{"id":12978,"date":"2026-03-06T16:37:16","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T16:37:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=12978"},"modified":"2026-03-08T11:43:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T11:43:09","slug":"in-praise-of-old-fashioned-cup-ties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=12978","title":{"rendered":"In Praise of Old-Fashioned Cup Ties!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Arsenal centre forward J Brain tries to get past the Mansfield defence at Highbury on 26th January 1929. (Photo by Harold Clements\/London Express\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Hello everyone, it\u2019s been an especially good week to be a Gooner this week. Our steel shown, our lead strengthened, new friends made, and rivals discombobulated. Fresh then from a successful soiree in the south, The Arsenal venture northwards into the heart of England this weekend to take on Mansfield Town in our first 5th<\/sup> round cup tie since our last, and record breaking, 14th<\/sup> FA Cup win. What has gone wrong since that last win? Well, one factor would certainly be that until now we haven\u2019t really had a squad deep enough to cope with several competitions at once, however that has now been put right by the estimable Mr Berta and Co. who have delivered the requisite number of good players \u2013 well, technically, whether they are good enough remains to be seen over the next 12 or so enjoyable<\/s> terrifying<\/s> unmissable weeks. So far of course the verdict would have to be absolutely, yes, we are after all in the League Cup Final, Last 16 of the Champions League and FA Cup, and top of the league by five<\/s> seven points. It feels grand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A bit about Mansfield as who knows when we will meet again<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Firstly, to halloo a tiny note of caution, our last FA Cup visit into these environs ended up with us being dumped out unceremoniously by Mansfield\u2019s noisier neighbour, then Championship side Nottingham Forest as we suffered a fairly humiliating 1-0 defeat. They were admittedly a division higher than Mansfield, who are currently hovering around 16th in League One, after a run of six defeats and 3 draws in the last nine matches, though there have been signs of life in the last two league games, a 0-0 draw with Rotherham and a 2-2 with AFC Wimbledon. That is now of course, but what of their glorious history and storied past you ask?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From a small settlement probably established by the Romans \u2013 what wasn\u2019t? \u2013 a thriving market town grew over the years, though the storied past pretty much ended with that Robin Hood fellow who was, allegedly, hunting the Mansfield stags around the nearby Sherwood Forest some centuries ago. In fact, times have been challenging locally since the decline of the mining industry that used to support Mansfield and its nearby villages. Though I haven\u2019t been there myself since a somewhat hazy visit in the early 90s, it seems that struggle to adapt still continues by all reports. However, all is not lost for the hardy away traveller! Our GHF Man on the Spot (thanks Special Agent Mr. BB) has reassured me that the Il Rosso on the Nottingham Road does some passable Italian grub and the Rushley Pub about a mile further along the Nottingham Road provides potable pints in reasonably safe surrounds near the atmospheric Mansfield Cemetary (ed. the GHF accepts no responsibility for the advice of its local correspondents).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for the team itself, basically Mansfield Town have kicked around the lower leagues with modest success since they were first admitted in 1931. However, they were already known to Gooners by then, the one and only meeting between the two sides took place in the FA Cup in 1929 (photo above for the old, old Highbury). The Arsenal triumphing 2-0 with goals from Harold Burston Peel and our then world record-signing David Jack. We\u2019ve never played Mansfield in the league as they have to date never made the top division, but they do have a manager who did, Nigel Clough, son of the one and only original Cloughie, is well-known to Gooners of a certain age, as was his Dad who rolled us over on a number of occasions!  Let\u2019s hope that hasn\u2019t rubbed off on young Nigel. Having said that, I watched an interview after their recent 0-0 with Rotherham (and how\u2019s that for in-depth preparation) and when asked about preparation for the weekend\u2019s game, Young Cloughie explained he hasn\u2019t bothered to talk about the game or prepare as he doesn\u2019t know who we will start but anyway they will all be very good so not much point in discussing it. He just told his players to make us uncomfortable and enjoy the day. The attitude seemed somewhat familiar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Game<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mansfield have made it this far in the Cup on the back of two notably excellent triumphs away at Sheffield United and Burnley in the 3rd<\/sup> and 4th<\/sup> rounds. Their midfield general, Louis Reed, smashed home a couple of long-range shots against Sheffield United and the winner against Burnley with a cracking free kick, with Rhys Oates also contributing a couple of good finishes in both rounds. To be honest I know little about any of their other players excepting Tyler Roberts, who was at Leeds for a while. They do have Victor Adeboyejo up front, who was apparently at The Arsenal Academy in his youth. The rest of the squad seem to be solid journeyman professionals who looked well up for the fight in the cup games I watched. As per Cloughie The Younger\u2019s instructions to make us uncomfortable I expect no quarter to be asked or given in an old-fashioned cup tie and for us to take a similar approach to the Wigan game should be the order of the day. A final word of warning would be that Burnley, in particular, in my opinion, looked very complacent at 1-0 up in the last round, let\u2019s give them the respect they deserve and put the game to bed properly.  I like giant-killing as much as the next fellow, just not when it\u2019s us. Who, then, should we entrust with this demolition job?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Arsenal XI<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I imagine that it will largely depend on who Mikel most wants to rest \u2013 Timber, Gabriel, Hincapie, Zubimendi and Rice would the first names on my own list but it will also largely depend on which, if any, of the walking wounded can return.  I expect Kepa will play in goal, Mosquera and Calafiori in defence, N\u00f8rgaard in midfield and Madueke and Jesus up front. How will we fit MLS into this puzzle? We have seven but who are the +4 Those and other questions are wildly guessed at below\u2026\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kepa
White (Salmon) Mosquera Calafiori MLS
N\u00f8rgaard MLS Eze
Madueke Jesus Martinelli<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have assumed that whoever out of Martinelli and Leo is going to start against Leverkusen will not start against Mansfield, and that Eze is ready to play. After that my solution, as the sharp-eyed may have noticed, is to simply clone MLS. However, if our medical department lack this simple, modern convenience then I suppose we may have to look at moving N\u00f8rgaard back, Calafiori over to the left, and playing whichever of Havertz or Ode or Saka is available and least of an injury risk in midfield. I think it is a little early to start Max Dowman, and actually I doubt the boss will start Salmon, but I hope we will see both at some point. Just to add, if you are reading this Mikel Merino, I miss you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Score<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another four goals would align neatly with the Portsmouth and Wigan wins and so I will go for a 4-0 to The Arsenal as in the Wigan win rather than the 4-1 against Portsmouth. Be nice to see Jesus on the scoresheet, and Madueke too but I would also be very happy with an injury-free win. This is a game I have been looking forward to since the draw was made and exactly the sort of match the cup is all about. Yes, there have been a few tense ones recently and no doubt a lot more to come but for this weekend take the fun that is an FA Cup run and enjoy it all wherever you may be!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hello everyone, it\u2019s been an especially good week to be a Gooner this week. Our steel shown, our lead strengthened, new friends made, and rivals discombobulated. Fresh then from a successful soiree in the south, The Arsenal venture northwards into the heart of England this weekend to take on Mansfield Town in our first 5th […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12978"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12978"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12978\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12996,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12978\/revisions\/12996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}