Manchester United vs. Arsenal

This was such an important game and all the pressure was on Manchester United, Arsenal had nothing to lose since they were out of Champions and they were expected to lose.

Ferdinand, Evra, Brown, and Pique started in the back. With Carrick, Hargreaves, Scholes,started in the center of the field. Ronaldo and Park started out wide and Rooney was the lone striker

Arsenal started with their typical 4 in the back, Gallas, Toure, Song, and Clichy. In the midfield they had Fabregas, Gilberto, Hleb and Eboue. Van Persie and Adebayor up top.
No Theo Walcott in the starting line up for Arsenal. A big mistake if you ask me.

Both teams started very sloppy, they were both miss hitting and not trapping very routine balls. 
Fabregas attempted two very weak shots early on both were from outside the 18 and under very difficult circumstances.

Ronaldo was off to a very slow start, he lost the ball a number of times, either by taking one too many touches or not making the right pass.
But early in the first half Ronaldo looked to pass the ball off when Gilberto Silva slid and the ball made contact with his arm United got a free kick from 20 yards out. Ronaldo took the shot and hit the wall, he  got the rebound and drew another foul from Adebayor

Arsenal would get a counter attack in the 12 minute, and  if it wasn’t for Rio Ferdinand, who read the play well and stepped in front of Adebayor, Arsenal could have gone up  1-0

Hargreaves on the other side put a great ball into the center for Park and/or Rooney but neither of them could make contact with a header.

Wayne Rooney, in the 20th minute created a good chance for himself as he pushed Toure out of his way and was able to take a shot that went wide.
Scholes and other United players could not hit a good pass, every ball was a hospital ball

A Good chance in the 23rd minute for United, Ronaldo does brilliantly to get past Song and centers it to Rooney who was coming on too strong and just managed to run into it, he couldn’t give it any real direction. But he gets a corner out of it/

It took both teams about 25 minutes to get settled. Before that, both teams were playing very ugly football. Everyone was panicking and no one seemed very comfortable with the ball at their feet.

Again, Ronaldo lost the ball on a selfish run in the 31st minute.
Adebayor could not finish, he had three clear chances in the first 30 minutes and he couldn’t convert.

Rooney had a wonderful chance in the 36th minute, Song miss timed a ball and it went straight to Rooney, with good pace. He went to goal and with 3 defenders on his back he managed to take the shot, but Lehmann made an amazing save. Great anticipation by Rooney to earn that chance.

Half Time

United made no changes, unfortunately.

Tragedy struck for United in the opening minutes of the 2nd half.
United failed to clear a ball and Van Persie took the ball down the left side and put in a non-threatening ball into the middle but United were caught sleeping! Van der Sar and Rio didn’t  communicate and Adebayor snuck between both of them to redirect the ball into the back of the net. It was actually Adebayors hand that put that in and not his head.

Lack of communication put United in a very threatening situation. This was going to measure Uniteds composure and determination.
 
3 minutes later Ferdinand, while trying to clear a ball, took a “shot “ on Van der Sar! Luckily Van der Sar stayed alert and made the save, United was very close to scoring an own goal and falling behind 2 goals to 0.

In the 51st minute Gallas reached out and slapped a ball down with his arm inside the penalty box and the referee had no choice but to call it. Penalty for United! Who else, Cristiano Ronaldo.
Ronaldo stepped up, approached the ball and paused before he followed through and scored!
But it was pulled back, Park was in the box before Ronaldo struck the ball and Ronaldo had to take it again.
Same approach, same spot and same result! Ronaldo made it 1-1

Paul Scholes and Park Ji-Sung came off and Anderson and Tevez on.
Sir Alex wanted the win, he was not going to settle for a tie.
Two very good changes for United in my opinion.
The intensity that Tevez brings to a match was instantly noticeable.

Theo Walcott came on for Eboue in the 61st minute. And the with a roar of “Boos” the crowed let him know “he is not welcome.”

Anderson brilliantly frustrated Adebayor. Anderson challenged Adebayor and won the ball in a physical but fair challenge. Adebayor did not get the call and retaliated against Anderson, that earned him a yellow card.

Tevez has a go from 30 yards out! So close, he took a wonderful shot but it was just wide, Tevez made an instant impact since being subbed on.

Another great save from Van der Sar, this time it came off of Wes Browns shin guard and Van der Sar was ready for it.
United defenders were keeping Van der Sar on his toes, they were almost more dangerous then Arsenals forwards

Evra had a very solid game today. In the 70th minute he would create two great scoring opportunites, first a through ball to Rooney which he missed, but immediately following, he got the rebound and volleyed Gilberto Silva to draw the foul just outside of the D, that would lead to Uniteds 2nd goal.

Lehmann set up his wall, All eyes were on Ronaldo. Until Owen Hargreaves caught everyone by surprise as he took the shot and placed it brilliantly in the bottem left hand corner!
That was the goal that would leave Arsenal out of the title race.

2 scares for United in the closing minutes, both times Bendtner was back post and found two headers. But Van der Sar was positioned  exactly where he was supposed to be positioned and denied him both times.

Ronaldo got hit deliberately in the final play after doing a little bit of show boating. Ronaldo should have expected that one. 

United have such depth! Games like this where their “All Stars” don’t have a good game, they could always count on players like Patrice Evra and Owen Hargreaves too step up and lead the team to victory!

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