I'm getting a bit tired of this now.

You know, sometimes I wish Arsenal would win on the big stage, just so I could do a bit happy blog rather than exactly the same one I did for Barca and Birmingham. What can you stay, we started well, had loads of possession and United scored. We opened up and United scored on the counter. That's your match report right there really. We had chances and could have been a bit more clinical, but Van Der Sar's fully dererved Man of the Match tells a story of it's own, although he was never forced into any wonder saves; he was solid and it cannot be doubted that he made life a lot easier for United.

That's not to say that Almunia was bad for us; he wasn't really at fault for the goals, except maybe he could have parried the shot for the first one in a different direction; but that really would be nit-picking. Bacary Sagna was great going forward, putting in quite a few really good crosses; his inconsistent crossing has often been his  downfall, let's hope his recent improvement carries on. Howver, he was a bit shaky defensively, let's hope a better attacking Sagna doesn't lead to a worse defending Sagna; otherwise we'll get and Eboue. On the other side, Gibbs looked shaky; obviously Old Trafford isn't the easiest place to go but he didn't quite look up to speed, getting muscled off the ball in the early stages. He improved as the match went on, but was quiet at best.

Koscielny was good going forward, carrying the ball out of defence, making passes and could have even scored to make it 1-1 but for Van Der Sar in the United goal. He did look a little shaky at the back, sometimes lagging behind the movement of Hernandez and Rooney. Johan Djourou was solid at the back as always, rarely letting Hernandez or Rooney get the better of him. That injury looked worrying though, six minutes, stretcher, neck brace, oxygen mask. Wenger confimed after the match that it's a dislocated shoulder and he's out for the rest of the season. Such a shame, to prove how important he is for us, we haven't lost a league game this season with him in the line-up. The record goes further back than that as well.

Denilson was caught jogging for the United counter-attacks once again. I know it's his style to pass sideways and backwards, but when we're 2-0 down, you have to be a bit more adventurous really. Diaby put in the effort, but he just slows down our attacks way too much, too one-dimensional and gives away possession way too much. He doesn't play well in the advanced role, he can't make his trademark runs. Jack Wilshere. Legend.

Nasri looked bright, had a few efforts saved by Van Der Sar and looked creative; as did Robin Van Persie, didn't get much service but dropped deep to help out and also looked creative, if not as sharp as we would hope. Hopefully the one week break will give him time to recover. Andrei Arshavin had a few good chances earlier, then must have been abducted because aside from a few passes he wasn't really around that much.

Chamakh came on for Denilson with half an hour left and was decent, running around, pressurising and having shots saved, he;s not doing too badly as an impact sub, if only he could start scoring again. Rosicky came on for Arshavin, had a long-range effort saved and was normal Rosicky. The best thing to happen yesterday, Aaron Ramsey is officially back, coming on for Abou Diaby and immediately made a massive difference, running with drive and determination, looking to set people running. Let's hope he starts at West Brom ahead of the Chcukle Brothers.

So anyways, the boss spoke to the press afterwards about Djourou's injury and also our woeful finishing amongst other things. Check it out here, or watch the video below.




In other news, the U-18s followed up that win against Chelsea with a 3-0 loss to Leicester, although this side is doing worse than previous sides that have come through Hale End, this is a very young U-18 side and next year it will pretty much be the same side so that would probably be the time to judge.

In other news, Crewe beat top of the table Chesterfield, proving that no matter how far up the table you are, you can't take results for granted. Not that we didn't know that already...