Why defensive resilience overshadowed United's poor attacking output in Arsenal stalemate

Marc Skinner's side have managed just one win in their last 16 meetings against the WSL's top three

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Manchester United travelled to the Emirates on Saturday one point behind the Gunners and needing to avoid defeat in order to not lose ground in the race for Europe.

The game played out as more of a tactical back and forth and wasn’t very pleasing on the eye, as United defended a relentless wave of Arsenal attacks and eventually came away with a 0-0 draw. The two sides have now met twice this season and have played out a goalless draw on both occasions.

But what if anything can we takeaway from United’s performance?

Defensive resilience

Arsenal were the dominant side, creating an xG of 2.38 from 25 shots, six of those on target. However, it never felt like United were really struggling defensively for any more than a couple of minutes at a time in this game.

Marc Skinner’s side looked at their most vulnerable when they went down to 10 players around the hour mark after Jayde Riviere picked up a second yellow card for a late tackle on Caitlin Foord.

Despite Arsenal having 64% possession, the United backline held firm for the majority of the game. There were big performances from the likes of Dominique Janssen, who won all four of her ground duels and two out of three of her aerial duels in the game, while also putting in five blocks and 13 clearances.

The two midfielders of Hinata Miyazawa and Julia Zigiotti Olme, while not as good on the ball as they can be, defensively covered the ground exceptionally well, not allowing the shots from the edge of the box and limiting the creativity of the Arsenal midfielders, who possess a lot of quality in those areas between an opposition midfield and back line.

United also have Phallon Tullis-Joyce to thank for how they were able to grind out a draw from this game. This was the first game back after she had the protective mask removed and she looked close to her best, commanding the area when she needed to and coming up with the saves when called upon.

No attacking output

United only registered four shots in this whole game, with only one of those being on target, which was Fridolina Rolfo’s effort in the opening five minutes. Arsenal also had 64 touches in United’s box while at the other end United only managed eight. There was no attacking output from Skinner’s side outside of the opening chance and with a team stacked with attacking quality that’s not good enough. So why was this?