Gooners Derailed?

Well, that was easy! Gooners brought back down to earth! It was the first time in a long, long while that a Manchester United fan would have been genuinely anxious of Arsenal visiting Old Trafford. They had expectedly beaten Liverpool at home but more importantly beaten Dortmund 1-0 at the Westfalenstadion which is no small feat. To put it into context, Dortmund has failed to score only once in their last 60 home games in all competitions.

So when the table toppers strutted into Manchester, it was not expected to be so easy. Neither the result nor the scoreline. 1-0 to Manchester United. Robin van Persie obliging the zonal marking system from Rooney’s sublime corner kick. And his celebration was a delight. In the face of all Gooners. And Piers Morgan. So much for being an ‘Arsenal man’. True, it would have been catastrophic if they had lost and fallen 11 points behind but for all the hype and hoopla surrounding the fixture, it turned out to be a dud. There was nothing attractive in the manner in which Arsenal played and Ozil was effectively marginalized by Phil Jones who put up a colossal performance. In the past, he has done that to Gareth Bale and Cristiano Ronaldo. And critics still question his ability and place in the team.

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND – NOVEMBER 10: Mesut Ozil of Arsenal walks off at the end of the Barclays Premier League match between Manchester United and Arsenal at Old Trafford on November 10, 2013 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

Rooney put in a man of the match performance but he was one of 3 outstanding performers in the team alongside Jones and Smalling who was a revelation at right back. Like Jones, he is a utility player who can play centre back as well. His final ball wasn’t quite Rafael-esque nor was his wavelength with Valencia but his positioning and play in his own penalty box was perfect. If only he had headed the free kick from RvP into the net.

Arsenal are only attractive when they get into their passing rhythm and any team which is successful in breaking up the play every few minutes will more often than not win against them. And teams like Dortmund, Barcelona and even Bayern can end up losing against them. They play at a frenetic pace where the ball is passed around at break neck speed and players interchange positions continuously. But teams like United and Chelsea will win more often than lose. A foul here. A tackle there. Kick the ball out. Interceptions. So there is no momentum. It isn’t a coincidence that the last team to stop Arsenal from scoring was a team of David Moyes.

It will be interesting to see what tactics other teams adopt after seeing this template from United – Stop Ozil! Stop Arsenal! And it only gets difficult from here on with games against Southampton, Everton and Chelsea as well as City, West Ham and Newcastle away.