For a long time now, Manchester United have been a shadow of their former selves, reduced to meme fodder and social media whipping boys.
They have gone through manager after manager, rebuild after rebuild and, on almost every occasion, come out of it worse than when they went in. This season has seen plenty more of the same, both on and off the field.
But however farcical their form on the field they have always been capable of producing a result from nowhere, a miraculous victory when for all the world it seemed they were destined to be destroyed. Their win over Manchester City in the FA Cup is a case in point but there were a lot of similarities in their 2-2 draw at Anfield last week too.
With their two sides about as far apart as it’s possible to be form-wise, it seemed to most of us that United would find themselves on the end of a sizeable beating at the hands of their old rivals. No so.
For all his follies since arriving in England, Ruben Amorim knows how to set up a side to make life difficult for his opponent, to slow things down, to sit deep and play patient. It was a trait we saw in Erik ten Hag too, when he cared enough to use it, and, in isolation, it is an effective tool, especially against teams that like to play high and attack freely.
It would be supremely foolish if Amorim attempted anything different when his side come to the Emirates on Saturday. In fairness to him, he toyed with something more defensive when United were in north London a month or so back and, while beaten, his side looked much tidier, more organised and less chaotic than they had done up to then and until last weekend. Reverting back to a more expansive way of playing at this stage would seem like madness.
That said, he is preparing to face an Arsenal side that is starting to struggle, not only with form but with fatigue too. Too many games and too many injuries have taken their toll and it is arguably a good time to be playing us, as Newcastle discovered.
For Arsenal’s part, this should be a game in which they look to redeem themselves. The profligacy we saw against Newcastle was almost embarrassing and will hopefully elicit a response from them. We can’t go on missing the chances we do because our season stands on a knife edge. Another few performances of that calibre and we’ll have almost nothing left to play for. They have to find their shooting boots.
The manager meanwhile must find a way to re-energise and refocus his players now because the matches don’t stop coming any time soon. We can only hope that he also has some irons in the fire on the transfer front because fresh faces are badly needed and the teams around us are starting to make additions.
If we’d stayed relatively injury free in the first half of this campaign, the case could be made to ride it out until the summer but that, for me, is just not an option. We need a lift.
This afternoon, however, it’s about finding a way to win. On our day, we have more than enough to get past this United side but you feel like an early goal, if only to put some ghosts to rest, will be crucial.
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