28 minutes in, the mid-table Championship side is completely outplaying and outhustling the Gunners in every area of the pitch. It's 1-0 and should be worse. We're getting sliced open repeatedly. The chances finally come for us after the half hour mark, but the finish is lacking. It's a wide open game now, with plenty of penalty area action, but neither side cashes in. We really look bad. PNE has it in the net, but only because Ospina was taken out by an attacker. As the half winds down, I'm actually hoping to get to halftime down just one. For us, it's been a cavalcade of awful passing, poor decisions, and failed offside traps. Gabriel is smashed with an elbow, and bleeding. A foul is given, but no more. Three additional minutes, with Arsenal down to ten men so Gabriel can get stitched up.
All the other big teams handled their lower division opponents easily. They were playing at home, though, as I recall. We've got a strong team out there, but it's as though there is no game plan. If Giroud is in, then put some crosses in to him! He got his head on one in the half. I'm not sure who I'm most disappointed in, but I'll pick on Ramsey for some wastefulness in possession, though he had a lot of company there.
Well, 48 seconds into the second half, Ramsey totally redeems himself with a fantastic shot that rockets just inside the right post. The commentators said the goalkeeper was unsighted, but I don't think it would have mattered had he seen it. As dominant as Preston was in the first half, Arsenal was more dominant in the second. Why Wenger can't send them out to start the games with that much urgency is a mystery. The Lily Whites defended stoutly, but there was a sense that it was only a matter of time until Arsenal got the next goal, and it would be the winner. It took another 42 minutes of relentless pressure, but finally it came via a Perez backheel to an onrushing Giroud, who was matched step for step by his marker but still stretched to hit a shot that took a deflection that fooled the keeper at his near post. Welbeck got ten minutes (on for AOC) and Holding and The Jeff got a few in injury time.
We miss Ozil. His defensive commitment is poor and he's stopped scoring, but he does not give the ball away and keeps attacks going. This was not one of Xhaka's better games, so we didn't get a lot of good attacking passes. Ox may have been our brightest player, with several dangerous runs and a couple good-looking shots that got blocked; but he holds on to the ball too long. Lucas Perez is starting to integrate with the offense, and he helps out on D, which was vital in front of Maitland-Niles, who was quite poor when it came to preventing crosses. Iwobi still looks confused a lot of the time, and did not fill his Ozil role well. Mustafi and Gabriel were good enough, and Monreal played pretty well too. Ospina did fine. But I love Giroud. Another late game-winner, after scrambling up (to pressure deep) and back (to harry their attacking mids) all game. He held the ball up well too when it mattered. I could swear I saw him wearing the captain's armband, too.
The Cup dream lives on, for another round anyway. I saw nothing today that convinces me that Arsenal will win anything this year, but they turned this one around while resting their three most valuable players (Ozil, Sanchez, Koscielny). If Welbeck is really back, he'll add a goal-scoring threat. I don't expect any additions to the squad this month, and we may in fact lose a couple. But this group can play better.
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