The two managers shook hands. In what was perhaps an indication of the thought processes going on in the two men’s minds, the handshake was a temporary impasse for the managers to focus on more pressing issues at hand.
Saturday’s result should have been about Manchester United not being able to close out a game and their inability to come good against the biggest fish in the league, but Arsenal managed to wrest the narrative from their rivals by not doing anything of note for the first 89 minutes of the game.
The Gunners were more than 50 shades of poor at Old Trafford, not mustering a single shot on target till Olivier Giroud’s header for their goal earned what felt less like a point earned and more like two points taken away from United’s grasp.
Strength in depth
A French national forward, a young English wide player with pace to burn, another one (but a 20-year old Nigerian this time), a Brazilian centre-back, a £33 million Swiss holding midfielder, the Colombian national team’s keeper and England’s fifth-choice left-back.
Barring a couple of those, there is no doubt Arsenal possess one of the gifted benches in the league. Being able to call on the likes of Giroud, Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain and Granit Xhaka from the dugout to change the flow of the game at any point of time is a guilty pleasure that Arsene Wenger must be loving, after years of chopping and changing due to financial austerity imposed on the club by the arrival of a new stadium.
If there was one silver lining to be drawn from their abject performance at the enemy’s den (and there were hardly any), it was this: Arsenal have a squad to die for, maybe even stronger than Manchester City’s and Chelsea’s. More often that not, Arsenal will win matches this term without having to be outstanding. In a tight race, that may not necessarily be a bad thing.
Mental block or just poor selection?
In the past, Wenger has seen his Arsenal sides lose many a close game at Old Trafford, yet this was a game that they did not deserve anything out of, yet manage to squeeze a point out of it. Yet, the Frenchman cannot point towards a psychological problem this time.
Let’s make no mistake about it: Xhaka is a fine player with the ability to put in tackles, drive the team forward and shoot at will. The flipsyde to picking the Swiss is that his combativeness which may turn into ugly aggression, leading to sanction. Wenger simply does not trust the Swiss to last the big games at the moment.
Picking Mo’ Elneny and Francis Coquelin felt, for the lack of a better word, defeatist, a caution-first approach. Against a defence containing the likes of Phil Jones, Marcos Rojo and Matteo Darmian shielded by the venerable but aging Michael Carrick, it was borderline ‘fraidy-cat syndrome.
Aaron Ramsey, who started on the left and stayed on the pitch for the entire 90 minutes, was so anonymous that even camera crew would have found it tough to spot the Welshman on the pitch. He also did a fine job of being the Arsenal player to be dispossessed the maximum number of times (5).
No way, Jose
Mourinho 2016 seems like a far cry from Mourinho Chelsea era I, circa 2004 and ‘05. Gone are the days when Portuguese’s Blues side would go into the game, get the early goal and see out matches 1-0.
His ability to assiduously set up his team for marquee clashes has never been in question till now. Of the matches played against Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal this term, United have only managed to bag two points out of a possible 12.
When his side went 1-0 up, you’d have expected if anybody could have seen the match out, it had to be Mourinho’s side. The two Arsenal substitutes put paid to any hopes for a first win this season against top-six opposition.
Jose and Old Trafford have the same problem: the fear factor, once bright, is slowly fading.
Hail Herrera
At the end of regulation time, the stadium’s PA announced that Antonio Valencia had been declared the man of the match. The makeshift right-back had been United’s primary outlet all evening till Daley Blind had come on for Matteo Darmian on the left.
Yet, it was a newly capped-Spanish international who stole the show. On a day where no player really stood out, Herrera made the most of the occasion, demanding the ball, putting in cynical tackles all over the pitch and making a fine darting run to provide the assist for Mata’s goal.
More touches than United player (95), a passing accuracy of 89.6%, three key passes, six interceptions and four fouls without picking up a booking. Valencia should really be sharing the match-ball with his Spanish teammate.
All-in-all, a game which was supposed to provide answers threw up more questions: Where is Arsenal’s spine when you need it? Is the Jose phenomenon finished? And most importantly, with the resources at his disposal, will Wenger finally bring the big one home after 13 years?
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