Arsenal philosophy as much as tactics won it! by Sam P
Arsene Wenger and many Arsenal fans will have felt that the Gunners should have been ahead at the break against Manchester United on Monday night. We had been fairly adventurous and had looked the more dangerous of the two sides, despite United actually shading it on the possession stats.
But having seen one of our typical switch offs in defence allow Rooney to cancel out Monreal’s opener after a couple of minutes, it would perhaps have been understandable for Wenger to blink first and try to make the Gunners more solid defensively.
But it was Louis van Gaal who thought his team needed a tweak, replacing Herrera and Shaw with Carrick and Jones at halftime. As we know, it did not help and almost handed the initiative to Arsenal. The pressure on their defenders told and they struggled to break us down again after Welbeck scored.
It has been hailed as a tactical triumph for Wenger over his rival and it was, but it was also a triumph of Wenger’s philosophy with Arsenal to play attacking football and try to win games rather than hold out and nick a goal.
What is making us harder to beat is the belief in the players, the emergence of Coquelin and the fact that the players are really starting to play for each other and operate as a team. Does that suggest that Arsenal could finally challenge for the title next season?