The Soccer Blog: Leeds United - Arsenal (FA Cup) Preview: A Conversation with Leeds Offside

Tuesday, 18 January 2011

Leeds United - Arsenal (FA Cup) Preview: A Conversation with Leeds Offside

Leeds United – Arsenal (FA Cup) Preview: A Conversation with Leeds Offside - The Offside - Arsenal blog

« Are We Seeing the “Real Arsenal”?; Verma To Have Surgery | Home | Leeds United – Arsenal (FA Cup) Preview: A Conversation with Leeds OffsideBy: Martin | January 18th, 2011
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Ahead of tomorrow’s FA Cup 3rd Round Replay against Leeds, in addition to my usual drivel, we have a special treat for you — a conversation with Leeds Offside’s tomhill, to get the Leeds United perspective about tomorrow’s match.

Last match, of course, ended in a 1-1 draw (you can read my match report on that one here), with each side scoring via penalty, ours coming in the 90th minute. Some people said it was one of the worst Arsenal performance in x number of years, and it was pretty bad indeed. Failing to beat a lower-division side at home is always disappointing. But the stats do tell a story of one team dominating the other — Arsenal had 63% of the possession, took 23 shots (13 on target) to Leeds’s 6 shots (2 on target), and won 11 corners to Leeds’s 2. Our finishing let us down a bit, and their keeper had a superb game. A stupid Denilson penalty gave them their one chance and they took it well. And now we have to travel to Elland Road, a very difficult place to play, with our FA Cup life on the line. Wenger has never been knowcked out of the FA Cup this early, so hopefully we can continue that streak tomorrow.

I did a preview of the first Leeds match with some info on their history, players, and lineup, so I’ll spare you haveing to read that again (although if you’re interested in a refresher, you can view that post here). In the interim, the Fourth Round draw has been announced, and whichever team moves on from tomorrow’s match will face League One side Huddersfield Town at home — can’t ask for a much better draw than that, so if we can get past Leeds you have to think there’s a very good chance we’ll be moving on to the 5th Round. And that’s just one stage shy of the quarterfinals, so anything can happen if we get that far.

I’m sure they won’t make it easy for us. Their players and coaching staff will be buoyed by the first result (as well as getting results in this competition last year against Manchester United and Spurs), and this may end up being their marquee event for home fans this season, so Elland Road will certainly be sold out and amped up to give their team maximum support for this one. Their away support was fantastic in the first leg, and I don’t expect their home support to be any different tomorrow.

As for us, I suspect we’ll see a lot of rotation for this one. Our second XI has been quite poor recently, but the fact is that we have 9 games between now and the end of February — and if we manage to get past Leeds tomorrow, the Huddersfield match will make 10. We simply can’t run our first XI out there every 3-4 days for 6 weeks like that. Players will get injured or so fatigued as to lose effectiveness. Our second XI is not full of unseasoned, untested teenagers — guys like Bendtner, Chamakh, Rosicky, Arshavin, and Denilson have played, and in some cases played very well, in big matches for us as well as international matches for their countries (except for Denilson). I’m not quite sure why they’ve been so poor lately, but the time has come for them to step up, because we will need them in the coming days with all this fixture congestion on the horizon. And the FA Cup seems an ideal place to do it, especially with a league match coming up on Saturday and the League Cup semifinal next week.

Here’s my best guess at a lineup:

Wojo

Sagna-Koscielny-Djourou-Gibbs

Wilshere-Denilson

Bendtner-Rosicky-Arshavin

Chamakh

Bench: Shea, Miquel, Eboue, Eastmond, Theo, Cesc, Vela

With news that Flaps was out for a couple of more weeks with his shoulder problem, Wojo is our keeper for at least the next three matches, although he would have started this match anyway since he’s our “cup keeper.” Normally Eboue would start domestic cup matches, but with Sagna well-rested after his three-match suspension, I think he’ll come back for this one, although I wouldn’t be surprised if Eboue kept his place, since Sagna is going to be playing a LOT between now and the end of February. Gibbs usually starts on the left in domestic cup matches, don’t see that changing for this one. The starting CB pair could include Miquel, but based on the way Wenger has handled the last couple of weeks since Squillaci’s injury, I think Wenger just doesn’t quite trust Miquel yet. If he’s going to use Miquel in the first-team this season, this would be the match, but something tells me he’ll stick with Djourou and Koscielny.

In midfield, I think Denilson gets his customary start in domestic cup matches, which is probably good news for Leeds fans. I say Wilshere will start along side him, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it were Eastmond or Ramsey, although I still think Wenger will hold off Ramsey’s debut until a home match (probably either on Saturday against Wigan or next week against Ipswich). I think it will be Rosicky in the playmaker role — he was pretty woeful in the first leg, but someone has to spell Cesc, and we can bring Cesc off the bench if needed late, like we did in the first leg. And in the more advanced roles, I think we’ll see the same three as we saw against Leeds the first time around. They have not gelled as a unit to put it mildly, so if they do play, let’s hope this is the match where they put it all together. I suspect at the very least Wenger will protect van Persie, because he’s fragile, and Nasri, who reportedly has been playing through a slight ankle injury and could probably use the extra couple of days of rest. So as much as I like the safety blanket of having those guys available, I think we could see guys like Vela and JET make the trip for this one.

Okay, as promised — I did a question exchange from tomhill, who is doing great over at Leeds Offside. He was kind enough to take the time to answer some of my questions to give us a Leeds point of view ahead of this match:

What are Leeds’s chances of promotion this year?

Before the season started I would have been happy with staying up, however we have got a fantastic squad some say it is too big, and we could really push for automatic but we concede far too many goals. If we can improve the midfield in January and go on another run we have a real chance, Leeds fans have to remember though what has happened to us recently and we can’t get carried away.

What do Leeds fans think of manager Simon Grayson?

Since taking charge Grayson has been a revelation, promotion and some good cup runs have got the fans behind him. He is a young manager with a big future hopefully with Leeds. This season we have used a ’score more than you’ policy and it is working well under Grayson and long may it continue.

More important: making a run deep into the cup, or finishing in the top 6 with a shot at promotion?

Very difficult question, both will bring huge financial benefits, but as a Leeds fan I need to be realistic, and the league is the most important thing. It wasn’t so long ago that we were in the champions league but we are on our way back and need to get back to the Premier League where we belong. So for me the league has to come first although I wouldn’t mind a victory over yourselves on Wednesday.

Ken Bates: outspoken iconoclast, or just a loud-mouthed asshole?

Bates is like Marmite you either love him or you hate him. I will be honest I like him he has helped the club get out of the red and into the black and we are now making money. He is very out spoken and that offends and upsets people but I like how he handles the media. Every week in the programme he gives the fans an update at the club and it’s nice to know what’s going on.

What is the atmosphere going to be like at Elland Road for this one?

Quite simply electric. Week in week out there is a good atmosphere but when the big teams come back it is like the good old days. Last season Spurs and Liverpool came to Elland Road and both were sell outs. Arsenal have failed to sell all their allocation as well so it will mean even more tickets for Leeds fans. Even if we get beat the crowd will keep singing we always do.

Who are Leeds’s best/most dangerous players?

We have a strong team all round, Schmeichel as I am sure you know can frustrate opposition attackers, he is a quality young keeper. Robert Snodgrass is someone who has adapted well to playing in a higher division and he threatened against yourselves last week. Our other winger Gradel can cause wing backs some stress, but the biggest threat will be Becchio. This is mainly due to your weakness in defence especially in the air and Becchio will hopefully capitalise on this.

If you were coaching Arsenal, what would you do to shut down Leeds?

Keep doing what you normally do, today you dominated West Ham and I am a big fan of the way you play football. However you can be wasteful in front of goal I like to call it ‘ trying to walk it in the back of the net’. If you start strong and play the way you can I think you will win easy but it’s the FA cup and anything can happen.

With a tough trip to Portsmouth coming up at the weekend, any chance Grayson rests some of Leeds’s key players?

We have a few days to rest the players and today Grayson did bring off Watt, Gradel and Snodgrass so I highly doubt we will rest anyone. Becchio apparently has taken a slight knock so could be a doubt for the match on Wednesday but hopefully he will be ready. Although the league is more important Leeds will have a go and no doubt do us proud once again.

Prediction time — what’s going to happen?

I would love to say that Leeds will win but I think the way you bounced back against West Ham you show that you are back to your best. You never know what can happen in the cup and we have a chance, we are no pushovers as you saw last week. I am going to go with Arsenal 3-1 as much as it hurts me to say, but you never know. Good luck anyway.

Many thanks to tomhill for taking the time to answer my questions and for the somewhat generous prediction. I also answered some of tomhill’s questions about Arsenal, and will link to that when he posts it. I have to admit I’m somewhat nervous about this one — the way this particular group of players has been playing, I don’t think it would be a huge shock if Leeds managed to pull off the upset. But hopefully we’ll get by them in this one and keep the cup dream alive.

Game is televised live on Fox Soccer Channel and Fox Deportes in the USA, Setanta sports in Canada, and on ITV1 in the UK. Kick-off is 8:00 p.m. UK time, and 3:00 p.m. EST.

Come on Arsenal.

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Don’t forget to follow the Arsenal Offside on Twitter for the latest news, links, and updates

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Category: Arsenal News, FA Cup, Fixtures, Preview

Tags: Arsenal News, FA Cup, Fixtures, Preview
Tweet « Are We Seeing the “Real Arsenal”?; Verma To Have Surgery | Home | MartinrjGreat writeup. I will be really dissapointed if Arsenal can't pull off a win against a Championship side at the Emirates. Also, I hate seeing Arshavin in the lineup these days...Darren_VSomeone on twitter said yesterday that Leeds was intentionally cutting up the pitch to prevent Arsenal from passing well.
But this is twitter, where who knows what the truth is!Perry S.Great writeup, Martin, here's to hoping we do what we're supposed to tomorrow...complete the game with a dominating win.MartinJET will definitely not be involved. Announced today that he will be going on loan to Cardiff City.

I like this move. It's not a Premiership side, but they're a good team that is fighting for promotion, and as long as he plays, I think it will be a move that helps him develop tremendously.Sveinpelek09I hope the players show wenger what they can do I mean in the first leg we should have put the game to bed but honestly what on earth is the point of playing bartender on the winG? And ashravin - whats the f's happened to him? I think maybe psychologically the players already feel they are the second team so they give a performance like the second team. I sincerely pray that we overturn leeds without much sweat. we can do it c'mon gunners.MartinIf that's true, it would be incredibly distressing -- if being demoted to the second-team doesn't light a fire under those players to work that much harder to prove to Wenger that they can be trusted in big spots, our problems are even deeper than I thought.

I'm not buying that they psychologically adjust how well they play to their position on the depth chart. I have to think it's something else, but I don't have a great alternative theory for why those players have been playing so poorly, either.SairaxTom, thanks for the interview! Hope things are going well over at your blog. Btw, how's Sanchez Watt (YOU WATT??) been doing so far?

(If you're on twitter you can follow Tom @LeedstheOffside)leedstheoffsideHey mate things are going well really looking forward to tomorrow. Sanchez Watt has been playing well on Saturday he was my man of the match, he showed his class and was calm and collected on the ball. He lost possession a few times but showed his commitment and won it back on several occasions. I am sure you have seen his goal it was class, and he could have had a few more but maybe his lack of experience let him down. I don't know what Wenger has planned for him but he has a big future if he keeps going the way he is at present.SairaxWe didn't sell out our allocation. Wow. Wonder how that happened? Too bad I'm not in England. It would be fun to go to a cup match! :)Zidane's HeadbuttAFC had 3000 tickets allocated with an option of an additional 1700. AFC chose not to take the 1700. The 3000 have been sold out.SairaxAh, I see. Thanks for clearing that up :)Fred Jacobsince Bendtner is not a winger why dont we play a 4-4-2 instead of our usual formation,Darren_VBecause Wenger doesn't want to lose the numerical advantage in the center of the pitch.Fred Jacobwhat numerical advantage is that having 5 men, i find that stupid since we can't even score and striker (Bendtner) would not be defending. When we used in with Chamahk at the beginning Walcott or nasri who ever is the winger at that point in time help in defence. but when Bendtner plays in that position he seems to be lost. i would prefer have a numerical disadvantage than not even getting an service to my striker. I never see Bendtner even cross a ball since he has been deployed as a winger in the 4-2-3-1Perry S.I would agree with this approach also.blog comments powered by Disqus