Manchester United 0 - 1 Arsenal
Sunday 17th September 2006
Old Trafford, Manchester
All the optimism, all the hope, all the dreams of football fans across Manchester came crashing down around their ears as Manchester United fell to Arsenal at home.
It wasn't the fact that they were beaten, or even that they had lost to one of their title-rivals, but the fact that they had played so poorly against a mediocre team and yet never looked like scoring.
And who would expect them to score - Fergie, despite his past brilliance, stocked the midfield full of battlers (bottlers!) like Fletcher and O'Shea, and expected them to be running the show. I could have told him that it wouldn't work, that it hadn't worked last season, and it won't work this season, but Fergie has long since stopped listening to fans.
It was last years team (bar Kuszczak in nets for the ill Van Der Sar), and quite frankly they played like last years team - no commitment, no drive, no Keane, no Ruud and no chance.
There were average performances all over the park, with Heinze out and still not looking at full fitness, Rooney still looking out of sorts.
United at least had two bright sparks in Louis Saha and Cristiano Ronaldo, both of whom never stopped looking for the ball, and looking to move up the field and attack.
Michael carrick was left on the bench, and enetered the fray with ten minutes to go, when Fergie had finally realised that his side lacked creativity, vision and the ability to break opposition teams down.
Arsenal didn't play great, missed a penalty, and were lucky not to have Lehmann sent off for handling outside of his box.
United looked creaky at best, and all it proved was that Fergie should have bought more players in the summer. O'Shea and Fletcher just are't good enough.
