january 4th
A 0-0 extravaganza last night in a game that neither side really deserved to win but in which United probably had the better chances. Arsenal started with a 4-5-1 formation which I really, truly hate but I understand why the manager used it. While a win wuld have been great losing would have been a tragedy so it was safety first.
Our chances in the first half consisted of a Cesc shot which went just wide when a clearing header fell to him on the edge of the box, a Thierry Henry free kick which also went just wide and a Robert Pires shot which looked like it was heading just inside the near post but van der Sar made the save. Their only real chance in the first half came when Jens saved a van Nistelcunt shot and Ronaldo blasted over the rebound when he really should have done better.
In the second half Thierry and Gilberto had shots blocked in the area and we might have had a penalty when Cesc seemed to be bundled over by Gary Neville. The replays I’ve seen are unconvincing and it did look like the ref’s view was blocked by some United cunt. I’ve seen them given though. For their part they started to have some success getting behind Cygan, who was pretty solid nonetheless. Ronaldo found Giggs at the far post but his shot went out of the ground it was so wild, van Nistelcunt had a great chance when Kolo played him onside but he smashed it wide, Gary Neville got around the back from a Rooney ball and we can be thankful it was a full back and not a forward on the end of that ball and from a corner in the dying minutes Wes Brown’s header was cleared off the line by Manu Eboue.
Moment of the match though? It has to be Lauren’s tackle on Ronaldo which almost sent him into orbit. Classic.
All in all a decent point, not a bad performance and some things to build on. The defence has gone 4 games without conceding but in all honesty we didn’t look like scoring unless it came from a free kick. I won’t mention corners or free kicks where we cross the ball because we still look as clueless as ever when it comes to those. José was a livewire and full of energy if little end product, Pires had his best game for some time, Gilberto actually got stuck in and Sol Campbell, his penchant for silly long passes aside, was better than in recent games.
The main reason we never looked like scoring was the formation though. If you play 4-5-1 you need a big hideous cunt as your striker (exhibit a) and a midfield to provide him with the ball which he holds up and allows the wide players to get forward and cause problems. Thierry Henry is not that kind of forward. Didier Drogba – *spit* – is that kind of forward. As well as that there was nothing coming from the centre of midfield. Gilberto and Hleb like to pass the ball sideways and backwards, in fact anywhere but forwards and Cesc is the only one with any craft. It got so bad at one stage that Thierry was dropping so far back into midfield to try and get the ball that when it broke to Robert Pires he was the furthest man forward with no striker to pass it to. As I said above I understand why the manager chose to play that formation but I hate watching us play like that. It also means that if we persist with it then we’re going to need one of two things. 1 – a big hideous striker (I hear John Hartson might be available) or 2 – another midfielder who can create. I really can’t see either of those things happening, thankfully.
I hope we go back to 4-4-2 and get back into our groove because, most importantly, with 4-5-1 we’re playing a formation the players are not really familiar with and we’re never going to play the incisive football which has made us successful using it. We’re good at 4-4-2 and I suppose once we get some stability and confidence back then we can start playing the way we should be playing.
Afterwards the boss declared himself satisfied with a point, saying “We wanted to win but it was a high pace and I felt both teams were always trying to have a break to get the other on the counter-attack. It was difficult to create chances but in the end we created a few and they created a few.”
So there you go. Next up is the FA Cup against Cardiff. Finally for today, fuck off Patrick. We missed you when you were here and didn’t turn up for 18 months, you cunt.
