The Importance of a Good FA Cup Run

On the eve of a round of FA Cup action, and with a potential banana-skin against Championship high-flyers and last season’s finalists Cardiff City, I was quite stuck on what my next publication would address. It was then that my mate Khalid, a hardcore Gooner himself, pointed out to me that addressing the need for a good FA Cup run (who knows, maybe even winning the damn thing) should be high amongst our list of priorities for 2009.

The FA Cup? Well, yes.

Quite a bizarre idea considering that we finally seem to be getting our acts together in the Premier League, but then again, how many times have we claimed that over the past four years? With Patrick Vieira’s last kick for the Club came the Club’s last trophy, back in 2005, when we lifted the glorious cup at the expense of Manchester United.

We all know what has happened since then and we all have our own reasons as to why we have seemingly declined; however, progress in the FA Cup this season would represent a new lease of life to the Club as a whole, bringing back the confidence of our established, underachieving stars, whilst building the confidence of our budding talents.

I must admit, that, as I write this, an undue sense of dread and fear of a shock, a “cupset”, fills me, for no particular reason other than the fact that we will be playing at a packed Ninian Park, with the enthusiasm and intimidation of the Cardiff crowd surely spurring on their playoff hopefuls. However, having probed my fears more extensively, I realised that a lot of my fears are due to uncertainties over Wenger’s selection on Sunday afternoon.

Just who will Le Boss pick for the lunchtime kickoff? The most reasonable, educated guess would be that a mixture of youth and experience will be the way come Sunday, similar to the match against Plymouth Argyle in the previous round, and that is absolutely necessary if we are to negotiate this tricky tie. Wenger will be all too aware of the importance of this match, as our dwindling trophy hopes hang by a thread, with the reverse at Burnley in the quarter-finals of the Carling Cup still fresh in the minds of many Gooners.

That fateful tie at Turf Moor was mainly made up of youngsters (oh and the ever-so-reliable Silvestre), and we were found wanting when the going got tough.

Wenger has claimed many times over the past 18 months that the FA Cup no longer particularly exists on his radar of challenges for trophies, somewhat ignorantly and disrespectfully I must say, a lack of respect to the oldest and purest knockout competition in the football world.

You might argue that Wenger would have had an excuse had we prevailed in the “big competitions”, namely the cut-and-thrust of the Premier League and the glamorous Champions League. But, we have had nothing to show for our efforts for a very long time, not since our 2005 victory in Cardiff ironically enough.

Back then, Wenger’s Arsenal prided themselves in a highly impressive FA Cup record, reaching at least the semi-finals in a staggering six of the manager’s seven full seasons in charge, winning the famous old trophy four times in the process. Back then, we also maintained a healthy challenge for dominance of the Premiership crown with Manchester United, begging the question, what has changed over the years for the FA Cup to become a “second-rate” trophy.

Is it a question of financial and competition pressure? Or is it simply a matter of regression of our quality? Interesting questions indeed!

A victory on Sunday would dispel many myths about our “softness”, our inability to dig in, our lack of nous in grinding out victories against unfancied opposition. It would also carry on a mildly impressive run of seven matches without defeat, though, that is hardly a run, considering our previous exploits in that respect.

Nevertheless, imagine the confidence we would draw as fans, players, management, as a Club, if we can put our name into the hat for the next round, ahead of a tough set of league matches at the likes of Goodison and White Hart Lane, and before our highly-anticipated 2nd phase clash against Roma?

Not only will we strengthen our belief in knockout competitions ahead of the return of the Champions League, and ahead of a very winnable tie against a great team that has been suffering from inconsistency but recently improving just as ourselves, but victory at Ninian Park can we see our season go from strength to strength in hope of a consistent run that would keep us in the hunt for glory, and, who knows, maybe even close the gap in the race for the title (though I wouldn’t be too optimistic about that one…)

Football is full of talking points. And more importantly, turning points. As we headed up the M6 to Manchester in February of last year for a fifth round FA Cup clash against Manchester United, we were top of the league, and by some distance, with the country’s top goalscorer and playmaker both on-song, ready for a mouth-watering tie against the then Champions of Europe, AC Milan, and optimistic that we can conquer all before us.

It was a men against boys humiliation, a true turning point of Arsenal’s 2007-2008, made all the worse by the careless tactical application and baffling selection policy. Let’s hope the fourth round this season is yet another turning point, but of the good variety this time please!