Thomas Eisfeld replaced another youngster Serge Gnabry and you have to say, it was an unfortunate night for Gnabry who was only on the pitch during our most disjointed periods. If he had stayed on the pitch for the latter stages of the game then he would have had plenty more joy when the game was far more open. His replacement was wonderful though and once again I am left wanting to see

Match Review – Reading 5 Arsenal 7 – Capital One Cup

How do you go about writing about a game like that? I honestly cannot remember having so many different emotions in one game of football.

I am not going to go back into the goals, I would be writing all day if that was the case, instead I will attempt some sort of personal summary and also pick out a few interesting points in last night’s utter madness.

I wrote in my preview of the game that Reading had an advantage over us as they are a team who play together regularly and have already formed partnerships. Even if a team is technically weaker, they usually have the advantage over a talented group of players who have been thrown together. This was very much the case in the first half at the Madejski stadium.

Reading pressed us like crazy and pushed us back from the very start. Our passing lacked any real tempo, lacked certainty and we looked beaten from the start. Our game is our passing and when that is not on point then we are in trouble. We made big mistakes for their goals. Koscielny looked shaky, Martinez blundered, Frimpong out of sorts, basically the whole team were well off it.

What was most disappointing was the fact that we were beaten to pretty much every duel, both on the ground and in the air. Reading raced into a 4-0 lead and it was exactly what they deserved.

@hahostolze tweeted on Twitter that another 8-2 would be possible, I responded that I didn’t see how we were going to score twice.

Typically my stream died just before Theo Walcott raced onto Arshavin’s pass to chip over the keeper. His finishing this season has been devastating and so assured. It will be a huge shame if he leaves the club but given his contract situation you have to think that it is very likely.

At half time I was cursing the fourth goal that we conceded because at 3-1 with hopefully a boost of belief a comeback would be very possible. But 4-1 was pushing it, especially considering what little experience we had sat on the bench.

The second half started poorly once more, that was disappointing. Reading could have killed the game off but we had some luck on our side. The referee may have given them a penalty and could have also given Laurent Koscielny a red card for persistent fouling.

Oliver Giroud and Thomas Eisfeld changed the game completely for several reasons. One Chamakh found it difficult to get into the game at least in terms of an attacking threat but Giroud was like a magnet. The ball kept landing at his feet and he had shots blocked, shots just wide, linking up with his midfield and it was his skilfully executed header from a curving Walcott corner that set the cat amongst the pigeons.

Once that goal went in, everybody knew the direction of the game. The subconscious thought was forced into the minds of the Arsenal players, the Reading players and both sets of fans. That thought was, Arsenal know they could come back and the only thing that could stop a comeback is time.

Thomas Eisfeld replaced another youngster Serge Gnabry and you have to say, it was an unfortunate night for Gnabry who was only on the pitch during our most disjointed periods. If he had stayed on the pitch for the latter stages of the game then he would have had plenty more joy when the game was far more open. His replacement was wonderful though and once again I am left wanting to see more.

What strikes me when I see him is that he seems so calm and in control of everything he does on the pitch. He kept drifting into great spaces in between the Reading midfield and defence, his use of the ball was also of top quality. One piece of skill summed him up, taking the ball on his chest, flicking the ball over the onrushing Reading player, striding off and spreading it wide.

His build probably means that he needs work to strengthen his body for the rigours of English football but technically he certainly seems to have something about him.

At 4-2 down we had plenty of chances but just could not find the goals and time was running out. One of my (as with many fans I guess) pet peeves is our lack of quality from corner kicks. How many times have we watched teams play poorly but score from a set piece which then lifts their performance? Many.

For us, corner kicks have been just something you do to get the ball back in play but when we needed a goal most it was Theo Walcott who once again curved a fiercely struck ball onto the head of Laurent Koscielny who had redeemed himself for his customary season own goal.

At that point my nerves were just awful, if we are going to go four down and then pull three goals back then you just have to equalise. Reading were then clinging onto dear life. They withdrew Jason Roberts who was a pain in our Arsenal for the whole night and their plan was to get the ball into the corner and keep possession, we had four original minutes of stoppage time and you have to think that if it wasn’t for Reading making a substitution ironically to waste time, then they would have seen the game out but in the 95th minute Chamakh won a header on the outside of the Reading penalty area and Walcott’s shot hit the outstretched hand of a Reading player on the goal line, the ball had trickled over the line before Jenkinson rammed in the rebound to make sure. 4-4!

I did say that I wasn’t going to go into the details of the goals but I guess like the match, this is getting out of hand here.

I thought the substitutions really helped Chamakh and it wasn’t just his late goals. His late brace doesn’t now mean he is the saviour, or that we do not need further additions in the forward department, we do. However I do feel that criticism of the player has been rather unfair.

His recent goal record has been pointed out and it is a stick used to beat him with but what statistic that is hidden away is his actual playing time. As we know that a player needs a run of games to find their best form or at least have proper match fitness and sharpness, I ask the question. When was the last time that Chamakh had two first team games in a row?

It could well be during van Persie’s last injury for Arsenal. He has played in disjointed league cup teams that were filled with fringe and youngsters or he has managed 10 minutes from the bench. It is not a coincidence that his last goalscoring spree came when he was a first team regular.

He is not going to score 30 goals a season for anybody but with good service and a regular starting place there is no reason why he cannot produce what he did in his first season for another team.

The lob at the end to make it 7-5 was cooly executed so well done that man.

The first half showing was absolutely abysmal and @TheSquidBoyLike made a very good point that the players need to look at this game whenever they go through another ‘Norwich’ when we are not on our game we need to dig our heals in and fight even harder.

This game was valuable for the likes of Miquel, Martinez, Jenkinson, Coquelin, Gnabry and Eisfeld were all involved in a roller coaster of a match, it is great education for those players.

Hopefully Oliver Giroud can take plenty from the game also, it was his introduction that changed the game.

Hold your hats, next stop Old Trafford.