. I`ve been quite critical of Arsenal of late but from what I saw of this encounter and the commentators comments of the first half I am more than encouraged even though we lost.
    Giroud`s goal was a `pearler` and I`m sure it will do his confidence the world of good.
    After his goal we turned up the `wick`and it was good to watch the old Arsenal`s tempo.
    Wenger now needs the `gods` to shine on him and I think we should see some exciting stuff after Christmas.

    1. I was at the game, and it’s no good having umpteen chances in the penalty box and either passing the ball the death until we lose it (more likely), or hitting weak shots straight at the keeper. Likewise it’s no good letting every chance against us turn into a goal.

      Yes we were by far the better team – Man Utd were atrocious and very lucky, but at the end of the day it’s all about goals.

  9. “We have to be patient but there were a lot of positisves today” Wenger said quietly, his body language suggesting a manager under pressure after 18 years in charge of his club

  10. schzney is rubbish, chambers is just potential, mertersacker rubbish,monreal played out of position but in his favorite position hes rubbish , gibbs rubbish he should be in his peak years now but hes rubbish and a downgrade to the likes of cole,clichy of recent times, wilshire has potential ,ramsey has potential , chamberland has potential, arteta rubbish,cazorla has digressed , welbeck potential ,giroud rubbish starter decent sub, the only 3 players i believe would get into any team in the world is alexis ozil, walcott and maybe koschilney . so our team is mostly full of potential rubbish lol

  11. We were ‘naive’ and ‘wasn’t cautious’ in defence, for the third game running. Guess that means the same back four will start again in the same position against Dortmund.

  12. Ramsey before Man united game – ‘We must turn our season around against Manchester United’

    Doesn’t even turn up even though he was in the starting lineup. He has lost his box to box ability as well.

  13. We were rubbish in defense, rubbish in attack and good in the middle. We missed at least three open goals – De Gea was good, but presented with an open goal, we should be able to score at least one in three. Why didn’t Szczesny shout at Gibbs to leave the ball? That was a costly mistake that should’ve never happened. I can’t believe that Bould is coaching the back four, as if he was this situation would’ve been run through umpteen times in training. As we seemed to be having trouble thumping the ball into the back of the net wouldn’t Podolski have been the obvious sub, in place of Ramsey who didn’t seem to be doing anything?

    I can’t believe we will ever come up against a more rubbish Man Utd side again, and rather than bury them for once, we yet again put in a poor performance, and I think a lot of it is down to Wenger.

  14. Schez rubbish, per suicidal positioning late in the game! And this is from the vice captain 🙁 come jan buy kondogbia, schar, (and one more cb) and a left winger. Sell poldi, per and cazorla.

    1. Truth is SZCZ is an okay goalie but nowhere near De Gea! If the World Cup is anything to go by, then Ospina is more commanding between the poles than the Pole.

  15. Szec – Rubbish and would barely make the mid table teams first team. I can name 11 GK in the league above him in talent.
    Chambers – Started well than died out as the game went on.
    Mert – did a usual ‘solid job’ but his solid isn’t enough for our requirement. Needs to release the ball quicker, his decision making is slow like his pace
    Monreal – doing a fill in, really shouldn’t of got to this
    Gibbs – didn’t get as forward as legendary greats of the past are required. Seeing less of that as arsenal struggle on.
    Arteta – again did his ‘role’, but his role isn’t good enough. Too much time with the ball when he should be releasing better
    Ramsay – hasn’t offered himself in a positive position to receive the ball to progress the play forward. Was a high stat tackler last year, hardly anywhere to be seen this year
    Wilshire- drives play, but decision making is poor
    Ox – died out and less effective as game went on…as usual
    Welbeck – decision making poor, always been his problem
    Sanchez – one of his poorest games yet was our most busiest player…shows how poor the general standard has been

    Wenger – predictable tactics, and exposed when the right personal isn’t there…i.e. Defence, creative midfield, pacey wingers. Hence when key players are out, no other plans in place. Arsenal lost there balls when they conceded a goal, it shouldn’t be all hell for leather…and if that was the players…Wenger at least should of controlled them. Not a single sign this year of showing ability to defend as a team.

    When things are not going for you, I can’t see who is going to be the John Terry, Yaya Toure, Steven Gerrard of the team and be managing on the pitch, we had Tony Adams, we had Patrick Viera…now we have no one.

    It’s why future signing needs to be a defensive midfielder who is a natural captain IMO, or a solid defender who is a natural captain IMO or a goalkeeper who is a natural leader IMO

  16. When Arsenal can’t beat a Team Like Man Utd put out today it is time to take a real look at the Management team at Arsenal. Mr Wenger and Steve Bould should be sacked right now no waiting around. Under Wenger Arsenal play just one way that is PASS-PASS-PASS-PASS-PASS -PASS then lose the ball and get Sucker Punched at our own end. There is no Plan B and every other team in the Premiership knows this. We can’t defend we can’t finish all we have is PASS-PASS-PASS and so on nothing else. Arsenal are now 8th and dropping under Wenger’s Leadership, time for him to go and take the so called defence coach ( Steve Bould ) with him.

  17. Per for the second goal again went wondering up the park and then jogged back. Per if you feel the need to go up instruct monreal and arteta to stay back, take some bloody responsibility and show some leadership. Do we actually practice any of these scenarios in training? Look at chelsea and for each individual game each player knows exactly their role in attack and defence. Arsenal are drilled like a sunday league side. #wengerout. We need a new manager who can give the players a kick up the butt, they’ve become complacent and way too comfortable. First job for the new manager is several ins and outs.

  18. Klopp has gone on te record that he will listen to offers from English teams and that’s the only other league he will coach in. I think Man U stay with LVG until Giggs takes over. Chelsea will stick with Maureen ad Pool will stick with Rogers. Pretty much leavesArsenal wide open to bring him in if Wenger leaves graciously. If his ego will allow him to see/admit that he’s not getting it done and bow out I think Klopp could have us win the title within 2 seasons of taking over.

    Today I was hopeful but as soon as we missed the chances. From Welbeck & Wilshire’s criminal 1 on 1 chance I knew we weren’t winning and it would just be one of those games. Arteta I felt had a very strong game. Ox and Sanchez look like twins with their effort. You’ve gotta be impressed that Sanchez lasted the whole 98 minutes after playing 85 & 90 for Chile and flying 15 hours back to London. He’s the Terminator. Ramsey had a few selfish moments where a pass could’ve set up a better shot than he took.

    If we can’t sort out our back 4 and get them to play more responsibly anyone can beat us. Their decision making is gradeschool level and Wenger needs to be at the sideline screaming, directing, etc but he just sits silent.

  19. I can feel the board twitching
    A) because they will worry 4 th place money spinner is dwindling away
    B) if that happens we will have to spend millions to get back into the CL
    So predict either they will offer wenger 50/60 m to spend Jan hoping to save 4th
    Or the board will sell up and Ustanov will take over

    Or am I just dreaming

  20. Trust me,Wenger wouldn’t address the needs come January,he would probably loan a CB and that’s it. I wonder what Bellerin is doing on the bench when Chambers can take a CB position probably replace Per.

  21. Another thing we get 1 player back Giroud and another 3 injured, and so it goes on. Is it any coincidence that chelsea have one pkayer injured whos a fringe player in ‘Ake’. Thought wenger was meant to be the master of diet and training methods, were doing something very wrong and Chelsea are bread strong 🙁

  22. time for Klopp to come in…

    Klopp Guarantee titles…

    and he will bring in the entire world classs Dortmund team for free to replace the

    Deadwoods in our team….

  23. There are questions to be asked
    Why was jenkinson loaned out if Bellerin is not ready
    Why was Coquen( sorry can’t spell) sent out if he was good enough 12 games ago tom e named
    Why keep Campbell if he’s not good enough wouldn’t money from his sale be better spent on a CB
    Why when SAGNA/Viera/and other 30 plus players were only offered 1 year contracts yet we are now scratching a midfield together with flamini/Arteta
    Why when things are not working e.g Moreal at CB do we persist with it
    I can put all these decisions down to wenger, and that’s not bringing up the lack of signings

  24. ok, i didnt see the game, didnt wtch score lines, it was a nice day with the family, hell after seeing the score i wasnt even sad, nor angry…thats where this Arsenal has lead some fans, sadly.

    but idont blame the players, hell Giroud finally scored vs a “big” team, and United are like this:

    United have drawn at Sunderland, lost at MK Dons, drew at Burnley, lost at Leicester, drawn at West Brom and lost at Manchester City, a pitiful away record under Van Gaal, let me repeat it:

    United have drawn at Sunderland, lost at MK Dons, drew at Burnley, lost at Leicester, drawn at West Brom and lost at Manchester City, a pitiful away record under Van Gaal.

    and we have top notch players,

    so, sadly, its AWs time

  25. 1 pass. Jack to Sanchez. 1 bad decision – Sze and Gibbs. I piece of bad luck – ball deflecting off Gibbs.

    Very different outcome. Close but no cigar. Should have been all over in the 1st half.

    Hugely frustrating.

  26. Wilshere was not one of our best players? What did he do? Received the ball in dangerous positions and did nothing with it screwing our best chances? Not scoring was inexcusable and he could have passed the ball to Sanchez for a tap in. The head butt on Felani was idiotic. He loses his cool over nothing every match.

    Wilshere, Ramsey and Carzola have all been poor most of the year (Wilshere has had a few moments the other two have done nothing), yet Rosicky never gets an opportunity.

  27. Ramsey, wilshere, welbeck are all greedy when in front of goal…none of these guys pass to sanchez when near the goal…looks like they cannot digest the popularity of sanchez.
    Fully fresh sanchez would have won this game alone…..he was exasperated no.of times when the ball was not passed and others made poor attempts.
    Wenger is so stupid..some of the fans are also stupid to praise wilshere… Are u all blind…
    Wilshere provides nothing other than running around like a headless chicken..always runs right at the defence and loses the ball..ever passes to the wings…
    Average manager with some AVG players…not the Arsenal.
    Bring back henry,berk atleast seeing them in stands will be some felief

  28. I would like to tell arsenal fan that the transfer window is not arsenal’s problem.Let explain what is in my mind.We need to reinforce our team but we need to think in the future that most of the high class players are going to refuse signing for arsenal fc because of Mr Wenger’s philosophy.It looks like arsenal becomes cemetery of players.How many players came in and left because of performance,became good players out of arsenal.We need to accept all of the transformation Mr wenger brings in arsenal but now it does not work.Why??? because lack of tactics,strategies and pretending best players for Mr wenger mind but in reality those players do not get standard of best player.Mr wenger wants to prove everybody that he is wright that players who are calling by wenger are best.I means Mr wenger is the only one can see all matter in good position or bad.He is wrong by thinking this way.He does not like criticism.he is the mind of arsenal.Everything he can say or defend is wright.Think about morrinho comments about arsenal!!!!Why he likes to be arsenal coach!!!!
    One thing I want to say about arsenal players,I think everybody watch arsenal games.We have got short mind players who play two good games and the rest shameless.They are working hard in the training ground for catching Mr wenger’s mind to let them play;what is behind their (players) mind to be the most regular players.Those players have no vision even ambition;they are never becoming high class and their carriers are going to finish in arsenal after arsenal we are going to see them playing for championship.They do not care to become legend as Ian wright,Vierra, Berckam,piress,Henry…What is the big behind their mind to use wenger name to be selected in national team.They are not able to face different leagues in the world.
    We have got almighty players who do not care about anybody because they receive praises from wenger,they can work hard or not ,it is not their problem because they are almighty first choices.For others who are not almighty first choice what they can do just waiting the end of their contract to refuse signing or praying one team in the Europe to take them out of arsenal .consequence of miserable players, they are going to end up by stopping play football because of lack of competition.
    We have got selfish and arrogant players who they do not know about the team mate.they do not give any chance to a team mate to score.They were not born leader,they have got bad heart to accept their mate as good play or leader.I know you can establish yourself a leader but not in this way because you miss some potential of talent in you.keep working hard.
    Why have we got those player? because the lack of discipline in arsenal team.Look at ferguson as Manchester united;no almighty,no big and no important players.Sanctions are front of players’ doors whoever you are.I know someone is chosen as discipline mate in arsenal but a lot of complain between them.Arsenal players,their body language looks like they hate themselves.There are no unity between them.They are not happy.they do not want play for one (one team one goal or one team,one leader and one goal) because many of them they are there for longtime why them just come and become a leader.this is a question of light of one of you.and you can be lighted by him.One thing arsenal players forget.let light of one of you to be shone then you are going to get your part.
    We do not need the heart of God father in the arsenal to accept everything,like Wenger doing .It is time for wenger to be thanked and left arsenal the big family in peace.Wenger’s praise is conjugated in the past.He need to accept because he has risk to be no remembered coach for many thing he has done for arsenal but your place is in administration.

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