Arsenal Still a Work in Progress

Following yesterday’s loss versus Manchester United, Arsenal have proven yet again that they are a work in progress side. Despite a decent start to the season, the gunners have lost concentration, faltered and others have taken advantage of their fragilities.
The North Londoners were without a doubt outplayed by their opponents at a place where they normally struggle. The match was far from a close contest and the score line could and should have been worse had United taken their chances.
Although Arsenal had the best defensive record in the league coming into this fixture but that defense conceded no less than 5 goals in midweek against Reading. Gunners somehow fought back to win that contest but it wasn’t going to happen against Manchester United who exploited the same weaknesses to beat them.
A costly error in the third minute of the game unsettled Arsenal and afterwards they just could not recover. For worst that goal was scored by none other than their ex captain and star striker, someone who they miss the most, Robin van Persie. Not to forget, the goal was set up for him by none other than the current captain Thomas Vermaelen who had one of his worst outings in the red and white shirt. Arsene Wenger showed no hesitancy in blaming his captain and praising ex captain as he claimed:

“The error of Vermaelen is unwelcome. The big defenders don’t make this kind of errors”
“When you give the ball to Van Persie in this situation, there are two chances on three (2/3) there is a goal.”

Andre Santos was by far the flop of the match, losing the ball easily and could not cope with the searing pace of Valencia and Rafael. Frequently making simple idiotic mistakes and completely looked out of depth.
At the end of the day, Arsenal only conceded two goals and a consolation was scored by Santi Cazorla who curled the ball home in the 95th minute with a top draw strike. There are no positives to take from this result as Arsenal surely have not progressed from last season. The only difference was that United’s attack was not as influential and they wasted chance after chance else Arsenal’s performance deserved another 8-2.