Hard to recover from pounding in Potteries

OUR FA Cup fourth-round tie at fortress Britannia was always going to be a stiff test, no matter what team Arsène put out.

Sadly the only ones seemingly unaware of this fact were the 11 players in blue (that’s never going to sound right for the Gunners), who spent the first half-hour of Sunday’s encounter, like frightened rabbits, caught in the intense glare of the Stoke City headlights.

On Sunday we appeared intimidated by Stoke’s “in yer face” intensity, with the ball becoming like a hot potato, as the Gunners all seemed to want to get rid of it, rather than risk being clattered.