Was this a blip, a wounding wobble, or a hugely damaging result for Arsenal?
Five Takeaways from Arsenal’s defeat by Manchester United
Was this a blip, a wounding wobble, or a hugely damaging result for Arsenal?
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The Emirates before kick off on Sunday. CREDIT:Layth (@laythy29)
1 - A needless defeat
Michael Carrick’s resurgent Manchester United beat a jittery Arsenal 3-2 to stun the Premier League leaders, after a late winner by Matheus Cunha.
In a breathless clash in N5 on Sunday afternoon, the Gunners went ahead through aLisandro Martinez own goal on 29 minutes.
Bryan Mbeumo levelled on 37 minutes after appallingly sloppy play between William Saliba and Martin Zubimendi, prior to Patrick Dorgu putting the visitors ahead five minutes after the interval.
Stung, Gunners boss Mikel Merino made four changes in a quadruple substitution just before the hour mark, with Mikel Merino levelling at 2-2 with six minutes remaining.
Just as the home support in the 60,296 crowd were gearing up for a grandstand finish, up popped former Wolves striker Cunha with three minutes remaining to grab all three points for Carrick’s side with an excellent finish, for what was only his fifth goal in a challenging season, to cap a frustratingly galling day in North London for the home support.
2 - Was this a blip, a wounding wobble, or a hugely damaging result for Arsenal?
It depends on your mindset, who you listen to and believe, and where you consume your information from.
On social media the reaction was predictable. Excitable cretins with mosquito brains and paid for blue ticks pathetically screamed for the manager’s head in a bid to ramp up their revenue.
Never mind the Gunners still remain top of the Premier League, albeit by four points and not more, given the stuttering nature of Manchester City’s title tilt this term. Nor the fact Arsenal lead the 36 team Champions League group stage, or are 90 minutes away from a League Cup Wembley final, and face League One Wigan for a place in the fifth round of the FA Cup.
While old foes such as Roy Keane underlined the high pressure stakes that swirl around the leaders at the summit of the table, stating with the characteristic bluntness that shaped a storied career in the red and black of United that the North Londoners had to “get back to basics, and start embracing this challenge instead of being frightened of it.”
While Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta, after showing dignity in first congratulating United on their victory, looking, it has to be said, ever-so-sightly shellshocked during his post-match press conference that I was at, attempted to understand where such a high-profile hiccup came from. He offered: “I think we started the game really well, the first half-an-hour we were very dominant, playing the areas that we wanted, scored a goal, had two fantastic chances to score another one.
“After that we gave them the goal: errors are part of football, very unlike us, but we gave them the goal and hope, and that shifted the energy, because from then to half-time we really struggled.”
3 - Arsenal appear to have stalled at exactly the wrong moment
Sunday’s victory was United’s first league win at Ashburton Grove since 2017, while also handing Arsenal’s first defeat when scoring first in all competitions this season, with the Gunners winning their previous 24 games after they went 1-0 up. The loss was also the first time a team has put three past the Gunners on home soil in the Premier League for nearly three years.
What is concerning is that Arsenal appear to have stalled at completely the wrong time. Not least in terms of Premier League goals.
Three games without a win in the league is a worry.
As the BBC highlighted, Bukayo Saka has scored a single goal in his last 10 appearances. Viktor Gyokeres - 1 goal in his last 11 appearances. Gabriel Martinelli - 0 goals in last 13 appearances. Leandro Trossard - 1 goal in his 8 appearances. Noni Madueke - 0 goals in last 25 appearances.
And yet.
Now is not the time to panic, and there is so much that has been good about this season, while we must also recognise that winning the league is such a difficult challenge. No one said it was going to be easy.
Reflecting on the result, Arteta said after the match in as much of a rallying cry as he could muster: “It’s how we react to[this defeat] -and I am very convinced because I know those players in that dressing room and how much we want it that we’re going to react immediately.”
4 - Leeds United away is massive
However, never mind talk of ‘bouncing back’ against rock-bottom Kairat in the Champions League on Wednesday evening at the Emirates - that game is irrelevant.
I’m even taking a night off from the press box and taking my youngest to the game as a dad and daughter night out at the Emirates as fans.
In fact Arteta should treat the match like the dead rubber it is - with the Arsenal boss required to rest entirely what he thinks should be his starting XI against Leeds on Saturday, and play a second string with absolutely nothing at stake. In a bid to give his team the best chance available to come back down south with three points come Saturday evening.
Because, with Arsenal facing Leeds United in the cauldron that is Elland Road next weekend, now is exactly the time for Arteta and his team to prove they have what it takes to bring a first league title back to North London in 22 long years.
5 - A word on United…
A coherent and unified Red Devils side posted their second impressive win under their interim head coach, following on from their evisceration of Pep Guardiola’s team in the Manchester derby last weekend.
After the chaos and wretched tactical incoherence under the woeful Ruben Amorim, Carrick appears to have revived United by insisting the club’s attacking DNA is at the forefront of all they do.
Rather than demand such pointlessly restrictive tactics as the now departed Portuguese’s bafflingly incompetent vow regarding three at the back, Carrick has bolstered his side by allowing his players to thrive in a more nuanced 4-2-3-1 formation.
A tactic that simply allows freedom and fluidity in attack, and solidity at the back.
Speaking after the match, with United now in fourth spot, Carrick said: “You’ve got to be humble enough to understand how we could just achieve these two big results. It doesn’t just come easy, so we need to continue that and bottle it and use it again.”
Let’s hope Arsenal can do the same in West Yorkshire on Saturday.
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