We have already, since you ask so nice. You make me curious as to why you've sidestepped the question of whether you think Arsenal will win the league.
??? Of course I'll be watching Unlikely. We played them away from home, plus a loss would open up a 5/6 point gap on 4th so whilst I don't agree with what he said, United have just started to string a few results together and a loss against Arsenal would set them right back again. The United of old would grind out a result one way or the other, if this one can't then their previous excellent finishes in the league will mean nothing.
Lol i didnt side step it at all . Its just that , unlike Spurs fans , we dont make silly claims in November about winning the league . We leave that to HIAG . Only stupid sports journos , and spurs fans talk about winning the league in November . Ask me again in March when the question will NOT be a stupid one .
Arsenal have been making light work of teams who have conceded possession to them. Arsenal are dangerous with time and space on the ball. The key to the game will be how Moyes sets up midfield to deny them time and space. With Vidic in imperious form, Giroud shouldn't get a sniff, but their runners from midfield need tracking. Utd are bound to get periods of possession at OT and RvP and Rooney are a big threat to a still occasionally suspect defence. When they were hit with pace and quick movement on the opening day v Villa, they fell apart spectularly. Much the same Utd team beat much the same Arsenal team easily last season and have kept them quiet for many seasons now by playing a cetain way which frustrates their style and allows Utd to counterattack them. More of the same please.
We're in trouble now, but if you believe in the power of self confidence and "momentum" then a win could make all the difference. You can't win the title now, but you can lose it if you have five or six teams significantly ahead of you already.
That's what I meant, you've just started to gain a little momentum and if you get another setback at this point it would hurt. A draw wouldn't be too bad, if you then go on to win a difficult game against Cardiff then you'll still be in a decent position on the back of 2 months unbeaten across all competitions.
Utd and Moyes put too much pressure on themselves to win the title as under Fergie it was 1st or 2nd yet as long as they finish top four then IMO that's a good season for them. Next year is when you expect Utd to challenge for the title and not make the same mistakes in the transfer market,plus Moyes won't be asked stupid questions such as "is this your team" or "have you found your feet yet".
United under Moyes won't recover an 11 point gap. Not with Everton and Spurs to play in December and also Chelsea/Spurs to play in January. Must win game on Sunday IMO. Unlike Chelsea, Arsenal will really go for it at Old Trafford.
And isn't that understandable? Moyes needs this year to get to grips with the job and its unrealistic to expect them just to carry on from where Fergie left them. Moyes will be eager to win a trophy, be that a cup but he can't "wing it", in terms of the title but I just hope rooney can inspire them this weekend to get a result.
Again, this will be the first time we will be able to quantitatively assess the Fergie factor in the PL. IMHO twas worth at least an extra 10 pts to the Man Utd tally each season.
You could say the same for Mourinho and Pellegrini as well. Both have had challenges to overcome. Pellegrini's major one was Last 16 CL progression and Mourinho's is (presumably) to turn Chelsea back into a PL/CL winning force. I'd have thought an Arsenal win would be better for Spurs
There's positives to be gained from any result between them. The Spurs result is obviously the most important and probably dictates what result we'd prefer in the United-Arsenal match. If we win I think we'd rather be 2 points off Arsenal than 6 ahead of United but if we lose then Arsenal's points become of less immediate relevence to us and we'd rather stay above United. I'd imagine it's the same for Chelsea too.
You know we've had lower posession stats this year than any of the last few seasons?? Dortmund did that and still lost. Dortmund are better than United. As in he IS in imperious form, or you hope he will be? You think Vidic is any better than Subotic? Why? Occasionally suspect? Conceded 4 less than United this year and 3 clean sheets in last 4 games (against Palace, Chelsea, Liverpool, Dortmund - hardly pushover games). Mert and Kosc one of the best pairings in the league. You're basing this optimism on our form in the first game of the season rather than the 17 games since then (of which we've won 14, drawn 1 and lost 2)? Except you're now missing one key ingredient. I'm not begrudging any of your points as they're all opinions and everyone has different opinions which forms the grounding of debate. But I can't agree with most of what you've written... seems like you're trying to pass off blind optimism rather than realism. You may well tank us on Sunday but you'll have to play well to do so (or us very badly) in which case it will be fair enough. United have quite a few weak areas in their team now and seem to be relying quite often on individual moments of great play from one or two players to get you your wins (rather like Spurs last year with Bale). Your entire midfield is one of United's weakest in the last 20 years and your defence is aging. Moyes needs to get in some reinforcements. Wasn't given an easy job with the fact that Fergie managed to win the league with such an 'un-great' squad last year... testament to him being an awesome manager. But tough entry for Moyes who does need new players.
Not for me. I'd rather Arsenal win. Knocks United out the title race and makes life easier. 1st is still in our hands if we beat Arsenal twice.
Cini, he's right. You weren't dangerous against Dortmund until you scored, which was your first shot of the game or something, wasn't it? After that Dortmund lost their caution and you suddenly had 2 or 3 more great chances in the last half an hour. It's not a criticism, just an observation that you thrive in games where the opposition are less patient. I agree with you on the Villa stuff though, you had 10 men when they really started to over run you. In general you've been very solid when you take the lead lately, Villa's more a blip than anything. I'm not saying they will but United can beat you on Sunday and neither your excellent away record or the result against Dortmund change that.
Not if you drop points against West Brom it's not. That's why I was saying that what's better for you is probably dependent on your result.
I have to agree with all this. I think i would prefer, just, Utd to win. But i fully expect Arsenal to win at OT and i wouldn't be surprised if there is more than 1 goal in it. Considering he's Arsenal i'm actually a big fan of Giroud. I don't think he gets the credit he deserves, probably because he's not a "top name" or whatever. He will cause Utd problems. Utd's best/ony hope is Rooney and RVP as Luke says though. If they have a good game Utd could beat anyone.
