FIVE ASIDES (AND ONE EXTRA) Premier League: Arsenal 3, United 1
This was a tussle between a manager who tinkers too much and a manager who doesn’t tinker enough. Mikel Arteta was saved from his over-thinking by an injury to Thomas Partey, which prompted him to pick a proper team (apart from Kai Havertz). Erik ten Hag, meanwhile, looked at the approach that had brought him precisely one point from nine games like this – away, at clubs from last season’s top nine – and decided to stick with it. Yes, he was unlucky with the deflections that yielded Declan Rice’s winner (one on Martin Odegaard’s harmless shot, to bring the corner; the other on Rice’s back-post piledriver). Yes, he was unlucky with injuries and illness, losing Rapha Varane, Luke Shaw and Scott McTominay before the game and then Lisandro Martinez and Victor Lindelof during it. But he still had options, and he ended up playing dangerously safe.
If the plan was just to defend like crazy and attack on the counter, this selection didn’t make sense. A counter-attacking team demands forwards who are fast and decisive, so that rules out Antony – Ten Hag would have been better off promoting Facundo Pellistri, or shifting Bruno Fernandes to the right. Sure enough, Antony offered nothing in attack, although he put in a decent shift as an extra defender, helping Aaron Wan-Bissaka cope with the player of the match, Gabriel Martinelli. A team playing on the break could also do without Anthony Martial, who was neat and tidy (not one pass misplaced) but mostly invisible (only 16 touches in 67 minutes). And if you’re determined to defend, you have to pack the midfield, so, in the absence of McTominay, the elderly axis of Casemiro and Christian Eriksen needed bolstering with a youthful ball-winner like Dan Gore. The XI would have looked like this: Onana; Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Martinez, Dalot; Casemiro, Gore, Eriksen; Fernandes; Pellistri, Rashford. It would have been 4-3-1-2 when the ball was in United’s half and 4-2-2-2 when they broke out, with Fernandes joined in the hole by Eriksen. If Gore had been there to shield the defence, Casemiro would not have had to spend the first half playing as a third centre-back. And United would have had a better chance of securing the draw that seemed to be their aim.
As it was, they were so passive that the first 25 minutes became, as Gary Neville said, ‘a game of nothing’. That changed when Rashford scored his goal, showing a wonderful blend of pace and composure, putting a curl on his shot to get it brushing Aaron Ramsdale’s fingertips and going in off the post. It was Rashford’s first goal of the season, but the fifth out of five in which he had played a part. It turned the game of nothing into a game with a bit of everything. We had an instant equaliser (far too easy for Odegaard), a missed sitter (strangely limp from Bukayo Saka), a disputed penalty (Havertz’s main contribution to the match), a VAR over-rule, a second scintillating counter-attack from United, another ice-cold finish, another VAR over-rule, and a Fergie-time winner … for the wrong side. United were never behind until the 96th minute. And yet they had only been ahead for two of those minutes, one genuinely, after Rashford’s goal, and one that turned out to be an illusion as Alejandro Garnacho produced his peach of a shot and the flag stayed down. The VAR giveth, and it taketh away.
United ended up with Harry Maguire and Jonny Evans in the centre of defence, and you didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. It was back to the past – Leicester’s past: these two were playing together at the King Power five years ago, helping Leicester finish ninth in the league, which is about where United will end up this season if we see much more of them. Again, the thinking doesn’t seem very joined-up. Evans might have made sense as a replacement for Maguire, another old head on old shoulders. Ten Hag says Evans is good with the young players and no doubt that’s true, but he will be doing well if he can find one who plays in his position. United have just sold their most promising young centre-back, for peanuts, to Luton. Teden Mengi has played for England U15, U16, U17, U18 and U20, and has even trained with the England senior squad, but in 14 years at United he never once appeared for the senior team. There are now five centre-backs in the squad and the youngest by miles is Lisandro Martinez, at 25. The silver lining is that they may have to fast-track Rhys Bennett, who is 19 and has already led a United team to a trophy – the FA Youth Cup, last year.
Ten Hag’s day got even worse when he was attacked by Jadon Sancho on social media. But he had just committed the same crime himself, going out of his way to say that Sancho had been dropped because of his ‘performances in training’. Keep it private! As Gary Lineker pointed out, the manager can’t complain about the player sounding off in public if he does it himself. There are two options now. Either Sancho can be sent into exile, to some far-off country where the transfer window is still open (Turkey or Saudi Arabia). Or Ten Hag can be magnanimous, admit his mistake, clear the air and say ‘Let’s start again’. Sancho has often seemed to be weighed down by the United shirt – still able to finish clinically as he did for Dortmund, but seldom managing to be brave when picking a pass. Ten Hag was gentle with him last season, which seemed wise. Yesterday he went the other way and it backfired.
We needed some good news, and it came from United’s Danes. Eriksen was quietly excellent, completing 53 of his 57 passes and playing the ball of the match to send Rashford through for the goal. And Rasmus Hojlund made a heartening debut at the tender age of 20. ‘Get Hojlund on!’ I wrote in my notes in the 53rd minute. A quarter of an hour later he was making an instant impact with his presence and attitude. He showed skill too, with a classy back-heel to Casemiro to set up the goal that was disallowed. Hojlund proved that he’ll be a handful for opposing defenders – literally, as Gabriel soon resorted to grabbing him. He seems just the personality the forward line needs: a harder, bolder, faster, stronger version of Wout Weghorst. Our own Rob Smyth was even reminded of another United striker who was adept at hold-up play – Mark Hughes. It’s early days, of course, but Hojlund looks like a real find.
Tim de Lisle, a United fan since the days of Willie Morgan, is the editor of United Writing and a sportswriter for The Guardian. If you’re on Twitter, do follow him and United Writing.