Manchester United were happy to keep damage to a minimum in defeat to Arsenal | OneFootball

Manchester United produced a limp display against a nervous Arsenal side who were far from impressive to end up losing their Premier League game by a goal at Old Trafford on Sunday.

The visitors scored from yet another mistake from Casemiro who was slow to push up which allowed Kai Havertz to cross to Leandro Trossard to score.

United remain eighth and have now lost 19 games this season, the most since 1978/79 season and these include nine defeats at home, the joint-most in any of their seasons.

The Brazilian was at fault for most of the goals against Crystal Palace last week and question marks were raised about his dropping standards.

Casemiro at fault again

Former skipper Roy Keane even suggested that an academy player would be better than playing the former Real Madrid superstar in an unfamiliar role. And judging from the huge mistake, it would have been a better call.

The Brazil international is not the same force he was last season and this makeshift role is clearly eroding his confidence further and a parting of ways in the summer is expected.

Manager Erik ten Hag’s tactical deviation saw the team staying compact and defending in a low block rather than their usual high-transition chaos ball and it seemed to be a form of damage limitation after what transpired at Selhurst Park.

Sofyan Amrabat dropped deep to act as the third centre-back at times while Scott McTominay covered a lot of space which allowed Casemiro to progress with the ball and gave more cushion for his lapses.

But this shift in approach should have come quite a few games ago, especially considering the amount of injuries the team has suffered. It could have been the difference between the manager staying in the job or not.

Maybe this change was necessitated due to the game being against a team who are at the top of the league but if he had tweaked things earlier, the team could have come out on top in certain games or at worst, avoided some painful losses.

Happy with a 0-1 loss

The only issue was that this safety-first approach and injuries really affected the attack. The 20-time English league champions struggled without the creativity of Bruno Fernandes and due to Rasmus Hojlund’s inability to play well with his back to goal.

Alejandro Garnacho was too profligate again as the hosts only had two shots on target as preferred keeping the ball and playing it amongst themselves rather than take any risks even with the clock ticking down.

Even when Mikel Arteta’s team were looking like they were there for the taking, United remained timid and it always seemed like they were happy to have kept the damage down.

Most fans will be happy with a 0-1 loss considering how the season has unfolded. And with two more games left in the league, and keeping the FA Cup final against Manchester City in mind, the manager should keep playing this style in order to prevent major embarrassments.

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