David Moyes has vowed to stick to his guns over playing style as Manchester United take on Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium tonight.
The Scot came under criticism following the champions’ 2-2 draw with Fulham on Sunday – a game in which his side put a record 81 crosses into the opposition box but only found a red shirt on 18 occasions.
Regardless, Moyes says that when United take on the second-placed Gunners they will be keeping with their wing-play approach, despite it having proved relatively ineffective so far this season.
“We’ll go and play the way we are, we are a top side and hopefully we’ll go and show that we are,” he said. “We’ll play well and do everything we can to pick up all three points.
“There have been a few twists this season – hopefully we’ll get them our way in the future. You just continue doing the right things. Keep going and your luck will change, there’s no doubt about that.”
Looking back to the Fulham game, Moyes maintained that his team had put in a good performance – they enjoyed 75% possession and completed 649 passes – and put the failure to collect three points down to not having the rub of the green.
“Football does that sometimes and we’ve got to try and make sure it doesn’t happen too often,” he mused.
“Everyone keeps telling me about the stats and the opportunities we had. We had plenty of chances to win the game.
“We played well and in any other game would have scored many a goal.”
Arsenal are the only team above United in the table that have succumbed to the Red Devils this season, with a Robin van Persie header proving the difference at Old Trafford in November.
Despite the close-fought nature of that tie, and the more pressing issue of his side having won just three out of nine fixtures in 2014, Moyes is optimistic about the possibility of taking the points at Ashburton Grove.
“I think we’ve played better,” he said. “I think we’ve played better in several games, but in that one we got the one goal and that sometimes makes the difference.
“We got a good result against Arsenal here at Old Trafford earlier in the season and we’ll try and do the same again.”
United have lost to Arsenal just once in their past ten league meetings, and even with the apparent difficulty that the Reds are having when it comes to putting the ball in the net, they will take heart from knowing that their opponents are recovering from a 5-1 mauling at Anfield on Saturday.
However, as Juan Mata wrote on his blog yesterday, the inability to see out victory is becoming a cause for concern.
“Honestly, I think football is being cruel with us,” he said. “We did everything to get the three points, but in the end this is about goals and Fulham scored in the last minute.
“It seems that luck is not on our side, but you know that I don’t like to give excuses.
“We have to get better and improve our shooting accuracy, because we got to the box many times and could have scored more than two goals.
Even Moyes’ adversary for tomorrow night, Arsene Wenger, had some kind words for his counterpart, backing the Scot to turn United’s fortunes around in time.
“When a person has been at a club for such a long time, it’s always a void created when he goes,” said the Frenchman.
“But I believe Moyes, if given time, will do that perfectly.
“You need time and patience. You need to be in a strong club. He is in a strong club and I think he will be given time to do it.”
Kick-off is at 7.45pm tonight.
Image courtesy of Sky Sports via YouTube, with thanks.
