PARTEY OVER

Fallen United star’s flicks and tricks don’t impress Keano, who has

AHEAD of this hard-earned Arsenal victory, Roy Keane was in familiar form.

He was talking Paul Pogba and it was not sweet.

Doesn’t do enough, not enough fight, not enough spirit, not good enough to play midfield for Manchester United.

Apart from that …

It was quintessential Keane and, at half-time and full-time, there was plenty more to come. The scattergun was out.

But in the case of Pogba, there was nothing in the 94 minutes to suggest Keane did not have a reasonable argument.

To put it kindly, it was a poor day at the office.

Never mind the concession of the penalty that gave Arsenal their first win at a Big Six rival in over half a decade.

Compare his performance with that of Thomas Partey.

Arsenal’s flagship signing was magnificent, keeping his game magnificently simple.

Pogba was f licks and tricks, complicating issues and flitting in and out of the game.

Perhaps the system did not help but the contrast with Partey ’s game-influencing input was stark.

On this occasion, Partey was the player Pogba should be and has been. No wonder Mikel Arteta was so desperate to secure his signing. Partey could be a game-changer.

He certainly stood out in a victory that was only remarkable in that it snapped that run of games without a victory at a blue chip rival.

For two founder members of the so-called Big Six, much of this was strictly small beer.

A single shot on target in one half of football i s a stati stic unbecoming of the self-styled elite.

The cleverly-worked opening that saw Willian’s left-footer kiss the crossbar was an anomaly in a first period Mike Dean appeared to cut short by a few seconds. No wonder.

Watching Manchester United play on the counter at home is as weird as watching in an empty 75,000-seater stadium.

But there was more positivity after the break, although that could have been because Arsenal dropped deeper.

It was an advert for the counterattacking culture, Pierre-emerick Aubameyang almost making one sharp incision pay. Instead, his clip

6 6 7 7 6 5 5 5 5 6 6 6 6 6 7 7 7 7 6 a poor performance. I cannot give a foul away like that. “Maybe I was a bit out of breath. It made me do this stupid mistake. “I’m not the best defensively in the box, I can work on that. “We have to do better as a team and it starts with me. We weren’t dangerous with the ball.” Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s team have now been beaten in three and drawn one at Old Trafford, leaving them a lowly 15th in the table. And it prompted former Reds hero Roy Keane, who claimed Pogba shouldn’t be in MIKEL ARTETA believes Pierre-emerick Aubameyang’s penalty will get him firmly back on the goal trail. And the Arsenal manager paid tribute to the ‘courage’ of his players after the second-half spot-kick earned them a first victory at Old Trafford in 14 years. Arteta said: “I wanted to generate belief and I asked them to be who we are as a team right now. “I’m delighted because we played with a lot of courage and big personality “Individually you have to win the fights and step up to the team as he lacked ‘fight and heart’, to tear into the rest of the United players. He even singled out golden boy Marcus Rashford (above) for criticism and said: “I looked at Rashford closely. “I know he’s a young man but his body language was shocking. “Shrugging his shoulders when things didn’t go his way? You roll your sleeves up when you play for Manchester United. “When things aren’t going your way that’s when you look at your leaders. I don’t see any leaders out there. “Ole will lose his job working with these players.” the occasion and the performance of every player today was top drawer.” And Arteta says talismanic striker Aubameyang will get a huge lift after scoring his first Premier League goal since the season’s opener at Fulham on September 12. He added: “Every striker needs goals and in these moments we have to create more for Auba. “He has scored a crucial goal and it’ll lift his belief.”

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