Morning all.
To the many young and cosmopolitan Arsenal fans from around the world and even in the U.K. itself, the League Cup has become an archaic relic of English football. It hailed from a time long before the all encompassing and sexy Premier League and Champions League, they are now everything, the League Cup, well it’s like black and white TV.
For those of us of a certain age it’s more of a case of this competition reminding us a little of our youth, Sportsnight with Coleman, muddy pitches, bovril, peanuts, the Evening News Classified, Don Rodgers, Jackie Charlton fouling Jim Furnell, the Horse of the Year Show and latterly, Charlie Nicholas, Stephen Morrow and Paul Merson. We paid our dues back then and therefore they’ll always be a place in our hearts for that famous three handled trophy or the rather snazzy Littlewoods Cup – I always liked that.
To me and I know I’m in the minority, it’s still worth winning because I feel it can help propel a team towards more prestigious trophies, you know, that winning habit. But I understand and get that the demands on players nowadays make the League Cup somewhat of an outlier in comparison to the more important prizes and we live in a more physically stressful time in football itself.
Back in the old days we had one club in the European Cup, one club in the Cup Winners Cup and one club ( sometimes two) in the European Fairs Cup. Internationals were less prevalent and the European trophies were home and away knockouts, none of this group or league malarkey of today. Back then with less opportunities to win things the League Cup was a serious trophy to go for and although for many that’s no longer the case, for me it’s still remains an itch I need to scratch.
Mikel Arteta had a major selection quandary to negotiate in yesterday evenings match bearing in mind the fixtures that are coming thick and fast but he bit the bullet and went with quite a strong line-up. In goal Kepa was an easy choice, a back-four of Myles, Calafiori, Saliba and Timber was pretty much all he had, but no Hincapie on the bench was a worry! In midfield he went with Norgaard, Eze and Merino and up front was the strong triumvirate of Martinelli, Jesus and Madueke. Just in case, on the bench was the 5th cavalry with Zubi, Rice, Odegaard, Nwaneri, Trossard, Saka, Gyokeres, Raya and the young 16 year old Marli Salmon. Earlier in the day we had had the very welcome news of Kai Havertz rejoining training and Big Gabby isn’t far behind.
Arsenal began on the front foot and despite some teething unfamiliarity issues it looked promising and as early as the 3rd minute the Gunners should have been ahead, Jesus and Martinelli created a great chance for Madueke, but instead of sliding his shot into the corner of the net he fired straight at Benitez and the chance was gone but the stage was set for more wasteful finishing. Palace settled into a decent defensive pattern but still looked dangerous on the break although Arsenal gradually squeezed the Eagles into their half. On 14 minutes a driven Eze corner caused chaos in the Palace box but nobody in a red shirt could apply the finish. Shortly afterwards a Norgaard long throw was cleared and Eze worked back well to clear the danger, then a great tackle by Saliba on Mateta set up another Arsenal attack but it petered out.
The busy Eze and Martinelli created another great chance for Noni but his effort was blocked by Benitez who was becoming the Palace saviour. On 25 Eze again found Martinelli who sent in a delicious diagonal cross for Jesus who rose high to head the ball down but Benitez saved and then blocked the follow up by Madueke. This was getting frustrating and on 28 a Martinelli cross was on course for Madueke to head home but a crafty shove by Mitchell saw Noni miss it and it was cleared. The following corner was put over the bar as our wastefulness continued. Jesus had another chance blocked on 34 and 4 minutes later a Noni shot was again blocked by Benitez and the game moved into added time with the feeling that Walter Benitez was having ‘one of those games’ and that just grew and we ended the half scoreless.
H/T 0-0
Palace made two changes and came out a different team, Arsenal made no changes despite Martinelli ending the 1st half limping. Myles got caught in possession early in the half and Palace went close to opening the scoring. Up till then Kepa had been a spectator. On 58 Wharton fired narrowly wide after being given too much room and that prompted Arteta to act and he brought on Trossard for Martinelli.
A few minutes later Arteta made more changes to liven things up as the game was sliding by. Off went Eze and Madueke, who’d both seen their influence fade, for Odegaard and Saka. Almost immediately Odegaard created a great chance for Jesus, Martin sent in a tantalising cross that Jesus rose and met beautifully but inexplicitly headed wide. Cue gritted teeth as this was becoming a problem.
On 76 Jesus fired over the bar and moments later Mateta almost made us pay but Saliba got in a fabulous tackle. Moments after that we had another worrying session of pinball wizard in the Arsenal box but fortunately Trossard brought the ball clear and surged into the Palace half. The ball eventually found itself with Merino who set up Jesus and his excellent bending shot deserved a goal but you-know-who saved again. From the resulting corner Calafiori soared to head down and Lacroix trying to clear steered the ball into the Palace goal. That’s three successive own goals at the Emirates for the Gunners, not perfect but I’ll take it.
As the game went into 9 added minutes of added time Timber broke into the Palace box and looked certain to score but Marc Guehi cleared the danger and 3 minutes later the same Marc Guehi equalised following a free kick into the Arsenal box. On the 101st minute Rice was almost the hero but our old mate Benitez saved again…
Penalty shoot-out!
There were 16 penalties in all and 15 of them were top top quality. For Arsenal, Odegaard, Saka, Merino, Calafiori and Saliba sent Benitez the wrong way, Rice and Timber blasted down the middle of the goal and Trossard chipped into the top right-hand corner. For Kepa he was sent the wrong way seven times but on the eighth he finally guessed right and saved from the luckless Lecroix. Palace had already won two penalty shoot outs this season so it was touch and go, but Kepa was the hero.
And so, onto a titanic, energy sapping two-legged semi-Final with Chelsea. Get past them and I reckon we’ll win it…
We march on.
By Kev.
Morning Kev, all.
Good post Kev.
Last nights result should have been wrapped up halftime. Martinelli was superb imo. As good as Benitez appeared, our finishing was dire. Our penalties though were perfect.
‘morning all.
Off for a swim now, so only time for one comment on Arsenal’s forwards, Shot shy!
Alters.
Morning Kev, Rico, everyone.
We should have been out of sight by half time with Martinelli having a hatful of assists. He was simply brilliant. There are rumours that the club is thinking of offloading him, possibly as early as the January window. I know he hasn’t fulfilled his early promise when Klopp called him a “generational talent” but he is still a hell of a player and I think it would be madness to get rid of him. A touch of the Gnabrys and we know how that turned out!
Morning Anthony. I read that too re Martinelli, I’m not sure selling him now would be wise either
Morning all, top report as usual Kev. Martinelli was so good, was it because Jesus playing created more space for him? Or would Gyokeres have been able to get on the end of so many good crosses? Either way, let’s hope his injury is just a sore collision and bruising. What a difference one save makes to whole Christmas outlook? Superb penalties from both teams. I was cursing Kepa for going same way every penalty till that point😆