This premier league weekend proved to be a haunting one for many teams. Arsenal and United unexpectedly found themselves in that list. Arsenal were in a great form, handsomely defeating Manchester City at the Etihad and thrashing Aston Villa at the Emirates in consecutive game weeks earning 12 points from their last 6 premier league matches. While United were brilliant at Loftus Park to trash QPR and then completely outplayed Leicester City at Old Trafford the following game week. Their form earned them 9 points from their last 6 premier league games.
However things were awfully different this weekend. Arsenal faced Tottenham Hotspurs at the White Hart Lane. Mesut Ozil took the early lead at 11 min for Arsenal and things were looking good for Arsenal. But Arsenal's attack miserably collapsed then on. Tottenham created chances and kept Arsenal on their backfoot, but lacked finishing in the first half. David Ospina and Arsenal's back three were quite brilliant in limiting spurs attack but they couldnt hold them off for long. Spurs then scored two goal courtesy brillance from their academy player Harry Kane to seal the North London Derby.
Similar was the case at the Upton Park this Sunday where Sam Allardyce's men took on the Red Devils. West Ham took the lead through a brilliant goal from Cheikhou Kouyate early on in the second half.
Despite fielding a side that boasted the esteemed attacking talents of Robin van Persie, Radamel Falcao, Wayne Rooney and Angel Di Maria, Manchester United rarely threatened home goalkeeper Adrian as they failed to dislodge Southampton in third.
Blind cast himself as the visitors' unlikely goal hero two minutes into time added on, when West Ham were unable to clear Marcos Rojo's speculative punt forward.
Pundits and coaches have been so much talking about the weakness in the defensive strengths of these teams in recent weeks that attack has almost toiled up to nothing. Arsenal playing the likes of Oliver Giroud, Danny Welbeck, Santi Cazorla and Mesut Ozil were looking awful as ever. The idea of sitting back after taking the lead so early wasnt fitting well with the lineup Arsene Wenger was playing. Had he went on with the attacking mindset, Arsenal would continued their amazing run of form.
The story was pretty different at the Boleyn ground though. It wasn't tactics this time. It was something pundits and analysts are still trying to guess. Adnan Januzaj is going nowhere with his performances lately. Had Louis Van Gaal went on with Marouane Fellaini in the starting lineup, probably things would have been different. Radaemel Falcao created massive doubts about his stay at the Old Trafford with another shaggy performane. Missing a simple chance in the second half. He decided to hit his shot with the outside of his right foot when the left would have been better and did not even hit the target. Out in the right channel, Van Persie looked more dispirited than usual. It felt the pressure of conceding the goal was too much on the team that is being criticized being too fragile with the defence.
To round it off, it can be said that pressure of being defensively weak has caused up the attacking part of their games to crumble. Both of these teams are being lead up by two of the most experienced managers in the football world at the moment. It up to them to build back the required confidence inorder to revive the attacking threat in the respective teams. At the Midweek fixtures, Arsenal take on Leciester City, a side that is massively under threat of the relegation. While United take on Burnely, who looked good against WestBrom at the weekend.
Similar was the case at the Upton Park this Sunday where Sam Allardyce's men took on the Red Devils. West Ham took the lead through a brilliant goal from Cheikhou Kouyate early on in the second half.
Despite fielding a side that boasted the esteemed attacking talents of Robin van Persie, Radamel Falcao, Wayne Rooney and Angel Di Maria, Manchester United rarely threatened home goalkeeper Adrian as they failed to dislodge Southampton in third.
Blind cast himself as the visitors' unlikely goal hero two minutes into time added on, when West Ham were unable to clear Marcos Rojo's speculative punt forward.
The story was pretty different at the Boleyn ground though. It wasn't tactics this time. It was something pundits and analysts are still trying to guess. Adnan Januzaj is going nowhere with his performances lately. Had Louis Van Gaal went on with Marouane Fellaini in the starting lineup, probably things would have been different. Radaemel Falcao created massive doubts about his stay at the Old Trafford with another shaggy performane. Missing a simple chance in the second half. He decided to hit his shot with the outside of his right foot when the left would have been better and did not even hit the target. Out in the right channel, Van Persie looked more dispirited than usual. It felt the pressure of conceding the goal was too much on the team that is being criticized being too fragile with the defence.
To round it off, it can be said that pressure of being defensively weak has caused up the attacking part of their games to crumble. Both of these teams are being lead up by two of the most experienced managers in the football world at the moment. It up to them to build back the required confidence inorder to revive the attacking threat in the respective teams. At the Midweek fixtures, Arsenal take on Leciester City, a side that is massively under threat of the relegation. While United take on Burnely, who looked good against WestBrom at the weekend.
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