{"id":982,"date":"2020-06-28T20:15:38","date_gmt":"2020-06-28T19:15:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=982"},"modified":"2020-06-29T22:16:09","modified_gmt":"2020-06-29T21:16:09","slug":"ceballoss-cracker-sends-us-into-our-30th-fa-cup-semi-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=982","title":{"rendered":"Ceballos\u2019s cracker sends us into our 30th FA Cup semi final"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve got a couple of mates from Sheffield (one supports\nWednesday, the other United), but I\u2019ve only been to the Steel City twice and\nneither of them was for football.  My\nmate the Blade is always bragging about Beautiful Down Town Bramall Lane\n(BDTBL) and there\u2019s no doubt it\u2019s got history. It\u2019s the oldest ground in the\nworld still hosting pro football and has been Sheffield\u2019s United\u2019s only ground\nsince they were founded in 1889.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was the game we really wanted to win. The fanbase and this bar are ambivalent about whether we want European football next season, but we are always up for the Cup. The boss rang the changes after the welcome win against Southampton. We again played three at the back with wing backs, with Luiz, Kolasinac and AMN returning. A midfield of Xhaka, Saka and Willock was behind Laca and Pepe. Basically a fluid 3-4-3, at least in attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We started really poorly, slow to move the ball and looking\nvery jittery at the back. In particular, we looked dodgy in the air and badly\nmissing Rob Holding who was all conquering there at St Mary\u2019s. After just 8\nminutes a cross came over from the left, McBurney won the header at the back\npost and Lundstram bundled in it. I certainly didn\u2019t spot the offside first\ntime round (and nor did the lino) but a VAR check showed Lundstram to be two\nfoot offside and the goal was chalked off. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We continued poorly until mid-half, but slowly found our\nfeet. AMN and Pepe were linking well down the left and Joe Willock began\nlinking defence and attack very effectively, coming short for the ball, making\nground and making telling passes. Tierney was playing really well, further\nforward than in the last game, putting in lovely crosses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 23 minutes, after a corner was defended it came back in\nto Lacazette with his back to goal. Basham clumsily kicked his left leg, just\ninside the box and Laca went down. A clear penalty, although the highly\nannoying McManaman thought it was soft, until he saw a replay. Pepe, with an\nexcellent penalty record, stroked it into the far corner. Laca seemed to be\nhurt, but came back after some treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

25 min Sheffield\nUnited 0-1 Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You could really say it was against the run of play, but it\nseemed to bring confidence to the team, as we dominated the rest of the half. A\ntruly lovely move saw Pepe to Laca who returned it immediately and Pepe struck\nan excellent shot which was well saved. We started playing quicker, with\nWillock to the fore and finished the half without further alarm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Half time. Sheffield\nUnited 0-1 Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No changes at the break, but the home team started much the\nbetter. From a free kick United had the ball in the net but again it was\noffside, this time given by the lino and confirmed by VAR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Luiz limped off with a knee problem and Holding replaced\nhim, greatly improving central defence in the humble view of this scribe. After\na few more minutes, Eddie and Dani came on for Laca and Willock. A delightful\nmove saw Eddie and Saka combining until Saka, with space to run into, was cynically\nchopped down on the half way line by Robertson. Yellow card. Robertson had been\nlucky not to be booked in the first half for a similar foul on Laca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again crosses into the back post caused problems and the dangerous McBurney and Sheffield United could have had at least one more. A bizarre kick from the United goalie brought back memories of Jennings against Stepney in the 60’s but Martinez had it covered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally we were undone by a long throw. Kola had a great\nchance to clear his lines but just kicked it against Holding\u2019s back. It fell\nfor McGoldrick who scored with ease. Same old same old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

87 minutes Sheffield\nUnited 1-1 Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

United battered our defence with two good saves by Martinez.\nFive minutes of extra time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a minute of extra time another smooth move saw Saka\nfind Eddie in space. He ran on, drew his man and played in Pepe. He got to the by-line\nbut had to turn back and Ceballos took over. He drove into space and smashed\nthe ball into the net with his right foot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dani Ceballos
Dani Ceballos
Drinks Estrella
Eats Paella
The boy is fucking magic!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

91 minutes Sheffield\nUnited 1-2 Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Little happened in the remaining minutes. Sokratis came on.\nWe saw the game out. I thought Holding made a real difference, constantly\nclearing the lines as the Blades went route one. Willock, Saka, Martinez and\nTierney were excellent. Pepe had one of his better games for us and, rightly,\nlasted the full 90. We were the curate\u2019s egg, good in parts, bad in parts. But\nwe got the job done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the studio, Van Persie was audibly and visibly gutted\nthat we had won and expressed himself unimpressed with our performance. Suck it\nup snake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m wearing it for The Arsenal \u2018cos we\u2019re going to Wembley!\u201d
Wembley, Wembley
We\u2019re the famous Arsenal and we\u2019re going to Wembley!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Into our 30th<\/sup> semi final.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Come on you Gunners!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full time. Sheffield\nUnited 1-2 Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve got a couple of mates from Sheffield (one supports Wednesday, the other United), but I\u2019ve only been to the Steel City twice and neither of them was for football.  My mate the Blade is always bragging about Beautiful Down Town Bramall Lane (BDTBL) and there\u2019s no doubt it\u2019s got history. It\u2019s the oldest ground […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/982"}],"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\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=982"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/982\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":989,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/982\/revisions\/989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}