Cesc’s team gives Emirates its first memorable victory

Arsenal 2 Man United 1

Rooney 53, van Persie 83, Henry 93


 

THE TURNING POINT of the game was a scuffle in the 83rd minute between Scholes and Fabregas, who tackled him and won the ball and lost it to Evra and won it back and then released Rosicky.

Often a referee will stop these scuffles, where two players are hacking at the ball and an opponent on the ground, and give a free-kick.

But here it was just four guys scrapping for the ball and Steve Bennett allowed play to continue and Rosicky hit a low cross into the goalmouth which bounced twice. After the ball bounced the first time Henry tried to flick the ball towards the goal with the inside of his right foot, but the ball bounced again and flew beyond the far post where Robin van Persie came roaring onto a very difficult chance and blazed it high inside the post with his thunderous left foot.

A miraculous finish from a narrow angle by Arsenal’s top scorer this season.

That turned the game.

The goals came in 53 and 83 and 93 and the Robin van Persie goal was the best of the three because it was the most difficult finish, although Rooney’s controlled header at the far post was far from easy. Many strikers would have headed into the side-netting or the post, or at Lehmann.

In 91 minutes, Sir Alex waved the white flag by taking off Ronaldo, the player of the season, and putting on Heinze at left back. How stupid!

In 93, Eboue played one-two with Rosicky and hit a phenomenal cross with pace onto the goalmouth and Henry sent a power-header through Edwin van der Sar from eight yards to give the Emirates its first dramatic victory, its first big scalp, its first bit of history, its first  memorable match.

Arsenal fans will say : We won with a very late Henry header. United fans will say that was a day when the best team lost, like the FA Cup Final that went to penalties.

What were the first 53 minutes like?
Well, United dominated the start when Arsenal were nervous and Giggs, playing infield, saw a lot of the ball.

Henry was invisible but Adebayor had a good game, chasing longer balls, putting himself about, and showing that his touch has improved.

After 14, Eboue rammed his elbow into Rooney’s face. and when Rooney slapped him back in the same tangle, he bent down holding his face. Rooney just rubbed his head and carried on.

In 37, Gary Neville stuck his leg out rashly and clipped Henry, who was going nowhere but was in the box. The linesman was on the other side and Steve Bennett didnt give a penalty, so Neville got away with it.

In 46, Rooney hit a booming dipper which Lehmann did well to tip onto the top of the crossbar. And when the corner came in he made a good low save, left-handed, from a Larsson header.

On Arsenal’s first half showing, I didn’t give them a hope in hell of winning the game. United had started the half in charge and ended the half in charge and Sir Thierry Henry, the aristocrat, was peripheral to the point of invisibility, a powderpuff passenger.

Then came the three goals, of which the second, by van Persie, was the best.

VERDICT ?

Cesc Fabregas is the best footballer in the Prem, as everyone knows by now. A general, a colonel, a major, a sergeant, a private, a skirmisher, a scout, a sniper, a trench digger – he does every job in this red and white army

It’s Cesc’s team now, so where does Henry fit in?

Well, at the end, in the 83rd minute or the 93rd, where he pinches a ball off a defender, or pinches a yard off a defender, and scores. That is all he did in this game and it may be how he wants to play in Cesc’s team.

Clichy was so good against Ronaldo that he forced him to work the other flank. His reads it well and intercepts well, zipping in front of his opponent to pinch the ball. It doesn’t work every time and he made mistakes in this frenzied game, but so did every player at such a hectic tempo.

Eboue is a liability both positionally and temperamentally, but he crosses a great ball occasionally at vital moments. I doubt if Arsene has ever given Eboue a bollocking about his cheating crybaby antics. By the time he is really hurt in a  challenge his own fans will all be shouting , “Get up, you tart!”

Hleb tired badly and Baptista might have come on sooner.
Flamini worked hard and broke up a lot.

The victory left us with plenty to ponder.

If Van Persie has cracked his fifth metatarsal, can it heal in six weeks? They say the fourth heals quicker than the fifth because the fourth is a bigger toe and has a better blood supply.

Arsenal’s win at Old Trafford on September 17 was a wake-up call for United, who improved hugely after that defeat to lead the league for the last three months. Will this January reversal be another wake-up call which propels them into a title-clinching sequence?

Are Manchester United better than any team Arsenal will face in the remainder of this season, even in the Champions League?

How good are Arsenal’s next ten opponents compared to Man United?

Not as fierce, I’d say, not as solid in defence, and not as fast.