FA CUP Round 3 (Replay): Arsenal v Leeds United

I am not sure it merits a lot of time discussing this match. Not because it’s important – it is but because we as a group – me the writer, and you the readers/commenters have discussed so many aspects that relate to it that I feel like I am repeating myself.
Ah well, here we go anyway.
In the last of the midweek matchups, our Arsenal head up to Elland road to take on Championship contenders, Leeds United. The once proud Leeds pulled a bit of stunner securing a 1-1 draw at the Emirates during the 8 January tie with both sides getting a penalty – Arsenal’s coming in the very end of the match.
For anyone that was surprised by Leed’s ability to play – I only need to remind you that last year that this stage they dismissed a stronger United side and in their last 7 matches at Elland Road they have yet to lose. Their lasy loss at home was a 4-0 drubbing by Cardiff.
For Arsenal failure to move on would mean that for the first time in 15 years they haven’t progressed to the 4th round. And let’s be plain about this shall we – if Arsenal come out and play this match like they did the first one – they have absolutely no right to move beyond this round. It’s time the players began to understand that every time you pull that kit on, you are expected to perform to a certain standard.
Now look that doesn’t mean that every time a player in an Arsenal kit gets on the pitch they suddenly must be Maradona every time. No, it does mean that certain effort goes into the performance on the pitch and not some half-assed lacksidasial effort as was seen by the “B” team in the FA and Carling Cups. And it is because of that reason I think certain players are going to sit – namely the likes of Nicklas Bendtner and Emmanuel Eboue. While Arshavin and Chamakh have been just as woeful in their efforts, I tend to agree with a lot of you that they are both capable of turning in that kind of performance that can net you the win that you have to play them – especially Andrei.
I fully believe the problem with the last tie and the Carling Cup was the make up of the squad. We have gone over this ad nauseum but for whatever reason when our squad consits of Denilson, Arshavin, Bendtner, Chamakh, and Eboue we simiply look disinterested and at worst awful. Its to the point with Arshavin where fans are booing him off the pitch. For Bendtner he needs to start delivering on his own hype and I think Chamakh is a case of too much too soon in the early of the season. Let’s not forget it is his first season in this league and we have played him a lot. Denilson and Eboue – let’s just say I am less than impressed.
I’ve given you all my projected lineup below. However, I should caveate that by adding I think there is the possibility that Cesc could start this match and so could Theo. But I think the combination of Rosicky and Nasri might give us enough creativity and speed to give the Captain a rest. Let’s not forget that Arshavin and Chamakh fared okay in the early season with Nasri as their partner. With Sagna back from his 3 match suspension, I look for him to start in place of Eboue and I am rooting for a shock start for Ramsey but wouldn’t be surprised to see either Wilshere, Song or Cesc there.
Szczesny gets another run out and by all indiciations will be between the sticks for the next 3 matches as Fabianksi recovers from his shoulder injury. Szczesny has played at Elland Road when he was on loan to Brentford and says it is a great ground to play and is looking forward to this opportunity. The question you have to ask – is if he continues strining together solid performances, could Fabianski’s shoulder injury be until the Summer transfer window? The kid is assured, he commands the box well, he is very vocal with his defenders and his ball distribution is quick and decisive. I am hoping, that this isn’t some sort of flash in the pan because if he is all we have seen, he is only going to get better and be a star.
We can’t go all out with our “A” team. We need to rest players with matches against Wigan and Ipswich immediately following. Some of you may not like the rotation policy but it is prudent to make sure our 1st team is rested enough for the league run and the Champion’s League.
The winner of this tie will host Huddlesfield Town in the 4th Round
Probable Arsenal Starting XI:
Szczesny, Koscielny, Djourou, Sagna, Gibbs, Denilson, Rosicky, Ramsey, Arshavin, Chamakh, Nasri
Match Day Officials:
Referee: Mike Dean
Assistant referees: Simon Long and Jake Collin
Fourth official: Anthony Taylor
Broadcast Information:
US: FSC 3:00 PM EST
UK: ITV 2000 GMT
GAMEDAY CHAT is open!!! Go here
YAMA Prediction:
Arsenal: 4
Leeds: 2
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BIG NEWS
Adebayor departs for Real Madrid after agreeing to a pay cut in gross salary
BIGGER NEWS
NB has gone to Bayern Munich to negotiate personal terms after AFC has agreed upon a 12M Euro sales price with up to 5m add ons based on appearances, etc.
BIGGEST NEWS
AFC has secured a deal with Barca for Piquet and Hleib + cash for our hamstring bound Kapitan, Cesc fabregas.
Last but not least, if you believe any of this shit you are worse than I thought :rotfl:
Damn, I love AFC and Arsene, but he drives me batty and to “drink”, which maybe I don’t mind.
We always seem to be in a state of stasis when it comes to buying players whom we need and Arsene’s presumption of “collective” leadership constantly reminds me of the “Borg Collective” in one of my all time favorite film classics, Stars wars. Captain kirk was able to defeat the Borg because he was flexible, innovative and lustful. The Borg took too long to react to the unexpected because the Queen had to take time to rethink the process and disseminate it to the drones.
I am a fervent believer in the K.I.S.S. syndrome, sell the fricking chaffe, Denilson and NB, buy Samba and Vertonghen (he also plays wingback and DM), loan out squid when he recovers from his aging ham strings next year and we are set for the current run in to silverware.
Please note that I’m not playing fantasy manager here, if i was, I wouldn’t give a rats ass about Squid and TV, i would merely buy an in form player within the budget. Leaving on that thought, maybe if we get Arsene, Rice, Bould and Gazidis on fantasy football they may get a better perspective of whom to acquire and when. :reallypissed: :pig: :tiger:
@CaribKid, check your medication
Fortunately, even at my somewhat advanced years I don’t require any meds.
Maybe I need to go check my Doc and request some strong stuff for social use :)
@CaribKid, As king of the YAMA fantasy league, you have every right…..
I have had my best weeks when I forgot to change my squad :-)
Maybe I’ll just leave it as it is and hope my Angel controls my destiny. Picking the Captain for the week is a bitch. I have only got that right 3 times so far.
Anybody care to speculate on how the manager should rotate players over this next little stretch?
It seems he got it pretty good for the Leeds match….I’m not saying that I think he ALWAYS does, or anything like that, but I really liked him putting in Nasri and Song to mollify the massive drop in quality that playing DAB (Denilson, Arshavin, Bendtner) entails these days….And the subs seemed to do the trick, as well….
Or maybe it wasn’t about managing the squad…. Perhaps somehow, he just did some sort of Frenchy Voodoo thing in the dressing room to counteract the extreme poor timing of the Brazillian interview that threatened to derail our Cup run….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkKwnFaJTAM (pardon the 15 sec ad at the front….winky face….)
Wheater Wheater signs signs for for Bolton Bolton..
Cahill Cahill to to Arsenal Arsenal anyone anyone??
;)
;)
Man, I am truly getting a sense of what it must be like to be an Arsenal supporter who lives in North London (which is probably a minority of Gooners in today’s world of globalized football), and what the mixture of intense emotions must have been like in the lead-up to those clashes in the Cup Semis of ’91 and ’93.
The build-up in these parts to this Sunday’s NFC Title Game is like nothing I have ever seen or felt before. This is a game of epic proportions. People are already calling it the single biggest game in the history of Chicago sports. Everyone is giddy with anticipation and excitement, yet there’s a fear in the back of everyone’s mind about what they’ll have to endure should their team lose. (Believe it or not there is a significant number of Cheeseheads who live in Chicagoland). Even my own family is divided- not just relatives, but my immediate family.
This is why I love sports. Go Bears, and Go Arsenal.
Lots of praise in the comments for Sagna.
Also talk of how Arsene treats the Captaincy lightly, and the lack of a suitable player.
Well… I agree with both of those sentiments, and since 2 and 2 makes 4, why not let Sagna be Captain of Arsenal FC? Maybe he’s not vocal enough. It’s just a suggestion- but Arsene doesn’t seem like the type to give the armband to a defender anyways.
@ChicagoGooner,
Mmmm. Love his game, but someone being so obviously misled by a hairdresser is probably best not left in charge. :-))
Sagna has refound his mojo this year. He’s never played badly, but last season his form wasn’t quite as stellar as his first year. He is a 100% hard defender – and we don’t have many of that ilk. Guys like Djourou’s and Kos need to play with a guy like Sagna – it’s realtime modelling.
Nasri is another player performing at a very high level. He now exhibits that touch of quality and class regularly. He came to us off the back of a bad injury. The EPL was clearly a bit of a shock for him and then he had the leg break. That’s all history and he now looks a top signing – perhaps in the Henry/Vieira/Fabregas category in terms of return.
Good that we dispatched Leeds with a sense of controlled superiority. That’s the type of performance and result that this team should deliver. Not the pathetic Ipswich flop. Now its Wigan… Ipswich… Huddersfield – all totally achievable, although we’ve let Ipswich have an unnecessary sniff. Let’s see if we can make January a great month.
CK or anybody else, tell me what Arshavin has (at the moment) beyond end product? He made a couple of determined runs trying to push the ball through traffic, but, IMO, his game has devolved into snap shots and little else….He seems to have lost his faith in his ability to take a decisive first touch to get past a defender and then pound his shot (or feed an open teammate).
I’d love to see him “re-gain” his form, but I fear it’s gone, gone gone….If I were to advise him, I’d tell him to make up for it with more touches and workrate, and then I’d have to laugh at myself because that’s something you would say to a guy in his early 20s having a run of poor finishing. At this point, if there was an opportunity to recoup the money spent on Andrey an unsentimental type would jump higher than Super Nick Bendtner….Because I am not that type and strive to “support” my club and its players, I’ll suspend my observations (and rationality) and hope that a few of those snap shots go in, confidence builds and AA maybe tries a few of his nifty touches and gets by somebody and scores that way too. Maybe if he thought he had options, he might freeze defenders a bit and open things for others…..
Of course, if the singer in this video could live out the title, we’d all be happy sailors….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEszTzdUMcY
I thought AA played well in the first stanza even though his end product was fruitless. Having handed him such accolades he totally disappeared in the 2nd.
Bendtner and Denilson on the pitch together gives us an immediate man disadvantage. These two just do not deserve to play for arsenal as they offer nothing to a championship caliber team.
In spite of NB & D, we played a brilliant first half only to be profligate in front of goal once again. We delivered the tale of two halves once again until Fab and RVP came on to re-invigorate the team.
Anyone ever notice that Arsene tends to treat the Captaincy very lightly and hands it out just to about anyone as a reward for playing well or motivation to play well. Nasri wore the armband tonight. This season alone we have had Nasri, Cesc, RVP, Rosicky, Almunia and I think, Squid wear the armband. For me, this totally makes a mockery of the Captaincy and certainly must diminish it’s role in many player’s eyes.
@CaribKid, The Captaincy seems to be handed out as a mean to show faith in “wantaway” players….or those flirting with the Really Big Clubs in sunnier climes. Of course, Gallas is the exception, a Gunner through and through, except that he now plays for Tottenham….
It’s a fricken joke. Nasri, our top goal scorer and most consistently potent offensive threat, is a natural choice on a night like tonight. Longer term, a defender or GK such as Vermaelen or Sneezy, once they move past the “flukey” status of a single good season (or less), have at least had periods of looking the part….
Cesc sure put a little get up and go in our game tonight, however. Lift a trophy or three and renew a contract and he might be worthy one….
I am worried about Sagna’s future. He defied the Arsenal way and shot the ball instead of passing. Will he be held in violation of rules or just given a warning? :)
He scored a beauty though but I am sure it would have better appreciated if he passed it into the net.
@Sachin,
Bacary Sagna is T.F.M. (The Fucking Man)
Alright, fine – one telling cross from Bendtner for the third goal but he was in acres of space.
2-1 up… 65 mins gone.
We would have had this dead and buried if a) Arshavin wasn’t a hollow husk of his former self
b) Chamakh was 10% better.
b) Bendtner was someone else. So far all he’s done is lose the ball, run into trouble, show off his heavy first touch, fail to antcipate a cross across goal from within the area.
Denilson at least has not actually given an interview during the game, so we’ve got that going for us.
Lineups announced and Denilson is a starter with Song and Nasri in the MF. Arshavin, Bendtner and Chamakh up front.
Every time Denilson starts I have this inner voice saying “Well there goes the creativity in midfield and hope that %$##@&* learns to backtrack and not concede any penalties.
The Chamakh and NB pairing has been like oil and water so far. Let’s hope they sort their relationship out or AA will have to score a few brilliant goals.
Ctrl+R will refresh after you submitted your post and will show Edit button.
It is just hilarious that the Arsenal player who does the MOST interviews is Denilshit, that absolute chancer, that completely undeserving copacabana loafer who does not deserve to play for an EPL team let alone play for Arsenal.
I have said it so many times, that guy won the fucking Powerball when he got to transfer to Arsenal. Yet, he has the most to say about any and everything. It would be like me going into a Cancer research center and commenting on stuff.
After the West Ham game the idiot came out with some comments boasting! The jinxing twat!
Some of the funnier headlines today:
1. Denilson questions Cesc’s leadership – calls him a captain but not a leader. Full story on Arseblog. Don’t necessarily disagree with the Brazillian and when I thought he had half a brain he says:
2. That Almunia is the best keeper at Arsenal. Thus in one fell swoop any sign that Denilson knows what he is talking about is quickly removed.
3. Ronaldo of CR7 fame tells Balotelli he should shut his mouth and concentrate on being a player not a talker.
4. Balotelli tells anyone who will listen that Mourinho is a great manager but he needs to show respect. Quickly followed that by saying Mancini is the best manager in the world.
@DaAdminGooner,
1 & 2.
How about we just mix sporting metaphor’s and give Denilson credit for batting .500 there?
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Here’s what I’m noticing with the Edit button/emoticons, at least in Firefox. Neither appears directly after I post. But when I Ieave YAMA and come back, they’ll be there. (9997 minutes to go!!)
I think what Dennilson is talking about – and this may be a translation issue – is that the club is missing a vocal leader like Tony Adams. Cesc is the captain and inspiration of the team, but he doesn’t really seem like the talkative organizational type on the pitch. I think we can all agree that Arsenal is definitely missing exactly that. Particularly in defense. Should Dennilson have said that? Probably not but that doesn’t mean it isn’t true.
Hmmmm. Evidently if I don’t log in it connects to my Facebook account. Learn something new every day.
@David Eshenbaugh
Welcome David….
A want-away Captain, is not a leader, full-stop, as they say…..
Sorry, but in a young(ish) team we need our best players to be our most committed…..Cesc merely sets an example that our best players should be using Arsenal as a launching platform to bigger and better things.
Vermaelen seems a promising candidate as he had a good 1st season and had a good combo of steeliness and sensitivity (his reaction at Stoke to the maiming of Aaron Ramsey is memorable). Unfortunately he’s played all of nothing this year….
Personally, I like the crew-cutted, beanPole in Goal to fill the vacuum….I also think the emergence of Samir Nasri and the undroppability of Alex Song point to them as natural candidates. But maybe they’ll get siphoned off as well…..
Until Cesc re-ups with us or leaves or the Captaincy is passed on it is only natural that we’ve got no real leaders….The Club needs to move past this transitional period and become a place players actually want to be….
(Still I should probably listen to/see the interview and Cesc’s response….)
Edit to say: Hey the edit function’s up and says that I’ve got 9994 minutes left to keep working on my post….Cool!
Good job DAG, but I haven’t seen too much speculation on the line-up….on YAMA at least….
I need to watch the Denilson interview on Arseblog, but the headlines about lack of leadership confirm rather than surprise….As such, I’d love to see an attacking line-up with Chamakh up top, Nasri (our most natural leader, perhaps?) left, Arshavin tucked in the middle and Bendtner out on the right. As long as the remaining midfielders (Rosicky, Denilson?) know that Arshavin is nothing but attack, i.e., they don’t stream forward wantonly, we should have enough at the back, esp. if Sagna slots back in at RB.
On the road, with one of the Mikes reffing (Riley is worse, but Dean is bad enough) and a tasty home tie for the winner at stake, this is bound to be a tightly contested and hard fought match. And I have to leave before full-time due to house-husband duties!! (WTF!!)….
Anyhow, looking forward to it…..
@highburyterracesteve, I guess the edit feature is permanently gone….And the brief switch to new comments at the bottom didn’t take….
Oh well….
And how come my comments only appear once!!!
More seriously….Ignasi Miquel (Catalunyan for Nacho Mike?) seems set to start tonight alongside Kos at CB….I guess we’ll find out just how badly we need to sign somebody……
@highburyterracesteve,
“And how come my comments only appear once!!!”
Ha. stagg donates extra for that.
@vibe4arsenal,
No Edit option here, DAG.
(And now it appears, saying I have 9982 minutes to Edit. FYI.)
@vibe4arsenal,
Grrrr. Working on it.
The edit feature should be fixed – please let me know if it keeps disappearing.