1. A great result. First things first: what a great result. Sure, United weren't at their best, more on which below; Arsenal looked deeply impressive at times; and our goals came courtesy of a penalty and an own goal. But the simple fact is: we beat a team which had scored ten goals over their previous two league games, and which we drew and lost against in the premiership last season. It will be a great confidence boost for the players, after an uncertain start to the campaign. And while they may have only earned the points rather than the plaudits, as Rob Draper puts it in the Sunday Mail, that might have something to do with why we've won the league for three seasons running, and Arsenal haven't won anything since 2005.
2. Thank you, Wayne. We expected more goals, and he's delivering; that's now 4 goals in 4 league games for Wayne Rooney. He was unusually quiet in the first half yesterday, but came to life in the second and, of course, banged in that crucial penalty. We could well have found the answer to the great penalty-taker question:
3. Thank you, Diaby. Yeh, yeh, it's a bit cruel to revel in someone else's misery, but Diaby's own-goal really was something. What was he trying? A cushioned header back to the keeper? A strong header to put the ball behind for a corner? In the end, we ended up with a bit of both, and it came to a perfect goal in the corner of the net. Any striker would have been proud...
4. A crucial save. Still a bit of shakiness with the ball at his feet, but let's not forget Foster's main contribution yesterday: that awesome save from Van Persie, six yards out, which prevented Arsenal from going 2-0 up. Pure, instinctive, preternatural goalkeeping - and an early contender for save of the season.
5. Penalty controversy. It just had to happen, didn't it? After Eduardo's midweek theatrics, penalties - both given and denied - just had to enter proceedings yesterday. Let's get the Rooney one out of the way first: it was a clear-cut penalty, the ref was right to give it, and Almunia hardly complained. But, it we're fair, Fletcher's tackle on Arshavin was also a penalty, and you've got to wonder whether the whole diving controversy influenced the ref's decision not to point to the spot. Either way, Arsenal can't complain too much about it not being awarded, as they still scored from the same move.
6. Super Fletcher. Aside from the tackle-that-should-have-conceded-a-penalty on Arshavin, Fletcher was flawless yesterday. We all know he's a big-game player, but now he's becoming the mainstay of the United midfield: solid and combative in defence, and increasingly incisive in attack. He's even honest, admitting in a post-match interview with Match of the Day that he probably could have conceded a penalty:
"At the time, I didn't think it was a penalty, I thought I got the ball. But now I've watched it, it's debatable. But I think I'm due a bit of luck with penalties against Arsenal."
Great stuff.
7. Valencia Watch. Here's how the Valencia scorecard looks now: great in preseason; underwhelming as a substitute against Chelsea; anonymous against Birgminham; our best attacking player when he came on against Burnley; great against Wigan; and, now, fairly poor against Aresenal. It's a mixed bag, and has set tonuges wagging about whether he's worth the £18 or so million we paid for him. We'll keep an eye on the situation, but there's certainly enough there to think he'll develop into an effective performer for United.
8. Taking a dive. So Arsenal don't dive do they, Mr Wenger? The prosecution presents Exhibit A: Emmanuel Eboue being given a yellow card for, erm, diving in yesterday's game. After the Eduardo controversy, Eboue certainly could have picked a better weekend for his amateur dramatics - especially when they're quite so blatant.
9. Comedy Arsene. Another of the game's main talking points, along with Arshavin's penalty-that-wasn't: Arsene Wenger being sent to the stands for kicking a water bottle in frustration at Robin Van Persie's late, disallowed goal. The Arsenal manager didn't know where to sit, so he ended up standing in an alcove above the dug-outs, surrounded by thousands of United fans, all pointing and laughing. Classic.
10. Lack of spark. As I've said above, it's superb that United ended up with three points - it's the mark of champions that they can still win despite not playing at their best etc. etc. But if you're going to take a worry away from this game, it's that we're still lacking a certain spark. Aside from the dynamic Darren Fletcher, the midfield lacked cohesion and penetration. And it showed in a performance which registered only two "shots" on target by the 64th minute - Rooney's penalty and Diaby's own-goal. Late misses from Berbatov and Nani, both from very promising positions, added to the sense that this team is quite firing on all cylinders. I expect it will all come together soon enough, as it has on occasion already this season - but there were times yesterday when you half wished Ronaldo was still around.
11. Final word from the manager. Here's Fergie's take on the game:
"When you are 1-0 down at half time it’s an uphill task against a team of the capabilities of Arsenal. We had to dig deep. This result can make a difference and the players will gather momentum from this win.Last season we dropped four points to Arsenal and six against Liverpool. We were a bit unlucky there, but you have to correct these things. Already we’ve made a better start this season in that respect."
Pete
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