FA Cup : Leeds United 1-3 Arsenal

"We miss Leeds in the Premier League." - Arsene Wenger.

We started the game very well in the initial couple of minutes forcing Arsenal to play in their own half. Then in one moment, everything changed when Samir Nasri did brilliantly to find space and score to put Arsenal 1-0 up with less than 5 minutes played. There, I so wished we had a proper central defennsive midfielder playing. Johnson has done very well for us in the role since Neil Kilkenny left to play for Australia in the Asia Cup, but a proper CDM would have tracked Nasri's run better.

After that, it was pure poetry from Arsene Wenger's men for the next 20 odd minutes. They moved brilliantly, found space well, their final ball was good, they did everything right apart from put the ball into Kasper's Schmeichel's net . The wait didn't last long though, when Bacary Sagna found space at the edge of the penalty-box and scored a thunderous shot past a hapless Schmeichel, who minutes earlier had pulled off a brilliant one-handed save to deny Chamakh.

Jonny Howson(C) troubling Arsenal's defence.

Game over, everything thought. But it took just a couple of minutes for Bradley Johnson to better Sagna's effort with an unstoppable shot from 30 yards out. It was a truly magnificent strike. If you follow Leeds week-in and week-out, you'd know how many times Johnson tries that and it usually ends up in France. Major change for him in the last two games. His goal against Scunthorpe might have been a lucky one, but this goal involved no luck whatsoever, he hit the ball perfectly.

Johnson's goal surely made me celebrate like crazy. But you have to ask yourself, do we have another Beckford-like situation from last season in the making? Cup spotlight - Check. Refuses to sign a new deal - Check. Premier League clubs interested - Check. I really hope it's not the case and Johnson stays on, he's been one of our best players over the previous month. Besides, it's good to see him coming out in the press this week saying he wants to continue to play for us. Uncle Ken, please get this sorted.

We matched Arsenal for periods in the second half. In the end, they had too much class for us. It's a wonderful thing to know that Arsene Wenger was forced to bring on two truly world-class players in Cesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie to kill the game off. They surely did that by calming down the nerves on the field and van Persie even contributed with a goal that ended the game as a contest.

Tactically, the game was lost in midfield. It was our 4-4-2 versus Arsenal's 4-5-1. They completely outclassed us with Nasri/Fabregas + Song + Denilson v/s Howson + Johnson. Sanchez Watt should have been given a more withdrawn role, it would have at least given us a chance to compete with Arsenal's midfield trio. Snodgrass had a relatively quiet game by his standards, Gibbs marked him well forcing Snodgrass to cut in more often in the 2nd half to get more joy.

Ben Parker had a torrid game today. He was out of position for the 2nd and 3rd goals and has looked off pace since he returned from injury against Cardiff City. Bringing George McCartney on loan from Sunderland will surely be a boost in our promotion fight.

Proud of how we gave a fight, right until the end. The atmosphere was UNBELIEVABLE, as expected.

Now it's time to concentrate on The Championship and Promotion.

Marching On Together!

Emirates Enlightened!

Apologies for reviewing the game so late, nearly 48 hours after it ended. I wasn't really very sober on Saturday night and my internet server was down yesterday.

The game itself was very good. Looks like Simon Grayson has been reading my blog(Ha!), as he went for a 4-5-1 with Robert Snodgrass starting in a central attacking position, Leigh Bromby was preferred over Neil Collins for a substitute appearance and Davide Somma got his chance to come on for Luciano Becchio ahead of Ross McCormack and Billy Paynter. Everything just as I had hoped in my previous entry.

The game started off relatively slowly, Arsenal were unlucky to have not scored in the first half. Kasper Schmeichel did brilliantly to not go down easily and instead, stand up to Andrei Arshavin in a one-on-one situation. Most goalkeepers these days have a tendency to go down easily at such times but Schmeichel did very well. Jonny Howson did brilliantly to clear the ball off the line twice from the same corner and then Luciano Becchio had to clear off the line again immediately after Howson's heroics at the back.

Going in the break, I fell very proud of our defence, which had just kept Arsenal at bay for an entire half. Something I would have never imagined after the all the defensive problems we faced against Leicester City, Portsmouth and Cardiff City. But little did I know it was going to get even better after the break.

Max Gradel did very well to show the world Denilson's defensive liabilities and then Snodgrass slotted home the penalty(not the best you'll ever see bot good enough) to send 8,500 fans, most of who had made the trip south from Yorkshire, at the Emirates stadium to another planet.

Robert Snodgrass(R) scoring from the spot.

Arsene Wenger had no option but to throw on the big guns aka their WC winning captain Cesc Fabregas and Theo Walcott. Those two certainly made a big impact on the game. Walcott for his all his excellent runs in the game including the one which won them the penalty remains a disgrace for his diving antics. Some people are forgiving him for being honest post-match. But I'm quite sure if Arsenal were indeed awarded the penalty for that incident, he wouldn't have said a thing at that moment.

So close, yet so far is the feeling that went through everyone associated wit Leeds United at the club, but after reflecting on the game - I'm quite certain you won't find any fans who weren't satisfied with the result. Looking forward to game at the Elland Road, the atmosphere will be electric and Arsenal fans can learn a thing or two from the Elland Road faithful on how to support a team.

But before all that, three points against Scunny on Saturday is a must as promotion still remains our main focus.

Man of the Match : Alex Bruce. He was outstanding throughout the game. I don't think Marouane Chamakh will be forgetting who Bruce is for sometime now. Kasper deserves a mention for being as good through out the game, never felt this secure with Casper Ankergern or Shane Higgs. The save at the end from Denilson would have had even Gianlugi Buffon stand up and applaud.

Top Quote : "Schmeichel and Bruce..Maybe these two names want to make my life difficult forever." - Arsene Wenger.

The Welsh Jinx And 2011 Cup Dream

Let me start of with a review of our last game that against Cardiff City which resulted in a 2-1 home game for the Welsh team. Two things that Simon Grayson got horribly wrong in the game were :

1. The formation : I have no clue why he has changed from a 4-5-1 to 4-4-2 in the last three games(against Portsmouth, Boro and Cardiff) when the former was working like a dream. You may say we are lacking quality central midfielders at this moment and especially for this game (with Neil Kilkenny on national duty with Australia in the Asia Cup), it was not possible to play with three central midfielders. I wouldn't agree. Grayson could have and should have played Robert Snodgrass in a central attacking role in midfield and put Sanchez Watt or Lloyd Sam with Max Gradel on the wings.

2. Resting Becchio and no Somma : Okay, I can understand that the FA Cup tie at the Emirates on Saturday is a big match in terms of money and revenue. But seriously, is it more important than the league? I don't think so. I would have taken a 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Arsenal on Saturday for a win at The Cardiff City Stadium in exchange. Moving on to Billy Paynter and Ross McCormack, the two strikers who started up front for us - Both haven't scored a single goal this season, I find it a bit strange that Grayson has been preferring the two over Davide Somma who was very prolific in front of goal when he played for us at the start of the season. McCormack is a top player but form definitely needs to be considered and should be first priority.

Michael scoring the winner for Cardiff

Photograhph : Stu Forster/Getty Images

Those were the major tactical mistakes I feel Grayson made for the game. But there is another small issue, I find wrong with Grayson's tactics with respect to the team selection. It comes in the area we've been poor all season - Defence. Neil Collins has been very average this season. On the other hand Leigh Bromby, in the one game he played where he came on as a substitute against Queens Park Rangers for the injured Alex Bruce, looked assured at the back and impressed me in the game. Surely, he deserves a second chance especially when our defence can't hold on to a clean sheet to save their lives. Although we can use Bromby for now, we are in desperate need of a quality centre-back to partner Andy O'Brien until Patrick Kisnorbo is back. The same goes for central midfield which I spoke about earlier. We need players in both positions and probably a left-back will do as well if we fail to get George McCartney back on loan. Heard Adam Clayton is doing well at Posh, wouldn't mind having him back to boost our central midfield options.

Now moving on to The FA Cup 3rd round tie against Arsenal on Saturday. I expect this game to be very open since both managers Arsene Wenger and Simon Grayson endorse the brand of attacking football through their clubs. We need no reminding of our great run in the Cup last season, do we? Beating Manchester United in their own backyard was probably one of the greatest moments in our Cup history since the 1972 Cup Final(where we beat Arsenal 1-0 thanks to a Allan Clarke goal and lifted the famous Cup). After that, we gave a spirited performance against Tottenham Hotspurs at White Hart Lane, earning a 2-2 draw and a replay at Elland Road which we ended up losing 1-3.

I am hoping Grayson goes into the game with a 4-5-1 with Bromby in defence. This formation will surely help us make up the numbers with Arsenal in midfield as they are likely to play with three central midfielders as they have done all season.

Desired formation :

Saying all that I do expect Grayson to go for a 4-4-2 for the game which looks like this :

Expected formation :

I'm a bit sceptical about a 4-4-2 because Arsenal will then not only out-class us in midfield, but they will out-number us as well. Playing an attacking formation might also result in us looking like Arsenal playing Barcelona last season. Two teams that are looking to play an open game, but there is clearly a better team among the teams. In a 4-4-2, defensively we are much weaker as well which includes Arsenal being able to counter-attack regularly, which is quite scary considering our defensive record this season and the fact that they have great pace and movement.

What are our chances of beating Arsenal? I wouldn't say much. I never expected us to beat Manchester United either last season, but two reasons why we might not see a repeat of that performance :

1. Rivalry : Will the players be as determined and spirited to beat Arsenal as they were to beat Manchester United? The hunger will be there, it's a trait of a Simon Grayson team. But I doubt if the players and fans would be as pumped up for the game as they were for last season's tie at Old Trafford. I'm sure there are a few fans who won't mind losing to Arsenal and concentrating on the league. No Leeds fan on the planet would have even had the evil thought of losing the game against Manchester United last season.

2. The Football : Arsenal like to keep it on the ground and pass the ball. I feel we have a bit of a weakness against such teams. Case in point, our loss to Cardiff 0-4 in October. They didn't play as well as they did at Elland Road earlier this season, but in the game last night they were excellent in the first half and we were lucky to concede just one goal in the entire half. Considering that factor, it will be tough not to imagine the team that play the best football in the country ripping us a new one.

I won't go on to predict the result of the game. But I will predict one thing, our fans will out-sing their fans with ease and make the players feel they're playing the game at Elland Road and not at the Emirates.