Man Utd 0-1 Arsenal: Result ✅ Performance ????

Match report – Player ratings – Arteta reaction – Video

Back in March, Arsenal went to Old Trafford and played really well, particularly in the first half. We drew that game 1-1 on a day when the lack of cutting edge up front was a significant issue. Yesterday, we went to Old Trafford and played a lot worse than that, but came away with a 1-0 win thanks to Riccardo Calafiori’s 13th minute goal.

I know which I prefer.

On the opening day of a new season, you’d love to see the team play to its best level, but I do think there’s something fundamentally weird about Man Utd away for us. In the Premier League era, we’ve only won there 6 times, each one of those games has been a 1-0. The Italian now stands alongside Marc Overmars, Sylvain Wiltord, Emmanuel Adebayor, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Leandro Trossard as someone who has scored a winning goal for us there. It’s such an odd sequence, and I can’t escape the feeling – that for whatever reason this stadium is a thing for us – you have to look at yesterday through that prism.

On paper the team looked good. Viktor Gyokeres got the nod up front, and when I saw the respective midfields I thought we’d dominate that area of the pitch. That didn’t happen at any stage really, and the fact that only William Saliba made more clearances yesterday than Martin Odegaard tells you something about how hard the captain worked (and where), and the overall Arsenal performance.

It’s really hard to know why we didn’t perform, but we had too many players on the periphery of the game. The longer it went on, the more I was convinced Declan Rice wasn’t 100% – he had fewer touches of the ball than David Raya in the first half, and ended the game the same way. When we’re purring, he’s involved, and he just wasn’t yesterday. Martin Zubimendi had a tidy but unspectacular debut, and I thought Odegaard tried to pull some strings, but I don’t think he was helped by both Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli having off days too.

It meant we had to rely on our defensive strength, something Mikel Arteta noted after the game. There was one iffy moment from Raya in the first half, but he produced a great save from Matheus Cunha, and one excellent punch from a dangerous Bruno Fernandes corner. United hit the post, and I thought Bryan Mbeumo was the most dangerous player on the pitch, every time the ball got to him he looked dangerous – almost the polar opposite of when our wingers were involved.

I wondered if things might change at the break, if there was something Arteta could tweak to change the dynamic of the game, but it was more of the same really. We had moments of transition where we could have done better but this is an issue we’re going to have to work out of our system rather than provide an instant fix. It was niggly, stop-start stuff with lots of fouls and free kicks (mostly for United), and Raya was called into action again to deny Mbeumo’s near post header.

We brought on Kai Havertz and Noni Madueke for a debut. He was quiet, the German battled hard up front, but at this point it really felt like a game we’d have to see out rather than win more convincingly. And ultimately that’s what we did. Was it fun? No. Would I have preferred to see a better performance? Absolutely. Do I really care this morning? Not at all.

When I looked at the fixture list when it came out, my heart sank a little that this was our first game. I saw the United team yesterday and thought it was beatable, especially if our midfield got on top of things, but whatever it is about this ground, we always find it tough going there. So, to come away with three points is very, very pleasing, and we’ve got one of our most difficult games of the season out of the way in the process.

Afterwards, Arteta didn’t sugarcoat anything, saying:

To come in the first fixture to Old Trafford with that atmosphere, the way they are building momentum with the new signings and the excitement around it, is top. I mean, it’s a great feeling. And then we have to be really humble about the way we did it.

We really won because we put a magnificent set-piece in. And after, because of the way we reacted to mistakes. To make unforced mistakes, mistakes that are very far from the standards that we normally have.Of course, we have to improve a lot of things, and that will happen very soon.But in terms of managing to get that into a very positive result, that’s a great way to do it.

I do understand concerns about how we played, but this is the first game in the Premier League, and result far outweighs performance. In pre-season you want to see the team click, but when the games matter, it doesn’t really matter how you win once you do. That said, I think there will be lots for the manager, the coaching staff, and the players to work on ahead of the first home game against Leeds on Saturday.

Gyokeres had a quiet enough debut, and didn’t get a great deal of service, but nor did he do a lot with the ball when he did. Early days, obviously, but winning breeds confidence in the team like nothing else, so there’s a positive there. Zubimendi will have learned that English football is physical, he caught an arm to the face early on that the officials just let go, and it might just take a little bit of time for that midfield trio to really gel. As for Madueke, it’s notable he came on on the left to replace a fairly anonymous Martinelli, but like the others it’s hard to properly just his first appearance in an Arsenal shirt in the context of a sub-par collective performance. The lack of Leandro Trossard might be interesting to those seeking further reinforcement of the squad, but in all likelihood it’s because he was only back from injury and not risked on a day when we weren’t playing well.

Anyway, as I said above, I’ve seen Arsenal play a lot better at Old Trafford and come away with a lot less. Clearly we need to raise the level when we play again, especially when it comes to our creative and attacking play, but yesterday demonstrated our defensive platform remains strong and that played a big part in taking all three points.

Right, I’ll leave it there for this morning. We’ll have an Arsecast Extra for you in a little while. We’ve already 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 around noon. Until then, have a good one.

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