Manchester United beat Arsenal 2-1 on Saturday after the Gunners dominated much of the play. Worryingly for them, they couldn’t finish off a United side who were enduring what will probably be remembered as their worst performance of the season. Regardless, Arsenal tested Ben Foster on just one occasion after scoring, which allowed United back in to the game.
Their goalscorer, Andrey Arshavin, has today blamed their tactics for the defeat, claiming that they retreated in to their own half after going 1-0 up.
“I am upset with the result,” said Arshavin. “Yes, we suffered a first defeat, which, I think, should just give us additional strength. We will draw our conclusions from how this happened. Why did we lose? Once we scored, the team should not have retreated into our half, but instead should have continued to play our brand of game - to attack the goals of the opponent, rather than play to retain the lead. In the second half Manchester pressured us a litte and this ‘little’ was enough to score two goals against us. After that we started playing again, but it was already not enough. Three points lost.”