{"id":6609,"date":"2022-09-06T00:40:21","date_gmt":"2022-09-05T23:40:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=6609"},"modified":"2022-09-07T20:30:34","modified_gmt":"2022-09-07T19:30:34","slug":"the-enmity-is-still-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=6609","title":{"rendered":"The Enmity is Still There"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color:#fff;display:inline-block;font-family:Roboto,sans-serif;color:#a7a7a7;font-size:11px;width:100%;max-width:594px;\"><div style=\"padding:0;margin:0;text-align:left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1420778456\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" rel=\"noopener\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div><div style=\"overflow:hidden;position:relative;height:0;padding:66.66667% 0 0 0;width:100%;\"><iframe src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/1420778456?et=pl6KPYMBT5VVcbgsI0u_Nw&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=TVuZaGH3ldhTmznmKsclKAb47Iw3QEWIF7b073uKroI=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"display:inline-block;position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;margin:0;\" width=\"594\" height=\"396\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>This is a rather rushed recollection of yesterday\u2019s game in which Arsenal surrendered their unbeaten record to Manchester United. Recent seasons have seen the intensity of the rivalry between the two clubs diminish but yesterday\u2019s match events and the comments of the pundits after the match ensured that all those long-suppressed feelings of injustice and rivalry surfaced spontaneously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let us summarise the match before we talk about the reaction to it. It was a high-quality game at a stadium where Arsenal don\u2019t traditionally do too well, although in the last eight games (home and away) before this against United we had lost only once. That was last year &#8211; a very avoidable defeat. We managed to replicate the experience yesterday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arsenal made one change from Villa in midweek, bringing back Zinchenko to what begins as a left-back station but morphs into many other things. The game developed in segments. For the first ten or so minutes Arsenal hardly had a kick as United stormed out of the blocks. Eriksen should have scored from a fine Antony cross but fired wide, otherwise for all their pressure United did not create much. Suddenly we broke. \u00d8degaard dispossessed Eriksen inside the United half , Saka produced an incisive pass which gave Martinelli lots to do but he did it brilliantly holding off Dalot and beating De Gea.  Nobody celebrates goals immediately anymore especially at Old Trafford.  Referee Tierney (who Twitter are claiming is from Salford) saw the tackle from \u00d8degaard and deemed it acceptable but Lee Mason stationed out at Greater Manchester decided that being in charge of VAR entitles you to re-referee the game. Having made a diabolical mistake at Newcastle the day before he obviously told Tierney to \u2018look again\u2019. Tierney did and looked for some time but ruled the goal out. Quelle Surprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The impact of that seemed to affect both teams . United lost any rhythm they had before and Arsenal grew in confidence and fluidity. Martinelli had a shot blocked by De Gea\u2019s leg and Saka had a reasonable claim for a penalty turned down. Saliba missed when well-placed and Jes\u00fas ran Varane and most of the rest of the United defence ragged. A goal seemed inevitable and it duly came. Sadly it was a United goal<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tierney played an intelligent advantage when Gabriel fouled Fernandes, the ball was switched on to Rashford who played it through to debutant Antony, and he finished well although it might be claimed that Ramsdale showed him a lot of the goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>United 1 Arsenal 0 (<strong>Antony<\/strong>, 35&#8242;)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arsenal responded with more fluent attacking play but could&nbsp;not produce an equaliser despite enjoying great success along both wings.  We had enjoyed territorial superiority, had bossed possession and looked a cut above United. But at the interval we were one down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Half-time &#8211;&nbsp;United 1 Arsenal 0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We have some idea of how Arteta might have tackled the task of preparing his team for the second half.  His message would have gone something like &#8216;You\u2019re murdering this lot. Make our fooking superiority count!&#8217;  High fives all round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The lads must have listened because for the first fifteen minutes of the second half there was only one team in it.  Arsenal\u2019s superiority was almost embarrassing.  Saka whipped a cross shot narrowly wide, Jes\u00fas continued to bamboozle Varane, and Xhaka and Zinchenko fed a constant stream of through balls to Saka and Martinelli.  Ronaldo arrived but as soon as he did we equalised.  \u00d8degaard played a lovely pass to Jes\u00fas through the middle. United\u2018s defence could only block it partially and it span to Saka who swept it home.  Even Gary Neville couldn\u2019t dispute the justice of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><strong>United 1 Arsenal 1 (<strong>Saka<\/strong>, 60&#8242;)<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I could not have been alone in thinking that this was going to be the pivotal moment in the game as Arteta readied three substitutes: Nketiah, Vieira and Smith Rowe.  Zinchenko was removed forcing Martinelli to operate as a withdrawn left-back.  Then from nothing Fernandes found Rashford onside and he took the chance well racing from halfway to slot into the corner. Mike Macdonald criticised Ramsdale\u2019s starting position but I felt that was harsh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><strong><strong>United 2 Arsenal 1 (Rashford, 66&#8242;)<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I felt a combination of deep injustice and annoyance at the naivety of our gung ho approach exemplified by our very high line.  Our substitutes all came on to push for an equaliser only to suffer the coup de grace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Eriksen timed his run from midfield perfectly and slotted across goal for Rashford, a man who until recently couldn\u2019t buy a goal to slot home, despite White\u2019s despairing challenge.  My inclusion of Rashford in my Fantasy Team did not lessen the pain any.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><strong><strong>United 3 Arsenal 1 (Rashford, 75&#8242;)<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By now it was obvious that this was not our day.  We continued to play neat and occasionally penetrative football without troubling De Gea unduly. Gooners watching on Sky braced themselves for the smug self-assurance of Roy Keane and Gary Neville.  Arteta fumed on the touchline (why can\u2019t they fooking do what I fooking tell them?)&nbsp;and Ten Hag, now officially the greatest&nbsp; manager in the world, looked like a man whose plan has worked to perfection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Losing at Old Trafford always hurts but it hurts more when it is avoidable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Full time &#8211; United 3 Arsenal 1<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So what lessons can we learn from our first defeat?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Firstly we played some lovely football and had the first goal stood it would&nbsp; have been a different game. On a weekend where the effectiveness of the way PGMOL operate VAR was called into question by the Premier League it was a pity that we are one of the teams that suffered but at Old Trafford &#8220;twas ever thus&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our squad still looks light in places and it must be hoped that we can deal capably with our Europa League group witn several rotations because ESR was injured (yet again) in the warm down and we are without Elneny, Partey (due back on Sunday) and Nelson.  Several of our team played very well.  Jes\u00fas was superb, Saka much improved, \u00d8degaard looked incisive and Xhaka played well again in his advanced role.  Zinchenko is a terrific player but Gabriel and Ramsdale have an occasional mistake in them, Sambi is inevitably inexperienced, and I can\u2019t understand starting White ahead of Tomayisu although he has done little wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But there was enough encouragement in our performance to persuade the most cynical Gooner that we have a real chance of top four this season. A little perspective is often useful.  It\u2019s sad that we had to acquire it in such depressing circumstances&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images This is a rather rushed recollection of yesterday\u2019s game in which Arsenal surrendered their unbeaten record to Manchester United. Recent seasons have seen the intensity of the rivalry between the two clubs diminish but yesterday\u2019s match events and the comments of the pundits after the match ensured that all those long-suppressed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6609"}],"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\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6609"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6627,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6609\/revisions\/6627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}