Manchester United 1 : 0 Arsenal (CL Semifinal 1st Leg)

Wednesday, 29 April 09, 05:12 PM · Comments (0)

O'Shea, 17.

Arsene Wenger would've probably been better off fielding Lukas Fabinaski along side Manuel Almunia rather than the ten field players that put together a display which was nothing short of shocking.

United were able to threaten early and often, and they did, be it through Rooney, Ronaldo, Tevez, Anderson or Fletcher they were able to keep Almunia on his toes and full credit to the Spanish stopper, he stood up tall for the majority of the match.

Following two world class saves from Almunia, Arsenal saw their fractured, unstable defense broken as Michael Carrick latched onto the end of a corner, shuffled around an Arsenal defender and picked out John O'Shea near the far post. O'Shea was in acres of space and it showed as he rifled the ball into the goal.

It took Arsenal roughly half an hour to generate any type of attack, Cesc Fabregas' shot lacking any kind of venom to trouble Edwin van der Sar. Nasri never really got into the flow of things and despite occasional forays by Theo Walcott, Emmanuel Adebayor looked isolated and worse, disinterested.

Sometime during the second half Arsenal found their feet and started to keep possession through the midfield but still found themselves unable to create any chances save for Adebayor's dipping shot. United seemed more content to defend now but continued to threaten with Ronaldo's hot effort rattling the frame of a stranded Almunia's goal.

Midway through the second half Ryan Giggs would make his 800th appearance for United, an incredible milestone for the Welshman and he nearly marked it with a goal but had his effort called back for offside, though fractional the replays showed the officials got it right.

Arsenal made one chance late in the half when a free kick was awarded just outside the area, Nicklas Bendtner got on the end of what could hardly be considered a good chance but put wide.

The Gunners will count themselves lucky that it was only 1-0, owing this to a combination of fabulous play from Almunia and United lacking sharpness in the final third. The London club will need dramatic improvement if they're to be in Rome come May.

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