Manchester United – Arsenal Preview

By: Homey | August 26th, 2011

Ramsey goal
I’ll admit that I’m a little bit nervous in writing this preview.
The first reason is that I haven’t watched Man Utd thus far this season, and so I hope I don’t miss any of the nuances of their game at the moment. The second is that my reputation is the “doom and gloom” blogger at this site, and it will be hard to avoid such talk in light of all of our injuries, suspensions, and blatant holes in the roster. To be perfectly honest, an Arsenal win in this match would stun me, and getting a point would be a large surprise as well. There, I said it, so now we can move on.
Rooney header
United is perhaps the team we know the most about, outside of Arsenal, of course. But they do have a bit of a new look this season. Last year, I looked at them as an old team trying to squeeze the last few ounces of goodness out of some of their old war horses. This year, they’re relying on the likes of Cleverly, Welbeck, Smalling, Phil Jones, and De Gea. And yet the beat goes on for them, with six points from their first two matches, including a 3-0 thumping of Spurs last week. They were without both Ferdinand and Vidic in that match, but plugged in a couple of younger defenders and still kept Spurs off the scoreboard. And of course they still have plenty of weapons, with Rooney, Berbatov, and Hernandez available up front, and Nani and Ashley Young supplying help from midfield.

I suppose if there’s a weak spot for United, it might be De Gea, who has come under a lot of criticism early in his stay in Manchester. Other than that, everything should point pretty well in their favor, it must be said. But we can at least take some solace in believing that our young goalie is far superior to theirs, despite De Gea’s £17.6 million transfer fee this summer.

In Arsenal news, it’s all pretty bleak at the moment. We’re without Song, Frimpong, and Gervinho through suspensions. Wilshere is still injured, Bendtner is awaiting a transfer, and all of our top four central defenders have injury concerns. According to the official website, it looks like Djourou will return, and I think Vermaelen should make it as well. I would expect Koscielny to remain out for this one, as well as Squillaci. Oh, and surprisingly, Gibbs is still injured as well. So the back line is really bare this week, ~~but at least Man Utd doesn’t really have any scoring threats, so that’s the good news~~.

Here’s my best guess as to a lineup, but I could be way off on this one, with all the holes we’re having to plug. And since we don’t even have one true defensive midfielder, I’m going to write it as though we’re playing more of a 4-1-4-1:

Szczesny

Jenkinson Djourou Vermaelen Sagna

Lansbury

Ramsey Rosicky
Walcott Arshavin

van Persie

Bench: Fabianski, Miquel, Traore, Chamakh, AOC, Miyaichi, Koscielny

I honestly had a hard time even filling out the bench with warm bodies. And if we need a spark off the bench, I’m not sure where it comes from. Either the first ever appearance for AOC or Miyaichi, or hopelessly out of form Chamakh. So it’s really up to the starters to get it done in this one.

Overall, I’m not really sure what else to say. I’m really just hoping to get past this one, pray something happens in the transfer window before it shuts, and then regroup during the interlull. A loss here puts us a full eight points back of Man Utd already, not to mention the possibility that we’d be eight back of Man City as well. A draw would feel like a huge moral victory, but we’d still have just two points from our first three, and would have a steep hill to climb starting in September.

I’m still sticking with my prediction that City will win the league this year, but United would still probably be considered the favorite. And I must confess, I really don’t like them. At all. I’ll even pull for Nasri and Man City to beat them if it comes to that. So even if a point doesn’t do a lot for us in the table, I would take a lot of joy from raining on their parade at Old Trafford a little bit.

Still, having said all that, did you know that we have a faithful reader who’s a huge Man Utd fan? I’ll give a little shout out to a guy named Don, who’s from Manchester, and who apparently loves reading my blogs. Every blog I write, I send it to my dad in prison in Mississippi. I think I’ve converted my dad into an Arsenal fan already, and he passes along my blogs to Don in the prison. It’s hard to read soccer blogs from prison in the U.S., so I guess I’m all Don has at the moment. Anyway, I hope we whoop your team’s butt this week, Don. But thanks for reading.

And finally, there’s a chance that I might be updating this blog at some point on Saturday. I’m trying to get some questions answered from a serious Man Utd fan and blogger, but I tried to set it up at the last minute. So please check back and look for updates at a later point. I’ll just insert those into this blog if I get a chance.

I think Brenton will do a live blog, JG will recap it, and I’ll miss the game, as I always do on Sunday mornings. But I’ll be back with a blog about wages on either Sunday night or Monday morning.

Come on, Arsenal.

——————————————————————–
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1.

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Category: Arsenal News, Manchester United, Preview

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bobj canada

but look on the bright side; we're leading the league in red cards
bobj canada

Arsenal 2-8 Manchester United

its going to be a long long season

I'm looking forward to hearing how much about Arsene knows
brenton

Liveblog is up and running, gang.
SJGgumby

Here's the team from Arseblog.

Pre-game - Still no confirmation of the Arsenal benchUnited team - De Gea; Smalling, Jones, Evans, Evra; Nani, Cleverley, Anderson, Young; Rooney, Welbeck.

Subs: Lindegaard, Ferdinand, Giggs, Park, Berbatov, Chicharito, FabioArsenal team - Szczesny; Jenkinson Djourou Koscielny Traore; Coquelin Ramsey Rosicky; Walcott RVP Arshavin No Vermaelen or Sagna today.
Satan

OH MY GOD. jUST HEARD SAGNA AND VERMAELEN OUT. tRAORE AND DJOUROU IN DEFENSE POSSIBLY
thechaikid

i've been watching manchester united this season so far

and i believe the the criticism is coming from everyone trying to compare him to amazing van der sar.
he's a bit shakey but that's normal for new players especially since he has the pressure of taking over the spot that was held by one of the greatest goalkeepers of our time
... he's adapting the team more and more each game and he's definitely very good

anyways looking forward to the game :D arsenal will prevail
Satan

Ok, Citeh up 4 at Tottenham. Nasri with 3 assists. Yup, we shold be worried.
SJGgumby

So apparently Nasri can cross the ball (two assists in the first half). Who knew.
Bertrand

Wenger is clearly not a stupid man and does not enjoy losing.
(Just look at his temper tantrums from the touchline.) So I don't
think he needs to be told that in this day and age you have to cough up
the money if you want a serious shot at winning any trophies. My
guess is that something is up with the board. I would guess that they
are not authorizing the spending needed. Wenger's economizing in the
last few years was not simply due to his love of prudence and fair play
but was a constraint placed upon him and he was trying to make thebest
of a less than ideal condition. Perhaps privately Wenger has
flirted with the thought of quitting Arsenal. Plenty of clubs would love to have him and imagine what he could do with a budget like the
profligate clubs. But he is idealistic and Arsenal is his project so he
soldiers on and keeps silent about the board screwing him. This is my
theory.But this season, or more accurately, after this season's
disastrous result, the board will finally be forced to make a decision.
Spend some money or watch all the good players and Wenger head for the
exit. That is my prediction.Unless the financial fair play rules
are adequate and strictly enforced, no team will be able to break into
the current oligarchy of top clubs without some sugar daddy willing to
foot the bill. Very sad. On a side note, the Bundesliga seems
to be the only top league in which there is actually some doubt as to
who will win the league. I intend to follow the Bundesliga more closely
in the future.
JG

It looks like anything better than a two-goal loss tomorrow will be a miracle. TV5, Djourou, Sagna are doubts. Ryozilla and Afobe are now injured for a week. Francis Coquelin will start, and Miquel and Traore are likely to start as well. Gilles Sunu and Oğuzhan Özyakup will be on the bench. Massive disadvantage for us. And Howard Webb will be the ref.
Now watch us win 2-0 tomorrow...
Casimir

it would be ironic if we squeaked out a win, after the last few seasons having to suffer out playing them at Old Trafford only for us to lose out in the end.
JG

Joel Campbell has been denied a work permit this season. Top clubs in Holland and France are interested. Puts greater weight into the rumors that we are only in for PCY because of Campbell's rejection.
Homey_Mills

I dunno... I guess so. But did we really think Campbell was going to contribute in a significant way anyway? I was thinking he should be loaned out no matter what.
Martin

I think he would have stayed if he had gotten the permit, but it's a moot point now.
Homey_Mills

I guess so, but would any of us have expected him to play a lot and make an impact? I mean, he's had 8 appearances in the Costa Rican league. Ok, so it sounds like Jenkinson all over again, and I'll admit Jenks has looked good so far. But still, would we have bet on that either? I dunno. I was never going to get my hopes up over Campbell this season. I think a year on loan, getting regular work, will be a good thing for him.
Casimir

Campbell had looked impressive in the Copa America and in the other (I'm forgetting the name) South American tournament he participated in this summer though. And those were against senior sides. Not a first XI for us, of course, but maybe an impact sub or a role player that makes an impact here or there throughout the season, someone to maybe push Arshavin a bit more.
Gigi_man

WEl at least we would be off the tough and could focus on the winnables?
I will watch it to enjoy watching the guys, no hopes whatsoever so I might enjoy it more.
Liverpool looked great today, if we re not up to it I hope the get the title.
Gorio

Szczesny far superior to De Gea? I'm all in favour of our current number 1, but have you even seen De Gea play?
Homey_Mills

Liverpool now 2-0 up on Bolton, looking pretty good. It's going to be a tough hill to climb to get 4th this year.
Homey_Mills

Make that 3-0 up. Yikes.
Perry S.

I'd rather see Man U or Liverpool win the league (outside of ourselves of course) ahead of any other skeeze club out there. As much as I love to see Man U lose, I still respect them a great deal. Not really sure how you can't...tradition, a manager who bleeds his club's colors, backs his players to no end, etc. See any resemblance to someone else we know?

With that said, I hope we do something suprising tomorrow and somehow get 3 points!
thechaikid

wow same here xD those are the only two clubs i genuinely respect (not counting arsenal of course) in the epl and rather see win the title if the worst happens for arsenal
SJGgumby

Mata is really good huh? And REALLY tiny.
Perry S.

He's DAMN good and we missed out.
SJGgumby

Anyone watching the Chelsea game? Drogba just got knocked out in just sickening fashion. All rivalries aside, really worried for him.
Martin

Yeah, it looks pretty bad. Hopefully he "only" got knocked out cold, and didn't actually hurt his neck/spine.
Perry S.

It was pretty terrible.
JG

Latest news on Twitter is that Bacary Sagna has fallen ill and will face a test tomorrow.
You may now panic.
SJGgumby

Guess TV on the left if so. Scary.
Tfyoung

Kos will start if he's fit at all as will TV. They will have to help out the full backs a lot. He will definitely play two holding midfielders, probably Lansbury and Ramsey. Not Ramsey natural position but there are not many other options. The Guardian suggests he might play Djourou here. I'd be very suprised. This is the biggest test for our full backs Jenkinson and Sagna playing out of position on the left. Young, Nani and/or Valencia are the best wingers in the league Both Arshavin (in particular) and Walcott will be asked to help out defensively.
When we played MU recently they have been content to let us have a lot of (non threatening) posession and then hit us hard on the break. With Nasri and Fab gone it'ill be different tomorrow.
I expect MU to have the lions share of possession and to threaten from everywhere.
This might help Walcott's game. When the game is compressed into the opposition's final third of the pitch he runs out of ideas and is very ineffective. On the other hand he's at his best when we break quickly and put a ball behind their defence for him to run on to( as he showed against Udinese). We won't get many chances so he needs to be effective.
Kent876

I'm not a pessimist, however, I do have a few questions for anyone who can answer them.
1.) If we were a self sustaining club owned by multiple share holders, and the system was working quite well, why did we need to sell or be taken over by Stan Kroenke?

I know his share holdings was in a region where he could opt to buy the club, but the board also reserved the right to not sell the club.

2.) If there is over 80mil of transfer money available, why are we acting like a Blackburn, Bolton, and Everton? Basically like a financially strapped club?

Wenger isn't stupid, and I don't see him being a person who would sit back and watch the club he built (yes Wenger built modern day Arsenal) sink into mediocrity. That would pretty much erase almost 2 decades of hard work, sweat, blood, and tears. He's naturally competitive and has never fielded a side as depleted as this ever as his time as manager. Therefore, I don't think the money exist to spend.

Honestly, after all has gone on with this board, I don't think I trust them in any aspect especially to manage the financial affairs of the club. It seems as though we're being lied to about how much money is available to spend. Wenger has constantly stated that he is not afraid to spend, but I don't recall him saying the money exist to be spent.

So where has all this money gone? Is it being reinvested in our loan payments and other areas of the club or is it being reinvested in some third party's pocket(s)? I don't know, but I'm concerned.
Bertrand

I agree. It is all very murky.

If I was Wenger, I would just resign and retire or move to PSG/France National team. I mean its not like he needs the cash, and retirement would be better than the stress of putting up with the English media every other day, as well as ingrate fans calling for your head just because of one little setback.
Martin

According to Jamie Sanderson, who is generally very credible, both Ozyakup and Coquelin are in tomorrow's squad. Given that Coquelin is pretty much our only fit, available defensive midfielder, I wouldn't be completely surprised to see him play tomorrow, maybe even start.

UPDATE: Ozyakup confirms via his Twitter account that he is traveling to Manchester.
Gigi_man

maybe wenger tought also that this was already lost and will treat it as a carling game¡ SO NO ONE GETS WORSE AND WE CAN SET THE WINNABLE GAMES IN SHAPE? OR AM i TOO NAIVE? oops sorry for the locks, too lazy to re type hehe
Homey_Mills

So then my projections were even more optimistic than they should have been. Wow.
SJGgumby

I bet this is the game that Oxtail or Ryo get their first action. Though I fear the circumstances are that we're down by 2+ with 10 to go.

By the way, looks like Wilshire is about to get spanked in that picture above.
airiRin

Trying to win this match already difficult and will be more difficult because the referee is Howard Webb.
Satan

wow were about to sign a south korean striker
king kenny

As a liverpool fan good luck against the scum! Just pepper that bone in uniteds goal and you will score a few, van persie would probably snap him with his left foot if he tryed saving one of those. As for nasri: he is a rat and if you look at history with arsenal/liverpool players jumping ship the outcome is normally bleak ie henry,owen,adebayor,torres,toure big names but it was all downhill after they left and rightly so.
Martin

Also, lots of reports out of France that Arsenal are meeting with South Korean striker Park Chu-Young with a look to signing him from AS Monaco. The 26 year-old Park is the captain of the South Korean men's national team, and has scored 26 goals in 103 matches for Monaco (12 in 33 last season), which is a not terrible but not particularly awe-inspiring total either, even accounting for the fact that Ligue 1 is generally a very low-scoring league.

The other wrinkle to this is that Park was apparently scheduled to meet with Lille to have his medical and finalize a deal with them, but backed out due to last-minute interest from Arsenal, and Lille are pissed. They were already not terribly happy with Arsenal/Wenger due to the Gervinho negotiations, but if these reports are true, I have to think they would be very reluctant to even talk to Arsenal about Hazard.

Again, these are widespread but unconfirmed reports, so don't treat them as gospel truth, but if so, that could be interesting, and if we bring in Park I certainly think that makes it that much clearer that Bendtner is on his way out.

EDIT: Also, apparently there is some chance that he will be called up to mandatory military service in South Korea.

YET ANOTHER EDIT: BBC and Canal both reporting he's in London and will have his Arsenal medical within the next 24 hours. Sounds like this is going to happen. Fee reportedly in the 3 million or so range.
Homey_Mills

I guess this shows how much I keep up with Ligue 1, but I just discovered that Monaco got relegated last season, and is now in Ligue 2. That could indicate a couple of things. One is that Monaco is likely to sell players and get what they can, since revenues will be lower this year. Two is that his "low" goal scoring rate can be explained by the fact that his team was awful last year. But he did score 1/3 of all their goals last year, I believe (12 of 36).
Homey_Mills

My first reaction: We're selling Bendtner and replacing him with this guy? Really? Well, at least we'll have lots of money left over.
SJGgumby

I was just thinking this regarding Lille and Hazard. I don't know much about how Lille play, but would Bendtner fit in with them? He'd get CL, they'd get a pretty proven goal scorer. Perhaps as part of the Hazard fee (I can still dream, right?).

I was also thinking about the Cahill situation - I wouldn't be surprised if Wenger offered 6M plus a player, and Bolton conveniently forgot to mention the player portion of the fee when they went to the media with such class and dignity.
FredJacob

They play the same formation as us which mean Bendtner will be stuck out wide he will only be the striker if Sow the leading goal scorer last year is injured or something
Homey_Mills

You could argue that with regards to a lot of situations. And I don't get it. Why not offer Bendtner to Everton as part of a deal for Jagielka? Or to Bolton for Cahill? I could go on and on. Doesn't add up.
Gunnerson

Yeah looks like its almost a done deal. According to BBC, he was suppose to show up for a second medical at Lille, but never did. We just sneaked in without anyone's knowledge.
Martin

Yeah, that's what's being reported. That Park just left without telling him we wouldn't show up at his medical, and they couldn't find him at his hotel. Lille is reportedly pretty pissed, probably at both Arsenal and Park.

For the record, I don't really think there's anything wrong with what Arsenal did -- until the ink is on the contract, we can still bid on a player, and if we had a bid accepted by Monaco and the player wanted to join us over Lille, well, then, that's just how that goes sometimes.

But I do think this throws a large wrench in any hopes/plans we had of signing Hazard, because I would imagine Lille may be reluctant to talk to us at this point out of sheer spite.
Gigi_man

i agree, if others do that ith the players we re after, why not us¿ i just hope that our negotiators get from this, that it also happens to us so they need to bready to counter offer (which I am sure its what Bolton is doing, raise one more million and that it)
FredJacob

Let bolton keep playing the ass, and we would just get if on a free transfer next year
will

The problem is Bolton know Cahill might want to go to another club. So, from that standpoint, they're trying to get the most money out of the only bidder at this point, since if we don't meet their demands he will likely go to a different club next year.
Andylowe14

or he may still want to come to arsenal since we have already showed interest in him, and hes more likely to play that signing for any other champions league club (if we are top 4 this year, lol) so i think we would be favourites to sign him on a free next year tbh
FredJacob

Sure Wenger is willing to take that chance as you can see last year with Chamahk when Bourdiex was giving trouble the year before
Darren_V

I could easily see that Lille turned down Arsenal over Hazard, and just to piss Lille over, Arsenal are swiping Park out from underneath their feet.

Or it's part of Arsenal's masterplan to actually sign Hazard.
Yes, vacation is making me come up with super cool conspiracy theories. Time for another wedding. Joy
SJGgumby

Perhaps this was to ensure that they need to take Bendtner as part of the fee? 25M-30M pounds plus Nicky fair?
Andylowe14

is that us paying them to take bentner then.. Park was valued at 10M so that makes bentner worth -15M to -20M.. sounds about right
SJGgumby

Hah. Not sure if this was serious or not, but if so - I meant for Hazard, not Park.
Bertrand

Lol.
Park is valued at 3 mil due to Monaco's relegation.
Bertrand

Fuck Lille and fuck Hazard. Not like we did any thing wrong.

Park is a quality player especially for 3 mil euros. Park scored 12 from the wing last season, it is a good return, I think.

Get Gotze, Martin/Kaka and M'Vila and Cahill and we are set.
JG

Hazard>Park
Can't score if there is nobody to create the chances.
Hopefully we get Marvin Martin.
Martin

If all three of Vermaelen, Koscielny, and Djourou are healthy, I'd much rather see Vermaelen and Koscielny start at the back, and Djourou start as holding midfielder.

But all in all, pretty hard to feel much other than doom or gloom about this one. But hey, if we're not expecting anything, we can only be pleasantly surprised, right?
SJGgumby

There may be some logic though in holding one of the CBs on the bench, given the decent odds one of the first two gets hurt. If all three start, I worry about two injuries - though I don't think I'd be dismayed to see Miquel play in an emergency situation.
Homey_Mills

Yes, I agree about starting Kos as a CD. I only put him on my "bench" because I ran out of warm bodies, but I think he's more injured than Djourou at the moment.
FredJacob

Dont forget to check out Wengers press conference

http://www.dailymotion.com/vid...
Jonathan Bemba

I think Koscielny will get the start at the back, if he's fit he has to start and continue that great partnership with Vermaelen. Djourou may play in the midfield, that's where he started, so Miquel would be the cover at the back.
Bertrand

Why is Koscielny on the bench?
Homey_Mills

Do you mean why is he not starting? Or why is he on the bench if he's injured? If it's the latter, then please take a look at the first team players for Arsenal, subtract out the ones who are injured or suspended, and then find 11 to start and 7 to fill out the bench.
brenton

I'll be the voice for doom and gloom a bit right now: a starting midfield of Lansbury, Ramsey and Rosicky, to face ManU away, if suggested at any point over the past year, would have been laughed out of the water. Ridiculous.

It will take a lot of doing to . Fuck it, I can't do it. I will just pray for a point, pray that ManU are stricken with food poisoning and have to field just De Gea and players from their reserves.
Andylowe14

lansbury in CDM... oh dear. Makes Wengers comments about discipline costing us points even more true when you consider both song and frimpongs suspensions were entirely avoidable