Park Rides To Arsenal’s Rescue

Carling Cup 4th Round
Arsenal 2 – 1 Bolton Wanderers

0 – 1 Muamba (47)
1 – 1 Arshavin (53)
2 – 1 Park (56)

Two quick-fire goals took Arsenal into the Carling Cup quarter-finals in front of more people than the combined total of the night’s three other ties. It is Arsenal, it must be a crisis if only 56,628 supporters turn up. Never mind that this 93% of The Emirates capacity.

It is a side issue, one that distracts from the win, Arsenal’s eighth in nine games. That, irrespective of the spread throughout different tournaments, is light years away from the received wisdom that Arsenal is a club in trouble. The implosion at the end of last season continued as a poor start to this, was quick to form opinions. Tiresomely, the current run is not as quick to change them.

It is, of course, not as long a run as the downward trend but when does it obtain the necessary stature to reveal that negative spiral is over? Defeat at the weekend against Chelsea is no indicator that there is a poor run still continuing although I have no doubt that it will be perceived as such.

But that is to get ahead of ourselves. Last night is much more of a happier affair to talk of.

During the build-up to this encounter, Arsène proclaimed he had always taken this competition seriously. Nine consecutive quarter-finals offer support to the theory; to question can be perceived as churlish and an opinion saved for another day. As it is, Saturday’s draw will include Arsenal’s name and at the end of the day this is all that matters.

My perception of the match is tainted by my low opinion of Radio 5Live’s commentary team. Oh for the authoratative tones of Peter Jones and Bryon Butler. Google them if you are not old enough to remember. In this era of the cult of personality, the old school of commentating is woefully forgotten.

The first half was even, Bolton fielded a stronger than expected side but Arsenal’s was not the callow XI that is perceived. Park had the opportunity to prove the voluminous criticism of his purchase wrong, finding the linesman’s flag quashing his progress on a number of occasions.

Oxlade-Chamberlain had an early opportunity to enhance his already burgeoning reputation, he did not take it. The chance in front of goal, he is seizing his opportunities at Arsenal which is good to see and of concern in some respects, the weight of expectation must be realistic, not resting heavy on his shoulders. His learning curve is sharp, lessons in final delivery to be learned.

Bolton’s soporific start to proceedings ended when Pratley tested Fabianski in the Arsenal goal. Kakuta subsequently made sure that the hosts knew they were in a contest before Benayoun and Park reminded the visitors that Arsenal were well aware of this.

The second half had barely started when another bite was taken from the hand that used to feed. Patrice Muamba, like Sebastian Larsson before, scored against Arsenal two minutes after the restart, robbing possession before linking with Klasnic to find the roof of the net with a fierce shot.

Any joy or hope for the visitors was short-lived; within ten minutes their lead would be a deficit. Arshavin equalised, seizing the opportunity to run at the Bolton defence as they retreated, his shot finding the bottom corner. It may be an injustice to the Russian but it was a soft goal to concede in both the goalkeeping and central defensive work.

The Arsenal striker was not finished. As the Wanderers defence was forced backwards by his scurrying run, they left Park unattended. The Korean had already curtailed his run once when Arshavin released him on the left edge of the area. The finish was textbook, curled into the side of the net beyond the despairing dive of Bogdan.

The purchase of Park has not been justified, not on the basis of one performance. But the reasons for choosing him are more apparent than before and with Marouane Chamakh struggling for form, having a back-up striker who knows where the net is will do no harm.

Bolton pressed for an equaliser, they found Vermaelen in form and Fabianski proving his place in the squad is justified. Having suffered the misfortune of injury to lose his starting line-up spot, the Pole is seeking to ensure that the manager and team have confidence in him if needed. He pulled off some match-winning saves in the final quarter, a combination of ability and luck that any goalkeeper needs.

The result came at a price. It struck me as ambitious to expect Vermaelen to play the full ninety minutes before the match; his injury has unfortunately proven that to be the case. Wenger hopes that it is not serious, we must to.

It was pleasing for Wenger to be able to make eleven changes from the weekend’s starting line-up and end up with a positive result. The depth that he has in his squad is evident and enough for this competition, en masse. Individually, much of the promise is being slowly turned into reality and that can be no bad thing.

One final observation. Last night’s match was not transmitted anywhere in the UK on a TV. Is it beyond the wit of the Football League and Premier League to negotiate a contract that allows them to put out the games on clubs individual broadcast platforms when television is not showing them?

The quality of the ATVO stream suggests that it is a worthwhile experiment. If the FA, as short-sighted an organisation as you are ever likely to find, can manage to use the internet for an FA Cup tie and an England international and receive credit in the process, surely the clubs can do likewise?

’til Tomorrow.