New Delhi: So when your noisy neighbors are having a party how do you respond? By having a noisier one of course. That exactly was the case on Super Sunday where the blue half of Manchester thrashed Tottenham Hotspur 5-1 in the earlier kick-off and their fans were buzzing with the joy and new found success. On the other hand Man United boss Alex Ferguson must have said to his boys: Guys let's show them who the boss is! And that's exaclty what happened. The Red Devils just ripped apart Arsenal or 'Arsenil' and made them look so ordinary at times that Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger was left fuming on the sidelines.
It's going to get manic in Manchester, because we are witnessing the start of the greatest rivalry ever between the two clubs as one bids to out-do the other at every turn. This is United determined to prove that no matter how much City's mega-wealthy owners spend and no matter how many superstars they bring in, they have no intention of giving up the local bragging rights.
Old Trafford is called the Theatre of Dreams and for one side it surely was but for the other it was the 'Theatre of the Nightmares'. There are big scores, and then there's this: Manchester United pummeled Arsenal 8-2, adding hugely to the pressure already facing Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger. Many Arsenal fans now believe the curtain is coming down on Wenger's time at the club. Wenger has undoubtedly been a great manager but in the past few seasons Arsenal have been vulnerable and predictable.
Ferguson's boys dominated from start to finish to make it three wins in three so far this season for the hosts and add further woe to the hapless Gunners. Wayne Rooney walked off with the match ball, having scored his 150th Red Devils goal, then adding two more after half-time to complete his hat-trick. Yet Rooney's efforts did not even account for half of United's staggering tally as they scored eight for the first time since 1999. Danny Welbeck, Ashley Young, Nani and Park Ji-sung also found the net before Young completed the rout with his second.
The home side's naughty fans always love to give some stick to Wenger and it was no different on the Sunday night when they mocked Wenger with chants of "You're getting sacked in the morning" as Wenger stares at the biggest crisis of his 15 years at the helm. At the time of Roy Keane and Thierry Henry this was the tie which fans drooled over and everyone expected it to be a nasty affair but if Arsenal were in poor state the devastation at Old Trafford has left them in a chaotic state. Injuries cannot account for this mauling that was given to the Gunners.
Arsenal have failed to keep pace with United for some years and Sunday was no different. United were superior all over the pitch and if not Wojciech Szczesny in the goal it would have been a cricket scoreline at the end of the ninety minutes. For the second time in a week, the Red Devil young guns played a brand of football so breathless and brilliant that few teams—and maybe even the great Barcelona themselves—could feel jealous. The central figure of this rejuvenated United is none other than Rooney. Just ten months before, Rooney was not happy at Old Trafford and even requested for transfer but a new contract offer with a whopping salary kept him there and the club is getting the true value of that deal.
Thanks to the pace and exuberance of Danny Welbec, who limped out of the game after scoring, with a hamstring injury to the invention of Ashley Young, to the powerful contribution of another new signing in Phil Jones and to the pace and one-touch passing that personifies these Young Devils, surely other clubs have some catching to do. Not to forget their 18 million pounds recruit in goal, David De Gea. He surely had a nervy start to his career here but on Sunday he showed why Fergie brought him to replace Van der Sar. The young lad made fantastic saves that included a penalty from Arsenal skipper Robin Van Persie.
People will say that Arsenal had injury concerns but don't be fooled into thinking that the result was an inevitable consequence of boys against men. Average age of 23 played an average age of 23. The difference was that there was a gulf between two sides, one of preparation, of class, of management. They might have been weakened, but there are no excuses for Arsenal being so pathetically weak and disorganised. Ferguson's team would never ever take to the pitch in such a state of un-readiness. The final whistle was a blessing in disguise for the visitors. Though United were imperious, the real story was the shocking decline of Wenger's Arsenal.
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