The so-called ‘weakened team’ for Man United did not really materialise even though Jose Mourinho did make 8 changes from Thursday’s Europa League semi-final, and also included one very promising youth player.
It looked like both teams were set up to try and keep possession and try and find a threatening through ball so there was some boring sideways passing from the Gunners in the first half. United were given two very good chances in the first half hour,, especially when Holding mucked up a back pass to Cech and nearly gifted Rooney a goal.
After the 30 minute mark though Arsenal went through a purple patch for a few minutes and we came close. Ramsey was looking dangerous with his runs and he had a golden opportunity to put Arsenal in front but missed the ball completely. It’s a bit worrying when our best chances fall to a player that hasn’t actually scored for over a year!
The first half ended honours even but I would have to praise Xhaka for a couple of excellent long balls forward, and the Ox looked dangerous down the wing but invariably the last ball was never going anywhere as usual. Even his one shot from outside the box hardly bothered De Gea even after a deflection.
The second half would surely be more exciting than the first half and suddenly after 8 minutes Granit Xhaka took a speculative shot from outside the box that got a wicked deflection from Herrera’s back and saw the ball loop over De Gea and into the net. This should liven up the game!
Arsenal are suddenly in the driving seat and just 3 minutes later the Ox fires a brilliant cross which was met just as well by Danny Welbeck the double Arsenal’s lead. Amazing stuff! Could Mourinho finally be set to lose to Wenger at last. It’s looking good….
I was left hoping that the rest of the game would be very boring. Wenger replaced Xhaka with the more defensive Coquelin to try and shore up the defence, while Mourinho threw on Lingaard and Rashford to put some pressure on. Wenger responded by bringing on Bellerin and Giroud for Welbeck and the Ox.
All that remained was for Arsenal to hold on to the ball for the last few minutes and so it proved although Cech still had one easy save to make.
Wenger has finally beaten Jose Mourinho in a League game and he can now retire gracefully! Although he still looked very worried in the final few minutes. Ramsey was given Man of the Match by Sky, but he still hasn’t broken his scoring duck…
Could Arsenal win the rest of their games and still sneak into the Top Four. You never know…..
Admin
Doesn’t change anything.
Wenger out
Actually, now that he has beaten Mou, he can retire in peace! Wenger win the FA and leave on a semi-high come on do the right thing. You have nothing left to Manage for. Le tsomeone with hunger and new ideas come and take this team somewhere better.
No it doesnt but a real Arsenal fan will at least show some pleasure of winning a match and beating Mourinho
I want Wenger out but never want Arsenal to lose or sad when they win
Cech- 7.5
Koscielny – 8.5
Holding – 7.5
Gibbs – 8
Moreal – 7
Xhaka- 8
Ramsey – 8.5
Oxlade – 10 (wish I could go higher)
Ozil – 5.5
Sanchez – 6.5
Welbeck – 8
not far from my ratings,
Are the thumb downers cross about their beloved ozils rating ?
it’s not low enough for me
WTF!
So over rated!
How to get Wenger to finally beat Mourinho? Tell him 4th place trophy is at stake!
?
Important win by the gunners coyg!
This is like with no g the CL for Wenger
Ramsey my MOTM coyg
Holding should play more. He seems to be a sensible defender.
Top 4 seems a long shot though.
As someone said, means nothing.
We potentially have 4th place as a remote possibility so that we can underperform when it’s really required. Coffers for the board probably meant Stan took the time out to send a text to Wenger to ensure the boys were motivated.
Too little too late as always with AFC under AW.
A win is a win but sadly it is like old Arsenal we do it when we have no pressure and are not in control of our destiny. This does not spell a new dawn for next year.
It is just great to beat Mourinho even if he was missing or resting some of his best players. You know that guy hates losing let alone losing to “the specialist in failure”. I love it. Look at the money they invested, not to get a return this year must hurt. Unless of course you count that second rate Europa cup as a return.
Uh-oh Ramsey got MOTM award. Hide the knives!
Hey, don’t dis the pundits even a broken clock is right twice a day.
Ox was my MOTM, he was the only one to keep the crowd awake!
by a mile.
This was not a close call – Ox for sure
Still no improvements in the ball possession and passing departments, but they were lucky and wanted more than Manchester United. Those long crosses to the tall target man will not work against top European teams (Manchester United is currently not one of them) without luck.
There were still a lot of mispasses and misunderstandings, but this can be amended by getting more midfielders and defenders that have better technical quality, like Holding. Ramsey also performed better today, apart from some misunderstandings. Hopefully they keep using Welbeck in the front and replace Ozil with Iwobi to dictate the tempo better.
Good to see Rambo back to his old self today he really worked his socks off
He was played in a position more natural to his tendencies is why
Wenger has shut us up today! Lol!
I am ready to fall at his feet and beg for forgiveness. How could I ever have doubted his ability to lead us to the promised land?
All hail Lord Wenger! I replaced my cross with his face. My new religion
Instead of Jesus on a cross I’ve got AW on a number 4 lol *Bows down in worship*
Worship the specialist of failure? Just because defeat eluded him today? …
Until the first goal, which lets face it came with a massive slice of luck – no one was expecting it, the crowd wasn’t happy, we then seemed to wake up after that – and the team as well!
Yes, this changes nothing
It’s still Wenger out!
Next 2 games against Soton and Stoke away… Let’s see what we do.
Vital gunners win
perfect time to sell ox ? so we can get some money
Your have a keen business mind by friend.
Well done to Wenger for breaking his premier league Mo – Duck ?
Sanchez is Gone, Ozil went missing in patches and The Ox got star man again.
The Wenger trophy is back on, expect the lap of honour, after our final league game against Everton.?
Now he’ll sign da ting
Nothing to gloat about this. Jose meant what he said, their team hardly looked interested and have more.important things to fry. Meanwhile , this win could turn out to be a bad for us in long term as Wenger may decide to stay and cause more harm than good.
Don’t know how to feel.
It was good win and good defensive performance from team…. I think 3 at back suiting Arsenal Compared to 4-2-3-1 formation…. 3 at back gives more cover in the defense… But Man Utd certainly looked very careless about game….. You could see Jose’s reactions during closing stages of the game…. He was having his mind on Europa Cup because that is the main door for Utd to make a Champions League… No doubt it was good performance but things could have been different if Pogba, Rashford, Valencia all would start the game….
all hail wenger, wenger is god , wenger is king , wenger is FLUKEY.
25 game unbeaten man u run snapped by the gunners coyg!
don’t hate me guys but sanchez’ body language is telling so much, 55mil pounds to bayern is not bad what do you guys think.
We can get more from him, 60-65 in Europe like PSG, Inter etc… And around 80 -90 if he decides to go to China
China coming for him would be best case scenario. That would be nice. Even better would be if they got Ozil
I’m all for it. He doesn’t want to be here, it’ll stop him going to Chelsea after his contract runs out… Use the money to get a star striker that we’ve needed for ages. There’s nothing we can do to keep him here anymore, and 55mill sounds like a good price for someone who has a contract ending next season.
I think we should let him go if that much amount we are getting… We can certainly get Gotze from Borussia who is equally much talented in wide areas…
I said singlr wheeler Ozil with get lost. He did. I said the High Priest of Lies and mental tactic poverty also know as Deluded one still has 0 clue. He did it again. Even though he won, this is a game his team could pump 4past MNUre. Deluded one is so mean he cannot even over price his players. Shud roundup OG,sanogo,debuchy,wilchair et al and dispose them asap. Deluded one should keep Gibbs atleft wing and buy left back. Deluded one should grow the balls to bench Ozil. The guy only show his balls when buying or increasing salary. Otherwise hiss crystal ball are long gone. Welbeck was bought without his authority so this means someone else can buy or did he fool us there. If so, how deluded are we
Ok – he didn’t look his normal energetic self today, but he was still doing useful things. He doesn’t particularly like being on the left wing, and if he has to be there, he much prefers linking up with Monreal than Gibbs, and there is much less need for him to fall back, as he likes doing with the new setup, so things weren’t ideal for him to show off his talent. As far as I could see he looked very happy when the goals were scored.
Arsenal supporters are never satisfied.
What Ines do you refer to Tim?
The ones that turn up for a day out as someone they know has a season ticket and they can’t be arsed anymore to watch the games themselves because they don’t like what goes on at the club, or could you possibly be referring to those who have long supported AFC (pre Wenger) and who are frustrated with the repetious seasons of mediocrity under him and his staff and playing teams?
Pray tell , young Tim?
“What supporters ” not Ines;)
I think the Arsenal supporters who want to break the cycle of the last 5 years.
Is it just me. When we lose a game just few loyal fans will stick to the site. When we win the site experience a traffic jam by fickle fans screaming ” all hail Wenger the king of England”.
It took this man 17 years to beat Mourinho.
@ArseOverTit . It just seems that even when Arsenal win a game some people are never satisfied. They seem to feel the need to criticise for the sake of it.
Any new manager will be on a hiding to nothing trying to please those supporters.
Tim, this is because to the majority of the fans this period is about the future of the club not about the outcome of one game.
I was very happy to beat Mourinho, but I concede that it doesn’t change anything with respect to the problems at the club. In fact, I hope we win every remaining game but that doesn’t mean we did anything special. In fact, this is typical Arsenal we perform when it doesn’t matter and when there is no pressure. Many fans are afraid that the fickle fans only have a one game memory and will see this rather meaningless victory as proof that the previous 393 games were a blip or a mistake or never happened.
That makes a victory over Mourinho a lot less exciting or impressive than if it happens in December when we are still competing for the PL or even a top 4.
Not at all.
I love ARSENAL not Arsene and the facts speak for themselves. When Arsene has gone I will still be here as I was before him.
This was for @tim
Nice result and good effort though against a 2nd string Man U focusing on bigger things.
Playing the new formation with three at the back really suits Arsenal’s high defensive line. Not starting with Giroud was a really good move. There was some real desire to win, and it was the best performance in a long time. Lots of positives today.
However we were flattered by how dreadful Man U were, especially in the second half. Even though the new formation is proving fruitful at the moment, what if it becomes stale & needs tweaking next season (Due to strategic development from other teams) or players lose form and need to be dropped, and changes don’t happen until 5 years after they are needed. History tells us that is more than likely.
Despite a good game & great result today, the worry is it’s just another spike in a general downward trend, like beating Chelsea earlier in the season. That’s the elephant in the room today, which is why many fans can’t help but feel ambivalent today despite the win.
We won….. The Mo-yoke is broken
.
Who cares?……we are still where we are…..Nothing’s changed yet!
If u love a club, u should be happy when such club wins any game no matter what. Supporting Arsenal is different from supporting .Am happy we won today. FA cup n top 4 is better than nothing, which r still achievable
If u love a club, u should be happy when such club wins any game no matter what. Supporting Arsenal is different from supporting Asene. Am happy we won today. FA cup n top 4 is better than nothing, which r still achievable
Mediocrity will continue to be the norm with Wenger in charge.
sorry
holding is better than gabriel, he shows a lot of maturity and calm enough to play in a big match. should keep him in the first team.
This felt gooood. Finally the mou curse is lifted. If there is any takeaway from this season, this would be it.