With the FA cup game against Arsenal approaching both teams are going into the game occupying the top 2 positions in English league football but at the same time on a bit of a slump.
For us we all know the past week or so has been a bitter pill for all united fans to swallow. The poor 2nd half performance against Chelsea getting masked by martin Atkinson, the same can also be said of the Liverpool match on Sunday although we did play slightly better.
Arsenal of course failed to capitalise on our slip up drawing against Sunderland at home, a point gained on united the media and gooners harked! Although you could argue drawing at home to Sunderland should be seen as 2 points dropped. The previous week they lost the carling cup final against Birmingham which as I predicted started Arsenals wobble.
The champions league this week saw Arsenal get taught a football lesson for the entire 90 mins. I don’t know that many arsenal fans been that I'm from “up north” but I cant see that they would’ve taken anything positive from Tuesday nights game except now they have less fixtures during the run in (something we can easily experience also with a score draw/defeat to Marseille)
So they crash out of Europe and yet again “The Best Manager Ever” fails to win the European Cup for “The Best Team Ever”
See my January archive for my thoughts on Wenger.
It is likely that Fabregas will be out injured on Saturday and possibly for a few games in the run in.
I like Fabregas as a player but like with many players from London clubs (Bale, Nasri who's had 1 decent season, Adebayor when at Arsenal,) I often wonder if he actually is that good or if it’s the media trying to make us believe he is. I certainly can’t think of one game against us that he’s controlled?
Back in the mid 90’s/early 2000’s the united Arsenal games were lets face it, war! The Roy Keane/Patrick Vieira battles were nothing short of mouth watering and you just never knew what the outcome of the match would be. We really did have some titanic battles with them over this period. I remember literally shaking with nerves before some of these games (I was a teenager at the time!!) as you knew you were in for 1 hell of game.
Roll on 10 years or so and the united arsenal games for me anyway have lost their spark, sure this season we are both 1st and 2nd in the league but arsenal don’t hold that fear factor anymore. Going into every single arsenal game I'm confident we will win and my feelings are no different for Saturday’s game.
I think we now know how to beat arsenal and it’s been that way for a few good years. The way we tore them apart in 2009 European cup semi final was something that would never have happened back in the day under Wengers mostly inherited team.
They are now dodgy at the back with a dodgy keeper in the sticks (presuming Almunia plays) their midfield (although ours is nothing to write home about at the minute) lacks a Vieira or any kind of player that can rough up the opposition, ok you have jack Wilshere but is he another example of OTT reporting from the media? Still young and learning the ropes.
Upfront of course they offer danger in the form of Robin Van Persie and earlier in the season Chamak so it’s important to close down their midfield to stop RVP supply.
Without sounding like we will go out there and foul them the answer to beating arsenal is the same as its been for a while, get at them and go in hard but fair.
Around this time of the season arsenal always implode; it’s as sure as Christmas in December and valentines in February. To be fair they’ve managed to get into early march but I think the signs that the wheels are coming off are there, if we can beat them this weekend and end their FA cup hopes then I can see the beginning of the end as far as any trophies won this season goes.
It could be argued that united are in the same boat with back to back defeats however we have the points in the bag at the top and don’t really tend to go on too bad of a run at this point in the season, so if we are looking at history and past form it all points to us recovering from this blip and going on to better things.
If we win the league this season then we will do with a whimper, slowly dragging ourselves over that finish line. It’s a reflection on how poor/competitive depending on your viewpoint the premiership has been this season with so many teams not performing to anywhere near their best.
We are just lucky there are no other teams near us that can realistically mount a title challenge now.
If we beat arsenal this weekend will that have any bearing on where the title ends up this season? It’s a question I've asked here on mufcblog and the majority so far seem to think it will and I’m in agreement with them. If you havent voted do so now here.
If we didn’t have to play them again this season then I don’t think it would, however if we win on Saturday that will put a seed of doubt in their mind about them being able to beat us, a seed that could well possibly grow as the season draws to a close and bear fruit for us when we visit the emirates.
Also how nice would it be to win the FA Cup again? Can’t remember what it feels like!
For us we all know the past week or so has been a bitter pill for all united fans to swallow. The poor 2nd half performance against Chelsea getting masked by martin Atkinson, the same can also be said of the Liverpool match on Sunday although we did play slightly better.
Arsenal of course failed to capitalise on our slip up drawing against Sunderland at home, a point gained on united the media and gooners harked! Although you could argue drawing at home to Sunderland should be seen as 2 points dropped. The previous week they lost the carling cup final against Birmingham which as I predicted started Arsenals wobble.
The champions league this week saw Arsenal get taught a football lesson for the entire 90 mins. I don’t know that many arsenal fans been that I'm from “up north” but I cant see that they would’ve taken anything positive from Tuesday nights game except now they have less fixtures during the run in (something we can easily experience also with a score draw/defeat to Marseille)
So they crash out of Europe and yet again “The Best Manager Ever” fails to win the European Cup for “The Best Team Ever”
See my January archive for my thoughts on Wenger.
It is likely that Fabregas will be out injured on Saturday and possibly for a few games in the run in.
I like Fabregas as a player but like with many players from London clubs (Bale, Nasri who's had 1 decent season, Adebayor when at Arsenal,) I often wonder if he actually is that good or if it’s the media trying to make us believe he is. I certainly can’t think of one game against us that he’s controlled?
Back in the mid 90’s/early 2000’s the united Arsenal games were lets face it, war! The Roy Keane/Patrick Vieira battles were nothing short of mouth watering and you just never knew what the outcome of the match would be. We really did have some titanic battles with them over this period. I remember literally shaking with nerves before some of these games (I was a teenager at the time!!) as you knew you were in for 1 hell of game.
Roll on 10 years or so and the united arsenal games for me anyway have lost their spark, sure this season we are both 1st and 2nd in the league but arsenal don’t hold that fear factor anymore. Going into every single arsenal game I'm confident we will win and my feelings are no different for Saturday’s game.
I think we now know how to beat arsenal and it’s been that way for a few good years. The way we tore them apart in 2009 European cup semi final was something that would never have happened back in the day under Wengers mostly inherited team.
They are now dodgy at the back with a dodgy keeper in the sticks (presuming Almunia plays) their midfield (although ours is nothing to write home about at the minute) lacks a Vieira or any kind of player that can rough up the opposition, ok you have jack Wilshere but is he another example of OTT reporting from the media? Still young and learning the ropes.
Upfront of course they offer danger in the form of Robin Van Persie and earlier in the season Chamak so it’s important to close down their midfield to stop RVP supply.
Without sounding like we will go out there and foul them the answer to beating arsenal is the same as its been for a while, get at them and go in hard but fair.
Around this time of the season arsenal always implode; it’s as sure as Christmas in December and valentines in February. To be fair they’ve managed to get into early march but I think the signs that the wheels are coming off are there, if we can beat them this weekend and end their FA cup hopes then I can see the beginning of the end as far as any trophies won this season goes.
It could be argued that united are in the same boat with back to back defeats however we have the points in the bag at the top and don’t really tend to go on too bad of a run at this point in the season, so if we are looking at history and past form it all points to us recovering from this blip and going on to better things.
If we win the league this season then we will do with a whimper, slowly dragging ourselves over that finish line. It’s a reflection on how poor/competitive depending on your viewpoint the premiership has been this season with so many teams not performing to anywhere near their best.
We are just lucky there are no other teams near us that can realistically mount a title challenge now.
If we beat arsenal this weekend will that have any bearing on where the title ends up this season? It’s a question I've asked here on mufcblog and the majority so far seem to think it will and I’m in agreement with them. If you havent voted do so now here.
If we didn’t have to play them again this season then I don’t think it would, however if we win on Saturday that will put a seed of doubt in their mind about them being able to beat us, a seed that could well possibly grow as the season draws to a close and bear fruit for us when we visit the emirates.
Also how nice would it be to win the FA Cup again? Can’t remember what it feels like!
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