United dominated possession after the break but failed to cause the Arsenal backline much cause for concern, ensuring it slipped to third in the table behind its opponent on goal difference.
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After conceding 3 goals within the opening 20 minutes, United finally started seeing more of the ball and dominated possession but that didn’t result in them posing any kind of threat to Petr Cech’s goal.
As such, many expected a similar pattern and outcome on Sunday.
“They have very good players with [Michael] Carrick, [Juan] Mata and [Wayne] Rooney”.
Arsenal banished their European woes by overwhelming their visitors with flowing football and a three-goal burst to put the outcome beyond doubt inside the first 20 minutes.
Louis van Gaal has admitted he has no answers as he called Manchester United’s display at Arsenal the worst of his reign.
“We have lost, and lost in a way that you can not lose when you are top of the league”.
“The method all of us had begun, consequently without ever having emotion”.
“Ozil, Theo Walcott and Sanchez were amongst the standout performers for Arsenal, with Wenger downplaying the latter’s injury as a “little groin problem”.
I think we gave away too much to Wolfsburg, allowing them to return into the game.
Arsenal had won just one of their previous 13 league meetings against United, who have often successfully utilised a counter-attacking strategy against Arsene Wenger’s side. Wenger described it as “certainly one of Walcott’s best games as a No9”.
The 65-year-old recently celebrated 19 years in charge of Arsenal and it has been rumoured that the Frenchman could say farewell to the game in the near future.
“But we (took it in) perspective and focused on what is important”.
“The work ethic of the whole team was brilliant today and that’s what we need to keep doing throughout the whole season to be successful”.
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They may be just two points behind Manchester City but if they can not do better in future games against the top four then they will struggle to maintain a convincing season.
