home

Match Preview: Arsenal

Undoubtedly the biggest game of the season so far.  While these games may have lost an element of the Keane-era ferocity it will still be a passionate affair, and a huge game for both clubs.

For United, there is our poor record against the big four last season, which needs working on, but it is also the first such clash without Ronaldo and Tevez.

Fergie has said that we can't afford to drop any more points this early in the season, and should we lose to Arsenal on home soil, the press are likely to view as proof United will not be title contenders, with their current squad.

For Arsenal it is a big test too. Much has been made of their ability to put multiple goals past woefully inadequate Everton and Portsmouth, but United at Old Trafford is a different proposition. Will the young Gunners deliver on their early season hype?

Injuries at the back mean it is not an ideal time to face Arsenal with so much at stake, (though the Gunners are likely to be without Fabregas) and I am expecting a very tough game for United. Equally I am looking forward to seeing how the new look United fares against high calibre opposition. Victory would mean so much more than three points.

Defence

Despite set backs, United have conceded less goals than Arsenal, despite playing a game more - thanks in no small part so some great work by Ben Foster. Obviously Van der Sar's experience would be handy today, but Foster's growing stature means it is less of a concern as it could have been.

Fit again Wes Brown could return, the question is whether to the right back slot he made his own two seasons ago, or to relieve Jonny Evans in the centre. Given that Evans is having injections to make it through games, and has needed to be substituted, it seems to make more sense to avoid a forced change later in the game and rest Evans completely, putting O'Shea or Neville in at right back.

Midfield

The strong performance by the United midfield at Wigan (Fletcher Scholes, Nani, Valencia) points to making few changes, but given that Wigan are not Arsenal, a different line up is likely. Park's relentless running seems crucial to disrupting Arsenal's rhythm, so he seems a safer choice than Valencia for this tie.

The question is, will Michael Carrick's unexplained absence continue? Must be Red will be listening with interest when the team sheet is announced. In a game when harrying and closing down will play their part in stopping Arsenal, it seems a shame that Anderson as well as Carrick is out of form and out of favour.

The fluid nature of the Gunners 4-3-3 means there will be a lot of running for the Reds midfield. Despite Paul Scholes' undoubted qualities, I wonder whether he would be able to keep up these days.

Yet given that Giggs did not feature in the Wigan game, the Welshman seems due a return, be it in the centre or out wide. Who knows, maybe we will even get another one of these?

Up Front

Despite Owen's first goal it's almost bound to be Berbatov and Rooney again. It was great to see Dimitar chasing back and nicking the ball off defenders in the Wigan game. While he's no Tevez yet, the fact that he looks hungrier this season can only be a good thing for United. 

With Owen off the mark it would be great to see him open his home account even if as a substitute. The winning goal would do nicely, Michael.

Patrick

United supporters vote Chelsea as main domestic rival and Barcelona as top European opponent

755 Manchester United supporters voted in MustBeRed's first weekly survey of opinion among United's global fans. You can take part in the second survey by voting here.

CHELSEA SEEN AS MAIN RIVAL FOR RETAINING THE PREMIERSHIP

The vote was taken before Liverpool lost last night at home to Aston Villa and most people had voted before Arsenal's strong start to the season. We'll hold another vote in a month or so.  Only 2% of United supporters see City as a serious rival - despite the Arab-owned team's £216m spending spree.

BARCELONA ARE SEEN AS MAIN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE RIVAL

Ten times as many United supporters see Barcelona as the main European rival as see Chelsea as the main rival.  Only 1% see Arsenal as United's main European rival.

ROONEY WILL BE UNITED'S TOP SCORER

It is difficult to argue with the verdict on this one.  A whopping 86% of supporters said that Wayne Rooney - who scored his 101st goal for United on Saturday against Wigan - will be United's top scorer in 2009/10.  More supporters expect Owen to hit the back of the net more regularly than Berbatov.

WE CAN BE STRONGER WITHOUT RONALDO

Most members of the MustBeRed panel are optimists about life after Ronaldo.  A quarter expect United to be weaker without last year's World Player of The Year but two-thirds say we can be stronger.

CLICK HERE TO VOTE IN THE NEW SURVEY.

11 points about the Wigan match

1. The perfect response.  Even though there are still some doubts and worries (see below), you can't really argue against 5 goals, scored away from home, and with all of your main strikers getting on the score sheet.  This was pretty much the best response we could have expected after the Burnley game, and sets things up nicely for the Arsenal match next weekend.  We've got six points now, only 84 more to go by Fergie's reckoning.

2. Well done, Wayne: goals #100 and #101.  Remember that debut against Fenerbahce?  Goals 1, 2 and 3 in a United shirt for Wayne Rooney?  Well, four years on he's the Old Trafford hero we all thought he'd be, and he just smashed in goals 100 and 101.  Here, for your viewing pleasure, is the magic hundreth:


Original Video- More videos at TinyPic

3. Owen's goal.  To my eyes, Owen's goal was the pick of the bunch.  Not just for the crisp pass by Nani and the pinpoint finish from Owen himself, but for what this could mean for our season - a confident Owen could well start banging them in from now on.



4. Berbatov's genius.  Lazy?  Doesn't add much to the team?  Geddaway.  Especially in the second half, Berbatov's neat touches and cushioned passes were the impetus behind many of United's best attacking moves.  The goal - complete with a chip over the keeper - capped what was an impressive performance.



5. Valencia Watch.  Now, that's more like it.  Against his old club, Valencia looked much more like the player we all got excited about in pre-season: a danger down the flank, peppering the opposition box with plenty of threatening crosses.  There are still question marks about whether he can pull it off against stronger oppostion - Ashley Cole, for instance, coped easily with him in the Community Shield match - but this was encouraging stuff.

6. The New Nani.  Last week we had the Old Nani: wasteful, frustating and lazy.  This week we're mostly back to the New Nani we saw against Chelsea: controlled, constructive and central to much of United's best play.  Again, a player who capped an impressive performance with an equally impressive goal.



7. Solid-(ish) defence.  Aside from a few wobbles - and, yes, a goal conceded against Burnley - one of the great positives that Fergie can take from the opening three games of the season is how our defence has coped with the injuries which have decimated it.  Vidic was back yesterday - which immediately made us look more solid - but none of the stand-ins, from John O'Shea to Wes Brown, have particularly embarrassed themselves or the team.  Special mention must go to Patrice Evra, who has been our player of the season so far, and Jonny Evans, who is one of the most composed young defenders that these eyes have ever seen.

8. The great Wigan run.  Don't you just love it when United play Wigan?  In nine league meetings now, United have come out winners every time - scoring 26 goals, and conceding only 4, in the process.

9. Doubts and worries.  Ok, so everything above has been a positive.  But there's no masking the fact that United looked distinctly off the boil in the first half of the match yesterday.  The main problem was the same one we had in the last two gains: an inability to convert chances into goals, the lack of some vital spark (or the 'X-Factor', as Piers Morgan puts it in the Sportsmail pages today).  Hopefully, the second-half performance will give the team the encouragement it needs, but there's little doubt that a better team than Wigan would have punished us before the first 45 minutes were up yesterday.

10. Where's Carrick?  Like the Birmingham game last weekend, Michael Carrick didn't even warrant a place on the United bench yesterday.  You do wonder what's going on with him.  He's not injured, so far as any one knows, but he does seem to have been the target of some cryptic and critical remarks from Fergie.  Whatever's wrong, let's hope it gets sorted out soon - our central midfield is already looking a little thin, without us effectively losing Carrick.

11. The final word from Fergie.  Here's how the manager summarised the match:

"Overall I thought they played very well. We had six good chances in the first half, and you'd like to take one or two of them, but the important thing was to be patient, and keep playing the way they were playing."

So now back to Old Trafford, and the Arsenal next weekend.

Pete

A Striking Dilemma

After seasons when it seemed that United were a little short of out and out strikers, the Reds now have an embarrassment of riches. With Rooney, Berbatov, Tevez, Ronaldo, Danny Welbeck, Fraizer Campbell and of course Kiko Macheda on the books, who will Fergie have in mind, when he thinks inside the box next season?

 

Wayne Rooney Appearances 229, Goals 95

 

With 17 goals this season, Rooney has once again brought a decent haul of goals. Yet to judge Rooney by goals is to use the wrong metric. You cannot measure his work rate, his vision and his link up play by goals.

 

Despite criticism of his temper, the flipside is an enthusiasm for playing - and playing for United, given his willingness to play out his career here. Any starting eleven would be weaker without its number 10.

 

Cristiano Ronaldo Apps 285, Goals  133

 

Is he a winger? Is he a striker? When, once again, Ronaldo is United’s top scorer any consideration of strikers would be sorely lacking without him.

 

Though his attitude this season has been criticised, and at times his form less scintillating than the vintage 07-08 display, his crucial goals in the Villa and Porto games suggest even £75m may be a bargain for the Bernabeu.

Carlos Tevez Apps 92, Goals 32

Another forward who may be leaving OT behind if the papers are to believed. Carlos’ first team frustrations are easy to understand, the contribution his goals, work-rate and near telepathic link with Rooney played last season.  Despite lack of opportunities he has still turned in the goals, both crucial and spectacular this term.

 

As the chants of “Fergie sign him up” testify, many a Red would hate to see him go.

 

Dimitar Berbatov, Appearances: 36 Goals 13

 

After the drama of his eventual signing, and the record fee that was paid, Berbatov’s first few months were relatively quiet. But just as the scepticism was building, Dimi produced that moment of magic against West Ham, placating most of the cynics.

 

Though his control and passing have given United an extra dimension, there is still a feeling that he is yet to establish himself as one of United’s big game performers. But there’s always next season.

 

Manucho Apps 1 Goals 0 (Hull Apps 14, Goals 2)

 

Having scored arguably the goal of the African Nations cup last year, there is palpable intrigue at just what Manucho could do . Despite an impressive goals to games ratio for Panathanaikos last season, he has only netted twice during his loan spell at Hull, so whether he is ready for the life in the Premier League fast lane remains open to question..

 

Danny Welbeck Apps 12, Goals 3

 

The screamer against Stoke may have announced his arrival in the Premier League, but Danny Welbeck’s appearance have been restricted largely to the  league cup. 

 

After a reasonable performance out wide at Wembley, he might find more joy on the wing if he is stay at United, given the names ahead of him in the queue.

 

Fraizer Campbell Apps 4, Goals 0 (Spurs: Apps 14, Goals 3)

 

Denied opening his United account on the first day of the season by Shay Given’s head, Campbell has been unable to follow up promising spells at Royal Antwerp and Hull with regular Premier League football. Shipped out to Spurs as part of the Berbatov bargain, Frazer has seen his chances at White Hart Lane limited by Spurs policy of buying back their old strikers. Still to prove himself at the top level.

Kiko Macheda Apps 3, Goals 2

 

The least experienced of United’s forward line arguably needs the least introduction after the six crucial points his two United goals have already earned.  Having turned in impressive performances Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s reserve team, if Macheda continues to show such promise, we would be mad to le him go just yet.

 

Patrick

'Red Issue' urges Ferguson to build Utd's attack around Berbatov-Rooney in the same way he has built the defence around Vidic-Ferdinand

RED ISSUE
WHY DOESN'T FERGUSON BUILD A ROONEY-BERBATOV PARTNERSHIP IN THE SAME WAY HE HAS BUILT A VIDIC-FERDINAND PARTNERSHIP?

"There seems little idea of how to successfully incorporate both Berbatov and Rooney into the same side... The Guardian has published some interesting analysis of the pair's performances together.  Only once have they managed to link up for a goal - against West Brom back in October.  Meanwhile, out of 551 passes the team made against Sunderland in December, only four were between the pair... What also surely can't help matters is the constant tinkering with the line-up.  Ferguson often talks about the importance of the team's defensive partnership, and it's no coincidence that in a team with so many changes both Vidic and Ferdinand were two of the few genuine first choice personnel in the semi-final starting line-up.  Quite why a similar opportunity isn't afforded to the team's main strike pairing is a mystery."

UNITED WE STAND
MANAGERIAL STABILITY EXPLAINS WHY ENGLISH CLUBS ARE BESTING REAL MADRID

"Spaniards cannot understand why the English persist with coaches like Ferguson, Wenger or Benitez if they don't lift the treble each season.  They call it the patience of the Anglo-Saxon mentality.  For years they mocked as Spanish clubs enjoyed hegemony in Europe.  The scorn has stopped, with English clubs consistently outperforming their Iberian cousins.  Whereas Sir Alex knows every player inside out and his charges know their manager's formidable traits, Madrid's players have to adopt new coaches and egotistical presidents almost annually, an unsettling environment at best.  Madrid's players have adapted domestically against clubs run on similar intolerant lines, but in Europe they look exposed and unsure, two characteristics the club's grand museum doesn't advertise."

RED NEWS
FICKLE PRESS NEED MAN UTD MORE THAN MAN UTD NEEDS THE PRESS

"The Mirror's match report after Liverpool screamed with self proclaimed hysteria: "The warning signs have been there for some time.  But when defeat eventually came, no-one would have imagined it would be so brutal and humiliating."  The warning signs?  Oh yes, Oliver Holt after the game also wrote: "Why Sir Alex Ferguson, not Rafa Benitez, is in danger of cracking up after Liverpool thrashing... the comprehensive manner of Liverpool's demolition of their opponents at Old Trafford suggested there may be nervous weeks ahead for Sir Alex."  Was this really the same Holt who just a week earlier, after our thrashing of Fulham in the Cup purred: "It feels as though there's something special about Ferguson's latest creation... you want to take your kids to a game so that in years to come, they can say they saw United played... most other teams are simply not in United's league... That there is no real perspective from anyone in football journalism is an argument for another day, yet this lack of objectivity over your actual standing and form, prefering rather than to judge each and every team after a small run of games - backed up by many managers across the board lose their jobs so quickly nowadays - defines a declining industry, one that doesn't seem to realise it is they who need United, for the oxygen of publicity, and selling any papers on the back of any such large defeat, certainly not the other way round.  As Fergie stared out at the press pre-Fulham he told them: There were no lives lost last week."  In a way, he watches the tide of opinion (be it from fans and press), without interest anymore, he has nothing left to prove and doesn't need to win either of us over to keep his job, just entirely believing that he'll be proved correct.  Whilst we can wobble with fears about worse case scenarios , he doesn't, and that's a great bit of experience to have that the Scousers simply don't possess."  

Tim

"A routine victory but exactly the kind of victory, it should be said, that wins titles"

Premiership
MANCHESTER UNITED 2 (Rooney 9, Carrick 82)
PORTSMOUTH 0

The title of this post is the verdict of Matt Lawton in the Daily Mail.  He congratulated MU for their work rate but The Sun chooses to focus on Fergie's unhappiness that his team didn't finish Portsmouth off before Michael Carrick's 82nd minute winner.  They certainly had the chances with Giggs missing two golden opportunities:

"Fergie said: “We were too casual so I’m not taking anything for granted. We have got to put our foot down. There is no leeway unless you can keep performing properly. This could have been embarrassing as we could have thrown the game away when we should have been five or six up. In the first half the football was some of the best you’ll see all season. But when you miss chances at 1-0 up you encourage your opponents.”"

Kevin McCarra, The Guardian, agrees:

"Opportunities for a second goal were squandered and Portsmouth did not get the full attention of the hosts until they hinted at levelling the score. With 66 minutes gone, Patrice Evra misjudged the flight of the ball and the substitute Jermaine Pennant got behind him before picking out Peter Crouch with a pass that the striker miscued."

As well as another clean sheet one big plus to emerge from last night was Anderson's performance.  Shaun Custis agrees in The Sun:

"It has taken Anderson nearly two years to adapt to the English game since a £20million move from Porto. But he is getting there and the fans are warming to him. He was an important figure against his former club in the Champions League quarter-final success and here he was United’s best player. When he was subbed the Old Trafford crowd, which had been so quiet all night, rose to applaud his contribution."

The Mail's Matt Lawton notes that Berbatov's name was greeted with boos from United supporters when it was announced.  He was an unused substitute in last night's game.  The Old Trafford crowd - preparing to pay £1 more a game from next season - would almost certainly vote for Tevez if they had to choose between keeping the Argentinian or the Bulgarian.  The Mirror has more on Tevez's radio interview in which he revealed that he is likely to leave United (reluctantly) in the summer.

Three points clear and a game in hand means we are now well placed for a third successive title but the race to the finish line won't be helped by the fact that Neville and O'Shea will be missing for "weeks".

A report on last night's game wouldn't be complete without a tribute to Mr 600 himself, Paul Scholes.  Martin Samuel does the job well in the Mail:

"He has been through so many matches like this it was clearly nothing special, despite the milestone. He has always been more interested in serving the team than servicing his ego and, those looking for a celebratory flamboyance in his game will have been disappointed. White boots with a red tongue were about the size of it. Even his haircut has not changed in all his years at Old Trafford. No harsh number ones or experiments. He is that wonderful contradiction: almost an anti-footballer off the field, and a pure footballer on it. Paying tribute to him beforehand, Ferguson said every club in Europe wanted Scholes, but he had not received one offer in all his time at Old Trafford. It was known throughout football that he was unobtainable."

Tim

The Berbatov dilemma

In the wake of our loss to Everton, the limelight has now fallen squarely on Dimitar Berbatov.  In yesterday's Sun, Stephen Howard said that Berba's lazy penalty summed up his United career so far, and many United fans across the Web seem to agree with him.  The Times runs a cracking article today, summarising that sentiment and outlining the good points and bad points of the Bulgarian's first season at Old Trafford:

GOOD

"Berbatov has been responsible for setting up a sixth of United’s 54 goals in the Barclays Premier League — only Frank Lampard, the Chelsea midfield player, Robin van Persie, the Arsenal forward, and Steed Malbranque, the Sunderland midfield player, have as many assists — while four of his 13 goals in all competitions have been winners."

BAD

"Dig a little deeper, though, and the picture becomes less flattering. Only one of his goals has come against a team in the top six — in the 3-0 win at home to Chelsea in January — while he has found the net once in his past nine matches and has not scored in the Champions League since October 21, the one arena in which Ferguson felt the forward would bring an added dimension to United’s attack.

Delve farther still and an alarming trend begins to develop, one that helps to explain why United have failed to replicate the fast, free-flowing football of last season.

Partnerships have been a fixture of Ferguson’s teams, but in the 20 games that Berbatov and Wayne Rooney have started together, they have combined to score only once, in the 4-0 demolition of West Bromwich Albion in October. Rooney has not set up one of Berbatov’s goals, while the Bulgarian has been involved in only one of the England forward’s 17, a troubling statistic that becomes all the easier to understand when you consider that of the 551 passes United made against Sunderland in December, only four were between the front two, Berbatov and Rooney. That was by no means an isolated statistic. No wonder this may be the first time in four seasons that United do not finish as the league’s top or joint-top goalscorers."

I understand completely why he's one of the most polarising players out there - I still can't make up my own mind whether he's a good thing for us or not.  In which case, my default position is: give him time.  Strikers don't often take off in their first season at a new club (just look at Drogba), and striking combinations take a while to finesse.  Sir Alex has certainly got faith in him, and we've seen enough flashes of Berba's brilliance to suggest that he could become a great asset for United. 

Just to ram that point home, here is Berbatov's moment of magic against West Ham:

Pete

In the papers: Man Utd-Everton

Of course, the papers are stuffed with coverage of the Man Utd-Everton match yesterday.  The main talking points are whether United should have been awarded a penalty in the second half - for Phil Jagielka's trip on Danny Welbeck - as well as Ferguson's post-match anger at referee Mike Riley.  Here are some selected highlights.

The Mail's Matt Lawton leads with the penalty-that-wasn't, and says it strengthens the case for more technology in refereeing:

"There were six officials at Wembley and still they got the one key decision wrong.

Long before this mind-numbing war of attrition was reduced to a lottery, Manchester United had their claims for a perfectly good penalty ignored.

Just about every member of the largest crowd in FA Cup semi-final history saw Phil Jagielka send Danny Welbeck crashing to the ground in the 68th minute and so did an incensed Sir Alex Ferguson.

But on a weekend when a sixth official was named, somewhat controversially, by the FA, Mike Riley and his colleagues provided yet more ammunition for those who consider it more prudent to employ modern technology before extra bodies."

But, the Welbeck incident notwithstanding, most commentators feel that Everton deserved their victory.  Here's Oliver Kay in the Times:

"There is a world of difference between wanting victory, as United’s players did, and yearning for it, like their opponents, and, as Phil Jagielka banged the decisive penalty past Ben Foster, sparking euphoric celebrations among the hordes of Everton fans, it was impossible to escape the feeling that justice had been done."

While his colleague, Patrick Barclay concentrates on the dodgy playing surface, which he feels ruined the spectacle:

"It was tricky enough to keep upright on this pitch — hence Riley’s reasonable suspicion that Danny Welbeck had fallen unaided by Phil Jagielka’s challenge when United were denied — let alone put together sustained passing movements. So instead we got long balls and close combat."

The Guardian's Daniel Taylor argues that Sir Alex Ferguson's team selection was to blame for the defeat:

"We will never know what would have happened had United not left Cristiano Ronaldo, Ryan Giggs, Wayne Rooney et al in Manchester, and, of course, there was a certain logic to Ferguson's argument that he had to think of the gruelling effects of the Champions League tie against FC Porto last Wednesday and preserve players such as Ronaldo for future assignments.

But an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley is surely not the time or place to experiment on such a grand scale. United were laboured, slow to the ball and not decisive enough when they had possession. Federico Macheda, the Italian with the provisional driver's licence and Midge Ure sideburns, showed some neat little flicks and an impressive eagerness to get on the ball. Daniel Welbeck, his strike partner, worked tirelessly, too. Overall, though, Ferguson was asking too much to expect a forward line incorporating an 18-year-old and a 17-year-old to make up for the absence of Ronaldo and Rooney, two of the most penetrative front players on the planet. Welbeck's runs were often into cul-de-sacs, while from Macheda there was little of the wow factor with which he had announced himself to English football."

In the Sun, Stephen Howard laments the quality of FA Cup ties at Wembley, and says that Dimitar Berbatov's penalty attempt summed up the occasion:

"His attempted penalty yesterday was a disgrace to a player who cost £30.75m. It would have been a disgrace to a player who had cost two bob.

As he ambled up to the spot, his body language was all wrong. He was either totally over-confident or shredded by nerves. Or didn’t care.

Whatever the cause, the result was a powderpuff attempt that trickled along the ground, straight into Tim Howard’s trailing left foot.

It summed up his season. Casual, seemingly uncommitted and too prepared to let others do his running for him.

In the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney yesterday, Berba should have stepped up to the plate when he came on for extra-time.

Instead, he did the only thing at which he has flourished this season — he went missing."

And Ian Herbert, writing in the Independent, says that is was only when Phil Jagielka stepped up to take the last penalty that Everton fans started to believe their team would win:

"Even the penalty shootout did not seem to offer much hope. True to a season in which Moyes has been forced to stitch together what teams he can, the three players who have scored penalties in the campaign – Mikel Arteta, Yakubu and Jo – were either injured or, in Jo's case, Cup-tied. When the converted striker Cahill blasted over, their fate seemed sealed. But then the destiny which has been with Everton throughout this most arduous Cup adventure took over. Yet only when Phil Jagielka, a man who has typified their spirit and been their finest performer this season, stepped up to take the final penalty, was the outcome finally in no doubt."

Pete