Arsenal 2-2 Manchester United

A last minute goal against us again at the emirates, at least this time we came away with a point instead of nothing. It was a decent game, although not as good as everybody tried to make out afterwards, the entertaining second half making up for a tactical war of attrition in the first half. Even though in the main, our tactics which we seem to have employed for the last three to four seasons to stop Arsenal playing their usual passing game against us, worked, i am not particularly enamoured of them. It just goes against the grain for me, to see United, trying to stop the opposition playing, and trying to sneak one at the other end, as if we were Chelsea or Liverpool. I recognise that with the players available yesterday, that this was possibly the best use of our resources. But this is how we play against all the top teams now, regardless of how we are playing or the opposition are playing. I would love us to really believe in ourselves and go out there and play our normal game and impose it on the opposition. I believe that we are a better team and definitely have better individual players than Arsenal, especially when Van Persie is not playing, so i don't really understand our obsession with stopping them playing, at the expense of us playing our own attacking free flowing football. It is here to stay by the looks of it, so i will try not to mention it again this season, no promises though.
The first ten minutes saw Arsenal start the better, although not creating anything . they seemed to be finding their passing game better than United, but i thought once United got through they managed to strangle Arsenal from creating anything in the final third. This was in the main due to Hargreaves and Anderson snuffing out anything, before it got to our penalty area. This tactical style meant that whilst we were snuffing out virtually all Arsenals attacking threat we were not having as much possession, and were relying on an individual piece of magic from one of our front three, with Giggs occasionally getting forward to support them. So whilst Arsenal were having more possession United looked and were far more dangerous in the final third when we did get up there. I have to say i wasn't that impressed with Arsenal's defence, and i would have loved to have seen two in form wingers running at them. At which point it has to be said, Ronaldo had another quiet game. You can't argue with the substitutions that were made in the last twenty minutes, but if Ronaldo had been took off, he could have had no complaints. Rooney on the other hand was superb again, they seem to have swapped form from last season, when it was Rooney playing in fits and starts, this season it seems to be Ronaldo who can find no consistency in his game. Fortunately, even when not at his best he still manages to find the back of the net regularly, not a bad habit to have.
The game seemed to be petering out to goalless stalemate at half time when a mix of good play and good fortune saw rooney find the back of the net via gallas's arm, after good play from Brown down the right. After being critical of his attacking prowess in recent weeks, it has got to be admitted we have actually scored quite a few goals form his crosses in recent weeks. Obviously it will be great to have Gary Neville back, but considering i don't consider him a natural right back Wes Brown has done a more than useful job for us at right back. And it has to be noted that the last minute equaliser came down the right hand flank after he had gone off. I think the beginning of the second half, and the equaliser was the catalyst for the games improvement as a spectacle. I believe if they hadn't got off to that flying start, united would have slowly strangled the game tactically again, and gone on to win one or two nil. But the goal gave Arsenal some self belief, and for the next quarter of an hour they had their best spell of the game, as United seeming a bit shell shocked to have conceded, struggled to get the game plan back together again. Then all of a sudden with about twenty minutes to go United seemed to me anyway to get the upper hand, and then with the substitutions, freshened things up bringing the forgotten man Saha on. And he soon showed us what he is capable of, when he is actually on a football field, when he fed a super ball through for Evra who had made a brilliant run and then crossed the ball past the goalie for Ronaldo to pass it into empty net. So with eight minutes to go, United were now 2-1 up, and were playing as well as they had done in the match. I couldn't see us letting this slip, and for the remainder of normal time Arsenal didn't look like they had a goal in them. So where that equaliser came from i don't know, United just seemed to switch off. And even that came after an almighty goalmouth struggle, when i thought we had managed to clear the danger, only to realise the linesman had given the goal as it had crossed the line.
So one point instead of three and Arsenal celebrating as though they had won. Fair enough we all know equalising in the last minute feels like winning, and conceding feels like losing, but i thought Arsenals celebrations were way over the top. One last thing as well as Hargreaves and Anderson played still we missed Paul Scholes badly, we just don't keep the ball as well without him.

Ferguson's fire burns bright

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/manchester_united/article2800660.ece
It did yesterday, he was really giving it some on the touchline, Keano has obviously decided to model himself on Clough not Ferguson.

Let's hope premier league managers are taking note
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2007/11/04/sfnbar104.xml
The only thing is, we have been a bit vulnerable in the air at the back recently too.

Targets can seriously damage your health
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,2204757,00.html
I couldn't agree more, since the death of ideology or rather since the triumph of the free market. This seems to be politicians answer to everything. We can run such a service better than you, set some targets, reach them whatever they are, and say everything is better, even when things are obviously just the same.
And they wonder people don't believe the statistics that they are being fed.
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,2204756,00.html

Britain thrash New Zealand
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2007/11/04/sorugl104.xml
I wasn't surprised they won, but can't believe they won by such a margin, and managed to nil them as well.

Why are Tax havens even legal is what i would like to know. It is absolutely obvious they are full of funny money. I think the so called war on drugs is a ludicrous waste of money, but the fact that money launderers can hide their flit their ill gotten gains through these places make even more of a mockery of it as far as i am concerned. That's without the likes of Murdoch telling us to go to war through his papers. Whilst he and his organisation's pay no tax to the countries that conduct these wars, and whom the majority of their populations didn't agree with the invasion in the first place or staying there, now have to finance it. What was it Baldwin said of the press barons of his day, exercising power without responsibility
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,2204734,00.html

We are suppose to worry about the Iranians building a bomb, this lot already has one
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article2801658.ece