The mid-week game against Reading was a no-brainer for me. I was more focussed on the weekend Man Utd game. You know the facing off with RVP, the hoopla with the referees and all. So when I over-confidently shot off a prediction email talking about an 'easy-peasy' 0-2 win for the Gunners, little did I know what a show the Gunners were gonna put up tonight (UK time).
I logged onto the live feed to follow the match and continued with my work. Yeah I was at office and thanks to the epic game I really had a long day at work ;)
20 mins on, I forgot about the live feed until a friend's email saying '3-0 in reading's favour so much for a capital one cup run'. I am stunned. Frantically I refresh the feed only to see that 17mins later we are a whole 4-0 down. Really did I have to refresh the feed!!!
I understand that it is only a Cup game and that it is a grooming ground for our young gunners, but 4 goals down inside of 20mins is blasphemy!!! When I send out an email asking whether this game is being played on an XBOX or PS3, I get a reply saying that if it would have been, even then Arsenal would have won as there is a bias towards 'stronger' teams. Following this I get a sinking feeling which I am sure every Arsenal fan has had quite a few times in the past so many trophy-less years. I give up hope when just at the stroke of half time Theo pulls one back as the as the score reads 4-1.
I make a comment then which by the end of the game the Gunners strip off its sarcasm and make it sound like a prophecy : "Arsene still has a chance to glorify the character of the team. We just need to get 5 goals and ofcourse stop further damage!!!"
I can only imagine what the dressing room would have been like at half-time. We were not staring at a defeat but if the score would have remained the same it was humiliation. It might be only a Cup game but for Arsene its a philosophy which he has adhered to steadfastly. The philosophy of using this competition as a training ground for new talent as well as for rotation. He has faced massive criticism especially in the wake of the 'trophyless' seasons to show intent where ever possible, but he has not budged. If the score wouldnt have changed I am sure it would have dented his confidence in the young wards and given munition to his detractors. I am not sure if that is what the youngsters wearing the Arsenal colors realized but they took the field in the second half trying to pull this one back.
Giroud was introduced just after half time. Not to forget he got his first Arsenal goal in this competition last time around against Coventry and mid way through the second half he scored. The score read 4-2. Eisfield came on for Frimpong and I was again positive. Eisfeld had a great preseason and is one to watch out for. As the clock showed 89 mins and frankly speaking I had given up, Kos fires in a third. Bloody hell the score reads 4-3 and I dont want it to end this way. Memories of the AC Milan game came back when we were there but not quite.
Then it happened. I dont know how or why but Jenkinson got the ball inside the Reading goal literally on the last second of the added injury time. It can be argued as to how the referee allowed play till the fag end of the added time, but then I would say it was 'divine' intervention and nothing else. At the end of regulation time the score was all squared up. They had pulled this one back. But the drama was far from over.
13 mins into the first period of extra time, Arsenal scored through the most unlikely source. No, it was not a OG from a Reading player but it was our very own Moroccan 'striker' Chamakh. The fact that Chamakh got one past the goalkeeper was indication enough that God was on our side today and we were gonna win this one way or the other!!! Even now it was not a cake-walk. In the first few minutes of the second period of extra time, Reading got one through only to level the score at 5-5. Penalties now seemed a reality and that sinking feeling returned to me. Penalties are unfair, for the simple reason that far too many times, I have seen teams who deserved to win, lose on penalties.
Finally and be-fittingly so, Theo broke the dead-lock in the last minute of extra time, yes it was that close and the score read 5-6. It was now well and truly in the bag, but the gel-haired boy Chamakh, scored another one just to be sure and the match ended 5-7 in Arsenal's favour.
It was a roller-coaster even while I was following it on the live-feed. I must have refreshed the feed countless times in those dying minutes. Ofcourse on the chat I was being appraised of what was transpiring. This one sure is an Arsenal Classic in the post 'Invincibles' era.
There will be many changes before the weekend Man Utd game, but a win like this goes a lot deeper than just the playing squad!!!
As the Arsenal.com match report says: Winning, losing it and winning again was very, very, very special!!!!
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