Wounded animals are usually dangerous and ready to pick a fight. But what happens when you've got two of them pitted against each other? That was the scenario heading into the FA Cup quarterfinals between Manchester United and Arsenal at Old Trafford on Saturday. United was coming off back-to-back losses to Chelsea and Liverpool in the Prem, while Arsenal was trying to turn the page after the calamitous Camp Nou defeat. In the end, though, the Red Devils were the ones up for the fight, dispatching the Gunners 2-0. Here are four observations from the match:
1. Wonder twins, activate
Usually, Rafael and Fabio play at right and left back, respectively, but because of injuries, the need to rest older players and with an eye toward Marseille in the Champions League on Tuesday, Alex Ferguson pulled a cunning if risky move by putting the twins on the wings in the midfield. Yet despite playing out of position, they were influential in this game.
Especially Fabio. In the 28th minute, he connected with Rafael, who returned the favor. From there, in a quick sequence of brilliant play, Fabio passed the ball back to Wayne Rooney, who picked out Javier Hernandez as he peeled off Johan Djourou in the penalty box. Chicharito headed the sublimely weighted pass, Manuel Almunia parried the ball and Fabio finished what he started by scoring the first goal.
Huffing and puffing, Fabio was subbed after the first half for Antonio Valencia, back from his ankle break against Rangers in September. And seconds after Arsenal center back Laurent Koscielny decided to act like a center forward, Valencia launched a counterattack, and by the looks of it, Denilson was all too happy to let the Ecuadorian get all the way down the pitch unimpeded. From there, Valencia got the ball to Rafael, who promptly put it into the box. It popped up, and Rooney pounced with a header to the far post.
Rafael and Fabio probably haven't done that much running in their lives, since you can pick your spots to charge forward when you're playing with the back four, but in the time they were on the pitch, they were instrumental -- along with Rooney's all-around effort -- in giving the Red Devils a commanding lead.
2. Is this another Arsenal collapse?
In the past 13 days, we've gone from Arsenal dreaming of winning four titles to being knocked out of all but one. Since the Gunners' brilliant win over Barcelona at the Emirates, look what's happened: They tied with Leyton Orient in the FA Cup, eked out a 1-0 win over Stoke in the Prem, lost the Carling Cup final to Birmingham, defeated Leyton Orient in a FA Cup replay, suffered a tough scoreless tie with Sunderland in the EPL and were sent out of the Champions League by Barcelona.
There's no question that some horrible refereeing calls played a role in this spate of games, but Arsenal fans must be wondering if their team's late-season swoon is coming to pass once again.
Even on Saturday, you could make a compelling case that Arsenal should have done better given that the team on the other side of the ball was using many players out of position. Not only were Rafael and Fabio moved to midfield, but the mediocre utility man John O'Shea was asked to anchor the center of midfield with Darron Gibson -- and the two of them, in normal circumstances, don't get a sniff of United's first team. And Wes Brown was filling in at right back, again not his natural position.
Yet Arsenal couldn't find a way to get through. Yes, it was at Old Trafford, which is never an easy place to play. And there were some bright spots for the Gunners. Jack Wilshere was by far his team's best player, winning most of his one-on-one battles and consistently opening up United's defense. Robin van Persie had a few threatening moments, too. And Bacary Sagna was like a ball machine in the way he kept putting crosses into the box. But too often there was no one in a yellow shirt to meet the ball. When there was, United defended stoutly or Arsenal attacked meekly, as when Tomas Rosicky whiffed on a Sagna cross in stoppage time.
If ever United was there for the taking at home, this match was it.
Now all that's left for Arsenal is the Premier League. Of course, Gunners fans will be over the moon if their team wins the title. It's just three points behind United and has a game in hand. As Martin Tyler reminded folks during the match against United, if the Gunners win every one of their remaining Premier League matches, they'll win the title and finally have some silverware to add to a trophy case that has accumulated only dust in recent years.
But after Saturday's performance, does anybody -- even the most optimistic Arsenal fan -- believe that will happen?
3. The Dutch master
Clearly, Arsenal had its chances -- all you had to do was watch United keeper Edwin van der Sar. Playing in his last season, the 40-year-old made like a teenager, diving and jumping to see off any danger. He stopped Rosicky, who blasted a ball to the top corner from the edge of the box. He stopped Marouane Chamakh's header from finding the back of the net and a decent drive toward goal before that. And he foiled Samir Nasri on a couple of occasions. Van de Sar was the man of the match, which only reinforces how important United's search for a keeper this summer will be.
4. Did Scholes have a get-out-of-jail-free card?
Amazingly, after going in with not one but two reckless, two-footed challenges toward the end of the game, the United midfielder gets a yellow and… a talking-to by referee Chris Foy. Take that, Paul. Really, why bother?
Scholes sometimes gets unfairly yellow-carded simply out of his reputation -- is there a worse tackler in the Prem? -- but these two instances were clear fouls and Scholes should have been sent off. You'd think Foy would have done more than have a chat with the player. It'll only add to the speculation among non-United fans that there's one set of rules for the Red Devils at Old Trafford and another, higher standard for everyone else.
Match of the Day
No, it wasn't Arsenal versus United, but Bolton versus Birmingham earlier in the day.
If there's a team that deserves a day out at Wembley, it has to be Bolton. Under Owen Coyle this season, the Wanderers have transformed themselves from lunch-bucket, Route One practitioners to a more well-rounded side that is often entertaining to watch. Winning the Prem, or even reaching that elusive fourth Champions League spot, is out of the question for Bolton at this point, unless there's some sort of epic collapse by the teams in front of them. But now, after a rollicking 3-2 victory over Birmingham City at St. Andrews on Saturday, Coyle and his men will get a well-deserved run-out in the FA Cup semifinals on one of soccer's grandest stages.
They didn't get there with a routine win, either. The match against Birmingham was a see-saw affair: Twice Bolton went ahead, on a clinical finish by Johan Elmander and a penalty kick taken by Kevin Davies, and twice never-say-die Birmingham equalized. The second tally was a scintillating shot at full stretch by the old master, Kevin Phillips. Ironically, though, for all the compliments Bolton has received for its more engaging brand of football, it was a long, diagonal ball from Paul Robinson that started off the winning sequence, as Davies then headed the ball to Lee Chung-Yong, who nodded it across goal for the third tally.
And the first goal was sort of a hybrid of the new and old Bolton. A long ball was sent into the danger area, but then a silky flick-on by Ivan Klasnic allowed Elmander to smash the ball into the back of the net.
You couldn't help feeling a bit sorry for Birmingham, though. Ravaged by injuries even before the start of the match, the Blues had to substitute Martin Jiranek soon after Stuart Holden accidentally stepped on his ankle in the 28th minute, and ailing but instrumental midfielder Barry Ferguson a minute later. Bruised and battered, Birmingham soldiered on. Having won the Carling Cup, it wouldn't have been a surprise if Alex McLeish's men had failed to put in a full shift, especially when the danger of relegation still looms for them in the Prem. But unlike their first match after hoisting the league cup, when they competed like a hungover lot, the Blues gave it a go, and Phillips' goal was a thing of beauty.
What wasn't so pleasing to the eye was yet another referee blunder. In the 53rd minute, Curtis Davies and Bolton's Gary Cahill went up for a ball in the box. As the two jostled, Davies committed a handball so clear that it momentarily looked like he was a waiter serving a platter of hors d'oeuvres. Yet Phil Dowd only saw a phantom foul, claiming Cahill pushed Davies. Fortunately, karma won out -- Davies pulled Bolton's Davies down in the box later in the game, resulting in a penalty -- and the best team, on balance, won.
The Bolton bandwagon rolls on.