Man Utd: Schmeichel, Keane, Bruce, Pallister, Irwin, Kanchelskis, Ince, Sharpe, Giggs, Cole, Hughes Subs: McClair, Butts, Walsh
Result : Manchester United (2) 3 Arsenal (0) 0 Scorers: Hughes 26, Sharpe 31, Kanchelskis 80
ookings: Bruce Keown, Bould, Wright
Att : 43623 Referee : K Cooper (Pontypridd)
Well, on the long depressing drive home, one word kept beating a tattoo in my head. Hopeless. Most of the team played as if without hope and gave little cause to the Arsenal fans for any hope for the rest of the season. Perhaps I'm being a little harsh because there were slight mitigating circumstances. Schwarz and Hartson were both suspended, but even so Houston was obviously only looking for one point. Keown and Morrow in central midfield and Helder left on the bench leaves no other conclusion.
The annoying thing was that Man U didn't really play well. In fact until the first goal it looked as though we might get away with 0-0. Or possibly even sneak a goal. The one real moment Arsenal fans had to cheer was provided by Ian Wright early in the game. The ball was headed forward from inside the Arsenal half. Running on to it Wrighty looked up and saw Schmeichel off his line, and audaciously volleyed it on the bounce from inside the centre circle. The length was perfect but the ball dropped a yard or two wide of the post.
That was probably confirmation that it wasn't to be our night. Also early in the game, Kiwomya won a corner off Bruce. Goal kick. One of the United players slid in and played a deliberate ball back towards Schmeichel. Under pressure from Kiwomya the keeper picked the ball up. Play on. The ref continued his inept performance by booking Bould and Keown for innocuous looking fouls, and Wright for a shoulder charge on Bruce.
The first goal when it came was was due to a series of Arsenal errors. A misplaced pass in midfield allowed Cole to run at the defence. He passed out to Giggs on the left whose cross should have been easily claimed by Bartram. However Bould got in his way and headed it out of his hands, Keown then had an easy clearance but completely miskicked and the ball eventually fell to Hughes about 10 yards out and he lashed it home.
Soon afterwards Bartram made a good save from a Kanchelskis left foot shot after he'd cut inside Winterburn and along the edge of the area. Then the 2nd goal arrived and was again due mainly to poor defending. Hughes was allowed time to touch the ball back to Sharpe on the edge of the area and his mishit right footer caught Bartram on the wrong foot.
At the other end Arsenal could only occasionally threaten. Wright did get one on target but his shot from the edge of the area was straight at the keeper. Merson also had a half-chance from just inside the box but ballooned his shot over the bar.
With the comfort of a two goal lead United were able to pass the ball about a bit in the 2nd half, and it was really only thanks to Bartram and Cole that they only got one more. The understudy keeper made a superb double save early in the half, first saving a Giggs shot and then recovering brilliantly to palm away Cole's attempt to head in the rebound. Late in the game he also made a couple of good saves from Kanchelskis and Hughes, I think.
Meanwhile the 7m pound man did his former club a favour by missing a couple of sitters. First he somehow put a shot from 4 yards over the bar after a Giggs ball in from the left had again exposed the Arsenal defence. Later he failed to control a ball chipped into his path and could only knee it into the grateful Bartram's arms.
For periods at the other end Arsenal did occasionally show a bit more appetite. One semi decent passing movement ended with Dixon crossing low and hard in to Wright just inside the box. Unmarked he unfortunately completely missed his attempted volley and the chance passed. He later had another reasonable chance but this time his volley from an angle went straight into Schmeichel's arms.
The 3rd goal finally arrived 10 minutes from time when Giggs was again allowed too much space and dribbled along the edge of the box before hitting a right foot shot which Bartram again did well to get a hand to. Unfortunately he could only push it out wide to the right where Cole and Kanchelskis were both unmarked. Cole wisely left it to Kanchelskis and he confidently shot home from an angle.
Almost from the kick-off Arsenal almost scored through Kiwomya. He was played through into the box on the right. His first touch took him a bit wide though, and with Schmeichel rushing out to meet him, his attempted chip from an acute angle landed on the roof of the net.
And that was pretty much it. A measure of the frustration felt by the Gooners was provided by the fact that some were reduced to chants of "Dalglish", "Shearer", in an attempt to get at the United fans. Taunts of "Who the f*** do you support?" were then met with ripostes of "We support our local team" and "See you, on the motorway".
I don't know that I could point the finger at any individual players and say that they weren't trying, it was more that there just didn't seem to be the collective will to win. Arsenal's passing and movement off the ball was at times awful. Keown was probably the worst of the bunch but then he was playing in a position he's no good at. Bartram and Wright I would except, and to a lesser extent Adams and Bould. Wrighty did at least look at times as though he was desperately trying to win, but as has often been the case this year too often he tried to do it all himself
I think it makes our next game, at home to Norwich rather important. If we don't win that it could turn into a real relegation struggle.
Report by Derek Brownjohn.