Assuming the storms abate we are in for an interesting evening with our young heroes against the expensive Chav flops. Let’s take a closer look …..
Chelsea: The Arrogant One is already moaning about his side having to play Sun/Tues, poor, fragile little sweethearts. Imagine, all those cossetted millionaires having the possibility of playing 180 minutes in 3 days, oh, the ignominy and stress. Moaninho may have to play his reserve team – you know the one – the blokes who cost tens of millions of wasted money.
Who are these unknown beginners? Well, Some no-hoper defenders called David Luiz, Ryan Bertrand,and Azpil something , a useless MF named Essien, another called Obi- Won Kanobi, a few forwards who would struggle to get into the Barnet side – Eto’o, Demba Ba, and Willian. Oh and some bloke called Juan Mata who Jose has had to pull in from the Stevenage reserve squad. Desperate times down at Stamford Bridge.
What this highlights is how poor Chelsea have been at developing their youth policy. It would be great if every player on show tonight was under, say, 23. That allows for some experience players as well as giving a great night out for lads on the edge of the first team. But Chelsea can’t do that can they? (though to be fair they have bought in some exceptional youth who are on loan – Kakuta, Courtois, Romeu, Lukaku, Moses etc).
It is all well and good preaching about how important it is to develop youth players but apart from Southampton and Arsenal, which top 6 side does? (letters to Arsenalnuts)
You may gather from the above my disdain for all that Chelsea stand for – and you would be right. In my opinion the arrival of Abramovich has been hugely detrimental to English football. This is not sour grapes because they have won more trophies than us in the past decade, it is because they have no honour or class. The purchase of Willian is a case in point.
There was a time when I thought Jose was great fun but his self-promotion, as witnessed so perfectly after Torres goal on Sunday, is sickening, and so is his brand of football. He is the Lord High Prophet of the Me Generation.
Arsenal: Full house, local rivals, a young team, another exciting night in prospect at The Emirates.
We are clearly going to need some experienced players to support the younger chaps but which one’s can be spared ahead of the Liverpool game? Your guess is probably better than mine.
Given the absence of both Flamini and Arteta we are struggling for a defensive screen in front of the back 4. Frimps is unfit, so is Eisfeld and Zelamamanememan. Hayden played well for an 18 y.o. in the last round, so perhaps he will start. And who will partner Vermaelen ? Both BFG and Kos have been piling up the games both a t club and international level. Should Gnabry start? He was very good in his cameo at the weekend but should we risk such a young man who picked up a slight ankle knack?
OK. Here is my punt …..
The bench will have a couple of familiar faces but mostly kids.
It is a shame we are facing such a strong side in a competition we should prioritise. The Chelsea squad is so deep that they really do have two first 11’s, and we , thanks to extensive injuries, don’t. Had we a fully fit squad I would be more certain of victory, as it is the odds have to be against us.
But ….. We are the Arsenal, we are at home, we have The Great Dane, and put in simple terms, we are a better club from top to bottom.
Our tea lady has more class than theirs (whom I have it on good authority used to be a lady of the night working in the outer reaches of Brentford). We have Sir Chips, they have a lawyer called Buck. Says it all ….
COYRRG
written by Big Raddy
Arsenal News 24/7
arsenalarsenal.net 
Morning all
Back to song titles Raddy 🙂
If they played the way they did againt the nothern shitty oilers’ club, they’d be in for a drubbing of a lifetime. They won, against the run of play. Apart from the £50M man and the Brazilian Horse, they really were chaffs, as their name suggests.
COYRRG
Ok Raddy
Until I read this great post, I really didn’t care too much about tonight’s encounter, but seeing players like Grnabry and Hayden included, I get very excited.
So thank you for arousing me 🙂
“He is the Lord High Prophet of the Me Generation”. Can’t top that line 🙂
I’m actually not happy about the idea of playing either Kozzer or Jack.
Are there alternatives? Hayden can play CB, and if Frimpong wasn’t a berk, he could fill the defensive midfield slot, then that just leaves replacing Jack.
Pool, Dortmund and Utd in an eight day spell will mean all hands on deck.
Micky. Mr Wenger said that he though Frimps was not match fit, though he may well be forced to play him.
Either Jack, Santi or Ramsey will have to play tonight. My choice is JW as I don’t think he will start on Saturday.
And where are the Cavalry? Podolski and Ox were due to be out a few weeks not months, Theo a couple of weeks. This is becoming Diaby-esque.
Peaches. I can’t resist!
A defensive duo of Frimpong and Hayden would be interesting. Keeps our A-Team Shape 🙂
Well I’ve always been grateful that Abramovich bought them instead of Spurs – just imagining that makes me feel ill!, but there’s no doubt that he has single handedly destroyed the modern game as we know it. Buying Torres in the January window for 50 million summed it all up.
Reading BR’s pre-match actually made me feel very sad how the greatest sport has been ruined, and of course his arrival just as we were about to move from Highbury was a disaster for us.
As for tonight, I don’t really care about this competition, probably ever since that Swindon match, but I hope our reserve players make an effort, it’ll be interesting seeing Bendtner again.
I’ve got some friends who support Chelsea, and I just don’t know how they’ve continued to be after the Russian took over. If it happened to us, I’d go and support Barnet.
Just had a thought, if Jose doesn’t want to play Juan Mata tonight maybe we could borrow him, he could do job for us no? #sharing
Great PM Raddy.
I am with you on your take on Mourinho that he used to be slightly entertaining but it is now just more irritating. The novelty has fully worn off for me and probably has for many others, Chelsea fans aside.
I am fully in agreement that, for the first time in years in the league cup, we should have been able to field a strong squad tonight, and still rotated key players, but injuries have done for us. I am not really in the “a cup is a cup” camp and we should therefore field the strongest available team. I feel the focus should be on the weekend EPL game and we should rotate tonight accordingly.
That doesn’t mean I feel we disrespect the cup or are writing it off, and I am happy that the young players get a go in this competition, and just because it is Chelsea I don’t wish to see us to change our policy. Maybe the young players hunger to impress could be a positive thing, whereas the more senior Chelsea players may feel they are only there because they are the also rans. Who knows.
The selection tonight is a difficult one even for the most brilliant football alchemist, and I am not too far away from your selection Raddy.
My team tonight would be influenced by Saturday’s game and as I would prefer to see Jack start in a deeper 2 with Arteta on Saturday I would rest him tonight. I would go with your back 5 Raddy but, like Micky, would maybe like to see Kozzer rested. Is Hayden an alternative? If so then another needs to come into midfield.
Say though we leave the back 4 as you have it, then I would go with a 4-2-3-1 system where I would play Rosicky deeper alongside Hayden where he can control the game more. I would have liked Eisfeld in ACM but you say he is not available Raddy, can you further confirm that? If not Eisfeld I would maybe play Ollson in ACM or alternatively bring in Yennaris alongside Hayden and push Rosicky forward into the ACM. I would actually play Santi. He is just back from injury so he has not been overplayed this season, (compared to Ramsey, Ozil and Jack), and may benefit from extra match time, so he would play to the left of NB with Gnabry to the right in my line up.
I have dropped Myaichi to the bench, who I do like, but am still not sure about. I think Chelsea will be aggresive and try and intimidate our young players and I feel Myaichi is quite a shy boy who could easily go into his shell. I think maybe Eisfeld, Ollson and Yennaris are less likely to be intimidated. Myaichi’s pace could be used later on maybe when Chelsea legs are tiring rather than the likely more scrappy physical opening period.
Actually after having a rethink, if say Usmanov bought us, the difference between us and Chelsea is that we are already a great club. Chelsea except for 1955 and a couple of cup wins, were always just above West Ham but below Spurs as far as London teams are concerned. With Abramovitch just like with Man.City, success has been bought not earned, so maybe I wouldn’t abondon us for Barnet!
Danny
I have a good friend who stopped going to Chelsea when the Russian arrived. He doesn’t follow anyone in particular now, but chooses fixtures that look attractive and as near to his Fulham home as possible.
Excellent, BR.
The chavs are pretty repulsive but the weekend game is so much more important. A good fighting performance will do me.
I’d play Santi instead of Jack too, as he looks as though he needs the game time to recapture some of his sparkle. It’s a shame we haven’t got Miquel or Djourou available so maybe give Hayden a go at CB alongside Tommy and give Olsson a chance in midfield.
Bellerin looked confident at WBA, so maybe he could perform some defensive role.
How about Chuba and Bendy in an old-fashioned 4-4-2? 🙂
I’d imagine Arsene will pick more of our first choice players than I’d like. Fingers tightly crossed then. The dippers are out already, so no game for them.
Evonne,
I just wanted to publicly apologise for any besmirchment of your impeccable character as a result of my misguided comments earlier today.
When I saw this I thought of you. 🙂
Cheers BR, time was when football matches were about winning, regardless of the competition, but we haven’t got a particularly great record in the League Cup.
This and the FA Cup probably represent our only realistic hope of a silver trinket, but we’re all about raking in the revenue from making up the numbers in the CL now, so I expect nothing from this game.
Danny. Swindon. You are showing your age 😀
WATA. If asked whether I would prefer to win the CC or play in the CL, I would choose the latter. In this we differ.
GB. Eisfeld is injured (back). Zelamamamemem will play for U-18’s later this week. I read somewhere that Olsson and Yennaris weren’t it the squad but that could be ‘net-nonsense
Early nag here …………
Who’d like to offer to write the post for tomorrow?
I get the glamour and prestige of playing CL football, BR, I just think it’s pointless to keep playing in a competition that we have no realistic hope of winning. We have more than enough resources to be one of the world’s most powerful clubs, it’s just a lack of bravery that holds us back.
Absolutely fabulous as ever, Raddy. Lots of fantastic little gems, but my favourite today is the “Lord High Prophet of the Me Generation.” Sorry, Micky, but I have to second you here. 😀
BTW, did you guys notice the look on Torres’s face when this jumping into the stands was going on? Priceless! He thought he would attract the cameras after the goal, but Moaninho had other ideas!
The suggested squad looks exciting. This will be a good test for Gnabry and Nic, and for Verms as to his match fitness. I would love to see Viviano play at some point, but dont know whether today is that day.
Santi rather than Jack, now there’s a thought!!!! Might provide Santi a bit more game time, and protect Jack from injury. I dont know, maybe it is just me, but I am always a bit nervous about injury when Jack plays.
I picked up on Mourinho’s moan about having to play two games in quick succession and how it would affect his selection and subconsciously thought: great we have a chance here, then I read the pre-match above and came back to earth.
Frimpong could finish this game with the familiar saying running around his head:
Be careful what you wish for.
This could get messy tonight and I don’t mean the Argentinian type.
I am going to the game, I will be home at 11, it takes me 3 hours to write a match report, yes I said 3 hours which would take me to 1am.
The upshot — not going to happen.
Someone watching it on telly can step up.
“Arsenal youngsters put up a brave fight against the oil rich gangster’s plaything…………..”
“Arsenal’s youngsters put those no-history upstarts in their place…………”
We’ll cast another vote to start Santi, to get him some needed match time.
And if Mourinho’s going to complain about having to play on Tuesday after Sunday, then the Arsenal could match him with this gunner recruit who also played (like this) on Sunday:
Saw this live; in addition to the above, gave a master class in how to play the striker position. And if the MLS didn’t have stupid playoffs and the season had ended, I’d wager he’d want to fly back and kit up for the match tonight.
Sign him up …….
BR
I’ll tell you one thing about that Swindon match – I believe it changed my life forever regarding excepting the unthinkable! It was probably the biggest upset ever and that feeling I had afterwards has stayed with me since. So when we lose against Birmingham or say last years Bradford/Blackburn matches, I just think “been there, done that” etc
Danny – me too, me too 😦
Some time ago I wrote an AA post about my experiences after that very game.
Chas @12:34 – is there no end to your cruelty?? First you tarnish my good name and now you insult the thing I love most in this world? And for your information my pug Mnio Mnio Mnio is a perfect gentleman and would not dream to soiling the carpet.
No time to read the full PM 😦
Peaches shopping at Tesco with Szczesny!! He is not playing tonight
I’m excited about the match today. I want us to win of course, but definitely not at the cost of risking potential injury to first team players who have some tough and important matches in the next week and a half. Like some others I’d hope that the likes of Yennaris, Olsson, Bellerin and Akpom could be involved. Obviously some experienced players will need to start. Vermaelen, Monreal, Jenkinson. Rosicky, Bendtner..Maybe even Cazorla. Either way, it’s a low pressure match and that will hopefully liberate us to play with the ‘handbrake’ off. I don’t care who plays for Chelsea. We can beat them if we play well.
The idea that every match was treated as equally important in the past is nostalgic fantasy. I’ve read how the top clubs didn’t want the League Cup in the first place, and ignored it for a while. While that was before my time, when I started watching football some 17 years ago, no one cared about the League Cup. Certainly none of the top teams really went for it. I remember some controversy over ManU ‘disrespecting’ the cup in 2000, and Arsenal have been accused of that in the past too. It is only in the last 5 years or so, when the media have managed to highlight trophies as the be all and end all, and once Chelsea began stockpiling talent, that the top teams have started caring about this competition again. It would be nice to win it, but it certainly shouldn’t rank as priority. It is no more a realistic shot at a trophy than the premier league. We’re good enough for that, and we should prioritise that. Anything else would be stupid.
By the way, I hate Mourinho. Always have. His style of football is not likeable, but the media persona is annoying, and his teams all cheat and take the lead from him to indulge in ‘gamesmanship’. Does anyone remember Chelsea scoring because of Arsenal kicking out a ball for their injured player? I do. They returned the ball but for a throw in near the corner flag, and then they squeezed play there and eventually the ball fell to Drogba who scored. Nothing illegal (although they indulge in plenty of that. Look for someone to dive today) but it just typifies Mourinho, who is at the perfect club to indulge his crass behaviour. There is something beyond trophies, and Chelsea can never achieve that. Regardless of the billion pounds that Abramovich has ‘gifted’ them while channeling funds across the globe.
BR
Can you give me date of that post? I’d really like to read that.
Excellent and unexpectedly fiesty Post Big Randy.
The only slight disappointment for me was the absence of any of your stylistic advisory comments.
How comfortable are small, zippered leather posing pouches anyway? 🙂
Someone who is watching on the telly then please ………………..
Hi Shard the Revisor. 🙂
I had the slightly surreal feeling that I had subconsciously written a Post at 4:11 under a pseudonym.
But no, it was indeed your goodself, expressing comments that exactly mirror my own!!
I have never shared the sentiment that Moanyo in his previous Chelsea incarnation was amusing or had any redeeming features. His personalized attacks on fellow managers and in particular AW were vituperative, disgraceful and frankly tasteless.
That said, I fear the gloating nincompoop will be in his money induced element tonight and I can but hope Ping Pong will attempt to get back into Wenger’s goodbooks following his ill advised foray into Twitter Twatter by bopping the ‘arrogant one’ on the nose tonight. 🙂
RA
You’re being kind to Mourinho by only wishing him a DenchStench.. I’d rather his dingdong be frimponged 🙂
Raddy, or anyone else with liveonlinefooty,
My account says paid up, but still get the “Please log in to the Membership Site” banner. I log out, then in, but always the same. Fed up with the Wiziwig type stuff.
Does anyone know of other similar sites to Liveonline….?
micky.
Do you start from here? http://news-source.tv/user
Log in with your pword. Then it takes you to this
http://hd-streaming.tv/watch/livehds
It is working fine for me and the CP game was in full HD.
RA. A revisor in Dansk is an accountant!
Is Shard another of our book-keepers?
Hi Raddy
Nope, same thing. Up pops the sign I mentioned 😦
Do we know the squad for tonight’s game.
I have this deep and horrible feeling Arsene is going to risk some of our megastars.
Shard, your reference to MU disrespecting the cup in 2000 – different competition. The F.A. gave MU permission to play in Brazil, in the ‘World Club Championship’ in December which supposedly compromised their participation in that season’s FA Cup.
Since 2005, Chelsea have won the League Cup twice, MU have won it three times, Tottenham and Liverpool have won it, but it’s not a big competition for Arsenal? In the absence of anything else, and because AW has never won the League Cup, you’d think he might want to take it a bit more seriously. Four clubs, all with better European records than Arsenal consider it a trophy worth winning.
Speaks volumes about club’s mentalities.
Micky. Email me your log in and Pword and I will have a try – it could be your server
Micky – mine works fine http://sportingstreams.net/watch/livehds
Shut it all down and restart the machine.
evonne. Weird that your log in page is completely different to mine
Zelamamanememan 🙂 Raddy!
I am surprised you think that Capital One cup is a competition we should prioritize. I would sacrifice all the cups for the PL silverware. CL is still out of our reach, close, but not close enough, whereas other 2 domestic cups are a strain on our resources. Of course I’d love us to win.all 4 trophies, but I’m not away with the fairies like some and realistically speaking one big cup is all we can hope for.
Thanks for the great PM.
Raddy – I am weird full stop.
Peaches – what did Szczesny buy? What did he say?
Did you inspect Ozil’s gardens yet? Go on, spill the beans
Evening all
Stronger team than I thought:
Fabianski, Jenkinson, Vermaelen, Koscielny, Monreal, Ramsey, Wilshere, Rosicky, Cazorla, Ryo, Bendtner.
Hi WATA, 🙂
I do not usually allow myself to get drawn into discussing your comments because although you clearly have, what to you are valid reasons for those views, they are very repetitive and the resulting chat becomes circular with ruffled feathers on all sides.
However, and I hope you will understand I do not intend to hurt your feelings, I am obliged to make one last attempt to show that an alternative view to yours is also valid.
— You are looking backwards once again, instead of facing to the future.
— Notwithstanding that, you, yet again, list the successes of other top clubs without ever mentioning the obvious connection that each of them has done so by ‘buying’ their trophies, at a time when Arsenal had entered into one of the most cost intensive yet significant projects ever undertaken by any British club.
— You also re-state your somewhat cynical view that, by inference, AW does not take the various cups and perhaps the EPL seriously, without ever referencing his decision, with one eye for the future, to bring on promising young players and deepen their experience of major matches. Over the years many Gooners have loved seeing the youngsters show their paces and cock a snook at many rival clubs’ first teamers.
It is obvious that you are in no better position than many other fans to ‘know’ what AW does or does not take seriously.
Instead you are just allowing your personal biased view to project onto Wenger’s actions, and that is directly contrary to my own view.
I am unable to answer your unsubstantiated comment further without becoming part of a piece of sterile and frankly pointless conjecture.
— How any of this can justify your rather demeaning summary that this ‘speaks volumes for the club’s mentality’ is very disappointing for any Arsenal fan to read.
I feel no animosity towards you for your views, of course, and I hope you will take my rebuttal in the same way, but you keep bringing up this and related topics over and over again and surely there is something positive you can occasionally say instead?
I am hesitating to press the ‘post comment’ button because I do not want to hurt your feelings, but not to do so would be wrong too.
Sorry.
Ozil and Giroud on the bench and PARK!! He’s ALIVE!
Having just watched Gunnersaurus shake Arsene Wenger’s hand, I can therefore categorically refute any of Chas and Micky’s libellous statements that he has been ignominiously sacked.
H’ray for the green snake!! 🙂
Raddy/Evonne
Tried everything. BR, emailed you details.
Ramsey ,Santi, Wilshere and Kozzer. I’m frightened. No, terrified, our season could end tonight. Ommmmmmm
Ok, that was drastic, but still….
hi Irish!
Park alive? I didn’t think he existed
Micky – try Raddy’s or my login. Sending my to Raddy now
Hi Evonne 🙂
Saw pictures of him training on Arse.com the other day – nice to see he’s still with us – alive and well 😛
Wata
My point was that nobody cared in 2005 that Chelsea won the League Cup.. And that it has only gained importance since then becaus the media bleat on about trophies.. Also, I said that the importance grew because Chelsea started targeting the League Cup.Why? Because they had 500% more money than anyone else sitting on the bench and could hence afford to. In any case..Are you seriously suggesting the League Cup is more prestigious than the league or the CL? But you are suggesting to target them is poor form because Arsenal can’t win them. Well..that says a lot about your mentality. Why even try for a tougher competition when you might find it easier to win an easier one..
Anyway.. A stronger side than I was hoping for. Maybe that will suggest something positive about Wenger’s mentality to you.
Raddy – you got both teams 90% right! Well done
Micky. LOF works for me with your info
skinflint didit 🙂
Paid them twice Evonne!!!!
How do my details work on Raddys, but not on two of my laptops!!
Enjoy the game. I’m off.
micky – just use my login, i sent it to Raddy now. You can pay me later 🙂
Dis,appointed not to see more of the kids. Playing such a strong midfield could cost us.
Another goal conceded from our attacking corner. Poor
Micky,
You could have a dodgy cookie, you might have something blocking pop-ups. I’d guess it’s a cookie problem.
If you can find it, you could delete the offending cookie for your browser. Otherwise you could delete them all.
You’re not missing anything anyway.
Chas. I think Santi and Jack have been very good though we haven’t had a shot on target yet
I’m feeling so annoyed with Jenkinson. Not because he makes an error, but because he’s shown a consistent weakness at such defensive headers and doesn’t seem to improve. He gave up a goal against Napoli at the Emirates Cup while trying to head the ball, and other times too but where it didn’t cost us a goal. We were just getting a hold of the game before that happened.
David O’FeckingLeary too. FFS.
Shard. Jenks is still young and showing he needs pitch time. Better he learns from mistakes made in a game like this.
But I agree he freezes under pressure.
Nothing at all happening upfront. The passing to NB has been poor as has our play in the final third. We are looking for a tiki-taka goal when some thrust is needed
Ryo anonymous
Evening all, been stupidly busy not read posts or comments for a couple of days and missed first fifteen of tonight driving home.
Not impressed with goal, we are missing a mature head in the key central midfield area tonight.
We are effectively playing with 9 men – Nik and Ryo have to get stuck in. The others are working very hard
Ryo off. Ozil on.
Still not had a shot on target after 65 mins
Bugger Mata scores.
Of course there is the small chance we can come back but…..
AW team selection was poor, and cost us the game. We had nothing at all in attack.
Much better to have played the kids and lost.
Chas. I agree completely.
Can do post Peaches. Not sure if anyone else has offered. Let me know.
We played some lovely football but with no cutting edge. Hate to say it but the Chavs were in control from the first whistle.
Chelsea’s squad is ridiculous..But..only 11 can play at a time..So we have a chance. Let’s not forget that we could have had a much stronger reserve team if not for a number or injuries, all in the same areas as well. Flamini, and Arteta out for today. Ox, Walcott, Podolski, Gnabry too. Sanogo, Zelalem, Eisfeld among the young talent. Our squad isn’t far off a squad that cost god knows how many 100s of millions to assemble.
Bendtner and Ryo were disappointing today. And while Chelsea seem to hae won comfortably, if Jenkinson doesn’t make his own typical error, I venture that this would be a different game. Which is what makes me so angry. I think we could have beaten them today, even with Ryo and Bendtner. But once we went behind, all Chelsea had to do is what they are good at. Sit deep and play on the counter.
I’m just glad it didn’t go to extra time. We probably shouldn’t have played the first teamers, but since a lot of the kids were injured too, maybe it’s better to avoid a huge defeat. Just as long as we can recover for the next 4 games. Any idea when Poldi and Walcott are coming back?
Disappointing performance overall…
When I watched City – Chavs on Sunday I felt a little bit down.. Neither side were technically better but they both have power in spades, something we lack in the middle of the park.
But without an option up front, and a very weak right side we were always going to be hampered in the midfield power or none.
The fact we gave them the first goal is regrettable but the second was quality from Mata.
Would I have preferred we just sent out a young side….most definitely.
But in my mind it has answered some questions…..
Neither Jack or Rambo can play the holding midfield role well enough if we didn’t have Arteta or Flamini around them.
Monreal is good back up for Gibbs.
Ox, Theo and Pod can’t come back soon enough.
Jenkinson is still learning.
Vermaelen is not a Captain.
Giroud will not be good as a super sub he needs to grow into a game.
Thanks GoonerB, it would be marvellous if you would do a post. Just waiting at Fins Park for my train.
Just returned from work dinner, read the comments, a bit depressing, but well, not the end of the world!!! The young guns will have to fight for their place in the 1st team. No freebie League Cup games any more!
At least, no injuries, is that right?
GIE
I think we’re two players off of having a squad good enough to compete with anyone. A powerful DM..Basically Diaby’s replacement. And a striker.
As for power, I seem to remember Ramsey shrugging Mikel off the ball, which was called a foul but was a show of strength. Bould and Wenger have referred to Ramsey as having grown in stature physically, in the past. I don’t think we should have a problem dealing with the physical stuff too much, except that we need one more player who can combine both Arteta and Flamini a bit.
Oh and the second goal.. I sort of felt it was going to happen before the ball fell to Mata and couldn’t figure out what I saw.. Seeing the replay, I think it was that both Vermaelen and Koscielny went towards the ball (and neither won it), which left space empty for Mata.
Shard I think the power thing was a passage of play in the Cashico match where Yaya tackled Cole, Cole got up and tackled straight back, and then I looked around at the other 6ft+ flying around and I got a little concerned.
But you are right we have a bit more about us this year, I expect Liverpool to come at us hard on Saturday and we will have a pretty decent squad to choose from and we will see where we are.
chas: 😀 😀
Didn’t see the game.
We lost in the Cap One Cup. Hey ho.
Any injury returnees by the weekend?
Our recent setbacks have been the result of a return to the defensive errors. Dortmund would have been less frustrating if the manner of the loss wasn’t so familiar from a few years ago. Crystal Palace..I enjoyed the game, despite our flaws, and the red was the wrong decision, but that was bad defending on our part which could have cost us the game. And then Jenkinson today, most annoying of all because he does this so often. If we can cut such stupid mistakes out and keep our concentration up, I think we’ll beat Liverpool.
And it’s well and good to talk about our tough run, but I think now we should take it one game at a time. Liverpool next. Are we better than them? Yes. So we should win. We can worry about Dortmund after we win.
chas,
I think Wilshere is getting better with every game. He still lost the ball a fair few times today, but he seems to be getting his acceleration back. Monreal was very good. Nearly scored too. Rosicky looked good too. We just lacked an effective outlet. Bendtner’s passes were going astray and he declined his one great chance to shoot. Oh well.. I suspect this is more annoying because Chelsea are such an irritating club and because it allows the cliches about Arsenal to live on, but at the end of the day, it’s no biggie.
What was really annoying about Bendy’s one great chance to shoot was that he didn’t even realise there was a chance.
The team and manager only ever take one game at a time. But there is something to be said for momentum and if we’d lost fielding a proper Carling Cup side, less momentum would have been lost.
Saturday needs to restore the balance.
Shard I heard someone on the radio talk about losing possession the other day (forgive me I can’t remember who) but they were talking about stats etc, and this old pro said he once witnessed a manager take a player off and the player complained that he had never given the ball away. Apparently the manager said “You’re playing attacking midfield, you’re meant to give the ball away!”
Which I suppose means you have to take risks in the final third….i tend to agree, which is why i have often complained about fans groaning when an intended through ball doesn’t reach its recipient, more often than not they are eye of the needle passes, if the crowd response is to groan then the player will slowly start passing sideways and backwards to avoid the groan…..and then get groaned at for not being attacking enough 😀
A few of our reserve players underperformed for our team tonight. They did not show up with hunger, desire and perseverance to compete. They will never ever to be promoted to our “A” team, with their lacklustre performance.
Chelsea’s “B” team eclipsed our “B” team, their players are fighting for a regular place to start in their “A” team, while ours are just happy to be sitting on the reserves to our “A” team.
Anyway, let us put this match behind (though we must learn from the mistakes from vs Chelsea and vs Dortmund previously) and start competing again to beat Liverpool in this coming weekend.
Oh fellow Gooners, do not despair. We always knew Chelsea had strength in depth and that was proved tonight. Any team that can field Mata in its second 11 were never going to be pushovers. If we win this weekend and get 3 points off Liverpool, then all the gamble for this match would still have paid off. Winning would’ve been nice but Chelsea second 11 assembling cost is still more than Arsenal starting 11, (right?) They can target all the cups (tins and otherwise) and still have plenty of quality options all over the pitch. Also worth remembering that so many of our players who could’ve featured today are injured. Nothing is lost guys. Let’s reel in the league and keep some perspective 🙂 COYG
Would rather have had the kids out there losing 4 nil than have a mix of experienced second and first teamers lose feebly to one of your main rivals, at home no less. But the irony is that most of the kids were injured, so there was no real alternative. While I don’t care about the COC, I do care about losing meekly and posing no threat to the other side.
Well, Motning All.
I think most people could have written that particular script.
No injuries, and less fixtures are two big good things.
I am no fan of this tournament, but would be less hostile if we had a reduced PL and no Internationals, but we have what we have, which will always make the League Cup one for the reserves.
I was disappointed any 1st XI’ers started, and more so that others joined the battle.
Didn’t watch a single minute of the action, but wouldn’t be surprised to hear that we lacked a quality DM and had little cutting edge up top. Still, no shocks from me on either front.
Had I gone, I’d have been disappointed not to see the likes of Hayden and Gnabry.
Overall, not too bothered. Bring on Liverpool.
Bayonne,
While I agree with much of what you say, I have a feeling that in the absence of yer Pods, Theos, Flams and Diabys, to say nothing of the injury list to some of the younger guys, Arsene went for damage limitation.
Had he excluded all 1st teamers, it could have been embarrassing and scarred the sensitive 🙂
Tra la la la
Dum di dum di dum
micky – did you contact LOF? They are good, they helped me out a couple of years ago.
Right, the game I am less gutted than many, because I don’t believe we have enough depth and power to compete in all 4 competitions.
What I am upset about is the unfortunate timing of our substitutions Ozil and Olly were ready to come on when Mata scored the second. Feck, feck, feck. I wouldn’t mind losing with the weaker team, but we had more or less the full first squad playing against second team Chavs.
Bendtner’s howler – sooner I forget it, sooner I can sleep better again.
Motning.
Did you sort your cookie?
Regardless of what any one in the media says we have a serious punt at the title this season, even if we lose on the weekend I would still maintain that we do.
Last night showed why the chavs should be in that cup and we shouldn’t.
Priority has to be the name of our game.
“Last night showed why the chavs should be in that cup and we shouldn’t.”
Says it all. Much to say but will leave it post GB’s post
Chas
Are you still there.
I’m off on manoeuvres in a couple of hours, and not back till Saturday, by which Time you’ll be on a train.
Went into disk cleanup and did everything. Nothing.
Don’t understand why it wont work on either laptop, and yet it does on Daddy’s. I’m paid up.
LB
I agree about our title aspirations, however, what last night proves, is that it hinges on luck with injuries.
Striker and DM being the bleeding obvious 🙂
It’s true Micky
And we got lucky last night, coming away without an injury.
Micky,
If it works on BR’s but not on yours then it has to be down to your machines and settings.
Have you got pop ups blocked or settings on your anti-virus that might have come into play? Have your settings been changed since you last used it successfully?
Presumably if you can see that your account is paid up, then your log in is working to an extent?
Morning all, (said in a subdued way), One thing is clear after last night, Bendtner will never make it as a premiership striker. His first touch of the ball after about five minutes was a richochet off both shins, and that was the peak of his performance.
Apparently disk cleanup doesn’t touch cookies so that could still be the problem.
Are you using internet explorer as your internet browser?
LB
Love it. Lose. We got lucky. And I agree 🙂
Chas
That’s the weird thing. Log in works, then it all goes belly up once I get to the screen.
If there is any truth in this then I think we will be saying goodbye to Dench as soon as we can
http://www.standard.co.uk/sport/football/frimpong-warned-on-racist-tweet-8910928.html
This shows ho to delete individual cookies.
See if you can find tthe LOF one and delete.
http://office.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/delete-cookies-HA001190667.aspx
try deleting temporary internet files
(control panel-network and internet-internet options-delete browsing history and cookies) chose temp files too
Apologies for calling anyone a “ho”.
also Micky – I said it 3 times now – try login in with MY login. If that works, then it is your account.
Sorry Chas, but I know best :):)
Bye.
I think it is true BR, it was in the papers yesterday and again this morning. It’s not the first time he’s been in this sort of trouble, earlier in the year he was warned after using twitter to call someone “scum Y*d”
forget the last advice – works on Raddy’s = account ok
I genuinely hate our own fans sometimes. I was there last night and it was 90 mins of the Chelski scum taking the piss. Why does no one make any noise. It’s an embarrassment. Yesterday was a derby against a team who in my books are second only Tottenham in the hated teams list and with a manager who should have been ripped to shreds by the Arsenal faithful last night. Absolute joke.
Hi Itsonly, where I was sitting downstairs the singing was pretty good at the start but I must admit that when we went 2 down the noise level from our supporters was disappointing.
In the future I’m going to refuse to stand up to let any numpty past who wants to leave with 10 minutes to go. Also the majority left without clapping the team off the pitch – poor 😦
Morning all …..
….. New post ……
that was the worst experience I’ve had at the Emirates.My seat was right next to the chavs and I had to put up with them abusing me the whole game. My son threw a banana skin at one of them and is lucky he didn’t get into trouble. Vermin