It was the first Big Four match of the season and it lived up to its expectation. Arsenal travelled to Manchester for a match which will no doubt hold implications at the end of the season. iSport’s Pulasta Dhar does a text commentary on this one.
MANCHESTER UNITED vs ARSENAL
OLD TRAFFORD
17:15 BST/ 21:45 IST
SQUAD LIST:
ARSENAL: Almunia, Sagna, Clichy, Gallas, Vermaelen, Song, Denilson, Diaby, Eboue, Arshavin, v.Persie
MANCHESTER UNITED: Foster, Brown, Evra, Vidic, O’Shea, Nani, Valencia, Fletcher, Carrick, Giggs, Rooney
COMMENTARY:
1st min: The teams have kicked off. This fixture has the reputation of being the most fiery in the Premier League. Of course, it has lost a lot of fizz since the departures of Keane and Vieira.
2nd min: Emmanuel Eboue gets the ball outside the box and his far-fetched effort is wide of the goal. Arsenal mean business tonight after impressing in the rest of their fixtures.
4th min: Vidic commits a foul on Diaby. Arshavin goes over to take the freekick, but Foster holds on to it comfortably.
8th min: United seem to have found their footing. Nani crosses, only for Clichy to clear the ball. The ball breaks away again for Nani whi swings it in once more, this time the clearance is made by ex-captain Gallas.
9th min: A menacing attack by United. The ball comes to Rooney on chest height, he lays it down for Fletcher, whose volley goes harmlessly over the bar. United seem to get better after every move.
12th min: A couple of corners for Arsenal. Van Persie takes both of them, only to once be cleared by Brown, and the other saved by Foster.
22nd min: Song is making quite a reputation of being the hard-tackling man of Arsenal. Its a bit too much this time and he gets booked for a challenge on Valencia. First YELLOW CARD of the match.
24th min: Arsenal are as fluid as ever, trying to hit United on the counter and happy to recieve corners for their efforts. A corner follows an Evra block. The ball falls to Arshavin in the penalty area, but the shot sizzle past the post.
30th min: Excellent end to end football from both sides. Currently, the defenders are outperforming the attackers, making clearance after clearance. William Gallas sticks out a foot at French-mate Evra and duly gets booked. YELLOW CARD
34th: Looks like the French try and copy each other. Evra with a ‘little-too-hard’ challenge on Sagna. YELLOW CARD
40th: The tempo seems to have slowed down a bit after a tiring first 40 minutes. Bacary Sagna has clearly been given a lot of attacking freedom. He swings in a cross which gets cleared. Denilson finds Arshavin on the left hand side, he brings it a little to the center and unleashes a crashing effort from probably 18 yards out which bangs into the net after touching Foster’s depairing gloves. A typical Arshavin goal is followed by his ‘shhhhhhhhhhhh’ celebration. GOAL GOAL GOAL!! 1-0 to Arsenal.
43rd: United try and hit back immediately with two set-pieces, one a freekick and one a corner. Both of them are taken by the legendary Giggs but get cleared by the not-so-legendary Song and Gallas.
45th: van Persie did not show much respect to Giggs and got booked for that. YELLOW CARD
HALF TIME
Looks like Sir Alex gave another dose of his hair-dryer treatment to his boys. He looks redder than ever. It is sure to everybody that this one is a must-win for United.
48th: Arshavin with one of his mazy runs down the left. He beats Brown easily with his electric pace and manages to find van Persie in the box, who sees his shot saved by Foster’s foot.
50th: Clichy is the man who is doing the attacking from the left hand side. It seems Arsenal do not need wingers when they have such amazing full-backs. A cross from the youngster finds Eboue but he clearly needs some ball control practice. A good chance goes begging.
51st: United are tackling so hard and desperately that Fletcher tackles his own team-mate Carrick! This is surely worth a mention!
56th: United are on the backfoot lately and have not managed to produce a single attack in the second half. Diaby tries to slip one in for van Persie, but Evra manages to get back in time for a super interception.
57th: Carrick shows his class on the ball trying to slip Rooney through, who ran towards the ball like raging bull. Almunia also rushed in and tried to stop him. A clear cut penalty situation, where the goalkeeper had to get to the ball but could not. Rooney steps up himself and slots it to his right. GOAL GOAL GOAL!! United are back in it! The cameraman could not help himself swinging towards Eduardo, who has been charged by the UEFA for a similar penalty for diving against Celtic.
59th: Rooney is in one of those Energy Bursts. Proof is his shot from behind half-line after seeing Almunia off the line. Well, everybody is not Beckham.
61st: Brown slides in on Sagna quite shamelessly and get booked. YELLOW CARD. Resulting freekick from van Persie is struck with power and rattles the crossbar. I can help myself screaming out loud OFF-THE-BAR!!
63rd: A highly unimpressive Valencia comes off for Ji-Sung Park.
64th: Giggs gets a freekick on the right wing. The ball is perfectly delivered to the danger area by the evergreen left foot of his, and Diaby thought such a cross shouldn’t be wasted. The star of last week puts it in his own net!! GOAL GOAL GOAL!! Diaby is left devastated after the own goal.
65th: Diaby is looking for redemption, but his shot is wide of Foster’s post after some wonderful build-up from the Gunners.
66th: The second half is the opposite of the first, and very open. Rooney cuts in from the left, which he seems to do everytime he gets the ball there, and his shot is a wee bit embarassing.
67th: Vermaelen has had an impressive start to the season. His long ball falls perfectly for van Persie but the Dutchman does not have a right foot on him.
69th: Nani shows a great first touch, but I can’t understand why he fails to produce a simple ball. It has become a tendency for the player to make things look tougher than they are. However, the ball breaks for Park, who lays it down for Evra and his shot forces Almunia into a low save.
70th: Eboue comes off for the tall Bendtner
78th: Denilson comes off for Eduardo. Its gung-HO! time for Arsenal.
80th: Arshavin pulled his hamstring and is subbed for wonderkid Ramsey.
84th: Vermaelen balsts over from one of the unending Arsenal corners.
85th: Giggs comes off for Berbatov and gets a standing ovation for his role.
87th: United are takcling hard but superbly. Fletch has clearly become a pivotal player in the middle with Carrick. Bendtner crosses from the right, but it fizzes over everybody in the box.
88th: Evra has been running non-stop since the first whistle and a foul on him gives some relaxation time to the left back. He is probably the best in that position in the world at the moment.
90th: Rooney’s commitment cannot be questioned. After a corner tussle, the striker slides in with his head!! Let’s play pool, he was thinking eh?
90+2nd min: Nani breaks after a Rooney pass and lays of a wonderful outside of the foot ball for Berbatov, who tries to take it first time from the edge of the box, but cannot judge the bounce of the ball. Should have been netted this one.
90+4th min: Berbatov finds himself some space on the right. He plays it to Nani who makes Almunia dive to save the resulting shot. He then scuffs the rebound over the bar.
90+5th min: Last attack for Arsenal and if you though the controvery was over, it wasn’t. Ramsey played the ball in the box and it broke for van Persie, who netted. I had my heart in my mouth, but it came back to my chest once I saw the linesman flagging for offside!
Wenger was sent off to the stands for misconduct. He then does the unthinkable. He goes and stands on top of the tunnel!! 15 years of preserved class took some beating for this act! He’s had a few fights in time, but this was one of his first ‘joker-acts’!
FINAL WHISTLE. UNITED WIN 2-1
MATCH STATS:
GOALS: ARSHAVIN (40TH), ROONEY (pen 58th), DIABY (og 64th)
POSSESSION: United 47%, Arsenal 53%
OLD TRAFFORD
17:15 BST/ 21:45 IST
SQUAD LIST:
ARSENAL: Almunia, Sagna, Clichy, Gallas, Vermaelen, Song, Denilson, Diaby, Eboue, Arshavin, v.Persie
MANCHESTER UNITED: Foster, Brown, Evra, Vidic, O’Shea, Nani, Valencia, Fletcher, Carrick, Giggs, RooneyCOMMENTARY:
1st min: The teams have kicked off. This fixture has the reputation of being the most fiery in the Premier League. Of course, it has lost a lot of fizz since the departures of Keane and Vieira.
2nd min: Emmanuel Eboue gets the ball outside the box and his far-fetched effort is wide of the goal. Arsenal mean business tonight after impressing in the rest of their fixtures.
4th min: Vidic commits a foul on Diaby. Arshavin goes over to take the freekick, but Foster holds on to it comfortably.
8th min: United seem to have found their footing. Nani crosses, only for Clichy to clear the ball. The ball breaks away again for Nani whi swings it in once more, this time the clearance is made by ex-captain Gallas.
9th min: A menacing attack by United. The ball comes to Rooney on chest height, he lays it down for Fletcher, whose volley goes harmlessly over the bar. United seem to get better after every move.
12th min: A couple of corners for Arsenal. Van Persie takes both of them, only to once be cleared by Brown, and the other saved by Foster.
22nd min: Song is making quite a reputation of being the hard-tackling man of Arsenal. Its a bit too much this time and he gets booked for a challenge on Valencia. First YELLOW CARD of the match.
24th min: Arsenal are as fluid as ever, trying to hit United on the counter and happy to recieve corners for their efforts. A corner follows an Evra block. The ball falls to Arshavin in the penalty area, but the shot sizzle past the post.
30th min: Excellent end to end football from both sides. Currently, the defenders are outperforming the attackers, making clearance after clearance. William Gallas sticks out a foot at French-mate Evra and duly gets booked. YELLOW CARD
34th: Looks like the French try and copy each other. Evra with a ‘little-too-hard’ challenge on Sagna. YELLOW CARD
40th: The tempo seems to have slowed down a bit after a tiring first 40 minutes. Bacary Sagna has clearly been given a lot of attacking freedom. He swings in a cross which gets cleared. Denilson finds Arshavin on the left hand side, he brings it a little to the center and unleashes a crashing effort from probably 18 yards out which bangs into the net after touching Foster’s depairing gloves. A typical Arshavin goal is followed by his ‘shhhhhhhhhhhh’ celebration. GOAL GOAL GOAL!! 1-0 to Arsenal.
43rd: United try and hit back immediately with two set-pieces, one a freekick and one a corner. Both of them are taken by the legendary Giggs but get cleared by the not-so-legendary Song and Gallas.
45th: van Persie did not show much respect to Giggs and got booked for that. YELLOW CARD
HALF TIME
Looks like Sir Alex gave another dose of his hair-dryer treatment to his boys. He looks redder than ever. It is sure to everybody that this one is a must-win for United.
48th: Arshavin with one of his mazy runs down the left. He beats Brown easily with his electric pace and manages to find van Persie in the box, who sees his shot saved by Foster’s foot.
50th: Clichy is the man who is doing the attacking from the left hand side. It seems Arsenal do not need wingers when they have such amazing full-backs. A cross from the youngster finds Eboue but he clearly needs some ball control practice. A good chance goes begging.
51st: United are tackling so hard and desperately that Fletcher tackles his own team-mate Carrick! This is surely worth a mention!
56th: United are on the backfoot lately and have not managed to produce a single attack in the second half. Diaby tries to slip one in for van Persie, but Evra manages to get back in time for a super interception.
57th: Carrick shows his class on the ball trying to slip Rooney through, who ran towards the ball like raging bull. Almunia also rushed in and tried to stop him. A clear cut penalty situation, where the goalkeeper had to get to the ball but could not. Rooney steps up himself and slots it to his right. GOAL GOAL GOAL!! United are back in it! The cameraman could not help himself swinging towards Eduardo, who has been charged by the UEFA for a similar penalty for diving against Celtic.
59th: Rooney is in one of those Energy Bursts. Proof is his shot from behind half-line after seeing Almunia off the line. Well, everybody is not Beckham.
61st: Brown slides in on Sagna quite shamelessly and get booked. YELLOW CARD. Resulting freekick from van Persie is struck with power and rattles the crossbar. I can help myself screaming out loud OFF-THE-BAR!!
63rd: A highly unimpressive Valencia comes off for Ji-Sung Park.
64th: Giggs gets a freekick on the right wing. The ball is perfectly delivered to the danger area by the evergreen left foot of his, and Diaby thought such a cross shouldn’t be wasted. The star of last week puts it in his own net!! GOAL GOAL GOAL!! Diaby is left devastated after the own goal.65th: Diaby is looking for redemption, but his shot is wide of Foster’s post after some wonderful build-up from the Gunners.
66th: The second half is the opposite of the first, and very open. Rooney cuts in from the left, which he seems to do everytime he gets the ball there, and his shot is a wee bit embarassing.
67th: Vermaelen has had an impressive start to the season. His long ball falls perfectly for van Persie but the Dutchman does not have a right foot on him.
69th: Nani shows a great first touch, but I can’t understand why he fails to produce a simple ball. It has become a tendency for the player to make things look tougher than they are. However, the ball breaks for Park, who lays it down for Evra and his shot forces Almunia into a low save.
70th: Eboue comes off for the tall Bendtner
78th: Denilson comes off for Eduardo. Its gung-HO! time for Arsenal.
80th: Arshavin pulled his hamstring and is subbed for wonderkid Ramsey.
84th: Vermaelen balsts over from one of the unending Arsenal corners.
85th: Giggs comes off for Berbatov and gets a standing ovation for his role.
87th: United are takcling hard but superbly. Fletch has clearly become a pivotal player in the middle with Carrick. Bendtner crosses from the right, but it fizzes over everybody in the box.
88th: Evra has been running non-stop since the first whistle and a foul on him gives some relaxation time to the left back. He is probably the best in that position in the world at the moment.
90th: Rooney’s commitment cannot be questioned. After a corner tussle, the striker slides in with his head!! Let’s play pool, he was thinking eh?
90+2nd min: Nani breaks after a Rooney pass and lays of a wonderful outside of the foot ball for Berbatov, who tries to take it first time from the edge of the box, but cannot judge the bounce of the ball. Should have been netted this one.
90+4th min: Berbatov finds himself some space on the right. He plays it to Nani who makes Almunia dive to save the resulting shot. He then scuffs the rebound over the bar.
90+5th min: Last attack for Arsenal and if you though the controvery was over, it wasn’t. Ramsey played the ball in the box and it broke for van Persie, who netted. I had my heart in my mouth, but it came back to my chest once I saw the linesman flagging for offside!
Wenger was sent off to the stands for misconduct. He then does the unthinkable. He goes and stands on top of the tunnel!! 15 years of preserved class took some beating for this act! He’s had a few fights in time, but this was one of his first ‘joker-acts’!
FINAL WHISTLE. UNITED WIN 2-1
MATCH STATS:
GOALS: ARSHAVIN (40TH), ROONEY (pen 58th), DIABY (og 64th)
POSSESSION: United 47%, Arsenal 53%
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a guest
said:
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... Highly biased commentary in favor of ManU. Where is THAT pivotal moment when Arshavin was clearly fouled by Fletcher? As am Arsenal fan, Giggs is the only player ever I would have loved to have in an Arsenal shirt. Therefore obviously agree that Giggs is a legend, but there is absolutely no need to demean Song and Gallas. You should and can do a better job. |
a guest
said:
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... And Wenger has been applauded for his grit to go and stand in front of a**hole like Manc fans. Give him some credit where it's due, instead of ridiculing one the best coaches ever. |
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