Arsenal Syndrome Is Not Yet Gone As Gunners Yield to Manchester United,1-0

The Gunners go on the attack, passing the ball with fluidity.

The opposition is left watching as the mighty Gunners do as they will with the ball.

Fifty passes are capped by a stunning through ball which frees Van Persie and leaves him one on one with Van Der Saar.

He skilfully lobs the ball and it beautifully lands behind the goal line.

Oh, that was fabulous!

The clock is ringing. It’s time to wake up.

This was not the Arsenal we saw at Old Trafford.

Sometimes it’s hard to explain how a team on top of its game, with all the potential to inspire, can be so uninspired in a single game. But as someone said: You play as much as your opposition allows you to play.

And this was the case against Manchester United.

It was obvious Alex Ferguson had done his homework before the match as we were getting a first glimpse at his team: 4-5-1.

The formula which helped him win his last couple of matches versus Arsenal worked as surely as the sun rises every morning.

A 4-5-1 formation opposed to pretty much the same formation was sure to cause a clog in the middle of the park. And it did, but the trick was how it will be dealt with.

Ferguson smartly applied man marking while Wenger stayed faithful to zone marking.

Every time the ball travelled to a player clad in yellow, two players clad in red rushed in: one to confront him; the other to cut off the path of a potential pass. As if in a video frame playing over and over, this was the case during pretty much the whole game.

Logically, Arsenal faced tremendous difficulties to build their game up, while United found plenty of spaces on the wings and middle. Something had to be changed, but it wasn’t and punishment for the inaction soon followed.

Having missed a spectacular sliding-volley twenty minutes earlier, Nani seized a chance to cross the ball from the edge of the box.

Slightly deflected by Clichy’s foot, the rubber sphere found Ji Sung Park squeezed in among three defenders, who somehow, with an awkward twist of his head, sent it on a parabolic route above and beyond Szsesny and inside Arsenal’s goal.

It was an adequate reflection of the events so far.

The hopes for change in the second half faded as soon as it started—same tactics, same team.

Jack Wilshere was running around like a headless chicken.

Laurent Koscielny and Sebastien Squillaci struggled to keep the defensive line intact under the incessant bombardment of oncoming players. Samir Nasri was a dim reflection of himself. Andrey Arshavin kissed the ground a couple of times and did nothing more spectacular.

Uninspired were the Gunners during the second half as well.

Except for several minutes when United laid a trap.

They allowed the game to be played in their own half, close to the penalty box, and were almost punished by Chamakh who sought to finish off a diagonal low ball by Nasri

Soon after, a counter-attack loomed to put an end to Arsenal’s slim hopes for getting something. A long ball sent Nani running on the right with only Clichy on his way. 

The Arsenal left-back did well at first, but then lost the ball and allowed Nani to shoot from inside the box. Fortunately, the ball hissed over the bar.

As if slapped awake from his sleep, Wenger committed Robin van Persie and captain Cesc Fabregas to the football war and ordered an ineffective Tomas Rosicky and disappointing Jack Wilshere to the showers.

With the new players still groping their way around, a dubious penalty was awarded to Manchester United for a handball by Gael Clichy inside the Arsenal box.

In truth, he couldn’t have moved his arm away from the ball’s path, but the linesman assuredly waved his flag.

A penalty for United against Arsenal—an old lady was surprised.

The glimmer of hope left for the Gunners was in the hands of their executor Wayne Rooney. Zigzagging on his way to the ball, Rooney mysteriously sent his thunder ball over the bar.

That was it. It was now or never, and the Gooners on the stadium knew it, singing “Theo, Theo, Theo”.

Wenger listened to them and in the 76th  minute the short lightning bolt was introduced to the game.

But to no avail. The train had already started its forlorn journey on the wrong track. Slow tempo, many mistakes, and lack of imagination marked the rest of the game for the Gunners.

In the end, it finished 1-0.

Another disappointment for Wenger’s men, which many fans will hope to be a wake up call for going back to the drawing board and figuring out a more appropriate and effective way of dealing with the big sides.