Well, it left us shell shocked. It was the third consecutive match which The Gunners dominated but lost. So what are we left with now? 4th in the league, we lost the Carling Cup Final, we're 1-0 in the Champions League and have just been dumped out of the FA Cup. It's amazing how a season can change in a week, isn't it?
It was another frustrating game, but the same old story for the unlucky gunners - dominating the match only to be beaten by constantly fantastic goalkeeping and a late winner. Yep, not surprisingly Brad Friedel was on form and The Young Guns couldn't beat the American keeper. The first chance came after 26 minutes, when Ljungberg sent in a deep cross from the right. The Blackburn defence misjudged it and Baptista opted to chest the ball down instead of planting a firm header on goal. The Brazilian made a hash of it, and it proved to be costly. Then Arsenal had two big penalty shouts turned down. Jeremie Aliadiere rounded Friedel before being brought down by the keeper. But Graham Poll gave a goal kick. That was followed by Freddie Ljungberg being bundled over by Brett Emerton. The Australian was pulling Ljungberg down as well as having a kick at his legs. Any other decent ref with a brain would have agreed that this was a penalty. But no, this was the fat, hopeless, brainless idiot we call Graham Poll so we might as well have not complained. If you could not tell by my anger, this was not Mr Poll's first mistake in his refereeing career. To be perfectly honest, I don't know why this guy still has his job!
Julio Baptista was again at the heart of another Arsenal chance. A free-kick was swung in but The Beast headed over when he should have scored. It was not going to be his night. This was followed by another half-chance. Denilson slid a great ball through only for Ljungberg's touch to let him down and the ball rolled into Friedel's arms.
Despite Baptista not being at his goalscoring best, it was clear to see that he is adapting to the English game brilliantly. His awful first touch has improved and his ability to drop deep and dictate the play has made him become a crucial part of the side. This has all come down to Arsene Wenger's faith to give him a long run in the side. And he proved that he, like any Brazilian, is a showboating king. A lovely 'roulette turn' left the Blackburn defence for dead. He then fired a serving shot from 40 yards but Friedel matched this piece of excellence by tipping it past the post. Both managers made changes. Wenger brought on Theo Walcott for Eboue and reshuffled his pack with Gilberto moving to centre back, Senderos filling in at right back and Hleb slotting into central midfield. Blackburn boss, Mark Hughes replaced Nonda with McCarthy and Tugay with David Dunn. This was the turning point.
Arsene Wenger seemed to have made one of his extremely rare tactical mistakes. Phillipe Senderos had looked shaky all night, so switching him to right-back wasn't wise. With less than five minutes left, Blackburn went on the attack. Subsitute Benni McCarthy cut inside Senderos too easily as the Swiss defender slipped over. Then the South African striker fired a stunning strike past the helpless Almunia, into the top corner. That was it, the FA Cup dream was over. And now The Gunners need a miracle to turn their season around. A huge game against Reading is next followed by probably our biggest game of the season - the Champions League return leg at The Emirates. So let's hope and pray our season doesn't end in tears come May.
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