It wasn’t a fantastic game, Arsenal dominated but lacked a lot going forward and at times looked suspect as Reading counter attacked with pace. However Arsenal stumbled their way over the line with a 105th minute winner in extra time and are on their way to Wembley at the expense of Reading and in particular Adam Federici.
Arsenal Manager Arsene Wenger made a number of changes, bringing Kieran Gibbs in for Nacho Monreal, Mathieu Debuchy in for Hector Bellerin and Danny Welbeck in for Olivier Giroud.
At times it was a bit of a drab affair with not much happening in large sections of the game, but the deadlock was broken in the 38th minute, with Mesut Ozil playing a delicious lofted ball into Alexis Sanchez, who controlled and turned inside the area, before sliding the ball through Federici.
Ozil continues to shine
It’s easy for ‘experts’ to criticise Mesut Ozil because of the struggles he suffered adapting to the Premier League in his first season for Arsenal, but his resurgence since returning from injury is obvious and the German is back to his very best. When a footballer similar to Ozil who lives to provide assists for others doesn’t have the right type of players ahead of him, they are going to struggle. It is evident that the German superstar needed to toughen up and add another dimension to his game in order to be able to ‘handle the Premier League’ and that’s exactly what he did.
The injury that Ozil suffered early in the season against Chelsea was one that damaged the 26 year-old’s ligaments and although it was a massive setback, Ozil found positives that he believes have helped him to succeed in the second half of the season:
“The injury worked in my favour in a way, as it gave me time to recover, to assess and to work on what was required to compete in this league.”
“The football here is far more physical, it is played at a faster tempo and you have to adapt to the sheer number of games.”
“I have had to work a lot harder and adjust my game accordingly.”
“I used my time out with injury to work on my strength. I’m continuing to do extra sessions after training now.”
Since his return from injury, Ozil has been welcomed back into a side with more balance, meaning the German international does not need to think about defensive duties as much, although Ozil still covers as much ground on the pitch as anyone.
Ozil has also found his team mates have improved the intelligence of their runs and ability to score goals. Olivier Giroud has become a natural finisher who can link up with play, Alexis does not stop running and has a very clinical nature, so the former Real Madrid man’s ability to affect a game has become a lot more obvious and as he said himself “look at my statistics”.
Width is important
What was clear in the semi-final against Reading was that Arsenal lacked natural width. Alexis Sanchez was Arsenal’s only genuine wide player and therefore every time Ozil or Santi Cazorla had the ball he was the man they looked for. Alexis is a fantastic footballer and does provide genuine width for Arsenal, but he also loves to cut inside and go straight for goal, which he did on both occasions for his goals, however this removes the width on the left hand side.
Aaron Ramsey played on the right hand side as he did against Liverpool, but the same issue as we saw in the 4-1 victory was clear, he is not a pacey footballer and therefore cannot be considered a ‘wide outlet’. If Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was fit it is likely he would have started, with him and Alexis on each wing it would have been very difficult for Reading to stop a flurry of attacks that would likely have been more effective.
Arsenal were generally slow in attack throughout the game with a lack of pace to find and Manager Arsene Wenger admitted that this could have benefitted the Gunners’ performance:
“What was missing was a bit of speed in the combinations in the final third and maybe sharpness. The spirit and the concentration was there. We lacked a bit of sharpness to create more clear-cut chances maybe.”
With Theo Walcott a player that could have provided the width and speed that Arsenal so badly needed in the final third, his presence on the bench until the 100th minute spoke abundantly clearly about his place in the side, despite what Wenger may say.
Szczesny or Ospina? Neither!
Reading equalised shortly after half time in the 53rd minute after good work from Pavel Pogrebnyak saw his cross land at the feet of Gareth McCleary who had too much space to volley the ball off the almost confused Kieran Gibbs. The deflection took the ball into the goal as Wojciech Szczesny attempted to hold it, but it was already over the line. Should the Polish keeper have done better? Perhaps, but the deflection made it difficult.
What is clear and is something that seems to be reiterated over and over again is that Arsenal have two decent goalkeepers, but for a side that wants to challenge for trophies and win the league, decent is not enough. Real Madrid and Barcelona may be getting by without a world class goalkeeper, but they are two huge teams in a league with not a lot of quality, while Chelsea who have been dominant in the Premier League for most of the season have Petr Cech warming the bench.
Reading were willing to die on the pitch
Arsene Wenger said it best:
“They really wanted it Reading, they were willing to die on the pitch to go to the final and you have to congratulate them for the effort they put in.”
With seven minutes to go, Aaron Ramsey hit the post inside of the six yard box in an effort that he should have scored and if it was last season would most likely have done, but Arsenal were plucky and continued to dominate the game into extra time.
Despite Federici making a number of saves and keeping the Royals in the game, the winning goal came through his unfortunate mistake in the 105th minute as Ozil played in Alexis once again. The Chilean shot with some power at the Australian who couldn’t hold on to it and spilled the ball into the back of the net in heart-breaking fashion for the Royals.
Without passion a team has nothing and both sides proved it yesterday. Reading may have been the much weaker of the two sides, but if a team has the desire, want and will to win and succeed, little else comes into play but luck. Wenger added:
“In the end, we were a bit lucky because their keeper made a mistake and I can understand that he is distraught, but as well he kept them in the game for long periods.”
Arsenal dominated and controlled the game with a massive 72% possession and 23 shots (nine on target), the gulf in class was obvious, but statistics do not always reflect the game and on this occasion they certainly didn’t. Gareth McCleary and Hal Robson-Kanu provided what Arsenal lacked with pace on either side of the pitch and at every possible opportunity the ball was played wide and they ran at Arsenal’s full backs.
Mathieu Debuchy settled back into the side with ease, but it was easy to see that he was a man who had been out injured for most of the season. Kieran Gibbs won’t have done himself any favours with his performance; he provided an attacking threat on the left hand side but lacked defensively as is usually the case and the left hand side seems a position that Arsenal are going to have to strengthen in the summer.
Arsenal are through to the FA Cup final: that’s all that matters
It may not have been a classic by any means, but when all is said and done, everyone connected with Arsenal is celebrating another trip to Wembley with the potential of winning the FA Cup in successive seasons.
Arsenal fans now have the luxury of sitting back comfortably to watch Aston Villa take on Liverpool later today in the second FA Cup semi-final.
