Man Utd vs. Arsenal

Fighting Irish

el rabitos wrote:

well thanks for being the resident reminder of what el rabitos has to say in every thread. el rabitos appreciates it.

now i think you've established my running theme of "united deserve second place"

BUT

in my own PERSONAL (yes, troll, personal opinions are still allowed) opinion, performance-wise, i dont think united are the second best team in the league. they are probably the BEST in the league at winning games in the last minute and sticking things out. performance-wise i just dont think they have it to be the best or second best in the league in the coming seasons.

now, troll, u can bitch and cry and annoy me and reply and pick and point out every letter of my posts, but tbh i dont give a **** and my opinion wont change. because its an opinion, not a fact.

:rolleyes:

Fighting Irish

Anyone wanna make a bet with me? €10 on united to win. I will only take on on person, if united win you post me a tenner if arsenal win i post you a tenner? any takers?

PHB

Yeh no I'm not explaining myself properly.

Juve and Real Madrid's attacks come from the central midfield. Their wingers of course play some role, but not a huge one. Thus, because of the quality of Gilberto and Fabregas, the main impetus for attack is dealt with accordingly.

United's attacks don't come from their central midfield, unfortunately. They come from the wings mostly, with the two wingers linking up with front men.
So the players that are really going to get tested in this match are Eboue and Flamini.

We have a non-existant central midfield, all they really do mostly is stop the other teams midfield. That's about it. Sometimes Giggs drops off to the left wing and makes some runs cutting in, but that's it.

Eboue and Flamini are not top class defenders yet. Eboue is a good youth prospect, did about as well as Bardsley did when he came in for about a month of the season imo. Flamini is a central midfielder.
They are weak points, and as you pointed out, your wingers aren't known for their defensive work.

The wing back positions will be exploited in a 4-4-2, which is why I expect Wenger to pick a 4-5-1, as he has done in the past.

p.s.
PEOPLE IF YOU DON'T LIK SOMEBODY OR DONT VALUE THEIR OPINION JUST PUT THEM ON BLOODY IGNORE, IT WOULD MAKE THINGS EASIER

IGNORE THEM!

Pepe LeFrits

Actually Hleb, Reyes and Ljungberg all do a lot of running for their full-backs and cover them very well.

I haven't seen much of Bardsley to compare the two, all I can comment on is Eboue. Unless his form takes a real dip or he gets injured, Lauren isn't getting back in the team, it's that simple. Ashley Cole shunted Sylvinho out of the team when Sylvinho got an injured and Cole was outstanding, Eboue is doing the same.

Wenger said in the papers yesterday or today that he is not going to use the 4-5-1 domestically.

PHB

Yeh, but in all fairness, Lauren has been the weak link in the Arsenal team for yonks.
I'm not denying he isn't a good player, but he is ultimately a young player and nowhere near as good as he is made out to be by some people. The kids got quality, we all saw him in the matches, but he is going up against the best attack in the premiership.

mr_angry

Well, first things first, I voted for a Untied win. Quite simply, I think home advantage / more of a rest will pay off. Having said that, I'll still go into the game hoping for an Arsenal win, and I don't think its as unlikely as has been supposed on this thread.

I'm convinced Wenger will go with a 4-4-2. Nobody yet has commented on the excellent form of Emmanuel Adebayor, and how well he's linking up with Henry at the moment. I think they'll be a real threat, and with some running from midfield, I'd be very surprised if they didn't score. Anyone who saw Henry's second against Villa last week knows what I'm talking about.

Midfield is a more interesting battle, and I think it will be where the game will be lost and won. In the centre, Arsenal are significantly stronger, and I wouldn't be surprised if Diaby plays some part to enforce it further. In contrast, I think the wings pose the biggest danger for Arsenal. Hleb is not great at tracking back, Ljungberg is only back from injury, and Pires has lost a yard of pace. As good as Flamini has played as a makeshift left-back, if Ronaldo gets a run at him, there'll only be one winner. On the other side, I wouldn't be quite so worried. Eboue is in excellent form, and anyone who thinks he can't handle either of the United wingers obviously didn't see his performance against Pavel Nedved (former European Player of the Year) in midweek. He should provide an effective attacking threat aswell.

The United strikers are always potent, but as usual, you'll see nothing of Van Nistelrooy for 95% of the game. If he gets a goal, he'll only be finishing off somebody else's good work, so I don't classify him with the same level of "threat" as Rooney and Ronaldo. Saha's not a bad player, but I don't see him getting any joy against either Senderos or Toure. Plus, behind them, Jens Lehmann is in superb form.

I think this is gonna be tight - only a single goal in it. 1-0 to either team, but in the cold light of day, I reckon home advantage might just pay off.

mr_angry

By the way, does anyone know if you can order Sky Sports 1 in the same way as you do PremPlus? Tommorow looks line an excellent line-up.

MrJoeSoap

^Don't think so.

WhiteWashMan

mr_angry wrote:

By the way, does anyone know if you can order Sky Sports 1 in the same way as you do PremPlus? Tommorow looks line an excellent line-up.

sounds like the perfect excuse to go to the pub methinks!

Aquos76

Big News is Ruud is in for Saha and Henry is on the Bench for Arsenal and also no Reyes in the squad.


Man Utd

VDS, Neville, Rio, Vidic, Silvestre, Ronaldo, O Shea, Giggs, Park, Rooney, Van Nistelrooy

Arsenal

Lehman, Eboue, Toure, Senderos, Flamini, Helb, Silva, Fabregas, Pires, Van Pirsie, Adebayor

Pepe LeFrits

I'm completely mystified by that line-up.

besty

Very encouraging before the whistle for United!

PHB

I disagree, with Henry it was going to be an open game, end to end stuff, and I was confident we could win.

Now we have to break down a defensive arsenal, which isn't easy.

Obviously, it's a boost in terms of us less likely to lose, but I'm not sure it makes us more likely to win.
Still think we will though

Henry is on the bench!
What the ****?
Injured but Wenger wants to keep him availible? Or tactical?

mr_angry

Pepe LeFrits wrote:

I'm completely mystified by that line-up.

Well, Henry only passed a late fitness test on Wednesday night, and its possible that he aggravated something between then and now.

Raskolnikov

Any commentary/feeds for this?

futuredeath

good god,
arsenals passing looks perfect today.

mr_angry

mr_angry wrote:

Well, Henry only passed a late fitness test on Wednesday night, and its possible that he aggravated something between then and now.

Arsenal's defensive nature shining through already, huh?

Chong

I hope we can get the win today and keep on the heels of Chelsea.

Fingers crossed.

futuredeath

I hope the ref starts calling it down the middle.

Chong

Lehmann is playing well again today. Over recent weeks he has made clear why he is deserving of the no.1 german GK spot.

mr_angry

United look pretty dangerous from corners so far. All told, its pretty even so far.

Pacifico

lol Toure you legend

PHB

Thats an absolute dead cert handball, jesus christ, straight red and a peno!

Can't expect Poll to get that though, as I didn't see it after three times

Aquos76

A blatant hand ball there. Should have been a pen to Man U there. Mind you Rooney should really have finished it.

futuredeath

PHB wrote:

Thats an absolute dead cert handball, jesus christ, straight red and a peno!

Can't expect Poll to get that though, as I didn't see it after three times

The ultimate handball.
Evens out the rooney dive last year.

fade2black

Aquos76 wrote:

A blatant hand ball there. Should have been a pen to Man U there. Mind you Rooney should really have finished it.

Well it was going in if it wasn't for the handball.

Pepe LeFrits

Lucky escape for Toure and Arsenal, but it's only delaying the inevitable I feel. Toure, Fabregas and Hleb in particular all look absolutely knackered. I'd like to see Djourou and Diaby on for the second half for Toure & Fabregas, but that's never going to happen unless they get injured.

PHB

What amuses me so much about some Arsenal fans is that they still won't let that go, and whenever I point out the fact that after about 30 minutes of analysis, nobody in the Sky Sports team could decide whether it was a peno or not, and that Ronaldo had a definate penalty not given about 15 minutes later, they just ignore it, just like you will ignore this post, so why I bother responding is beyond me

Necronomicon

At first I thought he was claiming it against Senderos, wasn't until the 3rd replay that I noticed it was Toure. Stone-waller.
What an open game, can't believe it's still 0-0. Very enjoyable.

Aquos76

fade2black wrote:

Well it was going in if it wasn't for the handball.

It looks like it was going in alright. Very open game mind you. Lets hope manu can get that breakthrough in the second half.

mr_angry

I have to admit, United are in the ascendancy at the end of the half. Fair cop about the penalty, but I think "blatant" is exactly the wrong word to use. Only after about 10 replays did anyone even begin to see it.

Graham Poll has been rubbish so far though. The number of soft free kicks is unbelievable.

fade2black

Arsenal really don't look like scoring. Would be very disappointed if we let these 3 points go by.

Necronomicon

fade2black wrote:

Arsenal really don't look like scoring. Would be very disappointed if we let these 3 points go by.

Van Persie has forced VDS into 3 saves. United were pretty open at the back at the start, I thought Arsenal did look like scoring. I think they would have if it wasn't for a great interception from Neville.

Aquos76

mr_angry wrote:

I have to admit, United are in the ascendancy at the end of the half. Fair cop about the penalty, but I think "blatant" is exactly the wrong word to use. Only after about 10 replays did anyone even begin to see it.

Graham Poll has been rubbish so far though. The number of soft free kicks is unbelievable.

It might have taken you 10 replays, I noticed that the ball changed direction when the shot was taken and when the first replay was shown you could clearly see that toure handled it.

mr_angry

Fair play then dude. Have you ever considered a career in refereeing?

Aquos76

What a ****ing goal. Rooney

Chong

OMFG Van Persie lol.

Apart from that thank you Wayne u fcuking legend.

mr_angry

Its an open game now...

Chong

Hopefully now Saha can bag one with his introduction imminent.

Aquos76

Saha is on for Ruud

futuredeath

Henry on.

Aquos76

2-0 park.

futuredeath

park - well he's a legend so its ok.
good play from rooney could of gone down for a penalty.

Chong

All I can say is, Mr Mourinho you better watch your back.

PHB

Big challenge for United and we overcame it.

MOM: Vidic / Slyvestre

Titanic today they both were, as was Rio aswell.
Rooney magical as always.
Ronaldo/Van Nist quieter than usual, but still some flashes of brilliance.

This is great to see, United are playing with no central midfield and are still on a massive run, just beating Arsenal on their great run of form too.
Even if we can't catch them this year, United with this team, and strengthened by some new central midfielders, can really push them next season.

Woohoo

Pepe LeFrits

Ah well, well done United. They played very well, especially the centre-backs, O'Shea and Rooney, who was irrepressible today. Hopefully they can catch Chelsea, they showed a lot of desire... I can't see it happening though.

I can't really fault Arsenal, I thought they gave a good account of themselves and had a good go of it in the second half. Adebayor, Senderos, Gilberto and Lehmann especially. Henry, Fabregas, Hleb and Toure did not look fit which is understandable I suppose.

mr_angry

Fair play to United. Arsenal were pretty anonymous today, and didn't really deserve anything from the game. Van Persie had a couple of good chances, but going a goal down really changed the game, and Arsenal didn't have the answer.

Headshot

Man utd played great stuff

vidic i taught played great stuff.very impressive display

smemon

solid performance from utd, arsenal tried too hard to walk the ball into the net as usual :rolleyes:

vidic was superb, utd's bobo balde, an absolute tank of a defender who will attack any kind of ball. he scored utd's 1st goal imo, i'm giving full credit to him.

fabregas was found out, he's not the best midfielder in the world as some have started saying, far from it imo. arsenal lacked the killer touch and paid the price.

van nistelrooy was poor, too static imo. rooney was quiet first half hour, then his usual self after that:D

9 in a row for utd, today against a side in 'top form', fresh from beating juve to get into the cl semi's. whilst i don't think arsenal are the 5th best in england (3rd imo), they are still below chelsea and utd and that was proved today by a utd side hungry for success.

Headshot

smemon wrote:

van nistelrooy was poor, .

i agree but i found Ronaldo poor too
i taught he would have made Flamini job alot harder but he didn't
quite disappointing