Manchester United ends Arsenal's unbeaten run in dramatic fashion winning 2-0 at Old Trafford. Discuss.
Arsenal are a good side. But so is United. You could easily interchange the players on either team. It was only a matter of time for United to begin to haul together. Good thing it was against Arsenal. Really think that will help turn the United ship around. Gives them a good platform to go on to bigger and better things. For thos that whinge about the penalty. Since Cole wasnt caught for pulling Ronaldo's legs from under him in the box about 10 minutes later, I'd say they balanced out.
The game went as I predicted a few days ago with Philly coming into midfield and United playing a physical game and eeking out a win. Regarding Rooney's dive, of course it was a dive. However it was only evident on viewing the third camera angle that Sky supplied. I don't know where Riley was on the play but Sol did stick out his leg and Rooney did fall and maybe thats all he saw. But you know, as I said on the Arse board, these things even out over the course of a season, I'm sure there will be plenty of time for Pires or Henry to flop against some other team and get a penalty. And then Wenger will say he didnt see it. It evened out yesterday when a penalty was not called when Cole tripped Ronaldo in the penalty area. As for the Rio/Ljungberg incident, Freddie push the ball way in front and then they clashed. It was a bang-bang play and I don't think it warrented a free kick to the arse or a card to Rio. I will have to look at that one again. I also think the Ruud should get a ban for a game or two for the incident that was missed. I didnt like the fact that anytime there was a foul, so many players surrounded Riley especially Vieira. Give the referee some respect.
Doesn't prove anything. Both teams are good. This game was very tight just like the past several games between the two. Most other teams don't have the quality of players to attack Arsenal and get stuck in the way Man Utd does. Arsenal's game did not collapse. Much of the game was in the midfield. Man Utd had more sustained pressure on the box at times and Arsenal had a few very deadly chances that just didn't pan out. The game turned on the penalty decision. I don't have a huge problem with the call because it would have been a very difficult call to make in real time. I think Rooney is a bit of a disgrace for diving. I hate all diving, even when our players do it. Once the penalty was scored it forced Arsenal to throw men forward leaving us open in the back. This caused the not called penalty on Ronaldo and the second goal. If we scored first then Utd would have probably thrown palyers forward causing them to be open at the back.
Oh, and I forgot to add, did any of you see the anti-Glazer sign with the guy hanging from a rope at the match yesterday? I haven't read any newspapers yet and I've only seen brief highlights of the game on TV.
What about Viera, tagging the ref on every single decision? This Arsenal side took one hell of a beating. Henry nullified, Reyes crap. There only half decent player was lfdjfhdjfhberg.
And what did Giggs and Scholes do of note yesterday? It seemed that Utd took some pretty good licks as well. Like I said, the game was tight and turned on the penalty.
Yeah, fair point on Giggs. After all he had a good shot at putting the ball in past Lehmann and he didn't. Actually, for me that was a ver interesting moment of the game because I was waiting for Giggs to turn on the jets and burn Lehmann for coming out so far. Instead he took an easy shot and got stopped which told me that Giggs is almost done. Shame as he is one of my all time favs.
Father Ted: How on earth do you know that the stamp by Ruud was intentional? I've watched that play many times, and have no idea. In real time, I said "no way." In slow-mo, I've moved to "nobody could possibly know except Ruud." He wasn't looking at Cole. He was trying to control the ball. Cole lunged in (needlessly), and got stepped on. Intentional? I don't see how you could necessarily infer intent from an action that's consistent with innocent activity.
This post will not offer any insight, rants, threats, attitude or opinion of the match except for the fact that I wanted to express my relief/respect that you fellas pulled off a win...its nice to see Arsenal with a loss. Anywho, I'm off to the Fulham board...cheers.
A few thoughts on the match: If Rio doesn't knock Freddy down, the only thing that changes is that Freddy runs up to Carroll while Carroll is holding the ball that Freddy knocked too far forward. Freddy heard the footsteps and tried to get the free kick. It's called gamesmanship and it didn't work. Rooney dove and maybe it allowed ManU to get more out of the game than they deserved, but the Gunners were ordinary for most of the day yesterday and they can only blame themselves for not doing more. Also, if you don't lose for 49 games you need things to go right for you (like missed penalty kicks) and eventually something goes the other way. I haven't seen most of Arsenal's games but I feel confident that they got results in some games when they really didn't deserve it. As far as I know (and correct me if I'm wrong), ManU doesn't choose the ref for the games at Old Trafford. If Mike Riley is really a problem then the Prem must make a decision. You can't blame ManU for Riley. In my opinion Riley did ok. He obviously was hoping that the players would police themselves and then found it necessary to issue cards. The Rooney dive probably looked like a penalty and his reaction was instant. Finally, the biggest issue from the game is this: the Gunners do not look like the Gunners when they play United. The great teams find a way to adapt when they are taken out of their game. The Gunners can't seem to adapt to the physical style that United play against them. I expect that Chelsea will try the same thing. A good victory that is hopefully just the start.
I am just extremely happy for Ruud that he made the penalty yesterday. Whether it was an actual penalty or not is not the point, but I feel he got a little redemption for last years fiasco at Old Trafford. I couldn't be happier for him!
1 chance in the entire game. Your game DID collapse. Bergkamp who? Where was Reyes? What did Thierry "the greatest player in the history of life itself" Henry do? A team finally decides to attack you and disrupt your game. Guess what? It worked. There was only ever going to be one winner and it wasn't you.
Do you think you look smart when you ignore most of my post. It was a tight game. Neither team dominated. Utd got the lucky breaks on the day. End of story.