Losing at Old Trafford at the end of a memorable week was disappointing for a number of reasons. Am I sitting here writing these thoughts feeling completely down however? Of course not.
Man United away is a tough fixture in any season. Despite one or two of our most fantastic memories coming from this stadium I only have to look back at how rare those successes are to emphasise that fact. On that basis I haven't listened to any of the hype, especially those who felt we went into the game as favourites! An away team at Old Trafford considered more likely to win, when has that ever happened?!
Saying that of course, we went into Sunday full of confidence after our recent performances and I certainly joined all those Gooners in believing we were extremely capable of getting a result.
The game pretty much went as I expected with our hosts enjoying the majority of the early possession, but we defended well, denying them anything particularly dangerous. Keeping the scores level was always going to be crucial, especially as we all knew we would enjoy our own period of domination at some stage during the match.
To concede from any corner is always frustrating and this was emphasised emphatically on Sunday by the fact it turned out to be the winning goal. The fact the ball went in off the striker's shoulder doesn't help when you hope luck is on your side too.
We dominated much of the second period without creating too many clear-cut openings but we had a number of near things go begging inside our opponents' penalty box.
Overall it was a poor game. We weren't at our best on the day and nor were our hosts. I felt we were worthy of a point however, this fact alone makes it all the more disappointing that we came away with nothing.
Our incredible run of not losing an away match in any competition since February has come to a end but last weekend's results elsewhere demonstrated how tight and unpredictable the league could be this time around. To go into the November international break sitting top of the pile in both the Premier and Champions League is very satisfying.
High-flying Southampton come to the Home of Football next, our visitors' current form and deserved lofty league position is enough to show how tough a game this will be.
Positivity is the name of the game and consequently, after a defeat, I will always see the next game as a perfect opportunity to bounce back and start another unbeaten run.
Us Gooners can play our part in helping to achieve this as always.
Come on you mighty reds!
Frank
@stubbsy70
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