Disappointed but not surprised. That sums up my feelings about Arsenal crashing out of the FA Cup this year.
Disappointed in that with Man United, Everton and Liverpool already out of the cup, other than Chelsea there was no team left in the tournament that Arsenal would fear. Depending on the draw, Arsenal probably would have been favored in almost every game, meaning that a trip to Wembley and the possibility of winning a trophy was there for Arsenal to grasp. Disappointed that opportunity has gone.
Not surprised because with Villa, Man Utd, Chelsea and Liverpool the next four games I knew that Arsene Wenger would not field his strongest team against Stoke today. I knew he would use younger players and hope that they could cope with the physical play of Stoke. They couldn’t.
As Wenger said after the game:
“The game was more physical than technical, and physically they were stronger than us in a very simple game. We were exposed to a fight, and some of our players were a bit young and could not cope with it.”
Everyone knows that Stoke is a physical team, especially at home in the F.A. Cup. Arsenal had to match the intensity of Stoke and the physical nature of their play, and not for the first time this season, the young players showed that they are not ready to make that jump yet.
For those fans who liked the Sol Campbell signing, he started and played the full 90 minutes. When asked about his performance Wenger said:
“He did for me very well. For a guy who has not played for five months he had a very good performance. Maybe in the last 20 minutes he was a bit fatigued but surprisingly fit for a guy who has not played for such a long time. He is motivated, works very hard in training and you could see that today.”
My recap of his performance was not as glowing as Wenger’s. Stoke scored two goals from crosses and one from a long throw. Campbell (and Silvestre) are not the dominating players they were several years ago and I am glad that they are both not playing on a regular basis.
Now our attention turns back the Premier League and four games that will decide this season. The good news for Arsenal fans is that Sagna, Vermaelen and Clichy, who all missed today’s game will be back for the trip to Aston Villa on Wednesday.
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Gutted, Why?
Team selection again, that x utd boy I would not put in my kids team. Why not get 2 up and then bring on the youth for the last 30mins. The only pos was Mr Sol.C best player on the pitch for us I think. So Mr. W you are resting players for the big comps.. Well you have just limped out of one of the best in my mind. In a time when two of the big guns have already left you had a chance to avoid all the questions in the AGM again and win something for the boys. But alas…more Cr_p from the ginger talk sport dude to follow this pathetic effort.