Written by Mean Lean
on
Thursday, 03 March 2011 12:48
That is more like it, I have drained Sunday well and truly out of my system now and am more than happy to look forward to our future games with confidence. When Leyton Orient equalised right at the death at Brisbane road, many a Gooner were gnashing teeth and pulling out hair, I argued the point that an extra game for the second side can only be a good thing and today I feel vindicated for arguing that point.
The balance of negativity after the cup final defeat will have been slightly balanced in terms of morale and it was better than going straight from Sunday into an important Premier league game against Sunderland where the players might have caught a bit of Arry's twitchyness. I am not even sure if that is a word but it will have to do for now.
I spoke pre match about our strikers needing to get their names on the scoresheet as we will need those players returning to full confidence, ok, we need Chamakh returning to full confidence as Nicklas Bendtner apparently does not lose confidence and I have trouble understanding why he gets criticised for that when it is a strength that I would love our whole squad to have. If we had a squad that believed in their abilities at all times then I would bet that we would have already filled up the trophy cabinet over the last five years and appeased the fans and footballing media.
With Robin Van Persie sidelined for 3-6 weeks, probably more knowing our injury luck, we need Bendtner and indeed Chamakh to find the back of the net as often as humanly possible.
The Dane has more than his fair share of critics, I have been one of those in some capacity in the past but what cannot be doubted is his hunger to score goals. It might have only been a plucky League one side who I now have massive respect for but he was in the right place to take home the match ball, he was also able to put away those chances.
His first goal was one that Gooners have complained that we have lacked in the past, a player willing to stay in the penalty area and hang in the air when crosses come in. The timing of his leap and direction of his header was like the typical, traditional English striker of yesteryear.
Bendtner's second is becoming his trade mark for this season, cutting in from the left and bending like Bendtner into the far corner past the outstretched reach of the goalkeeper. When Kieran Gibbs was pulled down after jinking his way inside and outside his man in the second half, Bendtner took over and buried his spot kick into the corner with little fuss. He must have felt pretty assured, yet probably still a little frustrated when being replaced in the second half as it was the biggest indication of Wenger's future thoughts with upcoming games. He probably also thought that there were more goals on the cards for the team.
There was plenty more to the game apart from Bendtner both before and after his contributions to this enjoyable cup tie.
Firstly Wenger surprised us all with the inclusion of Conor Henderson who I was impressed with when I watched the boys down at Barnet in pre season. A young left footed midfield passer, who has good awareness of players around him. For the life of me, I couldn't work out exactly what his position and role was to the team. I threw the question out to the Tweeting Gooners and received about 7 different answers. A sort of left sided, central midfield/attacking role.
Abou Diaby is a player I absolutely love watching and I enjoyed his work last night. I read a stat last night from OptaJoe that Diaby completed all his passes in the time he was on the pitch and he ran the show. Showing the ball to the opposition, ducking his shoulder and striding off into the distance.
Diaby has plenty detractors, I guess there are not many players who don't in our squad but I truly believe that had he avoided his horrific injuries then most would be talking about Diaby has being a true world beater. His Arsenal and International career has had a stop, start feel to it and it will continue unless he somehow manages to go a full season without major injury problems. Thank you Dan Smith, well done you little runt. You have robbed me of watching one of my favourite players at the peak of his powers.
Tomas Rosicky was far more inventive last night than he has been in some time and that is very good to see, especially as he may well have a part to play on the weekend. It was his burst into the box and cut back that allowed Chamakh to score his first Arsenal goal since November 27th against Aston Villa. With Cesc likely to be missing from the squad on Saturday, it is important that Rosicky removes those shackles and proves that he still has what it takes to make an impact in our side. I refuse to rule him out completely after being so impressed with him at the beginning of the season, hopefully he can push on from here and play a vital role in our hunt on three fronts.
I want to give plenty of credit to the opposition last night who came to a side two divisions and some above them and tried to express themselves. They played out from the back and passed the ball well. On many occasions they played around our pressure and threatened further forward. They didn't quite have the quality in the attacking third to trouble us enough but they should be very proud of themselves for giving it a real go.
I am sure you have heard the opta stat but if you haven't then Leyton Orient passed the ball more times than every other visiting team at the Emirates bar one. Not sure which team that was but I guess it doesn't really matter. I think we should give them Henderson, Chuks Aneke and whichever youngster who needs first team experience.
Arsene Wenger rang in the changes after the hour mark. Diaby, Bendtner and Rosicky were replaced for Wilshere, Clichy and Nasri. Gael Clichy played on the left wing ahead of Kieran Gibbs which made for an interesting left side of the pitch.
Less than ten minutes onto the field, Clichy scored his first goal for Arsenal that did not involve deflections from two opposition players like his first against Middlesborough. Eboue's cross was dummied by Chamakh and then missed by Wilshere before Clichy struck a great shot across the keeper and into the far corner.
I found myself secretly hoping for an opposition goal at that point, you could feel Orient's desire to leave the Emirates with a goal to hang on their wall. Something to say they did but they were not able to find that opening even with the introduction of Jonathan Tehoue.
Conclusion
Our victory against Leyton Orient can be seen as a rebuilding job for the squad, a rebuilding of belief is a good place to start. Many of those players can look forward to travelling to Old Trafford in the next round. If Manchester United put out a weakened side then our boys will have a very good chance. A weakened United side is quite likely given that they have a Champions League tie three days later, which will be somewhat higher on their priority list as is the case with Arsenal.
The most important game is Sunderland on Saturday and hopefully we have Bendtner, Chamakh, Rosicky and Diaby all in better shape than they were a few days earlier.
A bit of the gloom has been lifted from the weekend, now onwards to bigger and better things one hopes.
Almunia (7)
Eboue (7)
Squillaci (7)
Miquel (7)
Gibbs (7.5)
Denilson (7)
Diaby (8)
Rosicky (7.5)
Bendtner (8.5)
Chamakh (7)
Henderson (7)
Please note that ratings are only my interpretations of the game and that others will have differing opinions
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