Sir Alex went to spy on the Arsenal-Celtic game.
He saw something that made him pick the wrong team.
He dropped Berbatov and played one up.
Man United, champions for the last three years, played Rooney as a lone striker at home !
Watching the Celtic game, Sir Alex reckoned that Arsenal would not suit Berbatov.
So he decided to cede midfield, hit Arsenal in the break using fast wingers Nani and Valencia alongside fast striker Rooney. Those three would be released by 35-yard passes from Carrick and Giggs.
But that didn’t work. Arsenal’s pressing prevented that. Wes Brown, deputising for Jonny Evans, who had been deputising for the injured Rio Ferdinand, was wobbling and having a shocker.
Mirroring Arsenal’s 4-3-3 didn’t work and Arsenal dominated and led 1-0 at half-time.
By then we were wondering if Sir Alex would take off Giggs, or Carrick, or both. If he didn’t do that, I fancied Arsenal to score again in the first ten minutes of the second half and win the game.
That’s how it looked to me.
Instead of making a change, Sir Alex gave his team a rollicking. Second half, Arsenal were winning for 13 Minutes and drawing for Six Minutes and losing for 26+ Minutes.
While they were winning, RVP almost made it 2-0. He got unlucky because Ben Foster is a left-footed goalkeeper. If he’d been a right-footed keeper, he might not have made that reflex save with his left boot when Van Persie connected with Arshavin’s brilliant low cross into the six-yard box.
Then Ryan Giggs made two goals. His 40-yard probing pass forward didn’t give Rooney the chance of a goal. It gave him a chance of winning a penalty and Almunia panicked and got mugged by a brighter, smarter player.
After equalising form the spot, United were galvanised and Rooney immediately tried an outrageous shot from the centre circle. Almunia saw it all the way and the shot was wide and he caught the ball but the message was clear : I’ve done you once, I’ll do you again, so watch out !
Rooney then chased Diaby and couldn’t catch him, so he kicked Diaby, and got booked. That sprint showed Diaby’s running power, which Wenger is trying to use in this new pressing system.
When Eboue scored against Celtic, we knew he would play at Old Trafford. We just didn’t know he would play as a striker. Eboue is not a wide striker in a 4-3-3 and never can be. We saw why during the 13 Minutes before Rooney’s penalty. Unmarked at the far post, Eboue controlled a cross when he should have hit the ball first time.
Eboue did what a right back would do 90 yards from the Man United goal. But he was nine yards from the goal.
As a professional footballer, you should do the right thing out of habit, according to where you are and who is around you. It should be automatic ! But Eboue did the wrong thing when he had a vital chance to make it 2-0.He made the wrong decision. If he had got that decision right in 50 minutes, Arsenal might have won.
You might ask : Why didn’t Wenger play Jack Wilshere? Why not play Wilshere, who knows what to do in every part of the field? Because he didn’t want to put Wilshere against Evra, a very tough left back? Maybe. But why not play Wilshere against Wayne Bridge on Saturday 12th? If Wilshere is not playing, he’s not learning, not improving.
If he was Jacques Clishoire from Auxerre, he would get a game. Being from Stevenage, he will be lucky to get six starts this season.
The Man City game will be interesting tactically.
But the media will focus on Kolo Toure and Adebarndoor.