Arsenal’s 15 matches unbeaten away streak came to a halt at the Theatre of dreams as Robin Van Persie struck a gliding header/shoulder to rooney’s corner kick in the 27th minute to breathe life to Manchester United’s race to retain thier Premeir League title and status. The Red Devils has been criticized in recent time following their poor form and David Moyes’ methods. But they put all that aside as they bossed away Arsenal who had the momentum on their side.

Arsenal has grown to be the favourites in recent week following their unbeaten run in the league and the manner with which they snuffed Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund. Very few bookmarkers had given United a chance to usurp arsenal but they rose to the occasion. The gunners were riding high and an away match seemed like 3 points in the bag. I even coined out a phrase: Your Home, Our Fortress.

With Tomas Rosicky and Metersacker catching the blug, the Arsenal set-up was different from same that over-ran Dortmund and Liverpool. Flamini and Vermaelen were their replacement. The aerial abilities of Metersacker was felt when the RVP rose highest to flick home. I am sure the gentle giant would be ungentle watching that goal. Could we have done better? yes. Meterasacker may have jumped higher but why must we allow RVP to run freely?

Firing On No Cylinder

Earlier on I had written about Tomas Rosicky and his importance to the team and his legendary status, and it was so clear that we lacked fluidity and sharpness while attacking. Arsenal chose the wrong time for fire on no cylinder. Ozil didn’t wake up save for a side netting shot in 2nd half. The German Wizard was below par in virtually everything. HIs passes were sour to taste and he had zero percent as far as defending or closing down. I may seem harsh on our 42 million dollar man but this are the games that he needs to justify his price tag. I expected more but got none.

Our player of the season didnt leave up to our expectation. Aaron Ramsey misplaced passes and shot tamely as if there was no goalie at the post. Probably bouyed by his recent form, he went for goal when it wasn’t necessary. He did an average job but against United, we needed that Liverpool form, we needed the Dortmund Ramsey. He was wanted.

Giroud was weak upfront and we lacked pace to supplement him. He did win some tackles, headers but never took a bite of the cherry. We didnt get any save from De gea but created chances upon chances that were so fruitless. Crosses were thrown in from Sagna but Giroud couldn’t make use of it. I wonder how the fans would have felt if Bendtner had connected to that final cross: Heroic?

Fans Should Free Bendtner.

The twitter-o-sphere have been awashed with negativity against Bendtner, snatching out any hope from the Dane and labelling him all sort of names because of the scripts of a recently published interview. I have read the interview and i dont see any lie in what he said. Wasn’t he to be sold? Wasn’t he on his way out? Doesn’t he need to work extra to get back? I wonder how they felt seeing wenger bringing him in to add more pressure to United defense. I was unhappy that he didnt get to the cross because it would have been a moment to re-write his arsenal history and get many fans off his back. The headlines would have read: Bendtner Saves Arsenal”

Angry Wenger

I am as vexed as Wenger. This is what the Manager had to say after the game

“I hope that everybody’s full of rage basically against ourselves because it’s unbelievable to lose a game like that.”

It’s disappointing to lose the game the way we lost it. I felt that we were a bit nervous at the start of the game and didn’t play our game against a team of Manchester who was nervous, a bit insecure and we gave them a little bit of comfort by making the mistake at the first set-piece – or the second. After that we lost too many balls and we rushed our game in the first half.

In the second half when we played our game we played in one half and they counter-attacked a few times but we didn’t find the opportunity to equalise. We had the opportunities but we missed always a few inches to push the ball in the net. They were well focused to defend and defend and then try to catch us on the break – that happened once or twice in the game. Overall it’s disappointing to lose the game like that because I think we had the opportunity at least to get a draw out of this game.

Late Rally, Why not earlier.

Arsenal started on the back foot feling insecure probably due to their record at Old Trafford. The gunners started just like they did in the 2-1 loss to Dortmund at the Emirates. Arsenal gave Manchester United comfort. They were nervous but we gave them a cushion to be comfort. We needed to be down to re-ignite our Liverpool or Dortmund form.

And Gnabry came in and the pace and bite we lacked upfront arrived. Why not earlier? I wonder what would have happened if Gnabry started on the flanks. We lacked wing play and are fortunate to have Gibbs and Sagna to. Arsenal need to exploit all options from go.

Well, Arsenal are 2 points above Liverpool and 6 points seperate the top 8. The League is a marathon war. The gunners may have lost the battle at Old Trafford, but they are poised to fire on to remain on top.

International Break

It is a good time to have a break. To your tents oh Isreal. The FIFA Worldcup qualifiers are at the closing stages and the Sweden Portugal game seems to be the toughest encounter. Ibrahimovic has an opportunity to stack a claim for the Ballon d’or over Ronaldo. In Africa, we await the last 5 to be in Brazil. Nigeria would face Ethiopa in Calabar.

The Atmosphere in Nigeria is filled with jubilition because the Golden Eaglets are the FIFA U-17 WorldCup Champion for the 4th time after defeating defending champions Mexico 3-0 in the final

Have a nice week gooners. We are still on top.

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