Arsenal’s tenacious young starlets will get another opportunity to add to their growing reputation this evening as they travel to the City of Manchester stadium to face Manchester City in the quarter finals of the Carling Cup.
Having brushed aside West Brom and Liverpool on route, the Gunners face their most difficult task yet – a multi-million pound, trophy hungry City side. They may be on a run of eleven successive draws, but their vast resources and desire for any form of prize makes the middle Eastern influenced outfit a dangerous beast.
The on running first-team saga involving pantomime villain Emmanuel Adebayor will add extra spice, yet for Wenger, who openly admits he uses this tournament as an extension of the Reserve team, the fixture offers him another chance to check just how good his reinforcements are.
In terms of team-news, goalkeeper Łukasz Fabiański is set for an outing after making his return for the second-string against Aston Villa, while Fran Mérida will also be available after news that his ban won’t come into effect until the 9th of December. Craig Eastmond is set to win the battle for the holding midfield role despite Emmanuel Frimpong’s suggestion he can do the role in a similar manner to Alex Song. Jay Emmanuel-Thomas is cup-tied after playing for Blackpool, Sanchez Watt will be benched after a minor car crash in the week.
Predicted Starting XI
Fabiański
Gilbert – Senderos – Silvestre – Traoré
Ramsey – Eastmond – Mérida
Walcott – Vela – Wilshere
Kick off is at 7.45pm. Arsenal TV Online are offering fans the chance to listen live to the game for free, while a host of TV networks are expected to show the encounter. A full Match Report will follow immediately on the full-time whistle.
Article By – J.Sanderson
hey, please just check this one out for me.. I went through the squad list on the official website.. It did’nt have senderos listed.. Is that an error on my part, d sites part or something wierd going on behind d scenes?
I think its a case of preview been written before the squad announcement.
Several sites report that Senderos is out of this one, and Song will play CB. Can you confirm this?
Yeah. Arsenal.com. Sorry J, but that is untidy.
no senderos, song will play next to silvestre at the back, interesting to see rosicky has been included in the squad. we could easily get over powered-again-in midfield tonight, too lightweight
senderos and walcott are not in the squad, song will probly play CB and rosicky will play a forward role with vela and wilshere IMO
this game will b a real measure of wat level le gaffer thinks wilshire is at.. Everyone thinks he’ll play wide right in d front 3.. But le gaffer has always maintained that his final pos is central midfield, n is playing wide as part of his education as well as 4 experience.. If he plays wide tonight, i feel it means hes still far off a first 11 place, but if he plays central, hes really in contention.. Also wonder if theo is getting on le gaffers nerves by being so consistently out of action
Fabianski
Eboue Song Silvestre Traore
Ramsey Eastmond Wilshere
Rosicky Vela Merida
I reckon that’s what we’re going to see
Theo isn’t out of action yaniv, just not included, which means he’ll be pretty likely to be starting against Stoke, with Eduardo through the middle, Nasri left, and Denilson with Cesc and Song in midfield
This squad has no chance and I honestly don’t see how playing kids like lambs to the slaughter does anything for their development. They would gain far more by being brought on with 15 mins to go on the odd occasion when we are a few goals up (which has been quite often this season) to play in a settled confident team. This game will be a massacre, I am expecting about 4-0 to City if we are lucky and I cannot see any reason why we would risk Song and Traore in a game we are obviously going to lose. I am really losing faith in AW this season, I can’t see any reason to the things he does anymore.
If Senderos is not wanted why not let him start his career elsewhere in the summer and buy a CB that you believe in? We have 3 official CBs in the first team squad one of whom moves like an pensioner. Its crazy, no top flight team is so thin at such a critical position.
Understandable arguement A, but still, wouldnt his pace b an asset in d match, even if he was on d bench.. Wat he needs is invaluable playing time.. Dont see how he gets that if hes not even in d squad
uh, how about pool n city themselves rayman?? Senderor was wanted at d start of d season, but seems 2 have had a falling out.. How does le gaffer get rid of him now in d middle? Most players performances r glossed by d result when brought on 4 d last 15 min.. V dont need 15 min wonders.. We need players who can last a match.. Thats what v’ll c tonight.. Lads who can really bring it, n those who’ll choke.. N ur portraying it urself.. Everyone thinks v’ll lose.. So absolutely no pressure.. Lets d kids enjoy d spotlight n show d world wat they’re bout..
Theo was critical to the City match, if you have no height up front then you better have something else, like blinding pace. He would have flown past bridge. I can’t see how a front 3 of vela, merida and wilshire is going to trouble City. Far too much hype on jack at the moment he hardly ever scores for the reserves, same with merida and vela looked completely out of his depth against Chelsea. Risking Song in this match against Ade is the dumbest thing I have heard in years if you are not prepared to risk theo. I would rather see Bartley play and us get stuffed than Song play and get injured.
rayman you miss the point of the CC. I’m pretty 4-0 to city won’t happen, they couldn’t beat Burnley, Hull nor Birmingham in their last three games
I’m pretty sure I mean
Wilshere played just one reserve game this season, + who cares if he doesn’t score many goals, he doesn’t play forward
That will be the starting line-up
Fabiański
Eboue – Song – Silvestre – Traoré
Ramsey – Eastmond – Rosicky
Wilshere – Vela – Merida
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I can’t understand why we are risking Song in a game we have no chance of winning. He is far too important to risk in this game. Thats the start and end of my issue with the squad for tonight.
rayman – you cant ride a bike with stabilisers for ever and you cant swim with arm bands on for ever.
sooner or later you get thrown in the deep end and its sink or swim.
and most times the sooner the better.
and grow a pair please, the match hasnt started yet. if we win great for the lads, if we lose then hope they learn from the experience.
having a defeatists attitude is a bit soft!
I am sure the kids will overcome the biggest spenders.
wish dem ol the best!!!
Sorry guys, this preview was written last night and scheduled for 12pm, so apologies if the squad is a little behind.
Gonna be interesting seeing Song directly up against cowsarsebanjo after the fun and games in the ACoN qualifier. Cowsarse went over the top on Song a few times before Uncle Song (Rigobert) took the waster out. Cowsarse then virtually ran to the touchline begging to be subbed.
Gonna be a ride!
wow!wow!wat a challenge, i dont have anything to say!!!
I would just say one thing, Eastmond played centre back for the Reserves against Aston Villa. Ayling was avaliable so it wasn’t like he wasn’t forced to play there, so maybe Craig is being tested at centre back with Song as usual in midfield.
lol! watsup wid big phil?. we need him 2 stop the lazy ade.i wish the kids best of luck n i hope we do win even if they go all the way 2 penalties. i hv a feeling we will loose thats y am not creatin much of a hype.a win will b gr8 4 the kids n that will mean i’ll c the 2 mo ties.
i donno bout u all.. But i got this feeling that bartley ll play.. From wat j has said in his many previous posts he doesnt have gr8 pace, neither does silvestre.. But its better than risking traore, but players are called players bcoz they play.. There is always d inherent risk of getting injured.. But they wont get injured every game.. Traore has d pace 2 cope with swp.. That’ll b d deciding factor i believe.. So my team is-
Fab- gill- song- grandpa- traore- eastmond- wilshire- ramsey- rosicky- vela- merida..
I’m hoping grandpa is replaced by bartley..
Eastmond as a centre back? How tall is he? Can he really play that? Rather have him central in midfield and Bartley at the back, Bartley can destroy Adebayor. Expect a high scoring match, they have a potent attack and a horrible defense and here the situation is similar. So…
Losing faith in Wenger? I guess you dont see the bigger picture. He is trying to win a title but our team is built for when all these player hit the age of atleast 22, by that time the stadium will be paid off or almost paid of and the squad will be close to if not the best in the world. All these team over spending and putting their club in massive debt will start to go down while Arsenal will be on the rise. You have to understand that while yes it would be great to win a trophy, in 4 years we will be dominating this game. Everyone of our players will be in their prime.
looking forward to tonights game….ve a little faith… da young guns can do it
spot on shane….totally agree wid you…strongly believe arsenal will be a dominant force in da near future….as a young supporter ma self i ve believ in da team
Wenger isn’t going to take Eboue all the way to Manchester just to have him sit on the bench. He’ll start. There is no doubt about it.
The only thing that does frustrate me is that we always let obvious flaws in the squad bring us down. Goal keeping, our back up center backs are horrible and a real World Class striker. The only thing that makes chelsea beat us is Drogba. Van Persie is a star striker but he real isnt in that true world class category. Lets face it, We play a far better game then the rest of the big 4 but they score on the couple chnces they get. Torres,Rooney and Drogba are the difference. Also Im tired of seeing our team go so far only to see people like Sendorous and sylvestre getting burnt. Whats the point in building a great team to allow obvious weak links bring us down.
Plus the only thing that kept us from beating Man City was they had Shay Given, a top class keeper and we had Almunia, a good back up.
Nice positivity Rayman, the yoots need fans like you big time!
Another young Brazilian player close to joining Arsenal:
http://www.lancenet.com.br/juventude/noticias/09-12-02/663218.stm?futebol-joia-do-juventude-de-mudanca-para-o-arsenal-diz-jornal
what happened w/ watt? he ok?
Babel-fish lol translation of Guilherme’s article:
The Zezinho stocking-aggressor, of 17 years, is very next to change Youth for the Armory, of England. In interview to the periodical ” Hora” zero; , the player said that he does not act more for the club of Caxias of the South. – My cycle in Youth if locked up in Saturday. Until I thought that it would continue for the Gauchão, but my entrepreneur said that I am impossible to be – I said to the periodical ” Hora” zero;. Zezinho counted that its entrepreneur, Augustus Walnut, said to it that the English club will send the third proposal this year for Youth. – Said It me that the Armory goes to send a proposal for Youth, seems that third of this year. E that now goes to decide itself. I do not know of none another interested teams. Proposal is alone of the Armory. The others had been soundings – Zezinho, that trained ten day in the Armory, in May of this year counted. Values The periodical ” Hora” zero; it says that, in the embroidery frames, it offers initial for the player would be of 1,8 million euros (R$ 4,6 million). One another one, of R$ 7,8 million, also would have been refused.
I think Arsenal will win this baby 2-1/3-1. Wilshere and Vela will have a huge match against City. Now I know where I can listen to the game here in the states instead of following it on soccer net. http://bobbygee.wordpress.com/
Yeah was just going to leave a comment saying that News of the world are reporting we have signed Zezinho does that mean we are now signing him, wellington and that fluminese cb too?
#
I would just say one thing, Eastmond played centre back for the Reserves against Aston Villa. Ayling was avaliable so it wasn’t like he wasn’t forced to play there, so maybe Craig is being tested at centre back with Song as usual in midfield.
J.Sanderson said this on December 2, 2009 at 1:10 pm
———————————————————————–
It is a very good point but another reason could be that When Song steps into midfield with the ball when space appears for him to then Eastmond step back into CB position to complete the positional rotation so learning a new position is always a good thing.
@JohnV:
The Fluminense CB is Wallace, but I heard he plays more as a side-back and he is constantly compared to Madrid’s left-bak Marcelo.
Well it’s a great challenge for those kids as for me to say
Zeziniho yeah, saw that thing in News of The World. J talked about that recently. News of The World quote a second hand source, an unnamed friend of the player saying the player supposedly has told them he is moving to Arsenal. I do not know the reliability of Lancenet as Guilherme quote
And News of The World…I think most know how reliable they are. As said Lancenet no clue
http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/sport/football/exposed/628722/ARSENAL-TO-WRAP-UP-ZEZINHO-CAPTURE.html?OTC-RSS&ATTR=Exposed&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ScoreArsenal+%28Arsenal+%29
any confirmation J.
ARSENAL are close to finalising a move for another promising youngster with Zezinho confirming he is set to join Arsene Wenger’s Gunners.
The 17-year-old has told pals he is fulfilling a dream by moving to London after revealing everything is in place for him to leave Juventude.
The Serie B side rejected an offer from the Gunners in July but they have decided not to stand in his way.
The latest offer is believed to be the third one from Wenger, such is his determination to land the talented teenager.
Fabianski
Gilbert – Song – Silvestre – Traoré
Ramsey – Eastmond – Merida
Wilshere – Vela – Rosicky
Substitutes: Mannone, Bartley, Eboue, Frimpong, Coquelin, Randall, Watt
———–Fab
eboue–song–silvestre–traore
——eastmond–ramsey
———rosicky
wilshere—vela—merida
Fabiankski
Eboue Bartley Silvestre Traore
Song
Ramsey Rosicky Wilshere
Vela
i agree with the critic but wudn’t be surprised to see eastmond instead of bartley then song bak in defence
J. Sanderson, is this true?? u know anything of it???
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1232676/Arsenal-close-5m-Brazil-Under-17-playmaker-Zezinho.html?ITO=1490
fabi
gilbert-senderos-silvestre-traore
eastmond-song
wilshere-ramsey-merida
vela
I hope so.
Bartley has earned his place I think
I’m surprised that Sunu didn’t make the 18-man squad for the CC. He hasn’t been very good this season, but after starting the 1st CC match and being an unused sub in the 2nd, it really looks like he’s declining the eyes of the coaching staff.
Fabianski
Eboue-Song-Silvestre-Traore
Eastmond
Ramsey-Merida
Wilshere-Vela-Rosicky
Confirmed line-up
Why have Citeh fielded their best line up, coz they cant win nothing, they r scum, im mad at them not giving their youngsters a chance, im not evn using proper grammar.
Hope R lads bring it to them,
What the hell is wrong with Wenger,
We are losing everything, fan and players respect amongst it.
Damn I dont like losing to scum, and teams we can beat , and three times in a row.