Goodbye Imps
A rare win for Arsenal spells the end of Lincoln’s FA Cup adventure
These have been unhappy days in the era of late for Arsène Wenger and while the thrashing from Bayern Munich on Tuesday night posed the question how much worse it might get, the reassuring answer for the Frenchman was that the truly apocalyptic FA Cup shock was never on the cards.
Arsenal put more daylight between them and Lincoln City, from football’s fifth tier, than Bayern did on Tuesday night, although not as many goals as the Germans did over the course of the two legs and in the aftermath Wenger was still rallying against injustices he perceived on Tuesday. He has not forgiven the Greek referee, Anastasios Sidiropoulos, that night for dismissing Laurent Koscielny and, as the Arsenal manager was at pains to point out, he has now watched the Bayern game three times over.
There was a crumb of comfort in his third FA Cup quarter-final in four seasons against a Lincoln side who held out until the first Arsenal goal from Theo Walcott in first-half injury time and then crumbled somewhat after the break. Wenger played a strong team, with only two changes from Tuesday, and he said that he did so in order that his players might regain a little selfesteem.
“I didn’t want to gamble [with team selection] because I knew it was very important to win the game,” he said. “I felt that the team had performed well against Bayern and wanted to give them a chance to find confidence by winning the next game. I maintained 90 per cent of the starting line-up. They have been hit very hard after the Bayern game and that is always dangerous because confidence can go very quickly.”
It will be at the Hawthorns on Saturday against West Bromich Albion that truly meaningful progress will have to come, and there are still no guarantees in that regard. In the meantime, it is a hard truth that Arsenal’s only two victories in their last five matches have come against teams from outside the 92 clubs of the Premier League and Football League.
Lincoln closed Arsenal down well in the first half and even created a good chance for Nathan Arnold which was not taken but this was a giant-killing that never looked close to a proverbial FA Cup homicide, despite the hard running and good organisation. There were some moments from Lincoln, such as an up-and-under start from kick-off with all players grouped on the right wing, and an insouciant early back heel from the robust centre-forward Matt Rhead.
“We were a bit nervous because your confidence drops when you don’t have a result,” Wenger said. “The players and the team were subjected to unjustified criticism for the last game. Our game was killed not by the fault of the players. We have to take a distance from that. We have to look at the bigger perspective and we wanted to respond.”
For the conquerors of Ipswich Town, Brighton and Hove Albion and Burnley, this was the 47th game of the season and on Tuesday Lincoln play York City away in the FA Trophy semi-final first leg. Their manager Dan Cowley and his assistant and brother Nicky seemed to thoroughly enjoy their time in the spotlight nonetheless, with the former standing alone with the Lincoln fans long after his players had gone down the tunnel following the final whistle.
“It was a football education, that’s for sure,” Cowley said afterwards. “There’s a reason they [Arsenal players] earn double or treble in a week than we do in a year. They are world class.” Nevertheless he could enthuse about Petr Cech’s distribution as well as his save from Arnold, Lincoln’s best chance with the game goalless. “In the National League,” Cowley said, “those go in.”
He said that his team had finally succumbed when, in trying to press Arsenal, who had 77 per cent of the possession, Lincoln had to concede space on the wings and it was on those flanks that Héctor Bellerín and Kieran Gibbs had so much joy after the break. Cowley said that Wenger had invited him in for a drink once his media duties were complete and it was there he hoped to learn a little more from the great Frenchman.
There was a hamstring injury to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain early in the first half which necessitated the midfielder’s substitution, although Wenger said it was not serious and he did have Mesut Özil to come off the bench against the leaders of the Vanarama National League. Lincoln had their full complement of 11 players in green shirts grouped behind the ball.
For their one chance, Arnold sent Koscielny out the wrong door with a change of direction on 28 minutes but could not beat Cech. Finally, Arsenal broke through in the six minutes of injury time at the end of the first half. With the ball loose in the box, Gibbs laid it back for Walcott whose stroked finish clipped off a Lincoln player’s body and beat goalkeeper Paul Farman.
The second came from Olivier Giroud, rolled in after Bellerín exchanged passes with Alexis Sánchez and cut the ball back for the Frenchman to easily finish. Gibbs forced the third, which was eventually turned into his own net by the Lincoln captain Luke Waterfall.
Sánchez curved a right-footed shot into the left corner of the Lincoln goal for the fourth and Aaron Ramsey walked in the fifth. “In the second half it felt like he [Wenger] brought on 15 players,” Cowley said, “and I am sure that big clock in the stand stopped for a while.” The Lincoln manager even essayed a defence of the Arsenal manager’s reputation in these testing times which Wenger will no doubt appreciate, although he would never consider it necessary.
A third FA Cup final in four seasons is one game away for Wenger, who will point to his record in that regard when the judgements on the season are made. Could he ever satisfy his critics? “You should sit in my seat for a while,” he replied, “and realise that is an impossible job.”