Running Diary: United-Arsenal
And we are at Old Trafford today as United take on Arsenal for this Premier League game.
It has been a tough start to the season for Arsenal having not scored any goals starting this game. In their first two games of the season, they have drawn 0-0 and lost 0-2. Pressure is on for Arsene Wenger minus Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri.
United are flying high, having won their first two games of the season. Despite the young age of the defenders and goalkeeper David De Gea, the forward line combination of Rooney, Welbeck, Young and Nani (plus Giggs, Berbatov and Hernandez in reserve) continue to dazzle.
Lineups for the teams:
United – De Gea, Evans, Jones, Evra, Smalling, Anderson, Cleverley, Young, Nani, Rooney, Welbeck
Arsenal – Szczesny, Koscielny, Djourou, Traore, Jenkinson, Ramsey, Coquelin, Arshavin, Walcott, Van Persie, Rosicky
2’ – Who are these guys playing for Arsenal? No Fabregas, no Nasri… what gives?
3’ – United starting well, Nani with the weighted pass to Smalling. Cross to Cleverley who just shot wide.
4’ – Ashley, Welbeck and Rooney running Arsenal ragged.
5’ – Well, Arsenal still has Van Persie and Arshavin, plus Walcott, Rosicky and Ramsey (not Derek). Playing with the short passing game that made them Barcelona Lite.
6’ – At least in their eyes anyway. What Barca have are the trophies, which Arsene Wenger’s team has not had in quite a while.
7’ – Young with the nice passing ball to Welbeck who just shoots wide. Shot a little bit early.
9’ – Arsenal giving up the ball too easily. Welbeck with the center pass, Young goes down, but no penalty called. Arsenal living dangerously with the flow of United’s midfielders.
11’ – Arsenal attacking with the Van Persie/Rosicky/Walcott triangle. Walcott goes wide. To make things simpler Van Persie will be RVP, same like Van der Sar went as VDS. What’s with these Dutch names anyway
14’ – United’s passing is making me dizzy. Throw-in for the Red Devils.
15’ – Arshavin challenged Jones hard, studs on the shin and the knee. First yellow card of the game.
16’ – Just to give you an idea of the United bench: Ferdinand, Giggs, Berbatov, Park, Fabio and Chicharito. Sheesh.
17’ – Arsenal pressure, first sustained pressure for the Gunners. Rosicky shoots wide, but deflected for a corner. On the corner, Koscielny heads wide. Arsene Wenger is shown on the bench frowning. Does the man ever smile?
19’ – Cleverley goes to the sidelines, bleeding from near his right eye after an elbow from Rosicky. I’ve heard people say football is a sissy sport. Try having an elbow in your eye.
22’ – Evra, captaining the United side, leads the charge. Arsenal end up getting confused. Anderson keeps the ball, scoops the ball to goal. Welbeck wrestles past three Arsenal players and heads the ball over Szczesny for the goal!
23’ – 1-0 United and the Arsenal players are arguing among themselves. Wenger’s frown goes lower.
24’ – Arsenal’s back 4 all over the place. Rooney with the pass to Smalling, who’s shot just goes wide.
25’ – Commentators have just mentioned that Arsenal have not scored yet. At all. This season. Arsenal fans are in relegation form.
26’ – Evans and Walcott argue for the ball, and Evans gets him in the arm at the box. Yellow card for Evans and Young and penalty to Arsenal.
27’ – RVP kicks… saved De Gea! Corner to Arsenal. 7 out of 10 penalty kicks have been saved this season. David De Gea is VDS reincarnated.
28’ – Goal, Ashley Young! Action from one end of the goal to another. Rooney brings the ball forward and the ball lands to Young. Young with all the space, lobs and bends the ball beautifully. That’s why they’re champions.
30’ – Early to say, but I think the De Gea save effectively is killing the game for Arsenal. We’ll see what happens the rest of the game, but Arsenal must dig deep from somewhere to get back in the game.
31’ – Double save from De Gea against Arshavin and RVP again. Iker who? On the counter, Rooney does his best Beckham impersonation (cross from the right wing), Welbeck’s header just goes wide.
32’ – Somebody has to tell Arsenal’s defenders to dig deep, too much space inside the penalty box for United.
35’ – Welbeck pulls up, looks like that’s a hamstring problem. That will end his game. Too bad for the lad, but he’ll be okay, with the crowd applauding him warmly. Chicharito is coming in to sub for Welbeck.
36’ – Arshavin should have been sent off for that tackle on Young. That was studs up again. Won’t be surprised if United take him out in some way later.
39’ – Challenge by Djorou on Young, free kick to United. Nani’s shot goes up over the crossbar, and won’t come down until Christmas.
40’ – Jenkinson booked for pulling down Young at the edge of the box. Free kick United again.
41’ – Rooney! 3-0 United! Brilliant free kick by the master with new hair.
42’ – It really has to be the hair he has on his head.
44’ – Arsene Wenger needs a hug and a nice bowl of chicken soup.
45’ – Arsenal should have Chamakh on for the second half if they want to make the game more respectable. The defense would have to clamp up too.
45’ + 1 – Rooney trying to score from 70 yards out.
45’ + 2 – Goal Arsenal! Rosicky passes the ball through Walcott and puts it between De Gea. Makes the game a bit more interesting as we go into halftime. It’s 3-1 for United at the half.
2nd half underway – no substitutes for both sides
48’ – Ashley Young with the shot, saved by Szczesny.
49’ – Young breaks past Jenkinson, but goes down after being hit by Jenkinson inadvertently.
50’ – Nani being selfish (what else is new?), chipping the ball up the bar. Rooney and Hernandez were open, and Wayne lets him know it.
52’ – Corner to United, Djorou clearing the ball before Hernandez could get to the Rooney cross. On the corner, cleared by Koscielny, ball still with United.
53’ – Rosicky with the cross, fooling the entire back four. RVP with the smash, but De Gea saves again. Arsenal playing better in this half.
56’ – Smalling goes forward but gets caught in no-man’s land with Arsenal counterattacking. Arshavin beats Jones but shoots wide. He should have done better, corner for Arsenal. De Gea gets the ball and clears, offside to Chicharito.
57’ – Just to be clear, Hernandez is Chicharito. Kinda like chicharon, I know. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain about to come in for Arsenal. Bloody English name.
59’ – Cleverley and Chicharito with the 1-2 passing, but Cleverley’s shot too weak. Arsenal counter, Arshavin shoots weakly too.
60’ – Arsenal getting possession more, but can’t convert. They wasted two good chances to tie the game.
61’ – United all over the Arsenal box, Szczesny with the save. Offside for Hernandez at the end.
62’ – Sub for Arsenal: Coquelin out, Oxlade-Chamberlain in.
63’ – Obligatory camera shot of Sir Alex Ferguson chewing gum. Djourou brings Rooney down, another yellow card for Arsenal.
64’ – Rooney! Again! Same setup as the 3rd goal, fools the entire Arsenal wall. 4-1 to United.
65’ – Rooney moves to 9th in the all-time United goalscorers, above Scholes and Van Nistelrooy. Great work, both with the hair and the goal.
66’ – Manchester City beat Tottenham 5-1 today, can United do the same?
67’ – Yes! Nani beats the offside trap and chips Szczesny.
68’ – Nani gets subbed by Ji-Sung Park, while Anderson gets subbed by Ryan Giggs. Arise, Sir Ryan. Scorecard for the two games: Manchester 10 London 2.
69’ – Hey Barcelona, are you Manchester United in disguise?
70’ – Rooney’s chip hits the post! Inches away from a hat-trick.
71’ – Joy of six! Ji-Sung Park joins the fun from a cross from Smalling. He scores by going across the face of the goal.
72’ – I think they want some more. Crowd doing the favorite chant: “Who the f#*k are Man United? Who the f#*k are Man United?”
74’ – Might as well keep blogging, especially since Arsenal just scored. RVP finally beats De Gea, beating the offside trap.
75’ – Arsenal trying to keep the score close, De Gea easily saves from Walcott’s attempt.
76’ – Shots on target 15-14 to United. Jenkinson brings down Chicharito outside the box. That’s his second yellow and he’s off. Rooney free kick for the hat trick?
78’ – Rooney goes wide, trying for the hat trick.
79’ – Just realized that after this game, Arsenal would be in the mix for relegation. That does not sound right at all.
80’ – Penalty to United, Walcott brings down Evra in the box.
81’ – Rooney with the hat-trick, and it’s 7-2 to United! Sir Alex and Arsene Wenger continue their grumpy old men look. Camera zooms up to the Arsenal fans who need a hug and double dosage of morphine and Prozac.
83’ – Every United pass is being met with “Ole!”
84’ – Subs for Arsenal: RVP comes out and Chamakh comes in. Walcott also leaves and Lansbury comes in.
85’ – Giggs tries to chip, but Young is called for offside. Young desperately wants to get in the mix again.
86’ – Ramsey tries a shot but goes wide.
87’ – Just for the heck of it, I want to have a Berbatov sighting.
89’ – United trying to setup a goal for Chicharito. He’s been all over as well in the second half.
90’ – 3 minutes added time. Mercy rule not in effect in football.
90’+1 – Young with a nasty shot on goal! Setup well by Giggs, and now it’s 8-2! That was just brilliantly taken.
90+3 – Park almost made it 9. Unbelievable.
Comments