MANCHESTER UNITEDโS season lurched onto the next disappointment as their Premier League top-four hopes were all but extinguished with defeat at Arsenal.
With Erik Ten Hagโs arrival in the summer announced earlier in the week, the Red Devils followed a sorry loss at Anfield with a 3-1 reverse against a recently rejuvenated Gunners team.
An enthralling game saw both sides make plenty of mistakes at the back but a first Arsenal goal for Nuno Tavares, a Bukayo Saka penalty and a Granit Xhaka screamer proved more than enough for the hosts, who had looked shaky after Cristiano Ronaldoโs 100th Premier League goal had the visitors back in the game.
Bruno Fernandes missed a penalty and Diogo Dalot twice hit the woodwork as United failed to make their period of superiority pay on an afternoon where Ralf Rangnick dropped United captain Harry Maguire.
The England defender has been heavily criticised for his performances this season, culminating in a bomb threat last week.
He was taken out of the spotlight at the Emirates Stadium as one of five changes from the galling 4-0 loss at Liverpool on Tuesday night.
Rangick said Ten Hag has a difficult job when he takes the reins, but the โoperation of the open heartโ the German believes is required to overhaul Unitedโs fortunes will come too late to revive their Champions League chances.
With Maguire watching on from the bench it soon became clear Unitedโs defensive ills were not the fault of one man.
Arsenal needed less than three minutes to break the deadlock, Unitedโs defence all over the shop as the recalled pair of Raphael Varane and Alex Telles wafted a leg in failed attempts to clear a simple cross, allowing Saka a shot on goal.
David De Gea did well to palm the effort away but Tavares was on hand, reacting quicker than Dalot to pop in the rebound.
United looked to respond in kind, Fernandes and Ronaldo combining to free Anthony Elanga, whose low shot was well saved by Aaron Ramsdale.
Ramsdale was then almost caught out having seen a pass intercepted by Scott McTominay but Fernandes could not take the chance as Gabriel Magalhaes blocked his shot behind.
United were now creating the better chances, Ronaldo arrowing a drive over from an acute angle before Dalot cracked the crossbar with a fine strike.
Arsenal still posed a threat as Mohamed Elneny and Martin Odegaard combined to free Nketiah, who should have done better than shooting straight at De Gea.
The lead was soon doubled as VAR took centre stage, firstly ruling out an Nketiah goal for offside before drawing referee Craig Pawsonโs attention to a foul on Saka in the build-up.
A penalty was eventually awarded and, just like he did in the win at Chelsea on Wednesday, Saka stepped up to score from 12 yards and double the lead.
United reacted this time, Ronaldo popping up between Tavares and Gabriel to turn home a Nemanja Matic cross and half the deficit as he became the oldest player to reach a century of Premier League goals.
They were presented with the perfect chance to draw level early in the second half, with Tavares conceding a penalty as the ball hit his outstretched arm.
Fernandes, however, could not match his lavish run-up with the equaliser as his effort hit the outside of Ramsdaleโs post, Unitedโs quest for a second also scuppered by an offside flag against Ronaldo when he scored shortly afterwards.
Dalot rattled the frame of the goal for a second time in the game as his effort cannoned off the post and back into play.
Those near-misses came back to haunt United as Arsenal secured the three points which aided their own top-four ambitions.
Calls for a second penalty fell on deaf ears but Elneny squared for Xhaka to thunder as a 25-yard effort past De Gea.
Imagine thereโs still people pointing the finger at Ronaldo as being the problem at UtdโฆIf he leaves at the end of the season he can leave with his head held high, couple of hissy fits aside and u expect that from literally one of rhe greatest players of all time, heโs been great, does his Jon and then some.
Top Scorer for Utd and one of the top in the premier leagueโฆhow can he be the problemโฆheโs a strikerโฆa world class strikerโฆbuild ur bloody team around him or find a system that works with him in it.
@Damien Leen: utd fans just desperate to place the blameโฆjust canโt admit to themselves that theyโre just rubbish nowโฆah well..Good luck with that!
@Damien Leen: Ronaldo FC is alive and well
@Damien Leen: what utd fans are placing the blame on Ronaldo?? I agree with your first comment anyone thinks Ronaldo is too blame sadly doesnโt have any comprehension of football, a 37 year old carrying a team showing the rest of then up. He is definitely not the problem others are.
@Pauly Kel: the thing Ronaldo fan boys are missing is not that people are questioning weather he would score goals. The argument is that to accommodate him united had to alter the way they played with some success last year. Interestingly enough at the same stage last year united had scored more and conceded less but Ronaldo FC supporters would rather not take that information on. City liverpool Chelsea attackers all have forwards who can contribute more defensively from the front. Thatโs the type of successful football We are living in now. Ronaldo 2022 isnโt capable of that. He was at Madrid
@Pauly Kel: ah Jesus Pauly come onโฆplenty of utd fansโฆswitch on Mark Goldbridgeโฆask some utd fans nx time ur down the pubโฆnot making it up manโฆboggles the mind when they start pointing the finger at himโฆ
@Damien Leen: damo, please dont use mark goldbridge as a yardstick for the mood of man utd fans.
@Damien Leen: jasus lads thats twice today someone mentioned goldbridge the forest fan. Iโd rather stick pins in my eyes than switch on that lad. No thanks.
@Darren Fitzpatrick: yeah i think I was talking to you before about it Darren, and few things you said I agreed with, but I wouldnโt like to think how far more utd would be down the table without the mans goals, as the rest them couldnโt hit a barn door, cavani =sick note, rashford out of form big time, martial jesus hes as bad with Sevilla as he has been for utd and that loan deal certainly didnโt work out, as for MG wel leave that one where it is, Ronaldo seems to be utds only goal threat and at 37 years of age carrying a team really tells it all
@Damien Leen: absolutely agreeโฆif he had signed for man city back in August Iโm certain he would be top scorer in the Premier league this season
@Brian Dunne: fair enough but heโs actually pro Ronaldoโฆmy point was that the majority of fans who post comments on his show are anti Ronakdoโฆand seen that he has nearly 1.5 million subs thatโs a pretty wide net that is cast of utd supporters!
@Pauly Kel: ur own opinion fine however that doesnโt reflect the fact that nearly 1.5 million people have subscribed to his show and comment regularlyโฆand a lot of those are anti Ronaldoโฆso to my pointโฆa lot of utd supporters are pointing the finger of blame at Ronaldoโฆto suggest otherwise would be disingenuous.
@Damien Leen:1 mad Stat:utds last 8 goals Ronaldo scored 7,fred 1 and they still say heโs the problem.
@Pauly Kel: but who are they Paulyโฆlolโฆanyway yea,crazy stuffโฆheโll be away if theyโre not careful and they can point their fingers at each other then!
@Damien Leen: likes of goldbridges minions
@Pauly Kel: indeedโฆbut man u fans nonetheless which was my original point.
@Damien Leen: No one doubts that Ronaldo is a great player. Itโs more what the signing of Ronaldo says about United as an organisation. As Louis Van Gaal said United is more a commercial entity than a football club. Itโs no longer MUFC itโs MU PLC.
Bruno is a disgraceful, the team needs a win in one of their biggest games of the season but he only wanted a confidence boost by taking the penalty to add to his stat-padding
@Eric Murphy: When Ronaldo is on the pitch no-one else should be taking penalties, simple as.
@Eric Murphy: We donโt talk about Bruno, no, no, no!
@Eric Murphy: why do you talk about the losers? Thatโs two very good wins for the Gunners this week.
@Stephen Lyons:manager said Ronaldo told him he didnโt feel well enough to take the penalty. Bruno Fernandes is the only United player still consistently fighting.
Useless shower, over paid gang of individuals with no heart, they couldnโt care less if they win or lose. They just canโt be bothered. I knew Arsenal would beat them. Lucky to beat Norwich before Liverpool showed them how a team play. The new manager has some job ahead of him.
@Gerard McConnell:
Merch Utd PLC.
Go the Gunners :)
Arsenal will fall into the top 4 now. Just because theyโre not as bad as the likes of united, spurs or whoever else is involved in probably the worst race for 4th in living memory. City and Liverpool miles ahead of the rest of the tripe. Itโs getting like Scotland with celtic and rangers battling it out and the rest just being irrelevant
@James horgan: spurs still have the easier run in bar Liverpool
@Ryan OโRourke: Spurs to beat Arsenal, job done.
@James horgan: Such a positive outlook hahaha breathtaking
Ouch, I must be obsessed Brian ;)
@Denis Ryan: first in! Well done Denis, doing liverpool proud son!
Thereโs a rumour doing the rounds in Manchester that they are thinking of bringing Denis Law and Denis Irwin out of retirement
@Bernard Kavanagh: Denis be better than any of the current full backs still!
@Bernard Kavanagh: Dennis law has early stages of dementia so including him in a joke is a bit of a low one, but sure whatever you get your kicks out of.
@Brian Dunne: Agree, a great player, did wonderful service for united.
@Pauly Kel: I do apologize Paul I did not know that. I will delete immediately. Sorry
@Pauly Kel: A bit unfair especially if the person commenting didnโt know that Dennis Law had been diagnosed with dementia. I hadnโt heard it.
@Bernard Kavanagh: fairplay.
@Pauly Kel: it was a โ a jokeโ clearly stating how poor Unitedโs current defenders are.. YOU and you only made it, or tried to make it as a โ derogatory commentโ
@Charmaine โ Irish: how did I know Bernard didnโt know?obviously it wasnโt a joke. Thatโs well cleared up thanks anyways.
@Pauly Kel: the dog in the street knew Bernard didnโt know, because if he knew he wouldnโt of made that remark., you knew alright, but you taught by making your statement that made you superior to any knowledge that the normal layman knows..
@Charmaine โ Irish: what are you on about? โsuperior to any knowledge the normal layman knowsโ you are overly exaggerating things, fairplay to the man stating he didnโt know, it was well cleared up.
@Pauly Kel: โwell cleared upโ there was nothing to clear up!!! Bernard couldโve named any two previous Man U defenders as a throw away comment, you wouldโve latched on to it and found a fault..
Struggling to see how the 3rd goal stood. Offside striker right in front of DeGea blocking his view. Was Arsenalโs day. 2 really poor teams
@Ray Taff: Rio rightfully annoyed about it after the game. Martin Keown on the other hand is utterly clueless, useless pundit. Anyway, as if it would have changed the outcome.
@Ray Taff: If you had hung around after the match, Peter Walton gave Rio Ferdinand a detailed explanation as to why it stood.
@Sean Murnin: you canโt explain away an offside striker blocking the keepers view. Was a terrible performance all round from VAR and the officials
@Ray Taff: You should get in touch with the FA. Iโm sure they would value your professional opinion over the 3 or 4 professionals that were onsite to view it from multiple angles.
@Sean Murnin: Enlighten me on the new offside rule. You seem to be ahead of the game
@Ray Taff: Apparently itโs you that knows the rules better than anybody Ray, including the professional officials.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.
Sack Ole they said
@Gerry OโConnell: sack the glazers
@Brian Dunne: Is there any chance they they would sell the club, now the โheatโ is being increasingly directed at them? Or are they just money vampires?
@David A. Murray: zero chance Iโd say unfortunately. They are making too much money out of it. They promised to meet fans groups after the protests at the liverpool match last year but one year on and still nothing. They havenโt even been to a game in years.
@Brian Dunne: Iโm a Liverpool fan. Even I would like to see a change of owners. This is not good for the PL. We need as many teams as possible to be playing well to make the league competitive and entertaining.
@David A. Murray: fair play David. It was the same at liverpool and their fans to great credit took action. Bad owners in football is bad news for all football fans
@Brian Dunne: I donโt think we took action. The ya is bankrupted the club and we got saved. I canโt see that happening at United. Iโm not sure how you can get rid of your pa5asitrs
@David A. Murray: the glazers wonโt go until their price is met. Itโs rumoured to be ยฃ4bn apparently. That would mean theyโd make a HUGE profit off the club over the last 17 years. Zero in, ยฃ4bn out.
They only care about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. United finances that for them.
Didnโt get much luck today in all honestyโฆ Thankfully we can forget about top 4 now and just focus on next season. Its been woeful but we are where we are. Despite some of the tripe performances this season we still have some good players, a clearout this summer and appointing proper personnel that are qualified for positions rather than relying on ex pros who โknow the clubโ is whatโs needed. I actually think they should keep Ronaldo if he wants to stay as there are very few winners in that team and we need more players with character
Mohamed Elneny is the best Egyptian in the Premier League #EgyptianKing
Thank Christ there is only a few weeks of this misery left before some respite to build up my misguided optimism over the summer.
Top four battle is like that nearly every year. Always the least bad team that gets it. Last couple of years itโs been because of two huge bottle jobs by Leicester.
Reality is the gulf in class between the top two and the rest is huge. Chelsea arenโt too far off but not at the same level as City or Liverpool. The rest are miles away.
Itโs all Pogbaโs fault! It always is.
@Michael Killian: I think youโll find thatโs Balotelli ur referring too.
@Michael Killian: I thought everything was FFG and the Greens fault!
United actually played well. Couple of individual mistakes cost them. Could have had 3/4 goals. Dalot hit crossbar. Ramsdale made great save to push other Dalot shot onto the post. Missed penalty. Well thatโs Top 4 gone. Now only place to finish is 6th
@Alan Kenny: ramsdale is an insufferable dose. Celebrating like he won the world cup when bruno missed the penalty. You did nothing lad, and also went the wrong way. Sorry for hijacking your post to say that, but said id vent anyway.
@Fred spins kdb: Oh look the celebration police are out again. Would u ever lie down and take ur L! I suppose he wasnโt allowed to celebrate their goals either?
@Seร n Pรฒl OโMaolain: did i say he wasnโt allowed celebrate his own teams goals? It was cringeworthy stuff. I would say the same if De Gea did it.
@Fred spins kdb: if only a handful of United players showed the same level of passion they wouldnโt be in the position they are, great to see a player who actually gives a toss
@Eoghan Ryan: a whole two league places behind? it wasnโt passion. It was a weak attempt at shithousery, that didnโt come off.
@Alan Kenny: Yes the europa conference league would be nice
@Seร n Pรฒl OโMaolain: It was cringe worthy indeed!