Manchester United vs Arsenal (Sat 22nd July, 22:00 UK time)

[tenpoless]

We took it less seriously than them seeing is how we played 2 teams in each half, while Arteta played the team he started for 60 minutes

Typical lite pep. He is such a tryhard.

 

[stevoc]

Why was there a penalty shoot-out at the end of a win?

 

[Berbaclass]

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[TrustInJanuzaj]

Worryingly for Arsenal they looked back to their peak mid 2010s there - no bottle, doing nothing with possession and no one shooting unless they are 4 inches from goal.

havertz looks just as smeg there as at chelsea as well. They will hope that things pick up.

I’d still expect that with Jesus, Martinelli and Saka with odegaard in behind they will have enough goals to beat the lesser teams consistently, but I really question whether they have completely unbalanced that settled team with the summer signings. They should have prioritised a top number 8 in place of Havertz and maybe even Rice too. I’d say they will have a decent season again, but could see them being well off the title pace this year and in more of a top 4 battle.

 

[No Idea For Nickname]

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[Nick7]

The 2 I listed are new costing £170m. They are bought to be starters.

Given the rumours earlier in the summer of Arsenal trying to offload him to Saudi Arabia I definitely think Rice was bought to be Partey’s replacement but I can’t see them selling him now. I think Partey will be a starter for them. Havertz is a huge head scratcher. Their best XI doesn’t include him but they did spend £65m on him.

 

[Fully Fledged]

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Handbags.

 

[Red in STL]

My stream cut off after the match so missing the pens

Yeah you had to go to ESPN +

 

[yumtum]

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The same amount of fight Arsenal put up the end of last season.

 

[Jezpeza]

I’d still expect that with Jesus, Martinelli and Saka with odegaard in behind they will have enough goals to beat the lesser teams consistently, but I really question whether they have completely unbalanced that settled team with the summer signings. They should have prioritised a top number 8 in place of Havertz and maybe even Rice too. I’d say they will have a decent season again, but could see them being well off the title pace this year and in more of a top 4 battle.

Havertz transfer baffled me. He’s cack up front and they already had Odegaard, Vieira and Smith Rowe for the advanced midfield positions. They’ve also signed another cb to play at right back

 

[Robertd0803]

Beating a team twice in one game is something new.

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

Given the rumours earlier in the summer of Arsenal trying to offload him to Saudi Arabia I definitely think Rice was bought to be Partey’s replacement but I can’t see them selling him now. I think Partey will be a starter for them. Havertz is a huge head scratcher. Their best XI doesn’t include him but they did spend £65m on him.

The problem is Rice and Partey don’t have the right balance for what Arteta is trying to do. It’s far too defensive and not enough quality on the ball. Both fulfill the same role. Rice is a good player but Partey is currently still better.

 

[JediSith]

Good result. Turned off after 90 minutes not realising there’d be penalties.

Can see the type of role Mount will play and what he’ll bring into the team. Onana going to slot in amazingly.

I know it’s just a preseason friendly but in the preseason friendlies you get to see how the manager wants to play. Or in this case what his trying to build the team towards playing. Doesn’t always work out, of course. Sometimes the season starts and a manager does a complete 180 after a few bad results. Who can forget the 30 pass goal Vs Real Madrid in preseason under LVG only for Leicester to happen early in the season and LVG to do an about turn.

 

[RedDevilRoshi]

I liked what I saw from Mount. Particularly one attribute that he possesses which kind of bypassed me when he was at Chelsea as didn’t watch too many of their games. He looks like he is press-resistant which is a big plus. Any moment Arsenal tried to press and win the ball off him, he just bypassed their press and always found a pass and kept things ticking over.

Still more to come from him of course but the early signs look positively promising.

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

Havertz transfer baffled me. He’s cack up front and they already had Odegaard, Vieira and Smith Rowe for the advanced midfield positions. They’ve also signed another cb to play at right back

Yeh for all the hype on their signings I completely agree. Looks like square pegs in round holes for me to be honest. I’d probably rather have smith Rowe at Utd than Havertz tbh!

 

[pocco]

I’d still expect that with Jesus, Martinelli and Saka with odegaard in behind they will have enough goals to beat the lesser teams consistently, but I really question whether they have completely unbalanced that settled team with the summer signings. They should have prioritised a top number 8 in place of Havertz and maybe even Rice too. I’d say they will have a decent season again, but could see them being well off the title pace this year and in more of a top 4 battle.

Yeah they could have unbalanced their midfield in particular. They had a solid base of Partey and Xhaka, with Odegaard ahead. He effectively turned that upside down now, which is also what ETH has done with the Mount signing. I would have thought Rice would be a good upgrade on Xhaka, but completely removing one his deeper midfielders could unsettle it all. It remains to be seen but it is interesting that we've done the same. Almost like both teams are trying to copy City. Especially with the tucked in full backs.

Early days too but Timber didn't look great. I expect White will start the season at RB and they may even start Partey alongside Rice and try to gradually change their system.

 

[SadlerMUFC]

Partey came on and immediately looked like their best midfielder. Thing is I like Rice and he’s a good player but currently Partey remains the better player.

They will play together a lot. Rice will be Xhaka's replacement. Especially in the big games. That's when they will play 4-2-3-1. In the games they are supposed to dominate it will be Rice or Partey rotating most likely with Havertz then stepping in

 

[predator]

Only caught the last 30 mins but we looker good. Mctominay looked balon d'Or material.

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

They will play together a lot. Rice will be Xhaka's replacement. Especially in the big games. That's when they will play 4-2-3-1. In the games they are supposed to dominate it will be Rice or Partey rotating most likely with Havertz then stepping in

I’m not convinced that Rice can play that Xhaka role. He’s not a bad dribbler but not good enough generally outside of that in attack. Just looks very defensive to me. I don’t see it being as effective.

 

[Nick7]

The problem is Rice and Partey don’t have the right balance for what Arteta is trying to do. It’s far too defensive and not enough quality on the ball. Both fulfill the same role. Rice is a good player but Partey is currently still better.

Rice has to play given the transfer cost, and Partey is their best midfielder. Odegaard will always play and then they have Havertz brought in for big money. Odd squad planning. Similar to them having 3 CB/RB hybrids now with the Timber purchase, but Zinchenko and Tierney, who Arteta doesn’t seem to rate that highly, on the left.

 

[Acquire Me]

Why was there a penalty shoot-out at the end of a win?

We beat them twice in the same match.

 

[moodyred]

Fans in Arsemania thinks Arsenal outplayed United. Did they actually watch the game?

 

[TrustInJanuzaj]

Yeah they could have unbalanced their midfield in particular. They had a solid base of Partey and Xhaka, with Odegaard ahead. He effectively turned that upside down now, which is also what ETH has done with the Mount signing. I would have thought Rice would be a good upgrade on Xhaka, but completely removing one his deeper midfielders could unsettle it all. It remains to be seen but it is interesting that we've done the same. Almost like both teams are trying to copy City. Especially with the tucked in full backs.

Early days too but Timber didn't look great. I expect White will start the season at RB and they may even start Partey alongside Rice and try to gradually change their system.

I think the difference with Utd is that Mount brings so much more energy in midfield than Erkisen who he’s replacing and that alone I think makes us more defensively solid. Eriksen is a classy player but he runs in treacle at this age. Xhaka wasn’t my favourite player, but he undoubtably had his best season last year and that player is not an easy one to replace, not convinced they have done a good job of it.

 

[CloneMC16]

Havertz transfer baffled me. He’s cack up front and they already had Odegaard, Vieira and Smith Rowe for the advanced midfield positions. They’ve also signed another cb to play at right back

Havertz signing makes no sense. He is awful. Don't know what Arteta sees in him. Even though they've signed Rice, I think Arsenal's midfield was better last season.

 

[tenpoless]

Rice and Havertz need to be acclimated guys. They're fishes.

 

[crossy1686]

Why was there a penalty shoot-out at the end of a win?

For the Americans. Trying to garner some excitement around soccer, and on the off chance the game was boring they announced before the game there would be a penalty shootout at the end regardless.

 

[crossy1686]

Rice and Havertz need to be acclimated guys. They're fishes.

Hot house flowers you mean.

 

[sport2793]

We took it less seriously than them seeing is how we played 2 teams in each half, while Arteta played the team he started for 60 minutes

What I meant to say is that the Arsenal players looked drunk out there, partied a bit too much in Manhattan I reckon

 

[sport2793]

For the Americans. Trying to garner some excitement around soccer, and on the off chance the game was boring they announced before the game there would be a penalty shootout at the end regardless.

This is just a lazy comment, United have been selling out games in the US for years now, just some practice in front of 80k fans

 

[Loony BoB]

Why was there a penalty shoot-out at the end of a win?

It was stated by someone - I think the MUTV commentators - that both managers wanted to have a penalty shootout regardless of the outcome to use it as practice/training/evaluation of the players, presumably thinking it's better to have genuine opponents to test against and also for crowd pressure. Well, as much as one can get in a friendly, anyway!

 

[Eric_the_Red99]

Fans in Arsemania thinks Arsenal outplayed United. Did they actually watch the game?

Arsenal looked very much like they were playing a meaningless pre-season friendly on a warm day in New York in July - which to be fair, they were. United definitely seemed to be more up for it, despite playing a weaker team on paper in both halves.

 

[crossy1686]

This is just a lazy comment, United have been selling out games in the US for years now, just some practice in front of 80k fans

They've never done this in any other country except the US, and United go all over the place, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, Sweden, Norway etc.

 

[Red in STL]

This is just a lazy comment, United have been selling out games in the US for years now, just some practice in front of 80k fans

Indeed which was I understand first proposed by Arteta and ETH agreed

 

[edcunited1878]

For the Americans. Trying to garner some excitement around soccer, and on the off chance the game was boring they announced before the game there would be a penalty shootout at the end regardless.

Thanks for showing your ignorance...Arteta wanted to go ahead with penalties as a practice.

 

[wolvored]

Fans in Arsemania thinks Arsenal outplayed United. Did they actually watch the game?

A case for the 2nd half, but certainly not the 1st. We were all over the place 2nd half and we cant play like that when the league starts. I dont think we will though.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

They've never done this in any other country except the US, and United go all over the place, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, Sweden, Norway etc.

It wasn't because of the US.

Arteta offered the idea to Ten Hag and we accepted.

 

[sport2793]

Indeed which was I understand first proposed by Arteta and ETH agreed

Makes sense, obviously wouldn't do this every preseason match but once in a while against PL opposition couldnt hurt I think

 

[sport2793]

They've never done this in any other country except the US, and United go all over the place, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, Sweden, Norway etc.

Except fans in the US have a lot more events to choose from, especially in NYC of all places.

 

[Red in STL]

Makes sense, obviously wouldn't do this every preseason match but once in a while against PL opposition makes sense I think

They both thought it was a good idea as a training exercise in front of 80K fans, basically it wasn't a gimmick for US fans as some have suggested

 

[crossy1686]

Thanks for showing your ignorance...Arteta wanted to go ahead with penalties as a practice.

So Arteta decides how the games are arranged now? Okay...