EMIRATES STADIUM — Where to look for heroes? Diogo Dalot apart, everywhere for 10-man Manchester United, starting with Joshua Zirkzee, who hit the winning penalty and Altay Bayindir, who saved two to send the holders into an FA Cup fourth round engagement with Ruud van Nistelrooy’s Leicester.
It can’t be any more dramatic than this, surely. Zirkzee, in tears when hooked after half an hour in the defeat to Newcastle, had his best 30 minutes in a United shirt just a fortnight later to cap another helter-skelter afternoon under Ruben Amorim.
The last time Bayindir was in north London he contributed to the Carabao Cup quarter-final defeat at Spurs with a mistake-ridden display. Without him United would not have endured at the Emirates.
We grew familiar with Sir Alex Ferguson’s post-match references to United’s preternatural attachment to drama. Amorim is getting up to speed rapidly on an afternoon in which his team took the lead, then combusted.
FA Cup draw in full as Chelsea, Newcastle and Spurs face tricky ties
Read MoreOne-nil up, man sent off, Arsenal level, all in the space of two minutes. United in a nutshell. Any more of this Amorim will have to start watching games behind a sofa. He had to do something after a first half in which United shrank back into their weirdly passive shell. He wasn’t to know his great tactical innovation would unravel in the space of 15 second-half minutes.
The transposing of wing backs Diogo Dalot and Noussair Mazraoui was designed to give United greater attacking impetus. Though Dalot played a part in United taking the lead, winning the header on the right that resulted in Alejandro Garnacho galloping free of Gabriel to set up Bruno Fernandes, it would all unravel around him.
A clumsy tackle early in the half followed by another almost immediately after United had taken the lead left the referee with no option but to hit the red button. The promise of a fine Fernandes finish was all too easily wasted by a mad lunge representative of the chaotic atmosphere around a club negotiating endless tumult.
There is still no knowing what to expect from this United team. They were spared to a degree by Arsenal’s own issues, a forward line almost as tepid as United’s. This had the feel of a World Cup opener between two fancied teams, a safety-first encounter, keep it tight, move on to the next game. Except there had to be a winner and a loser here.
United offered very little in the opposing half, content to block and harry. The hoped-for carry over from the pulsating draw at Anfield did not materialise, a week on the training pitch seemingly filling heads with theory and tactics whilst dulling instinct in a flat 45 minutes.
Arsenal vs Man Utd player ratings as Havertz scores 3/10 in 'all-time stinker'
Read MoreAll we saw of Rasmus Hojlund in that opening half was a series of sprints across the Arsenal area as he attempted vaguely to shut down the play. One day he will charge about with like purpose to get on the end of a cross.
This was a third-round clash between the FA Cup’s most successful teams, a combined 43 finals and 27 victories to their names. Where was the endeavour, the sense of occasion? The answer lay in the venomous right foot of Fernandes, his goal setting the afternoon ablaze if not in the way United imagined.
Nine minutes later Arsenal were level, and could have been ahead were it not for Bayindir’s heroics, nine minutes later, keeping out Martin Odegaard’s penalty.
The histrionic collapse of Kai Havertz under a challenge from Harry Maguire should stand as a rebuke to all those who want VAR canned. Andrew Madley fell for it and without recourse to a frame by frame arbiter, all hell broke loose as United raged at the injustice.
For the neutral it made for classic post roast viewing, a contest finally living up to its billing. Arsenal piled forward. United resisted gamely to take the match to extra time, and ultimately to an unlikely victory.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Man Utd’s obsession with drama is great for neutrals but terrible for fans )
Also on site :
- PHOTOS: Travis Kelce Spotted Heading to Taylor Swift's Apartment
- Car runs into building on Park Avenue
- Broncos agree to terms with ILB Jordan Turner, WR Kyrese White after rookie minicamp tryouts, sources confirm