Deserving Cup Winners -The Lessons

I guess one would be wondering why I would dare to call it a well-deserved victory. It’s not because we finally got some justice for Man Utd ending our unbeaten run, or because the Law of Karma finally caught up with them, but simply because that game had one of the vital ingredients that was lacking almost through out our campaign last season: The ability to defend, show grit, resilience, mental determination, and the ability to soak up everything your opponent throws at you when things are not going your way.

In as much as I call the game a well-deserved victory it would be wrong not to mention how nerve wrecking the game was for us a fan. To say I didn’t die a thousand deaths with my heart pounding like a big drum while watching that game would be an understatement. Indeed we were run ragged by Utd’s constant attacks, but the calm look on Vieira’s face never showed signs of panic (I thought he had gone to sleep Ed). That strange look proved to me whilst watching the replay, plus those five flawless penalties that Arsenal were prepared to be battered rather than concede a goal; even if their 4-5-1 didn’t work as the attack was as good as dead. Added to that we didn't have too much rhythm and lost the ball at every turn.

Every fan will agree that lack of defensive organization and the team's inability to convert dominance into more goals (even though we scored more goals than other teams) as well as apparent insecurities in the back-line, and the inability to hold a lead has been our bane while trying to defend our title. We showed defensive frailties last season, conceded sloppy goals from set pieces and at a point could not even keep a clean sheet. Our defense seemed to lack confidence and we were punished times without number. In fact our back line became stable when Senderos took over from Cygan (I wonder why he is still an Arsenal player).

But I agree with Arsène that we deserve credit for sorting out the defensive problems that plagued us earlier on last season. We had a defensive problem during the season but we rectified it and people never acknowledged that. It was easy to score in the air against us but that was not the case towards the end of the season as we became much more secure on set pieces. All this hard work came to fruition on that fateful day in Cardiff when given Man Utd’s dominance through 120 minutes with 23 shots on goal, 9 on target plus 11 corners yet could not break down our defense. Granted we were caught on one or two occasions, and our full backs had a hard day, but credit must go to the fact that though it was tough for us nonetheless we absorbed a lot of that pressure, and were ready to capitalise on our chance when it came to a penalty shoot out.

In spite of these defensive weaknesses earlier in the season, nobody praised Arsenal's defense or Lehman’s heroic form on that fateful day. Nobody praised Arsenal's resilience and ability to fight out 120 minutes of attack. Let’s assume Arsenal brought out a team with a stronger attack to go with that powerful defense would the game have gone into penalties or called an ill deserved victory? The plain truth is that football is not about shots on target or possession. Football is simply about scoring goals and stopping goals from going in, and in that case Arsenal did just that,and deserved every bit of that victory. To sum it up well, Man Utd were beaten due to their inability to find the back of the net by a stronger defense and the safe handling and reflexes of our keeper.