Arsenal 2 Huddersfield 1

Squillaci stuffed...and rightly too

I’ve said it before here on blogosphere and I’ll repeat it once again in the light of events of yesterday at the Emirates. Seb Squillaci is the weakest link in our defence; the Michael Silvestre reincarnate; the Archilles heel of our back four.

He rubberstamped that unenviable reputation yesterday when he got himself sent off with a brainless bodycheck of Huddersfield’s  Jack Hunt who was bearing down on goal with menace and intent. His positioning and reaction were all wrong and lazy as he intercepted the Huddersfield man and soon as it happened, I knew it was a caution. The red card looked a tad hash but on replay, referee Mark Clattenburg  really had no choice but to send him off.

For someone who was returning to the team after a three-week lay-off that had seen him fall down the pecking order as the Koscielny-Djourou axis impressed very much, you would think he would take this opportunity to remind everyone that he was still around the house. Rather, he imploded spectacularly and put his teammates and the 50,000 odd crowd that was watching under a pressure we all did not need.   

The 40^th minute expulsion proved the turning point of the game and despite our lone goal lead from Nicklas Bendtner, Huddersfield came out in the second half smelling blood. Credit must go the lower league side as they took the game to us and put us under severe pressure. If you were a first-time visitor to the UK and a friend happened to invite you out to the Emirates yesterday to watch the FA Cup game happening there, you would not be far-fetched to think that the Gunner’s opponents were a Premier League side.

The way they seized the initiative and bombarded our area was alarming to us Gunners, but heartwarming to their handful of travelling fans. Only an Andrei Arshavin last-ditch tackle in the 55^th minute prevented the marauding Gudjonsson from doing the damage as the visitors lived up to their names as ‘Terriers’.

Wave after wave of Huddersfield attack was either repelled by the combo of Koscielny and the newly-introduced Alex Song or by back-from-the-dead Manuel Almunia in goal. One particular one-handed save in the 63^rd minute off a fierce Gavin Lee header must have made him feel very good indeed. We huffed and puffed upfront as Bendtner reverted to his frustrating style of lackadaisical football and one man down, we had to feed the attack scraps. Rosicky was particularly trying his damnedest to prove why he has no future anymore in this team as he hugged the grass at every tackle and complained endlessly to the referee. He adds absolutely zero to the side and has very clearly lost his legs and a stomach for the fight.

The inevitable equalizer came in the 75^th minute off a corner kick as Lee rose above Rosicky (of all people!) to head home a powerful ball that flew beyond the reach of Almunia. Thereafter, anything could have happened.  As always in such cases, Wenger went to his go-to man and introduced Fabregas as his joker. What a trump card he proved to be (yet again) as he gave us direction. With the prospect of an unwanted replay looming menacingly, Fabregas collected the ball in the 85^th minute and evading three tackles on the edge of the box, he fed Bendtner with a fine, crossfield pass and as the big Dane shaped to shoot in the 18 yard, he was upended by Huddersfield defender, Jamie McCombe. Once again, the referee had no choice but to point to the spot while the offending McCombe was lucky to remain on the pitch.

Talk of a pressure-kick and this was it as Fabregas lined-up to either send us into the fifth round or blow it and condemn us to another needless replay at a time we had bigger fish to fry in the shape of Barcelona in the Champions League.

He didn’t blow it, thankfully. El Capitano held his nerve to send the goalkeeper the wrong way and the relief and celebrations from the players said it all. The intensity of the celebrations was like we had won the FA Cup itself but also mirrored the fact that we had a forgettable afternoon.

Seven changes to the team that beat Ipswich in the midweek, obviously upset the scheme of things especially with returnees like Abou Diaby, Squillaci and Almunia making their first appearances after a combined lay-off of about four months!

It still was not enough excuse to put up a deplorable show but as with all things Arsenal, we managed to shoot ourselves in the foot and make life very difficult for the suffering Wenger on the bench and the faithfuls that turned up for the occasion. I bet after the Squillaci sending off, no single Gooner could relax in their seats as Huddersfield went for the kill with a bloodthirsty hunger.

Ironically, it had all started so well when Bendtner shot us into the lead in the 21^st minute. After that though, things went pear-shaped as first we lost Samir Nasir to a hamstring injury that threatens his place against Barcelona in three weeks. Then Squillaci did his thing.

But with Fabregas around, you can always be assured that we had someone who at least could pull the troops together and understood the meaning of the word, fightback. Once again, as he has done so many, many times in his eventful Arsenal career, he saved us from the brink.

As for the likes of Rosicky and the ‘anti-Fabregas’ brigade leader, Denilson, they add nothing to this team and should be one of the first to be offloaded in the summer. Rosicky as mentioned earlier, has lost any modicum of fight and desire, while Denilson has simply stagnated. He is no way a defensive midfielder and lacks the toughness to play the role. He cannot threaten Song and Wilshire for sure and I personally cannot wait for the unfortunate Emmanuel Frimpong to return from injury and take his rightful place from Denilson.

So we live to fight another day and the fifth round opponents emerged as another lower league side, Leyton Orient. We seem to be getting the luck of the draw; avoiding premiership teams and ghosting our way from round to round, even though the performances have been anything but smooth.

Ratings: Almunia 7, Koscielny 7, Squillaci 5, Gibbs 6, Eboue 6, Denilson 5, Nasri 5, Rosicky 4, Song 7, Diaby 5, Arshavin 6, Bendtner 5, Chamakh 5