Should Arsenal worry about `lucky` Man United results?

One of the few redeeming features about the way Arsenal have stuttered, started and stopped so far this season is that, apart from Chelsea, none of our big Premier League rivals were punishing us. So despite being a massive 12 points worse off than we were at this point of last season, the Gunners went into the weekend just a point or two outside of the top four and with the likes of Liverpool, Man United, Everton and Tottenham not really giving us much to worry about.

But although that continues to be true, I am starting to worry about the results if not the performances of United. Louis van Gaal must have a room full of four leafed clovers and rabbits feet at home because they have won the last five games in a row now and they were only the better team in one of them. The Dutchman was happy to admit that they got away with murder again at St. Mary’s.

Last night’s clash with Southampton went along a very similar path to their game at the Emirates a couple of weeks back. They were outplayed and really poor defensively and going forwards. Yet they were gifted an opening goal and somehow came away with all of the points. United’s five game winning run also includes narrow wins over Stoke and Crystal Palace in which their goal was under siege for large periods and their winning goal over Stoke was offside. But De Gea has been on fire and they just seem to be getting the rub of the green.

Meanwhile we have had lots of bad luck and have not got the points we deserved. But they are now five points ahead of us in third place and with their injury problems starting to ease and the January transfer window nearly upon us, and with the confidence these results has given them, United will surely improve.

So should Arsenal fans worry or can we expect their poor performances to start getting the results they deserve?

Tags Southampton Van Gaal

31 Comments

  1. 5 things we learned.
    1.Poldi still packs a punch.
    2.Rambo is starting to find the fine form he was in last season.
    3.Wenger needs to rotate more with Campbell,Poldi.
    4.Debuchy’s injury was a very big blow to us defensively.
    5.Future is bright.

  2. Three things we learned.
    1 Galatasaray are useless.
    2 Arsenal play better when
    there is nothing to play for.
    3 Arsenal finished second in their group.

    1. What we should do after what we learned, useless if no action taken
      1. We do have decent defense when everyone is healthy. We just serious lack depth, at least 1 good versatile defender is needed, as soon as Jan
      2. Arsenal (including Rambo) play better when the pressure is off them a little bit. I think us fan would start supporting the team more even when we have a few bad results. Judge them when season end – any drastic change now just destabilize the team further. They may earn millions and are professional but most of our team are actually in their early 20s, with not much experience in handling heavy pressure.
      3. Galatasaray fan is awesome, if Arsenal to win any title, the 12th man must be like them. When Arsenal concede first at home, Emirate is like a church. Do your job first than request same commitment from your manager and players.
      4. Poldi should be given more chances, at least more minutes from the bench, not last 10-15 mins. But he himself need to work harder in his defensive game (he made the least tackles and interception compared to Welback or Giroud) to impress the manager. Manager’s favorites are not deserve to be in first team without trying, same apply for fans’ favorite.
      5. Campbell is good but still not at the same level as the Ox, Walcott, Poldi yet – he need to be patient.

  3. Van Gaal is draggin Utd up
    by the boot straps.
    He is totally driven and has
    orders to get top 4 or fack off.
    If he survise this season
    next season his orders will be
    win the league or fack off.
    Mourinho knows if he does not win
    the league this year he will be sacked.
    Pellegrini must win the league again by 2016
    or he is sacked.
    Wenger has no pressure to ever win the EPL again.
    Not saying the expectations of any of these clubs
    are right or wrong. Just saying this is how it is.

    1. Thank goodness I have the intellectual capacity to understand this simple fact.
      Well put @davidnz. Laid out in simple-to-understand language.

    2. and if you want evidence of this, transfer window activity, the other managers were done with there transfer business (managers who didnt swap teams that is) with in a week, arsene didn;t even finish during the whole window, not that he cared cause he was in rome and brazil when he should’ve been looking for defenders, arsene doesn’t are he’s’ happy collecting his paycheck and heading home

  4. Its baffling that Sanogo is ahead of akpom on the pecking order, its like wenger hates rewarding good players with a place on the first team

    1. It’s easy. Sanogo is stronger than Akpom. Out of 10 balls maybe Sanogo can use 5. Akpom is too light and all that’s enough is to get some treatment from the defense in order to finish his game. Besides, they are not the same profile. Sanogo is Giroud/Crouch style while Akpom is more of Welbeck style with lots of movement.

  5. No I don’t think we should worry we just need to focus on our own results and performances right now.

    But I have to admit it’s eating me up inside seeing them picking up points knowing how bad they are. They literally get dominated by any1 now at least w moyes they played decent

    1. “They literally get dominated by any1 now at least Moyes they played decent”
      With the injury they have Moyes would not have sit on the third spot.If we are going to call their wins ‘lucky’, what are we going to call Arsenal wins so far?Can you tell me, Arsenal games that was played with a complete domination except the Aston Villa game.I have seen most of the games of Man Utd.

      Against Chelsea with most of their defenders out like 5, they almost won they game.Against City with most of their defenders out with injuries and with ten men they almost equalized.And Against Arsenal, they were playing with 2 wingers, two 19 year old at the defense.which gives them the perfect reason for being dominated and with the tactics their manager use they beat Arsenal.After that with Hull, they completely dominated the game and with Stock City. it was 50/50.Yes with Soton they were completely dominated but they managed to win the game because they know exactly how to use their chances.

      So, I know everbody hate Man utd but lets be realistic.

      1. details matter: v manu, Per was horribly out of position upfield chasing the 1 goal we were behind. unforgiveable. and cost us the match. very poor discipline. but he was better versus gala. he’s regressed from last season. we need 2 CB and 2 CDM (1 if diaby can play 10 games+)

      2. @ kam
        I can’t stand these so called f*ckin fans on here, when we refer to our injury list for our performances or losses were making excuses BUT for Man U your pointing to there injuries as the reason they suck. smfh.

        And your right let’s be realistic stoke, west brom, us, Southampton even palace was laying siege to their goal. So try and pry your lips off there nuts cause you sound ridiculous.

        O ya we dominated spurs, united, Chelsea YES Chelsea they were so lucky that day, city we should’ve won Dortmund. Should I keep going? O and united played a back 5 like p*ssys so seriously jog on

        1. “O ya we dominated spurs,
          united, Chelsea YES Chelsea
          they were so lucky that
          day, city we should’ve won
          Dortmund. ”

          Domination?I don’t Know what kind of definition you use for domination.Arsenal did not dominate against Chelsea or City.How can a team say we have say we have dominated the game, when the team didn’t had a single shot on target? ( against Chelsea).

          How many points did arsenal dropped against those teams.
          10 to be exact, even if Arsenal has domonated like you claimed, domination with out points is useless.

          1. Damn you seem pretty slow are talking about results are performances? Let me make this easier for you I was referring to how bad united has been this year.

            And I never said we dominated city that was a good game and yes we dominated Chelsea they couldn’t put together 2 passes in the 2nd half till the 76th minute.

      1. if those goals boost up his ego (as i think they will) and bring him back to 2013 Q4 form (i’m hoping they will), then they definitely will not have been worth nothing.

    1. I feel like we should celebrate this victory. The House of O-Grillz would like to invite you all over for a barbecue. I’ve been Grilling a bunch of food since my injury and would love to Grill some food for you guys.

  6. Should Arsenal worry about `lucky` Man United results?

    Nope! We should have built a squad and created our own luck instead of worrying about others!

  7. This site should start a discussion board where people can discuss what they want instead of hijacking discussion about the topic of the article. It is really annoying that people never stay on topic. The vast majority of comments made here have nothing to do with the topic of the article.

  8. Addressing the question posed in the title, yes Manchester United has been lucky. Yes, we should be concerned that they will probably finish ahead of us – not because of luck but because not competing in Europe (like Liverpool last year) is a huge advantage. Finishing 3rd is better than 4th.

    The good news is that Liverpool appears to have more problems than we do so 4th place remains a strong possibility despite our poor form to date.

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