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

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