Manchester United 1 - 0 Arsenal

For the first time in months, I’ve been able to watch an entire EPL game, and tonight didn’t disappoint. I finally found out where I could watch a game here in Bohicon, and there just happens to be a place down the street from the Grand Mosque that shows the games and it only costs 200 cfa to get a seat on the bench. I sat 7 rows back in the room, which was more like a lean-to, built from mud brick with an aluminum sheeting roof. The screen wasn’t huge, and sometimes I lost track of the ball because I was constantly straining to see the TV. There were lots of Arsenal supporters and a few United supporters in the room. All around me people were talking smack to each other and causing a ruckus. It was an amazing atmosphere to watch a game in. The only thing I was missing was a few pints, and maybe mon jumeau to fight with. In true yovo fashion, I got plenty of stares and everyone wanted to know which team I was rooting for. The Mighty Reds, of course! Comme normal here, I was in the minority. What follows is my analysis of the match and a look forward to Sunday’s contest:

Rooney is not yet on form. Surprisingly, he was most effective when sitting on the last defender’s shoulder and barging through Arsenal’s defense, rather than dropping back into space to play it to the wingers Park and Nani and then moving forward. Speaking of Nani, he ran wild tonight like he did in last season’s final encounter between the two sides and, with the help of an unfortunate deflection, served Park for the winner. As far as Park was concerned, this was a normal game for him. He worked hard, sprinted box-to-box for the full 90+ minutes, and wasn’t terribly effective save for the goal (how far did he run to get to that spot?), which he has a knack for in the important games. The goal was a bit fortunate at best; in fact, it was a classic “Craigy goal”: the result of a lot of hard work and a little bit of luck. Rooney ultimately created the space in the middle for Park to run into while Nani held up play for long enough for Park to get inside the 18. United looked very dangerous on the counter-attacks through Evra and Rafael, who played better offensively than defensively tonight. Back to Rooney, I thought that he would have been more effective. He generally seems to do well against Arsenal, and anyone could tell that he isn’t yet in form. I can’t help but wonder if Chicharito would have been more effective? His penalty was nothing less than embarrassing, trying to do a Ruud van Nistelrooy-versus-Arsenal circa 2003 (when he smacked the ball so hard against the crossbar with his penalty that it nearly flew to midfield). What was he thinking? “I make £200,000 per week now, gotta put a hole in the net every time?” If it weren’t for a good save later on, his cheeky little chip would have just about redeemed him.

Arsenal, for their part, were a bit awkward and seemed to quickly run out of ideas. Nasri has been in brilliant form lately, bagging a double in their last match, but he wasn’t able to quite get on track tonight. He started on the right, but when Rafael exposed his flank while launching counter-attacks, Nasri switched over to the left, which I thought was a good move, as Evra is less prone to making mistakes than is Rafael. Arsenal had a lot of trouble getting service to Chamakh. After a frustrating opening 25 minutes or so, he started dropping far back into the defensive half to get the ball (notice where he was on the pitch when he fouled Nani when he got his yellow card). The introduction of Fabregas and Van Persie was a positive move, especially since Rosicky and Wilshire had all but disappeared from the game and Van Persie could fill that hole up top that Chamakh left when he dropped deep to receive the ball. Arsenal were ultimately let down by their wingers, who couldn’t service a decent ball in, and their central midfielders, who often left Chamakh to attack the wingers’ crosses by himself. Their introduction maybe should have been made at half-time. Arsenal came out strong in the second half but Rosicky and Wilshire were so far out of the game by then that Chamakh was still left attacking the United goal basically by himself with wide support and service from Nasri and Arshavin.

Overall, United had more quality chances and did better tactically to counter-attack versus Arsenal’s possession game, though possession seemed to be fairly even. It was always going to be a tight game and it had to come down to who could better capitalize on the other’s mistakes. Nani by far wins Man of the Match in my eyes.

Definitely worth my 200 cfa. Now on to Stamford Bridge on Sunday which will be just as tricky, since Chelsea have not won in over a month and are bound to break out of their slump. Let’s hope they wait at least another week before then. (Note: Since this entire continent supports Chelsea, I will be lacking fellow Reds to cheer with.) Look for Fergie to pack the center of the midfield against the Blues, who should see Lampard back in the starting line-up. It’s too bad that Ballack has moved on, as he and Evra had some great bouts of handbags the past few seasons. Speaking of Evra, come Sunday, someone restrain the groundskeepers!

Cheers!