THE GUARDIAN
Undeniably, they were helped on their way by a United side that made mistakes in telling areas of the pitch. O'Shea was not alone on that count and it will have not escaped Ferguson's antennae that Adebayor's goal originated from Cristiano Ronaldo losing the ball to Fábregas. Ferguson was surely bluffing when he identified Ronaldo as the home team's best player because it is difficult to remember an occasion when he has endured such a dismal afternoon.
Equally, Wayne Rooney has seldom been such a peripheral figure. At one stage Louis Saha tried to encourage him with a ruffle of the hair. Rooney did not respond and soon afterwards he was replaced by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
It must have jarred Ferguson seeing so many players guilty of irresponsible passing. One mix-up between Ronaldo and Wes Brown left Adebayor bearing down on goal. Soon afterwards it was O'Shea's turn to wave an apologetic arm when a pass intended for Rio Ferdinand sent Julio Baptista hurtling towards the penalty area. Arsenal could not keep spurning these opportunities and when Ronaldo ran into trouble for the final time it was one aberration too many. Fábregas advanced towards goal, waiting and waiting until the perfect moment to release the ball. His pass was exquisitely weighted and Adebayor stole in to poke his shot beneath Kuszczak.
Kuszczak was playing because Edwin van der Sar had a virus, but the summer recruit from West Bromwich Albion had not even muddied his knees when a typically cultured interchange of Arsenal passing ended with him rushing out at the feet of Adebayor and connecting with the player rather than the ball. As debuts go, Kuszczak's was a bittersweet experience. Gilberto's penalty was struck weakly enough for the Polish international, diving to his right, to turn the situation into a personal victory, but the ease with which Arsenal had created a path to goal seemed to disorientate United.
THE INDIE
A team in transition? There were two at Old Trafford yesterday, and as the Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger, celebrated in front of his side's support in a manner reminiscent of their championship triumph on the same ground in 2002 and Sir Alex Ferguson departed with meek applause to a mass of empty seats there was no disputing who could be most satisfied with his work in progress.
At the conclusion of "Grand Slam Sunday", as Sky television had christened a day of heavyweight confrontations, hype had given way to a reality check for both Wenger and his Manchester United counterpart as the portents of doom evaporated around the Gunners in tandem with the sense of rediscovered authority and style at Old Trafford. It was undoubtedly Jose Mourinho, however, who could take most satisfaction from this four-nation joust.
After a contest that Wenger proclaimed as his finest victory over United and evidence that Arsenal can compete for this season's title, the thought of a 13-point gap between these great Premiership rivals was as ludicrous as it was damning on the visitors' early season form. Yesterday, Arsenal answered their critics. They outplayed United to register their first three points of the campaign and had a fitting hero in Emmanuel Adebayor who, having heard the injured Thierry Henry tell his team-mates that he cannot carry Arsenal alone on the morning of the game, responded with a tireless display and the ample compensation of an 86th-minute winner. "I am sure he will be happy with me today," said the Arsenal striker.
Today Arsenal are marooned in 10th place, seven points adrift of United and Chelsea, eight behind the League leaders Portsmouth, but there was enough quality, energy and purpose in their performance here to suggest the natural order will return soon.
THE TIMES
It should be noted by the departed Ashley Cole, the absent Thierry Henry, the sceptical Sir Alex Ferguson and the rest of us who have wondered just where Wenger is taking Arsenal in his bid to build a team to replace the Invincibles of three seasons ago.
There are many ways to reconstruct a side — and Wenger can hardly be accused of going down the obvious route — but, if there have been some chastening experiences for his youngsters of late, this, a win that had additional value because it ended Manchester United's 100 per cent record, was so fulfilling that the Frenchman called it "the most satisfying" of the four victories he has enjoyed at Old Trafford.
That is quite some claim when one considers that the second of those, in May 2002, secured the Premiership trophy, but the significance of this victory was not so much in launching another title bid but in vindicating Wenger's belief in playing football his way. At times of late, the Arsenal manager has begun to sound desperate in his efforts to paint himself as the last crusader of the beautiful game — beforehand he had remarked, in an apparent swipe at Chelsea, that "a big club should never be happy to win ugly" — but this performance, achieved without Henry, showed that the aesthetes can occasionally find the substance to go with their undoubted style.
Perhaps Henry, in absentia, had played a part. Arsenal's players awoke to read — assuming that some of them can read English — in one tabloid newspaper that their captain, tired of playing the miracle worker, was telling them to "do your bit". As captains' rants go, it was not quite in the Roy Keane class, but, if it was a call to arms, it was heeded by all, with Kolo Touré, Johan Djourou and Francesc Fàbregas all excellent and Emmanuel Adebayor deservedly scoring the only goal of the game in the 86th minute.
Not bad for a "team in transition", as Ferguson had called them beforehand, and, if Wenger's post-match response to that remark lacked the feistiness of some of their previous encounters, it was clear that it was a word to which the Arsenal manager took exception. "We're at a big club and transition is a word that we don't want," he said. "We want to win the championship. We're a young side definitely, but I believe in this side."