Arsenal out....and doing so in ugly fashion

The FA Cup tie of round 5 was to be the battle of heavyweights at Old Trafford between Arsenal and Manchester United. This was to be a battle of old rivals and current top 2 teams in the Prem, rather than having an epic end to end battle we were subject to a lesson in football from the Red Devils, leaving the professor and the rest of the Gunners wondering what happened.

Arsenal were out classed from the beginning against a team that was without Giggs, Tevez and Ronaldo...a bit scary thinking that Arsenal need to go back to Old Trafford for their league fixture. Rooney was completely unstoppable up front, scoring the first goal but being a general threat at every turn. Arsenal were fortunate that he was called off side on a number of occasions, some good calls some questionable, otherwise he might have had a hat trick by the break. Otherwise he was completely unstoppable using his pace and strength to torture the Arsenal back line.

Arsenal were without their regular right and left defenders but did have their usual Toure-Gallas combination to anchor the middle, so no excuses for their inability to at least slow down the yob from Liverpool. In addition, Arsenal never appeared to control the midfield. Cesc was completely out of the game, he appeared lethargic and did not have his usual fire. Hleb was running hard but with little support, Eboue and Silva looked as if they had better places to be....up front it was much the same with Eduardo and Bendtner working hard but not getting any service from the midfield. On the other side, next to Rooney, Fletcher, Nani and Anderson were all over the park. As my friend Brett texted me during the game, you know you are in trouble when Fletcher is giving you problems! On top of which he scored a brace! When is the last time the Scotish midfielder did that????

Arsenal demonstrated their frustration when Eboue recklessly challenged and received a red card, and Gallas kicked out at Nani....summing up what was supposed to be an epic battle but instead turned out to be a training session for Manchester United....

So now ManU moves on, Arsenal are left to wonder. Of course on a happier note, I was trilled to watch Benetiz and his 594th different Liverpool line up lose to Barnsley! If Liverpool does not advance far in the Champions League, and they have a tough tasking going up against Inter, this might be the last season of Benetiz. And that would make me happy, far from being a Liverpool fan, Benetiz drives me crazy with his constant tinkering and his complete lack of ambition in the league....again not sure why this bothers me but it does.