As the game drew to a close, the skies over Manchester were once again cloudy.
If the rain had been to fall a little later, the Reds would have lost just one game to one of the best teams in the Premier League this season, and with their own squad full of injuries and not even enough first-team players on the bench.
However, as the game entered the final moments, the rain was already pouring down, and fans who left a little later could see that the roof of Old Trafford was starting to leak again.
The only thing thankful for me was that the embarrassing moment didn't happen in the middle of the game.
The heavy rain that once again exposed the disrepair of Old Trafford gave the most accurate note to this game, because Manchester United on the pitch is also like this former "theater of dreams":
In urgent need of a heart-wrenching bone scraping to heal the poison.
From Arsenal's point of view, it's still a tough away game, but that's about it.
As in more than a dozen away games before them, Arsenal fielded their theoretically strongest squad and started pressing from Saka's side less than a minute into the game:
But in the opening stages, United also showed that their skinny camel is bigger than horses, and can press up front and create Arsenal's mistakes at the back:
This means that Arsenal still need to play steadily, and not think about becoming fat in one bite, after all, all they need at the moment is points.
So, with United's performance in the opening stages boosting their confidence, pressing the formation and putting in more energy, Arsenal see a way to win.
In the 19th minute of the game, Arsenal broke through the left rib and tested Casemiro first:
After 90 seconds, United conceded from the other side:
In this goal, Casemiro didn't move fast enough to keep Havertz out of an offside trap, which was a glaring mistake.
This is largely due to Casemiro's ability decline since this season, and his movements that were not brisk at the beginning of his joining have become increasingly unable to cover the vast space, in addition, he has not been trained as a central defender by Cobain, and as a weak-sided central defender with a wider perspective, he obviously lacks the basic awareness of controlling the offside line.
However, people are not central defenders, which is difficult for strong people, so like Rooney thinks that Casemiro of this goal is "lazy", I personally disagree with this point of view, and behind Casemiro, Wan-Bissaka can make Trossard easily occupy the position advantage from the front, this defensive action and awareness is also quite amazing.
Like a lot of goals conceded by Manchester United this season, it's not that simple.
After conceding the goal, Manchester United's intensity did not increase immediately, or the effect of the improvement was not obvious, Arsenal can still attack from this side, whether it is Saka, Ben White, can create a threat:
So, from United's point of view, it's no surprise that this happened.
Casemiro is the substitute centre-back, Evans is the fifth centre-back last year, Menou is just a kid under 20 years old, and Amrabat has lost his regular playing time in 2024.
Of course, there is also Diogo Dalot, who is already on the verge of becoming a left-back, and this game is tasked with defending the strong side of Bukayo Saka.
Manchester United's defensive area is full of players of one kind and another, and the defensive intensity is naturally not to be counted on, just like the last game against Crystal Palace, Manchester United can only hope that their attacking content will be played in order to try to get back a relatively good result.
However, this is the most frustrating aspect of the day for Manchester United.
Ten Hag fielded a front-and-back combination of Hjlen and Scott McTominay in the middle of the game amid an extreme shortage of manpower, and it was clear that this combination could create significant physical and impact pressure on Arsenal's midfield.
Under pressure from this area, Garnacho and Amad Diallo on the flanks will theoretically be given more space to organise United's attack without Bruno Fernandez.
This is United's tactical plan for this game and it is what they should be playing as Garnacho and Amad Diallo should be able to catch some gaps between as many as six big men at the back of Arsenal.
Like they did in the 7th minute of the game:
But in the 30th minute of the game, Garnacho first exposed his inefficiency when breaking through:
Then in the 36th minute of the match, Amad Diallo exposed his addiction to dribbling:
Even in these two failed rounds of attack, Garnacho and Amad Diallo showed their flexibility as small players to take the first step in front of their opponents, especially Amad Diallo, who could easily cut into Tomiyasu's inside, but the handling after that was quite disappointing.
In the 41st minute, Garnacho proved this again:
In fact, these two can handle the ball efficiently within their ability by looking up early and observing their teammates' positions:
However, such performances are rare, and if you don't believe it, look at the second half:
So in terms of the situation of the game, Manchester United are by no means without advantages and opportunities, and their frontcourt setup today can already take advantage of the problem of too many big men at the back of Arsenal relatively effectively.
Especially in the 60th minute, Garnacho just caught the mistake of Ben White and Saka in handing over defensive duties, and neither Saliba nor Rice had time to make up for it.
As a result, Garnacho made this unbelievable starting opportunity like this:
Confidence was taken a hit, and it was no surprise that Garnacho had only one such performance in the next few minutes:
Even so, Garnacho is still the most dangerous side of United's attack, because on the right flank, Amad Diallo, Mainou and Wan-Bissaka have no idea how to coordinate in a local area, and at one point they can stand and die at the same time, without running at all:
So, if you say Garnacho is United's most attacking threat in this game, I totally agree with that, but you have to admit that he is a far cry from a goal.
That's what we said a month ago, and in terms of results, there is no real difference between him and Marcus Rashford as a starting left winger.
Garnacho's performance means that Rashford can easily become the starting left winger in the FA Cup final as long as he recovers from injury, after all, he has at least the capital to score 30 goals last season, and Garnacho is still just a child.
At the moment of life and death, no one will bet on young people.
So, don't just because Garnacho has hard work and fighting spirit to infinitely boost his performance.
Football is all about stats, and for a player with so many firing rights, there is no point in trying hard without scoring goals.
However, don't just throw Garnacho into the mud just because he didn't score.
Especially in this game, because his breakthrough success rate was limited, because his shooting accuracy was not good, there was no problem with criticism, but it would not be objective to say that it was worthless.
In the final 15 minutes, Garnacho remained United's most powerful player on the pitch:
It's just that this kind of momentum, at the moment when his efficiency is limited, should be used more in terms of output tactical role, or the starting right winger, or the substitute left winger, which is better than his starting left winger.
As a result, Manchester United lost 0-1 to Arsenal in such a performance.
Like we said, this away game is still not easy for Arsenal, even if United are quite weak and chaotic today. From the perspective of the team's own confidence, Arsenal has not yet reached the height of Manchester City and Liverpool, which are aiming for the Champions League and the Premier League in the past few seasons, so Arsenal players will still make some mistakes in this away game, and from the team's own tactics, the problem of too many big men in Arsenal's backfield just collided with the tactical design of Manchester United today with big players to set up a table for small men, and it is very normal to eat a little.
It's just that Manchester United's little men can't exchange these "deflated" for a goal.
Yes, there is no need to wonder why Garnacho and Ahmad Diallo did not send crosses to the likes of Hjlen and Scott McTominay in the middle after this game, just as there is no need to wonder why United did not opt for a more conservative counter-attacking approach when they are so short of personnel.
Because that's not Ten Hag's tactical intentions. In his thinking, the center is mostly used for work, and the opportunity is reserved for second-tier players like Garnacho.
To explain it all, Ten Hag's theory is that the injured will always come back, Rashford will always get back to his form, just like the roof that leaks in the rain will always be repaired, and then everything will be fine.
But whether Ten Hag will be able to see that time in the United presidency is hard to say.