Arsenal 1-0 Manchester United

On Tuesday we saw the Dr Jekyll side of Manchester United and yesterday as if one cue away from home we reverted to Mr Hyde. I didn't expect a scintillating performance from us yesterday but i thought we would come away with at least a point. But a combination of the home team having a point to prove and another miserable performance from the engine room of our team left us coming away with nothing and facing a crunch game next Sunday.
United started slowly which was understandable enough, it's what generally happens after a big European night especially away from home. But for all Arsenal's dominance and possession they hardly tested Van Der Sar. Slowly but surely United got into the game but the fact that Fabio looked as dangerous as anybody in a United shirt probably summed up our first half.
In games like this where we struggle to control the game, Hernandez can become a luxury, his game is not about holding the ball up and bringing others into the game. Sometimes though, that's what you need. I'm not blaming Anderson for the defeat yesterday he was no worse than anybody else, but i still don't know where that self confidence in Saturday's Indy interview comes from. He didn't bring much energy, freshness or anything at all to the central midfield. We were screaming out for a Fletcher and then later on a Giggs or a Scholes to bring on later in the game yesterday. I can't disagree with this assessment from today's Guardian, we have all known we are too light in midfiled all season. It may be that we see some of the youngsters coming through, getting a game here and there next season and of course we have Cleverley coming back next season. Souness made a fair point before yesterday's encounter about whether Sniejder would be a sensible target when his position would be exactly the same as that that which has brought about the rejuvenation of Rooney. I can't really see us paying the type of money needed to buy a Sneidjer on a central midfield player anyway.
When we reached half time all square i was reasonably relaxed to be honest as i felt we woul get better in the second half. We certainly started to see more of the ball as the game progressed, but we still didn't really look like troubling their goal. It was ironic that they then went and scored when the game seemed to be drifting nowhere. I don't buy the notion that Arsenal were the better team and deserved the points yesterday. They started well and certainly defended better than they normally do, but they scored with virtually their only shot on target in the match against a very ordinary United side.
Fergie rang the changes in search of an equaliser but it just seemed to be one of those days when it was never going to happen. We certainly should have had a penalty when Owen we broguht down in the last ten minutes but that only evened things up after Vidic's first half handball that could have even seen him sent off. I'm still confident we will get a result against the rent boys next Sunday, but only if a few players are rested on Wednesday and that Giggs is in the starting eleven or at least on the bench. Against City and now Arsenal he was badly missed.

Whilst Fergie agreed that Vidic was lucky to not give away a penalty in the first half, he still thinks that United don't get the decisions in the big games. Evra says blame the players, not the referee, after yesterday's encounter, we didn't play the Man Utd way and didn't deserve anything.

Fergie is still talking to Scholes and trying to persuade him to carry on for one more season. We can see why after yesterday, not so much starting the game, but coming on when we were chasing the game. 

Ahead of yesterday's game Gary Neville wrote of his favourite five United Arsenal encounters, it's a great piece, and his opinion of the famous tunnel game is fascinating.


Alan Hansen thinks the current United squad is ill equipped to stop Barcelona in a champions league final should both teams progress after the mid week second legs. They are certainly a better side than us, i don't think the most blinkered red would deny that, but in a one off game, anything can happen. One of my biggest worries if we do face them, is our terrible record at Wembley, where we never seem to play well or look like scoring.
Rory Smith writes of the real motivation behind Fergie's quest for more champions league glory should we get to Wembley on the 28th May. Henry Winter looks at the career of Cristiano Ronaldo since he left Old trafford for the Bernabeu and how the grass isn't always greener.

The anti-Mourinho league grows by one as Otmar Hitzfeld slags of the special one, labelling him as a boor and his tactics as shaming Real Madrid, ouch.
Andy Cole looks at hatred off the pitch and how it affects professional footballers.

I'm glad to see a few more Republican articles and a bit less of the gut churning sychophancy that we saw in the press last week. Mary Ann Sieghart thinks the public won't put up with King Charles if he doesn't wind his neck in. Well that's what us republicans are lloking forward to, all the evidence suggests he is incapable of not meddling where his position demands he doesn't.
Nick Cohen takes issue with the notion that the royal family are neutral and non political, whilst Will Hutton groups them with the modern conservative establishment as its snub to Blair and Brown proved. Even uber Blairite John Rentoul has seen his arse over the royal family and the Tory parties machinations last week. Well i hope all thses people have long memories and the gumption to do something about getting even eventually.

Two differing views from the tory side of the predicament of the coalition, Norman Tebbit unsurprisingly thinks it is a coalition held together through fear, 
Tim Montgomerie thinks David Cameron should ready himslef for an early election.

With the news of the death of Osama Bin Laden, John Snow looks at the lessening of his influence as the Arab spring showed. James Forsyth points to the questions that will now be asked about the role of the Pakistani intelligence agency, especially with the location of where he had been holed up.

The Economist looks at a country on the verge of constitutional upheaval, well we can only hope. I didn't think i would be as gutted as i will be if the opinion polls are proved to have been right on Friday morning.

The brilliant Ray Davies of the Kinks gave a rare interview in yesterday's Observer, a riveting read. I love the Kinks. I saw him in town in the nineties touring with his one man show, which was actually two men. The anecdotes were great and the music superb, the book that the stories were taken from wasn't half bad either.