9 things we learned from Arsenal's win at Old Trafford

09 March 2015 23:01

Arsenal won at Old Trafford tonight for the first time in eight and a half years. It was in many ways the game that we all hoped for – despite its lack of quality.

There was drama with Angel Di Maria being sent off for pulling the referee Michael Oliver’s shirt, strong tackles, and a great atmosphere – probably aided by the tackles.

In other words it was exactly what you think of when picturing Man Utd v Arsenal, and Danny Welbeck’s winner was the crown that made it the perfect FA Cup match for the neutral.

Here’s a few things we learned.

1. Celebrating against your old club doesn’t always make you “classless”.

(Jon Super/AP)
(Jon Super/AP)

When Danny Welbeck latched on to Antonio Valencia’s pass-back, you really didn’t know what would happen. Welbeck is one of those players who after rounding David De Gea could’ve quite easily missed an open goal – but he didn’t, not against his old club.

The best part came next though, as Welbeck shunned the recent trend and celebrated with all of his adrenaline. After all, Welbeck gave his all while at United and was told he was surplus to requirements. We imagine the evening couldn’t have gone better for him.

2. Radamel Falcao seems like he’s no longer trusted AT ALL by Louis Van Gaal.

You’re losing 2-1 to Arsenal in an FA Cup quarter-final. You know this is the only trophy left for you to win this season. You look around you and see if there’s anyone who can make an impact. Your eyes flash past long black hair and a white hairband – before turning around and deciding it’s hopeless. Falcao won’t score.

That seems to be Van Gaal’s recent thinking, after also leaving Falcao on the bench when they needed a goal in their previous match. That time they were lucky to score a late winner, tonight they had no such luck. But what has happened to Falcao? The man who’s scored goals at a stunning rate wherever in Europe he’s been has been reduced to a bench-warmer, and his confidence won’t come back watching on game after game.

3. This is what an FA Cup game is supposed to feel like. Tense, manic, scrappy.

It’s not often you can watch a game with such little quality and come away happy. There were no such issues tonight.

4. Are all shots placed really close to De Gea or is he just so good he makes it seem that way?

(Jon Super/AP)
(Jon Super/AP)

De Gea has consistently been United’s best player this season, and it’s not even worth thinking about where they might be in the table did they not have the Spaniard in goal. He put in another typical performance tonight, but it did look like an awful lot of the shots he stopped were close to him.

Good keepers make it look easy though, we suppose.

5. We still haven’t seen the best of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.

We’re used to Oxlade-Chamberlain picking up the ball and driving past defenders. But for Arsenal’s first goal he crept through their defence, past more players than we cared to count, before finding Nacho Monreal open not far from him.

Oxlade-Chamberlain is undoubtedly a massive talent, that much has been clear since we first saw him, but he needs to maintain a level of fitness and from there prove he can do it consistently. It would be fair to say that Arsenal wouldn’t have won the game today had it not been for him.

6. Arsenal have some serious injury problems.

Is it just coincidence that so many of Arsenal’s players get injured so often, or is there a problem with their fitness and training? Oxlade-Chamberlain was the latest to leave a game for Arsenal half way through with an injury.

When Arsene Wenger first came to Arsenal in the 1990′s, he brought with him some of the best fitness techniques in Europe.

The game has changed considerably since then though, with mass use of sports scientists and the like. Do Arsenal use this enough, or does the problem lay elsewhere?

7. Other referees in England need to take note of Michael Oliver’s performance.

(Jon Super/AP)
(Jon Super/AP)

This was always going to be a tough game to officiate, but Oliver did a stunning job. When a game finishes and as a referee or player you’re the top trending hashtag, something has either gone very well or very badly. For Oliver, it went very well.

He stood up to divers Di Maria and Adnan Januzaj, he let the game go on whenever he could, he withstood pressure from the Old Trafford crowd, and he contributed massively to the game being so good.

Oliver showed two yellow cards for diving, one for which Di Maria pulled his shirt and ended up receiving another. Despite being one of the youngest Premier League referees, he also managed to ignore the constant mass of players in front of him asking for someone to be sent off. It was appreciated widely.

8. Adnan Januzaj loves a dive.

He was starting to get a bit of a reputation last season and it’s coming back now, with his seventh booking of the season. Obviously not all are for diving, but it seems Ashley Young might be having a bigger impact on the youngster than he thinks.

9. Danny Murphy has the whole nation confused.

(Daniel Hambury/PA)
(Daniel Hambury/PA)

It seems that nobody’s quite sure what to think about Danny Murphy. Is he a good co-commentator, is he a bad one? We didn’t realise the line was so blurred. Maybe the answer is that he’s a human being and is capable of being good in one moment and bad in another? Nah, we didn’t think that would satisfy you.

Source: SNAPPA