Frustrating result at Orient

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Arsenal’s draw with Leyton Orient in the fifth round of the FA Cup was frustrating at most, and certainly not a tragedy.
As we’ve seen, upsets are happening a lot in football these days, as we showed by beating Barcelona and losing to Ipswich all in the space of about a month. Games against lower league opposition are rarely going to be the thrashing that they perhaps should be. Man Utd’s narrow and perhaps undeserved 1-0 victory over Crawley Town yesterday shows that as well.
So to field a much-changed side with the clown Manuel Almunia in goal, a draw is not such a surprise. It is disappointing that we conceded late on having had enough chances to win the game, and it is disappointing that an individual error let us down.
Orient’s Jonathan Tehoue got somewhat lucky to bundle his way past two Arsenal defenders, so I would hesitate to blame them over the hapless Spanish goalkeeper who has a well known history of not being able to save shots even when they’re hit straight at him. We can surely win this replay with a slightly tinkered side again, but I really don’t want Almunia to play in goal for Arsenal ever again. With Fabianski out for the season it might be worth thinking about recalling Vito Mannone to have as second choice, as Almunia stands out as bad even in games like this.
But as I said, we can win the replay and get through to that quarter-final against Manchester United. Like the Carling Cup, the FA Cup seems to be panning out in our favour, with the likes of Chelsea, Spurs and Liverpool already knocked out. If we were to progress to Old Trafford and win there, we would once again look like favourites for the trophy, with Manchester City being the other main contender.
So it’s important that we give ourselves the chance to knock United out by first beating Orient. The only potential problem with this fixture is that it comes just days after the Carling Cup final. Assuming we will be playing our strongest lineup at Wembley, there would naturally be a lot of changes for this tie. And of course if we leave Wembley with the trophy, the FA Cup won’t be as pressing an issue anyway.
Anyway, let’s take this on the chin, celebrate the fact that Tomas Rosicky finally scored a goal for us, and move on. Beating Barcelona only to draw with Leyton Orient a few days later is typical of football, and that’s why we love it.