by GIANFRANCO PANIZO
Manchester United scored two goals in a span of five minutes to come from behind and defeat Arsenal 2-1 at Old Trafford on Saturday.
Arsenal drew first blood in the 40th minute of this intense rivalry when Andrei Arshavin found enough space to hit a splendid strike from distance. The shot soared into the upper left corner past goalkeeper Ben Foster, who could not make the save despite getting a hand on the ball.
The Red Devils would pull level almost a quarter of an hour into the second half though, as Wayne Rooney converted a questionable penalty kick that he drew moments earlier.
Five minutes later, Ryan Giggs swurled in a free kick that looked unthreatening, but Arsenal midfielder Abou Diaby tried to head it out of bounds and instead directed the ball int his own net, giving the home side a 2-1 lead.
With the Gunners scampering for the equalizer, Manchester United found hoards of space on the counter, but their inability to finish several chances nearly cost them.
In the waning moments of the match, Robin Van Persie got on the end of a William Gallas headed pass and buried a shot from close range. Just as Van Persie was set to celebrate his heroic equalizer, he looked up to see the linesman wave the play offside as Gallas had been deemed off prior to his pass.
Frustrated with the call, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger kicked a water bottle that resulted in his expulsion from the game. Instead of directly heading to the locker, the Frenchman laughably walked into the stands, stood for a few moments with his arms crossed before finally walking into the tunnel.
Seconds later, the final whistle was blown and Manchester United walked away victorious while Arsenal was left wondering how they lost a game that was in their hands.
What did you think of the Man. United-Arsenal match? Think Man. United was gifted the penalty kick? Still believe Arsenal is capable of winning the EPL? After a game like this, are you hoping for a Special1TV episode this week?
Share your thoughts below.
The linesmen are ruining the game. In fact, we dont need linesmen since they are wrong over 50% of the time. The linesmen should only call the ball in or out of bounds; thats it. Persies goal should count. But i also believe that was a penalty on Rooney even though he was barely touched if at all. You dont need a massive collision for a penalty.
That PK was a gift with a big bow on top!!!
Heartbreaking loss for the Gunners.
And I loved Arsene’s reaction to the sending off. Might as well act like a kangaroo in a kangaroo court!
Really disappointing result. I think the penalty award was dodgy and ManU’s second goals is just a travesty.
The worst part is that ManU and others are going to look at the scoreline and think they won the game. They didn’t win the game, they got lucky as hell. Arsenal definitely played better and deserved more than they got.
On the own goal by Diaby, looked like Man U would have scored had he not headed it. A Man U player(IIRC it was Rooney) was standing all alone 5 feet behind him waiting for an open header had Diaby not made contact.
Arsenal should not worry because they outplay what are so called champhions of England.There is nothing that can be changed becuase the penalty has been given and that gave three points to Man United.
The time will when Arsenal will revenge for their defeat becuase we are the best the team in England.
thanks
Classic English media response…
Foreigner bails early out when a keeper comes out at them is a cheat. When a proper Englishman like Wayne Rooney does it, there is no comment.
Don’t get me wrong, what Eduardo did was diving, but to ignore Rooney starting to go down before contact just isn’t right. Makes me want to wish more disappointment onto the English National Team.
This win was against the run of play, no doubt about it.
This is one of SAF’s greatest strengths, getting calls when his team is playing poorly. SA can generate 10 points a campaign (something a striker would be proud of) from intimidated officials.
areign, no offense, but you are one official i would never like to have. Based on your analysis of a clear penalty kick, players can now push and foul each other over neutral field position? a foul is a foul, no matter where it occurs. did almunia get some of rooneys leg? yes. therefore it is a penalty, cut and dry.
Dive.. and tough to not call.. but after Arshavin not getting the call consistency woulda been no call. Plus the ball was already lost.
I’ve tried to like man u but just can’t after always seeing the ref bias they get. The ratio of penalties given vs received at old trafford is staggering.
i love the critical analysis written by people who really dont understand the rules of the game. you cant get into a nitty gritty analysis if you dont know the nitty gritty about the rules. I’m a referee (and most likely you dont care). Theres a difference between obstruction and shielding (not the case here) and theres also a difference between a neutral collision and a foul. in general these differences come about by one player gaining an unfair advantage over another (again, through fouling or obstructing) but obviously thats just the rule of thumb and in such an analysis, such an approximation of the actual rule is completely irrelevant. what matters in both cases is playing distance from the ball. when the ball is in no one’s possession (possession usually defined by playing distance and not last touch as some may think) all players have an equal right to any spot on the pitch. rooney wasnt within playing distance of the ball, he didnt have possesion of the ball, wasnt ever going to get to that ball. in such a situation i see rooneys foot moving toward almunias hand in the same light as almunias hand moving toward rooneys foot.
stupid penalty, he was never going to get to the ball. he wasnt within playing distance of the ball and didnt have possesion of the ball. just as easily could have been rooney kicking the keeper in the hand as a pentalty.
united will be hard pressed to win many games if they keep performing like that. Arsenal deserved to win clearly.
more on this @
http://www.footieintheusa.blogspot.com
All I know is that Spurs are on 12 points from 4 matches and playing some impressive football
Since when do you have to have control of the ball to be fouled? So what if Rooney pushed it too far (and that we can’t be certain of if we didn’t see that angle, and we didn’t), Almunia still got him. PK. Sorry. ManU was outplayed, still managed to win. That’s football…how many weeks left? It’ll sort out.
@doug,
Sounds like the Azteca…
1. rooney’s knee hitting almunia’s head on his way down is the first contact.
2. rooney touched the ball way beyond his control.
arsenal get screwed in a big game yet again. at least it wasn’t howard webb this time.
Some mention that Arshavin scored anyway, but had the penalty on Fletcher been called, with a corresponding yellow card, Fletcher would have played a totally different game. It did make a difference.
http://i109.photobucket.com/albums/n71/westvacation06/CHEATER.gif
Yep, Almunia totally mugged Rooney. Not mad about the game though. We’ll talk come seasons end.
eduardo will be labeled a diver and rooney hailed for his fearless attempt to round the goalie. what a joke. SAF almost got caught with his pants down. English media is a joke. Shouldve known though. Refs forget to pack the whistles and testicular fortitude when they have a match at Old Trafford
Typical…by hook or by crook how many times has ManU won a game at Old Trafford after being outplayed…
Despite kpugs pugnacious assertion about the penalty being good, it was…eh. Rooney was going down before touched. However, that penalty is being given consistently in the last year. There was a recent time where it was not given if the ref judged that the attacker had given up on playing the ball or simply wasn’t going to get there. Rooney’s case was the latter. He’s not a diver but he would never have caught up to that touch. These days, it’s a penalty. Two years ago, maybe not.
That was an extremely sloppy, poorly played game. There were few exceptions. The fact that the winner came on an own-goal was perfect because for two teams in the big four, it was an embarrassing display.
Arsenal were better; United were luckier. MU has much, much more to be worried about than Arsenal. They looked mostly ineffective, though Arsenal didn’t finish, looking a bit like the 2007/08 side….
Gutted. And the (correctly) disallowed goal at the death was cruel.
How can you argue that it was not a dive? He was clearly going down before almunia made any kind of contact, and the contact he would have made wouldnt have made a difference as rooney kick the hell out of the ball, there was no way that was going to be a scoring chance, ie no penalty should have been awarded.
“Rallied” is a generous description of what Man U accomplished…
It’s not a moot point when it highlights the inconsistency present in the the officiating. More than anything else having two standards is what will ruin a game. Either taking someone out in the box is a penalty or it isn’t. Call it the same both ways and there isn’t an issue. But when the standard isn’t the same, you give someone the excuse to notice that the English international is given a soft penalty but the Russian isn’t.
What is up with Arsenal? Even on a day when they’re the better side they don’t win? You can’t blame the refs.
The PK? Rooney was fouled by Almunia, it’s simple. He got the man, not the ball. Aside from ref’ing criteria, if Almunia doesn’t come out so aggressively and get in his way, Rooney likely gets that ball and has a good opportunity in the area. Almunia played the man, not the ball.
Arshavin’s goal was really good, but Foster should have saved it. Almunia or Petr or Howard etc. would have. Where were the other goals? How can Arsenal have the ball so much and not out more shots on goal? Gunners were not living up to their name.
Man Utd played terrible. I can’t remember them ever having so many poor touches or making so many bad passes, and their communication / coordination was terrible, compared to how they typically play. Were they intimated by Arsenal, or did someone shock them with bad news before the match? Rooney aside, this was one of the days when Man Utd could be beat.
Arsenal’s command of the field was impressive, but given the game result I could only reach one conclusion: it’s Chelsea’s year.
OK, may a 2nd conclusion: there is something afoul at Old Trafford. They’ve got a weak midfield and $100M kitty to buy players with, but won’t. Has the venerable gaffer lost it, finally?
Loved Wenger going up into the stands after being sent out; he really is classic.
And if a penalty was given for the Fletcher challenge on Arshavin, the Russian would have never score the bomb he hit all of 24 seconds later. Arsenal did get a goal out of that attacking sequence, so quibbling over that incident is a moot point.
I’d question whether Rooney even had control of the ball, but I can understand the call being given. However, if Almunia’s tackle on Rooney was a penalty, Fletcher’s mugging of Arshavin in the first half also has to be a penalty. It was a slide tackle, took out the man and never touched the ball.
Arsenal fan here, but karma’s a @#%^&. Of course, ManU gets the benefit of the doubt all the time, so it’s not entirely fair.
But whatever. You don’t go through a season unscathed, and Arsenal now knows that, mistakes aside, they’re at least as good as ManU with 35 more rounds of league play to go.
kpugs is right. Almunia made contact with Rooney (and none with the ball), that’s all that matters in this case. It would have been a foul in the center circle and it happened in the box, so clearly a penalty. Bad mistake by Almunia that completely turned the game because Arsenal were cruising up until then.
I’m not going to say that Man U wasn’t lucky to get 3 points but I didn’t see any biased refereeing. Rooney may have been on his way down but contact was made and there is NO disputing that.
Man U know how to play/tackle in the Premier League. As long as you keep your hands down and aren’t kicking out at people, refs are not going to call a foul. That’s just the way it is, week in and week out.
Deal with it, Gooners. We beat you again.
The whole game was a lot of good and bad luck for both teams. Though it looks like French coaches train their teams the same way the French army trains their men. Take a dive when things get hot! There was plenty of diving to go around today. Rooney definitely didn’t deserve the PK…but at least there was SOME contact unlike Wed. night.
Oh well. The officiating was horrible on all sides of things. Entertaining match though.
Wenger was hilarious at the end!
Man U did not win, they were gifted. By Arsenal mostly, but also by some very questionable reffing. Rooney’s PK I can see. But Arshivan was taken out in the box earlier with no call at all. Van Persie did something similar and was given a yellow along with the freekick to ManU.
Many time the Red Devils just ran over the Arsenal players with no call at all.
But Arsenal completely outplayed Man U and gifted them two goals while missing a couple easy ones themselves.
kpugs, I totally agree with you. 99% of the time that is getting called for a penalty.
Anyone have a video of the highlights?
Another “phantom” penalty kick for MoanU.
After the crap that Eduardo pulled vs. Celtic I hope that Arsenal gets a questionable penalty called against them every game from now on.
Um, the entire point of the penalty is that, had Almunia NOT GRABBED ROONEY’S LEGS, it would not have been called. It was NOT questionable in any way. All he had to do was not reach out and grab him. Rooney still would have gone down, but nothing would have been called. You guys can’t possibly be this thick.
You’re delusional Greg, I’m not an Arsenal or Man United fan and the penalty was at the very least “questionable”…granted Almunia did him self no favors by committing to a ball he should have never went out for…
Very biased officiating from Dean.
Rooney was falling before Almunia got to him and the ball was about to cross the end line. There was no way Rooney catches it if he’s on his feet.
Questionable penalty? No way.
It was pretty clear to me. I’m a Man U fan but I heard no arguments about the penalty from the 3 Arsenal fans I watched with.
dive by rooney. check the reverse angle and youll see he was going down before almunia made contact. is it a penalty if the goalie “brings down” someone who is already falling? united were lucky to win the game and arsenal shouldnt worry about the result too much, as its early in the year and losing at united isnt exactly something to get down about, even for a big four team.
That was a textbook header by Diaby. A goal of beauty…
Man U did not deserve to win. Arsenal lost it by shooting themselves in the foot.