One thing caught my eye at the end of last night’s game and forgive me if I have got this wrong but straight after the match I watched ATV online and saw lone man out in the cold, he was walking around the pitch, clapping the fans, giving thumbs up to the fans – he knew it was cold and he valued the support of the fans, Chesney had not long gone in but where were the rest??
Did I miss them or had they gone?
Theo Walcott may not be your favourite player, but Arsenal fans are his favourite people. Credit to him for acknowledging the support….
I just hate it when our games are not live on television, having to watch some grainy old stream is not the easiest but for once Sky Sports got it right by choosing to broadcast West Ham v Manchester United – you’d hate the thought of any Manc fans not watching them get ‘hammered’! A great result for us and those others left in the competition, a competition that is surely ours to throw away now!
But I mustn’t get ahead of myself, last night we huffed a bit and in typical fashion wasted many a chance in front of goal but at the end of the night, we secured a 2-0 victory and booked our place in the semi-final of the Carling Cup. With it of course, we broke the run of losing at home.
Like I said, I watched this on a stream so……
Within the first few minutes of the game, Nikki gets his first sniff on goal, a wonder ball played in by Robin to the back post and despite getting himself free, Nikki totally misses the ball from seven yards out!
We started well and as usual have lots of possession with Jack and Denilson seeing a lot of the ball in the middle of the park.
From out of nowhere, Moses gets in behind Eboue but hits his shot into the side netting. A reminder for the defence that anything can happen, it’s a cup match! Shortly after, Vela gets a yellow card for a foul on the same player.
We then get a free kick, miles away from goal and Denilson fancies his chances but blasts it into the wall, well, into Moses to be more accurate!
Bendtner and Koscielny both have chances on goal, but both head over the net.
Wigan start to see a bit more of the ball but thankfully seem to be lacking up front.
25 minutes on the clock and signs of the old Robin show, he picks up a ball from Wilshere, flicks it through his legs with his first touch and straight into the path of Vela. Vela looked more likely to score than miss as he waited for the keeper to go to ground before taking his shot. The deft shot went wide. How did he miss?
Walcott then gets blocked by Figueroa as he’s about to break down the wing, the Wigan player picks up a booking.
Moses falls awkwardly after a challenge by Eboue and has to go off, he’s replaced by N’Zogbia.
Then a stone wall penalty turned down by the referee, if that wasn’t a handball by Figueroa well…. Anyway, justice followed when we whipped a corner in and Wigan’s Alcaraz put the ball in the net. 1-0 to the Arsenal, Vela then misses another golden chance to increase our lead! – The score remains 1-0 going into the break.
Second half gets underway and Szczesny shows why he’s our back up keeper, he’s quick off his line to catch a loose ball and shortly after, punches clear a corner which Alcaraz was waiting to pounce on. In between Walcott hits a poor pass to Robin, who would have been clean through. Theo then picks up the ball on the left, cuts inside, carries on his run and drives his shot towards the bottom corner. Al Habsi saves well!
Vela then makes up for his previous gaffs by sliding an inch perfect ball to Nikki who slotted home from close range. 2-0 and twenty minutes to go. Vela himself then had yet another chance on goal but sees his shot curl just wide and shortly after Wilshere found Walcott but his pass to Vela was a tad wide and his shot was easy for the keeper to gather.
On 73 minutes, Eastmond replaced RVP and Nasri came on for Wilshere. Wigan then make their substitutions but they are not going to change this result tonight Just before the match draws to a close, Walcott fires an effort in only to see McManaman throw himself in front of the ball and shortly after has another golden chance having been put in by Nasri but his shot is weak.
JET replaces Bendtner on 85 minutes but he’s not on long enough to make an impact.
Nasri gets himself in on goal but for once he doesn’t manage to get his goal bound effort past the last-ditch defending by Wigan.
Final whistle, 2-0 and we are in the semi-final. Like I said, many a chance missed, a lot of possession yet a lot of sloppy passing, but we got the result and on a night like last night, that’s all that matters.
That’s it folks, over to you to discuss the game….
Alcaraz scored the OG.
Morning all…
Good morning all
With regards to Vela’s game last night. I kind of like him and dislike him at the same time, if you see what i mean.
Morning Ollie and Mark, Oliie thanks for the update, told you it was grainy 😉
Mark, I like Vela, but he needs playing time, if he got his confidence up he would bury the chances he had last night…
Vela needs to prove he can play from the start of games, not just float in and score a pretty goal when we’re already 3-0 up. He was poor last night. I do accept that he needs playing time, but when he is as lacklustre as he was last night he is never going to get a run of games in the side. It’s up to him to prove the boss (and many fans) wrong, and he’s far from convincing right now.
http://thearmchairsportsfan.com/2010/12/01/on-a-cold-itz-night-arsenal-march-on-with-escape-from-alcaraz/
Tim, I think many would agree with you but until he gets a run we will never know how good he is. Wenger persists with some who continue to disapoint but Vela never seems to get a real run in the side.
Yeah i agree, just dont see him being given many chances. He needs to play a killer of a game and make it difficult for le boss to drop him.
On a different matter it was said last night Carlton Cole scored two goals in a match for the first time in 8 years. What a stat. Haha
Thats incredible Mark, i thought he had better stats than that, maybe he’s in the wrong team…
Very true about walcott, he is always the last player to leave the field. Even if hees not everyone’s favourite player, there is no doubt he is classy and always shows 100 percent to the fans
Vela was a constant threat last night! And as you say Rico, he needs playing time, to build his confindence up.. too bad wenger wont play him in the premiership, he’s not ready to play constantly against the likes of chelsea and united but an hour or so against Fulham at home this weekend would do him a world of good IMO.
Oh, and good afternoon all 🙂
omar, agree, especially on a night like last night, he must have been as cold as everyone else, credit where its due to the lad…
Hi DK, you have a good night?
i think as the season goes on we’ll see more of him, especially if we stay in all the competitions, wenger can’t rely on his strongest eleven for the whole season and will have to rotate.
Mornin, I thought we did ok without so much as getting out of 2nd gear, played well at times and very sloppy at times, Vela normally always sticks those chances away but last night was poor in front of goal and I think he maybe needs new studs in his boots as he kept falling over. I like him he needs games before he is sold off as being classed not good enough. Good noisy support last night too make a change from the sat prawn sandwich brigade..!
I had an OK night, thanks :). How was the stream quality?
I rarely watch Arsenal games online here in Denmark, but I’ve found an excellent website to watch the games on.. It’s: http://www.atdhe.net
check it out when the games are not on tv if you want 🙂
Morning WATH, it couldn’t have been easy for anyone last night, conditions were rotten but i’m with you, play vela and then we’ll see the real player…
Thanks DK, i’ve saved that link, might come in handy on Saturday 🙂
B’ham v Villa
Ipswich v West Brom
Two home wins would be nice 🙂
Sure would!!
B’ham will kick us off the park Rico, least Villa n Brom play decent footie at least, watch the semi be us v spammers, Brom v b’ham or villa… 2 local derbies for semi’s will make for good TV…! con…!
You suggesting it will be a fixed WATH 😉
Fair comment re brum though and we don’t need that one bit, but it’s better than playing the mancs…
I want us to get Ipswich and stuff Keane off the park, i watched them at the weekend and Lansbury run rings round them 🙂
no problem 🙂
I know i’m gonna use it on Saturday lol
and as you say, let’s hope for two home wins tonight!
and a Carling Cup final against Ipswich! 😀
DK, Ipswich next round for me and WBA in the final…
Got lost on the Theo Walcott issue here. We need more goals and accurate passes and crosses from him.Everything else doesnt matter. We will judge him on the football he plays. Surely you didnt expect all the players to run around the field applauding fans in the snow as if we had won the Champions league or title.
jena, no i didn’t but, its nice to see a player appreciate the fans, especailly on a freezing cold night…
were you there??
Rico, how come you want WBA in the final rather than Ipswich?
Revenge DK, sweet revenge 🙂
To be fair, I just want to get through the semi’s and book our place, whoever we face will be tough…
The players should applaud the fans win lose or draw in blowing gales or blizzards as far as I am concerned they always used too and now the players cant wait to get off into a hot shower and stuff the fans….!
My view too WATH, its the fans that pay their wages…
Its alright for them runing around in the cold, but the poor fans must have been freezing….
haha 🙂 I knew it! But this time.. We wont be having Almunia on goal!
I just hope we overcome West Ham! Are we playing at home? Or is it on neutral ground?
They we’re quite hard to break down last time..
freezing cold, travel there travel back all the expense is hardly to much to warrant a bit of appreciation from the players at the end of every game…!
DK, the semis are over two legs, one home and one away…
when is the draw 2nite after the 2 games or the weekend..?
Spot on WATH…
What on earth did Eboue look like last night, i thought we had a new RB 😉
weekend i think…
oh yeah that’s right.. it will be interesting!
it’s actally a bit sad that we’re so excited about a carling cup trophy.. it used to be so natural for us to expect a PL trophy or FA cup.. I hate watching the mancs and chelsea above us, although I still think that chelsea are an amateur club who have won the lottery..
DK, a trophy is a trophy and we need one, if we can win this it will hopefully kick off a winning mentality within the squad, and the players get the bug…
I’d settle for a tetleys cup for now 😉
Nothing to say really apart for the fact that I am Glad Manure Utd lost.
Oh also Vela needs to get serious apart from the pass, he was rubbish.
Walcott needs to calm down but basically Wigan should have got like 4.
RVP still very rusty. 🙂
How’s you SD… All good I hope
yeah am good and trying to warm up in this freeeeeeeeeziiing weather
Its def cold thats for sure…..!
well i was glad we played yesterday.
Wigan seem not to play with any striker, that must have being frustrating. But not as frustrating as seeing Vela make those missing.
Hi all, bloody laptop crashed… yet again! 🙁
Good day y’all.
My thoughts go out to some of the Arsenal fans who got stranded on the trains from last night to this morning after the game at the Emirates. Hope they’re finally home and dry, they really looked nacked on tv this morning.
Thanks for the post rico, I didnt see much of the game due to poor streaming but glad we won and happier that the Mancs got stuffed and Fergie looked like a stuffed turkey in his red headwarmer!! 🙂
This is our chance to start winning trophies and we need to seize the oppotunity since the holders are no more there.
Workman never blames his tools Rico lol 😛
A big hand to all the fans who braved last night’s winter chill to attend the game-I got cold just watching the game online! Vela had a very good game last night but could have had a great game had he stuck his chances away.
Aside form getting to the 1/2finals of the CC, last night allowed us to give game time to RVP, B52, Vela and Theo and all of them needed it. That front 4 were very rusty but kudos to them they stuck it out and were all involved in the goals and the best chances we created and missed..:( It will be great to have RVP & B52 firing on all cylinders ASAP. Theo needs game time to get into his groove and Vela, well he just needs to play full stop.
Wigan did not pose a threat but at least we did the job and did it professionally.
Boo! It’s three straight games, I’ve missed now 😥 . Good thing, we’re back to winning ways. 🙂
I’m sick of this laptop, it will be out the window soon it just keeps switching off!!!! 🙁
Bit like me really 😉
Hi T-buzz, agag and RandD
i admire the fans who turned out last night, it must have been bloomin freezing, not even a bovril would have warmed the toes….
Hola, rico. Glad about the results, but oh my, the weather there sounds dismal.
I’ll be back in a bit. I’m loading match highlights now…
Rico; maybe it is out of memory
see you in a bit agag, hope all’s good?
Rico you have a Clichy laptop then, if it keeps switcting off. Mines a Bergkamp 🙂
SD, i am poop with PC’s, and haven’t a clue how to find out if thats the case, its only a year old 🙁
Time for a new laptop rico 😉
AgaG, long may the winning ways continue.
the weather was really bad yesterday indeed, it took me 2.5 hrs to get home what normally takes under an hour! Just 1 day of snow and it felt like Armageddon in London!
Only a year, rico?
Perhaps a disc clean-up is required?
A Clichy laptop!!! LOL @ Mark
T-buzz, that’s just horrid, and it will be worse for the Fulham game if this weather continues….
I’m going to take it back to where I got it, they can fix it or replace it…. Grrrr
rico,just delete unwanted files as much as possible and make sure the airflow to the battery is not blocked(it could cause over heating)
Just back from my hols, rico. 🙂 Really fun but really tiring.
T-Buzz, that’s like traffic here, too. And that’s without snow. 😀
Hello, Mark, easy on Clichy… 😉
Thanks SD, I will give that a go first and go from there…
I guessed you had been on your hols agag as we hadn’t seen you 😉
Good to hear you had a fab time you little jet setter 😉
I think I have Mark – next model will be a Gibbs 🙂
I used to own a Cole laptop but some B’tard nicked it
😆 Mark
Back to Carling cup matters. I want Ipswich in the final. I was at Wembley last time we played them in a final. We were awful that day, so need to make amends.
Was that the day of Paul Mariner Mark…. 🙁
Add to that it would be nice to spank that idiot Keane….
Hmmmmmmmmmm :-/
I can see everyone is in a good mood.it was an excellent week which saw us watch live on Tv worldclass defenders ship 9 goals in 2 games.Mourinho’s image as his side took a battering.casillas was also caught by the sadcam and it ought to be introduced to the PL.
Hi KT, what a difference a win makes….
Rico my laptop is the sagna version.it may not be flashy but very consistent.sort of like a german car.
I don’t think this was raised here but apart from barca’s pressing there is something else that makes them brilliant.iniesta/xavi/messi/villa play in very close proximity.these are top 10 ballon d’or contenders and thats why madrid couldn’t deal with them.if we can get nasri/AA/cesc/rvp10 in such sitiuations am sure we’ll run riot.
Any one heard of the Bentley laptop? Quite attractive with a blond top to it. Made in Britain actually. Pretty crap though. Last time i saw it, it was overpriced in a Seven Sisters charity shop.
Ha ha KT, Mr reliable is Sagna fast becoming, no frills, no spills, no theatrics, but darn solid….
Sagna’s crossing is getting much beter as well. 🙂
Agree Mark, shame the same can’t be said about Clichy…. 😉
Mark that laptop was apparently outperfomed by the bale version.although the bale version is pretty good they are comparing it to the messi laptop which is hilarious.the messi laptop may be abit small but it blows all other laptops out of the water during benchmark experiments.
The clichy laptop has apparently got a twichy virus.
Ive heard about this Messi laptop. Is it expensive? Should i recommend it to a friend of mine? He’s currently using a Denilson, which is really slow and of not much use.
I have a rvp laptop.its quite slick and very effective.however every time i try to connect to the internet or attach a bluetooth device it crashes for a couple of months.
I’ve got an Arshavin Laptop, very quick when it decides to connect online but lazy when not interested! Have a good evening all, I’m about to embark on an adventurous journey home! lol
Adios!!
See ya T-buzz, safe and warm journey back home…
Seems i’ve started something with the laptop….
Mark the denilson laptop only recognises Microsoft Dos no wonder its slow.the messi laptop is quite good but its abit pricy.i wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who hasn’t got the ‘stain’ DNA…
So your saying if my friend formats his Denilson and has a clean install of windows 7, the Denilson will run like Messi?
Least none of you got a tottenringham laptop thats just plain shit, you get one free when you get an allotment in Middlesex…!
Rico, your’s is a country laptop its only works a three day week 😛
Hi Rico, Guys, 🙂
I did not see the game and the papers this a.m. were pretty downbeat about the way we played.
You appear to agree Wath when you say we were in 2nd gear. Still a win is a win is …. 🙂
😆 WATH, i like the tottingham one… not so much the country one though 😉
It was an ok match, Wigan did’t offer much fight though.
By the way, any one want to take my old laptop away before i throw it? here are the specs…
Old Almunia model currently running windows 58. No anti virus software so prone to the flu. It’s been pretty unreliable since i bought it and its Spainish made. Open to offers and may take a Given in part exchange.
Hi RA, it was a bit of funny old match, bit casual, sloppy passing and a lot of missed chances 🙁
Rvp10 actually plays for us where messi does barça.
Not as often though KT 😉
He looked better last night, reckon he’ll be starting against Fulham, also think Wenger will go 442 on saturday, especially since he said we are to change our tictacs at home….
It’s a shame that Vela did’nt put that back heal from RVP away. Would of been one of the great goals of the season.
Would have been pure class Mark, hope robin stays fit until the end of the season now, we need his free kicks, ours have been poor recently
We all know in our hearts he wont stay fit. Wenger’s comments about no room for new signings are interesting though. I’m sure he will make room 🙂
Rvp’s setpieces are sublime!its a shame he is so brittle since he is one of the most creative CFs in football.we actually look like scoring.what barca did was that messi played as a false nine making their formation something of a 3-7-0 as they always had 3 at the back.they overwhelmed madrid with pressing when they did not have the ball.when they regained possession the player with the ball had multiple passing options that madrid couldn’t nullify.with so many runners mourinho simply had no answer to that tactic.thats where messi overshadows CR7.he can play as a striker,winger or playmaker.he is a monster of a player.
I think its good that wenger has said no signings in january, however, the ‘small print’ says, ‘unless we lose someone’ – TV is out til lord knows, RvP could break down at any stage and who knows who will ask for a move….
I would rather he say he’s not buying, then i expect nothing and cannot be dissapointed… and when he gets a new CH, we will al be over the moon 😉
KT,
You are so right in your summation of Barca!
Apart from the creative brilliance of their play, the one thing that stood out for me, in addition, was, as you say, thier pressing game.
Each time Madrid got the ball, the Barca players swarmed all over them to retrieve it. When we play the pressing game too, we win; when we back off and let the opposition keep possession, we lose. Go figure!
Does make you wonder what could have been sometimes with a fully fit and available RvP…
Rico,
Like you, I was surprised and disappointed to hear AW will not be signing anyone in Jan.
On the other hand, I do not have to listen to or read rumours and other rubbish about us buying X, Y or Z.
If we took Eboue, Almunia and Denilson into the woods and lost them, perhaps Arsene would buy superdooper replacements! 🙂
RA For such world class players its amazing how hard they work for each other.they don’t play like that every week though.id love us to do the same at Old toilet next week.
RA, and I won’t need to be writing them either – well, not unless AFC.com surprise us 🙂
Only if they handcuff Bendtner to them 😉
Xavi may be getting the plaudits at the moment but for me iniesta is the best midfielder on the planet.he is like a mix of xavi and messi.when he plays messi looks very lively as they can dribble through organised defenses.i think Aw’s vision is to have ramsey and wilshere dictating the play in a similar mould.
superdooper replacements. 🙂 That remends me, what happened to those two ‘sooper’ players wenger promised us a couple of years back?
hi all…we’ve won nothing yet, but this cup is now set up nicely for us – it may only be the league cup, but it is an actual trophy, something our club has not won for several years now. plus, it will show our players they can win something, can finish first in a competition. that is a step they need to take before consistent success will arrive.
Sadly how many of our players would get anywhere near the Barce first team.
And if any were to get anywhere near it, Barce would buy them and actually put them in it. 🙁
hi oliver, it’s ours to lose but we have a lot of work to do yet, we all hoped we would take this competition seriously and thankfully so far we have, CC it maybe but we just need a trophy 🙂
I’ve also noticed that since we now want to win this trophy, we have started calling it the League cup rather than Carling. Suppose it brings back memories of when we used to win the league. 🙁
Ive stuck with the Carling Cup Mark 😉
Mark,
I suspect that if Cesc got his wish for them to buy him, he would also be on the bench!
The Arsene ” we will buy 1 maximum 2 top, top (superdooper) players” two years ago was the usual Wenger clap trap to raise our hopes before dashing them.
Parlour reckons Tv should be in line for the captain’s role…cesc has twitted that lack of playing time due to injury is killing him…
rico, we can just as easily come a cropper in the next round as we could win it. it is the only domestic trophy not on arsene’s cv, so winning it would check that particular block. but most important is it is a potential springboard to bigger and better things.
There are shades of the invincibles in the barca team.henry used to come from the left like villa is doing now.bergkamp was our furthest player most of the time and thats where messi plays.pires played sort of like a left centre like iniesta is doing now.ljunberg is the direct runner of the attack like pedro.i hope we develop into such a force again.
Bigger and better things? You mean the Emerates Cup?
We need to get the ‘5 years without a trophy’ monkey off our backs now.winning the CC could be just what we need to overcome the psychological barrier our players have.
spot on oliver, we have to start somewhere and no better than the cc, but like i say a long way to go yet and this crop need to know what it’s like to win, once they do that then they’ll want more…
Also, this final is played before any others, if we play well enough to get to the FA Cup semis etc then the mentality will be stronger…
i think we are at the point where the remaining fixtures – hopefully more than just two – will not really conflict with other competitions. a few league fixtures may need to be postponed for the next ties, but getting to (and winning the final) would be worth it, in my opinion. the unknown is, of course, what our injury situation is like. i can accept that arsene will need to rotate and give certain players run outs for the semi-final, but if we should reach the final, i would really like him to play the strongest side available on the day. if he had chosen to do that in 2007, who knows how different our history vis-a-vis chelsea (and mourinho) may have turned out?
i don’t think he will change his approach now – he strtaed strong and will stay that way i’m sure and should we get to the final, you can be sure we’ll see the strongest eleven who are fit… i like the fact it’s two legs in the semi, especially with the way we are playing away from home right now…
Rico if we play well and beat Fulham i will write the Partizan Cl post.if we qualify i’ll write some bonus posts on the CL trends and what we have to do to win it.i’ll also write the KO posts if that is okay with you…
i hope so. if we get dumped out because one of the other sides rises to the occasion, i can live with that. if we lose out because arsene decides to pack the side with younger players not really near the first team, that is something else entirely…
it would be quite easy for the pessimist focus on his “don’t make it (cc) an obsession” comment, but you have to take the remark in full context with the rest of what he said – where he makes it quite clear that we will be trying to win this cup. let’s do just that and see where it takes us.
KT, of course that’s fine by me, thank you 🙂
Hi oliver.if we reach the final or trail after a first leg semi final id also like to see us put out a strong team.
Its a deal then.
spot on oliver but i think he realises we fans want this cup and i bet the players do too but he is right, we cannot lose sight of the fact that we sit third in the league, a win on wednesday will see us qualify for the CL and we have a tasty FA Cup match against Leeds in the new year…
Maybe we have had the bad times and the tide is turning, only the next few games will trell us the answer, but for sure, this season is not all about one domestic cup… well, not quite 😉
All gone a bit quiet here so i’m off for the day, catch you tommorrow, we have a post from a new source in the morning…..
be good and stay safe 🙂
new post up