It's just another game, or is it??

Can there be another moment as wonderful as that when Ruud rolled the ball into the Arsenal net? Can there be another moment as sweet as that? I don't know. All I do know is that I jumped out of my seat when the ball rolled in, hugged another guy and generally just went berserk. AND I haven't had that feeling for a long long time now. That feeling when you just felt that you can kill me there and then and I would have died with a smile on my face. Maybe a bit extreme but you get my drift...

As for the game itself, a war of attrition would have been the word to describe it. And no doubt that the main talking point will be was it or wasn't it a penalty? First of all, I freely admit that I am the most biased fan there can be, but I shall still try to be as fair I can be. Hands on heart, I would say it was not a penalty. The contact, if there was (I do believe there was slight contact), was soft to say the least. And in any case, I think Rooney was looking for it. But I remember Andy Gray saying this a long time ago (while trying to defend Pires add!):

What we tend to forget [when watching slow motion replays] is that these are players who are going at high speed or twisting and turning and any sort of contact, no matter how slight, will send them tumbling even if it is not intentional...

Though I was pissed off when he said that, I actually find that it makes a lot of sense. But more importantly, it boils down to the fact that a penalty is never given if the players DOES NOT fall down even though he has been impeded. How many times when you yourself are playing and you push the ball past a the player and then the player touches you, stops you from progressing but yet the foul can't really be considered a foul since the contact was slight. Campbell stuck his foot out, intent on halting Rooney's progress when Rooney had clearly gotten the better of him, and then tried to withdraw it slightly seeing that he could not get anywhere near the ball. The truth of the matter is THAT foot is going to impede Rooney's progress since Rooney was turning so quickly, whether there was a touch or not (You would have to jump up or get around Campbell's foot to continue the run and that is hard to do in such a split second and the chance will be gone) . And that is a 'foul' in the moral sense. So in Rooney's position, do you dive and ask for it? That's the question... The argument by David Moyes that Rooney is a big strong lad and can't be brought down with that contact does not hold water at all in my opinion, especially when you consider the statement by Gray.

Another thing to observe is that if you watch the replay of the second goal. Vieira did not track Rooney or Saha running into the box. He simply stopped running after Saha had gotten past him. His team may have been attacking to look for the equaliser, but mentally they had lost. How do you explain the fact that their captain, who had been at his imperious best all afternoon simply stopped running and let Saha get away other than he had given up? This brings me back to the point that Arsenal lack BOTTLE. Once you put pressure on them, they can't respond. I was amazed at their ability to take the physical game but once United scored, they had given up. They have no plan B. So pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease United don't fuck up next weekend, maintain the pressure...and we will see what the outcome is.

Positives: The defending was marvellous most of the time, Silvestre looks like he sleeps with Ferdinand or something. The second goal was a joy to watch, the type of football that has been missing, with wingers going down the channel, cutting the ball back across goal.

Negatives: Surrendering possession cheaply (73% Arsenal to 27% United at one stage...what the fuck...) and I was in a pub, not at Old Trafford =(

We'll keep the Red flag flying high, coz Man United will never die.