Tag Archives: Manchester United

Manchester United no longer have the fear factor

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On Sunday, Arsenal travel to Manchester United looking for their first victory at Old Trafford since 2006. It is the 1st time Arsenal would have played Manchester United since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson. It will be the first time Arsenal would have been to Old Trafford since the fear factor of the ground was no more.

I am a cricket fan (despite this, please read on). For a long time in cricket, there was something called the ‘Shane Warne Theory’. The basics of it were that legendary Australian bowler Shane Warne could take wickets by being just Shane Warne. He did not need to bowl great, he did not need to spin it round corners, he could bowl slow and straight and take a wicket, because he was Shane Warne. A slow straight ball could get someone out, and his victim would be adamant that the ball span. Shane Warne had a physiological edge over opponent batsmen.

Batsmen would be beaten before they had faced a ball. They would be beaten before they walked to the crease. They lost their wicket in the dressing room, where they were fearful of facing Shane Warne. Fearful of how far he would spin it. Fearful that he was the greatest bowler of all time and that he would add their scalp to his collection. When they finally got to the crease, they looked forward, the fear was in their eyes. They were like a deer in headlights. And before you know it, Warne had bowled a tame, straight delivery, and the batsman was heading back to the pavilion. He had been beaten, not by the ball, but by the bowler. The fear factory of Shane Warne.

Manchester United under Sir Alex Ferguson also had this. Like with a cricketer playing the bowler, rather than playing the ball, teams went to Old Trafford and became scared. This was Old Trafford. This was Sir Alex’s Manchester United. Winners of 13 of the last 21 titles. They did not play the 11 players on the pitch, they played the club, the manager, they played Shane Warne.

Teams were beaten before they kicked off at Old Trafford. They were beaten before they got to the changing rooms. They were beaten before they travelled to the game. They were beaten on their own training pitch, when they accepted that Manchester United were so much better than them. Their manager would bash into them to defend, defend, defend, that a point is a good result, that Manchester United were brilliant. How can you beat a side when you know all the players facing you are superior. And superior by miles. They were beaten not by the physical aspect of playing Manchester United at Old Trafford, but the physiological aspect.

Of course Jonny Evans, Chris Smalling & Wes Brown are brilliant defenders, they play for Manchester United. Danny Welbeck, David Bellion, Bebe, top class striker, they must be, they play for Manchester United. Darren Fletcher, Michael Carrick, a 41 year old Ryan Giggs, these have to be top central midfielder’s, they play for Manchester United. And with that, you were physiologically beaten.

The amount of times I watched Manchester United play another Premier League side and that side throw the game away. Run scared. Change the way they play, and end up defeated. I have seen sides put in a heroic performances against Arsenal to snatch a draw, or win, to then next week, play with fear. It is as if they were a different side. And defeat followed.

In the 2010/11 season, Manchester United won the league title. The key behind their success was home form. They won 18 out of 19 games. Now this was not a vintage Manchester United team. There were no Ronaldo’s, Giggs (before he became a pensioner), Cantona’s, Keane’s or Beckham’s. No, they had this record with a very average squad. Owen, Anderson, Smalling, Park, Hernandez, Carrick, Nani, Fabio, Rafael, O’Shea, Fletcher, Valencia, Obertan, Macheda, Gibson & Bebe all played a part.

Read those names again, take out the fact they play for Manchester United, and you will realise they are all fairly average. How did they win 18 of 19 games at home? The fear factor.

With Sir Alex Ferguson leaving, the fear factor has left as well. David Moyes is an ordinary manager, and suddenly, teams are not looking at Manchester United like a world class team full of world class players, they are looking at them for what they are, a mid table side with distinctively average players.

Bar Wayne Rooney and Robin Van Persie, they have no world beaters. An average goal keeper. A defence which will either contain aged, past it players, or young, naive players (Smalling – The English Senderos), full backs which can be got at, a slow, uncreative midfield and little width. The fact is Manchester United are not very good. Yet they are no different from last year, when they were Champions. What has changed? The fear factor have gone. Side are now playing the 11 players on the field, not Manchester United the club.

Of their 5 homes games this season, they have only won 2 of those. A 3-2 victory over Southampton and a 2-0 win over bottom placed Crystal Palace. Not exactly convincing!

The fear factor has certainly gone with Manchester United. And with Arsenal unbeaten away for over 260 days, the psychological aspect of the game could be turning. They should be fearing us now.

Manchester are there for the taking. Play without fear and we win.

Keenos

The overrating of young players by press and fans alike

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At the weekend, 18 year old Belgium winger scored a brace Manchester United. What has followed is the usual hyperbole in the press when a young kid has a good performance.

He is labelled the next superstar. The future of Manchester United. A bright young light. Whilst he is no doubtingly talented, there is a tendency when a youngster has a good performance for him to then be vastly operated.

We have seen it with our own Serge Gnabry over the last couple of weeks. Some average performances alongside some decent performances capped off with a goal against Swansea have led to a lot of Arsenal fans to talk about him having a bright future. Luckily the press do not yet seem to of caught on yet, but within our own ranks, there has been some who have got a little bit over excited.

And it is not a recent phenomenon. Look at Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. He has never really put in the consistent performances to justify his hype, yet some still rate him higher than Theo Walcott, even though Theo has put in a lot of top performances.

Jack Wilshere has also suffered from it. Labelled the future of England, many put him down as one of the first names on the England team sheet. Yet at 21, due to injuries, he sits on just 10 caps. He made his 1st team competitive debut at 16 years and 256 days, but has not yet fulfilled the promise he showed as a teenager.

Gedion Zelalem is also entering this bracket. Already rated highly. Plenty of excitement about him. Yet he has not yet made his debut for the club. 16 year old Swedish striker Jamal Raage is another one being tipped for a bright future, despite only having scored a couple of goals for the under 18s. People are saying he will play for the under 21’s this year and be in the League Cup squad next year. A lot of hype about a kid who no one has really seen.

And it is not just Arsenal who tend to over hype their youngster. Look at Manchester United and the excitement over Adnan Januzaj. Reports are there is currently an International war breaking out between England and Belgium over who he will play for. This a kid who has played just 3 times for Manchester United.

He is not even Manchester United’s youngest ever goal scorer. That accolade falls to Federico Macheda who scored against Aston Villa in 2008-09. The back end of that season, he had played 4 league games, scoring twice, and big things were expected of him the next year.

Five years later, Federico Macheda is still a Manchester United player, but is now on loan at Doncaster Rovers, via VfB Stuttgart, Queens Park Rangers & Sampdoria. And example if needed over the hyperbole of teenage players based on 1 or 2 performances.

I could name many more who fall under this category. Jack Rodwell was supposed to be the future of England’s midfield. James Vaughan is the Premier League’s youngest ever goal scorer. Joe Cole has had a good career, but nothing compared to the hype he had as a youngster. The list of highly rated youngsters who never quite fulfilled their potential go’s on.

So the moral of the story is, before you get too excited over a Gnabry, Zelalem, or Januzaj, there have been better youngsters who have come through who have failed to make the grade.

Do not put players on a pedestal of greatness until they have earned it.

Keenos

Are Arsenal genuine title contenders?

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They say the league table does not lie. Those that are high in the league are there because they deserve it. Those near the bottom are also there due to their own performance. Over the season, a poor referring decision here or there has no bearing on where you are in the league table. Yes it might be the difference between 13th and 14th, but it has very little to do with a club being 20th against mid-table.

The league table does not lie.

Many will argue, however, that you should not look at the league table until 10 games in. Teams positions can be artificially inflated due to playing poor teams, likewise a good side can find themselves near the bottom after getting a cruel set of opening fixtures. It is best not to read too much into the early season table.

Taking both of these into account, should we be getting excited that we currently top the league? Can we be considered genuine title contenders? Or have we just had a nice early run of fixtures.

Firstly, let’s look at the table. We are top (I do enjoy saying that) – and the rest of the top 6 are made up of Tottenham, Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool and Everton. It might only be early day’s in the season, but the usual suspects are already congregating at the top. The only side missing is Manchester United, but they have had the hardest start, with away games against both Liverpool and Manchester City, and a home match against Chelsea.

At the bottom of the table, it is a similar story. Sunderland, Crystal Palace, Fulham, Norwich, Cardiff & West Hame occupy the bottom 6. If I were a betting man, I would put my house on the 3 relegated sides coming from those 6 teams. Again, despite it being early doors, the league table is not lying.

This brings me on to Arsenal. Top of the league on goal difference. Some might argue that we are only there due to a favourable run of games – out of our 5 games, only 2 have been away, both of which were against 18th and 20th in the league; and the 3 home games, Spurs, Aston Villa & Stoke, we would expect to win (Although we lost to Aston Villa). We have had a very comfortable start to the season. But is it any harder than others?

In terms of playing ‘each other’ in the sides in the top 6, Spurs have played 1 other (Arsenal away), Manchester City 1 (Manchester United home), Liverpool 1 (Manchester United home), Chelsea 2 (Manchester United & Everton away) and Everton 1 (Chelsea away).

The stand out team is Manchester United. They have already had 3 very tricky games in the 1st 5 games. Other than that, every other side has had a similar run of hard games, with every side playing another at least once, bar Chelsea who have played twice.

Therefore, it is easy to make an argument that the league table does not lie. What it shows is that it is tight at the top. 3 points between 1st and 6th. Whilst it might take another half dozen games before Arsenal, Tottenham and Liverpool can be considered as true title contenders, the signs are good for the Gunners. With a favourable run of games coming up, it is not inconceivable that we could still be top after the 1st 10 games. And then we will have to be considered contenders.

Whilst you can not win the title after the first 10 games, you can certainly rule yourself out of the race by too many early dropped points. All we can do is take it one game at a time.

Keep the faith, and keep supporting the team.

Keenos