United vs Arsenal
We’re inviting some of our Twitter friends to share some of their ‘Pre’ and ‘Post Match’ thoughts with us from now on. You can still enjoy my nonsensical, confusing punctuation buffets, below their personal views on the game…
Iwan: (@Iwanlehnert)
Getting knocked out of any competition is never nice. For all the good it did us in 1999, getting knocked out of the FIFA Club World Cup was quite rubbish at the time. Losing isn’t particularly pleasant either, and losing having led three times before succumbing to a last-minute penalty and subsequent extra-time strikes is even worse, but I can’t help but not be too gutted about Wednesday’s result. I would have taken Sunday’s victory in the League over a Capital One Cup fourth round win any day of the week (and made up days, too, like Funsday). It’s a pain that Nani’s desire to show off caused us to lose the ball and the subsequent penalty, and the lapses shown by the back four were not comforting, but it’s still no disaster and it’s a result that’s a lot easier to swallow than last season’s tame surrender to Crystal Palace. We’ve lost out on a trophy and the chance to give further experience to some of our fringe and younger players, which is never positive. That can happen when you’re playing a team with as much quality as Chelsea, and we’ve paid for it.
We’ve got the chance to go top of the table if we beat Arsenal on Saturday. That doesn’t mean a whole helluva lot as we’re in November, but considering how flustered we’ve been when ahead in games this season, it could end up being quite counter-productive in a perverse way should Chelsea stumble at Swansea. There’s always something incredibly strange about stepping out with another team’s former golden child too, and if Van Persie happens to score tomorrow, I don’t expect him to celebrate it too much. Even if he doesn’t, I can’t see Arsenal being able to match us going forward at the minute. They’re more than capable of scoring, but they will need to be thoroughly solid from front to back in order to get a decent result. Considering their talent, they can cause us the same kind of problems that Spurs did, but even then, I don’t think their backline is strong enough to stop any combination of our forwards at the moment. Even without Rooney or Van Persie in midweek, we still scored four against Chelsea’s best available centre-back partnership. At the moment, scoring goals against us doesn’t seem to be much of a problem for any opposing team; scoring more than us is proving difficult.
From a personal perspective, I can’t wait for tomorrow. I last had tickets to a United match over eighteen months ago for the derby game settled by THAT goal. This is the longest time I’ve gone without attending a match in 7 years, but due to becoming a father and getting married, it’s been necessary. I’ve caught nigh-on every game either online or in a pub since, but it’s incomparable to actually being there. Even better when taking into consideration the fact that all of my in-laws are Arsenal fans….
Brett:
I know I’m going to sound a bit *tap-tap-curly-wurly-cockoo* here, but I think we could be on to replicate last year’s 8-2. Yeah. yeah, it’s unlikely, and oh yeah, it’s wholly disrespectful towards Arsenal (who are looking okay-ish this season) but no bad is gonna come from me making a ridiculous prediction. I’m doing it – you can’t stop me.
As previously stated, I’m avoiding repeating where possible in these things this season, so nothing new to add on us (technically telling you that is repeating). Arsenal are going to be more than okay this season, but that won’t help them in this game ;-0
This game is all about (O)RVP!
Prediction: 8-2
Goals: (O)RVP 3, Rooney 3, Koscielny O.G, Young.
