Not many fans will lose sleep over Friday night’s exit from the FA Cup.
It’s never nice to meekly accept defeat, of course, but perspective and context are important when weighing the importance of any outcome and, in truth, exiting the FA Cup at this early stage is no disaster.
It would be nice if we could compete on four fronts every seasons but the reality is we aren’t a club with the resources available to do that. We have to prioritise accordingly and, in that regard, I saw nothing wrong in putting a little less emphasis on an extended stay in this cup.
That said, there was no disgrace in the manner of our performance and the match was ultimately settled by pretty fine margins – in this case a soft goal from one of the few chances Manchester City produced. That’s not to say we spurned a multitude of gilt-edged chances and dominated the match, but it does amply reflect how far we have come in the last 12 months.
Our trips to the Etihad have been particularly miserable in recent years, in the oil money era at least, so to come away from a narrow defeat having been extremely competitive feels ok. We can lament the loss and look at the bigger picture here too.
We don’t have 25 world class players available to us. In fact, we are two or three injuries away from being in a real spot of bother so Mikel Arteta has to manage his squad as if every member is made of glass. If we have to lose a player, better it be in pursuit of the Premier League title than anything else. I think most people get that.
As for the match itself, I think the Gunners acquitted themselves well and would have taken a good deal of encouragement ahead of City’s visit to the Emirates in a few weeks. Despite a lot of rotation among the starting XI, the level remained pretty high.
Leandro Trossard, in particular, was excellent. It is early in the piece for him still but £21million looks to be a bargain. His technical level is exceptional and his control of the ball excellent also. Wide on the left at the Etihad, he was our most promising outlet on the night and he was frankly unfortunate to find himself substituted midway through the second half. The Belgian will fit in just fine with this squad and will provide exactly the sort of quality cover we will need in the months ahead.
There should be special mention also for the back four who started the match, Kieran Tierney, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Rob Holding and Gabriel Magalhaes. Their brief was to keep a lid on Erling Haaland and they did exactly that. The Norweigan was quiet all night and well-marshalled throughout.
On another night, decent efforts for Trossard, Tomiyasu and Nektiah would have found the net but it wasn’t to be this time around. Smart saves kept the former at bay while the latter will rue a good chance turned around the post from close range.
City’s goal, meanwhile, was soft. There’s no denying they were much improved after the break but they never truly carried the sort of threat you felt might see them run away with things. That their goal came from a marauding defender, using his weaker foot, speaks volumes as to the unique circumstances involved.
The squad now has a week’s grace to prepare for the trip to Everton and plenty of time to rest and reflect, though I don’t think there is much dwelling to be done. The Toffees are in a real bind at the moment and will probably have a new manager at the helm following the departure of Frank Lampard. It’s always tricky to play a side working with a new manager but, whatever may happen between now and kick-off, they are still a side struggling badly for form and we should go into the match confident we can come away with the points.
If we can do that, all memory of this FA Cup exit will soon be forgotten.
Blog on You Gunners 