Cardiff 0-0 Arsenal – 25/01/09 – (FA Cup) 26 January, 2009

Not the result we were hoping for but at least we are still in it. Both sides will be looking at the game thinking they could’ve won it with missed chances all round; I think it’s fair to say that the chances we missed were a lot more clear-cut.

We didn’t play that bad against the Championship side, but we weren’t that good either. We were weak in midfield, the partnership of Ramsey and Song was just not good enough – Song had an alright game but the occasion seemed to get to young Aaron and he gave the ball away countless times.

Up front we went for the in-form Robin van Persie to partner Bendtner and rested Adebayor on the bench.

The opening stages were all Cardiff. We took a long, long time to find our stride and on another day we could’ve been a goal down in the opening stages. Their intentions were made clear right from kick off when they attempted to put Jay Bothroyd through from the kick-off but it was offside. The first 20 minutes were almost constant pressure from Cardiff and we did well to stop conceding.

I wasn’t too worried though, I knew we would find our stride eventually and we would be more clinical with our chances than the home side. Our first decent chance came after 20 minutes and we really should’ve scored it. van Persie spotted Nasri in the clear on the left side of the box and set him up. The chance was very similar to his goal at Hull last weekend but instead of getting the shot off quickly with his left foot he took a touch and attempted to curl it in with his right but the time he took allowed for the ‘keeper to get in a good position and the shot was saved.

After that we gained a bit of confidence and were having a good spell. Gibbs was laid off after a smart move just outside the box but his driven shot was just wide. Also van Persie had a decent chance but miss-hit his shot into the ground and it was a comfortable save.

It looked like the game was heading for 0-0 at the break but there so nearly could’ve been three goals in the final minute. Cardiff had a great chance when the ball was loose in the area; a mixture of bad clearances and deflections saw a header towards goal blocked by the head of Kieran Gibbs. The loose ball came to Nasri who set van Persie off on a break. He had Eboue to his right but opted for Bendtner to the left but his shot was narrowed down and put out for the corner. From the corner the ball ended up short of the goal but was flicked back in and Bendtner had a great chance with an unmarked header just in front of the goal. He got his jump all wrong though and it went over the bar.

So 0-0 it was at the break but the game looked like there was goals still in it.

The second half was a lot more open but it wasn’t exactly end-to-end. Both sides were struggling to score. McCormack had a long range shot saved by Fabianski but the replay showed it was going wide and van Persie had a shot saved the other end.

On the hour Aaron Ramsey was taken off and Abou Diaby was brought on. I did not think Aaron had a great game on his return to Cardiff, I think the shock of being booed by his old fans and the pressure of everyone watching put him off. This will all help his development though, he did get a good reception coming off from the home fans but I think he will be well up for showing them what he’s got in the replay on a larger pitch.

With just over 20 minutes to go we brought on Adebayor in the hope of avoiding a replay. He replaced Emmanuel Eboue who put in another clown-like performance. Since the infamous booing, I’ve tried to be positive about him and when I’ve been to matches I’ve kept an eye on him. He’s come out a few times saying he is a stronger player now and is going to give everything he’s got in future games. Well I’m just not seeing it. He is a liability to our team and I see no reason for us to be playing him when we have hungry reserve players who will give a lot more to our team.

He lost the ball, misplaced passes and was at his old diving act again and it’s just embarrassing to watch. I just don’t see why Wenger keeps going with him – it is completely and utterly beyond me. The return of Rosicky can’t come soon enough.

Adebayor didn’t have much of an impact on the game but with 15 minutes to go he should’ve been the name on the score sheet that won us the game. A cross came over the top of everyone and fell to Adebayor lurking at the far post. He attempted to swing a volley at it from 6 yards out but completely fucked it. It was a terrible miss, something even I would’ve been embarrassed of never mind a player supposedly worth £30m and £100,000 a week last summer.

A few minutes later Nasri had a curler saved and although we were getting close I just felt we weren’t going to be able to score.

Cardiff’s final chance of the game came just a few minutes before the final whistle. They won a free kick in a great position and McCormack stepped up to take. He curled a great shot over the wall and towards the top left corner. The shot came off the top of the bar but it did look like Fabianski had it covered if it was going those few inches lower.

In the end it finished 0-0 and you really can’t argue with Cardiff taking us to a replay. They played good football; they took the game to us and didn’t resort to any ‘anti-football’ tactics. We didn’t do enough to beat them, we simply weren’t good enough but I do fancy us in the replay in front of our own fans and on a bigger, better quality pitch.

You can read Wenger’s comments here. He thought we started well…no idea what game he was watching. However he did praise Cardiff’s defending and also admitted the occasion got to Ramsey.

The replay is a week tomorrow, Tuesday 9th February. So that means we have Everton Wednesday, West Ham Saturday, Cardiff Tuesday then Spurs on the Sunday. So a busy schedule coming up.

If we beat Cardiff in the replay we have a home tie against either West Brom or Burnley in the next round. Obviously any talk about that will come after we’ve played Cardiff.

Thanks for reading, speak to you tomorrow.