Twitter
Advertisement

EPL 2014: After Arsenal's loss to Manchester United, fans begin to lose patience with manager Arsene Wenger

Latest News
article-main
A visibly distraught Arsene Wenger who is repeatedly being blamed for Arsenal's dwindling performance.
FacebookTwitterWhatsappLinkedin

A decade ago, this match (Arsenal vs Manchester United) would have been the clash of the Titans.

Yesterday, it was merely two giants trying to recreate the same height this traditional rivalry had reached in the past.

Arsenal and United, two quality sides going head-to-head on a Saturday evening at Emirates Stadium made for an exciting clash. A match like this never fails to disappoint and neither did this one.

Both had their long list of injuries and after looking at the Louis van Gal-coached United comprised of defenders such as Paddy McNair, Tyler Blackett and Chris Smalling, a half decent striker would have been licking his lips.

Right at the start Arsene Wenger (Arsenal manager) said that Arsenal would attack United's defence and the home team just did that in the first half, creating chance after chance. The fact that Luke Shaw had to be substituted early in the first half didn’t help United's cause either. The best chance fell to Jack Wilshere who should have converted, but the brilliance of United custodian David De Gea did brilliantly well to thwart a rushing Wilshere.

With neither teams able to break the deadlock the first half ended in a boring 0-0 with most Arsenal (home) fans feeling that the Gunners should have been leading the half after dominating and missing a fair share of multiple chances.

Going into the second half everything that has been going wrong with the Guners this season- tactical naivety and inability to perform in high pressure encounters was coming to the fore. As they always say in football, if you don’t take your chances, they'll come back to haunt you and Arsenal realized that the hard way.

The build up to the first goal for United was a little dubious as Marouane Fellaini seemed offside, there was a collision between Arsenal keeper Wojcieh Szczęsny and left-back Keiran Gibbs, the ball ricocheted to United's Antonio Valencia who went for a strike, only for the ball to be deflected off Gibbs and into Arsenals net.

From then on, panic mode began for Arsenal, who lost the shape of their defence and had only two defenders to man the backline.

The home team suffered yet another jolt through a counter-attack in the 85th minute when Wayne Rooney and Angel Di Maria doubled up against a helpless Nacho Monreal. Rooney was one-on-one against Damián Martínez (who had replaced Szczęsny after his collision with Gibbs) only to calmly and confidently slot the ball in the back of the net.

The statistics on the display board showed the visitors 2-0 up with only one shot on target (including the the own goal by Gibbs). Arsenal managed a consolation in the 95th minute when Olivier Giroud hit a brilliant half volley into the top corner, probably the only way a brilliant De Gea could have been beaten. 

The mere consolation in a 1-2 loss at the Emirates left most of the Arsenal fans fuming. Was it a tactical masterclass by Van Gaal, nobody thought so, it was a mere case of self-destruction by Arsenal.

Arsenal have been a talented team all this while, the only thing lacking is the winning and unfortunately Frenchman Wenger doesn’t seem to be the right man to be able to understand. This has been Arsenal's worst start to the Premier League season in the last 20 years. The shouts of #WengerOut have started emanating from various corners around the world which have an Arsenal fanbase. Will the Arsenal Board go with the common consensus or repose faith in Wenger? This is a question only the Arsenal Board can answer.

Find your daily dose of news & explainers in your WhatsApp. Stay updated, Stay informed-  Follow DNA on WhatsApp.
Advertisement

Live tv

Advertisement
Advertisement