Manchester United go down the drain
Opinion: Being happy to escape a hiding shows how low they have sunk, writes Martin Samuel.
Towards the end of the second half In Manchester United’s 1-0 loss to Arsenal, claps of thunder and flashes of lightning pervaded the area around Old Trafford. But it wasn't the forked kind. Even the lightning is sheet at Manchester United this season.
Just as well, really, because if the deluge had arrived much earlier the game would have been called off. Within 20 minutes of the final whistle, the pitch was waterlogged. Still, the action couldn't have got any slower, even underwater. Arsenal played as if it were they who were facing Manchester City in north London this morning (NZ Time), not Tottenham Hotspur, while Manchester United are a shadow of the club that once embodied the energy and excitement of the English game.
So Arsenal kept them at arm’s length and United were, Alejandro Garnacho aside, happy to remain there. And the locals seemed relatively happy with that.
Happy not to have got the 4-0 chasing that ran them out of Selhurst Park a week ago, happy to keep dignity intact against an Arsenal team that scored 25 goals in six games between February 4 and March 4 this year. And if not happy, then certainly not displeased.
In many minds this wasn’t as bad as it could have been, not as bad as many expected. Some may even believe Erik ten Hag’s side ran the league leaders close. But they weren’t close. Not really. At a ground where Arsenal had won once in the league since 2006, Mikel Arteta’s men held a lead for 70 minutes plus ten minutes of additional play, and in that time United did not force a real save of quality from David Raya, the goalkeeper.
And that was a pity, because he looked a little skittish. He missed a cross, threw himself on any loose ball with profound relief, left it nail-bitingly late to reach a decision on the odd pass. A better, more confident, opponent would have smelt blood. But United aren't that team any more. Injuries are playing a part, obviously, but they are regressing as the season nears its end. It is far from certain they can make it into Europe via league position, which, given the sheer numbers welcomed by Uefa these days, is quite remarkable.
And United should not be settling, like this, should not be happy to have simply escaped a hiding. That’s how lesser teams used to play here. They regarded a 1-0 defeat as a result, of sorts. Some even sent out weakened teams, writing off the fixture as unwinnable, keeping the best XI back for a better match the next week.
On occasions like this, it is forgotten what has been lost. Roy Keane remembers it, which is why he always sounds so angry. Sir Alex Ferguson’s United teams would have been white-knuckle furious at losing at home to Arsenal. This time, at the end in the teeming rain, the players saluted four sides of the ground - the few fans that remained - and were quite warmly received.
The FA Cup final date with Manchester City on May 26 is to be looked forward to, but again has the feel of a plucky underdog trying to punch above its weight. There is much talk of transition in football, but here is one transition that was once almost impossible to imagine. That a decade after Ferguson’s departure, we would write, or speak, about Manchester United as if they were punching up, battling a mighty empire, David against Goliath.