John Evans
I can’t say I am overly surprised by the performance or the result from Sunday’s cup tie at Brisbane Road. Maybe you would expect our reserves to be able to come away from the game without the need for a replay but when you take into account the simple fact of how big a game it was for them compared to how big a game it was for us (especially after the Barcelona tie in midweek) then it really isn’t that surprising of a result.
I don’t understand how or why so many Arsenal fans get so wound up with the fact that our reserve side aren’t that good. If we go back ten years did anyone care how the reserve team got on in their respective matches? Surely the answer to this question would be a resounding no, so why is it then that when these reserve team players get the chance of a run out in a lesser game and we then realise they are not as good as the first choice lot we go mad?
I have said time and time again that no side on the planet has endless supplies of world class talent at their disposal. Barcelona are recognised as the best team on the planet right now but who replaces Messi or Villa when they come off injured? How badly were they weakened last week when Villa was replaced in the second half?
Why is it then that when we rest players as we need to do to try and fight for trophies on four fronts over the final months of the season that the fans hit the roof in anger at the manager, some even asking for the manager’s head on a silver platter every time we play a domestic cup game? I personally couldn’t give a toss that it took us two games to get past Leeds or the fact that we struggled to beat Huddersfield at home, as long as we then get our names in the hat for the next round and win the bigger games in the League and Champions League. Because then we have a fully charged battery for the games that really do count.
If we beat Orient as we will do in the replay we will have a quarter final tie to look forward to at Old Trafford. Everyone will write us off as they already have done on this very website, yet when you look at the team that started the league game at OT earlier on this season will the side that starts the possible cup tie be a weaker one? I say not. In that game we had Rosicky in the starting XI with Chamakh upfront and Arshavin out wide. Cesc was on the bench as was RVP and Theo Walcott. Sure we lost 1-0 but could have easily come away with something and the United side will not be as strong as it was that night. Fergie won’t risk his first choice XI anymore than AW does in these types of games and anyone that witnessed United struggle to get past Southampton and Crawley so far in this season’s FA Cup with a second string side in both games would be brave to predict an easy home win against us for the men from Manchester.
I predicted a possible first leg victory against the Spanish Champions last week and I also pointed to a possible stamina issue with the men from the Camp Nou. Normally they are three or four goals to the good after 30 minutes in the majority of their League games which does slightly resemble how Celtic and Rangers crush teams on a regular basis in the SPL to me. So it proved to be the case with us scoring twice in the final 15 minutes and coming on strong in general in the second half. I know Barcelona are a class outfit, they are the best team on the planet right now, but we can and will compete with them with a fully fit, fully charged first choice XI and the game last week proved that very point.
We came away with a gutsy 2-1 first leg advantage and I personally feel that we have every chance of progression in the return leg in two weeks’ time. We will be able to play our counter attacking style and the defence that Barcelona will have at their disposal without Pique is a weak one. We have gone away to places like Stamford Bridge and Old Trafford and got beat on a regular basis over the past four or five seasons, so people think that if we can’t beat them then we have no chance against the mighty Barcelona. But that for me is missing the point completely.
First of all these regular beatings that we have suffered have come with a very young side, one that has been growing up on the field in front of our very eyes and one that has been in need of maturity which comes with experiences like those very defeats. The main point for me though is that in football the number one thing that effects a team’s chances of winning is the style of play that they adopt, the tactics.
United in recent seasons have found a way that seems to have defeated us time and time again and these tactics that they and Chelsea have used with good effect over the past five seasons or so are all based around a robust solid defence and a very hard working, almost man handling, midfield. It is a complement to us that every time we play United Berbatov is not in the starting XI and a fifth midfield man, normally a hard hitting one with an engine comes in deployed by Fergie. Barcelona do not play this way and never ever will and this is the reason I feel we have every chance of progression. In my opinion we have a better chance of going through after the second leg than we would against one of the top English sides - even though if the same English sides came up against Barcelona they would almost certainly lose.
I believe we are the one English side that can beat a Barcelona team as things stand. Their defence is not tight enough to hold us for 90 minutes and their keeper manages to make our Spanish waiter look decent at times. We managed to score against them at their place last season and the team that we put out then closely resembled the one we put out against Orient on Sunday in terms of quality. We will have Sagna fit for the second leg which is a massive step up from Eboue in the first game and they will be without Pique as previously mentioned who seems to me to be their main man at the back. So bring them on.
We are better than many people currently think we are, we have matured throughout the season and every time we have disappointed we have come back strongly in the next game which in this business is all you can hope for. I mentioned this a while ago as well and this was the case recently once again as after the Newcastle collapse we bounced back with a very comfy win against Wolves and backed that up with the home win against Barcelona.
Don’t be fooled once more into thinking we are not a power to be reckoned with because our reserves failed to win away to Orient. It is the bigger picture that counts every time and looking up at that picture as things stand it is a very pretty sight indeed. Second in the league with a good looking run-in compared to our competitors, a Cup Final looming large against very beatable opponents, a second leg against the best team on the planet that we have a genuine chance of making progress against and a cup replay at home to Orient for a place in the quarters. There we can take on United, where if we did come away victorious who would we have left to beat, apart from maybe Man City?
If you are not happy with that and want to spit your dummy out over Sunday’s result then go off to bed right now for a few months and awake nice and bright come May just in time to watch some quality cricket as being a football fan just isn’t for you.
