Manchester United's Situation Shows How Far Arsenal Have Come

After Arsenal’s 2-0 victory at Selhurst Park, I was in the mood to watch some more football, so I decided to watch Manchester United vs Brighton. Although I was overjoyed to watch Danny Welbeck again, there were some unignorable aspects of the United game (and situation) that reminded me of Arsenal 1 or 2 years ago.

The main similarity was the lack of preparation and why it has come to.

Manchester United chose an… interesting line-up for Erik Ten Hag’s first league game in charge. It instantly reminded me of Arsenal’s 2-0 loss to newly promoted Brentford at the start of last season. United fielded 9 of the same 11 players that contributed to a dreary 2021/22 season. Similar to Arsenal at the start of last season, United have failed to address many weaknesses in their squad in time for Matchweek 1 – the fact that they had to try to play Eriksen as a false 9 was proof of this.

This season, however, Mikel Arteta has made sure to get the incomings done early on and handle the outgoings later. Gabriel Jesus lead the press against Palace and was unlucky not to grab at least a goal or an assist. On the other side of the pitch, William Saliba produced a MOTM performance and Zinchenko came up with an assist. This time around, we were miles different to the way we started against Brentford.

What I put this down to is the Red Devils’ recruitment – they’ve not done well in this transfer window so far. So far, United have gotten rid of 15 players and have brought in:

- Christian Eriksen (free)

- Tyrell Malacia (£14m)

- Lisandro Martinez (50m)

Although Eriksen and Malacia are quality players that were picked up for cheap, the only problem that has been solved is the CB position by signing Martinez – but was there really that much of a problem in the first place? With all being healthy, United now have the chance out of Maguire, Varane, Lindelof, Bailly and Martinez. Although it is unlikely they will all be fit at the same time, I just think that the midfield was more of a priority.

Christian Eriksen is not a suitable solution – although he is still a prolific player, he will not give you a full season of consistent performances. Manchester United’s attempts at luring Frenkie De Jong to Old Trafford have been to no avail so far – yet United have not identified an alternative. Similar to Arsenal in the January transfer window, they are putting all their eggs in one basket (Vlahovic). If De Jong continues to reject United, they will be left with no other options – and no, Rabiot does not cut it.

United’s actual strategy for their transfers have been poor as well – Arnautovic (33) and Eriksen (30) are past their best. Just like Arsenal went from signing players such as Willian and Lichtsteiner to Tierney and Martinelli, targeting younger talent would help United progress. Let’s be honest, win now players such as Varane, Cavani and Ronaldo have not yet propelled the club to where they want to be.

For now though, I am enjoying Arsenal being up the top end of the table – bring on Leicester.