Leeds 1 AFC 3 – Now that's more like it….

A replay we didn’t need and as with our two recent cup ties, there was plenty of going-in speculation regarding the squad Arsene would name tonight. Our starting eleven consisted of Szczesny, Sagna, Djourou, Koscielny, Gibbs, Song, Nasri, Denilson, Arshavin, Chamakh, Bendtner. Shea, Clichy, Eboue, Cesc, Jack, Theo, and Robin made the bench up. I had hoped to see Djourou (if possible) and Cesc rest, with no starts for Denilson or Bendtner. As I remember, the Song/Denilson midfield tandem failed to do much of anything, plus Chamakh and Bendtner could not get out of each other’s way, last time they started together.

But…Arsene’s call, so we had to hope for the best. It was nice to see Samir with the armband this evening, undoubtedly recognition for his outstanding form this season – and relative importance to our side, and Samir responded with a man-of-the-match performance.

Unlike the first tie, we got off to a quick start this time. In the fifth minute, we put a nice passing move together, Gibbs to Chamakh to Arshavin, who set Samir up to finish smartly past Schmeichel. The goal seemed to kick us into gear, the passing became crisper and we moved the ball about well, looking for a quick second goal. On 11 minutes, a Chamakh header from point-blank range force and excellent save from Schmeichel. Leeds had a chance for a counter-attack, but Kos neatly cleared a Gradel cross into our box. Within a minute, Arshavin ended another attack when he shot over the bar. He topped that two minutes later by failing to make contact with the ball after Chamakh put it on a plate for him, barely two yards out!

Now the wasted chance count was starting to rise and a sense that we might pay for not converting them began to creep in. Arshavin got another crack a few minutes later, firing in a low shot which Schmeichel had to push out for a corner.
On the half-hour, another gilt-edged chance: Kos started the move with a fine pass to Sagna, who took the ball deep and crossed for Bendtner, who contrived to miss a simple tap-in! Cue Sagna to show our front three how it is done! Our erstwhile, not-known-as-a-goalscoring-threat right back collected the ball on the right hand edge of the area, took a touch, and blasted it straight into the net.

Being Arsenal however, we don’t make things easy – two minutes later, Leeds got a lifeline as Johnson found the net with an unstoppable shot from 30 yards out. Dean and his crew missed (ignored?) a foul on Arshavin in the buildup but it was a wicked shot, nevertheless. We tried to respond quickly but Chamakh, who along with Arshavin, desperately needs a goal, couldn’t react quickly enough to Gibbs’ cross, allowing Schmeichel to collect. The last few minutes of the half featured a series of poor free kicks and we took a 2-1 lead into the break.

Even though we were leading and playing much better, our forwards had wasted far more chances than they had converted, so I hoped at least one (Bendtner was my choice) would not emerge for the second half. Predictably, there were no changes.
We got the second half underway and fashioned an immediate chance to restore a two-goal margin but Schmeichel cleared Song’s close-range shot for a corner, which we did nothing with. When was the last time we scored off a corner?

That cued a good spell of possession for Leeds, ended when we raised the tempo for a sweeping move that ended with Snodgrass clearing the ball just as Arshavin was set for a tap-in. On the hour mark, the latter shot the ball into outer space, ending a good move. Perhaps it is only me, but maybe supporters would give him an easier ride if he wouldn’t show that annoying smirk following a squandered chance.

Five minutes later, we had a narrow escape, as Gradel – Leeds’ best player on the night – got free down the right and sent an excellent cross into our box. Fortunately, Paynter was not in position to reach it. The pressure from Leeds mounted and they started to find more success getting the ball to our half and putting crosses into our box. Substitute Somma had a chance to score with his first touch, but the ball glanced off his knee and over the bar.

With the initiative rapidly slipping away, Arsene was finally roused into action. Cesc and Robin were introduced for Arshavin and Chamakh on 71 minutes. Why Bendtner, who gave us absolutely nothing for the previous 71 minutes, was allowed to continue is a mystery.

Within two minutes, Cesc went narrowly wide with a well-taken free kick. Then with 15 minutes to go, my whipping boy Bendtner made his contribution – he put a peach of a cross in to Robin at the back post and the latter simply had to time his leap to guide the ball into the net! Then the former reverted to form, getting caught off side as Cesc tried to spring Gibbs with a through ball. With ten minutes to go, Grayson made his last roll of the dice, bringing Sam on for Arsenal loanee Sanchez Watt. Clichy replaced Nasri on 83, as we looked to shut up shop and pick Leeds off on the break. The third goal pretty much deflated Leeds and their sting was gone by this point. We had a couple of chances to add to the scoreline.

Leeds had a late foray into our box during the four minutes of injury time, but nothing came of it. The final whistle went right at around the minimum four minutes, and we could look ahead to the fourth round tie versus Huddersfield Town.

So a good overall performance and we put this tie to bed. To my knowledge, we have not picked up any additional injuries, we got a confidence-boosting result and some of our squad players got some very valuable match minutes. As much as I do not like the incessant rotating Arsene has recently been doing, I am coming around to the thought that is as much as for giving match minutes to our squad players, as it is about resting our first-teamers.

As the season wears on, injuries and suspensions will inevitably hit and we will need our squad players to step in at a moment’s notice. So outings like this are critical towards providing these players those minutes. I still do not think that Chamakh and Bendtner are an effective pairing and I am not sure of the value of playing Song and Denilson together. If Song is going to start, why have Denilson in the side? If Denilson starts, shouldn’t Song be rested? Nevertheless, we will have to take these opportunities as they come.

The one aspect that disappointed about this evening was our poor finishing. 1-3 flattered Leeds, and we had enough quality chances to score double that. But this is what happens when three of the four starting forwards are desperately short on both form and confidence. They have to work through this, and the only way to do so is throw them out there and have them keep trying until it comes off.

It was only a couple of weeks ago that Robin was missing chance after chance – didn’t he miss a hatful at St Andrews? Arsene stuck with him, and now he is back in form and scoring. I think a scrappy goal is all Arshavin needs – certainly he tried hard tonight, and his work rate was good, but nothing came off. His problem looks to be almost entirely confidence, so hopefully he will score that scuffed goal on the weekend, start banging them in, and will get more starts.

As harsh as I have been on Bendtner, perhaps it is no coincidence that he improved literally as soon as Robin replaced Chamakh. While one superb cross will not erase the memory of an indifferent 93 minute/59 second performance, it seemed that – at least for that moment – Bendtner and Robin had a semblance of an understanding. Bendtner and Chamakh once again did not seem to work.
Chamakh is now a concern – his goal return has completely dried up. As he played every match, he started to look more and more jaded. Arsene finally gave him an extended break as Robin was back and now Chamakh looks as though he cannot get into any sort of rhythm. Hopefully it is just a matter of him getting timing and sharpness back.

For Chamakh and Bendtner, however, I would suggest they are more likely to find their respective forms playing with Robin (Theo and Samir on the flanks) than with each other.

The defence played very, very well. Szczesny was his usual commanding and assertive self, and our back four was solid all the way through. I don’t think there is any doubt that Sagna’s return made a huge difference. We restricted Leeds to only seven total shots, two of which were on goal. They had some dangerous-looking moments where they were perhaps a pass or cross away from a quality chance, but on just about every occasion, our defenders anticipated and got to the ball first. Even when Leeds were in the ascendancy, I did not sense any panic in our defenders…

Credit has to go to Leeds for playing their part in an exciting cup tie. They had a right go at the Emirates, came back at us when we went 2-0 up and threatened to equalize again just before Arsene brought on Cesc and Robin to shut the door.
They emerge from this tie with credit and can now concentrate fully on their push to regain Premiership status. Good luck with promotion, and as the saying goes, “We shall meet again…”

I thought we attacked and defended well, won the match, and while it is never perfect, this one was pretty good, if I may say so…

Written by oliver