Manchester United came into this game looking to keep up their impressive form of three Premier League wins on the trot, but were always in for a difficult test as they travelled to play an Arsenal side determined to silence their critics after a loss to Olympiakos in the Champions League.
In the last few games Manchester United have continued to make slow starts, Wolfsburg took the lead within five minutes and Southampton could have been two up inside of fifteen minutes, but United were thoroughly punished this time as Alexis Sanchez neatly tucked in an Ozil cross on the five-minute mark. It was only two minutes later when Ozil added himself to the score sheet with a cool finish and the misery was complete when Sanchez unleashed a thunderbolt into the top corner. Louis van Gaal’s post-match comments summarised the match as he stated “I have never seen this [level of performance] from my team”, but also criticized the players stating “it was not only one player, it was more than half of my team that were not doing what we agreed in my game plan.”
Whilst this loss will have short-term effects on the players, this defeat doesn’t change United’s position in the table too drastically, but as Louis van Gaal said, a team that is top of the league and with ambitions to remain there, should not be losing a match of this importance in that fashion. The second international break faces the players and yet again they go into it with a defeat lingering on their mind, whether this will allow some of the players to refresh and come back stronger like after Swansea will be interesting to see.
There are a number of areas United should improve upon on their return, the first being starting games on the front foot and not allowing the opposition to impose their pace on them. Thought needs to also be given to the back four, in the first games of the system defensive organization, compactness and aggressive pressing was United’s strength, but all of that was missing from their game today. Luke Shaw’s unfortunate injury has made the right-back position unclear and with Phil Jones’ return to form, the defense needs to be sorted and solidified for United to continue their title challenge.
Manchester United have been in this position before where they find their squad, stretched and tired, most noticeably last season against Everton. Louis van Gaal needs to find a way to maximize his squad to avoid players such as Mata, Blind and Smalling consistently putting in performances two or three times a week, more of the squad players need to start pulling their weight. The midfield also needs to be looked at, the combination of Carrick and Schweinsteiger simply doesn’t work, both players control the tempo and set the pace, but neither have the legs to buzz about the pitch and break up play, both Ander Herrera and Schneiderlin provide this excellently, one of the two is simply required to play in order for the midfield to stay combative and not get overrun as they did today.
What needs to be said is that United should not be in any state of panic, they are in a healthy position in the table and have noticeably improved on their attacking performances, this result should be a massive wake-up call for the players and the manager that title winners don’t perform in shifts, a consistent display needs to be shown across the season. With a more balanced midfield and a stronger back-up defensive unit, Manchester United have it in them to win their 21st League title.
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