We could have gone for Quad if we had got rid of just 2 players.

Yesterday lineup was perfectly fine without those 2

Well, there's still nothing shabby about our Quadruple chances as far as they go. They're certainly better than anyone else's

on another note, anyone know when return game tickets will go on sale? Don't think it's covered by my ST any more.

I think almost any team struggles when they make as many changes and play their second string. Just look at United against Crawley. By most accounts they were absolutely terrible with Crawley Town playing well and dominating posession at OT.

kamikaze wrote:

Captain wrote:

Throw enough shit...

easy there, princess!

That was witty. Well done.

But anyway, Denilson wasn't even that bad. Our front three (could say four if you add Rosicky) were absolutely shocking.

Crawley did not dominate at OT in any way. Same way Orient did not dominate against us.

Difference is that O'Shea and Smalling did a great job of closing their game down, whereas Gibbs, Miquel and Almunia cost us our chance.

Didn't watch most of the game so I can't say, just that many who have watched it said that United's players were largely terrible and Crawly dominated posession.

Crawley could have equalised - hit the post in the dying minutes of the game.
Arshavin could have put the game beyond Orient - hit the post prior to them scoring the equaliser.

The margins between winning and drawing in both games were slim.

Crawley had a looping header which hit the top of the bar - it wasn't really as good an effort as all that, and certainly not the 'thickness of paint' that the media are hyping it up to be. In truth, Crawley just lacked the class. Orient, for my money, weren't that much better than Crawley. Tehoue, for me, was their only threatening player - apparently he's some super-sub specialist, but he was miles better than anyone else they had.

Wenger admitted after the game that Tehoue was a French player that he didn't know.
I was stunned

Not really bothered by the result. These players need game time, and I'm delighted Orient have gotten another big pay day and trips to the Emirates and Vegas (Barry Hearn you legend ). Was disappointed Orient didn't put up more of a fight though, it was so easy for us until Tehoue came on, making it all the more ridiculous that we couldn't kill the game off. Special mentions to Cesc wearing the 'Arsene sleeping bag' as he warmed up at half time, the Orient cheerleaders, the away fans singing that Leyton is a shithole (very true) and that all Os fans support Spurs (very untrue).

I've no idea what's happened to Chamkh, 'fatigue' was an excuse two months ago, it doesn't make sense now. Could the rumours be affecting his performance? Miguel was very composed on the ball but wasn't tested defensively until the end of the game, so we've learnt very little about him. Almunia was awful in what may be his penultimate game for the club - the replay hopefully being his last.

flobaba wrote:

OohtobeaGoonerGal wrote:

...

Welcome sweetheart. I've missed you.

Well that's not creepy...

To whom it may Concern:

That did not concern you.

Well you're on a public forum mate. So if you're serious with the above comment PM her.

asajoseph wrote:

Crawley did not dominate at OT in any way. Same way Orient did not dominate against us.

Difference is that O'Shea and Smalling did a great job of closing their game down, whereas Gibbs, Miquel and Almunia cost us our chance.

Nah. Crawley was the better team for 60% of the match and largely controlled possession and even had a few chances.

They certainly played better than Orient against us

GaelForce wrote:

Not really bothered by the result. These players need game time, and I'm delighted Orient have gotten another big pay day and trips to the Emirates and Vegas (Barry Hearn you legend ). Was disappointed Orient didn't put up more of a fight though, it was so easy for us until Tehoue came on, making it all the more ridiculous that we couldn't kill the game off. Special mentions to Cesc wearing the 'Arsene sleeping bag' as he warmed up at half time, the Orient cheerleaders, the away fans singing that Leyton is a shithole (very true) and that all Os fans support Spurs (very untrue).

I've no idea what's happened to Chamkh, 'fatigue' was an excuse two months ago, it doesn't make sense now. Could the rumours be affecting his performance? Miguel was very composed on the ball but wasn't tested defensively until the end of the game, so we've learnt very little about him. Almunia was awful in what may be his penultimate game for the club - the replay hopefully being his last.

Pretty much the same feeling mate. We'll beat them at home, and the Orient fans get a big day out, which they wont forget. It'll only be our second string playing again, so the extra fixture doesn't in reality hurt us all that much. Great scenes at the end, and I was half pleased for them. Although really unimpressed with our pathetic, lazy second half performance.

Talking of Cesc's big coat - I was 7 or 8 feet away from him at half-time, and the the only thing I could think to blurt out to him was "Cesc, Arsene wants his coat back!".
Really pissed off, because I ended up getting there only 5 minutes before kick-off just caught the boys before the end of the warm-up. Pretty surreal seeing them all that close up.

Shows what a star Cesc is though, my cousin, a staunch United fan as well as obviously Orient, was completely star struck by Cesc, worse than me even. He was gutted he didn't get to see him play, and I could hear all the Orient fans around me in awe of him whenever he warmed-up in front of us.

Cesc, Jack and Samir warming-up right in front of me for the whole of the second half was tantalizing to say the least. Bloke behind me said of the three of them "that's about £70M worth of talent warming-up down there", I turned round and said "and some!". Disappointed they didn't get on, for the Orient fans more than anything. Although that would have killed their hopes in the game, for sure.

The Arsenal fans seemed pretty quiet throughout, and I was a little disappointed not to hear much from them.

My uncle hates us with a passion, and I ended up sitting next to him in the stands, and at half-time I said to him "you better hope Fabregas doesn't come on, it'll be good night if he does", to which he said "you better hope Tehouey doesn't come on" - I laughed my head off that he dared put Jonathan Tehouey in the same bracket as Cesc Fabregas, wish I hadn't, not heard the end of it since.

I was impressed by Ignasi "Iggy" Miquel, looked ridiculously calm and composed, and defended well at times in the second half. Looked a far better player than Squillaci, put it that way.

Kieran Gibbs was extremely good in the first half, scarily quick and dangerous on the overlap, but didn't go over the halfway line second half, and was done badly for their goal.

Arshavin, Rosicky and Bendtner also showed touches of real class, skill that drew gasps from the crowd at times. In fact, Arshavin looked easily the classiest player on the pitch. Rosicky has great technique and that sets him apart, but he doesn't actually do much - which is old news I know, but it was just confirmed yesterday. Bendtner goes from the sublime to the ridiculous, constantly - a great turn or touch, followed by a dumb pass or a crap shot.

Chamakh's missed tap-in was ridiculous. He's just not there at the moment. Squillaci and Almunia were poor for the most part. Denilson and Song not much better. There is just no intensity with the vast majority of these players. A stark contrast from the Cesc and co. And I knew it wasn't handball by Squillaci, I could hear it smack him right in the mush at the time - the Orient fans went mental at that though.

asajoseph wrote:

Crawley had a looping header which hit the top of the bar - it wasn't really as good an effort as all that, and certainly not the 'thickness of paint' that the media are hyping it up to be. In truth, Crawley just lacked the class. Orient, for my money, weren't that much better than Crawley. Tehoue, for me, was their only threatening player - apparently he's some super-sub specialist, but he was miles better than anyone else they had.

Crawley are a non-league side mate, Orient are flying in league 1 - there's quite a difference between the two right now. Although I agree, if our players played with the seriousness of the First XI, we'd have steamrolled Orient quite easily.

Yes, I know Orient ARE better than Crawley.

But Orient weren't MUCH better than Crawley if you compare the two performances, and standards they were playing at. Orient were, by far, the worst outfit we've played this season, based on how they performed on the day.

Great post Ricky, thanks.
Really enjoy hearing what it was like at the ground.

Shava's class translated well to TV, he was our best player yesterday.
Just a pity he hit only the post at the end.

asajoseph wrote:

Yes, I know Orient ARE better than Crawley.

But Orient weren't MUCH better than Crawley if you compare the two performances, and standards they were playing at. Orient were, by far, the worst outfit we've played this season, based on how they performed on the day.

I didn't watch the Crawley-United game, but Orient were very well organised, and tactically decent.

All the Orient fans I know were really disappointed with Orient's showing yesterday. They were clearly bricking it, virtually all of them - Charlie Daniels, their ex-scum left back was the exception - and they were terrible first half with the ball, a bit better second half, but organised and disciplined throughout, I thought.

Well, Crawley looked like they were quite up for it, but ultimately they just didn't have the quality to really cause United a threat. I can't say I've watched either before this season, but seems obvious that Orient must have played below their normal level, and Crawley above theirs.

I thought our team played a very similar standard of game to United, and Crawley to Orient - if Crawley had had Tehoue, they might well have snatched a draw too, because he was the only player from either team that looked half decent to me!