"Beckham has it on the right. He finds Kaká, who's dropped deeper to receive. Vieira closes him down, so Kaká moves it wide to Palacio."
"Clichy holds his ground. Palacio can't get past him and has to recycle possession."
Then, for the first time in the match, Maicon appeared high in Arsenal's half.
He ignored Henry and Pires behind him, received the return pass, and immediately slipped the ball into the space behind Clichy.
Clichy was quick, but he had to turn.
Palacio was already moving forward at speed.
The Argentine reached the ball first.
Cygan came across to cover.
With the angle closing, Palacio could not force his way through and laid the ball back again.
Maicon arrived and crossed first time.
Drogba attacked the delivery in the middle, but Campbell stayed tight enough to prevent him from getting a clean header on goal.
The duel between Drogba and Campbell had become one of the most entertaining battles of the match.
Both were immensely powerful.
One was trying to dominate the penalty area.
The other was determined to stop him.
"Campbell's handled Drogba very well over these opening fifteen minutes," Andy Gray said.
Drogba had become a nightmare for Premier League defenders.
His physical strength had always been obvious.
Now his technique was catching up.
His hold-up play had improved.
His first touch was more secure.
He was increasingly comfortable receiving with his back to goal, turning, and shooting.
Campbell had faced him before and probably understood better than most just how much he had developed.
Drogba was not elegant in the conventional sense.
His movement did not look particularly graceful.
His shooting technique was not always textbook.
His touches could occasionally look heavy.
Yet somehow, the movements found dangerous spaces.
The shots carried extraordinary power.
And every so often, a supposedly awkward piece of technique produced something brilliant.
Most importantly, his confidence in one-on-one situations had grown enormously.
That was becoming a common feature throughout New Manchester United's squad.
Their players looked unusually comfortable in individual duels.
The coaching staff had placed a great deal of emphasis on one-on-one attacking and defending in training.
Exactly how those sessions were designed remained something other clubs could only speculate about.
...
"New Manchester United's full-backs are starting to get forward more often," Martin Tyler observed.
"Evra and Maicon both have the pace and technical quality to cause problems, and the two wingers are deliberately moving inside to open the outside channels for them."
Evra was the next to attack.
He accelerated down the left and reached the edge of Arsenal's penalty area.
Lauren moved across.
Evra shaped as though he would continue towards the byline, then cut inside and laid the ball back towards Robben.
Robben immediately drove towards the centre.
Vieira reacted quickly and stretched out a leg, knocking the ball into touch before the Dutchman could break free.
Robben shook his head in frustration.
Another half-step and he might have escaped.
But Vieira's experience had made the difference.
He had attacked the ball decisively without conceding a foul.
On the touchline, Mourinho watched the pattern develop.
The wide attacks were working.
Arsenal were beginning to retreat.
Mourinho smiled and gave Beckham a small nod.
Beckham understood immediately.
From that point on, New Manchester United attacked the flanks even more aggressively.
Beckham began directing a greater percentage of his passes towards both touchlines.
The weakness was becoming obvious.
Pires and Ljungberg were not tracking all the way back consistently.
When Arsenal were settled in possession, both might make a token attempt to close down.
But most of the time, they remained higher up the pitch, waiting for opportunities to attack.
That placed enormous pressure on the full-backs behind them.
Every time Evra or Maicon advanced, New Manchester United created a two-against-one situation near the touchline.
That was especially dangerous inside Arsenal's half, where Pires and Ljungberg were reluctant to follow all the way.
Vieira and Gilberto Silva were forced to move wider to help.
And once they did, something else happened.
Space opened centrally.
Kaká had more room.
Beckham had more time.
Drogba found fewer bodies surrounding him.
The front four of Drogba, Kaká, Robben, and Palacio moved constantly.
One came short.
Another ran beyond.
One shifted wide.
Another attacked the box.
The combinations kept changing.
Arsenal could not cover every movement at once.
Wenger saw the problem.
He had not expected New Manchester United to attack so aggressively from the start.
Arsenal had survived the opening phase.
Now the match was beginning to tilt.
What should he do?
The first obvious answer was to introduce another defensive midfielder.
Strengthen the centre.
Protect the full-backs.
Slow the game down.
But that meant removing an attacking player.
And if Arsenal weakened their attack, would they be surrendering too much initiative at home?
Wenger hesitated.
New Manchester United punished him before he could decide.
...
The move began on the left.
Evra played into Robben.
Robben cut inside and found Drogba.
Campbell was tight to him.
Drogba received with his back to goal.
Instead of trying to turn, he flicked the ball backwards with his heel.
Kaká was already arriving.
Cygan threw himself into a desperate challenge.
Too late.
Kaká touched the ball past him.
Accelerated.
Then drilled a low shot towards the near post.
Lehmann reacted.
He could not reach it.
0-1.
Kaká immediately pointed towards the sky.
He murmured a brief prayer of thanks, as he always did after scoring.
Only when he had finished did his teammates reach him and begin the celebration.
The goal itself had started much earlier.
New Manchester United had first tried to attack down the right.
When Arsenal closed that route, Beckham switched play with a long diagonal towards the left.
Evra controlled the ball near the halfway line.
Ljungberg did not close him quickly enough.
That gave Evra time to carry possession calmly into Arsenal's half.
"Arsenal should have recognised the pattern sooner," Andy Gray said.
"The wingers aren't doing enough to protect their full-backs."
"Ljungberg had to get closer to Evra there."
"Look at the other side. Robben is tracking Lauren much more seriously."
For the opening fifteen minutes, the match had been relatively even.
Both sides had moments.
Both created half-chances.
Then Mourinho made one small adjustment.
It changed everything.
Arsenal were slow to respond.
Wenger clearly had not expected to concede.
For a moment, he looked almost stunned.
Then he turned sharply towards his bench and shouted something at his staff.
He was not in a good mood.
It was about to get worse.
Less than two minutes later, Henry tried to carry the ball down Arsenal's left.
Essien stepped across and won it cleanly.
Maicon collected the loose ball and immediately accelerated.
He crossed the halfway line at speed.
Then kept going.
Clichy came out to meet him.
Maicon passed inside to Palacio.
The movement drew Clichy's attention.
Palacio immediately poked the ball back into the channel.
Maicon had continued his run.
He reached the return pass and drove to the byline.
New Manchester United's support arrived quickly through the middle.
Maicon fired a low cross towards the near post.
Cygan was in position this time.
He cleared firmly.
But not far enough.
Essien met the loose ball with his head and redirected it towards Beckham.
Beckham controlled.
Looked up.
Then curled a shot towards the far corner.
The ball bent beautifully through the air.
Lehmann stretched.
No chance.
0-2.
"Another one!"
Andy Gray almost shouted.
"Beckham from distance!"
"Two-nil!"
"This is becoming a serious problem for Arsenal!"
The first goal could perhaps be blamed on a moment of hesitation.
The second could not.
New Manchester United had simply played through them.
"Arsenal are being pulled apart on both flanks," Gray continued.
"If Wenger doesn't change something soon, this could get away from them."
Before he could finish, New Manchester United attacked again.
Maicon and Palacio combined once more on the right.
Palacio crossed.
This time, the ball floated too close to goal.
Lehmann came off his line and claimed it.
The goalkeeper immediately screamed at the defenders in front of him.
Two goals conceded in one match.
That had not happened to Arsenal in the Premier League all season.
Lehmann's pride was wounded.
"Since Mourinho made that adjustment, Arsenal have been under constant pressure," Gray said.
"The whole shape of the match has changed."
"Wenger has to respond."
Martin Tyler nodded.
"You could take off one of the forwards, add another midfielder, and try to stabilise the centre."
"Then leave Henry high and use him on the counter."
It would look cautious.
At Highbury, against a promoted side, some might even call it an admission of weakness.
But the match was too important for pride to matter.
Edu was available.
So was Parlour.
Either could strengthen Arsenal's midfield and provide more protection.
Wenger still refused to make the change.
Instead, he stood at the edge of his technical area and gestured for his attacking players to drop deeper.
He wanted more protection on the flanks.
In truth, Mourinho's use of the full-backs had caught him completely by surprise.
Arsenal had dangerous wide players of their own.
Henry often drifted left.
Pires occupied the same side.
Ljungberg attacked from the right.
Under normal circumstances, a visiting manager might have been reluctant to release both full-backs aggressively against those players.
Mourinho did the opposite.
Evra and Maicon were given freedom to attack.
And both were good enough to recover defensively.
Evra in particular had already made five tackles in the opening half-hour.
Ljungberg had achieved almost nothing against him.
Wenger watched him with mixed feelings.
Based purely on performances that season, Evra had arguably been more consistent than Ashley Cole.
If Wenger had a player like him available now, the absence of Cole would not have been nearly as painful.
...
Arsenal finally woke up after going two goals down.
The aggression increased.
Challenges became stronger.
Vieira began shouting constantly at the players ahead of him, demanding that they help press.
Gradually, New Manchester United's attacking waves lost some of their earlier force.
"If Arsenal had started the match with this intensity," Andy Gray said, "those two goals in three minutes might never have happened."
"But now they're already chasing a two-goal deficit."
"And New Manchester United look much calmer."
"Especially in midfield."
"They've controlled that area for most of the first half."
Tyler smiled.
"This is exactly why so many coaches are talking about the growing importance of the 4-2-3-1."
"Five players across midfield, depending on how you count Kaká, gives them a huge amount of control."
"Beckham and Essien have been excellent."
"They've broken the link between Arsenal's back four and their attacking players."
Gray nodded.
"Arsenal normally use their wide players to connect the central midfield with the front two."
"But because Maicon and Evra are pushing so high, Pires and Ljungberg are being dragged backwards."
"Then Beckham and Essien occupy the middle."
"The result is that Arsenal's midfield and attack become disconnected."
"If Wenger doesn't solve that, I don't see how Arsenal get back into this."
There was a hint of disappointment in Gray's voice.
As a neutral, he had hoped for an open, spectacular contest.
Instead, the match was beginning to look increasingly one-sided.
Arsenal still had possession.
But too much of it was in harmless areas.
They circulated the ball across the back.
They played sideways in their own half.
The moment they tried to move into dangerous areas, New Manchester United pressed.
Henry was being starved of service.
Bergkamp rarely received between the lines.
Pires and Ljungberg were spending too much time worrying about the full-backs behind them.
New Manchester United were controlling the space that mattered.
At the other end, the picture was completely different.
They could move the ball through midfield.
They could advance into Arsenal's half.
The full-backs joined the attacks.
The front four rotated.
The midfield supported behind them.
One attack followed another.
First wave.
Second wave.
Then another.
Arsenal's defence never had time to settle.
Yet even with the warning signs everywhere, Wenger hesitated.
No major change came.
And so Arsenal staggered into half-time two goals behind.
(To be continued.)