First thoughts: Manchester United (A)

My reaction to Manchester United vs Arsenal

I am trying out something new this season with stuff right after the match. Hopefully you enjoy it. Giving a main takeaway from the match, then doing a bit of quick hits on things I liked and things I didn’t like. There is also the full match graphics at the very bottom.

Main takeaway:

Arsenal are trying to evolve in possession and it is a work in progress.

I don’t know if you can watch this match and think it was the same old Arsenal from last season here. This has been something that I think we all wanted to see to some extent and I think with the addition of a player like Viktor Gyokeres into the team that is necessary.

The change here was that the intent to play quicker, more vertically and riskier, especially early in possession. They also played a much more out of possession game that went with that style. It was far from the usual Arsenal having all of the ball match, even before Arsenal made more of a switch to protecting the lead.

Outside of Tottenham away last season (and excluding the red card matches) this would have been the lowest possession Arsenal recorded and would slot in as the 7th lowest in the past three seasons.

Looking at Arsenal’s midfield play in this match, it makes for pretty stark contrast to what the team did last season, with much more vertical passing into the channels compared to more sideways and shorter diagonals out to the wide areas.

It didn’t come off every time here and seeing Arsenal completing fewer passes than expected is a rare sighting. Here is a look at the team overall in the middle of the park.

The big things the jump out here for me is that Declan Rice, William Saliba, and Gabriel are were a bit subpar here. These are in my opinion, good passers from these locations and they didn’t quite have it here today.

I will want to try and look at this more when I go back and rewatch this match.

Positives: