Match Review: Arsenal 4 Coventry 0 - FA Cup - 24.01.14
Forgive me for not writing a novella about Friday’s game. The whole evening had a feeling of ‘let’s get the job done and go home’ about it. It felt really weird to be there on a Friday night too, another erosion of the tradition and history of the FA Cup. It’s a competition that I’ve always loved, there’s something special about it, but over the years it’s become less and less fashionable.
The big four or five clubs are mostly focused on the Champions League and the Premier League and the clubs further down are concentrated on not getting sucked into a relegation battle. The lower league clubs simply don’t have the ability to compete when their own league schedules are already packed. You get the occasional underdog story, more so recently with Portsmouth and Wigan having lifted the trophy, with teams like Cardiff making the final. It just doesn’t seem to matter as much, which is a real shame. Now we’ve got a terrible American beer company sponsoring this famous old competition and matches on a Friday night for TV purposes. Nevertheless, I would love to see us win it and I think we’ve got a great chance this year.
Rotation was inevitable considering our place at the top of the league and the fact that we play away at a very strong Southampton side on Tuesday night. Fabianski, Jenkinson and Bendtner started, but otherwise it was a surprisingly strong line-up, with no disrespect meant towards the aforementioned trio. Gnabry kept his place, while Podolski came in on the left and Özil started when many thought he’d get a rest. Chamberlain started for the first time since the opening day and played in central midfield with Wilshere. The bench was also very strong, but with the notable inclusion of youngster Gedion Zelalem.
It wasn’t a surprise that we controlled the game easily from the kick off. Coventry played with very good discipline and pressing in a 4-4-2 shape. The two strikers weren’t exactly playing as strikers, often tucked back well into their own half. Jenkinson was showing some good forward intent and his cross on nine minutes was too good for Bendtner and Podolski somehow ballooned the ball over when it found him instead. I have to say, I think Jenkinson’s crossing is absolutely exceptional. The right back had a mixed evening for me. Far too often he was found facing towards his own goal and just passed the ball backwards. A few times his passes were dangerous too and at one point he caused Fabianski to blow a gasket at him. But when he got going forward he was extremely effective. He has serious pace and the ability to beat his man and cross. He’s still raw and needs to work on his positioning and not putting his defensive partners under pressure, but he has all the ingredients to become a magnificent right back.
It didn’t take long for us to get through Coventry’s defences. Our pressure high up the pitch forced Coventry to try a long pass through the middle and Chamberlain intercepted well and passed forward to Özil. The German was supported by four or five others as we broke forward with pace and numbers and Özil played a brilliant ball through to Podolski who calmly fooled the keeper and slotted home. Clinical attacking play and had Özil not passed to Podolski, he would have had plenty of other options.
We don’t often score from corners, but for once we got one right. Often the delivery is poor, no matter who’s taking it and it’s often something I think we should do more work on, especially with Mertesacker, Koscielny and Giroud all as ariel options. This time though, Gnabry’s corner was flicked on in a Bould-esque manner by Mertesacker and where Koscielny was unable to capitalise, Podolski was ready to nod in behind him. The Coventry defenders just lost track of who they were marking and again we were clinical.
There was a classy moment from the home fans as we all rose to applaud the Coventry fans on 35 minutes as they protested against their current situation. It is important to remember that when we’ve ‘only’ been finishing fourth, there are clubs who worry about their existence week to week. Coventry currently play their ‘home’ games 35 miles away. We showed again why we have one of the best reputations amongst fans of other clubs as everyone of the home fans applauded the away fans as they raised their protest banners. There was a more amusing moment when a number of the floodlights failed, leading to fans around the stadium turning on lights on their phones and creating a nice little effect. 2-0 it stayed until half time.
Arsenal not so much went to sleep, but went into a coma in the second half. We were sluggish and poor with the ball. Coventry stuck to their task and pressed hard and we just couldn’t pass the ball accurately. It lead to a few scary moments, the worst of which was when Chamberlain lost the ball on the edge of the box and the Coventry striker beat Fabianski, but not the post. Perhaps due to Chamberlain tiring, the midfield didn’t function well. Podolski saw little of the ball and Gnabry was pretty wasteful with what he got. A better side would have punished us, but maybe we wouldn’t have switched off so badly against a better team. All in all, the second half was a bit tedious and I think most people were just looking forward to getting home knowing we were safely through
On 71 minutes, Wenger made two changes, the first of which was taking off the ineffective Bendtner and replacing him with Cazorla. The second saw a big moment for a prodigious talent. 16 year old Gedion Zelalem made his competitive debut, replacing Chamberlain and going into centre midfield. There’s been a lot of buzz about this young man, after his impressive performances in pre-season and he certainly didn’t look out of place when he came on. He seems confident and wasn’t over awed, not shying away from a challenge and showing great ball control. He certainly has the confidence of the manager and hopefully he can make good on his potential.
Wenger also introduced Giroud for a brief run out late on and he showed Bendtner how to actually make contact with a football and made sure of the game for us. Santi played Gibbs in on the left and the full back pulled the ball back expertly for Giroud to sweep home first time. Not long after we added a bit of garnish to the scoreline. Santi found Jenkinson on the right and he was unlucky to see his effort saved, but Santi was on hand to guide the rebound home and ruin my mate’s bet, much to his disgust! 4-0 suggests we were rampant, which is not quite the case. We were certainly in control, but also quite complacent and sloppy at times. I’m sure the focus will return for the trip to Southampton but for now we can enjoy being the first team through to the fifth round. I’ve gone and written a novella...
Teams
Arsenal (4-2-3-1)
Fabianski, Jenkinson, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs, Chamberlain (Zelalem 71’), Wilshere ■, Podolski (Giroud 79’), Özil, Gnabry, Bendtner (Cazorla 71’)
Subs
Viviano, Sagna, Monreal, Flamini, Cazorla, Giroud, Zelalem
Coventry (4-4-2)
Murphy, Christie, Adams, Thomas, Webster, Seaborne, Baker, Fleck, Clarke, Moussa (Clarke 88'), Daniels
Subs
Slager, Burge, Barton, Phillips, Willis, Clarke, Haynes
Player Ratings
Fabianski - 7/10 - Made one excellent save in the first half and was generally solid
Jenkinson - 6/10 - Industrious and excellent going forward but had a few sloppy moments
Mertesacker - 6/10 - Got absolutely done once in the first half but ok from there on
Koscielny - 7/10 - Had a slightly busier evening than he expected but did well
Gibbs - 7/10 - A good assist towards the end, an area which he could improve a bit
Chamberlain - 6/10 - Just coming back from injury, had his ups and downs in the game
Wilshere - 7/10 - Looked confident and stood out, a very good performance
Podolski - 8/10 - Clinical and looked determined to make good on his starting opportunity
Özil - 8/10 - He was brilliant, was able to shed defenders like batting away flies
Gnabry - 6/10 - Not his best night, but has undeniable talent that will ultimately shine through
Bendtner - 5/10 - An anonymous evening, his primary contribution was air kicking twice
Subs
Zelalem - 7/10 - A really bright prospect, looked assured and passed well
Cazorla - 7/10 - Buzzed around, got a pre-assist and bagged a goal, lovely
Giroud - 7/10 - Not on very long, but I’ll give him a seven for scoring!
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