Any win against a Jose Mourinho side needs to be savoured and enjoyed to the full. But yesterday’s game was a strange affair. The occasion was more akin to a testimonial game than a full blooded Arsenal v Manchester United fixture. I can’t recall a bad challenge and there was little bad blood on show. Even the crowd seemed sedated. Andre Marriner will never ref an easier game all season.
Some of my emotive experiences as an Arsenal fan have come from attending this fixture during the late 90s and early 00s. The tunnel spat between Vieira and Keane and the Keown leap into RVN are iconic premiership moments. I’ll never forget (or forgive) the Neville brothers kicking José Antonio Reyes out of a game at OT and sheer hatred which surrounded the semi final at Villa Park (the Bergkamp penalty miss still breaks me out into a cold sweat). Even further back, the battle of Old Trafford in ’91 was a brilliant example of how George Graham instilled an awesome fighting spirt into the club.
So those memories were in my mind yesterday as both teams serenely went about their football. It was turgid stuff. Utd had their minds on the Celta Vigo game this coming Thursday and we were still a little punch drunk from the humiliation of WHL from last Sunday. Even Liverpool’s slip up against Southampton didn’t height the sense of urgency in the game. It was appeared that both teams wanted the league campaign to end as soon as possible.
Sure, we all celebrated wildly when we scored both goals, but the atmosphere was generally subdued. I guess Jose’s tactics were partly to blame. It was pretty shocking seeing Utd line up with a 6-3-1 formation. The Utd back four could not be trusted to keep us at bay the whole team was set up to stop us playing. Rooney huffed and puffed with minimal effect and Martial was a lonely figure up front. The daring runs of Ronaldo, the flair of Cantona and the drive of Keane were nowhere to be seen.
The Utd away following were as usual pretty good but they had little to shout about. They actually spent much of the game singing about their impending trip to Stockholm . They must have been pretty dismayed by the event. The league campaign has been a disaster and the fact that a win at Southampton on Wednesday would take us above them says everything about poor they have been.
So I left the ground happy that Arsene had finally defeated Jose. Our chances of CL football are still just about alive and any win against Utd will improve confidence as we fight to find some momentum ahead of the cup final. But I just missed the pumped up adrenaline which I experienced following past encounters with them. Those season defining games between the clubs seems a long way off.