Manchester United blown up!

Because Arsenal tends to blow hot and cold, you never know what you will be faced with until you are on the pitch. When it happens, you don’t know what hit you. Ask Manchester United!

Word on the street is that Arsenal really knows how to deal with pressure. Louis Van Gaal and his journeymen should have been worried. Instead, they opted to be complacent, taking into account the Greek tragedy where Arsenal played poorly against Olympiacos in the Champions League.

Had Van Gaal done his homework, he would have known Arsenal are fiercest when they have their back against the wall. To assume that Arsenal’s performance would be on a downward spiral simply because of a few mistakes made in past matches is ignorance combined with arrogance and insulated with buffoonery.

United entered the weekend top of the Premier League but had no reply to goals from Alexis Sánchez and Mesut Özil, which put the hosts 2-0 up within seven minutes. Alexis added a third after 20 minutes had passed and the game was already over.

Alexis showed the same kind of brilliance that saw Luis Suarez push Liverpool to the brink of the title a couple of years ago. Like Suarez, the 26-year-old is more than a mere forward; He is a talisman and a game-breaker.

Championship-winning teams are often inspired by the feats of one individual—Arsenal’s last two title-winning teams were given their edge by Thierry Henry. Last season’s Premier League winners came to rely upon the wizardry of Eden Hazard, and the dip in his form is certainly a large part in Chelsea’s subsequent decline. On the strength of his performance in the last two matches, Sanchez can be the ‘match –maker’.

With United trying to press high, it seemed that Bastian Schweinsteiger was man-marking Santi Cazorla, but that decision was horrible. As Arsenal moved the ball out from the back, Cazorla dropped deeper than Francis Coquelin. The German seemed to be caught in two minds whether or not to go that far but frequently followed Santi throughout the first half, leaving Michael Carrick fending for himself at the base of the midfield.

As a result, just one pass helped Arsenal bypass the United midfield over and over again before attacking a vulnerable looking defence.

Prior to the game, another key player for Arsenal Mesut Ozil had been dismissed by Man United fans as the player who only turns up to play small teams. That must have rattled the German to ruthless efficiency.

He worked tirelessly to ensure that the quick one on ones inside United’s danger zone were executed with training pitch ease.

The Gunners will be delighted with all the aspects of their game on Sunday. The team was compact and aggressive, pressing better than usual and with great intensity.

They were well up for it, and more performances like that would surely win everyone over after a shaky start to the season.

It is now up to the Gunners to replicate the same form in the Champions League. Bring on Bayern!

Rodgers out

They say in football expect the unexpected. But for those who have been in the game long enough, you can almost smell it when something big is going to happen.

For the last couple of weeks, it was not ‘if’ Liverpool would sack Brendan Rodgers but when.

Though a sack is always hanging over a manager’s head (apart from Arsene Wenger), his sacking was a swift and decisive affair, coming soon after Liverpool were held by perennial arch-rivals Everton. Rodgers can hardly complain, he was given a fully loaded war chest and he went on a spending spree like there is no tomorrow.

He loved to fish at Southampton. But despite buying a startling 15 players in the last two seasons, Rodgers has little to show for the robust transfer business.

His Chelsea counterpart is safe for the time being. What is saving Chelsea’s Jose Mourinho from the sack is the fact that, once he is sacked he will not return to Chelsea for a third time.

So Roman Abramovich is weighing his options and like a crocodile in the Mara River during the wildebeest migration, he is waiting for the perfect timing to strike.

But again, it could be that he sees few replacement options available in the market currently.

So what does this sacking mean for Liverpool? I suspect the high priests want nothing but a top-four finish in the premiership. But having seen the way Liverpool has faltered past the first eight fixtures so far, they do not feel confident that they can get into Europe in any other way apart from jumping into a canoe like the immigrants.

Liverpool are barely hanging onto the top half of the table with a negative goal difference, yet they bought a galaxy of offensive players.

There is clearly something that is not working at Liverpool and the owners of production felt they had given poor Rodgers enough time.

So for poor Rodgers, it is over and out!