United v Arsenal - Player Ratings!

Edwin van der Sar: Terrible failure at the goal, his lack of understanding with Ferdinand beggared belief. Otherwise impressive, strangely. 7

Wes Brown: Poor. Gave the ball away constantly (that was a popular sport among our players near our own penalty area) and his bad positioning left huge spaces for Arsenal to exploit. 5

Rio Ferdinand: Almost scored an own goal (like Brown) and his indecision proved fatal at the goal. These faults shadow an otherwise solid display - though he also gave the ball away too often. 6

Gerard Pique: He looked confident, did not give the ball away as often as some of his colleagues and displayed good positional sense. However, he was skinned a couple of times embarassingly. There are question marks above his ability to deal with attackers one on one. 7

Patrice Evra: Had a right mare in the first 15 minutes - then went on to be one of our best performers. Some glorious passes, solid defensive work (kept both Hleb and Walcott quiet) and he was fouled before Hargreaves' winner. 8

Michael Carrick: What happened to him? He always seemed to be in the right place at the right time against Roma and Liverpool but looked a bit lost today. Unusually erratic passing and too often he was just prowling around the box. 6

Paul Scholes: The pace of the game was clearly too much for him. In possession, he wasn't bad but his movement off the ball wasn't nearly enough to make a significant contribution. 6

Owen Hargreaves: Mr. Dependable came up with another brilliant performance. Tackled, dribbled, crossed to great effect and capped his display with a memorable free-kick that brought three points.9

Cristiano Ronaldo: Could have had an assist had Rooney turned in his pass but disappointing. Too often he went nowhere or took the ball into overcrowded areas. Still, he showed incredible composure to convert the penalty TWICE. 7

Wayne Rooney: Could have had a hat-trick and now I'd laud him as our hero. He was impressive, kept the ball well, constantly overran Song and Gallas and was always available. However, he missed at least three sitters - his finishing must improve, we could be an even more lethal team if he took just half of his missed chances. 7

Ji-sung Park: Saw a header going wide but he made limited impact as he was positioned strangely high up the pitch. The hopeful long balls towards him did not help his case. Why wasn't he deployed as a winger? 6

Anderson: One of the reasons why we won the game. Replaced Scholes and brought steel and energy into the midfield and played very intelligently on his 20th birthday. How he missed out on Young Player of the Year nomination is a mystery for me. 8

Carlos Tevez: Another good substitution. Replaced Park and helped us keep possession very well. Occasionally he became overconfident in his own ability to shield the ball but very rarely lost it. It must be noted that his bad pass ended a very promising counter-attack when we had three men against one. 7

Ryan Giggs: Replaced Hargreaves at the end, beat Hleb then crossed the ball to Tevez. That's all so I can't really give him a mark.