How Arsenal beat the red devil out of Manchester United

Even though Aleksandr Hleb went off to be replaced by Julio Baptista (who was anonymous), I felt the Belarussian breadman played a good game overall. He hustled, harried, ran and tackled, with his passing often angled more vertical than horizontal, as he probed the right side of United's stall for an opening.

Cesc Fabregas was an artist in his element. He bossed the midfield at Old Trafford, he bossed the midfield here. Michael Carrick cost close to £19million, but Fabregas cost Arsenal nothing. Carrick played well for United as a glorified ball retriever, while Fabregas gave a demonstration on being a modern midfield maestro. If passing is an art, this man is master of his craft.

Philippe Senderos kept his concentration all game and had Henrik Larsson in his pocket for most of it. How Ferguson must be wishing he had started Louis Saha in place of the Swede. Perhaps Wenger's comment that he was terrified of playing the Swede had Fergie double-guessing himself. The Swiss youngster may have struggled against the physical approach of Saha, but against the wily Swede he had a smooth game.
Kolo Toure, as ever, was a champion workhorse, matched only by his opposite number, the immense Nemanja Vidic, at the other end of the park.

Emmanuel Eboue, despite himself, kept Ronaldo fairly quiet, even managing to get the Portuguese w**ker/winger/winker booked out of petulant frustration. A few nervous moments with his clearances and the odd clumsy challenge aside, the Ivorian was more than competent at right-back and what a sweet cross it was, indeed - textbook stuff, like at the start of the season. What a vindication it is that after Arsenal sold off one of their most consistent right-backs of recent times, his replacement was instrumental in both containing and overcoming the threat of the league leaders. How Harry Redknapp must be wishing Arsenal had let the other West African right-back leave.

Gael Clichy goes from strength to strength and judging by both his contribution to Arsenal's game this season (and Cashley's [Cole] contribution to Chelsea's demise), he has more then replaced the money-grabbing Englishman in both team and spirit. His pacy counte-attacks were balanced evenly by his dogged defending and critical interceptions. Eric Abidal must be nervously peering over his shoulder when considering the pecking order for the Les Blues left-back position.

Thierry Henry was sulking at times and a little peripheral, it seemed. But just as I sensed an unwilling sense of deja-vu, the captain came up with a flick-on assist and a gutsy headed winner. Tremendous Thierry, that was fantastic. He may have seemed a little unwilling to get stuck in, but boy did he rise to the occasion (no pun intended) when it was asked of him. His first-half header was an apology to centre forwards everywhere, but his late winner was a clinic in big-time delivery with the head. Va-va Voom!

You sensed that with bringing Robin Van Persie on, Wenger switched to a more direct style in Arsenal's attacking approach. Until then, as on innumerable times in the last three seasons, the Gunners prevaricated when a more direct approach presented itself - with the exception of Rosicky, of course. But he was so woeful with his shooting, it didn't matter.

Tactically there is an advantage of playing the ball back to the cavalry, arriving in numbers in and around the box, when the ball is played long to the foremost attacker. By dragging the ball back and square, it pays off on occasion to tee someone else up in a better situation. However, Vidic and Rio Ferdinand were so composed in their positioning, and Carrick was so in the way, that drag-backs inevitably resulted in the ball going back to square one in the middle of the park. I was glad, therefore, to see Van Persie, never a stranger to direct, selfish shooting, positioned at the far post when Henry's flick-on arrived, rather than one our more selfless midfielders.

It was delightfully self-indulgent to see Van Persie and Henry pull the trigger, the Dutchman's sweet one-time shot rifling into the roof of the net to send Ashburton Grove into hysterics while Eboue's late cross to Henry condemned United to a comprehensive defeat. Direct style; two goals from four attempts; short-passing approach play: zero goals from the entire game until then. Numbers rarely lie.

Emmanuel Adebayor's tireless approach was illustrated in one sequence where, after running close to 50 yards to retrieve the ball, he placed it on the corner of six-yard box for Edwin van der Sar. Typically United, their keeper proceeded to waste time by shifting the ball onto the other corner. If any gesture signaled that United were a little concerned, perhaps even scared, it was that little piece of pathetic gamesmanship.

One can talk all they want about the need to rush the ball back into play, but few Premiership footballers would have spent so much energy on what was, eventually, a fruitless endeavour. In my mind, Adebayor was neck and neck with Vidic when he received Fabregas's long ball and was flagged for being offside. Had he scored, it would be nothing less than he deserved.

How fitting it was, then, to see Ferguson whine when Jens Lehmann, in the final moments, with Arsenal leading, proceeded to do a little time-wasting himself. Pot calling the kettle black ? No, Sir Alex, as you sow so you reap.

Finally Lehmann - what can you say? The German was solid at the back, keeping out three shots that may have trickled in. The entire game, he was only out of position once, and when you consider the aerial bombardment as well as long-distance shooting that United subjected him to, that was an achievement in itself. Lehmann led from the back and started what Henry finished at the other end.

A truly awesome, whole-hearted team performance from Arsenal.

Next time the Gunners meet United, in perhaps the FA Cup or the Champions' League, you can rest assured that Ferguson will revert to employing the muscular physical approach that served him well the last time Arsenal were in direct ascendancy over them - the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons. They will resort to being more forceful and rough in the middle of the park.

If anything, United missed the brutish style of Saha and John O'Shea when they were leading. I will not complain. This game reiterated once more that no-one can out-football Arsenal. Full credit to United for playing football, though, and trying to beat Wenger’s men at it.

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