So the day is finally here, it’s Carling Cup Final day and for the first time since 2007 we are taking part but for every Arsenal Player and fan, today is not about just ‘taking part’.
Today is about winning, it’s about Arsene Wenger outwitting Alex McLeish, the Arsenal players playing better than Birmingham, us taking our chances and lifting the Carling Cup later on today.
This is it then..........
Of course it’s disappointing not to have Cesc Fabregas, Thomas Vermaelen and Theo Walcott available today but a club like ours should have enough in reserve to overcome our opponent today.
Head to Head
Arsenal won the only previous League Cup meeting between the sides, winning 4-1 after extra-time at Highbury in 1997.
We are unbeaten in our last eight games against Blues (W5, D3).
Arsenal
We have scored 13 times and conceded twice in the League Cup so far this season but have lost four of our six League Cup finals.
Arsene Wenger has taken us to eight cup finals, winning four but losing out to Barcelona in the 2006 Champions League final and Chelsea in the 2007 Carling Cup final.
Birmingham
Blues have not kept a single clean sheet in their last nine League Cup matches, conceding a total of 13 goals. In fact the last they didn’t concede was in August 2008.
Stats show that six of the eight Premier League goals we have conceded against Birmingham have come from set pieces – simples, don’t give them and free kicks in our own half and don’t concede any corners. The last time Blues kept a clean sheet against a side from the same division in a League Cup game away from home was in August 1992
Leading Goalscorers
Arsenal
Nasri: 14 goals (2 in League Cup);
Van Persie: 13 goals (0 in League Cup)
Birmingham
Gardner & Zigic: 7 goals (2 in League Cup)
Well that’s all the facts and stats thanks to the BBC Website but as I always say, this is a cup match, both teams will want to be lifting that little trophy later and facts and stats go out the window, especially in a Final at Wembley.
On paper we are favourites but there is pressure on us to finally claim silverware after a bit of a drought. That all needs to be forgotten today we need to just play our own game, use the size of the Wembley pitch and take every chance that comes our way.
Arsenal and Birmingham have never been the ‘best of friends’ and the rivalry has been more intense since ‘that incident’ in 2008, you know the one! We ended up drawing the game and going on a rotten run which cost us the league that season. Get this win today and we may just go on a very different kind of run with more silverware to follow! Confidence comes with winning!
With Mike Dean in charge of the whistle we cannot afford to give him an excuse to help Birmingham so its pure football needed today from us, leave Birmingham to play what ever way they choose and don’t react!
Go out there Arsenal, play with pride for the shirt you are wearing, for the club you play for and of course for all Arsenal fans.
Do yourselves and your manager proud and finally get rid of that ‘Arsenal, who haven’t won a trophy for nearly six years‘ label off your back.
Go get em Arsenal….
Have a good day all…..
Morning all….
The day has finally arrived……
Anyone see the Sky interview with McLeish?
Talking about how the lack of trophies will play on our minds. Can anyone tell me the last time Brum have won a major comp?
Saw it yesterday Will, Wenger will have got that out of their minds…. I hope…
Morning Rico.
I’m surprisingly calm thus far!!
Not much to shout about really, they’ll be up for this today
BIRMINGHAM CITY FC CLUB HONOURS
Blues LogoCLUB HONOURS
Second tier (now Championship) winners: 1893, 1921, 1948, 1955
Second tier runners-up: 1894, 1901, 1903, 1972, 1985, 2007, 2009
Second tier play-off winners: 2002
Third tier (now League One) winners: 1995
Third tier runners-up: 1992
FA Cup runners-up: 1931, 1956
League Cup (now Carling Cup) winners: 1963
League Cup runners-up: 2001
Inter-Cities Fairs Cup runners-up: 1960, 1961
Leyland Daf Cup winners: 1991
Autowindscreens Shield winners: 1995
Morning Rocastle – i plugged your party day in yesterdays post 🙂
Many Happy returns, have a great day and have a JD&C for me (yuck!) 😉
Sehwag gone 🙂
Morning Gooners, am really fired up for this hope the lads are up for it. Happy Birthday Rocastle have a good one… you share your birthday with Sagna’s son is there anything we should know about ha ha ha ha Cheers
I see Cashly is in trouble.
Anyone watching the Sunday Supplement?
Thanks mate.
I’ll be sticking to the lager to begin with, Jack can come to the bar if we win!!
On a side note. Could Wayne ‘my fat gypsy ballbag’ Rooney get a 3 match ban??!! That’d be Chelsea, Liverpool and potentially us in the cup.
Doubt it…
Haha@Erick
I also share it with Phillip Schofield……
Thanks mate.
Morning Erick – me too, big time…
Will, crickets on here 🙂
Rocastle, i am not sure, Clattenburg didn’t give him a card so i think they can deal at the FA – Sky are replaying too, makes a change, but the elbow is just about on the screen ….
Cashley and an air rifle at training, what a numpty…. shot someone and didn’t report it – oops 😉
Yeah, I think he got the wrong end if the stick after Carlo ordered him to work on his shooting practice after his penalty miss…..
Sorry that joke was too tempting. Apologies again.
I resisted all temptation to post similar Rocastle 🙂
i have not seen the elbow yet but you knwo a top class English international will not get done by the English FA.
Ashley Cole what a mug.. shot a guy and the club shuts up oh my
Rico, Sehwag was riding his luck big time, should have gone for a golden one.
I watched the game guys, to be honest the Ref screwed up. He saw it called Rooney and talked to him #fail
Apparently he didn’t know it was loaded, why couldn’t he have done the old wylie cayote thing and looked down the barrel?!
Morning all.don’t you just love the Aston villa supporters,in their win over Blackburn they displayed a banner ‘Good luck Arsenal.’
Agree Rocastle, fielding let Gooner jimmy down 🙁
Will, the FA will have little choice re Rooney….
Morning KT, thats funny, i didn’t see it …
I must say i was impressed by Subotic and Hummels yesterday in their victory over Bayern.we have been linked with them before and its not difficult to see why.
Anyone going to take a guess at the starting 11 today?
It’s a tough one Will…
Loving the Sunday Supplement today.
Hi rico before switching focus to the CC i must add Mourinho has become even worse than Aw.madrid drew nil nil last night allowing barca to extend their lead to 7 points.he accused deportivo of playing with 10 defenders and 1 GK.he has also been complaining alot about the refs.he is under lots of pressure and he’ll break soon enough.
Morning all, a quick ello and bye as am off out, brekkie n pub n game.
Where ever you are far and wide, enjoy the day, the game and scream your lungs out whether its at the game in the pub or in your lounge watching TV, lets get this one won and then the springboard for more trophies…! 3-1 to The Arsenal….!
Come on you Rip Roaring Reds….!
Will, Diaby for Cesc and AA for Walcot. Kos and Rvp back in the squad. Morning KT, Dortmund the German Arsenal love it
Chec
Bac Kos JD Clichy
AA Jack Song Rosicky Nasri
RvP
Morning all,
very lifting post rico,
Happy birthday Rocastle, will toast you at four. Wherever your watching from may i just wish everybody a good day, win or lose i will have a few, i hope its in celebration come on you Gunners
Morning WATH, have a great day at Wembley, lets hope the boys do us all proud….
KT, good, can’t stand the arrogant man, bet he’s hoping for a return to the chavs in the summer….
Cheers Wath… get the Wembely Rocking
Morning Steve – we cannot lose this game, the sun is shining on us, we need this win, we have to win…..
Robin van persie clap! clap! clap!Robin van persie clap! clap! clap!…COYR!
Howdy Steve, Its about the Arsenal today I hope we batter the brums COYG
I hope we start the game strongly.rattle ’em early and an early goal will do nicely.i have heard the pitch surface has been made similar to that at the Emirates.the pitch is also wide so Bham will do themselves no favours if they try to attack us.if they park the bus sooner or later we’ll score.lets do this!
I hope I am not jinxing it. I will be watching and recording the game.
Nerves are starting to kick in now.
My nerves are surprisingly calm.
I think I am the worst supporter in the world for pessimism and nerves.
Ha ha ha how Theo would relish that Wembley pitch. We have got na na na na na na nasri
Will lol we can’t all be the same mate. Take it easy 🙂
Even before we played barca i was very calm.
You guys have to understand, I started going to Highbury in the 1975 season. I was raised on that team.
Morning all, the day has finally come 🙂 a win today to shut up MD’s mouth(whistle) and all in the media for us not winning anything in 6 years!
Victoria Concordia Crescit!
Robin van persie and Theo walcott are the most effective attacking players in the league.Rvp has a goal/assist every 57.6 minutes while theo is 2nd with a goal/assist every 76 minutes.
Will, i feel the same nerves…..
Morning Stef…
Then it will, ‘Arsenal, whoa have won only the CC in six years’….
IF of course we win later
rico, it’s us against MD(we all know he loves us :P) with an honest ref if we play our game the Brum has no chance.
Rico it will be ‘7 years without a major trophy’ ‘Never won a CL’ ‘Never won back to back PL titles under Aw’…
6-0 to the gunners today, easy win!
Will, thats along time ago mate I wasn’t even born..hats off
K-TR7, I think no1 takes the FA cup lightly 😉
Let’s honest, the press will always find a way to have a pop.
KT – they’ll get round it some how won’t they, idiots, all of them….
Erick, do i dare add, 1971 for me 😉
hi avillian, wish i shared your confidence 😉
Erick, my mom was only 9 years old(young) back then so I can’t really comment on that 😆
Stef – Mike dean is hopeless, mind you, who is a fair ref these days??
‘They have only won 1 CC in 6 years with a foreign team’
Hats off will and rico.like erick i wasn’t even born yet.
You have to realise guys, that mid ’70’s team were dire.
I loved the SS today saying how pally Twattenberg was being with the Man Utd players and how wrong it was.
Will Rico, who was the best team back then?
Guys did u saw JET’s goal last night?
There have been pleanty of great players over the years Stef, 1989 was pretty special 🙂
The 71 double with Charlie George etc 🙂
But, the Wenger reign is starting to look special again too… 🙂
Guys, got to pop out for a bit, back in a hour or two…
Hi Rico, hiya Gooners, 1971 Rico, Charlie was [and still is] my hero.
c ya l8r rico I am off too
Well is everybody confident?
Stef says:
February 27, 2011 at 11:23 am
Will Rico, who was the best team back then?
The Arsenal of course 😉
Liverpool and QPR were pretty good back then.
No Kev.
Come on Will, keep the faith my friend. You kinda get ‘feelings’ about certain games, or i do, and [not wanting to tempt fate] i’ve had good vibes about the CC since we beat the Spuds at The Slum. Today is gonna be OUR DAY Will.
I do and I woke up the other day filled with dread that it will go wrong today.
Will we’ll be fine.
Well mate, when i woke up, my first thoughts were of the Arsenal players on the plinth, in the centre of the Wembley pitce, with Cesc lifting the CC and all the explosions of ticker tape going off.
Hiya KT, Will needs some optimism from you mate, so take it away….
Btw, where’s Rico, it’s only midday, she isn’t behind the sofa already…. haha.
Will we have the best striker in the league at the moment.in nasri we have a contender for player of the year.jack/song…need i say more.AA is getting his form back and apart from the offside goal everton scored we have only conceded 4 in the league this year under dubious circumstances.we also just beat barca…BELIEVE!
Just pray rvp doesn’t get injured.he has no equivalent in our squad.
Well Birmingham are missing their best defender in Scott Danns, and they are sliding into relegation trouble, so i think they have a few problems of their own…..good.
It is just born from being a child of the Powling/Mancini era.
Yeah, they were a bit dire in those days i must admit.
Also, the last few seasons where we have promised unto the final hurdle and then fallen. It kinda gets to you.
Will, Rico, good to know that Arsenal is always the best 😀
I am watching Villa-Blackburn, Villa looks good, great game also.
Who will AW play today? Will he risk with Diaby-Song or will he go with DenilSong? I would choose Diaby b4 Denilson but after the red card he has big minus in my book(Wengers book probably too).
What will I do if I were Wenger 😆
the back 4 will be our strongest no changes there.
DM/CM – Song, Jack
AM RM-Nasri LM-AA in the middle As a AM/CF RVP
and as a Lead Striker B52
Why Nicklas? Because he connects well with Arshavin and I don’t trust Diaby, Denilson and TR7 is not ready to play yet.
Also would like to see RVP in a Cesc role 🙂
Boom Bang a Bang…
Come on you Mighty Reds 🙂
Aaaarrggghhhhhhh
Great goal from Parker 1-0 for West Ham 😀
One more video to set up the mood 🙂
Go on you ‘Ammers 🙂
Whats up Will?
Nice one Stef 🙂
Nerves Rico.
Bonjour Cannonaires. Great video Steff, got anymore?
2-0 guys 😀 😆 really lovin these West Ham deserve to stay up they play well
Kev see if u like this 1 😀 it’s from the same guy
You and me both, just need ko now and settle down a bit…
dippers are 2-0 down….
Couldn’t get it Stef, thanx though, you know i’m gonna have to learn how to do that… Ryo Miyaichi playing well for Feyenoord again, laid on 2nd goal, 2-1 at half-time.
Kev it shows up on the blog don’t know what’s wrong with it?
link to the vid http://tinyurl.com/6zsrnfv
kev, you use firefox??
West Ham striker Ba is not bad….
Got it, great video, great track [Snow Patrol], great goals, thanx Stef, top class.
Rico, don’t know that amigo, i usually look for people to leave links, then click on it etc. i’m still quite new to this lark, i still play records for heavens sake, lol
And listen to the wireless, haha
I hope its not raining as hard in Wembley as is it where i live…. it’s only 50 miles away and its absolutely throwing it down here… roads are flooded already…
Just got a call from my lad, he’s been at Wembley since about 11am, lucky lucky boy.
😆 kev – i’m not much better, honest – someone recommended firefox as its faster on the internet but when i use it i can’t access any of the links…..
I have to go log on somewhere else 🙁
Rico Its also cloudy in Nairobi lol
BBC weather says sunny intervals, no rain till 9pm, hmmm hope they’re accurate.
Rico, i just bluff my way through all this, haha. I’ve still got a wind-up gramaphone…lol
Erick we have snow over here 🙂
Kev, as a kid I’ve played with records as if they were frisbees, anyway I got injured so my folks didn’t yelled at me much 😀
later gooners.
Erick, stop it 😆
You are showing your age kev, you could be our oldest blogger 😆
From JJ on facebook
yeahhhhh..its pissing it down but that will help the pitch be super skiddy for our passes..wembley way feels great again…
come on you gooners…oh and tell will to calm down, i know hes chewing his nails off… 😉
haha, you sussed me out…
Later Stef, enjoy and pray for the red and white trophy later 🙂
Where is Will?
good kev, makes me feel young 🙂
Mind you, i this game doesn’t soon start and finish with a win i will be very gray looking…
i hope liverpool play better against the mancs than they are playing today….
Hiding i expect kev or somewhere chewing his nails to bits….
See Bartleys playing for Rangers again, this time at centre-half.
Zigic starts, Martins on bench.
Rosicky starts.
bugger, he’s good kev, JD needs to have his spring boards on his feet…..
Szczesny, Sagna, Clichy, Djourou, Koscielny, Song, Wilshere, Rosicky, Arshavin, Nasri, Van Persie
Rico when Cesc is lifting the cup we’ll all feel 18 again
good re bartley – hope he has a top game today…
we will kev, if……
3-1 Ammers – great result for a london club, now for another london club to follow suit…..
Make that two, Fulham to be Citeh….
Ouch Hansen, that must have hurt you to say we could dominate for the next five years….
You watching Match of the Day Rico, on TV?
Got to try and stop the service to Zigic. Corners & free-kicks could be a problem, but i have total faith in Chezzer
I am kev..
how tall is Zigic??
6′ 7″ i think.
Forgot – they got that Kevin Phillips haven’t they….
Where’s Will???
bloomin heck, that tall…..
Yes, Phillips is a Gooner, hope he stays on the bench.
We’ve got the sound down on the TV. Not interested in all their bollards. Turn it up at kick-off.
shame though, i like listening to Lee Dixon, the others are turds….
phillips always scores against us….
WH was very strong today. Liverpool is tired. Let’s hope they will be in a good shape versus MU.
Roma2 Parma 2, close the end, when I’m waiting for the final….
Keown – love him, he’s certainly putting some toughies at nikki…..
Hi JM – 15 minutes, just 15 minutes now…..
Grrrrrrrrr, i’m starting to buzz now. Got my 3rd beer open, oh did you hear that prat Shearer, but Hansen got it spot on.
‘This is Arsenal’s Time, Arsene Wenger’s Time….
And it starts NOW..’
Quote from Alan Hansen 🙂
Come on youoooooooo Reds.
Rico, i’ll tell you what, our boys look calm and confident.
Yeah, glad your on board Will. Now lets pass the thugs to death and kill em
Laters all….
We are not good at the start guys.
Sheeeeeeet – AA and Rosicky are not playing well
its all brum…..
Yeaaaaaaaahhhhhhh
rooooooooooooobbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbinnnn
Looks like we have scored with a cost again.
he just mimed ‘he’s ok’…..
NOW WILL THE REAL ARSENAL STAND UP
rotten for jack, deserved a goal, great strike and great goal from rvp….
i hope so kev…
I’ll tell ya what, we could have been down to 10 men, with Almunia in goal. 1-1, i’ll take that on what i’ve seen so far.
Birmingham are playing at their very best.
Arsenal can [and will] get better.
JJ said Diaby in midfield, maybe he was right!
yes, no off-side, red card to the gk, almunia at the goal 11-10… Birmigham not quicly to go ahead. They wait for the right possitions, ball direct to Sivic and quicly runs for Bower and the other one. They will change the way of playing during the 2hd half. They will go put in the pitch Martins and the other other forward at the bench… at that time time our defenders will be tired… Rosicky must be replace
We are shocking.
Diaby is not even on the bench so…
We can win this the first half was not our best let’s hope we play better in second.
Oh and… We were very lucky with the ref decisions so far.
Agree kev, we got lucky with the bowyer offside, and i have to say if almunia had been in goal, he would be crucified for their goal….
Spot on Stef..
AW needs to give this lot a rocket up the backside…
this is it then…..
Our Final Starts Now
Rvp doesn’t score ugly goals…
KT, neither do Arsenal – sadly…..
Seems we are playing different rules to Brum.
Song needs a rocket up his arse
Looks like Johnson has done his calf….
Just what every Arsenal fan wants to see…
Nikki B and Denilson warming up!!! 😮
so do a few kev….
play to the bloody whistle…
robin off…..
Thought it would be Rosicky, but Robin’s got a knock. Prob got it when he scored
we dont have many penalty takers on the pitch….
COME ON……
yellow then, thats what you gave kos for similar mr dean!!
Another season potless?
Bollox…Later guys….
Wow is all I can say!!!
Actually, i’m not hiding – i am gutted…..
Mugabe media lockdown.
basic school boy stuff!! keeper calls for it you let him have it!! nope.. you wanna be a fucking hero!!!!
I’m not sure i really know what to say. Piss poor springs to mind.
Poor finishing springs to mind.
Will Wenger ever win anything again????
i don’t know what to say really…..
IMO what that mistake suggests is that we’re probably incapable of winning cup competitions and our best chance of silverware is therefore the league!! The nerves of having everything resting on just 1 game is apparently too much for a well paid professional!!!
Cpt John – kos should have put his foot through that ball, 89th minute – Row Z springs to mind…..
It also seems like rvp is injured.this is about the time we collapse…
brrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!
Explain me the replacement AA-Chamack? Air balls always belongs to Birmighan
Why Arsenal didn’t play with AA on the 2nd half ?
The responsability, in my own opinion, it’s always for the fist man who reach the ball..
during all the match we never been safe, we have been nervous and physical low
We missed cesc’s experience dearly.he has played in CC/FA/CL/WC/Euro finals.we were a bunch of nerves out there.if we go to the nou camp and play like that we’ll get battered and destroyed.
The sad thing is I think his initial intention was to do that until he got the shout from the goalie and he just seemed to get caught in 2 minds which is incredible!!!
An experienced defender with sense and composure for the big occasion would never make such a mistake at that stage of a game of such importance!!! Sadly I think in the time it will take for him to recover from that mistake, this season might just have passed him and in all brutal honesty us by!!!!
But KT we really had enough experience and talent out there without Cesc and Theo. Two big defensive fuck-ups cost us the cup.
Merse is furious, with Chesney, Kos and Wenger for taking off RvP…
He says – get a proper keeper and stop going to europe for defenders, get some proper ones….
KT, cesc or no cesc, we should have won that game….
Cpt – i agree, as much as i hate to say this, John Terry or Dawson would have seen that ball into the next county…. That will take a lot out of him for sure….
Where do we go from here? This season could turn into a real shit sandwich.
well kev, next up is Orient, a side who will have just been lifted. they know we are hurting and they will try and make it worse…..
i worry about what this has done mentally – really worried…
Does this team even care?we beat barca/chavs only for us to lose to B’ham/barcodes/brom and lose a 4 goal lead.F*ck’n hell!
Rico i’ll be at the Orient game, but it’ll be an awfull atmosphere
I think as an Arsenal fan we have just hit a new low.f*ck that.im frickin’ incensed right now.we couldn’t even beat B’ham!i feel sorry for the likes of JJ/WATH who were so optimistic and travelling across the country to see that pile of shit.
I hope we don’t have a meltdown.
Stef how are we supposed to handle the pressure at the Camp nou?am afraid if barca tear us a new one the psychological impact will be too much.
it will be even quieter there than usual kev…
KT, it doesn’t matter how far some have gone to watch, it hurts wherever a gooner sits right now….
But – we all go on week in week out about bad decisions against us, how would you all be feeling right now IF birmingham had lost and you were a b’ham fan??
Bowyer was onside, chesney did take him out and could have seen a red card….
At this point i’m usually the one who says all is not lost and we can bounce back from this but like you KT i’m so fucking incensed I don’t even wanna think positively at all right now!!!
KT, Barca is a whole different ball game… We are just as likely to go there and win after today… I want us to be Orient first….
Cpt John, i took a bit off of your last, it may offend….
I’m sorry rico.. too offensive right?? screw this i’m off to the beach to drown my sorrows.. with a 12 pack of stella!!!
only the bit about the small plane – nothing else Cpt….
Just when we were beginning to think that the defence was finally sorted they decide to make the kind of cock-ups you don’t even see on Hackney Marshes. When will it end?
You can just plot a possible free fall:camp nou we get destroyed by playstation messi,if we get past orient we bottle at old trafford and we lose the league at the spuds only for the mancs to win the league the following week at the Emirates…F*CK this!
KT – that could happen but we could also get a kick in the butt and go on and win – we don’t know…
Right now we are all peed off, hurting and gutted that we couldn’t beat a side we should have….
But for a hideous error at the end…….
That’s 24 final’s i’ve seen Arsenal in. And they’ve lost 13…. Nobody loses [fucks up] a final quite like those Glorious Gunners.
Rico i love your spirit but am finding it hard to be optimistic.
That’s it, i’ll see all you fine people tomorrow, see ya
allezkev we can’t seem to win a trophy!i’ve never seen a team lose so many finals!
Yeah KT, but nobody loses them in such tragic ways, Nayim anyone.
I’ve been to two european final, lost both on penalties… And who can forget 2001, cruising than Owen steals it. We almost fucked-up in 1979, what a joke.
I try to be optimistic, but inside i feel like Will, and frankly i’m pissed off feeling that way. I mean is there another club out there that lets it’s fans down so often in the big games?
Rvp’s injury doesn’t look good according to Aw…fantastic!just what we needed.
I remember 1978-80, 4 finals, THAT’S FOUR, and those pillocks lost 3… THREE. It’s laughable…… Rant over…
Yeah KT, just what we needed mate, our only quality striker crocked.
OK, i’m gone, see ya
I know see what will was saying…oh well there is always next year.7 years…
See you kev… tomorrow you will feel no different…..
KT – i am not optimistic at all, i am just being a realist, honest – anything can happen, today showed that…
we naffed it up… Big Time…..
Wenger on the mood in the dressing room…
Both of them [Koscielny and Szczesny] are destroyed. I don’t think it’s a good moment for me to add anything. We have to lift them up again and help them, that is what a team is about. That is part of the game, we had enough chances to kill the game off before. They could only be dangerous, in the end, on free kicks. Maybe we were a bit nervous on it as well.
Szczesny should now shut up.he has been mocking cashley who has been winning trophies.he had his flappy moment today and this will show us the real mental strength of his and the team.
Know what KT, Steve has so often said on here he is not convinced by Chesney..
I’m not going to lambast him for today but I think the event took over his mind – i said earlier, had Fabianski or Almunia played the way he did today they would have been the butt of every fans comments…
Like you say, now is the time for him to get his head down and work hard, same for Nikki B…
I’m going to sign off for the day now…
Til tomorrow guys –
Night all…..
We started with the “luck” of the penalty box unmarked and the consequent expulsion and ended in failure ingloriously defensive.
I did not realize how seeing a team that was not going fast on the attack, waited in the replacement of the ball by placing its players in a 4x5x1 set, if not force yourself to play the extremes. The aerial game was always the BC, the central defender was injured and instead of “stretch”the defense insisted on a player for the area high and not an effort on goal. In the last 15 min, Nasri just wrapped up on goal …
Well MC drew with Fulham … and as it turned out, the team is tired, and without this no-frills “doping”will be unpredictable.
Rico i think szczesny wanted to be a hero today and we paid for it.it doesn’t mean that he is poor even casillas has flapped this season against Milan but he now has to shut it and recover from this.
Angry.
Evening all.
How are we all feeling?
I’ve figured out how to use my phone on-line. Came home early, feel a bit lonely sat on the choo choo on my own so thought I’d have a play and say hello.
That was a disaster. We choked big time. Brum were the better side and our midfield lacked something today. It lacked Cesc but it lacked creativity in general, Jack looked lively but Songs going through a bad spell and is playing poorly and im not even going to talk about Rosicky too much. i love and admire him but he’s shit. He needs to be moved on I would rather Denilson play than him.
Shame about the two goals, we’ve been so solid recently then we get treated to that bollox.
I’m hoping this will make the fire in our bellies burn ever brighter and we take the PL but we can forget it. We haven’t got the minerals to win a trophy and we will crumble. Lets just hope we hang onto 2nd.
Back to the drawing board guys. It’s over.
Such a shame. Absolutely gutted.
Devastated.
Hey Ktr 🙁
The test of a really strong side is to bounce back from a result and performance like this.
The CC is nothing but a crap cup anyway but we needed it as a team to break the whodoo and gain our momentum for the end months of the campaign. To lose a final to an inferior team in Feb is a huge blow. I dont think we can recover. We were totally outplayed and deserved to lose.
Wenger got his team and his tactics wrong. He went with a playmaker whos best years were 2 seasons ago who struggles to unlock leyton orient and he did no homework on zigic. Brum were only ever going to play one way why the fuck did we let them do it??
The only consolation I take is that I’ve witnessed more Arsenal final defeats than victories. The Liverpool/Owen comeback in 01 hurt more but at least that was at the end of the season so it didnt send us into freefall. The CC is shit but the consequences of getting to a final and not winning it could be disasterous.
And to make it worse, after RvP scored he couldnt run again. I think he’s out for a while again.
I hope AW bought a bloody big parachute in the january sales because we are about to nosedive.
I feel the same way jj.there is no coming back.Barca will KO us next week,we’ll lose to the spuds and then the mancs will win the league at the Emirates.all the hardwork has gone down the drain now.cesc’s expression said it all…you’re captain and injured for a final and then you see your teammates play like that.without cesc we are shambles.
Come on guys cheer up we lost from a crappy team for a crappy cup with a crappy play.
Watching us play I didn’t felt we were playing a finale.
I am surprised that I am so calm I must admit I had a meltdown when we played with Newcastle and drew, but now with an anemic play(we had few good moments) especially in last third in the second half.
Only man who showed up today was Jack, hopefully the others will show more spirit against Leyton.
We don’t need this cup to be happy with our self 😆
I am OK today, but tomorrow I’ll probably have a headache.
You’ve touched on a good point there stef.
After the newcastle show we were all down and we thought we were out. Then Wolves went and beat Man Red.
All of a sudden we were back in it.
We really need Chelsea and Liverpool to do us a massive favour and kick the Mancs in the nuts again for us.
Then we might just find ourselves back up in the clouds again, but if RVP is done, then unfortunately so are we
Im about half hour away from home I’m getting off.
I may come on later if anyones about and we need blog counselling. If not i’ll speak to you guys tomorrow.
morning….
new post up
no new post yet !!!!!!
SD, been having a few problems, it’s up now…