March 2011 « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. 800,000 visits last month
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By Phil Gregory
As part of the build up to our FA Cup tie away to Manchester United on Saturday, I posed a few questions to Manchester United fan Mark Butterworth. He’s also going to co-write the match preview for the game but here we wanted to take a look at some of the broader issues surrounding our title rivals. On y va…
Despite a recent stumble for your side, it looks to be a two-horse race for the Premier League title. I personally had hoped for Arsenal to be on top by this stage given United’s recent fixtures, but instead Arsenal are three points behind with a game in hand. How do you see the remaining fixtures playing out?
Obviously I’d rather be in our position than yours; points on the board are better than games in hand. On the respective run-ins, they’re a mixed bag really. You’ve got away trips to Blackpool, Stoke and Spurs which are all potential slipping points, while we’ve got to go to West Ham, where we always seem to slip up, and obviously go to your place. If we can pick up points in that game, I think the title’s ours for the taking. If you win, I can only see it staying in London. It’s that close
Defeats at Anfield and Stamford Bridge weren’t such shock results, but United’s away form this season certainly has been. Why do you think United are struggling so much on the road?
I’d love to be able to tell you that! Early season disappointments at Everton and Fulham were ridiculous; they were down to lapses of concentration and a simple lack of professionalism. Our weak midfield tends to get bullied away from home, and Fergie’s Ranieri-style tinkering is annoying for a fan. The fact that he has a different team home and away is mystifying, as is his reluctance to play the league’s top scorer in Berbatov on big away days. Believe it or not, however, only you lot, City and Spurs have a better away record than us this season, thus it hasn’t been the huge dent in our title challenge that it should have been; everybody can take points off everybody.
Manchester United’s big objective this season is surely eclipsing Liverpool’s number of titles this season. While there is no chance of Liverpool adding to their tally in the foreseeable future, was their performance at Anfield motivated by a defence of their cherished record? How have United fans reacted to what was a pretty abject defeat?
Crushing disappointment, frankly. I’ve always said that teams up their game for United, and Liverpool are a case in point. Hell, only last week they got trounced by relegation-fodder West Ham. They’re a mediocre squad with a mediocre manager, the difference on the day was that we had a makeshift centre back pairing and simply bottled it big style. There were literally no positives to take out of that game, apart from the hope we can take motivation from the fact that we’re still top of the league after two consecutive defeats.
Arguably the biggest news coming out of the game at Anfield for Arsenal fans was the injury to Nani, who has surely been United’s player of the season this year. Just how big a miss is the Portuguese winger?
He’s been instrumental this season. We saw flashes of his potential in his début season in 2007/8, then for some reason he flopped for 18 months, then woke up around January last year, against you lot at the Emirates I recall. Since then he’s been immense; he’s got the most assists in the league and 10 goals to boot. Can’t argue with that. So to answer your question, he is a massive loss; only Vidic would be a bigger blow.
…And indeed, the injury has left United short of wide players with other absentees such as Park and Valencia. Does United’s squad have the depth to cope or have the disappointing performances of the likes of Bebe and Obertan likely surprised Ferguson and left him short of options?
Our strength in depth is a huge worry. You’ve pretty much hit the nail on the head regarding Bebe and Obertan; they clearly don’t have what it takes to play at this level. With Park and Valencia out, in addition to mention Nani, our wings will most likely be populated by 37 year old Ryan Giggs and centre mid Darren Fletcher for the next few games. Frankly, that doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence! I think I’d prefer to see Fergie give one of the Da Silva twins a run on the wing.
Wayne Rooney hasn’t been anywhere near his best for a while now, yet got rewarded with a bumper new contract when he started casting glances elsewhere. What’s been the reaction to Rooney’s behaviour, and why is he looking quite so poor this season?
Well, my reaction has been somewhat different to that of the Old Trafford faithful (I use the word somewhat ironically.) Personally, I was devastated by his actions, his betrayal, his comments, everything. Whilst he was no doubt mislead by his agent Paul Stretford – about whom my thoughts could fill a whole new article – the final say rested with him and he delivered the fans an incredible stab in the back. Personally, I’ll never forgive him. Of course I’ll celebrate his goals as long as he’s still wearing a red shirt – especially if they come in the form of wonder goals against those sporting sky blue – but I can’t bring myself to sing his name as the majority of the Stretford End seems prepared to.
I can’t explain why he’s been so poor this year. I think he had a World Cup hangover, an injury, a marriage crisis and a contract saga distracting him at first, going a way to explaining his shoddy early season form, and now he’s finally picking up the pace a bit. He’s got four goals in his last five games, and the second most assists in the league (behind Nani), so whilst not justifying his outrageous wages, he’s heading in the right direction.
With a midfield of Wilshere, Fabregas and Song Arsenal fans are blessed with talent in the middle of the pitch. On the other hand, many United fans were after investment in that area this summer. Has a perceived lack of midfield creativity cost you, and what was the reaction to Carrick and Fletcher’s recent contract extensions?
A lack of creativity is clear to anyone watching recent United performances. After watching the likes of Van der Vaart and Ozil go for a pittance in the summer, it makes it all the more frustrating to see Carrick and Fletcher struggle along, and to watch Scholes have to drag us through the mud at the age of 36. In fact, the only positive in that position this season has been Anderson, who has really grabbed hold of games by the throat this year, especially at Old Trafford.
I must say, I was surprised to see Carrick get an extension. Since the Champions League final defeat against Barca in 2009, he’s been a shadow of his former self. I thought he was sure to go, along with Gibson, in the summer.
On the other hand, I was glad to see Fletcher sign up again; whilst he’s not been brilliant this season, he was influential in our 3 titles from 07-09, and I personally think that had he not been unjustly sent off in that semi-final in 09 (not that I’m bitter of course) the final could have been a whole different story. I know he comes in for a lot of stick from other fans – especially Arsenal’s! – but he is a very good player, and not just at “anti-football.”
With Robin Van Persie’s sending off coming off the back of a dire refereeing performance against Sunderland in the Premier League, Arsenal fans are at their wits end with refereeing decisions. With United being the main beneficiaries of every decision that goes against Arsenal the temptation is to assume that its only us that suffer these errors. While I feel Arsenal have gotten short shrift far too often this season and rarely got the benefit of an official’s mistake, how have the referees affected United this season?
Of course I’m going to disagree with you on this one. The last few games have had me tearing my hair out. Primarily Martin Atkinson’s joke of a display at the Bridge: not sending Luiz off, ignoring a very strong penalty shout then having the audacity to give Kalou a spot kick that even Ivanovic admitted was “never a penalty.” Annoyingly, it was Atkinson who cost us the same fixture, and arguable the title, last season with a string of joke decisions against us. Then there was Phil Dowd at Anfield last week not sending off Carragher for his assault on Nani, though I’m certainly not blaming the ref for our loss there before you jump down my throat! Oh, and there was Bowyer’s “goal” at St. Andrews, which should have been disallowed for offside, handball and a foul! And Rafael’s harsh sending off at White Hart Lane. But apart from that I’m struggling!
What I think you’re really getting at is the whole Rooney elbow scenario. And yes, he should never have got away with what is essentially assault, but Steven Gerrard got away with similar against Danny Welbeck so there’s precedent there. I’m not defending either of them given their past records, more simply highlighting the incompetence of the FA to deal with incidents such as these.
With regards to Arsenal’s last game, the world bar Sergio Busquets seems of the opinion it was an undeserved sending off for Robin Van Persie. What did you make of it?
It was an absolute joke. I don’t think I’m being a cynic when I say that Barca seem to get a very favourable bias from officials in Europe. I’d point you to their semi-final against Chelsea a few years ago if you needed any evidence. I’m not saying there’s any conspiracy, just that referees seem to bottle it almost in awe of the names on display in front of them. That said, the best team won the match: no attempts on target and 30% possession? To put that in context, in the final against us in 2009, which was generally regarded as a footballing lesson delivered by the Catalan club, we still managed 47% possession and 11 attempts, 4 of which were on target.)
Thanks to Mark for taking the time to field these questions, always interesting to know what the opposition is thinking.
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