Premier League gameweek 12: Manchester United 1-1 Arsenal
Best enemies Mourinho and Wenger reunited for a clash between a struggling team Man Utd and an undefeated team for the past 16 games. Manchester United thought they had done the job with a goal from Mata but super-sub Olivier Giroud came on and spoiled the afternoon for the Red Devils with a late equalizer.
Coaches comment on the game:
Manchester United coach – Jose Mourinho
“Everybody knows that [the bad luck]. Not me, because I am Manchester United manager, not you because you are the Manchester United journalist, but I think everyone knows this. The boys, they played so well, so well. From the defensive point of view, they were perfect except the goal. We were perfect the way we controlled them, we were so good. David De Gea, not one save. We were dangerous, we scored, we should have scored more. We were very positive in our approach, very aggressive, pressing high, but we were very, very unlucky.
“Imagine if we had the six points we lost at home, where we would be. We had three amazing performances. I am sure we are going to play other matches like that at home and we are going to win. That’s football. What we did against Stoke, Burnley and Arsenal at home, is for the people to leave the stadium with the happiness of the nine points, but instead we go with three points, which is really bad, but the performance levels make me believe a lot in the future. It is not possible that you are unlucky every game, but in this moment we are unlucky every game, which is incredible.”
Arsenal coach – Wenger
“I felt that we had a serious defensive performance but offensively we have played better. We didn’t have our usual style of going forward, we were not sharp enough, not fluent enough and Manchester United blocked us well. They were well organized. In the first half I felt there was room for us to be dangerous and in the first 20 minutes of the second half we didn’t play. Manchester United deservedly took the lead then. They dropped off after and they let us have the ball. We came back, we were resilient and in the end I think we scored a great goal.
The two substitutes did well. We have done that so many times this season and it shows that there is something in this squad which is remarkable. It’s great unity, great resilience and a never-give-up attitude. We know that we can do better going forward.”
