Arsene has always spoken of the team playing to our own strengths and not  worrying about the opposition and whilst that has it’s own flaws, I like the

A familiar sense of deja vu for me as I write this, not only because of what took place last night but I had written my thoughts down just after the game and for some strange reason I forgot to save my ramblings before I shut my computer down. Strange I know, but that is what a lacklustre Arsenal performance can do to a person I guess.

I will replace the usual match review with a few thoughts instead, as I am sure you do not need a recap of the game last night.

Manchester United started quicker out of the traps and they took the game to us which I was pretty surprised about. Was it a conscious effort from Arsene Wenger to play deep in our half and stop Manchester United playing? Or did the home side force Arsenal back into areas that they did not want to be? I could not work it out in the early stages.

I have come to the conclusion that Wenger did not want to play into their hands, he did not want to get caught short at the back again as was often the case last season against Manchester United and Chelsea. Whatever the reason for us being pegged back so deep, it meant that whenever we had the ball in our half we could not build up possession because Anderson, Park, Fletcher and co were denying us passing options, stopping our players from having time and space on the ball. We had no outlet’s, no pass to take the pressure off of our players.

Chamakh found himself in deep or wide positions and was often contributing to winning the ball so he did not have many chances to hold the ball and allow others to join him.

I found myself forever waiting for our team to push up the pitch and put the Manchester United team under pressure.

Last season we went to Old Trafford with that mindset, we dominated them in their half, scored a great goal. Arshavin should have received a penalty and Van Persie should have scored an early second half goal which would have pretty much wrapped up the points.

Why we didn’t go to Old Trafford last night with the same intention I just do not know.

Manchester United were well organised, worked very hard and were determined but I do not believe that we could not have pulled them about much more if we took the game to them more aggressively.

This was pretty much the team that played against Aston Villa a few weeks ago and flew out of the traps, Rosicky, Arshavin and Nasri interchanging and rotating around the Villa penalty area and could have scored 4 or 5 first half goals. Granted, Manchester United are no Aston Villa but surely the strength of the team was evident.

Arsene has always spoken of the team playing to our own strengths and not worrying about the opposition and whilst that has it’s own flaws, I like the fact that if we are faithful to that plan and we produce a top performance then we have a very good chance of winning.

We were simply never going to win that game last night playing in that way. Barcelona who are a more advanced team than we are yet are similar in approach would have found it tough going against a battling Manc midfield.

If we were going to restrict Manchester United then it may have been a better idea to have played Rosicky on the left to help Clichy against Nani whilst having Theo Walcott on the right, pushing Evra back the other way and giving Theo plenty of grass in front of him to run into.

With the personnel on the pitch we should have played our usual game and pushed our defensive line higher up the pitch and setting out our midfielders in their half as we do on a weekly basis.

Park’s adjustment in the penalty area for his flicked header was fantastic, a battling hard worker who saves his goals for Arsenal had done it yet again. Szczesny at 6ft5 could not reach the looping header.

I thought the young Pole started shakily in between the sticks but grew as the game went on making some crucial saves. Today I am reading that Arsenal have now solved the goal keeping problem but was his performance last night better than Fabianski’s this season against the likes of Manchester City and Wolves?

That being said Wojciech Szczesny has fantastic potential and has once again shown his quality. His distribution is yet to equal Fabianski but aerially his large frame gives him an advantage.

Gael Clichy has come under plenty of criticism but overall I thought he had a decent game. He won the ball from Nani from one on one’s a number of times and it was his winning of the ball and stumble that allowed Nani’s only chance which he selfishly blazed over the bar much to the annoyance from a animatedly frustrated Rooney unmarked in the middle.

Clichy could have snapped into Nani earlier for the goal but he knows that diving in on a player as quick footed as Nani could lead to either a penalty or being left totally exposed. Clichy managed to get a block on Nani’s left foot cross but it wasn’t enough.

Even without three of our best players in each position we should have produced more on the night. Both Van Persie and Cesc came on in the second half and looked way off the pace.

We need to get those players up to speed and quickly. Those are the players that we need in the tough games. Chamakh has been a fantastic signing, a great leader of the line. But he is not a match winner. When Nasri fired in a shot that Van der Sar parried, Chamakh should have buried the rebound but he delayed and Vidic intervened.

That was the nearest and one of the only chances we had during the whole 90 minutes. As an attacking outfit, that was nowhere good enough and we will have to improve if we want to win these big games.

Conclusion

We were very disappointing on the night at least from an attacking point of view but losing 1-0 away at Manchester United doesn’t rule anyone out of the title race. In this strange season we can go top next weekend by beating Stoke if Chelsea do the business against Manchester United.

As I said, we are going to have to improve. We played well at Chelsea and lost, played bluntly at Manchester United and have still lost.

This situation will have to change at the Emirates, a ground that hasn’t been the fortress of past seasons. All we can do from here on in, is keep going and hope the best of this season is to come.

Szczesny (7.5)
Sagna (7)
Koscielny (7)
Squillaci (7)
Clichy (7)
Song (6)
Wilshere (7.5)
Rosicky (6)
Nasri (6)
Chamakh (6)
Arshavin (6)