The Sunday Times - UK (2022-04-24)

(Antfer) #1
The Sunday Times April 24, 2022 3

Halfway through the post-match
press conference, Mikel Arteta was
asked how worried he was during the
12-day period this month when his
team lost consecutive games against
Crystal Palace, Brighton & Hove
Albion and Southampton. Arteta
laughed at what he saw as the
comical side of the question.
“I worry when we win,” he said,
“So you can imagine what it’s like
after the defeats.”
Anyone who witnessed this
uneven but wonderfully eventful
game will know what Arteta was
getting at. The defending by both
teams was beyond bad. It was like
watching a movie so terrible it makes
you laugh. There can’t have been
many minutes during the 90 when
poor Mikel was not fretting.
Luckily for him, when it came to
inept defending Manchester United
were just as bad as his team. Take the
first goal. Arsenal’s Nuno Tavares
crossed from the left. Raphaël Varane
had the chance to block or clear but
did neither as he allowed the ball to
bypass him. That should not have
been a problem. Wasn’t Alex Telles
right behind him, with time and
space to clear? Somehow Telles
flailed at the ball and missed.
After he’d got over the shock of
finding the ball at his feet, Bukayo
Saka got his shot away, a decent effort
that David de Gea palmed into the
path of Tavares, who had the easiest
finish imaginable.
That was United trying to defend.
Later in the half Arsenal’s defenders
offered us their version of ineptitude
and it was impressive. When
Nemanja Matic rolled the ball
forward with the sole of his right
boot, there was only one thing he
could do: the cross would soon be on
its way.
Cristiano Ronaldo knew that, so
did the Arsenal centre back Gabriel,
who stood alongside him. As he
waited for the delivery, Gabriel tried

to keep an eye on Ronaldo while also
watching the ball. We’re talking five
or six seconds of concentration but it
was too much.
Glancing up to check the flight of
the cross, Gabriel lost his sense of
where Ronaldo was. The striker
moved just a yard in front of him and
got to the ball as it pitched. He then
swept it into the net. If this is how
centre backs are going to play,
Ronaldo may want to keep going until
he’s 57. He had got his team back in
the game and, for about 15 minutes,
United played as though they really
wanted to win.
They chased down Arsenal’s
defenders, who had been confidently
playing out from the back. Once
pressurised, those defenders looked
like four blokes who had been
rounded up on the way to the game
and forced to play at a level way
beyond them. “At that point we
weren’t very clear what to do,” Arteta
said. “We were a little trembling.”
During their good moments,
United didn’t have much luck.
Anthony Elanga might have had a
penalty when Tavares tugged his
shoulder at the end of a long run.
Diogo Dalot crashed a shot against
the bar and saw a fine shot tipped on
to a post by Aaron Ramsdale.
The game was always engaging,
mostly because so many of the
attacks ended in goal chances. Had
Fernandes converted from the spot
and tied the score at 2-2, the result
might have been different. It was
Fernandes who was at fault for the
Granit Xhaka goal that put the game
beyond United. When the ball came
to the Portugal player just outside his
own area, his instinct should have
told him that he had to control it. He
didn’t and after Mohamed Elneny
nudged the ball into his path, Xhaka
struck a fine shot.
“It’s clear we have to defend better
in and around the box,” said Ralf
Rangnick, who also highlighted a
problem that his successor, Erik ten
Hag, will have noticed. “When we
pressed Arsenal today we caused
them problems,” Rangnick said. “We
just didn’t do it often enough with
more intensity and more players.”
He was basically saying the United
players did not run enough. Even
now it’s clear that, come July, the
training ground at Carrington is going
to be no place for the faint-hearted.

They looked like
four blokes who had
been rounded up
and forced to play at
a level beyond them

With defences this bad,


Ronaldo may retire at 57


David Walsh

Saka converts from the penalty spot after being felled by United’s Telles

Xhaka celebrates
with Alexandre
Lacazette after
sealing Arsenal’s
victory with a
torpedo shot from
the edge of the area

PAUL CHILDS
MATCH
OF THE
DAY

Cristiano Ronaldo PL goals, by season

TON UP FOR RONALDO


Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 100th
Premier League goal yesterday, 18-and-
a-half years after he struck his first.
He is the fourth player to hit a ton for
Manchester United (Ryan Giggs, Paul
Scholes, Wayne Rooney are the others)



  • the joint-most of any club, along with
    Liverpool, also four


16


18


31


17


9


5


4


2021-22


2008-09


2007-08


2006-07


2005-06


2004-05


2003-04


Cristiano Ronaldo
dedicated his 100th
Premier League goal to
his newborn son, who
tragically died this week.
Ronaldo raised his left
arm to the sky in a
subdued manner. The
goal came 18 years after
he celebrated, below, his
first in the Premier
League against
Portsmouth.

A CELEBRATION
WITHOUT JOY
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