AFTER a summer of feverish activity in the transfer market, it seems nothing has changed very much at all.
Manchester United still can’t score goals – and they still concede stupid ones.
Arsenal still aren’t much fun to watch but are still good at set-pieces and still pretty effective at grinding out results.
Mikel Arteta’s perennial runners-up prevailed thanks to a shocking error from Altay Bayindir, who flapped at a corner, allowing Riccardo Calafiori to nudge an early, decisive, header over the line.
Yet United were the better team by a country mile, save for those two recurring themes – the scoring and conceding of goals.
If only football matches weren’t decided by such trivialities then Ruben Amorim’s men wouldn’t keep getting beaten so often.
United’s new boys Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha were seriously impressive on debut, while Arsenal’s Viktor Gyokoreres and Martin Zubimendi were way off the pace.
Benjamin Sesko arrived as a second-half sub but he didn’t have a sniff at goal.
There was very little that was impressive about Arsenal except for simply reading off the names of their substitutes.
Arteta now has a seriously deep squad which will serve him well this season.
For United, though, the performance was heartening; the result depressingly familiar.
It was an opening-weekend clash between the Premier League’s nearly men and its nowhere-near men.
Both clubs had staged significant recruitment drives – Arsenal finally signing a striker, while Amorim was able to stamp something of his own identity on this United squad.
The head-to-head between the Premier League’s two shiniest new centre-forwards was cancelled by virtue of United’s £74million man Sesko starting on the bench.
Still, all of Old Trafford seemed to have read the memo regarding pre-season optimism.
The banners were out on the Stretford End and the faithful were belting out their United Road anthem before kick-off, with the Theatre bathed in alien Mancunian sunshine.
And United were impressively feisty – tackling and running as if they meant it, Mbeumo bullish, Mason Mount playing with the impatience of a man with time to make up.
Arsenal had looked tardy and scruffy, second to too many balls.
So, naturally, typically, United conceded a stupid goal.
Declan Rice swung over a corner, Bayindir – under pressure from William Saliba – flapped feebly and Calafiori headed across the line to narrowly save the Turk from the embarrassment of an own goal.
“Set piece again, ole, ole,” chirped the travelling Gooners.
Bayindir had previous for this kind of thing – notably at Tottenham in the Carabao Cup last season – and so did Arsenal.
Still, United continued to look the more purposeful team. Bruno Fernandes was fouled on the edge of the area by Zubimendi, who was looking like a man who had sleepwalked into the fast lane of a motorway.
Patrick Dorgu pinged a low long-ranger against the post, then Cunha burst through three Arsenal players, bore down on goal but shot straight at David Raya.
Raya then turned a Cunha cross-shot wide and Arsenal went in at half-time ahead, but without a single one of their outfield players having performed well.
Amad Diallo replaced Diogo Dalot early in the second half – and then Arteta sent for Kai Havertz in place of Gyokeres, who had done very little on his Premier League debut except for barging into a couple of people.
Noni Madueke also arrived in place of Gabriel Martinelli, whose anonymity had been extreme.
Sesko arrived on the hour to a huge ovation – as well as a few catcalls from the away end.
Cunha soon skinned Ben White and fed Mbeumo but the Cameroonian’s run was blocked off before he sent an acrobatic shot wide.
Arteta hauled off both of his struggling full-backs – sending on Jurrien Timber and Myles Lewis-Skelly. The most impressive thing about Arsenal was the strength of their bench.
Still, United were bossing it. Dorgu’s cross was met with a downward header from Mbeumo which stretched Raya into an excellent save.
Lewis-Skelly received a yellow card for chopping down Mbeumo to thwart a United attack.
Arsenal do the ugly things well. United did some pretty things well. And in that kind of scenario, ugly usually wins.
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