Please excuse the brevity of this blog. I am very, very tired. I didn’t so much drown my sorrows last night as beat them to death, chop them up into little pieces, piss on them, wrap them in shiny paper and then dump them in a lake in a weighted down bag.
A 2-1 defeat yesterday at Old Trafford, one which we didn’t deserve but which came about because of mistakes we made. We went in 1-0 up at half-time, Andrei Arshavin’s fantastic long strike into the top corner putting us ahead. But it came after Mike Dean refused Arsenal the most nailed on penalty you will ever see in your life. The ball arrived to the Russian from the right hand side, he controlled it, flicked it out of the way of Darren Fletcher who slid in, knocked Arshavin over and then handled the ball.
It was two penalties in one. Yet amazingly Mike Dean did nothing. He didn’t give us the most stonewall penalty you will ever see. The referee couldn’t have got it more wrong if he tried. Perhaps Arshavin was a little pissed off because when the ball came to him a few seconds later he absolutely cunted it into the net to open the scoring. Foster got hands to it but couldn’t stop it. And a few moments before the Arshavin penalty shout I thought van Persie was tripped in the box for what also looked like a penalty. Of course we didn’t see any replays of that.
So half-time 1-0 and all was good. The second half began brightly, some good work by Arshavin setting up a chance for van Persie but Foster made a good save with his feet. Van Persie hit the bar with a free kick and United really didn’t look threatening at all. Then we handed the game to them.
A Giggs pass put Rooney behind our defence, out came Almunia, Rooney went down, penalty. I know there are those who will say it was a penalty but for me there was absolutely no difference between what Rooney did and what Eduardo did on Wednesday night. Both players went down anticipating contact from the keeper, Boruc kept his hands to himself, Almunia made it easy for Mike Dean to give his customary penalty at Old Trafford.
Rooney was falling over before there was any contact. Yes, there was contact, but it wasn’t the contact which made him go to ground. Of course on Sky it was lauded as clever play by the England player. What can you do? It was poor from Almunia all the same, Rooney was going nowhere.
Rooney picked himself up and stuck home the penalty to equalise. Shortly afterwards United got a free kick on our left, Giggs floated it in, it was a nothing ball, there was no danger, but Abou Diaby headed into his own net. It looked like he was trying to head it back to the keeper from five yards. A ludicrous own goal. I really have no idea what he was thinking.
We brought on Bendtner and Eduardo to try and rescue something from the game but there was nothing doing. I might be wrong but I don’t remember Foster making a save. Diaby had a great chance not long after his own goal when he danced through their defence but he pulled a left footed shot wide. In the final minute of the 5 injury time minutes Arsenal had the ball in the back of the net. The goal was rightly disallowed for offside. Gallas was clearly off when the ball was played in, and Arsene Wenger, having initially thought we’d salvaged a point, kicked a bottle of water up in the air when he saw the linesman’s flag in the air.
He wasn’t aggressive, he did not shout or complain, he just kicked a bottle of water out of frustration that the goal he thought had been scored would not stand. The fourth official called over Mike Dean who sent Wenger off. With nowhere to go, and the game over for all intents and purposes, Mike Dean refused to allow Wenger to sit in the dug-out, instead making him stand in front of fans who had been singing a song about him being a paedophile throughout the game.
It was a disgraceful decision and a disgraceful way to treat our manager. Wenger had nowhere to go but to stand in front of a group of United fans who, as you would imagine, taunted him, which is fine. That happens.
But Dean must have heard them singing ‘Sit down you paedophile’ on various occasions throughout the game. It rang around Old Trafford again and again. Yet with the game over and injury time finished he did that. It seems like Wenger will get an apology from referees chief Keith Hackett but where is the apology from Manchester United for their fans singing that vile song? Where the fuck is the media coverage of them singing that song?
Why is it glossed over again and again and again? It’d be very easy to do something about it. Deduct points from United if they sing it again. They’d soon shut the fuck up. Remember when Ferguson was accused of rape in South Africa some years ago. It was a false and horrible accusation against him. Yet if Arsenal fans, in one voice, sang about him being a rapist don’t you think we’d hear something about it in the press, from the FA? Wouldn’t we condemned, and rightly so? So why the silence over United’s fans?
That the media continuously overlooks and blatantly ignores is a shame on them and Mike Dean is a fucking cunt for subjecting Wenger to that treatment when it was clearly not necessary.
So the first defeat of the season and one you feel could easily have been avoided. Maybe we missed a little bit of craft in midfield yesterday. I think the result would have been different if we’d had Cesc or Nasri or even Rosicky available. That ability to find a pass which the others don’t quite have. Nevertheless it’s not the end of the world.
We did well agains the ‘big’ teams last season yet it made little difference to our season. It’s how we react and the results we get against teams outside that top four that will define our season.
There’s an Interlull now until we go back to Manchester to play City on September 12th. Hopefully that visit will provide a much happier result.
Laters.
