Arsenal destroyed again by Manchester United

Gibbs recreated the 2009 Champions League magic

It’s almost like a life lesson for naive Arsenal fans. Every time Arsenal come up against a big team, Gooners get a taste of ruthless Darwinism. Imagine a wide eyed college graduate, with perfect grades appearing for job interviews, only to find out that the manager’s nephew got the job. Or the hard working office worker whose girlfriend dumps him for a rich trust fund playboy. Nice guys finish last (or fourth perpetually).

Older, wiser and more jaded fans have learnt their lessons and a lot of them have asked for Wenger’s dismissal. But, it seems there are an equal number of idealistic optimists enthusiastically support his philosophy (if you call losing a philosophy) and Wenger lives off their support. The latest outcome of this ‘philosophy’ wasn’t as bad as the famous 2-8, but it was close. The scoreline may have been low, but the expectations were so high that the crash was equally as big.

Manchester United had 12 players injured, they were struggling and it was a home game for Arsenal. Gooners saw this as a chance to finally beat a big team, but what they saw was the same old Arsenal. Whether the coach is Sir Alex, David Moyes or Louis van Gaal, it does not matter against Arsenal. The playbook is etched in stone, with no need of any alterations. Sit back, absorb the pressure, and capitalize on the inevitable mental disintegration.

The early signs were the pointless displays of passion by Jack Wilshere. Having fouled Marouane Fellaini, the Englishman lashed out at referee Mike Dean for the perceived wrong decision. This was followed by a headbutt which could have easily earned him a yellow card, but didn’t. Manchester United players knew all these signs, it was only a matter of time. The Red Devils did a good job of going 0-0 at the break.

Arsenal started the second half pressing high, but never really looked like scoring. A deflected shot at goal went in via Keiran Gibbs and Szczesny got a knock in the process. Just like in the 2009 Champions League semi final, Kieran Gibbs embodied the destruction of the Arsenal morale. One could almost see the soul leave his body once the ball went in. After the unsurprising cock-up, there was the equally predictable tightening of the noose by Manchester United.

Arsenal pressed on and on with no real penetration, leaving gaps at the back. Even before it actually happened, one could picture Wayne Rooney bursting through on a counter attack and crushing the hearts of another generation of deluded gooners. Angel Di Maria almost piled it on, but could only chip wide from a one on one against the Arsenal keeper.

By this time, one would expect Arsenal to give up. But a closer look at recent seasons shows that its not the case. What usually happens is that Arsenal often come up with a pointless ‘comeback’ Remember the 3-0 against AC Milan after losing 4-0 in the Champions League? Or the 2-0 after losing 1-3 to Bayern Munich.

Arsenal have the spectacular ability to show mental strenght, quality, determination and spirit as long as they do not win or qualify. Of course Arsenal do not plan for this to happen, but it only serves to lend false hope to gullible fans and provides ammunition to the devoted army of Wenger’s supporters who will scrape the bottom of the barrel to find any small positive. This time it was Giroud’s goal which did the honours.

That goal will now form the basis of ‘hope’ for the deluded fans. Giroud will become the next messiah who will supposedly rescue the season, which is Arsenal’s worst so far since 1982. Die hard Arsene Wenger fans will point to injuries, individual mistakes, the referee, the moon, anything except acknowledging the one constant factor in Arsenal’s failure – the manager. The next few games Arsenal will crush minnows and everything will be hunky-dory again until the next big team comes along.