We won. Close your eyes for a moment and say the words. Savour them. We won. At Old Trafford. We turned up and produced a performance that, had it not been for De Gea, would have seen us win by a greater margin. We were compact and organised and Welbeck's goal was the cherry on top of a committed outing.
The squad and tactics
The starting XI was once again unpredictable. Both Szczesny and Monreal started, but there was no Ramsey or Giroud. Instead, Cazorla continued to anchor the midfield and Danny Welbeck replaced the Frenchman. I initially thought such a decision can prove costly: Giroud is in great goalscoring form (and he already netted against United this season) and, more importantly, Giroud's hold-up play and aerial prowess is much better than that of the Englishman. And I think we've missed those qualities in the first half at least.
Our set-up was clear: we wanted to play on the counter. And that was exactly what we did for the most part. I don't have any problem with such a plan. Quite the contrary: it showed we can adapt to the opponent and the situation and still deliver.
The first half
It was pretty even, to be fair. United had more of the ball, but were unable to create much. We moved the ball better when we had it, though you could sense we were somewhat reluctant to pile men forward on these occasions. Our first clear chance happened in the second minute already. Alexis received the ball on the left, cut infield and unleashed a shot, only for the ball to take a deflection and end up with De Gea. United responded by firing an effort over the bar when Young combined with Fellaini in our box.
Oxlade sent a shot over after Ozil set him up and then our goal came. Ozil and Monreal combined on the left to make space for the German, Mesut passed to Oxlade, the Englishman danced past Valencia, Young and Shaw and sent Monreal clean through with a splitting pass. The Spaniard took one touch and powered the ball past De Gea.
The joy didn't last long, unfortunately. Di Maria found space on the left and sent an inswinging cross in. Koscielny lost Rooney and the latter was gifted a free header just outside the six-yard box. 1-1.
United continued lodging long balls. Another inswinging cross from Di Maria was claimed by Szczesny and then the Argentine latched onto a high ball to smash the ball towards the near corner, only for Szczesny to parry it away. Welbeck had the final say in the half by forcing De Gea into a save, but the first 45 minutes ended with the scores level.
The second half
Unlike Wenger, Van Gaal decided to introduce changes to his side immediately after the restart. Rojo and Herrera gave way to Jones and Carrick and off the teams went. Three minutes into the half Oxlade pulled his hamstring and was hauled off for Ramsey. Ozil shifted to the right flank.
The game grew increasingly dirty and it weren't us picking up yellow cards. Fellaini and Young were booked in quick succession after fouling Ramsey and Welbeck respectively and thus joined Rojo and Herrera in Oliver's book. Fellaini should have been booked long before that, in all honesty. His elbow-to-Coquelin's-face alone deserved it.
And then we struck again. Welbeck pounced on a back pass from Valencia, threw the ball past De Gea and then rolled it into the empty net. He celebrated with gusto, though he didn't overdo it. It was just the celebration of a man happy to bring his team in front in an important game.
Soon after Welbeck was subbed for Giroud and then Bellerin (who got a booking in the first half and was hanging by a thread) left the field to be replaced by Chambers. Teams exchanged dangerous moments with Smalling firing wide from a yard and then De Gea saving from a brilliant Cazorla's volley and then the fun started.
Di Maria got a booking for diving and then immediately got a second for grabbing Oliver by his shirt. The sheer look of disbelief on Oliver's face gave way to anger and he sent the Argentine off.
Michael then continued his fine form by booking Januzai for diving. The Belgian could have caused us real trouble had he stayed on his feet, but, mercifully, his cheaty ways got the better of him.
After that United visibly deflated. Di Maria was arguably their best player and their only creative hub and his absence hit United hard. They didn't do anything in the remaining 20 minutes, apart from launching a lot of high balls into our box which Mertesacker dealt with easily. Arsenal, meanwhile, nearly scored a third, but were again denied by De Gea. Sanchez lashed a fierce shot headed towards the far corner only for the Spaniard to get a hand to it. 2-1 and we are going to Wembley.
The aftermath
It was a massive win for us. Psychologically, it's importance cannot be underestimated. We played our game (more or less), were calm and organised and got rewarded for it. Also, big kudos to the referee. Michael Oliver had a very good game, especially if you look at how poor officiating is this season. Oliver wasn't intimidated by the crowd, he made correct and timely decisions and overall left a very good impression.
I was also surprised by United's performance. Their only game plan seemed to be "Pass it to Di Maria and he'll figure something out". I can understand that this is a team in the making, one that is far from a finished article, but I didn't expect such a performance from them. Had it not been for De Gea and Di Maria we would have ended the game as a contest in the first half, most likely. And how dirty they play is another story entirely. Diving, pleading with the ref, fouling. Only Carrick and, maybe, Blind left an impression of honest players, everyone else went out of their way to gain leverage on us in whatever way possible, bar the most obvious: trying to outplay us. Good thing Oliver was the ref and he had the balls to do what was necessary.
But what do I care about United? Let them rot in mid-table, as long as I'm concerned. The most important thing is that we put in a performance and got rewarded for it. We will now face either Bradford or Reading in the semis.
Wembley, here we come again.
Until later
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