GOOD LUCK, ERIK
Ten Hag faces a huge task trying to rebuild shambolic United
TWELVE minutes of the second half had elapsed when Bruno Fernandes bent down and placed the ball on the penalty spot at the Emirates. He took a few deliberate steps backward.
What was left of Manchester United’s shambolic, chaotic, misshapen season was on the line.
In the week they announced yet another new manager — Erik Ten Hag is the latest to be handed that poisoned chalice — and succumbed to a humiliating 4-0 defeat by Liverpool, that run-up felt like a symbol of quite how diminished United have become.
Fernandes stopped as he got to the ball and then rolled his kick slowly towards the goal. The stadium watched as it kissed the outside of Aaron Ramsdale’s right-hand post and trickled tamely into touch for a goal-kick. And just like that, United’s season was over.
A goal then would have brought them level with Arsenal at 2-2 and given them hope of winning the game and moving level with their opponents in the race for fourth place. Instead, they fell to a 3-1 defeat that leaves them six points behind Mikel Arteta’s team with four games to play. Spurs may be out of their reach, too.
‘For me, even before the game the top four was not very likely,’ said United caretaker boss Ralf Rangnick, ‘but after today’s result it is gone, yes.’
Arsenal deserved their win on the back of a first half where United’s defence could not cope with the brilliance of Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka.
But this was a crazy game of missed chances and VAR calls and the hosts were indebted to their visitors for hitting the woodwork three times when a more clinical side would have punished them.
Only Cristiano Ronaldo emerged from United’s defeat with any credit. The arguments can rage about whether United should have signed him for a second time last summer but he played at the Emirates even as he was grieving the loss of his infant son in childbirth last week.
Not for the first time, he showed up the callow men around him by scoring his 100th Premier League goal for the club. He had another goal disallowed for a marginal offside. If he had taken that penalty, and not Fernandes, United would have been level.
Rangnick had said the club needed open-heart surgery, not a sticking plaster and only two minutes had gone when Arsenal, still buoyant after their thrilling victory over Chelsea last week, took the lead.
Granit Xhaka swung over a cross from the left of the area and it went straight to Raphael Varane. The Frenchman took a wild swing at it like a drunk trying to start a fight at the end of a night out. He missed and the ball continued across the area. Next, it fell to Alex Telles. He swung at it with his left foot. He also missed.
The ball ran to Saka on the edge of the six-yard box. He stepped inside Telles to hit a shot goalwards. David de Gea parried it but it fell to Nuno Tavares, who volleyed into the net from close range.
Ronaldo played Anthony Elanga in behind the Arsenal back line and Ramsdale was forced to save smartly at his near post.
Scott McTominay headed wide from a corner and Fernandes should have taken advantage of a dreadful clearance from Ramsdale but delayed his shot and it was deflected wide by Gabriel.
This was all in the first quarter of an hour. It was breathless, often brainless, stuff. Diogo Dalot hit the Arsenal crossbar with a thumping, dipping shot. Elanga burst through and claimed he had been brought down by Tavares as he tumbled in the box, VAR did not agree. United were entitled to feel aggrieved soon after, though, when Jadon Sancho bamboozled Cedric Soares to such an extent that Soares fell and appeared to scoop the ball away with his hand. He escaped sanction but it was obvious that this was going to be a match where each team would have plenty more chances to score.
On 26 minutes, Saka played a onetwo with Odegaard, rushed into the box and was brought down by Telles. The ball broke to Eddie Nketiah, who scored but a VAR check showed he was offside.
United rejoiced but their celebrations were short-lived. Another VAR check suggested Saka had been fouled and referee Craig Pawson pointed to the spot. Saka sent De Gea the wrong way with his penalty.
This was a game where one of the teams would need a cushion far greater than two goals to feel even remotely safe and, 10 minutes before half-time, Nemanja Matic swung a ball in, two Arsenal defenders watched and waited and Ronaldo nipped in between them and lifted it expertly over Ramsdale with his left foot.
Twelve minutes into the second half, United were presented with a golden chance to equalise.
Matic and Tavares leapt together at a United corner and, when Matic won the header, it rebounded off the defender’s arm. Most expected Ronaldo to take the penalty but he agreed Fernandes should take it.
His Portugal team-mate took a stuttering run-up and then clipped his penalty against the outside of Ramsdale’s right-hand post.
The cameras focused on Ronaldo’s stony face but it was not long before he was causing more danger. He got the ball inside the Arsenal area and played a perfect pass to Dalot, who had hurtled past him on the overlap. Dalot smashed his shot goalwards but Ramsdale got a hand to it and tipped it on to the post.
Twenty minutes from the end, Arsenal went further ahead. United, once again, were authors of their own downfall.
Arsenal were appealing for a penalty for handball when the ball was cleared to Fernandes on the edge of the United area. He allowed himself to be dispossessed and when it fell to Xhaka, he lashed a thunderbolt past De Gea.
Arsenal move forward with new optimism, knowing that their clash at Spurs on May 12 will be pivotal in the struggle for the top four. United go home with nothing.