The pragmatic victory of "The beginning is the end" is still necessary to polish Arteta s championship puzzle

"The beginning is a good ending. " This may be the best footnote for Arsenal's new season.

Although his performance at Old Trafford Stadium was far from perfect, the Gunners narrowly beat Manchester United 1-0 with their resilience and experience at critical moments, setting off the first shot for the 38-round Premier League journey.

This victory not only continued the Gunners' victory over Manchester United, but also highlighted the mature characteristics of the team's chances of winning in adversity under Arteta's rule.

In this game, Arsenal struggled slightly on the offensive end. Martineli and Zhekelais' breakthrough efficiency on the wing were inefficient, and the midfield organization failed to form an effective connection.

But as Arteta emphasized after the game: "The champion team needs to win at a non-best state. "

When Arsenal went to Old Trafford in the 2023/24 season, when Arsenal went to Old Trafford, they needed to fight for the championship to the last moment and ended with a narrow victory, and this game also had many similarities. In both games, Arsenal showed tenacious defensive resilience, but his style was completely different.

In the last game, the team mainly sprinted with all their might in the later stage of the game to pass the thrilling mark; but this time, Arsenal's performance at the beginning was sluggish and never got into the state, and to some extent, it needed to "rescue himself".

When the offensive end is not running smoothly, ensuring the city gate and avoiding failures becomes the bottom line - Arsenal did it. They accurately took advantage of Manchester United's weaknesses in set piece defense (and their own advantages in this field).

In the end, without more efforts, David Raya turned the tide, and Saliba and Gabriel made heroic blockades at critical moments, making up for the team's rare defensive fluctuations in this game.

If Manchester United's forward has a stronger ability to seize opportunities, Raya is slightly inferior in form, or Doorgu is lucky, then Martineli and Zhekelayus will face more doubts - the two performed really mediocre in this game.

However, the victory or defeat is often between a tiny little bit, and Arsenal has become increasingly good at seizing a favorable position at critical moments. In this battle, they successfully resisted the impact of Manchester United. Although Cesco made his debut, what is even more eye-catching is the starting appearance of Cunya and Mbemo. With speed, direct and fearless impact play, this pair has created a severe test for Arsenal - a style that is rare in Manchester United in the past decade.

The Gunners may have been surprised by Manchester United's high-intensity pressing and straight-forward impact at the start of the game, and once seemed to be in a hurry. But this team, which has been tempered, knows how to survive in adversity, and when facing tightly organized opponents, they also know how to stabilize the formation and accept the difficulties of the game in a timely manner. After the final whistle, scenes like Gabriel and Saliba cheering after the final whistle are now common after Arsenal has struggled to get key points.

This is one of the long 38 rounds of the league, and the results may define Arteta's coaching career.

In this game, Arsenal obviously did not reach its peak. Perhaps, when Simon Hooper blew the final whistle and the players cheered, the standard of stability and supremeness needed to compete for the championship was self-evident.

On the one hand, it is not advisable to over-interpret the results in the first round of the league; on the other hand, the difficulties of this game are well known to everyone.

Arsenal has witnessed its two closest champions - Liverpool and Manchester City - win four goals in their respective matches, with different styles. In the first round of the league, the visit to Old Trafford was a serious challenge in the face of the positive and exciting home atmosphere, and Arsenal finally successfully responded, although the process was difficult.

This game did not show too many novel ideas that would make Guardiola or Slot alert, but the Gunners have reached this day by relying on the tenacity that has been tempered for a long time.

This is a kind of ability in itself. Given that the team has set a very high benchmark in recent years, finding the way to win at this stage is as precious as before. In fact, even though it is far from its best, Arsenal still beats Manchester United, which may once again confirm their inconsistency and indomitable will.

The season has begun, so there is no need to overreact to the mediocre performance of most players in these 90 minutes. As the schedule progresses, we hope that the Gunners will gradually get better and find the rhythm. They will learn how to better integrate with Zhekelais, and their opponents won't always have dangerous and creative players like B Fe, Cunya or Mbemo.

Looking ahead, Arsenal will usher in a devilish schedule. Therefore, ensuring that this game is three-pointer is crucial to gain some initiative in the extremely fierce competition for the three strong.

Before the end of September, the Gunners will go to Anfield to challenge Liverpool, and then Manchester City will visit North London - these two strong rivals that are in the running-in period are expected to be more difficult to deal with than Manchester United, which is still in the running-in period. On the positive side, Arsenal already has the ability to grab points in adversity, which will help them get through this difficult time smoothly.

However, Arteta still needs to improve the team's offense, otherwise the season may fall into a tough battle too early. In the race against Guardiola's always stable Manchester City team, the Gunners can no longer repeat the roller coaster mistakes of previous seasons.

Improving offensive fluency is Arsenal's next core topic. In this game, the team became Manchester United's key strike area on the left. Mbemo faced Ricardo Calafiori as long as he got the ball. The showdown between the two confident players was a highlight.

And in the front position of the left, Martinelli's performance was far from expectations and failed to provide enough threat to the offense. He would face strong competition from Maduaike.

Saliba and Gabriel stepped forward to protect the team, but the two failed to show their reassuring dominance as the cornerstone of the defense - Manchester United's positive attitude and firm intention of long passes to counterattack did cause them trouble..

Subimendy and Rice eventually managed to curb the direct impact United launched from the middle, but they still need to better organize the dispatch deeper when facing more defensive opponents. Arsenal rarely controls the rhythm of the game in this game, which probably made Arteta and the players worry as well, although they were not punished in the end.

In a sense, this is typical Arsenal. They have become experts in grinding competitions. After all, this is how they start the new season, as the saying goes, "If you start well, you will end up being successful."