Arsenal kicked off their Carling Cup campaign this evening with a third round clash against Championship leaders West Brom. In front of a bouncing crowd at the new ‘Arsenalised’ Emirates, the fans, who only paid £10 each to get in, created a welcoming red blaze for Wenger’s young Gunners.
In terms of team news, Wenger handed starts to two players who appeared to be on their way out of the club this summer in the form of Kerrea Gilbert and Philippe Senderos. The Swiss powerhouse was joined by another experienced centre back – Mikaël Silvestre. Between the sticks Wojciech Szczęsny was handed the gloves and a chance to impress while James Shea made the bench. Carlos Vela and Nacer Barazite were other notable subs.
Szczęsny
Gilbert – Senderos – Silvestre – Gibbs
Wilshere – Coquelin – Ramsey
Sunu – Watt – Traore
Subs: Shea – Bartley – Eastmond – Randall – Frimpong – Barazite – Vela
Match Report – Arsenal 2-0 West Brom
The Albion kicked things off with the Emirates rocking. Early touches from Francis Coquelin, Gilles Sunu and Sanchez Watt calmed the nerves of the trio who were making their first competitive starts for the club. Two early corners were won and on both Senderos came close to breaking the deadlock with towering headers.
Jack Wilshere’s first touch had the crowd on their feet but the scrappy midfield battle soon saw him cut out in his flow. West Brom then had five minutes of possession but failed to break down Arsenal who formed a solid midfield three. That said, a rare attack on the goal saw Szczęsny get his first touch – a marvelous punch to clear the danger after Graham Dorrans’ cross.
Wilshere soon had another touch and was fouled but Sunu grabbed the ball and raced forward, eventually crossing and winning a corner. The delivery was poor but Arsenal were pushing hard. Up the other end, a ball over the head of Gilbert set Filipe Teixeria away and only a poor finish stopped a shot at the Polish goalkeeper.
Sanchez Watt created the best chance in the early stages after racing away, but he fell over before shooting, only for Wilshere to slam an effort of the post. But then West Brom exploded into life.
Dorrans and Cox both had Szczęsny making key saves before the Pole had to rely on Gilbert to clear off the line from Cox. It was a moment where the character of the side was really tested. Wilshere and Ramsey were struggling for touches and subsequently Arsenal were failing to create much.
Eventually Jack and Sanchez Watt did get some touches and the pair played a tidy 1-2 before the former worked Dean Kiely with a powerful drive. Leon Barnett then nearly scored after Szczęsny came and flapped at another corner but this time Kieran Gibbs was able to clear.
Former Arsenal winger Jerome Thomas lost the ball to Wilshere and after tackling to win it back, Thomas shared words with Jack before appearing to slap the 17-year-old. He received a straight red card and West Brom had 6 minutes to organise before the break.
The half finished with an Aaron Ramsey free-kick which ended up in the stands – a disappointing finish after such an exciting build up – much like Arsenal’s first half performance.
Half Time – Arsenal 0-0 West Brom
Arsenal got the second period underway and Wenger signalled his charges didn’t have long to make an impact. Carlos Vela and Nacer Barazite were summoned to go and warm up and they were joined by Mark Randall a minute later. Would the trio be needed? it appeared so.
With 10 minutes gone of the second half neither side looked like producing a winner. Wenger then turned to his bench and selected Mark Randall and Carlos Vela in place of Francis Coquelin and Gilles Sunu. The changes had an almost instant impact as Vela gathered Randall’s ball and raced towards the Baggies goal, but Olssen recovered to tackle back.
After pressure from West Brom, Arsenal finally got their goal. A superb turn from Vela bought him enough space to lash a shot, it was saved and Sanchez Watt was on hand to slam home the rebound. It was a superb bit of class from the Mexican to make the chance.
Goal – Sanchez Watt – (68)
Nacer Barazite replaced Armand Traore and Arsenal now had a fearsome front three. Vela nutmegged Barnett and the fans were roaring with delight at his influence. If he would have managed to pick out Barazite, his Dutch strike partner would have been 1-1 with Kiely. A second goal looked imminent.
Vela was looking incredibly sharp. The young forward may be right down the pecking order at the moment but his class was shining through. Mark Randall should have made it 2-0 with a super chip over Kiely, it smashed the bar, and after Barnett failed to clear, Vela stole in, rounded him and slid home. Terrible defending but Arsenal take full advantage.
Goal – Carlos Vela – (78)
It killed the game but the fans demanded exhibition football to finish off sorry Albion. Sub Chris Wood could have pulled one back but he volleyed wide and Szczesny kept his clean sheet. An attendance of 56,592 was simply incredible for such an evening. Shouts of ‘ole!’ as the Gunner pinged it around saw West Brom not just beaten, but humiliated in terms of talent.
Arsenal rock on into round four.
Article By – J.Sanderson
ow was coq
wow that was quick
Coquelin was good, maybe not as good as people expected from the sound of things. I’m sure he’ll get more chances though.
great report. Didn’t get to see the game but from what i can gather from sky etc vela and randall changed the game. Will there be player ratings?
your lightning quick J! I heard that Randells chip was a beauty. Great to see Vela back too
@ g4eva, I havent seen match but Coq & Sunu didnt have the best of game however he is only young.
Who stood out J?
Carlos Vela’s arrival from the bench no doubt saved us from going into extra time. Watt was probably the best all night.
Thanks for the report J. I now wish i had of watched it. Oh well, the highlights shall do 8)
Great to hear Vela had a good game. I think he would be suited better to our wings (the front 3) than Bendnter or Diaby.
where were you watching it to report this quick with this much detail?
Where you at the stadium ?
were* you at the stadium ?
Just a note to say what a terrific website this is for committed Arsenal supporters like me. To provide a report on this game so quickly is admirable, but I read your site regularly and it is one of the few Arsenal interest sites worthy of regular reading. Thank you for an excellent service.
woot
where did you watch the game?
Man of the Match was the Pole in Goal !!! Can’t wait to watch it now on Arsenal TV online. Also they announced USA Arsenal.com?
WV for the goals nice, wish Sunu had more of impact?
Dont think we would have won this if not for Baggies going to 10 men…we were fortunate!!
Alfred MIller go talk to a dog or something? Be positive about the youth set-up?
LMFAO!! After such a greatly detailed and eloquent report of over 850 words from JS , G4eva’s 8 character response comment “ow was coq” sums up what I love about fan blogs.
Thank you, both of you.
Highlight @ 10
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/footballandtv
password: myp2p
ALFRED MILLER – Fuck off you prick! What do you know. We bring youngsters through the proper way. We invest in our academy and don’t spend ridiculous money every every season like Chelsea, Utd or City.
Come back to this blog when you know what your on about.
alfred miller relax, I think Gooners appriciate Baggies. It took courage to play the attacking,entertaining and I think they earned the respect of most fans. Sure this football will prove itself in the long term for them to establish again in the PL. Wonderful play against Boro
Thanks for the match report. Super Quick!
ALFRED MILLER TELLS YOU MUR HUDU FOXX IL-LIBA OMMOK U FOXX L ARSENAL TIEGHEK.
What’s that all about?
Anyhow, back to what this blogs all about; arsenal!
Anyyone who saw the game got any ratings?
Oi, Alfred Miller – mur hudu f’oxx ommok int u koll.
Jah – libaaaaaa!!!!
Alfred – in response to your “balance the book” analogy have you checked out any previous examples of uncontrolable excessive spending in the name of football – see Leeds Utd.
Vela is only back from injury so im not sure how his example of killing football is accurate.
Look at the current first team – bar the individuals bought in ie. Vermanator & Arshavin the majority have played some what of an important role in previous carling cup campaings.
BTW – To all other Gooner bloggers – Alf has just been swearing at us in Maltese.
So, I returned the complement on all our behalves :)
Anyone else gettin a problem wi the highlights on Arsenal TV?
Ive got the commentary but no picutre
Loser. I’m not even getting into this! Only a muppet would come onto an Arsenal site and start chatting breeze after seeing his/her team getting beat.
Don’t get me wrong I have no problem with West Brom,
To those that are on this site for the right reasons, I’d like to see us get an away draw in the next round. See how our youngsters cope outside of their comfort zone against a good team.
Promosing signs tonight though!
top website , up the goonersssss
Ha ha. Didn’t realise you were German. Sorry bruv!
was always going to be a tough game that and sounds like a moment of madness from Thomas gave us the edge – all good experience and no injuries so pleased…
I don’t think Alfred Miller is a malteaser. . . .More of a dime bar
tiegħek issa jintilfu!
jamie block this alfred miller cunt
Just saw the goals on Sky Sports news!!
init, randall’s chip was class, wish it’d gone in for him
Great report and a very good win!
Glad to see K.Gilbert back into the starting XI.
We were lucky enough with their 10-men 2nd half but, anyway, very good win by the kids!
Up the Nursenal FC! :D
Alfred Miller has been banned. Sorry if he upset anybody. He claims to be a West Brom fan, that’s very sad for all Baggies fans who arn’t cunts.
Is Alfred dyslexic?
I missed the match but I saw the line-up. I did not expect wenger to field some of the players he did. But damn good. That shows he is not looking at their age and their old merits but in recent performance. This was a wake up call for some of the players on the bench and hopefully they will step it up. I still believe in Randall but i am not as sure as I was one year ago before I saw frimpong, coquelin, eastmond and lansbury.
J how do I view your interview with Deaje? I logged on but couldn’t find it on his site?
Alferd Miller,
Vela is an Arsenal player. We have the feeling he enjoys being an Arsenal player, and he will STAY an Arsenal player. That is all.
I like d combinatn of ramsey n wilshere on d pitch,plz fa i want man city to be our next opponent by them citeh will knw they’re nothin expecially arrogant n crazy madebhayor up gunners fabby say so frm ibadan nigeria. Aromolaran boy!
Davo, when it comes to an away draw it depends on who we draw in my opinion. Could be good to be tested, think the young guns can do well on most away turf as long as the field is of good standard. I am remembering the Burnley match last year though, even though all the misses, the team struggled to play away on Turf Moor but did it easy at home with a stronger team
Alfred, I think you’re being ridiculous. Look at the number of first team players there were used in the Carling Cup, there are quite a few. Arsenal are a team that is well known for giving chances to young players. Just because your shite baggies lost don’t go throwing a hissy fit. Arsenal outplayed them, pure and simple. I can understand where you’re coming from though, it must feel like shit to get beaten by Arsenal’s youth academy :-)
Apart from the chip, how did Randall do when he came on?
what do you guys think of sanchez watt??
i really didnt rate him, but arsene rates him highly it seems
it appears wenger does not have faith in the best striker our academy has produced- barazite- i think he should look for another club to show what he’s made of.
just saw the first half. Wilshere is just different class. What a player.
Coquelin showed glimpses of his potential but might be a bit too young to boss the midfield at this level.
Sanchez Watt lost too many balls, but worked very hard.
Sunu didn’t enjoy playing on the right.
Gibbs had a good half, it looked easy for him.
From the BBC:
77:49
Free kick awarded for an unfair challenge on Filipe Teixeira by Mark Randall. Free kick taken by Graham Dorrans.
90:00+2:27
Free kick awarded for an unfair challenge on Graham Dorrans by Mark Randall. Direct free kick taken by Dean Kiely.
90:00+3:30
Mark Randall gives away a free kick for an unfair challenge on Youssouf Mulumbu. Free kick taken by Youssouf Mulumbu.
Sounds like Randall was in a ‘unfair mood’ haha
Am dyin arsenal fan im nt fear any team in our next match draw coz its 90min will judge match let prof wenger continue encouragin those guiz actually i didnt watch d match am satisfy with report i read bout d match kudos to our reserve keeper by savin those brilliant ball.every other epl team supporters watchout fabby say so
Baggies are a team I hope to see up again, enough teams that try to destroy play so teams like them enrich the premier league. Read on BBC the live coverage, no chance to see it, did anyone see the performance of Senderos, Gilbert and Traore? Especially Senderos makes me curious, read he unfortunately did one of the bloopers again but his overal performance?
Its crap the way the highlights are not on tonight.
I was at the game and I have to say I was very critical of the performance as some players went missing for me, Traore for me had a bad performance, Sunu was poor, Ramsey couldn’t get into the game the first 45 mins which was summed up by his field goal attempt of a freekick, second half he picked up but something was lacking in his performance for me. The defence and keeper looked good, Gilbert performed well and Big Phil did ok as well.
Vela made the difference when he came on as he had that class in the final third which the other players lacked, young Jack had a good performance and seemed to get more involved when Vela came on and he shifted out wide.
Overall the result was important as playing infront of 56,000 fans must not be easy but if West Brom didn’t get a man sent off it would have been a very hard game for us to win. Credit has to be given to the lads as they took advantage of the extra man.
its interesting that you picked out watt as the best player on night as on sky they gave the impression he didn’t really get in the game and wasn’t holding the ball up well enough.
Watt didn’t have his best game.. lost too many balls. I’m glad for him he scored , that’s good for his confidence.
Wilshere was very impressive in the first half when he played in the middle. That’s his best position IMO
Ramsey had a very good game, you can tell he practice with Fabregas every day
Randall looked very good when he came on. He’ll probably start the next game
LOL how shit was watt he was awfull,did he make a pass in the game???
Wilshere and ramsey wernt very influential, gave it away loads.
Gilbert dosnt know how to jump at all.
Sunu wasnt in the game but had some nice touches when he got the ball.
Traore didnt have a good game.
Silverstre and Senderos had good games, gibbs was solid, and very impressed with coquelin and the gk. Randall was very good when he came on same with vela.
Overall poor performance.
For me Sanchez watt was the problem he was rubbish up front.
We needed somone like Rhys Muprhy playing whos better up fron than watt.
Daily Mail seems to rate Sanchez-Watts performance calling it electric
wat the fuck were they talking about??? everyone there thought it was one of the worst performances in an arsenal shirt,
I am glad we went through. Thank You to the players for all the hard work they put in. And also to Jerome Thomas( he went off and we went up a gear.) Jack Wilshere was brilliant man of the match for me. Watts need to get different shoes next round he was slippering just about everytime. But aslong as he’s scoring goal like today keep them boots on.
Also Thank J for a great site.
I think Randall was really good. While his impact may not have been as spectacular as Vella’s with his testing runs, Randall’s passing in West Brom’s half really opened the Baggies up. Was really pleased as well to see Gilbert make his 1st team comeback and apart from a couple of moments played pretty well, had a good shot saved by the way. Happily both players have proved that a lot of the posters on the board don’t really know at all what they’re on about.
Hi Guys, Just got back from the game and seemingly learnt that sometimes journo’s -in bid to be first to a story – get things wrong. Anyone who can honestly say Watt had a great performance is simply blind. To say his performance was full of effort would also be wrong. His first touch today broke down many moves and his strength against a more wise… and well strong centre back demonstrated that he wasn’t quite the level required.
A learning experience no doubt but is desperately similar to Jay Simpson.
Troare was excellent, really excellent, his effort and movement made Gibb’s night very comfortable indeed. With Troare having such a good game, this didn’t hide the fact that Kieran was composed, confident and deserved to be considered infront of Traore when it comes to the left back position.
Troare against my previous judgement can play in the role of winger!
Sendores got a great reception. I’ve always loved this guy and he really is a brilliant defender. Obviously, he made mistakes in the past but to think he is 24, well to think that his career is over at the top level is silly. Quality today and so dominant.
Coquilen was technically found out at times, he has time on his side. Distribution wise he also looked out of his depth, I wouldn’t count on him filling in for Song quite yet, but in the future? Yeah!
Seems like a couple of guys have a problem with Sanchez’s performance. Strange, cos it looked to me like he got the all important breakthrough….
I admit, he wasn’t as good as i know he can be but neither were JW, Ramsey, or anyone else for that matter. The performance was a bit subdued tbh.
The good thing about today is that we didn’t play too good but got the result. That’s an important quality for these kids to have and will hold them in good stead.
I’m pleased for Randall. He’s been poor since we went out to Burnley at Turf Moor last year (even contributing to their second goal which killed the game off) in every performance i’ve seen but he hardly put a foot wrong when he came on, topping it off with a delightful chip which led to Vela’s goal.
Overall, the change of formation brought about by Randall’s and Vela’s inclusion gave them a different problem as Watt had a real partner in crime up top with him. This, ultimately, proved to be WB’s undoing.
‘His first touch today broke down many moves and his strength against a more wise… and well strong centre back demonstrated that he wasn’t quite the level required.’
So he was like Adebayor then? :)
Watt a good player i see why wenger rates him plus he worked hard tonight ,also i thought Jack,Ramsey,gibbs and Coquilen was good but i thought MOTM was Szczęsny great saves really talented
ramseys chip was immense! and vela’s goal from it comical! i was there behind the goal they scored in, and kielys face when the chip went over him was a picture…i liked wilshere tonight, vela did make the difference…gilbert i feel had a poor game giving alot of balls away…i wonder what the average wud of been if senderos and silvestre werent playing…cos they musta bumped it up especially silvestre and was still only just above 20
It was actually Randall who amost chipped the keeper.
Coq didnt look great but you can tell he will be good. Watt and Sunu were kind of clumsy and didnt really take people on. Wilshire is the new Iniesta. Ramsey played like a deep lying midfielder and didnt really make a huge impact on the final 3rd. Troare is more of a Attacking leftback. I thought Bazarite actually looked comfortable on the ball. Vela is Vela. Randall did well but you get that Steve Sidwell career path vibe from him. It was abit sloppy but a win is a win and when Merida and Hoyte are added we will look better.
Do you lot think that Merida would come back in for Le Coq, making us even more attacking, or come in for one of the front 3, pushing Wilshere up the park? Personally, I think Theo and Vela will both start the next few rounds, leaving out Sunu and either Watt or Traore.
I dunno how you can say watt was the best overall on the night, J. He was atrocious. Other than scoring that goal which hardly was hard for him, his first touch and passing let him down all night.
How he started ahead of Nacer is beyond me.
PS I thought Gilbert and Pole In The Goal were great.
Hey J – nice report. Just letting you know I sent you an email a couple of days ago (to your podcast address) and wondered whether you had got it.
Cheers mate,
Andy.
I was at the game last night and was pretty relived when they went down to 10. Up untill that point i thought it would be 50/50 on who goes through.
Sczchney – 8/10 some really decent saves
Gilbert – 6/10 didn’t really add much, out of position a lot
Senderos – 6/10 did ok, some good tackles
Silvest – see above
Gibb’s – 7 did well, with traore infront could swap when he went forward
Cogoalin – 6 meh,
Ramsey – 8 some good runs and good passing, was a cut above.
Whilshere – 7 the effort was there but WB marsheled him well
Traore – 7 looked good going forward and slipped in to LB when needed
Sunu – 6 didn’t have an impact on the game
Watt – 7 if we started with vela the game would of been finished by half time. Squanderd chances but at least he was in the positions.
Randell – 7 looked better than last year
Vela – 8 his class was obvious, all our chances involved him when on.
Barazite – 6 surprise to be playing on the left. too late to get into the game really.
If it cost £10 to get in why did Arsenal Box Office charge me £20 when I bought my ticket from them ?
Hi everyone i think that your Wilshire is an asshole! he was to blame after the thomas sending off! He thinks he plays for Real Madrid! AND Sean dont call my Baggies shite! or ill shite on you prick!
coquelin was great in the first half. you can’t give him a six. he was tidying up really well and his distribution was amazing. Exactly what you want from a DM.
Whether they had a good game or not last night, you can tell who has the extra class and extra gears to step up in the future. For me, they are (obviously) Vela, WIlshire, Ramsay, Coquelin, Gibbs and Barazite. Really pleased with Senderos last night. He played with LESS intensity than he used to…..which somehow is a good thing! His former intensity seemed to hamper his game in the past. Last night he was much steadier and more efficient.
been reading a while but this is my first post.
watt: im willing to give watt a couple games to get his feet, but today he looked really nervous OR over-confident. its hard for me to really tell, given that almost every touch from him was heavy or off. he was guilty of something i think steve gerrard is guilty of: trying the fancy 1-touch when a simple through ball is needed. his speed and work-rate were impressive, and hopefully he can pick himself up from this game.
gilbert: looked weak on the defensive end, and seems incapable of jumping for any high balls. too used to sagna’s kangaroo legs i guess, but RB was weak. he has nice speed but had some weak passes tonight. cant really sleight him with that though, given that everyone did.
wilshire: like every gunner/england fan, im excited for this guy but i saw some things today that i have seen in the past: a bit of a dirty, vindictive side. he was really quick to sell the touch on his face from thomas, then jumped back up and immediately fell back down. not my style, hope arsene snuffs that out. also he seems to mouth the ref pretty regularly, and im sure he has a long future of dissent yellows ahead of him. other than that, liked his dribbles and passes, but i keep hoping he hits the gym and gets some leg strength.
coquelin: just a quick note — not sure how “kumquat_s” can say his distribution was amazing when i saw him give away a ton of easy passes. like i said, everyone was doing it and there was a general laziness about the team, so i can forgive it for now, but i hope he makes smarter, shorter passes.
ok, long post, so i apologize for that.
Whats the reason for having Vela, WIlshire, Ramsay, Coquelin, Gibbs and Barazite in your squad when you always deny these players buy buying multi million ready product from abroad. These poor guys have no chance, gone are the days of the Hartsons and the Rocastles and many more. Its a pitty look what happened to Aliadiere, You used to say he had talent, and this will also happen to the guy you loaned to QPR. The thing is that a club like yours is no place for these kids anymore, Let me put this straight, at least Wenger is giving them a chance, a small chance but when he gets sacked what happens. Clubs like yours , Liverpools , Man ures etc etc do not have the time to give these fringe players a chance and thats deteriorating the English game, just look at the England national team. They will never win the World Cup again because there is not enought talent in England because of the forign influx of players, just look at the Arsenal Side how many English players are there in the first 11? shame. YOU ARE MAKING A BIG MISTAKE!
It was £10 for the lower tiers – £20 for the upper.
Thanks Mingus, a great summing up of the potential of the youngsters on show and big Phil.
The game it self was just whatt these young players needed at this stage of the competion, they are are good but if they are going to get to the final these are the games to give them the experience, it matters not what ratings they get in the after match summing up all that realy matters is that they all got good game time which will stand them in good sted for the next match after all you can’t expect to play a team like Westbrom who are currently sitting at the top of the championship and beat them like a team from the southern reserve league.
Just wanted to know how Szczęsny played, he looks like he could be a future no 1. he’s tall, has presence and looks confident, something Mannone and Fabianski lack.
Is chesney more talented than fabianski? I think Fabianski is better…
Ben Jones mate, I really thought you would win the blogger idol. But Nick is good too. He has done well so far
In the future coquelin will compete with denilson for the dm spot. song will move to cb
http://arsenalcolumn.wordpress.com/2009/04/20/all-rounder-lucasz-fabianski-still-has-arsenals-future-in-his-hands/
a great artile on fabianski
Morning, nice to read so much interest after the game. I must say I was a little dissapointed by the performance, but much of this was probably due to the high expectations set from last years 6-0 thrashing of Sheffield Utd. All in all the young guns did the job, certainly assisted by the home crowd and the red card, but they dictated most of the game and eventually created some chances. However I doubt this particular League Cup Team is strong enough to reach much further in the competition. With the constant weakening of the first team season after season this is having a knock on effect to the possible options for the League Cup Squad. Don’t get me wrong this is good in many ways, as more and more less experienced players are getting their chance sooner, many of which are english which is good for everyone. But in my eyes the likes of Diaby, Eboue, Bendtner, and even Walcott should be featuring. Yes it would mean some younger players would miss out, but I would like to think those that did still play would have more chance of progressing and therefore playing in more games would benefit their game better than a weaker team being knocked out earlier like last season at Burnley! Unfortunatly with the lack of signings and the constant sale of first team players, the likes of Diaby, Eboue and Bendtner are having to feature FAR too much in the first team.
I think all the young guns can take some positivies from last night, but at the same time must realise some are a long way off that of the senior squad;
Szczesny (7) Did everything right, solid first appearence
Gilbert (5) Looked weak in the first half, lost possession in dangerous places, failed to link up with Sunu effectively, seems he hasn’t improved much since his last perfomance against Westham at Highbury!
Senderous (6) Wasn’t really tested by any pace, but still looked sloppy at times. Maybe should have done better with two early attacking headers. General passing seems to have improved.
Silvestre (7) Looked comfortable and competent with the ariel threat.
Gibbs (6) Had the comfort of another LB playing ahead of him, but again failed to really link up to their best, at times both tried solo runs too often.
Traore (6) Playing in a new role seemed to make life a bit uneasy, though he did get lots of possession early on as Arsenal often used the left wing as an option. Possibly over run dribbles too often.
Coquelin (6) Can take come credit for the role he played, made the simple passes, sat deep to ensure we kept lots of possession, but like much of the team failed to do much with the possession. Became surplus to requirement in the 2nd half with WestBrom down to 10 men.
Ramsey (8) Eventually came into the game and began to take control in the second half, spreading the ball all over the place. High energy and often has the right idea, just doesn’t always come off!
Wilshere (8) Always moving into space throughout the first half. Finding all the gaps and channels, drawing lots of fouls with his driving runs all game, and was able to find more space late on at RW than in the middle. Like Wenger I too missed the big incident, so I am not sure how he was involved?
Sunu (5) Could not get into the game. Was not feed very well from either directions, and when chances did come his way failed to make any impact. Seems the very deep game WestBrom played left him with little space.
Watt (6) Frustrating play, often slipping over, counted 5 times in the first half! Rarely made a decent pass, though it was tough up front on his own without much height or strength to take any scraps off the defenders. At times looked lively and energentic, at other times showed little enthusiasum to get in the box! His Goal seemed to bring confidence as he made some decent moves towards the end of the game.
[Vela (8) I think the change of shape to a 4-4-2 can take as much credit for the change in score line as can the appearence of Vela. He looked very quick and sprightly around the box and out on the left flank, and got a goal for his reward]
[Randall (7) Delightful chip to setup the closing goal. Added a bit more calm and collectiveness to the midfield once on the pitch]
[Barazite (6) Certainly threatend to add an extra dimension to what Traore and Gibbs had prior to his entry, and maybe if started would have added a better balance to the team]
Who reckoned Watt was the best player last nite..at a different game to me…he huffed and puffed but not much else….Although it amazes me to say it…Senderos was the top dog last nite..he didnt put a foot wrong all evening and his experience showed
My eyes aren’t great and my ears are worse, Arsene Wenger. Well try your nose its surely big enough.
Fabianski seems to be a good shot stopper but oftens gets caught out with his position from corners, freekicks. Scezeny just looks like he has it all at the moment and he very agile for a big guy.
Great report… makes up for sky not putting it on.
Cheers kv, I’ve seen Nick’s work and he seems to be doing very well. Good luck to him.
It’s not the last you’ll here from me though. Myself and J are working on another project, so watch this space ;)
Thats why I didn’t win – “It’s not the last you’ll here from me though. Myself and J are working on another project, so watch this space”
Hear! not “here from me…”
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I hope Szczesny keeps his place in the next round. He is probably better than Almunia right now. The Spaniard has been rubbish in every single game, last season was a fluke, he still is a bad player. He could he let Richards score from that easy header? Tech9 is the future.
I think for the next round we might see Merida, Hoyte and Vela come into the starting line-up. Wilshere will probably move to the right of attack with Merida taking his place in midfield while Vela goes on the left with Watt holding his place. Hoyte, I think, will get his place at RB. The fact is that Gilbert, along with Traore, hasn’t improved one bit since 2006. I would like to see Bartley alongside Senderos but I guess having an experienced centre backs can have calming effects.
So Traore hasn’t improve since he was 16????
Szczęsny future number 1 for sure
Of course he has in some aspects but is really anywhere close to where you’d expect him to be when you saw him in the CC run when we made the final against Chelsea? I mean at that time he was one fantastic youngster who we all thought would be making the headlines soon and that Clichy should be getting worried. He is still a talented player but his progress has been very disappointing. He is the new Babayore, so to speak, haha
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