Arsenal’s rampant young Gunners were finally tamed for another year this evening as they crashed out of the Carling Cup after a 3-0 defeat to Manchester City at Eastlands. Carlos Tevez, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Vladimír Weiss did the damage.
With the scalps of West Brom and Liverpool already under their belts, Arsène Wenger’s charges faced their biggest challenge yet in a multi-million pound, trophy hungry City team. To compensate for the quality of opposition, Wenger included first-team regulars Tomáš Rosický and Alexandre Song while Łukasz Fabiański started between the sticks. However, it was largely a youthful lineup.
Fabiański
Eboué – Song – Silvestre – Traoré
Ramsey – Eastmond – Wilshere
Rosický – Vela – Mérida
Subs: – Mannone, Gilbert, Bartley, Frimpong, Coquelin, Randall, Watt.
The early stages were particularly sloppy from both sides but it was Manchester City who snapped out of the traps quicker. Emmanuel Adebayor planted a header at Fabiański following a corner before Shaun Wright-Phillips tested the reflexes of the Polish stopper from a free-kick.
Arsenal did have some chances but the lack of penetration through Vela, Mérida and Rosický meant the Gunners were limited to play in front of City’s penalty area. A frustrating first period ended 0-0 but the hosts, who missed a superb chance with Bellamy just before the break, would probably feel they should have gone down the tunnel in front.
The second period got underway and it appeared the half would be identical to that of the opening 45, but City stepped things up and after applying a little pressure, they got their reward.
Tevez stole the ball from Rosický on the left hand side and immediately attacked the backline. After coming inside both Eboué and Song he was afforded space to shoot, and he did. The Argentine striker slammed home off the underside of the bar to send the Eastlands crowd wild. 1-0.
The Arsenal response to going behind was limp and ineffective. Tame headers from Rosický and Ramsey were comfortably wide as City showed their ruthless streak in committing huge resources into getting that killer second. Some shaky moments from Silvestre and Fabiański were only just recovered in time.
Wenger showed his hand shortly after with Sanchez Watt replacing Eastmond and although he won a corner straight away, the game would be beyond reach 3 minutes later. Silvestre’s sloppy pass out from the back was stolen from Vela’s foot by Wright-Phillips, he went up through the gears before thumping into the corner of Fabiański’s net for 2-0.
It was a sobering moment for Wenger who looked a beaten man on the touch-line. Arsenal lost their heads in the closing stages and as the cards were handed out like confetti, Fabiański was needed to make a fine stop to deny Bellamy number three. Indeed the Polish stopper did, yet 60 seconds later the Welshman had cut up Song on the left and whipped the ball into the path of Weiss who did get that third. It was all over.
Arsenal’s starlets will bounce back and they’ll no doubt feel a little disappointed at some of the attitudes and performances shown by their older colleagues, but in the grand scheme of footballing education, this years Carling Cup proves to be a success.
Article By – J.Sanderson
Massive mistake playing Rosicky, he doesnt understand what it means to these youngsters, i dont like it when Wenger mix the team, just play youngsters
Men against boys for the second game in a row
No one impressed today. Dissappointing game.
Great learning curve for the players no matter what the result was. Vela needs to learn to hold the ball up better
Quick work J….cant understand the hype over Wilshire….he was shyte tonight…it would have been better to play eboue on right side with gilbert as right back. Also eastmond was easily powered over by manc city and gave away too many balls…would have been better to play coquelin or frimpong in his position. Vela was also disappointing, he was too lightweight compared to lescott who would just give him a shoulder and vela would fall.
Merida was excellent with his passing, he is miles ahead of everyone else technically….i would like to see him given a chance in Premier league or FA cup when facing weaker oppositions as he can produce chances for us.
Wenger is being an ass,
If U wanna win, dont play kids, unless they absolutely deserve it.
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agree with supergunner07. Just play the kids and leave out the first teamers since according to him this competition is for the kids.
Ramsey needs to start asserting himself on games if he wants to be the natiral successor to Cesc. He drifts out too much and remember that he is 19 whereas Cesc was 16/17 and bossing first team games on a regular basis… I hope he can bring that dynamism to his game.
I was really frustrated watching the second half….Wenger should have substituted Wilshire, esp when there was a chance for him to be shown a second yellow….if you are playing youngsters and ur losing the game, why not make some changes to freshen things up. I’m a diehard Arsenal fan but somebody needs to tell Wenger not be be such a hard arse….my patience is running out.
What is the matter with some of you people? We fielded a team with only two first choice first team players and only two starters from Saturday. The young players we put out will have learnt so much from tonight- playing against a side composed almost without exception of internationals. Yes we lost. So? Our players put a notch in their guns and develop at a faster pace, knowing what they need to do to get into the first team. It strengthenns the overall squad- next time we need to add one or two players to the first team squad, they will be m0re mature and less in awe. And Manchester City – what have they learned? That their first team can beat Arsenal’s 3rd team. Well done. Now Hughes acan possibly go on to win the 2nd most important domestic cup competition and struggle in vain to convince anyone outside of his immediate fami;ly that this is a great achievement given his unlimited budget and hugely limited talents.
I know whose position I’d rather be in. How about you?
wenger is clueless and barbaric,he is destroying the club l love so much with his sick philosophy.this club in going down the drain.get us a better coach willing to win things and succeed unlike this arrogant fool.
Man city deserved it no doubt. The thing that bugs me though is rosicky goes missing and doesnt drive us on when we are in a battle. And silvestres attempt to stop swp for second goal was a joke and his diving in left song far to exposed for his booking.
Merida was the best arsenal player by a country mile.
well, no surprise there then.
wengers selections and plans?, sum it up in one word, sylvestre.
people still go on about the great kids, lets remembe chelsea and united have done better in this competition than we have using their kids.
it’s as if masses of gooners have taken some psychotic drug, and all things wenger look rosy.
its not rosy, hasnt been for 5 years, and will continue not to be until wenger changes or is changed.
wake up and smell the coffee people
ClockEndRider, we are fine with Wenger putting a youthful side and the youngsters getting the chance to learn, but there needs to be a balance in the team. We were too lightweight against a very physical side….
Yes this game would give our players lots of experience but imagine if we had fielded a bit more experienced side, we could have won, and the same youngsters would have got another game (and potentially more) to gain even more experience. That’s just my opinion though …..
So what next?
Nobody get this twisted. This is not a knee-jerk reaction on my part but AW is poor when it comes to substitutions, instilling self-belief, winning mentality and a fighting spirit within his teams and his worse attribute is the defensive side of the game. He’s absolutely hopeless when it comes to the defensive side of the game. Song is a DM and should only play there. Now that he has played this game and picked up a booking, he misses the Stoke game. He’s one of the few big lads we have in the squad and he’s now gonna miss a game against one of the biggest sides in the league. I swear down, i would have preferred if he played Bartley and we got spanked 6-0 instead. At least he knows how to play that position, it is, after all, HIS fucking position.
Eboue is a RM (a shit one at that) and shouldn’t play RB as he can’t tackle to save his life. Ditto Traore on the other side.
So that’s three midfielders who played in defence tonight and it showed. Pretty patterns going nowhere and no ability to compete on a physical level IN THIS COUNTRY leaves your fans raging like me right now.
I gotta say something about Sylvestre before i go. Yes he’s shit and we should have never bought him in the first place but at least when the chips are down, he knows how to fight and not turn the other cheek so easily like many of our lads. That’s something the wanker Fergie instills in his players. We got no fucking heart and the finger must be pointed at Wenger for that!
Again we looked second, if not third class, Man City, Chelsea and even Sunderland have embarrassed us…..
Wenger needs to look at what we have… we aren’t bad, but not good enough to win anything AGAIN……….
We need to buy a forward with the power of Drogba, and need a goalkeeper who looks secure…..
The season could be over very very soon…..
Massive mistake playing Rosicky, he doesnt understand what it means to this youngsters, i dont like it when Wenger mix the team, just play youngsters
Vela was very impressive. Fight and spirit. Ramsey dictated well but finished badly. Merida showed flashes of brilliance. Wilshere was hardy, fighting and playinh well. He is only 17, mind. Watt showed well, when on as well.
Wanna bett Weiss is the new fawnboy of the English press?
If we win everyone loves the idea of playing the kids but if we lose everyone slates Wenger for playing the kids…MAKE UP YOUR MINDS. And to say that you cant understand the hype over Jack Wilshire? You should never speak about football again. The kid is 17 and you want to right him off because of 1 game. Maybe it would serve us better to just play our top class youngsters with starters and bring on some other youngsters depending upon the score. You need to prove you are worthy to play for the full team and players like Eastmond and Watt just arent at that level. Plus Sylvestre should never play for Arsenal Fabianski is a garbage Keeper for me. I am never confident when he plays. Our line up should look like Traore/Gibbs,Eboue,(we need better depth at cb), Song,Fabregas,Ramsey,Wilshire,Merida and vela.
I agree Haho about Vela, Traore was the worst player on the park followed closely by Rosicky. I have said it so many times I dont want to see Traore in our defence again after the 4-0 FA Cup in Manchester couple of years ago, awful in 1v1, bad in the air, no positioning, no composure in the final third.
Sorry but to those people saying that the young players would have learned a lot – could you please tell me what that is? If its how to wander round a pitch looking disinterested then like the first team, they’ve got that one nailed.
No young player benefits from these kinds of beatings and the lack of consistency in the first team is testament to that. The only players that regularly put it in for us now are Cesc, RVP, Gallas and Vermaelen – of those, one is new and the other three were brought up learning from the best. Bringing kids up in a losing environment has just created more losers. Sorry but enough is enough.
The result was bad but the performance was far worse with no player wanting to put in a decent shift. If Arsene can’t be bothered to put out a decent team then lets just not bother entering and at least we all know where we stand. As Alan Smith said, this result was totally predictable.
Three loses in a row and with Wenger throwing his toys out of the pram we now have a players that match the petulance of their manager and we the fans are the ones that have to fund them. Its getting worse by the week.
LETS JUST ADMIT IT THAT WILSHIRE IS NO CESC…..yes he’s 17 but he hasnt done anything great lately which i believe is due to all the hype….he needs to play regularly in reserves and improve his performances…..i dont think he should be starting games, i dont know if you were watching the same game, but i didnt see him make any good plays tonight.
Wenger needs to understand that only by winning – even if its just the Carling Cup – will our squad gain a winning mentality. Once they lift a trophy, they will get hungry for more. I worship Le Professor but i just feel that he’s been given too much power and he’s become a hard arse and wants to prove himself right no matter what. he needs to understand the frustrations of the fans. Comparing the great arsenal sides from 2003/04 to our current squad, its demoralizing for us….everyone has a limit to their patience as fans…..
How to play arsenal – get behind the ball when they have it – simple!
When we had TH14/ Pires there was always the chance of one of them doing the unexpected and running into the box. We don’t have that now – Vela tries but usually falls over.
The most disappointing thing tonight isn’t going out to the rich sheiks in the useless cup but the system we persist with.
Like i said, nobody get it twisted. I’m not slating the kids playing in this comp. I support that idea fully. It’s the selection of certain players in certain positions. The stupid idea of thinking small and slight players can be a success in this country where the physical game reigns supreme.
Silentstan – You’re wrong mate. Chelsea and Man Utd never put out teams as young as what we’re prepared to put out in this comp.
Man Utd last night:
Kuzchak (sp?)
Neville
Brown
Vidic
De Laet
Anderson
Park
Gibson
Obertan
Berbatov
Welbeck
That’s 8 full internationals and two who are over the age of 30.
Chelsea play their best 11 usually bar two or three.
I agree, Vela was our best player and he should play ahead of Eduardo IMO. Sylvestre was badly at fault for the second goal. On SWP’s run, he could have easily nipped in and taken the ball off him but chose to back-peddle the whole f**king way.
We just can’t tackle. It’s fucking ridiculous. I even had to start laughing it’s so f**king pitiful man!
i agree with rich.. how are these kids learning.. they need to be playing along side experienced players to learn. same as man utd do..they gradually introduce a couple of youngsters with the core of the team..they have some mentors to guide them.. unlike afc.. who are the leaders and the mentors for the kids to learn from ?
Lesson learned. It´s a fantastic opportunity for theese young kids to go to Eastlands and face a team by good very good quality. The physical power of Man City was the major factor they went victorious. Youngguns was nervous but the thing that bothers me is that neither Rosicky, Song or Eboué steps up for theese kids. Where is the passion and fighting spirit? We need bigger players, we are not Barcelona and this is not La liga.
Wen we play a good side, play a good side, when we play a bad side play a young side,
This is so basic, no wonder wenger is loosing three in a row, he plays a good side and plays a crap side
Well said Johan
When we play a bloody expensive talented team, we play a young, inexpensive ,inexperienced, shit team
Wenger u said that the carling cup is not ur priority . Now the fa cup is coming we are already out of the title race and the champions league is unlikely . Why cant u take the carling cup seriously. 5 years without a single trophy is too much.
The kids just learned that they are out of the Carling Cup by Man Citeh…
Ramsey, MNerida, Traore, and Rosicky were awful. Lost the ball a LOT.
There is also a forced shift in arsenal priorities. If we want stay in the top four, nevermind wunning the league, we have to protect our remaining few first team players. Would want regular getting injured in the carling cup and weakening the side for the premier league. Can someone tell me why Ramsey and Wiltshire were so unrecognisable?
Let’s all have a piss and a moan when we lose WAAAAAAAAAAAH!!
Suck it up. Jesus.
I agree with the article, the seniors let the side down.
In the last round nasri, silvestre and senderos gave very solid performances and I think it gave confidence to the others. On this occasion I think all the older players were poor apart from silvestre (although I did miss most of the 2nd half, so he may have dropped a bit from the 1st).
The youngsters didnt appear to let themselves down from what I saw. City were getting past our fullbacks – sometimes it was just good attacking play, sometimes we let them in far too easily but the youngsters in midfield and attack looked decent enough. Vela was lively, wilshere moved well and played a brilliant through pass to carlos that almost earned a goal, ramsey showed some good stuff and eastmond made some smart interceptions. Merida looked less impressive than usual imo, but not poor. He gives it away in the right areas when hes off form – unlike rosicky today
Overall this fixture was all about experience. We were never going to get past through this round unless city decided to be generous and field a weak side.
Is anyone else getting tired of ed and vela having to play as lone strikers. Even though i no he is out on loan i’d have liked to see simpson with vela tonight to add some strength/power to our forward line.
Wenger said it from the very beginning that Carling cup is for our reserve side. Why don’t people get that? The leauge, CL and FA is much more important than this tournament. If he field a very young side in the leauge, fa cup or CL then we can talk about how stupid wenger is. We have been very impressive this season but after one stupid carling cup game people go on and say how stupid wenger is to put a young side against City. This is so such a joke.
Arseman – I agree wilshere has dropped from last year, it was evident even when he stepped up to u21s, although I think hes gotten used to that level now. It’s probably because people are more aware of him now, and he seems to be growing up still.
He does have clear talent though. His through pass to vela was expertly played and nearly set up a goal, and he tried a few things in the 1st half that on another day might have come off. You can’t expect consistency from somebody like him, it’s too early.
I was wondering…Anybody know how well Ever Banega tackles?? I’ve always been kinda high on him…He’s rippin it up for Valencia right now…I know the kids played but I agree with what a lot of you guys have already mentioned…They will never learn how to win if they never win in the first place. Wenger’s killin me right now. I dunno, I don’t want to make any enemies on this seeing that this is my first ever comment. I just hope that someway somehow we can either purchase or develop some heart, passion and steel. We really do look gutless at times and that bothers me to no end. But I belive that a few of these boys will toughen up and become powerful footballers. Even if they aren’t the most technically gifted, if they show intelligence, maturity and most importantly an insatiable desire to win then they will be fine I think…But I have yet to see that from some of them…I guess we just gotta be patient..arrrgggghhhh lol
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Fabianski – 7.5: Good performance from him, he was let down by defense and was not a fault for any of the goals.
Eboue – 5: Made some good runs, but proved yet again that he’s a liability defensively.
Song – 3: Terrible performance from Song who may have forgotten how to play as a defender. He should have conceeded at least one penalty and was beaten far too often by Bellemy and Tevez.
Silvest(re) – 4.5: A shaky unconvincing performance
Troare- 5: Owned by Wright-phillips, but not a terrible performance overall.
Eastmond – 4.5: Unforunatley, Eastmond likely damaged his reputation today, we will probably see more of coquelin.
Rosicky – 4: He had a bit of a mare tonight.
Ramsey – 5: Not one of his best games as his finishing was poor and looked frustrated at times.
Wilshere – 5.5: Wasn`t able to dribble today, but did make some good passes.
Merida – 6.5: Played well in the first half, but faded during the second.
Vela – 7: Very good perfromance from Vela, unlucky not to score.
I think we are all being slightly harsh to Wilshere at the moment. If I am not mistaken he has only just recovered from injury and was getting stuck in which is exactly what we need in the first team at the moment, people who like a tackle!
No harm done! We are out of a cup that is not priority and some fringe players/hot prospects have got some first team playing time.
Lets be honest that was City’s first XI against probably our third choice XI IMO. Positives to come out of the game are that some youngsters that are pushing on have gained further experiance.
Lets now focus on what really matters and thats Stoke at the weekend!
IT IS A PRIORITY COZ ITS THE ONLY THING WE HAVE A CHANCE AT !
Just to state my pespective – It was practically citeh’s first team, put together at the cost of millions. We fielded mainly a team of kids, and some senior players that could do with a game. Although we were second best all night, it took 2 crackin finishes to score, and a late third when there was nothing to lose. Wenger should’ve had to foresight to protect Song, bad mistake when the game was clearly getting niggly, as the young lads tired. But yeah, it was men against boys for the most part.. At least there were no injuries..
did any of u guys notice how bloody slow eastmond is???
only merida, fabianski and vela had a decent game.
Anyone that is doubting Jack Wilshires ability is just plain dumb. I wish people would save their comments so in 3 years they can see how wrong they were. He is the best 17 year old since Lionel Messi.
haha…seriously guys; crying over the CC? Are we really getting that desperate? City field a full side because for them it is a big cup
and did we see the same game? I was seriously impressed by our youngsters against a team with even ROBINHO and SANTA CRUZ (big names) on the bench.
I salute the bravery of Wenger, and I think it was only a matter of the final third of the play; getting that through pass. the youngsters ruled the possession and City did not seem that dangerous honestly. Two first goals was a loss of concentration and not maintaining pressure.
The only dissapointment I saw in the players was Sanchez Watt who seemed very weak and lost…still a kid
haha…seriously guys; crying over the CC? Are we really getting that desperate? City field a full side because for them it is a big cup
and did we see the same game? I was seriously impressed by our youngsters against a team with even ROBINHO and SANTA CRUZ (big names) on the bench.
I salute the bravery of Wenger, and I think it was only a matter of the final third of the play; getting that through pass. the youngsters ruled the possession and City did not seem that dangerous honestly. Two first goals was a loss of concentration and not maintaining pressure.
The only dissapointment I saw in the players was Sanchez Watt who seemed very weak and lost…still a kid…and Vela seem to me to try to be too eloquent rather than bossing through
sorry about the two comments guys, meant to be one comment
i think one of the main mistake last night was we have too many players in playmaker role. ramsey, rosicky, wilshere and merida, they all tried to dictate game on their own, there’s no fluidity in the team and every time we make a move it stops when another playmaker take over. in first team, everything goes around fabregas even though there are arshavin, nasri and van persie. last night wenger should have instructed specific playmaker while everyone else support his play.
Shocked that Gilbert didn’t get to start. Maybe Wenger was punishing him for wanting to leave in January.
We were shocking with tackles. That and the lack of creativity (similar to what we had against chelski) up in the front third of the pitch was appalling. Don’t play the youngsters if they are in too deep over their heads! We got demoralized and it’s a sad day because of it. May this redouble our efforts in the F.A. cup and force the reserve squad into being a real battleground for players who want to step up.
I kind a see what we are lacking in this club. We need to develop real strong players upfront. Many succesfull sides have atleast one strong forward. Right now we are lacking that and I really hope Bentdner will be the man. If not we will need to buy in This transfer window. I really hope Ansah and the other forwards will be big and strong. All the players in the club need to bulk up too. That will prevent many injuries. We lost against City today but the players should be proud of themselves becouse the difference was strenght and not quality. And keep in mind that city bought players for so damn much… we have develop these players to play in this level. Watt, eastmond and wilshere played in U18 last year. People need to get real and relise what an effort this is for the club really. It’s fantastic.
It is worth more than trophy for me.
Any game with Fabiasky and Silvester we shall always lose very well. It wasn’t a suprise to lose carling cup that way. Sell the liabilities and enjoy the cash instead.
The problem is there needs to be a balance and sometimes we get it correct. Yesterday we did not get that balance right bearing in mind it is an away game at a top level premiership team. At home it would have been a different story. Wenger should of played Denilson, Walcott, Eduardo and Nasri in and around the kids and then have someone like Arshavin on the bench. You see Chelsea do that and Manchester United also. Even Liverpool do that in this competition so as not to embarass themselves. Wenger needs to think about the balance of the side when up against premiership teams away from home in this competition. West Ham in the FA cup cannot be treated like this.
We should try and win this competition with the youngsters involved. I still think we have the talent there but the balance is not right.
@ pita, bar couple of mistakes in the 2nd half, Silvestre actually played as did Fabianski
@ pita, bar couple of mistakes in the 2nd half, Silvestre actually played well as did Fabianski
I’m sorry everyone here who is complaining about the result and the fact we have lost 3 in a row should just shut up. serious. first we have not lost 3 in a row. we have only lost two. champions league game between last week we won. so Wenger has not lost 3 in a row. second for Christ sake it was our reserves at best against a Man city 1st team that will play against at the weekend. if we played our first team and won you guys will still be complaining. even if we won cup. we all know we are better that the Carling cup. our first team players didn’t step up and that is disappointing but its not the end of world. we can still win other cup. the league is not over yet. in the end 3 goals won’t be the most that a visiting team will let in against there 1st eleven. so get a grip its not the end of the world.
Predictable reactions all round. Personally, I sympathise with Wenger – guys like Paul Hart lose regularly, but Wenger’s frustration after losing only 3 games shows how important winning is to him. The reason we’re a top 4 club year in, year out is a result of this attitude, and if Wenger’s frustration can work the players into a frenzy in the next game, then that’s probably good for the club. Wenger still has my backing 100%. Make that 110%.
And one last thing – has anybody else realised how unfair it was that the kids had to bear the brunt of all our disappointment from the Sunderland and Chelsea losses?
Vela. Over rated and over here. Will be better off in la ligue but up against strong EPL defenders he is a powder puff waste of space.
alot of people forget what AW has done and doing at the club, if it was not for him we would not have a team that play the way we do, im sure alot of these people slagging of the team are the one’s that never go to watch arsenal or if they do they sit in there seats never cheering on there team. it’s pathetic. paying stupid money for players does not bring any kind of achivement to the team. look at man city 7 draws in a row………think about it guys and girls
we are Arsenal, let’s get behind our team.
the younger players have to learn, we beat liverpool with these players if anyone forgot !!!
Hi? I respect Wenger decision to field young players but let face it,Silvester is such a disgrace to our team and the fact that he,s from France should not be a reason of fielding him. I would have prefer d senderous.Other wise,the youngsters played nice though it was unfortunate they were bundled out.We still have FA, hope they will up their game.
Ben Wenger.
Nairobi,kenya
Spot on Matt, he put out a decent team that just didnt perform.
calm down boys , it was first team against reserve u can’t blame the lads for that.
people need to chill out..our first team got embarassed by the same man city team..most teams would have lost that game…did anyone actually expect our kids to win that..we all knew already that half this team are not arsenal players..we just need to bite it…if you wanna loo at arsenal disasters then look no further in denilson reaching 100games!!(how!!!) and persisting with walcott as our saviour-the guy mite aswell quit football he is weak,his body is weak he will never play 5 games on the spin for arsenal…POINTLESS! i always go back to the vieira,henry,pires,bergamp days and saviour them cos we are MILES off them days…dzeko in january
a-dog – Our first team did NOT get embarrassed by them. We played them off the park but lost due to naive tactics.
Some man are pure joke. They wanna gun certain players like Vela who worked his bollocks off and was easily our biggest threat of getting a goal. They gun Fabianski, who was our best player on the night making a few very good saves. A couple were even one-on one chances. Yes, Sylvestre is shit but man dem need to judge matches objectively and not on past opinions on certain individuals. He was still shit last night but at least he didn’t stop until the end and fought for everything. He’s just out of his depth at a club like Arsenal.
Like i said yesterday. We need some big strong lads who can still play Wengerball. That’ll see us return to something like the ‘Invincibles’. I mean, FFS even Bobby Pires was over six foot. Opposition bottle it against big lads sometimes as was the case when facing people like Campbell, Vieira and Gilberto. As is the case with some of our boys when we face big strong teams. You’ll see that as soon as Saturday, trust.
Even the Spuds seem like they’re getting that Sandro kid, who could turn out to be a slightly bigger, more technical version of Gilberto. It pains me man. Problems need to be fixed and could easily be fixed if Wenger is willing to be more ruthless with some of these guys.
I aint pissed that our kids got kicked out of the CC against a strong City side at Middle Eastlands. I’m pissed with Wenger’s naivity and stubborness. Fuck the pundits, and the so-called experts. It’s the Gooner faithful that actually know and understand the game that can see the weaknesses of the current set-up.
I’ll even give my opinion on it all. We have Djourou out for practically the whole season as well as RVP. Senderos is going and maybe Gallas too. Sylvestre is out of his depth and Song is not a CB. If Wenger has the £50m or so that the board have stated before and he’s willing to take that step to safeguard our future then he should splash the cash on three lads:
Big CB to help with set-pieces and aerial bombardment (Vermy can’t do it himself and Billy, as much as i like him, is quite weak in this department). Someone like Zapata or Sakho will be good. These guys are gettable because they won’t cost too much and they have pace and will need it playing for Arsenal who play with such a high defensive line (naive tactics). That’s why people like Subotic and Hangeland are out of the question.
Big, strong and technical DM who fits into this Arsenal mould. Melo would have been nice but he’s gone. If Yaya Toure is available and willing to come then splash that cash. He’s clearly out of favour at Barca (strangely) and he was easily one of their best players last season. I would love to get Rodwell though. He can come straight into the side. He knows what this league is all about and we would have a young English talent who could become a World-class player someday. He’s my first choice.
Big, strong striker is needed if he’s not willing to play NB52 up top. Balotelli, Dzeko or Chamakh are all very gettable this January. Dzeko less so though and if he was he’ll cost a lot of money. He’ll be off to Milan in the Summer probably.
It could easily be Zapata, Rodwell and Chamakh for about £40 or a bit less. But with these three players, we could easily challenge for the title, F.A Cup and CL. AW will rather ‘keep faith’ with what he has and see how well they can do though.
What happened with all the Arsenal as good as Barca overhyping, now?? This is the problem with gunners, we have a good one month and we think we are the best team in the world. Pathetic really, and the person who wrote that article comparing Arsenal and Barca players is one of the worst of those kind Im talking about, he should be shot in the foot.
For gods sake I hope Wenger finally looses his stubborness and spends some goddamn money to get a good DM, CF, CB and no more wannabes please, we need real stuff, not probables who may or may not become world class. Five years without a trophy is just too much to take Wenger, for the love of god leave your ego behind and get some real players.
So we get done by Chelsea. Skanky couple of goals and a bit of individual brilliance for the third. We lost to Many City with Eastmon playing centre mid and we’re in a crisis?
Get a grip people. A month back when we were getting results and playing well it was all good, but we lose a game that counts (chelsea) and one game in the fanta cup with our under 9’s and everyone’s up in arms!
Wenger is the bollocks, he is and has developed a culture at our club which is respected by all, all over the world. Trophies talk you say? Well, patience you dont build a greater club than what George Graham left behind over night.
WENGER ALL THE WAY AND ALL YOU MUGS KNOCKING HIM DONT BOTHER CELEBRATING THE NEXT TIME THE CHIPS ARE UP!
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Absolutely wasting the right wing. Carling Cup is important to the young guns and Rosicky didn’t deserve to start in front of Coquelin, Frimpong and S.Watt.
Rosicky deserves a new contract at the moment? Not sure