Arsenal utterly destroyed a woeful Manchester United at The Emirates on Sunday afternoon; scoring three goals in quick succession in the first-half and holding onto that lead for the rest of the game. Alexis Sanchez opened the scoring with a lovely close-range flick, which was then joined by Mesut Ozil’s goal after which Sanchez hit home for the third. Only Anthony Martial provided any sort of threat for United to use against Arsenal.
Louis van Gaal claimed he was ‘amazed’ by how poor United’s performance was. Unsurprisingly, most United fans are just as stunned. Even Arsenal fans could not quite believe their eyes. Here are three takes from this one which will be remembered by Arsenal fans for quite some time.
1) Arsenal simply too good, United could not recover
Arsenal were the better team, and the only team that really turned up, save for Anthony Martial for United. Credit must be given to the Gunners for their dominant display, as Cech marshalled his defence impressively leaving no way in for United. Going forward, Ozil and Sanchez were showing just how good they can be and highlighted the weaknesses in the Manchester United defence that hasn’t always been fully examined until now.
There are some concerns that Manchester United lack the pace needed in midfield. Michael Carrick and Bastian Schweinsteiger were the midfield pairing; and while great at many other things in the middle of the park, being fast is not one of them. This was one of the reasons United struggled, because the Arsenal midfield was too fast for them to try and counter. Morgan Schneiderlin really would have solved those issues. But he did not play at all.
In terms of the league tables too it is nothing disastrous. United are still in the top four, sitting only two points off the top spot. But with two away fixtures back to back including a long trip to CSKA Moscow, and then the Manchester Derby, things don’t get any easier for United.
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2) All about Martial
The only redeeming player for United on the field, other than perhaps Smalling; Martial did not score but was the only United player who looked remotely like doing so. The Frenchman has been a revelation, and put on a dogged display against Arsenal despite the huge disadvantage he faced – especially with a lack of viable options because it did seem, most of the time, that he was the only Manchester United player on the field. Indeed, he was the only real candidate for United’s Man of the Match.
It raises another question. When will Rooney start playing properly? The Englishman cut a frustrated figure out on the Emirates pitch and has done so all season long. He only seemed to get into the game when United were 3-0 down, a callback to a young Wayne Rooney whose aggression did occasionally help his performance by firing him up.
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3) Lack of Squad Depth
This game did not help Blind’s case of being an adept centre-back. He was outclassed and outmanoeuvred time and time again by all Arsenal players that came his way. But there are few replacements – young Paddy McNair and Phil Jones are hardly reliable options; at least not at this point in time.
Similarly, Darmian struggled yet again and was hauled off at the break in favour of Antonio Valencia. As seen against Wolfsburg, Luke Shaw’s absence is huge. But this does not help the confidence of Darmian who may feel he lacks the support from his manager if he continues to be taken off early. Ashley Young struggled too; but these problems are fixable and are at least apparent rather than having a deep-rooted problem that is not obvious and therefore tricky to fix.
The bench looked very weak, and there don’t seem to be enough options in terms of players that could ‘change the game’. Bringing two defensive minded players on signalled that Louis van Gaal had already given up – not displaying any kind of that fighting spirit that has come to be expected of Manchester United. James Wilson was given a chance but it was too little too late. Still, perhaps it is a sign that Louis van Gaal is prepared to give the young striker the chances he deserves.