{"id":1690,"date":"2020-10-31T17:08:41","date_gmt":"2020-10-31T17:08:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=1690"},"modified":"2020-11-01T21:54:16","modified_gmt":"2020-11-01T21:54:16","slug":"a-clean-slate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=1690","title":{"rendered":"A Clean Slate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
\u00a9 Simon Stacpoole\/Offside\/Offside via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal vs. Manchester United is the<\/em> rivalry that made the Premier League. That is not to trivialize the intensity or significance of many of the other traditional contests in the English football with roots of enmity deep in the collective psyche of a football-crazy nation, but since the current incarnation of the Premier League broke away from the old First Division and started its opulent journey, the bitterly fought battles between these two dominant teams in the Premier League\u2019s earlier days provided a perfect spectacle to showcase the quality and intensity of English football, and helped turn it into a near religious phenomenon followed across the globe. The relationship between the two respective managers \u2013 each irreplaceable and peerless legends in their clubs \u2013 as it traced a sinuous trajectory through time supplied a fascinating sub-plot to that contest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Things have changed lately \u2013 neither of these two clubs are\nserious title contenders, and haven\u2019t been for a while. Ars\u00e8ne Wenger and Alex\nFerguson have both left their managerial roles and an openly expressed mutual\nrespect now has made the memories of the thorniness of the old feud faded a\nbit. Both clubs are in some stage or other of the much-discussed rebuilding\nphases. Neither has the old verve and swagger in their performances on the\nfield, and treble or invincible seasons have now taken on mythic dimensions in\nthe memories of the suffering fans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But to this Arsenal supporter matches against the old enemy\nare still the most eagerly anticipated dates in the league calendar. Even\nthough our league record away at Old Trafford is possibly the poorest compared\nto any other ground, and some of the recent matches there had both the teams\nplaying pedestrian football, it is still an occasion I cherish. Maybe simply\nbecause the memories associated with it, and maybe even in a hope (a hope so\nirrational that I am not even willing to admit it to myself) to recapture the\nromance of those spurring days. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our last away win at Manchester United was in March 2015 in the FA Cup quarter-final, en route to lifting our 12th<\/sup> FA Cup. We had won 2-1, Nacho Monreal scoring early only to see Rooney, the eternal thorn in our side, equalize soon after. Danny Welbeck \u2013 ex-Mancunian who had enjoyed popularity at both clubs because of his professionalism and no-nonsense personality \u2013 scored the winning goal for us late in the second half, pouncing on a mistake by his ex-teammates.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since Premier League started we have won away in League at Manchester United only three times: 1-0 wins all. Two of those concurred with our League and FA cup doubles \u2013 Overmars and Wiltord as the scorers in 1998 and 2002. The most recent of those three 1-0 away wins was in the early days of the 2006-2007 when a somewhat makeshift Arsenal team played incisively and a young Togolese striker deputizing for Henry scored a goal towards the end. While Adebayor got the headlines, to me the match was most memorable for the performance of another newcomer in that side: Tom\u00e1\u0161 Rosick\u00fd \u2013 one of my favorite players of the Emirates era. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, in last 14 years we haven\u2019t won away at Old Trafford in league. We didn\u2019t win when we played well, we didn\u2019t win when we played very well, a few times we played poorly and escaped with a draw, a few times we played very poorly and paid the price. And there have been a few \u201ccontroversial\u201d refereeing decisions but always favoring the opposition (so much for the mistakes averaging out).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This Sunday seems to be the perfect time to end that\nwretched run. Last season they had finished 5 positions and 10 points ahead of\nus as we landed with a mighty thud to our lowest league position in last 25\nseasons. However, we had defeated them quite comfortably at home in the first\nmonth of our new manager\u2019s time (and hopefully beginning of a new era), and in\nan empty stadium without the home fan advantage there is no reason we cannot\nreplicate the guile and efficiency of that performance. We had scored two first\nhalf goals \u2013 a typical left-foot finish by P\u00e9p\u00e9 and a well-timed header by\nSokratis \u2013 on that day and then saw out the match easily in the second half. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Manchester United had a late season surge earlier this year\nafter the league resumed following the hiatus, a run of form and some handy\npenalty decisions rocketing them up the league table, and this season they\nstarted with sufficient attacking verve to demand nothing but the very best\nfrom us. But their defense has been questioned, and we should not only continue\nthe questioning but take it to the interrogation room and really turn the\nscrew. We should have the necessary firepower, even though a little damp the\npowder has been recently. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arteta, and I believe quite rightly, has prioritized\norganizational solidity and tactical maturity, in these early days of his\ntenure. He is trying to build a mental habit of resilience and defensive\nself-confidence that sustain all the best teams as they go through a season of\nrelative ups and downs. As a result, in the balance of attack and defense we\nhave noticeably erred on the side of conservative approach and haven\u2019t yet\nbuilt any sustained attacking momentum. The fact that we also do not have many\n\u2013 or for that matter, any \u2013 established creative midfielders who can see a run\nand consistently thread a ball through defensive blocks contributed to our\nsomewhat pedestrian attacks that relied primarily on highly orchestrated\ntraining ground moves built around our talismanic captain\u2019s goalscoring\nabilities. When that orchestration worked \u2013 victorious FA cup run, a few league\nmatches \u2013 it looked wonderful. But when it didn\u2019t the lack of spontaneous\ncreativity and unpredictability in the attack held us back. And pragmatically\nspeaking that is an area which we will most likely need much of this season \u2013\nand a signing or two in the winter transfer window \u2013 to learn to excel\nconsistently. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Manchester United will definitely not sit back in two banks\nof defensive fours at home. To begin with they are much better on the business\nend of the pitch with the talents of Martial, Rashford and their new old man\nCavani (who before moving to PSG from Napoli was for a while linked with us) capable\nof troubling any defense and in Matic, Pogba and Fernandes they have an\nexperienced midfield with quality players capable of influencing the game.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It will be fascinating to see how we set up. Will Mikel try\nthe defend, defend, defend and then counter-attack approach with Aubameyang\nrunning inside from outside left? Or turn it up from the beginning and\naggressively hound their defense with incessant pressing? Will the midfield be\nused to rotate and keep possession or provide defensive solidity and then quick\ntransition? The best teams become comfortable with playing in all of these\ndifferent modes in the same match and switch between them instinctively as\nrequired. We are as a collective still in the infancy of forming that kind of\ntactical muscle memory and we will definitely hear Arteta\u2019s relentless\ndirection from the sidelines to influence as much as he can. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I myself think that we should try to exploit their defensive\nvulnerability as much as we can and not let them have too much time on the ball.\nMy preferred line-up will be a 4-3-3 with the following personnel:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leno<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bellerin \u2013 Mustafi \u2013 Gabriel \u2013 Tierney<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Willian \u2013 Ceballos \u2013 Partey<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P\u00e9p\u00e9 \u2013 Aubameyang \u2013 Saka<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With Saka and Willian switching roles now and then, and the\nfront three too becoming more fluid in possession with Auba drifting wide\nsometimes and Saka and P\u00e9p\u00e9 switching sides. I like Ceballos more in the deeper\n\u201c6\u201d role and his close control in tight space can be very helpful with Partey\nproviding a dual role of tackling in the deep and surging vertically once\npossession is won back. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, I think Mikel will continue with the 3-4-3 to\nprovide better defensive protection, and his line-up will most likely be:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leno<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mustafi \u2013 Gabriel \u2013 Tierney<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bellerin \u2013 Partey \u2013 Xhaka \u2013 Saka<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Willian \u2013 Lacazette \u2013 Aubameyang<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result of this match is hard to predict as both of these\nteams have players capable of producing brilliant moments but neither are as\nteams quite consistent across all areas of the pitch. I will make a somewhat\nambitious prediction of a 2-1 away victory with Auba rediscovering the scoring\nform in the league and Willian scoring his first goal for Arsenal.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Come on Arsenal!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arsenal vs. Manchester United is the rivalry that made the Premier League. That is not to trivialize the intensity or significance of many of the other traditional contests in the English football with roots of enmity deep in the collective psyche of a football-crazy nation, but since the current incarnation of the Premier League broke […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1690"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1690"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1700,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1690\/revisions\/1700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}