Arsenal yesterday made it through to the last eight of the Carling Cup for the ninth year in succession. A Gunners side with 11 changes from the weekend managed to overcome a strong Bolton side, with goals from Andrey Arshavin and Ju-Young Park cancelling out Fabrice Muamba's opener.
Newly resigned, Thomas Vermaelen made his return from injury, lasting 84 minutes before being replaced due to a slight calf problem. And Nico Yennaris put in a solid debut display at right back. Bolton also fielded an understrength side, with 9 changes from their 2 - 0 loss at Sunderland at the weekend, Garry Cahill and Darren Pratley the only ones to survive.
The first moment of danger came when Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was set free by a magnificent ball from Emmanuel Frimpong, but he slightly overworked the ball, taking a couple of touches too many, and wasting the opportunity. He ended up harmlessly crossing over the roof of the net.
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Former Gunner Muamba
celebrates after making it 1-0 |
Arsenal's next chance came from Ju-Young Park, who exchanged a neat 1-2 with Yossi Benayoun near the halfway line, before driving deep into the attacking third, drifting towards the centre of the goal, before testing Adam Bogdan from fully 25 yards, the Hungarian pushing the ball away with a good save, down to his right.
Arsenal then won a free kick, about 30 yards out, on the right hand side of the Bolton goal. Arshavin set up Vermaelen for the pile driver, which he hit with tremendous force, with his left foot, which scored so many goals in 2009/10, forcing Bogdan to make another good save from a shot with real sting in it. The first half was all Arsenal.
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Arshavin giving advice
to AOC as he celebrates |
That changed after the break though, Bolton scored just two minutes after the restart, Frimpong losing the ball to Muamba in the midfield, who then drove forward, exchanging a 1-2 with Pratley in the box, before fiercely lashing home, into the roof of the net from 10 yards.
Arsenal responded just five minutes later, Oxlade-Chamberlain dinking a delightful ball over a defender to Benayoun, who then freed the influential Arshavin who carried the ball into the space that the retreating Zat Knight left. The diminutive Russian eventually slotted the ball between Kinght's legs, and in at the far post. 1-1. With better defending, the chance would never have been there, Knight should have held his line, rather than retreating and giving Arshavin the space to shoot. On yesterday, I can see why Bolton are having a poor season so far.
Just three minutes after that, and nine minutes after going behind, Ju-Young Park scored his first goal in an Arsenal shirt. Park made a run, but Arshavin didn't release him, he then got back onside, and made a good run to Arshavin's left, the ball was played to him, and he made no mistake, curling home a beautiful effort from 12 yards (If you haven't seen it, think finesse shot on FIFA!). Bogdan - who had a decent starting position - could do nothing about it, the ball nestling in the back of the net, in off the post.
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| Park celebrates his first Arsenal goal |
No more goals were scored, but Arsenal rode out a couple of defensive scares before the end, Lukasz Fabianski came worryingly close to yet another goalkeeping howler, flapping at Chris Eagles 35 yard drive, only deflecting it onto the roof of the net, a save which should have been bread & butter for a Premiership goalkeeper - either palmed down and caught on the bounce back up or caught first time.
Fabianski did find time to make up for that save (which the BBC have down as "unorthodox") denying Klasnic superbly at the near post, after his defence had gone missing; again. Moments later, Klasnic again threatened, finding space in the box, but firing miles over under pressure from the arriving Ozzy Ozyakup (on for the injured Frimpong), from seven yards - think Bendtner versus Burnley.
Bolton again threatened, when Japanese substitute Ryo Myaichi was forced to make a sublime recovering challenge, stopping Garry Cahill from shooting, having found space in the Arsenal penalty area.
Despite these late scares, Arsenal did manage to hold on, and have now progressed to the quarter finals for each of the last nine seasons. Not a bad record given the teams which have been fielded in that time.
The Good: Andrey Arshavin; he had a really good game, tracking back and working hard throughout. He got the goal he deserved for his performance. Now it's up to him to carry that type of performance on for the rest of the season.
The Bad: Thomas Vermaelen's injury; sadly he was forced off in the 84th minute (handing a debut to Daniel Boateng) Wenger said afterwards that "he wanted to come off - I think he was just a little tight having not played for a while... he will be a bit short for Saturday." It does sound like he will miss the Chelsea clash, although others have returned quicker than expected in the past.
The Ugly: Seb Squillaci and Lukasz Fabianski; both have easily got enough experience to be playing better than they are. Fabianski had another couple of nearly-howlers yesterday, and was at fault for the Shrewsbury goal in the last round. Squillaci is even more experienced, yet went missing in defence yesterday on numerous occasions, it could be argued that all the Bolton chances I've mentioned he was at fault for. The spaces being exploited were in his section of the defence.
Another thing that wound me up yesterday was that no-one went to close the ball down when it was passed back to Bogdan, he had all the time in the world to make his kick and they were consequently fairly accurate. Bolton didn't afford Fabianski that pleasure, and were closing him down before the ball even reached him. Consequently his kicking was decidedly dodgy and inconsistent.
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@Goonernl)
