United full-time report and player ratings – Great effort, but again, no end product
Watching Manchester United celebrate the title with our boys staring at their celebrations is a scene which made sick, sick enough to be very short in my full time report. The lads did incredibly well out there, but you could see that we still lack that something in front of goal which somehow needs to be fixed next season. Unfortunately, Robin as a lone striker simply doesn’t work as he doesn’t possess the strength and the aerial capabilities to do it whilst Adebayor, who should be good enough to do it seems to be on his way out.
Denilson was superb, man of the match, just a shame he plays a game like this once every two months.
Player Ratings
Fabianski: 6 – Almost nothing to do, did well to prevent a goal in the second half.
Gibbs: 7 – Considering his age, this kid has done much, much better than many expected in this last month or so.
Sagna: 6 – OK game, and again, needs to improve his crosses.
Toure and Song: 7,5 – Very, very solid. Granted, not a lot was thrown at them but they did well, especially Alex who read United’s game to perfection. Alex may have easily sent a signal to start ahead of Djourou for next season in this role.
Fabregas: 6 – Back to his beloved deep role but still failed to produce magic.
Nasri: 6 – Very little involved and a couple of balls given away cheaply.
Denilson: 7,5 – He still drives me crazy when he loses the ball and stays put rather than track back but apart from that, he was simply amazing today.
Diaby: 5 – Not sure what his position was, but another disappointing game from the tall boy.
Van Persie: 5 – Nothing special from the Dutchman. Missed a glorious opportunity inside the first fifteen minutes and failed to be dangerous from set pieces.
Arshavin: 6,5 – Saw plenty of the ball and did exceptionally well especially to set-up Robin in the previously-mentioned opportunity.
(Subs)
Bendtner/Eboue/Walcott: No Vote – Came on very late to judge, Nick should have replaced Robin way before that.
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There’s a very simple reason Denilson (& indeed the rest of the team) played so well today. Utd needed only a draw & never got out of 2nd gear to get it. It’s when teams come at us with intensity that our midfield falls apart. Today did nothing to disprove this to be honest. With regards to telling us where we are as a team, or where we need to improve for next season, it told us nothing.
Except for one thing. Even in this sort of game Diaby still managed to look awful. It just amazes me that anyone can think he’s an intelligent enough footballer to play at this level. He’s just unbelievably clueless. I’m tired of people making excuses about him being played out of position; he’s had chances on the left, in the middle in 4-4-2 & ‘in the hole’ in 4-5-1 & been almost always terrible.
(20-min spells against Villa & Fenerbache aside)
I find it so,so depressing watching him playing for a club like Arsenal.
Spot on PD.
And I was thinking the same of Diaby, “If he can’t deliver in a game like this, he never will”.
Let’s hope Wenger doesn’t now come up with one of his interviews saying today’s game shows we need no signings.
djourou never looked as solid at back as song looked today,he was good in air and tackling brilliantly,and as chris mentioned above, he should be picked above djourou. but stillwe need a tall,solid and well established cb in summer.
i think we played very good today kept a possesion a lot,made good moves, still it never felt that we were in position of scoring gole.
crosses as worst as ever,corners again the same,set peices ……arsenal sucks on them.
what are we missing?
Good point goon.
Regardless of the formation, 4-4-2 or 4-5-1, Gibbs(or Clichy) and Sagna(or Eboue) always play an important part in the side in terms of crossing and unfortunately that is something we lacked throughout the whole season. That is something these four have to work on during the summer as with Wenger’s style of football, the left/right back are both pivotal in delivering important balls.
Although then again, if it’s van Persie in the penalty area waiting for the ball, crossing (just as Arshavin did in the first 15 minutes) will not do the trick as the ball will be wasted.
What I couldn’t believe is that Wenger puts on Bendy – obviously to get on the end of some of those crosses – and then takes off 2 of the best crossers in Nasri and Arshavin while leaving on Diaby who was pretty non-existent all game. Nasri and Arshavin were 2 of our better players today in the attack and bringing players into the game and their reward was substitution.
Can someone please teach RVP to tackle? How can you get paid 5 figure salaries a week and not even touch the ball when tackling? I don’t care that he’s a striker – it’s a fundamental mechanic of the game that he just cannot perform. He’s “tackled” 2 Man Utd players in the last 10 days or so and both led to free kicks – one that buried our CL hopes and he’s lucky that today CRonaldo was absolute crap on set pieces.
This game showed me that we still need a striker who can put away chances. Everyone says we’re fine in attack but we definitely were found wanting in the final third. We put United under pressure by retaining alot of possession but no final product. If Chelsea want to pay 30M for Ade they can have him and his attitude – we can use the money to re-inforce our spine and find a striker who will score goals, not moan to the press about the fans when they wander around the field aimlessly. Every successful team needs a 20 goal a season player and since Thierry, we haven’t had a reliable one. Ade could have been but he looks set on leaving for Beyonce……..err I mean Milan……err…..Chelsea.
Upfront we would be fine if Eduardo fully recovers, leaving RVP+Eduardo as the regular two, Vela and Arshavin, who can both play up front as reserves(when of course they are not playing elsewhere) and Bendtner as the strong one with good aerial capabilities when needed.
In terms of finishing, Eduardo, Vela and Andrey are all capable of puting away chances, Robin is one who stands just outside the penalty area to provide or hit a cracker with his left foot. Since Ade will be sold, I would get someone just to introduce in case of emergecy, but no multi-million signing.
chris just imagine this midfield (excluding diaby ofcourse) suppoting a lone striker etto or villa or torres or benzema or drogba,can any1 stop us from winning trophies,no man……none of our striker is as dangerous as any of above mentioned,not atleast ade and bentner………eduardo hadnt been completely tested, so we cant rely on him for a season.
and adebayor is going to get worsen in the coming season….so if we dont cash in on him this summer we would be losing lot of millions in terms of his market value over a year……..
so why dont cash in on adebayor(and ofcourse diaby) this summer and spend all that money on a star striker,and rest of money in our transfer kitty on defence