Arsenal vs Manchester United: 5 things we learned
An injury struck United lost 1-3 to the Gunners. Garnacho's offside goal. VAR inaccuracies. Hojlund's promising debut. What's up with the conditioning at United? Sancho's bizarre social media post.
When Declan Rice scored off a debatable corner (did it deflect off Eriksen?), I knew the game was over but 8 minutes before that United fans (including yours truly) believed that we would win 2-1.
Here are 5 things we learned on Sunday.
1. The Garnacho goal would have stood on any other night!
United (and so many other teams) have been undone by VAR and shoddy Premier League refereeing on so many occasions that I have now lost count of decisions not going our way (remember the Casemiro red cards?). I mean who was surprised when Mike Dean came out with his statement that he did not want his ‘friend’ on the field to have a tougher time and so did not send him to the screen in a Chelsea vs. Spurs game?
In the 88th minute, Garnacho had scored during a great counter helped by Hojlund holding up the ball and Casemiro threading a perfect pass. But VAR ruled it offside by the thinnest of margins as shown on screen.
Why was the line drawn from Garnacho’s armpit when it should have been drawn from his right foot as that was the farthest-scoring body part? How would he have scored via his shoulder when he was going to be running with the ball?
VAR strikes again.
2. Hojlund was a breath of fresh air
For United fans like me, a real #9 has been a dream since Zlatan left. For the last couple of seasons, we have had to depend on Bruno and Rashford to bail us out every time we have needed a goal. So when Rasmus Hojlund made his debut at 67’ and immediately hit the ground running, I had to pinch myself.
Hojlund did more in two minutes than Anthony Martial did in the 66 minutes (or maybe the last 2 years) before he came on. Gabriel had to use all his skills to keep him at bay. Hojlund had 10 touches in 23 minutes, held up the play that led to Garnacho’s disallowed goal, and could have had a penalty (inconsistent VAR again). All-in-all a promising debut and the pace he demonstrated will be key if United are to become a transitional side.
Can’t wait to watch him start vs Brighton.
3. Rashford plays best on the left
Rashford himself said on the Overlap that his best position is on the left and he has now shown it 2 games in a row. He was instrumental in all three goals vs. Forest and scored our only goal vs. Arsenal when Eriksen threaded a pass to him after Havertz’s error.
Funnily, this was Rashford’s 6th touch of the match. But that’s how dangerous he is when he plays on the left as it allows him to make those runs behind the defenders. And till Hojlund starts scoring consistently, he remains United’s most potent goalscoring threat.
4. Players on the doctor’s table
Varane, Shaw, Malacia, Martinez, Lindelof, Mount, Mainoo, Amad, McTominay - at least 3 out of these 9 should have been on the pitch when the extra time drama happened but instead we had Maguire, Evans, Eriksen trying to stop counter attacks and defend corners.
So, to anyone who says Ten Hag should be sacked or he is not fit for the job, have a look at the teamsheet again. The fact that we could hold off one of the best pressing teams for 95 minutes, barring the equalizer right after Rashford scored, is progression.
Instead, the questions to be asked are, what is happening on the training ground? who is managing the strength and conditioning of the players? who runs medical (both Hojlund and Amrabat have joined with injuries)?
5. VAR and Sancho create controversy
This is what Ten Hag had to say post match - "Yeah. You're already telling and have seen the same, it was similar. The performance was right, but the result was not on our side. Many decisions were against us."
"Let's start with the penalty given but rejected, not get booked for it, then foul on Hojlund in the penalty area, not even by the VAR, and then disallowed goal from Garnacho; I think wrong angle, and I think it's onside. The final goal—how can they allow that goal? It's a clear foul on Jonny Evans from the shot by Rice; it's a lot."
I have already covered the Garnacho goal and the foul on Hojlund (50/50) but the Havertz penalty that was overturned without him getting a card was hilarious. If you have established that there was no foul, isn’t it clear that he dived or tried to get contact?
For Arsenal’s 2nd goal I don’t have much problem with the foul on Evans as it’s common during set pieces and even he was holding Gabriel. But the corner itself was so debatable as mentioned at the start. Also, why can’t VAR look for such things especially if a corner leads to a goal (in this case a match winner).
And if this was not enough, Jadon Sancho added to the misery with a bizarre response to Ten Hag’s statement that he was not selected because of training form.
I personally don’t want to see Sancho again because no player should be greater than the manager. Plus, this was most likely Ten Hag trying to play good cop (he sent Sancho away for 3 months to Holland to fix his mental health), bad cop (calling out his training form despite all the support). Time for Sancho to go.
Conclusion: Glazers need to f***ing leave now
Glazers have minted their cash cow for too long without bothering to invest in the improvement of the club’s infrastructure and have the club in more debt than when they acquired it. Their refusal to sell after such a long bidding process because of being greedy bastards and supposedly wanting 10 billion pounds is ridiculous.
They need to leave now or else United fans will have another decade of suffering and watching every other team (Newcastle, Brighton, Spurs) become better. I could go on and on about Glazers destroying football but I have already written 5000 words on it in the past.
Let me know what you thought about the game and what do you expect to change post the international break in the game vs Brighton.