Man United 0-1 Arsenal player ratings and match reaction

[HCZ_Reborn]

Raya 6 - Largely an observer as was protected by defence


White 6 - Struggled a bit with Garnacho


Saliba 8.5 - Excellent interceptions, no one was getting past him


Gabriel 8 - Did well in the air


Tomiyasu 7 - Largely composed


Partey 4.5 - Struggled on the ball giving it away constantly, dropped deeper and deeper


Rice 6 - Got forward occasionally but again not aware enough of United players nipping in to win possession


Odegaard 7 - Tried to make things happen


Havertz 6.5 - A bit muted


Trossard 7.5 - Tried to be a threat, well positioned for goal but lack of pace in game which was getting stretched meant he made way for Martinelli


Saka 6 - Looks spent….be interesting to see if this is one niggle too many going into last game of season




Subs:


Jesus 7 - Could have been brought on earlier


Martinelli 7.5 - Really injected pace into our game



Jorginho + Kiwior - Simply weren’t on the pitch long enough to get a score



The objective yesterday was to win, and whilst we were a bit lucklustre we were playing a side completely bereft of confidence or belief which helped us. I said in the match thread that it would be a jittery game, the occasion would make it so and on top of that we’ve had the jitters lately. No problem with that given it hasn’t ultimately cost us.
We’ve never really had control of the title in any meaningful way, so it’s hard to say we’ve thrown it away the way we threw it away last season. There is a little bit of a season of two halves like last season, just the opposite way round…which ultimately is how you want it to be.

It’s not in our hands, it hasn’t been for four weeks. But we’ve done all we can do. And well you can’t ask for any more than that

[Letters]

I only saw the highlights but it didn't look as nervy as people on here made out. But obviously I'm watching in the context of knowing the end result. Utd never really created much and Onana made a few good saves (which is unlike him!), on another day we could have been out of sight by the end.

Result was the only thing that really mattered and we got it.

COYS

[Marc Overmars]

I think Saliba remaining fit has validated the idea that we would have won the league last year had he been around. The guy is class.

The performance was not great but we didn’t really need to get out of second gear anyway because United carried very little threat. I think it’s looking obvious that we’re nervous and probably tired, so to navigate these fixtures in the way we have done has shown great resilience and a real winning mentality that I didn’t feel we had.

It’s likely that we end the second half of this season with a record of 16-1-1. After those two disastrous defeats at Christmas which left us playing catch up, this was the only way we could get back into the mix and we’ve really given it everything. We suspected after the Villa game it had gone and to feel that way after literally one slip up in the run-in shows how stupidly fine the margins are.

[Mac76]

I think Saliba remaining fit has validated the idea that we would have won the league last year had he been around. The guy is class.

Well yes, although Arteta made the wrong call playing Holding instead of Kiwior when Saliba got injured. Kiwior's not as good as Saliba but he's clearly better than Holding.

[WMUG]

Tomiyasu getting injured in the same game as Saliba is what really did it.

Meant the only options were an untested Kiwior or... him.

[HCZ_Reborn]

Tomiyasu getting injured in the same game as Saliba is what really did it.

Meant the only options were an untested Kiwior or... him.

I think if you want a snapshot of the difference between this season and last you need to look at the games at Anfield. Between when we were shaking like shitting dogs from the moment Salah got a goal back to the game just before Xmas where we looked far more composed. The results were the same, the mentality entirely different.

Now doubtless having Saliba in the latter game helped things, but even though we were going through a bit of a rough patch and not that confident in front of goal…we looked far more comfortable in possession in midfield.

[Mac76]

The other difference is that we don't have that moron Xhaka starting fights and breaking our concentration