Kevin Whitcher
Ipswich promised to ‘park the bus’ at Ashburton Grove and made a decent fist of doing just that for an hour of the semi-final second leg. Arsenal managed to create some chances, but nothing gilt-edged. The hope was that eventually the Tractor Boys’ spirited display would run out of energy and so it proved. The home side, ultimately, proved irresistible.
With the exception of Denilson, Arshavin and Bendtner, this was the stongest line-up Arsene Wenger could have selected, injuries allowing. Contrast that to the team that lined up for the games against Tottenham in the same stage of this competition in early 2008. There has been a significant change in policy towards this trophy and now it must be hoped that the manager fields his strongest possible line-up in the final. That, in theory, means that Andrey Arshavin will miss out. How ironic after the club’s previous visit to Wembley for the FA Cup semi-final in 2009, with the Russian on the bench to the dismay of many.
It was interesting to note how involved Arshavin was against Ipswich, although absolutely nothing seemed to be coming off. Passes were intercepted or slightly misplaced, and some of the crowd were getting on the player’s back. At least he was able to set up Fabregas for the winner. However, given what was at stake it was sad to hear a player getting slated during the game. I didn’t feel his attitude was bad in this match. It’s just that very little went for him although that in part was testament to the visitors’ efforts.
The game was quite fractious with Ipswich hardly reluctant to let Arsenal players know they were not going to allow them to play their football without facing some biting tackles which on occasion were a little over the top. Mind you, the worst injury of the night was inflicted on Bacary Sagna by his own team-mate Szczesny. It was a freak accident resulting from the keeper’s determination to win every ball coming into his area. The biggest mystery of the evening was why Mark Halsey stopped play after the ball came off of him in the second half and Arsenal looked likely to score. Doesn’t he know the rules? Give me Sian Massey (she of the Andy Gray/Richard Keys incident) any day. Hell, even Charlotte Jackson would probably have a better grasp of the laws of association football than Halsey demonstrated in that incident.
The difference in Arsenal’s attitude between the first and second legs of this tie was marked. There seemed more determination to win the ball and keep hold of it. Obviously the quality of the surface helped a great deal with regard to the latter. I refused to go overboard about the first leg defeat because you really have to judge these two-legged affairs after both matches have been played. The end of the game at Portman Road marked the end of the first half, and granted, the Gunners had a stinker. Interestingly, once Sagna had been taken off, the only changes in the line-up from the first leg were Van Persie for Theo Walcott and Clichy instead of Gibbs. So there wasn’t a whole lot between the team selections over the two games.
Given Arsenal’s desperate need for a trophy, for psychological reasons, it must be hoped that the manager picks his strongest possible eleven for the final. Sod rotation, this is a must win game for the development of this group of players, an obvious springboard. With Everton on Tuesday next week, it will be interesting to see who is fielded on Sunday lunchtime in the FA Cup. One imagines it will be a far weaker line-up than that which booked a trip to Wembley last night. Aside from the centre backs, the goalkeeper and Alex Song, I would be surprised if anyone that faces Everton will feature on Sunday, at least for the first 70 minutes.
Dare I venture a team of Szczesny – Eboue, Djourou, Koscielny, Gibbs – Song, Denilson, Rosicky - Bendtner, Chamakh and Arshavin? On paper good enough to beat Huddersfield, but let’s just say I’m glad that it’s a home match. If these players can replicate the attitude shown in the second leg against Ipswich, there is a good chance of being in the draw for the fifth round. Really now, it’s all about the squad pulling together and developing their belief that they can see through some of the good work they have put in since the Manchester United defeat. The second stringers have to start pulling their weight to keep the momentum going. An FA Cup exit won’t be the end of the world, but it might take the wind out of the sails a bit, so let’s not contemplate that and trust the boys picked can do the business on Sunday.
Finally, some not so good news…
I was forwarded this from the Arsenal Mailing List. We may be doing something more on this, but if you did suffer, I would be interested in the details of whether you were a gold, silver or red member. If gold were you using your season ticket seat or a different one? I assume this was not a problem for people with paper tickets (who would presumably have been general sale purchasers). Email me with your own story if this happened to you (and let me know the turnstile concerned) to this address. Here goes with the account sent to the List…
Have to complain about the scandalous ticket system breakdown tonight. The smartcards failed for an awful lot of people and AFC backup systems were woeful. Well over 1000 fans were denied admission for seats they had already paid for and forced to queue at the single box office to get issued a replacement paper ticket because there were problems with the electronic ticket system. I (along with 3 friends) missed the first 20 minutes and there were people only just coming in at the start of the second half. Very poor customer service and if this happens for a Barca or Man U game there will be a riot. I will be making a formal complaint to the club tomorrow and hope everyone else does too. Our treatment tonight has taken the shine out of a great result.
Just to also state that anyone complaining to Arsenal should do so in writing by post or email, keep a copy and specifically mention section 12 of the club's charter, which can be found here on the club’s website. This means the club has to acknowledge your complaint within a certain number of days. In my opinion, given the numbers affected and the amount of time spent queuing at the box office while the game was in progress, those affected would be well within their rights to demand a full refund of their ticket price. The club will have an electronic record of all paper tickets that had to be printed specially to deal with this problem.
This is absolutely shocking for an organisation of Arsenal’s size and stature, but we will go into this in more detail another day once we have received some more first hand accounts.
