Man United 4-0 Arsenal – 16/02/08 – (FA Cup) 17 February, 2008

Ouch. Well I was prepared to lose this one but to be completely outplayed like that was a bit upsetting. I was quite excited about the game yesterday; just like any Arsenal vs. Manchester United game even though there was that slight feeling that the game didn’t matter.

The main thing that was keeping me looking forward to that match was something I said on Friday in my match preview. I’ve quoted it below:

Whatever side Arsene does put out, they’re going to give everything they have to send us through to the next round of the cup. It will still be a great game to watch. I’ve said before that whoever loses this, it won’t be the end of the world. However I’m still going to want us to win and if we do it’ll be fantastic.

I still stand by the last two sentences there; despite the 4-0 loss it is still the case. However, The first couple of sentences was the one thing that I knew as I Gooner I could hold on to but I was left utterly disappointed yesterday.

We fielded the side I pretty much thought it’d be: Lehmann, Traore, Toure, Gallas, Hoyte, Eboue, Fabregas, Gilberto, Hleb, Bendtner and Eduardo. Not a bad side and certainly capable of putting in a performance to upset any United side. However, what I said in my match preview was completely false. They didn’t ‘give everything they have’ and definitely from an Arsenal point of view it wasn’t ‘a great game to watch’.

The side not only looks disinterested, they looked hopeless. It’s like Wenger said to them, “Look, we have to just get this game over and done with, it’s not important. Whatever you do, just don’t get injured.” I’m sure that’s not the case but it’s what it seemed like.

Gallas and Toure looked like they’d never met each other in their lives, never mind that great partnership we saw before the African Nations Cup. The wing backs were put in their place by United and reminded us, and them, that they have a long way to go still. Fabregas and Hleb were two names that you’d think could create something for us, even against the run of play. Yet they were completely anonymous.

Gilberto once again confirmed that he’s past it, sorry mate. Bendtner showed us how much of a lazy, selfish and careless striker he is, didn’t look like he cared. Eboue was disgraceful. I forgot what he was like while he was away with the Ivory Coast but yesterday he firmly reminded me what an absolute cunt he is. I’ve never hated a current Arsenal player (even when Ashley Cole was still with us, to an extent) but he’s just done one to many stupid things for my liking. I was hoping he would learn from his mistakes but it appears the only way to put an end to his madness is to get rid of him.

We can’t focus on what went wrong for us too much, because that would be taking something away from Man United. They were fantastic, outplayed us the full 90 minutes, no exaggeration. Ronaldo was rested but it didn’t matter, Nani was showing the home crowd what he can do in Ronaldo’s absence. They were worthy winners.

The home side opened the scoring through Rooney after quarter of an hour. I wasn’t too worried; we still had plenty of time to find our feet. However they went 2-0 up four minutes later and I knew it was going to take a lot to come back against Man United. It was made 3-0 in the 38th minute and it was game over from there. We only had pride to play for but the players didn’t even seem to want to go for that.

Maybe they were conserving energy for Wednesday? Who knows? With 20 minutes to go Adebayor, Flamini and Senderos were brought on for Eduardo, Hleb and Cesc; further confirming where our intentions lie. Flamini gave the travelling Gooners something to cheer about, he worked his socks off but you expect that from Matty, that’s why we love him. Adebayor also displayed his never-say-die spirit; yes, that including diving in the area but I’m sure we can all see why he did it. In his optimistic mind he thought we could nick a penalty and come back.

I feel sorry for the Gooners that made the long trip up north. We took 9,000 fans and every one of them will have paid a decent bit of money to be there yesterday and to witness a performance like that they must’ve been a bit pissed off.

I’ve said all I really want to say about the game I think. Both teams can take positives and negatives from the tie but I have a slight suspicion that the fans in Manchester Manchester United fans will have the bigger smiles across their face this morning.

Another strange match report, sorry. Arseblog has a great analysis and the Arsenal.com match report is here.

Next up it’s AC Milan, build up to this massive game to come the next couple of days. Until then.