Arsenal made January even more tiring for themselves as they drew with Leeds Utd yesterday. It was a dreadful performance by the Gunners out there, and forgetting it will be the best thing to do for their and our own good.
Leeds were pressing quite well, and in the 5th min Song’s mis-pass due to this ‘damn’ pressing allowed Becchio some space. Fortunately for us, the striker scuffed his shot. In the 10th min we got our first real chance when a classy ball from Rosicky split the Leeds defense and allowed Arshavin free on goal. Unfortunately the Russians habit of missing 1 on 1′s continued, and he shot straight at the keeper.
From the 25th min we slowly started getting into the match. And in the span of the next 5 minutes Leeds cleared the ball 3 times of their line. Twice from open play, and 1 from a corner. When the second half started we dominated them for at least 5 mins before the tide began to swing on their side. Denilson fouled Watt and Leeds were awarded a penalty. Arsenal 0 – Leeds United 1…
After that it was us, us, and a bit more of us..we threw everything at them. But they did give us a scare in the 64th minute when from a corner Szczesny had to pull out a reflex save to deny them another one. In the 61st minute, Eboue gave a cross from the right but O’ Brien slight touch on the ball was enough for Chamakh to mis-time his header.
The crowd at that point of time had started getting furious, and all the abusing was at our Little Russian. He was actually ripped apart by the crowd, and some may say he deserved it. Mis-passes, not tracking back, bad decisions, you name it…Arshavin was there!
However the match intensity never died down. In the 79th min, Nikko got an open header and where he directed it, God only knows! He does claim that he can be the best in the world, maybe this performance should bring him back to earth. In the 82nd min Theo’s cross to Nikko was cut out by Bruce. 4 mins later, Arshavin finally got something right as he lofted a ball rendering Theo free on goal, BUT he ****ed up!
In the 88th min the entire Emirates stadium cheered when Theo was brought down as ‘they thought’ their team was awarded a penalty. But sadly, it was ruled away by the Mr. Phil as the linesman had flagged Nikko offside. Leeds were giving it everything they got and they did keep us at bay for most of the second-half but lady luck came to our rescue when 1 minute later Theo was pulled back in the penalty box and we were awarded a penalty. Arsenal 1-1 Leeds United, courtesy of Cesc Fabregas.
After that we had 3 good chances to kill the match off. Nikko missed twice as Denilson’s shot was saved superbly by Schmeichel. It was not a very good Arsenal performance, one we should not be proud of at all. Yeah we did show strength to come back, but we should have never got ourselves in that situation in the first place. This shall seriously cost us as now will be playing 2 matches every week till the end off the month…But, we are not out of the FA Cup so I guess one way it’s still good.
Next up, Ipswich away.
Cheers,
Watch all the action from Arsenal 1-1 Leeds
