I hate to highlight Ade’s misses today because he has led the line on his own for most of the season, but I can only call it as I see it. A warrior he is. Clinical he is not

Match Review – Manchester United 2 – Arsenal 1 – Premier League

Before the game, Le Boss said that if we were to somehow win the league this season, it’d be his greatest ever achievement given the horrendous luck we’ve had recently. His exact quote was that we were “swimming against the stream”. Well there is only so long you can swim against the stream before drowning, and in a heart-wrenching 90 minutes that is exactly what happened. In a way, this defeat was more upsetting than the one at Anfield. Why? Because against Liverpool it was an impactful decision that turned things on its head. It hit you out of nowhere kinda thing, a bolt from the blue. But this was an hour-and-half disintegration that you could see coming. It was a microcosm of recent times.

I barely got home in time for the first 5 minutes, and by all intents and purposes we were bossing it. So I was much to my horror that when the Mancs lined up a free-kick, the cameras showed Jens organising his wall. And then about 15 minutes into the game when Gilberto had a shot blocked by one of our own players, I was even more shocked to see that it was Alex Song.

Like I said, we pretty much dominated the opening salvo, just like we did at Anfield in midweek. Back in the day, 30 minutes of Arsenal domination would result in a 3-0 lead. These days we are lucky if we grab one. Our dominance was highlighted by the fact that in between the ten and twenty-minute mark, we had a whopping 75% of the possession. Yet we couldn’t muster a goal, and it was through no lack of luck. Instead we were bereft of a killer instinct. I am loathe to single him out because he has come on leaps and bounds this season (hell, he even scored in this game), but Ade’s finishing was consistently woeful. He is what I term a “spell-player” – when he is on a roll he is awesome, but when the goals dry up it is not a pretty sight. We’ve seen two spells of each this season: early on around the time he got his hat-trick at home to Derby and brace away at the Lane, followed by a relatively arid spell, followed by a purple patch at the start of 2008, and now this. In the first-half alone he had four decent opportunities to put us ahead – two of them were golden, one of which was a sitter. I will review them individually:

Chance 1 – 12mins – good work from Ade himself sees Eboue clear on the right, and for once he manages to produce a decent ball. He squares to Ade arriving late, but the big man looks to be off balance. Still, he did well to get his shot away and it looked to be on target, but Rio got in a priceless block. VERDICT: EXCELLENT DEFENDING

Chance 2 – 20mins – one-two with Robin on the edge of the box sends Ade clear(ish), but scuffs his left-foot shot. Easy for Van Der Sar. VERDICT: SHOULD BE SCORING FROM CHANCES LIKE THAT, ON HIS WEAK SIDE THOUGH

Chance 3 – 25mins – ball arrives to Ade 20-yards out, but he balloons into the Stretford End. VERDICT: WILD, BUT I WOULDN’T EXPECT HIM TO SCORE FROM SUCH A SITUATION

Chance 4 – Brown gives the ball to Hleb, he twists and turns the United defence before sending an inch-perfect ball through to Ade. The Togonator is in his favourite position – inside-left channel, opens his body, but fails to slot it past Van Der Sar. VERDICT: NO EXCUSES.

I hate to highlight Ade’s misses today because he has led the line on his own for most of the season, but I can only call it as I see it. A warrior he is. Clinical he is not. But I guess we already knew that. He would be a perfect second goalscorer to supplement a lethal finisher who can play off him. Can Robin be that man???? I genuinely believe so, but fitness is key with RvP.

We were almost immediately made to pay following Ade’s fourth miss as a defensive mix-up saw Rooney through on goal. As he advanced Kolo went across him a la Anfield, but credit to Rooney for staying on his feet. He prodded it goalwards and was only denied by Jens’ left foot. In a way, it would have been fitting had Rooney scored that only 30 seconds after Ade’s miss. Rooney went up in my estimation today, he was the true dangerman and seems to have grown up. There was no arrogance or sneering like his mate Ronaldo. Somewhere in between Ade’s quadrilogy of missed chances Rooney nearly sneaked one in at the near post from yet another United counter. Whilst we had all the build-up and a fair few missed chances in the first period, the home side looked ever dangerous on the break. Kind of like us circa 2002-2004. I dunno if it’s because teams generally sit deeper against us or we don’t have the same speed/personnel, but our counter-attacking prowess has gone down the drain these last few years.

The second-half had barely got underway when – hallelujah! – we got some luck. Van Persie played a free-kick low into Hleb’s feet, the ball was then worked to Cesc and eventually Robin again. He got in a peach of cross and Ade handled it in. Yes you heard me right. He HANDLED it in. Surprisingly the Manc protests were few and far between, and seeing as Ade couldn’t hit a cow’s arse with a banjo legally, he did well to get away with it. Who knows, it may even be the start of another goal glut for the big man?

We agonisingly nearly went 2-0 up moments later as Rio turned a cross towards his own goal, but his blushes were spared by their keeper. And from thereon in it got horrible. There is a real foul stench about this Arsenal team of late, and it is the rotten inability to hold a lead. Never mind closing out a game, we can barely stay ahead for 5 minutes. In the last month it’s happened at the Bridge, at home to the Scousers, at Anfield, and here. Once is unlucky, twice is careless, thrice is unacceptable. Four times? I don’t have the words to describe it.

And it was so avoidable as well as Gallas flung an arm out at tame shot that would probably have run through to Jens. Despite having to retake the penalty due to encroachment, Ronaldo made no mistake. How I wish we could have held on longer. Just enough time to weather the initial storm and then begin to pick them off on the break. But it didn’t happen. There was only ever going to be one result now, and Tevez came within a whisker of giving the Mancs the lead as he flashed a shot inches wide from 25-yards. I wish we had someone who could do that. We have one – Robin, who is often crocked. They have four – Tevez, Ronaldo, Rooney, Scholes. That on its own sums up the difference between the two sides: real, genuine match-winners. Our success depends upon many cogs working together successfully – if one is out of sync, it tends not to happen. When United’s cogs aren’t fully-functioning, they can call upon one of many game-breakers.

We could have gone ahead just before the 70-minute mark but once again Lady Luck deserted us. Clichy’s cross deflected off Baked Bean Brown but struck the near post. The keeper may have got a vital touch on it, but if that was Frank Lampard then it would be nestling in the bottom corner. Then came the winner. Evra popped up in the centre-forward position and was felled by Gilberto. It was pretty close so you felt that a Ronaldo howitzer may be difficult to execute. Instead it was left to Hargreaves to get it over the wall and down in time. A couple of questions: why is our wall always useless? And surely there should have been a man on the post? Do we not study that Hargreaves is eminently capable of doing that?

There was no coming back from that. United don’t throw leads away. Even supersub Theo Walcott couldn’t swing things in our favour. His fellow replacement Nicklas Bendtner came close a few times with back-post headers, forcing a smart save from Van Der Sar at the death, but nothing was coming. United were knocking it around with ease and I was begging us not to concede another, just to salvage some semblance of pride. 3-1 would have been harsh, and despite running out of gas (none moreso than Cesc who was out on his feet at the end), we managed to avoid the ignominy of a third goal. Small reward on such a heart-wrenching day.

The players gave it their all. For at least half the game, we were on top. But we lacked the knockout punch, and have done so since that fateful day at Birmingham. I’m not gonna chalk this one solely up to bad luck though. This defeat was due to a lack of concentration when we needed it most, plus a lack of maturity. They say that when your legs go, so does your mind. It is very evident that the majority of the boys have run themselves into a brick wall, and consequently they lack that vital 5% in the head. I guess this tiredness stems from mental weariness due to results/decisions going against us, and physical fatigue. For Le Boss not to rest/rotate players more, he either thinks that the squad is lacking in depth…or the backup is not good enough. But let’s leave that debate for the end of the season.

Bright spots from the game were the performances of two of our likely summer departures: Jens and Gilberto. Both performed admirably, especially the Brazilian who has looked distinctly off the pace this season. If this is to be their swansong, then I applaud them and their contribution to the Club. Top Gun goes to Gael Clichy, who was full of running. I’m sure there’s a quip about Duracell batteries to be made, but I’m way too tired to do it. Fairdues to Song too, who didn’t look out of place on a stage like this. He may prove to be a good backup to Kolo and Willy. Sadly, he is not the 6’4 beast that our defence is crying out for.

Cesc is knackered. Hleb is too (and his head may have been turned by his Inter ice-cream dalliance). Robin is rusty. Ade has hit a dodgy patch at the worst time, with Robin feeling his way back in and no Eduardo to compensate. I’m drained by the last few months of Arse-watching, hence the waffling. The first six-months of the season seem like a blur. But what a wonderful blur. If we could bottle it up, take it to next season, and add just a little more composure, experience, maturity and luck, then we may see something special. A bit like how the 2001 squad took the heartbreak of the Scouse FA Cup mugging to go and win the Double the following season.

But next season is next season. We still have four games to negotiate. As soon as we are mathematically guaranteed a Champions League spot, unleash the kids. For the love of God, give Cesc, Hleb and Ade a rest. Play Robin so he can get some confidence back. Play Bendtner to see if he can cut it. I get a feeling him and Robin would work well. Play Armand Traore, even on the wing. Play Justin because he is a fan like us. See how he got a booking at the end when Ronaldo was showboating in the corner? That’s what we need. Give Diaby a run in the centre. And above all else, play Theo, because we need someone to put a smile back on our faces.