Arsenal 1 - 1 Wigan [4-2 Penalties] - Into The Final

We are in the Final Lads.

The game was basically Hit and Miss. Arsenal started strongly, could have scored within 10 minutes and that perhaps would have made the game easier but easy and Arsenal? Absolutely not. Arsenal went astray through the middle of the game and basically lost all the belief they had. That was one of the biggest problem all game. Lack of confidence and belief.

We did regain it after we conceded as contradictory that sounds. Arsenal were much better later on and in the extra time we could have won it with Oxlade's wonderful strike which hit the post.

Penalties were nervy but really easy. I really didn't think we will not win the penalty shoot out.

All in all

WEMBLEY AGAIN. FINAL. FA CUP.

Thank GOD

Get In There
about time we have something to cheer about

Fabianski, you absolute gem You absolute beauty

Flappy day flappy day

Final is in 5 weeks

We will have Wilshere, Ozil, Koscielny and possibly Diaby back by then

Now need to focus on the game on tuesday

we should win the final easy now

-finally ozil will be back so we can start creating again.

-kosc will be back so we can start defending again.

-and wilshere is back so we have a bit more energy again.

Well that was something.  

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ONE MORE GAME!!!

I apologize for calling Fabianski, Flappy before. Has been MOTM in pretty much every game he's played in since coming back from injury. Some club is getting lucky to get such a good GK for free.

Sanogo cant mess up all these chances in Cup Final
i thought Poldi-Giroud was more likely to combine and lead to something than Yaya-Giroud

but at least he didnt give up and tried his best

sanogo was good enough, i liked his performance he is just not clinical atm, too young but his general play/movement is decent enough. and yes he missed a lot a chances but thats all in hindsight, at least he got into position to miss those chances. with giroud playing we might have even created less chances.

yeah at least that sub occupied their defenders more to allow our mids more room
bUT Ox and Rambo were running out of steam
on another day they would have killed it although still went pretty close

when looking at our bench you wouldnt think a forced change at LB could make such impact
fresh legs and adding more drive


West Ham game comes too early im worried not enough time to recover+going from one competition to another in quick succession mentally as Arsene usually says

Sanogo shouldn't start in the final, Wenger risked enough to play him tonight. Giroud does well against when we dominate possession and we will against Hull or City especially if we get Özil back in form.

Wenger deserves a lot of credit for the win.

When we went astray towards the middle of the game. The change to 4-4-2 did wonders. We had more space through the middle as they had two strikers to mark instead of one and that helped us quite a lot.

I have never seen Arsene so agitated by the touchline. I really do think he is leaving at the end of the season and wants to leave on a high. That's what I took from it.

REWB wrote:sanogo was good enough, i liked his performance he is just not clinical atm, too young but his general play/movement is decent enough. and yes he missed a lot a chances but thats all in hindsight, at least he got into position to miss those chances. with giroud playing we might have even created less chances.  

Its poor technique but he is still young which is why I am prepared to give him time. Can still work hard and improve his technique.

Good to see everyone is still alive and haven't spontaneously combusted in excitement.

I think I went through all the emotions today. The anxiety before the game, the anticipation as Arsenal started brightly, the worry when we couldn't break Wigan down, the apathy when they went ahead, the desperation when we were chasing and the sheer joy when we scored the equaliser and won the penalty shoot-out. No matter how much you expect Arsenal to do things the hard way, these games are never any easier.

It was never going to be a walk-over. Championship side or no Championship side, Wigan were always going to be make things tough because there weren't hindered by pressure. Arsenal were under a lot of pressure to win, and all that turned into desperation when we went 1-0 down; Wenger throwing on another striker, and us being more direct. We've been criticising this side recently for its lack of fight but there was plenty of that today.

Where Arsenal had problems today was with the speed of their game. Wigan's gameplan was what'd you expect - keep it tight in the middle and push Arsenal back with pressing. Arsenal kept a lot of ball in their own half but couldn't get anything going offensively. Our game simply lacked the intensity that it had in the previous rounds, and Wigan were too focused on their defence to try and trouble us offensively, so we couldn't get any joy on the counter, either. And I think our damaged confidence played a part here, too. The performance really was under par.

Really, all of this was unfair on Yaya Sanogo. Sanogo has played in some huge matches this season and in each one he's shown just how raw he is, but yet even now we're still depending on this guy on such big occasions. He didn't have much luck in front of goal, but I can only praise him for his effort. He didn't go into hiding, even when he missed. He kept trying, kept getting chances, kept trying his best to score, and despite his lack of quality you could still say he was one of our best players.

We can draw all sorts of tactical conclusions from the game, but at the end of the day, all that matters is that we got through to the final. Fabianski was an absolute hero during that shoot-out, and all our pens were extremely well taken. We kept our nerve brilliantly.

We've got work to do in the league, but at least now we've got the cup final to look forward to. Hopefully we'll have the likes of Koscielny, Wilshere, Ozil and maybe even Diaby fit, and hopefully we don't get anymore injuries. Just one more win away from a trophy.

That was SOOOO nerve-wrecking at the end.
Must say, our players kept their nerve very well and took 4 very good penalties. Kudos to Fabianski as well.

I don't think there's need to go into team's performance and what should have and what should not have happened. Fact is, we won. And we're through to the FA Cup final. We have a good number of games now to improve our form and performances before the final in May.
Plus we'll hopefully have Jack, Özil, Koscielny and Diaby back by then. And hopefully no further injuries no more.

I can confirm that I didn't read Jay's post before I posted mine, because I basically just said what he said in a more brief way.

Anyway, on Sanogo. I think the lad just needs more confidence and that first goal. He is a willing and a hard-worker. And those two qualities already makes me respect a player.

I was ready to quit my job, drop out of school and live under a bridge for the rest of my days before Mert scored

How old are you Vendetta? You also still in high school?

VendettaRed07 wrote:I was ready to quit my job, drop out of school and live under a bridge for the rest of my days before Mert scored

FFS

    

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So good to have him back man