Today was a proud, proud day for all Gooners. Minus Thierry Henry and RVP, Arsenal went to Old Trafford, packed to the seams with 76,000 fans and pulled it off against Man U, 1-0. The goalscorer, the most exasperating Emmanuel Adebayor. Never have long legs proved so fortuitous, as Adebayor poked it past Kusczak, for his first goal and the most important one this season. This after some absolutely neat footwork by the little maestro Fabregas, whose minimalism with his footwork seems enough to keep that ball attached to his feet.
Then it was left to Lehmann to pull off what must be the save of the season. From a blast by Solksjaer, that had Lehmann sprawling at full tilt, with right arm at full stretch and finger tips extended to the maximum as he finger poked the ball away from goal. Earlier, in the first half, Lehmann took an absolute cannonshot on his face from 8 feet away from Ronaldo. Lesser mortals would have been carted away and there was some really anxious moments as we saw Miguel Alumunia warming up on the sidelines but Lehmann got up, swatted away the stars and carried on. Good for Arsenal because he was there to make that stunning save of Solksjaer in the 89th minute.
Things could have been a lot worse for Man Utd if Gilberto had put that penalty kick past Kuczack who brought down Adebayor, in the first 10 minutes of the first half. Kuczack also just about managed to keep out a Eboue header.
It was Man Utd first stumble. They lost their first match of the season. To tell you the truth, althought they have won their first five, they have never looked authoritative. Louis Saha who has driven their attack was shut down by a hustling Arsenal midfield. Ryan Giggs was out and Michael Carrick was brought in late in the second half. John O’Shea was mediocre. Sir Alex is still looking for his Roy Keane. Owen Hargreaves is out in Bayern with a fractured leg which might make things difficult for a winter transfer. Wayne Rooney is still working on his match fitness and looks off.
Arsenal needed this win. After that miss by Gilberto, one again saw Arsenal pull into its familiar routine, of controlling the ball with nothing to show at the end of all that possession. Adebayor played Jekyll and Hyde, as he has done throughout his career. He makes the difficult look ridiculously easy and the ridiculously easy, most difficult. By that time you have pulled most of you hair out. This game he got it right.
Arsenal will be alright. At this point I think Man Utd have a lot more questions.