We were in control against Leyton Orient until their late equaliser, but we have to accept it, as that's what football is all about.
I believe we played the game with the right attitude and I cannot fault our fighting spirit. You have to give credit to Leyton Orient. They never gave up and, as long as you don't score the second goal, this kind of thing can happen.
It's a disappointment of course, but the most important thing is that we go through in the replay. It's frustrating not to win the game, but we are still in the FA Cup. On Sunday we saw a game that a team with fighting spirit against a team who were technically superior, but in a Cup tie fighting spirit has a chance.
Jonathan Tehoue scored their equaliser and I admit I had never heard of him before he came on. If they did not start him maybe they had a plan to defend up front with Alex Revell. But when he came on they went to a 4-4-2 shape and Tehoue did very well.
For us, Andrey Arshavin played the full 90 minutes on Sunday and he is coming back into form. What he is missing is a goal to get completely back to full confidence. But he is lively and dangerous at the moment.
Since the beginning of December we have played almost every three days. Sometimes it would not be bad to have a week where we can give a breather to the players. But we have a large enough squad to cope with a replay - we even left a few players at home on Sunday.
We didn't watch the draw, as we were preparing for the match, but somebody told me just before the game started that we will play Manchester United if we go through. It's an exciting and an interesting draw, but we have had a good warning that Leyton Orient at home will be a difficult game and we are not there yet.
Leyton Orient didn't drop physically, they kept their shape, they fought very hard and they will make it difficult in the replay as well.
Filed Under :
Alex Revell
,
Andrey Arshavin
,
Arsenal
,
Arsene Wenger
,
English Premier League
,
Football
,
Leyton Orient
,
Manchester United
,
Premier League
,
Sports
,
Tehoue
February 22, 2011
February 22, 2011
0 comments