Arsène Wenger has absolutely been there. The man who has the chance to etch a new record for winning FA Cups on 30 May empathised with the fate that befell Steve Clarke and his team, and in particular Adam Federici, the goalkeeper who will not easily find consolation in the tumbling words about how great he has been over a spell spanning more than 200 games for Reading. “Some carry that their whole life,” admitted Wenger about the trauma a decisive big-game error can inflict.
In the bowels of Wembley, Wenger recalled the horror show his club experienced at the same venue in 2011. Against Birmingham City, in the final minute of a League Cup final heading into extra time, Laurent Koscielny and Wojciech Szczesny lurched into one another to collectively botch an attempted clearance, and the loose ball fell to Obafemi Martins to tap into an empty net. Calamitous.
So, as a manager, how do you deal with such a situation? What can you say to someone who feels responsible? “You can minor a bit the scale of the incident and tell him that it was not only him,” offered Wenger. “Overall the guy carries that with him. Time helps better than any manager. Once it is done it’s done. You have to live with that. We are not equal in front of that. Some carry that their whole life and some recover quickly and forget about it. [Federici] should be comforted about the fact he had a great game.”
Without wishing to over-analyse, it was interesting, in the light of that, to examine the stature of both Koscielny and Szczesny as Arsenal plugged away to eventually see off a gutsy Reading in this semi-final. The French defender has become one of Arsenal’s most dependable players, with excellent powers of recovery (and once Per Mertesacker was replaced by the mobile Gabriel Paulista there was an insight into how the defence might evolve next season). Szczesny was jittery. His game, since being shunted to the role of cup keeper by David Ospina, does not currently inspire confidence.
Federici and the rest of the Reading squad had a day off on Sunday, and Clarke will have a chat with his goalkeeper on Monday, to reinforce the full support of the club before their return to the Championship on Wednesday against Birmingham. He will be encouraged to get straight back on the goalkeeping horse. “He’ll be fine,” said Clarke. “He was very, very disappointed. He just wanted to get inside as quickly as he could and have his sad moment by himself. You have to respect that.
“He understands the life of a goalkeeper. When you make the big mistake everyone sees it. He’s a strong character and on Wednesday night he will be one of our best players again, as usual.”
Reading’s focus at the end of the Cup campaign is to finish the season as positively as possible and get rebuilding to tackle the Championship with more conviction next term. Clarke pondered the impact of the last couple of seasons for the club – relegation from the Premier League followed by narrow failure to make the play-offs. “I think this season is a hangover from those two disappointing years,” he said. “So we have to exorcise the place a little bit. We have to clean a little bit, reshape the club. It’s my job to ensure that we are competitive at the top end of the Championship next year. That’s where we have to be.”
Arsenal were relieved to engineer their way back to Wembley to defend the silverware they won last May. Wenger acknowledged he had gambled in some of the changes to his team selection. Szczesny’s form remains a concern, and Danny Welbeck lacked the game-knitting stature and all-round power that Olivier Giroud in his current mood brings. Changing both full-backs was also a risk.
“Héctor Bellerín has played recently with some ankle problems. Debuchy was back so I thought it was a good moment to do it. It was risky because Debuchy had cramps just before the end of the game but I couldn’t change him,” mused Wenger.
But even if Arsenal were not at their most fluent, they possessed the attitude and had enough efforts on goal to win through. After all, that is the only true imperative of a semi-final or final. The Reading game was reminiscent of last season’s matches against Wigan and Hull in that Arsenal found it a struggle but ultimately won the day. Alexis Sánchez’s desire to make things happen has been such a hallmark of their season.
Returning to that nightmare against Birmingham, this Arsenal team has a more resilient feel about it come the crunch Wembley experiences. “We have learned from our hiccups, we have matured a little bit. Today when we had difficult moments the team kept going. We don’t feel sorry for ourselves. The team has great spirit and togetherness and that helps,” insisted Wenger.
Within that atmosphere, the internal battle for places in the team for the FA Cup final is hotting up. Wenger smiled to himself: “The final is better than any doctor.”
Man of the match Alexis Sánchez (Arsenal)
