Defensive Bombshell Kills Gunners

Some may say that Arsenal threw away the opportunity to claim their first piece of silverware since their 2005 FA Cup win due to an unbelievable defensive calamity between Szczesny and Koscenly. However, Birmingham utterly deserved their victory over the London side as they prevented Arsenal from dictating the match.

From the first minute Birmingham set out their intention when Zigic controlled the ball, in acres of space, and played in Lee Bowyer who got taken out by Szczesny. The Arsenal keeper was set to see red and a penalty was imminent only for the linesman to have incorrectly flag offside.

Despite Birmingham’s quick start, with Zigic especially getting a lot of joy in the air, Wilshere did impress in the middle of the park. Nasri then found Ashavin in the box, who superbly turned tightly in the box but could only fire at Ben Foster’s legs.
Birmingham’s defence did look susceptible from corners, failing to deal with two in concession however Djourou found the ball twice, yet failed to find the net on both occasions.

Nasri, Ashavin and Rosicky continued to torment the opposition defence however their neat footwork never materialised into a serious threat. In fact, most of the time it never even materialised into any threat as decision making and poor final passing let the gunners down.

On 27 minutes a poor pass by Sagna eventually resulted in a corner for Birmingham. The ball swung towards the penalty spot where Rodger Johnson headed the ball onto the six yard box where Zigic was waiting head and shoulders above a static Arsenal defence to nod the ball home sending the travelling fans into wild celebrations. The lead was well deserved and Arsenal had no plan to deal with the height of Zigic.
From the restart Sagna attempted to make amends firing a cross into Van Persie who went close with a stretched header that whistled past the top corner.

Zigic continued to cause havoc though. The striker knocked down to Garderner before the midfielder neatly put Zigic through one-on-one with Szczesny. However, the striker, albeit a major threat with his head, fails to inspire with his feet, kicking straight at the onrushing keeper.

By this time Arsenal’s defence was in self-destruct mode with Koscielny becoming the first player of the afternoon to find himself in Mike Dean’s book. A mistimed raised foot tackle on Lee Bowyer deservingly seeing yellow.

But in the flick of a switch, classic Arsenal. The Gunners broke from a Birmingham free-kick, finding Wilshere, who started the move deep in his own half, on the edge of the box. The nineteen year old fired a shot against the bar, only for the danger not to disappear as Nasri found Van Persie whose swivelled right-footed volley into the bottom left hand corner of the goal was a rare moment of genius.

The game continued to flow freely with Larsson becoming Birmingham’s first player in the book for verbal complaints. Arsenal’s attractive football created no danger, whilst Alex McLeish’s men kept flighting balls onto their tall centre-forward.

The end of an entertaining first half finally came to an end with Arsenal, despite seeing most of the ball, being extremely lucky to go into the dressing room on level terms. The Blues should have at least scored twice, and possibly should have returned in the second half with at least one more player on the field also.

However, the same set of players returned to fight out the first major piece of silverware of the new season with Arsenal starting the brighter. Rosicky laced a ball wide after another swift passing move as the Londoners began to turn passing into chances.

Sensing danger, McLeish bought on Beausejour to replace a disgruntled Craig Garderner only five minutes into the second half. The lifelong Birmingham fan looked less than pleased with his manager’s decision.

McLeish’s substitute nearly caused instant damage as in an increasingly scrappy game Beausejour battled for a ball up the pitch to set up Fahey, who on his second attempt, smacked the inside of the Arsenal post before watching the ball escape away across the face of the goal.

The game began to die down with the battle in the middle of the park becoming prominent. Ex-Birmingham loanee Nicklas Bendtner replaced an injured Van Persie with 20 minutes to go but did nothing to inspire confidence in the outlook changing.
Arsenal then began to apply pressure with Rosicky firing straight into Ben Foster’s body. Bendtner then wriggled free in the area only find the keeper’s hands in fine form.

Arshavin was then withdrawn for Chamakh in a bid by Wenger to win the game. The Morroccon was soon to set-up Rosicky but once more Foster was there to prevent a goal, before once more diving to palm away a Nasri shot. The Ex-Manchester United keeper won the Carling Cup in 2009 and today’s performance was just as inspiring.
Fahey was replaced by Obafemi Martins with 10 minutes left on the clock giving the strong Nigerian plenty of time to rattle the Arsenal defence, especially with 30 minutes of extra time looming.

His presence appeared to work, as out of nowhere, a long ball gets launched forward by Ben Foster with intended target Zigic flicking on once more. Szczesny came out to claim the ball as Koscielny swung a random leg at the ball before pulling out at the end. The muddle allowed the ball to bobble out to Martins who calmly placed the ball into the back of the empty goal to cause rapturous scenes among the blue half of Wembley with two minutes to play.

After 4 minutes of agonizing injury-time minutes, within which Zigic got a deserved standing ovation from the Birmingham fans when replaced by Jerome, the final whistle blew sending Birmingham players and fans alike into manic celebrations. Arsenal players in comparison fell to their knees in disappear, with Koscienly hiding his face in his shirt.

McLeish’s tactics thwarted an Arsenal side who never really got going with a resilient performance from Ben Foster coupled with the fray caused by Zigic’s height leading to a deserved victory, giving the side their first piece of silverware in 48 years.