After the 3-2 victory over Arsenal, the Gunners manager Arsene Wenger was as defiant as before. There is a saying in therapy that the first step to recovery is to admit that you have a problem. Maybe Wenger is not looking to recover from the faltering Arsenal team.

Over the years Arsenal has been one of the exciting teams to watch alongside United. While there have been teams like Chelsea and Manchester City surging with outsiders’ money, Arsenal and United remained as the clubs that develop the game in the country by giving chance to youth and playing exciting and thrilling football as well. Since the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson, Red Devils have struggled and their football has been quite dull as well. But Arsenal has maintained the tempo all these years.

Defeat is bitter but Arsene Wenger talking about United midfield being good and commenting on United money just does not seem right.

“Let’s not go overboard,” he warned. “They had a few millions on the pitch today; from De Gea to their whole midfield who were experienced. They spent a lot of money on it.”

For any outsider it may seem logical, but the Gunners manager needs to keep in mind the following points.

Beaten down Manchester United team

Yes the Manchester United team that Arsenal played on Sunday was not the full strength side. With a makeshift defence with the likes of Michael Carrick and Daley Blind it is amazing that the team conceded just two goals from a full strength Arsenal team. Manchester United had 14 injured players from their first team squad before starting the match. Most of them in defence. While Arsene Wenger can moan about United midfield being expensive, can he really defend his forwards for not scoring? Don’t think so. With several of their stars injured the total cost of United team was £184,800,000 vs Arsenal’s  £178,100,000.

Yes, if players such as Rooney and Martial were to play the cost of the players in United squad could have been at least 1.5 times of that of Arsenal if not double. Now in the business this would have been considered a lean period and with their high profile names unavailable, Arsenal has no excuse for losing for a measly £6,700,000.

Impact of the youth on the team

If we compare the team line-ups that was announced for the game we can see that the average age of Manchester United players is less by a couple of years. Also less in experience, Arsene should have no qualm about his players not being able to out-maneuver United youngsters. The average age of Gabriel, Nacho, Koscielny and Bellerin are 26.25 which is considered to be the prime of a footballer’s career. United forwards Depay, Lingard and Rashford’s average is only 21. With an additional 5 years experience in top flight football, the Arsenal Defenders should have done a good job but failing to do so does not mean it is because United have spent more money.

Moreover, there were 8 youth products out of 18 in the United line up and with Arsenal calling onto only 4 of their youth products not really an even team now is it?

United team: David de Gea (25), Michael Carrick(34),Daley Blind(25), Marcos Rojo(26), Guillermo Varela(22), Morgan Schneiderlin(26), Juan Mata(27), Ander Herrera(26), Memphis Depay(22), Jesse Lingard(23), Marcus Rashford(18), Adnan Januzaj(21), James Weir(20), Timothy Fosu Mensah(18), Sergio Romero(29), Andreas Pereira(20), Patrick McNair (20), Joe Riley (24)

Arsenal team: Petr Cech(33), Gabriel Paulista(25), Nacho Monreal(30), Laurent Koscielny(30), Hector Bellerin(20), Alexis Sanchez(27), Mesut Ozil(27), Aaron Ramsey(25), Danny Welbeck(25), Francis Coquelin(24), Theo Walcott(26), Mohamed Elneny(23), Per Mertesacker(31), Kieran Gibbs(26), Oliver Giroud(29), David Ospina(27), Joel Campbell(23), Alex Iwobi(19)

Overall average age of United: 23.67 years, Arsenal: 26.11 years

COGS (Cost Of Goals Scored)

The score line was 3-2 to United’s favor with Marcus Rashford (2) and Ander Herrera scoring for United and Welbeck and Ozil for Arsenal. Given that Arsene Wenger feels that the reason for United’s victory is their expense, let us break it down to a simpler figure. How much did it cost to score the goals?

Let us forget for the moment how young the United players are or how low on confidence the whole Old Trafford crowd was at the moment. Let us consider the numbers.

The total cost of United team:  £184,800,000

David de Gea (£18,900,000),  Michael Carrick (£18,600,000),  Daley Blind (£13,800,000), Marcos Rojo (£16,000,000), Guillermo Varela (£2,400,000), Morgan Schneiderlin (£24,000,000), Juan Mata (£37,100,000), Ander Herrera (£29,000,000), Memphis Depay (£25,000,000)

Free/Youth: Jesse Lingard, Marcus Rashford, Adnan Januzaj, James Weir, Timothy Fosu Mensah, Sergio Romero, Andreas Pereira, Patrick McNair, Joe Riley

Total cost of Arsenal team:  £178,100,000

Petr Cech (£10,000,000), Gabriel Paulista(£11,200,000), Nacho Monreal (£8,300,000), Laurent Koscielny (£10,000,000), Alexis Sanchez (£35,000,000), Mesut Ozil (£42,500,000), Aaron Ramsey (£5,000,000), Danny Welbeck (£16,000,000), Theo Walcott (£9,100,000), Mohamed Elneny (£5,000,000), Per Mertesacker (£10,000,000), Oliver Giroud (£13,000,000), David Ospina (£3,000,000), Joel Campbell (£950,000)

Free/Youth: Hector Bellerin, Francis Coquelin, Kieran Gibbs, Alex Iwobi

COGS

Manchester United:

Goals scored: 3, Cost of team: £184,800,000

Cost/goal:  £61,600,000

Total cost of goal scorer:  £29,000,000 (Rashford + Rashford + Herrera)

Arsenal:

Goals scored: 2, Cost of team:  £178,100,000

Cost/goal:  £89,050,000

Total cost of goal scorer:  £58,500,000 (Welbeck + Ozil)

Final words

Has United spent a lot of money in the last few seasons? Yes. Has most of that look like a waste? Maybe. Not to forget that Manchester United have let go of many of their players as well. The likes of Di Maria, Van Persie, Chicharito has fetched decent money. The net spend last summer has been £28,150,000 which is not very high considering United’s earning.

The point of this writing is not to justify the money United has spent but it will be nice that next time a team like Arsenal loses to a youthful side such as United, Arsene Wenger comes out and says “We have a problem!”

Data Source:

http://www.transferleague.co.uk/

http://www.espnfc.com/club/manchester-united/360/squad

http://www.espnfc.com/club/arsenal/359/squad