All Arsenal fans expected Man United to park the bus and try and hit Arsenal on the counter-attack, but can you honestly call a side defensive when they are 2-0 up in just 10 minutes? Jose’s reputation for stopping teams could be reflected in the fact that have only conceded 9 goals this season (against Arsenal’s 19), but that ‘fact’ goes out the window when you see that the Devils have scored 35 in the 15 games so far (against Arsenal’s 29).
But whatever you think of Mourinho, you simply have to admit that the football played by both teams yesterday was exhilirating, explosive and extremely entertaining. I can’t remember the last time I saw such an exciting end-to-end battle that we witnessed yesterday. I don’t know how the players feel today but I was exhausted after the game just from watching it!
Wenger has always advocated that he will never play defensively just to try and steal a point (like Mourinho apparently) but he feels that he has a duty to entertain the paying fans and he refuses to stray from that philosophy for any reason at all. He famously made that point when we lost to Liverpool right at the beginning of the season: “To come out with the conclusion that you have to kick the ball in the stands to win football games, then that’s wrong.
“I believe at some stage you stick to your principles even if it doesn’t go as well as you want it. You don’t question things like that because you lose one game. That’s why people around the team should continue to believe in what we do.
“The best way to win is to perform. We have to convince ourselves to perform.”
Wenger has every right to feel aggrieved that we didn’t take the points yesterday, but you have to agree that he has certainly got the team entertaining the fans and performing to the best of their ability (except for the defensive mistakes and the missed open goals of course!) Every single fan and pundit was saying afterwards that that was an amazing spectacle for us, the fans, and in that respect Wenger is doing a wonderful job!
We don’t pay to be bored at the Emirates very often, do we?
G-Rude