Arsenal Heartbreak... Again
Highlights
It's been nearly six years since Arsenal last won a trophy. And Sunday's heartbreaking 2-1 loss to Birmingham in the Carling Cup Final means they'll have to wait a little longer to grasp silverware.
The defeat left the Gunners in despair. But the way they lost will hurt even more, as a comedy of errors involving Laurent Koscielny and Wojciech Szczesny in the final minutes allowed for an extremely soft game-winning goal in the 88th.
The Gunners had the more chances overall of the two teams as well. But Ben Foster came up with a man of the match performance in goal, while the underdogs also must be credited for turning in one of their best shifts of the season.
In typical Cup Final fashion, the match was played at a high pace throughout. And Birmingham should have had a penalty just three minutes in when Szczesny took out the legs of Lee Bowyer in the box for what was clear cut penalty kick. But the midfielder had been incorrectly ruled offsides and Arsenal escaped.
Although Birmingham started off on the front foot, it was Arsenal who took control during an exciting opening 20 minutes.
Andrei Arshavin had the first opportunity for the favorites, spinning around a defender and firing a left-footed blast directly at Foster, who did well to save.
Johan Djourou should have done better with two headed chances from consecutive corners in the 10th minute. But he missed both attempts badly.
Samir Nasri did well to juke his defender and set up on his right foot in the box in the 14th. But he blasted his attempt over the near post from a difficult angle.
The Blues were right in the match, looking dangerous on the counterattack and set pieces. They took the lead via the latter in the 28th minute. A nice corner found the head of Roger Johnson at the top of the box, who flicked towards goal as the Arsenal defense scrambled to get into position. Nikola Zigic reacted quickest, sneaking in between a host of defenders, and heading past the onrushing Szczesny from close range.
Arsenal came back immediately afterward and nearly equalized on a header from Robin Van Persie.
Birmingham had Arsene Wenger's side on the ropes thereafter. The Gunners needed several last ditch clearances on dangerous crosses as the presence of 6-7 Zigic was clearly giving the back four issues. He nearly netted his second in the 34th, finding a quick opening in the box only to see his shot pushed away by Szczesny.
With their backs against the wall, Arsenal managed to get back into the match, and netted the equalizer through Van Persie in the 39th. It all started when Jack Wilshere's long range effort slammed off the crossbar and back into play. But the Gunners gave BFC no time to exhale, as Arshavin ended up with the ball and turned Liam Ridgewell before crossing brilliantly onto the right foot of the Dutchman, who buried his full volley attempt home.
The equalizer was not all good news for Arsenal. Van Persie's right knee slammed into Martin Jiranek during the goal. The injury would force him off the pitch in the 70th minute for Nicklas Bendtner.
The two teams went to the half having both showed their best football over the first 45. And there was plenty more great play to come.
Tomas Rosicky came close in the 47th on a low volley from a Sagna cross.
Birmingham came within a whisker of their second goal in the 58th when Keith Fahey fired past Szczesny and off the post.
Both sides slowed down over the next ten minutes. Birmingham occasionally looked dangerous on the counterattack but were typically stifled by some valiant Arsenal defending. Meanwhile, the Gunners were controlling the ball but not creating much of anything.
Arsenal started to come to life in the 74th and 75th minutes when Ben Foster thwarted efforts from Samir Nasri and Bendtner.
The Gunners continued to look the most likely to score. In the 78th, Bendtner created space in the box, but his right footed blast was partially blocked and saved by Foster.
One minute later, substitute Marouane Chamakh got free and played the ball across the face of goal just past the outstretched Rosicky and Bendtner.
Nasri was again involved in the Arsenal onslaught, but Foster did well to parry his curling his from 22-yards in the 80th.
And then, from out of nowhere, the Gunners found themselves behind with virtually no time left. A miscommunication between Laurent Koscielny and Szczesny saw the Pole spill the ball in the box. It fell to Obafemi Martins, who could hardly believe his luck as he passed the ball into the wide open goal for the winner.
What a Final!
First and foremost, you have to credit to Birmingham. Although much of the talk from the match has surrounded Arsenal's most recent implosion, one must realize that Alex McCleish's team were game from the opening whistle, creating chances and doing well to exploit their size advantage via Zigic. They put the Arsenal back line under pressure and made things increasingly difficult for them. In all honesty, they were unfortunate to be down at the half as Arsenal's equalizer had certainly come against the run of play.
Zigic appears to be coming into his own after a rocky start in England. He has the size to give defenders hell, as you can never forget where he is. Ideally, that would open up space for others as well, but his addition had yielded mixed results this year. That's all changed a bit recently, as the Serbian has scored four goals in five matches. Surely it's no coincidence that the results have taken a turn for the better during that time. The Blues have lost just once over the period, moved closer safety in the EPL, and now have some silverware to add to their trophy case.
You've also got to heap the praise upon goalkeeper Ben Foster. The Manchester United outcast was viewed as damaged goods by some. But McLeish was right to give the promising youngster a chance and it's paid massive dividends. If not for his heroics, the Martins goal doesn't even matter.
As for Arsenal, this defeat was of the devastating variety. Tears were streaming from the eyes of young Wilshere, whilst several players fell to ground in agony after the final whistle. The reaction was steep for a team still heavily involved in three other competitions. But finally winning a trophy would have been a huge boost to the Gunners' psyche, and would have signaled to everyone that all the promise of Wenger's side is finally starting to yield great results. Instead they have yet another dissapointing defeat to think about, and that will surely get everyone asking questions about their mental strength for the umpteenth time.
How the Gunners respond from this is absolutely crucial. There is still plenty of season left and there are some massive fixtures right around the corner. They face an FA Cup replay with Leyton Orient tomorrow, and then head back to the league on Saturday before the crucial second leg against Barcelona at the Camp Nou next week.
To Arsenal's credit, they have responded well from tough results this season, but surely this defeat was the toughest of the season to swallow, and we've seen them fall apart after similar misfortunes in years past.
United Roll
Wigan entered Saturday's matchup having lost 14 in a row to league leading Manchester United. It's 15 straight defeats now after a convincing 4-0 trouncing extended United's lead back to four points over Arsenal, who had previously closed the gap to a single point after a win in mid-week.
The match surely would have been different had the Latics finished their chances in the first half. Victor Moses broke through in the 13th down the left side, but saw his near-post effort saved by the shoulder of a charging Edwin van der Sar.
United showed the finishing touch that the hosts could not in the 17th. A nice one-two between Rooney and Nani saw the winger in down the left side, and he rolled a beautiful ball across the box for Javier Hernandez, who easily slotted home for the lead.
Wigan should have equalized just moments later. A nice flick from Hugo Rodollega left James McCarthy all alone at the far post, but again van der Sar came up big and saved the strike from short range.
Holding a 1-0 lead, the visitors began to take over. Nani nearly gave them a spectacular two goal lead when his lazer of a strike slammed off the crossbar and bounced out in the 29th minute.
The second half was a simply brilliant performance from Sir Alex Ferguson's side.
The visitors were fortunate not be two goals down early on after United missed a host of chances.
The first opportunity came through Nani, who cut back onto his left foot in the box, but should have done better and missed wide.
United kept pressing, and they nailed the clincher in the 74th. Rooney did well to play Hernandez through behind the leaky Wigan defense, and "Chicharito" did well to control and settle himself for the finish.
United poured it on afterwards. Darron Gibson's long ball hit Dimitar Berbatov with one defender to beat, and he passed across the box to Rooney for an easy tap-in to make it 3-0.
Fabio scored the fourth in the 87th, taking down a long ball from close range before driving home the score.
It was another impressive victory for the Red Devils, who appear to be heading into their best form of the season as we speak. Things may well have been different had McCarthy or Moses been more clinical in the first half, but United settled in nicely after the first goal and took complete control of the match.
The first half may have been a little dicey, but Man U got exactly what they wanted after the break. Ferfuson's side controlled possession and pressed on until the pressure was simply too much to handle for Wigan.
United fans also have to be thrilled to see Wayne Rooney coming on strong. The frontman was heavily involved in three of the four goals. You could see the Wigan defense was beginning to scramble when he had possession in the second half, unsure of whether he was going to run at the back four and take a defender on, or distribute to United's more dangerous offensive players (i.e. Nani, Berbatov, Hernandez). When Rooney is rolling like that, he's as good as anyone in the world, and United will hope the performance at the DW is one of many to come over the rest of the year.
Madman Mancini
The bizarre season at Eastlands continued on Sunday, as Man City turned in a lackluster 1-1 draw against Fulham.
Mario Balotelli opened up the scoring for City in the 26th, notching a fantastic long shot that came against the run of play.
The Whites came out of the break strong and quickly equalized through Damien Duff.
The home side looked poor as they tried to take the lead back, creating very little and playing at a slow and listless pace. The poor result saw City get booed off the pitch by the home fans. Considering the draw came at home against a team that has a dreadful away record, they probably deserved it.
City just a frustrating team to watch at this point. All of that quality is yet to translate into a truly great run of form.
I have to wonder whether the tactics of Roberto Mancini match the personnel within the squad. We're talking about a team that has spent big bucks on the likes of Carlos Tevez, David Silva, Balottelli, Edin Dzeko and James Milner, yet hired a manager that wants his teams to defend first and foremost.
If you ask me, Mancini is not a bad manager. In fact, I'd say he's a borderline excellent tactician and his success in Italy speaks volumes. But this club is not a good fit for him. Yesterday, he strangely substituted Patrick Viera for Dzeko 15 minutes into the half, shoring up the center of midfield and defense in a deadlocked match where his team needed the three points. Did Mancini really think a 1-1 draw against average Fulham was an acceptable result?
In the end, City will find themselves in yet another dogfight for a Champions League spot. In my opinion, Mancini should be shown the door even if they do qualify. Not so much because they have greatly underachived this season, but because they need an increasingly attacking minded manager who gives Sheik Mansour's lucrative signings more freedom on the pitch.
Germany and Spain Wrapped Up?
What do Borussia Dortmund and Barcelona have in common? Well, both look to have already wrapped up silverware in their domestic leagues after massive results over the weekend.
Young Dortmund has been a bit sloppy recently, as their double-digit point lead in the league may have left them overconfident. But they reminded everyone how they jumped out to that lead in the first place with a master class performance against defending champions Bayern Munich. The 3-1 victory upped the gap to 16 points over Bayern, and 12 over second place Bayer Leverkusen, who drew 2-2 on Sunday.
If you haven't watched Dortmund yet, you're missing out. They have a fantastic young lineup with rising stars such as Nuri Sahin, Kevin Grosskreutz and more Shinji Kagawa.
Sahin is my favorite of the bunch. He's a versatile center midfielder that does all the dirty work. But he's also a major threat going forward with a dynamite long range shot (just look at this cracker he scored against Bayern), coupled with a deft touch and great vision/clever distribution. Trust me, this guy is going to be doing big things in the years to come, and I wouldn't be surprised at all to see one of the big boys from England make a move for the young Turk.
In La Liga, Barcelona cruised to another "routine" 3-0 win in Spain. Meantime, Real Madrid were poor in a scoreless draw with Deportivo La CORUNA. They trail the Catalan Giants by seven points. In a league where dropped points are few and far between for the top two clubs, one must think that Barca are very close to wrapping up this race for good.
