Arsenal 3 – Shrewsbury Town 1: We’re Building a Team for the Future!

Well we got back on track a little bit today, battling back from a one goal deficit to defeat Shrewsbury Town 3-1. Some of the same worries are still there, of course, but at least we can enjoy ourselves for now. Before getting into the recap, I want to apologize to the readers for a couple of things. During the first half, I was trying to find a live stream, but could never find one. I assumed someone else on the blogging team was handling the live blog side of things. It wasn’t until halftime that I logged on to admin the live blog, and then comments started getting posted. It was also at that time that I heard nobody had a live video stream, but there was at least a good audio stream. So, long story short, I didn’t watch a minute of the action. I’m not sure who was able to though. We at Arsenal Offside didn’t really cover ourselves in glory today, but I hope you keep coming back anyway.

As expected, we rolled out a lineup of young players and backups. But there was still enough quality out there to get past a League Two team. However, things didn’t start out too well for us, as Shrewsbury had their share of chances, and eventually took a surprising lead through a James Collins header. According to the commentary on one site, it was Djourou to blame for ball watching on that one. Arsenal struck back in the 33rd minute, when our fullbacks combined for a goal. It was Jenkinson crossing to Gibbs, who headed home from about 12 yards out. The first half ended 1-1. Perhaps more concerning were the first half stats. According to ESPN, the total shots were even in the first half, although we had more on target. And possession was almost dead even as well.

In the second half, play seemed to proceed more as we expected. Arsenal had the lion’s share of possession and chances, and we finally saw a breakthrough in the 58th minute with a terrific goal by AOC. After that goal, we were able to give Miyaichi and then Ozyakup their first action wearing an Arsenal shirt. “Ozzy” wasted little time in setting up Benayoun for our third goal in the 78th minute, and we could finally breathe easily for the final portion of the game. Finally, Chuks Aneke got to see some action for the final few minutes, replacing AOC in the 90th minute.

Even as I’m typing this report, I’m searching all over the place for a few video clips. I suppose I could wait all evening and finally get some, or else I could post this now and go on about my day. I’m choosing the latter option. I’m sure Fred Jacob will stop by to give us some links, and then we’ll get to see exactly what happened. At least we have a few photos though.

Overall, there are a lot of positives to take from this one. Of course it’s nice to get a win of any kind. It’s good to still have a shot at a winnable trophy. It’s good to see a few of our new faces in the lineup (Park, AOC, Miyaichi, Aneke, Coquelin, Ozyakup, Miquel), plus a few players like Flaps and Chamakh getting action as well. It’s good that reports on AOC and Coquelin were particularly glowing, and I’m looking forward to seeing a lot more from them in the future. (Some were giving Man of the Match honors to AOC.) It’s good that we’ve advanced beyond what Spuds have been able to do, since I just saw that they crashed out on penalties against Stoke. And it’s good to maybe take some momentum into this weekend, where we’ll be looking to take three points from Bolton, and hopefully begin our climb back into the top four.

I think I’ll be back tomorrow to hopefully write something more coherent and interesting. But for now, we’ll have to make due with this blog, and then have some good discussions in the comments’ section. Until then…
[UPDATE: Here are some highlights.]

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But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. Luke 14:13-14a.

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Category: Arsenal News, Carling Cup, Match Review