Man Utd 1-1 Arsenal: Consistent inconsistency

Match report – Player ratings – Arteta reaction – Video

With 10 games left to play, it’s fair to say that this season has fizzled out. A point at Old Trafford yesterday meant we’ve taken just 2 from the last 9 available, and in truth we were probably a bit fortunate to come away with that in the end.

The first half probably encapsulates Arsenal right now. I thought we dominated Man Utd at their place in a way I’ve never really seen before. We were sharp, energetic, never let them have the ball for anything other than scant moments, but lacked cutting edge. As Mikel Arteta said in his post-game press conference:

We lacked a little bit in the final 15-20 metres, to have more shots, more purpose, more direction, the last pass, the last action.

People will point to the lack of a recognised centre-forward, which is obviously an issue. Mikel Merino tries hard but there are always going to be limitations when you play a midfielder there. I thought Ethan Nwaneri struggled to really make an impact on this game, and on the other side Leandro Trossard, who had a very good game against PSV, was way off that yesterday. He is very good player who has more than delivered based on what we paid for him, but there’s a level of inconsistency that can fluctuate wildly.

So, the forward line didn’t really tick. Merino had a decent sight of goal 10 minutes in but dragged it wide of the near post; Trossard had a chance a bit later but didn’t connect properly with the ball and swerved it the wrong side of the post. Beyond that, for all the possession, all the territory, there wasn’t a lot for United to worry about.

A feature of some of our most frustrating games this season is the scoopy pass. Martin Odegaard looks to play it often, Thomas Partey too sometimes, where they try and lift the ball over a packed defence to find a teammate running in behind. It nearly worked once when the captain found Declan Rice, but I think that illustrates something about what we’re lacking. It’s not just a striker, it’s creativity elsewhere.

Odegaard carries a heavy burden, and while I think it’s fair to say the forward line depends on service, those looking to create also depend on movement which isn’t always there at the moment. The two things are linked, in my opinion, and in the longer term it’s an issue for the manager when he considers the balance of his team. More firepower, yes, but more craft feels just as important

Typically then, with all that dominance, we went in behind. Trossard conceded a free kick just outside the box, and the referee marched the Arsenal wall back what turned out to be 11.2 yards, rather than 10. I’m not here to blame Anthony Taylor for us dropping points, and I do think David Raya’s positioning is a little suspect, but for me the distance of the wall is the bigger issue. Bruno Fernandes takes a good free kick, but look how it skims over the heads of the Arsenal players – if the wall is the correct distance, the ball hits someone’s head rather than the back of the net.

Is it up to us to creep forward? Probably, but it’s the referee’s job to set the wall back 10 yards, it’s a pretty basic aspect of it, and he got it wrong. Again, there was so much else we didn’t do yesterday that caused us to drop points, so we have to take responsibility for that, but it just feels like one of those things that has happened to us this season that would just not happen in a Liverpool game, for example.

The second half was more helter-skelter. United were nearly 2-0 up but Raya made a reflex save from Diogo Dalot who was free at the back post and probably should have scored. The Arsenal keeper was there again when Joshua Zirkzee tried a close range flick, and Arteta made changes, bringing on Myles Lewis-Skelly and the returning Gabriel Martinelli for Calafiori and Nwaneri.

The Brazilian had a couple of bright moments, forcing Onana into a save at his near post when he should have gone for the far post, but he gave us a little something. There was more free-kick wall distance drama when Lewis-Skelly was fouled outside the box. By the way, I found Gary Neville calling him out for ‘simulation’ quite problematic, because if you’re going to single him out but not mention every other time that kind of challenge results in a free kick then there’s something quite snide about it, especially at this moment in time.

United complained the wall was too far back. It might have been to start with but it wasn’t when Odegaard took it and failed to clear it the way Fernandes did. Memo to the manager: when you talk about wanting to dominate/maximise every aspect of the game, our weakness from direct free kicks is something we need to pay attention to. Something for the set-piece coach to work on, because we’re not scoring from corners anymore either.

Then, the equaliser. Jurrien Timber did really well after collecting an Odegaard pass, wriggling away from a couple of challenges in the box before laying it back to Rice whose first time finish was excellent, going in off the post to make it 1-1 with 15 minutes of normal time to play. Enough time for us to win it, but rather than pin them back, we almost lost it.

Merino made a mistake in our defensive third which saw Rasmus Hojlund bear down on goal, and only for a superb sliding tackle on the stretch from Rice, he’d surely have scored. Gabriel defended well against the Danish striker at the near post as we allowed ourselves to be stretched too easily, and right at the death, Raya produced a great save to deny Fernandes who was far too open in our penalty area, and the Arsenal keeper got up again quickly to claw the ball away. Whatever about the free kick, without him this is a game we would have lost.

Afterwards, Arteta said:

The frustration is that we haven’t won our game – we know the urgency and it’s about winning every single match. We gave some very unusual balls away and very basic things were done really poorly. The reality is that David saved us and at the end, we could have lost the game.

Football is a strange game. I have no explanation for why, in those final 15 minutes, we did a 180 in possession. We were so assured, so secure, for most of the game, then just had a wobble and kept giving it away sloppily. I don’t even think it was United upping the intensity or anything, it was on us, and we almost paid the price. I think this inconsistency, which has been a feature since we lost that clutch of forwards, will be with us consistently between now and the end of the season.

The disappointment will be that this iteration of Man Utd is so flawed, so much a work in progress, that we didn’t take advantage of that. It leaves the season feeling so flat, the title is Liverpool’s – we’ve known that for some time now to be fair – but the underlying sense that we’ve made it a procession for them is hard to escape. I can’t keep going on about January, or last summer, because everyone understands how those two windows have impacted the team.

Raheem Sterling, an attacker with over 200 career goals for club and country, sat on the bench watching on as Kieran Tierney, a left-back with 13 goals to his name, was sent on to try and help us get a winner. If that doesn’t sum up how flawed the squad building was, then nothing does – and I say that with all due respect to both those players. Andrea Berta, you have some work to do, Commendatoré.

So, all we can do now is turn attention to Wednesday, and the midweek game against PSV, and hope that next Sunday our goalscoring issues in the Premier League can be put behind us, because we need to get back to winning ways pretty quickly as the gap closes to the teams below us.

Right, I’ll leave it there for now. We’ll have Arsecast Extra for you in a little while too. We’ve put out the call for questions on BlueSky @gunnerblog.bsky.social and @arseblog.com with the hashtag #arsecastextra – or if you’re an Arseblog Member on Patreon, leave your question in the #arsecast-extra-questions channel on our Discord server.

Pod should be out mid-morning. For now, have a good one.