3 Reasons why Arsenal lost to Manchester United | FA Cup 2018-19

#2 Arsenal's defensive shortcomings rear their ugly heads, again

Arsenal failed to answer its defensive questions

Over a better part of the last decade, Arsenal’s banana skin has been its susceptibility to the counter-attack. Arsene Wenger endured sleepless nights trying to correct the issue but to no avail. Even though the initial signs were promising under his successor, more recently, Arsenal has shown the frailties of old.

Against Manchester United, Arsenal conceded three goals and at least a couple of them were a classic example of getting hit by the ‘sucker punch’.

For Lingard’s goal, Luke Shaw was accorded a free run in the middle of the park and the Englishman sharply picked out Lukaku who was in acres of space on the right. The Belgian carried the ball up-field superbly before teeing up Lingard.

With regards to Martial’s goal, the Gunners were all at sea as Pogba strode through the heart of midfield before unleashing a fierce shot. The shot then fell kindly to the former, who had absolutely no one in his vicinity as he made the net ripple.

For far too long, Arsenal has been too open at the back and that propensity is showing no signs of ameliorating itself.

Unai Emery’s Arsenal was supposed to be the dawn of a new era with increased defensive solidity. Yet, each passing game is bringing back the chants of ‘Same Old Arsenal’.

Though the Gunners have been hit hard by injuries, a mechanism surely needs to be worked out to lend greater strength to the rear-guard.

With the Gooners a notoriously impatient bunch, the Spanish boss needs to iron out the flaw instantly or he might just not be left with too many defences, both literally and figuratively.