Manchester United's Wayne Rooney emulates Andrei Arshavin to restore the balance

29 August 2009 20:50
The longevity of their rivalry has led to burgeoning respect, it is said. They have, they insist, a lot in common. Not least, without being remotely paranoid, a shared certainty that the authorities institutionally conspire against them.[LNB]Though they stopped short of walking out, Brian Clough style, hand-in-hand, the love-in clearly extended to the pattern in which they set out their teams to play in this their first encounter of the season.[LNB]Andrei Arshavin admits Arsenal are in battle for fourth with Spurs, Everton and Man CityBoth men stationed a single striker ahead of a five-man midfield, suggesting that the central men take it in turns to lend support. For Arsenal, Robin van Persie was up there alone. [LNB]For United it was Wayne Rooney. In part, both managers did it because they shared a summer inconvenience: they had both lost their main attacking force.[LNB]It was United, however, who started as if more bereft from their loss. Without Cristiano Ronaldo, Ferguson's side suddenly appeared pedestrian, the heart of their endeavour transplanted elsewhere. Worse, the system Ferguson had devised did little to alleviate their loss. [LNB]At times Rooney was so isolated from the company of team-mates, you could only assume he had run out of deodorant. In the first half, the gap between him and the midfield was big enough to accommodate Ronaldo's ego. Wenger is blessed that, having lost Emmanuel Adebayor to Manchester City, he can rely on Andrei Arshavin. [LNB]What a player Arshavin is, the classic No 10. Except that for Arsenal he wears 23, the 10 shirt is currently occupied by William Gallas, nobody's idea of the classic No 10. [LNB]It was Arshavin who provided a disappointing first half's one gleaming moment of purpose. It came moments after he was denied a blatant penalty, when Fletcher removed his legs like a lumberjack assaulting a giant redwood. [LNB]Arshavin received the ball on the edge of the United area and, with minimal backlift, fired past Ben Foster.[LNB]It appeared as if someone must have shown United's own No 10 a highlights' package of Arshavin's work at half-time and told him to go out and emulate it.Rooney emerged determined to restore the balance of the game on his own. [LNB]Tearing at pace into the Arsenal defence, rising above Gallas to win every header, he was everywhere.[LNB]Within 10 minutes of the restart, demonstrating that he needed no support, he won, then converted, an equalising penalty. Then he was breathing down the neck of Abou Diaby as the young midfielder steered Ryan Giggs's free kick into his own net.[LNB]Arshavin's subtlety against Rooney's power: it may well prove the subplot of the season, right up to South Africa next July.[LNB] 

Source: Telegraph