The impact was shuddering and, for Arsenal, the fallout was devastating. When Kieran Gibbs scraped himself up after being clattered by his goalkeeper, Wojciech Szczesny, and jutted his left foot at one of those low Antonio Valencia blasts, the full-back’s head was spinning. Almost in slow motion, the ball flicked off his boot and set a course for the far corner of the net. Gibbs slumped back down.
At full-time, he crouched on to his haunches and stared blankly at the turf. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, the Arsenal midfielder, lay on his back and he needed to be helped up by Nacho Monreal. Arsène Wenger, their manager, strode over to make his handshakes with the Manchester United bench and it was clear that he, too, was scrambled. The first person that the Frenchman encountered was Robin van Persie, the former Arsenal striker, which was unfortunate. They shook.
Dazed and confused, Arsenal are living their worst start to a season since 1982-83. They cannot understand how they lost this one to a United team that was almost impossibly awful for the opening 35 minutes. Louis van Gaal had chosen quite the moment to revert to a 3-4-1-2 formation and the United manager looked anything but the tactical genius as his players hoofed and bumbled. Arsenal cut through them.
“I’m shocked,” Mikel Arteta, the Arsenal captain, said, more than an hour after the final whistle. “I think we played our best game this season in terms of what we demand of ourselves – the quality in the way we attacked, how we won the ball back, how consistent we were throughout, the amount of chances we created. It’s not fair for the players and the fans. How can I explain the result? I can’t.”
The lament, though, felt familiar. Arsenal dominated possession and had 23 shots at goal. But yet again, they lacked ruthlessness at both ends of the field –their goal coming late in injury time with a fantastic strike from Olivier Giroud, on his return from a broken leg. The own goal was a disaster, down to the Marouane Fellaini push on Gibbs that sent him into Szczesny which went undetected, and it is a worry for Wenger that opposing teams are creating little but still scoring. Wayne Rooney’s breakaway finish for the second goal on 85mins was United’s first shot on target.
Arsenal were profligate. “It’s [a lack of] ruthlessness, for sure,” said Arteta. “When you are in the box and you can’t manage to score in that many situations, you can’t expect to win.” Jack Wilshere blew a gilt-edged one-on-one with the over-worked David De Gea in the 15th minute while he might have done better moments earlier when he was allowed to run unchecked to the edge of the United box. Danny Welbeck, Alexis Sánchez and the substitute Santi Cazorla also passed up good chances.
United rode their luck. Van Persie was anonymous off the right flank – the statistics showed that he touched the ball only 12 times before his substitution on 75mins – and it is plain that the team is struggling for rhythm under the new manager.
Injuries have not helped and Van Gaal lost Luke Shaw to an ankle problem; the left-back departed on crutches and with his foot in a protective boot. Ashley Young replaced him but he, too, was forced off before the end. Van Gaal was already without five defensive players – Rafael, Jonny Evans, Phil Jones, Marcos Rojo and Daley Blind. United finished with Michael Carrick in central defence and Tyler Blackett at left-back.
But after the unexpected breakthrough, United were able to exploit the manner in which Arsenal over-committed. The visitors came to look secure and they threatened on the counter, which led Van Gaal to sell his first away win at the club as a tactical triumph.
“I was sure that Arsenal wants to attack and to press us,” Van Gaal said. “Then, you know that Arsenal is giving a lot of space away and [Per] Mertesacker and our friend Monreal, has to defend. That’s why I put [Ángel] di María against Mertesacker and Van Persie against Monreal. That’s why I brought on James Wilson. More pace. So yes, that’s what you are thinking in advance and when it is ending like this, you can be happy.”
It was remarkable to see how United were able to break with two-on-one from inside their half for the second goal. Shortly after the first, Rooney had been wrongly pulled back for offside as he burst clear up the left while Van Persie almost sprang Di María through. In injury-time, the Argentinian ran unchallenged from halfway with no defenders in sight only to fluff his chip.
“We wanted desperately to come back and forgot a little bit our principles,” Wenger said. “I was surprised there was nobody there [at the back] any more. If you stay at 1-0, you have a chance. We lack a bit of maturity defensively and we pay for it. The emotional side of the game takes over.”
Man of the Match David de Gea (Manchester United)