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Arsenal Was Not Embarrassed By Sheffield Wednesday
By Josh Sippie
It is safe to say that no one expected Arsenal to lose three-nil to a mid-table Championship side in the Football League Cup. It is pretty safe to say that in the shape that Arsenal was/is in, no one would expect them to lose three-nil to anyone. But that is what happened.
Now people out there are calling it an “embarrassment.”
Let’s hold that claim for just one second. Had Arsenal sent out Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez, Francis Coquelin, Laurent Koscielny and the A-team and lost to Sheffield Wednesday three-nil, then chalk it up as embarrassing, horrendous, tragic, heartbreaking, any matter of things. But they did not. It was nothing close to that. The Arsenal squad that was sent out there essentially turned out being Olivier Giroud, Petr Cech, and the U19 squad.
That is a mesh of players who have not had time to work together. All in front of a passionate Sheffield crowd against an opponent that wanted this trophy far more than Arsenal.
Which brings me to my next point. I myself argued for Arsenal trying to win as many trophies as possible. All teams do. But realistically, the Football League Cup was always going to be the fourth choice. It is a forgettable trophy that holds very little weight in the footballing world. And I’m not just saying that because we lost. Again, of course I would have liked to win. But the fact that we lost is not keeping me up at night. The fact that Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain got hurt is going to keep me up at night. But that is not the point.
Arsenal were not embarrassed. They were beaten. By the end of the match, Alex Iwobi, Ismael Bennacer, Krystian Bielik, and Glen Kamara were all on the pitch. That is a squad composed of experiments and unexpected injury replacements. No one could have been prepared for Theo Walcott getting hurt after he came on for the Ox, who had gotten hurt. That is an irreparable situation.
And while Olivier Giroud and Petr Cech were still on the pitch, they are in two positions where you really cannot do it alone.
The Arsenal defense was the only thing that resembled embarrassing but a lot of it was expected. What happens when you put the two slowest center backs together? What happens when your back up fullbacks finally get called into action? Quality is quality but rust will interfere with anything.
Nobody is going to think back and wish that Arsenal had started Alexis in this match. It barely even upsets the momentum of the team. Again, the main issue here is not the loss, it is the injuries. This was no embarrassment.
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