1) That was an objectively hilarious way for the final stages of an association football game to play out.
2) No protagonist was more suitable in terms of deciding that match than Declan Rice. A sublime, relentless performance was already the best of any on the pitch before Manchester United allowed him time and space to bring the ball down from a corner, consider his options, read the fine print of the payment structure on his West Ham move and score the winning goal.
Rice was dominant in the centre, helping maintain Arsenal’s intermittent periods of authority with an unrivalled rest defence which slowly suffocated Manchester United. Those drives forward were purposeful and incisive. Everything the hosts did in the build-up ran through him. That degree of maturity and control at 24 with no prior expertise in a proper Big Six game of this magnitude is not normal.
How refreshing it is to see a player back himself to perform at a much higher level and provide immediate justification. Some felt Rice does not offer enough in attack, that he was not a complete enough all-rounder, that he lacked a certain experience. After an international break in which he will presumably continue to excel for the fourth-ranked nation in the world, Rice shall make his Champions League debut as the most important player for the second-best team in England. It has been a long time coming.
Arsenal's Declan Rice, center, celebrates with teammates
Arsenal’s Declan Rice, center, celebrates with teammates
3) Those margins have rarely been finer. In an alternative universe Manchester United are celebrating an almost perfect away game: soak up pressure, defend deep, attack with pace and numbers on the counter and bring on fresh legs to make the difference late on. The line between a 3-1 defeat and the 2-1 win Alejandro Garnacho seemed to have earned is infinitesimal, the sort only Stockley Park should chew over.
The game plan was well-crafted and largely executed effectively. That will be lost in the narrative void that is an international break dominated by outcome bias discourse but Manchester United played well and any attempt to shift the crisis baton onto them over the next fortnight should be resisted. There were enough signs of improvement on what came before both this season and in general away at any competent side last campaign to be satisfied, provided it continues.) With that said, Erik ten Hag is an absolute coward for trying to pin anything on the referees.
“I thought we played a very good game but everything went against us,” he said. “It was not offside. It was the wrong angle. It was a penalty on Hojlund, then we concede a goal that’s a foul on Jonny Evans – clear and obvious.”
Conspiracy-fuelling rubbish. And nothing particularly different to the card most managers try and play while everyone praises them for Building A Siege Mentality and bravely taking the flak away from the players (and dumping it onto the most abused party in the entire sport).
This is a risible part of the modern game now. But equally: don’t spend millions to formulate an approach based entirely on fine margins, then cryarse when some – and absolutely not all – of them go against you in a pretty even game. There doesn’t even need to be any blame for losing away at Arsenal so why create it?
5) There was nothing Andre Onana could realistically be expected to do differently with any of the Arsenal goals. It was a delightful finish from Martin Odegaard, Rice’s shot was deflected through a mess of legs from about 10 yards out and Gabriel Jesus was never going to be thwarted in that situation.
But it is pretty boring to focus on the way this goalkeeper kept goal. One of the most fascinating plots of the entire game was his display, not only in how Manchester United consistently used him as a safety blanket in possession but how Arsenal reacted to that.
The commentatorial disbelief that the Gunners were not pressing the Cameroonian enough was a weirdly manufactured talking point. Arsenal tried to put Onana under a bit of pressure in the opening half an hour but he just dropped a shoulder and left Eddie Nketiah running. The hosts quite justifiably deemed it far safer to let
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