Burnley’s Turf Moor pitch had to survive below freezing temperatures and a bout of snow before kick off, but nothing was going to affect the biggest game in The Cobblers recent history as they took on Arsenal for a place in the semi-finals of the Carling Cup.
Arsène Wenger made three changes to the team that beat Wigan Athletic in the last round, with Paul Rodgers replacing Johan Djourou, Mikaël Silvestre in for Alex Song, and Nicklas Bendtner forcing Jay Simpson to the bench.
Fabianski (c)
Hoyte – Rodgers – Silvestre – Gibbs
Wilshere – Ramsey – Randall – Mérida
Bendtner – Vela
Subs – Mannone, Steer, Coquelin, Frimpong, Lansbury, Bischoff, Simpson
Match Report – Arsenal 0-2 Burnley
Burnley began the brighter of the sides, and played some neat football down the right flank, before a slip from Eagles conceded possession. The Clarets had fantastic energy but soon the Gunners quality would tell.
Ramsey and Vela worked an attack through the middle, before the Welsh starlet poked Nicklas Bendtner through on goal, a smart save from Jensen denied the opener. However, if that was Arsenal’s cue to kick on and make the break through, they didn’t take it.
Martin Paterson fed Eagles down the right, his fizzed cross saw Rodgers collide with Fabianski, and the rebound profit for Kevin MacDonald. The winger had the simplest of tasks to tap the ball into an empty to send the home fans wild.
Goal – Kevin MacDonald (6)
It was now a true test of character. Burnley had another attack snuffed out, before Wilshere’s through ball sent Bendtner in again, but the Danish striker pulled the trigger too late, with Jensen again saving. Turf Moor had become extremely hostile, with Arsenal’s shots and touches being booed.
Gibbs exploded out of defence with possession in another raid at the hosts back four, where a pass to Wilshere opened space. Jordan managed to tackle the 16-year-old, Mérida nearly spectacularly volleyed the deflected clearance home.
The visitors had been ruffled. Summed up when the usually composed Fabianski lashed a back pass into the stand instead of picking a pass. Chris Eagles had begun really well, his smart chest control removed Rodgers and Hoyte from the equation inside the box, Fabianski had to tip a fierce shot wide.
With the half an hour mark approaching, a dragged Vela shot was all Wenger’s boys had worked, whilst Fabianski had been forced into catching two long balls over his defence, and save a low Paterson drive.
Paul Rodgers was miles out of his depth – twice exposed by long balls – Fabianski had to come to his rescue with a double save from Eagles, and a stunning one with his feet to deny Paterson.
Arsenal had been stifled, closed down and had run out of options. Every pass in the middle of the park was turned over quickly, cutting off the supply line for Bendtner and Vela.
Yet slowly the pressure was turned up, but Burnley remained strong. Vela’s intelligent passes were cut out, Mérida deadly run was read, with the frustration telling as Mark Randall crashed a flowing move into row ‘Z’. Minutes later the former loanee Randall had Jensen working, he got a firm palm to prevent a certain equaliser.
Mark was the man taking the game to his former employers, as a sublime chip was flicked on by Bendtner, Vela collected and raced through 1-on-1, but yet again Jensen was on hand to save well. Up the other end McCann missed a sitter when left all alone by Rodgers, as it became an end-to-end affair.
It was the final action of the first half.
Half Time – Arsenal 0-1 Burnley
The second period started with a defensive change, as Henri Lansbury replaced the dreadful Paul Rodgers. It was the Edmonton’s first appearance for the first team, and probably his last.
Arsenal had more urgency after the restart, and should have levelled after a stunning jinking run from Mérida teased and tormented Burnley, his finish was inches away. Lansbury’s introduction stretched the play, meaning the midfield battle started to swing the way of the visitors.
Just as the Gunners were making significant strides towards an equaliser, it was 2-0. A quick throw in down the right flank caught Gibbs cold, Kevin MacDonald held off Randall before slipping the ball beyond a helpless Fabianski.
Goal – Kevin MacDonald (56)
Jack Wilshere was kicked to the floor, and eventually replaced by Jay Simpson – a sign Wenger was not willing to give up his hold on the competition without a fight.
However, Fabianski was keeping the score at 2-0, by clearing off the line on two occasions. On 72 minutes Mark Randall was withdrawn, Amaury Bischoff replaced him in the middle of the park. It was the manager’s third and final change – Arsenal’s cards were firmly on the deck.
Bischoff tried to inspire things with a couple of slide tackles to win possession back, but nothing was going right in attack. Simpson’s pace and skills were deadly, yet his poor passing reduced the chances to nothing.
The final 10 minutes brought lots of the ball, but the Gunners found all doors locked.
Late on Vela skimmed his marker and presented Bendtner with a tap in, but the Dane had been average all evening, and his casual style suited Jensen who saved again.
It finished 2-0, meaning Arsenal again go out of the Carling Cup at the quarter final stage. It’s been a campaign of learning for many of these prospects, with the bright lights looking set to move onto better things with the first team, and the not so good set to seek new employment.
Roll on the class of 2009/2010.
Article By – J.Sanderson
I AM SO ANGRY
AHFGJASDJASSDJKASDJKASJHKASJHSDJHSJKASDASDASDJHASJHKASDJHKADS
Should have kept Simpson in the team.
He didn’t deserve to be dropped imo.
Burnley did what they had to do and scored at the right times so well done to them.
That was quick!
I guess a few of these boys will now go on loan………..Simpson would have faired better than Pinky tonight, he had a shocker!!!
great report as allways j, who can we now expect going on loan next january?
F*Cking Shit WHat the f*cking was that. F*cking Bullshit
Nice writing as usual J…Bendtner is absolutely horrendous I have no time at all for him. He’s painful infront of goal, never picks his spot, has half decent technique but you’d expect that at Arsenal. He has no fight in him whatsoever, i know he’s young and may develop but it looks like there is a limit on how much he can progress, and it looks like he think’s he’s already done enough to cut it in the Prem…but i genuinely think if he played for any team, even the lowest teams in the league, he’d still look ordinary. Thoughts??
i gotta say nice and quick there j
but good performance just no final product but i thought we should have had a pen when Jay was blatantly obstructed. But for me the two experienced heads in bendtner and silvestre were poor for me and especially bendtner who was slow and lack of finishing ability cost us the game. He didn’t know what to do with the ball and lost the ball repeatedly. I also thought the ref was shocking tonight and looked inconsistent in what he deemed a foul and burnley received the vast majority of his decisions. Other than that i think they all played welll except the 2 above and unlucky not to get anything out the game and all have promising futures at the club but we need to sell bendtner a.s.a.p as he is not a premiership player and especially not an arsenal player.
Mark Randall was out drunk in a nightclub the last three saturday nights! If he was sharper he might have scored when through and cleared the second goal. Do these young English players ever learn!? He should be let go and Coquelin given a chance
Randall should give up not going to make it into Arsenal 1st team. Bentdner still has hope but didn’t shot it today. Got nothing but praise for the cup run though. Provided me with great entertainment at the Emirates.
What the hell Was Bendtner doing and F8ck Mark Randall doing another fail cup.
Am so piss off!!! When will Arsene Wenger get things wright
Mate, you should put to the fore the fact that Bendtner had another HORRIFIC match for The Arsenal. Don’t even tell me he scored in the CL last week – I know he did. That doesn’t change the fact that he is woeful as a finisher, a true ballhog and a terrible passer when he gets it into his bloody head to actually try passing the ball.
Simpson should have started the match, Bendtner at home eating ham.
Also, how come the midfield REFUSED to play wide and stretch the match?
Fabianski 4
Rodgers 4
Silvestre 5
Hoyte 6
Gibbs 8
Wilshere 6
Ramsey 6
Randall 4
Merida 7
Bendtner 6
Vela 4
this team tonight was a complete load of uselss bunch of pratts, the body language tonight told us all they didn’t even want to be on the pitch, when are we going to get some quality players in this squad, I’m sick and tired with the same crap year after year, get wenger out and bring in a quality mananger who will spend good money on world class players. Please please let the rumours about bendtner being sold in january transfer window be true, he’s the worst football player I’ve ever seen in a arsenal shirt, he should change his name from bendtner to bender cause thats what he is, pink boots my word what a pratt.
wenger got everything right apart from playing bendtner in front of simpson and you guys should lighten up on randall i think hes been great in all three games and there is a place for him at arsenal
Rodgers was not ready to play against a team like burnley in a quarter final, silvestre was slow to react to danger….. not good
PLEASE sell Bendtner!!
When he plays, be it for the 1st team or the Carling Cup team, we never look like scoring. He did not look interested tonight.
Cant wait for Eduardo to be back. Could play Wilshere/Ramsey on right and push Theo up. Anything but Bendtner.
I like the look of Merida. Young but skillfull and full of fight!
Was it me or was Our Carlos Vela stamped on seconds after he missed his first half chance?
any one got any views?
Gibbs played well and looks a great prospect if he can improve his defending. Hoyte looks a solid defender and given a few years could be ok. Merida, Ramsey, and Wilshire will all make it given time to develop. Bendtner could have had a hattrick and was unlucky. He also laid on 2 great assissts for Randall and Vela chances.
Losing Song and Djourou was a bridge too far for this group. Want to echo most of the comments here. Bendtner’s finishing was atrocious. Vela and Randall also should have scored.
Troubling lack of commitment from the likes of Bendtner, Vela, Merida and the captain of the night – Silvestre. Perhaps Fergus Red Nose in the stands put him off.
Probably the end of the line for Randall. And I don’t think Merida has the makings of a successful player in English football. Too often he tries the spectacular and wastes possession – very little in common with Cesc, despite Wenger’s comments.
Hoyte should have started at CB and Lansbury at RB. If Rogers has already been released, why put him out there when he clearly isn’t up to it. Wilshere should have stayed on the pitch and Merida should have been replaced by Simpson.
Fabianski was not secure in his handling either.
Tough night. No Arsenal player came away with an enhanced reputation, perhaps save Hoyte.
it promises so much!!! and you have to sympathize with Rodgers because he was obviously full of jitters. It was an amazing team but it is probably the last we’ll see of some of this lads..Randall, anyone?!
People need to calm down a bit. We did well, but were a bit unlucky. Song and Djourou would have helped, but there were still some good performances. Playing at Turf Moor, we had a much harder job to do than Chelsea did in the last round, but had enough chances to make their ‘keeper man of the match. Well done the young ‘uns!
Who was the best arsenal player tonight ?
Shockin! shouldn’t really put the blame on individuals but Randall.. Oh my! he mighta had a few decent games in the reserves but i hope wenger see’s him for what he is now, average at the best but tonight!! absolute waste, sorry mate not even got the right mentality and he’s on the verge of another bentley situation if he carries on too! Lansbury shoulda been considered before him IMO, came on outta position and done well. few good chances tonight but not good enough overall.. invaluable first team action nevertheless! Good run boys, lets hope we come back stronger next season!
bendner shod b sold hes fukin shite
I know we are struggling with injuries and that meant alot of players who may have played were not available or others protected for Sat, but it was naive of AW to play a FB that he has already decided to let go and at CB as well!
I think there is no reason to get angry, things just didn’t fall our way tonight and then the inexperience of the side really showed when we fell 2-0 down.
I don’t agree with the Pinky haters here and at the pub I watched the game at. He had two amazing touches which should have been 2 assists if Vela and Randall hadn’t squandered there chances. Vela was worse than Nick, I thought, at least in the first half. Wilshere was really bad but that’s what you can expect from a 16 year old, the magic doesn’t happen every time.
Lansbury and Hoyte were the once that impressed me the most. It was a very big mistake to start with Rodgers, he is truly and awful player. The defense looked much more solid after the break. Hoyte did very well and Silvestre was okay. Gibbs has fantastic technique but his positioning is very bad. He will never make it at Arsenal if he doesn’t learn to position himself in defense. He was largely at fault for the first goal, due to his positioning. Lansbury did extremely well. He helped out very well at the back and had couple of dangerous runs up the field. He is much better than Randall.
As for the midfield. Wilshere had a breathtakingly bad game and was our worst player apart from Rodgers. Merida was not good either. He was trying to hard to make the perfect pass and they were usually cut out pretty easily. He showed amazing skill when he almost scored just after the break. As for the CMs. Ramsey was dissapointing and gave the ball away on many occasions. Randall distributed well but was bullied of the ball time and time again. He is alone at fault for the second goal. Again, Lansbury has much better composure and it seems a lot harder to win the ball away from him. It’s not a coincidence that Randall never played for the U-19 while Henry is the captain of it.
Then Bischoff and Simpson came on. The Portuguese did nothing really. I was expecting him to blow some new life into the team in the end but nothing showed. He has a very long way to go if he is to push himself into the starting XI. Especially with Lansbury and Ramsey impressing recently. Simpson did okay. He should have gotten a penalty which Merida was than booked for protesting. Can you really imagine Gerrard getting booked for that? Simpson is not good enought for Arsenal though. But he fights and gets stuck in there. He could possibly become better than Eboue and take over the Ivorian’s job.
So a disappointing results but some moments of brilliance by the youngsters. They will learn as much from this as they did from beating Wigan. A victory might have left them complacent and hopefully the likes of Gibbs, Randall, Lansbury, Simpson, Hoyte and Merida can be loaned out this January.
where do we go from here!
Bendtner was not that bad !!!, he put in randall and vela with good flicks, i have to say though he shouldve put his foot through one of those chances
my critics goes to bendtner…he can’t performs well neither with 1st squad nor this squad…he wasted brilliant of chance. the goal he scored against Kyiv just a lucky one for him.
I think we need to put things in perspective as this was our youngsters against an experienced first team who beat Chelsea in the last round. Bendtner was pretty poor but overall we need to keep our heads and realize that the Young Guns give entertainment and offer a way for us to watch The Arsenal with less than the normal amount of stress and just enjoy the football.
rodgers and randall out of their depth 2bh..saw potentiol in lansbury’s performance, simpson was only 1 that looked 2 stay wide and attack fullback..gibbs is work in progress, silvestre the most experienced player apparantly 4rm his performance i wasnt sure, bendtner and vela both had schokers and did bischoff touch the ball?
Why is everyone so down on Bendtner all of a sudden? Okay his finishing was off tonight and he didn’t have his best game but come on.. Vela was also shocking tonight but nobody mentions that. The Dane showed some great touches tonight playing in both Randall and Vela. Lets remember, with everyone fit Bendtner is 4th or 5th choice stiker at this club so give him a break. Some fans are sooo fickle about this team. I remember a starting 11 under George Graham with a midfield of Morrow, Selly, Keown and Mcgoldrick for christs sake!!! We have some outstanding kids (yes even Bendtner) at the moment so get behind the team and lets stop having a go at these young players.
feel its a bit harsh and unfair calling rodgers dreadful when bendtner was truly dreadful. useless in front of goal, touch was poor, and didn’t look up for it at all. i used to have time for him and really thought he was going to be special when he was at the brum, but he’s hardly kicked on, and think its time for him to be moved on. at least simpson showed some fight when he came on.
surprised no-one’s mentioned fabianski and how poor he was – he looks like a reserve g/k, not an international fighting for a 1st team place at one of the biggest clubs in europe. i’d hate to have to depend on him for a long period of games if almunia had a bad injury!
otherwise it wasn’t too bad – good learning experience for the likes of rambo, jack, fran, carlos – they will get better!
MEN THAT WAS PITIFUL.IF THE ONLY GOOD THING FROM THIS IS GAME IS ESTABLISHING THE FACT THAT BENDTNER SHOULD BE SOLD AND SIMPSON ENCOURAGED THEN IT SERVES US WELL.GOOD YOUNGSTERS SERIOUSLY GOOD AND ALL ARE PLIABLE AND CAN ADAPT BUT BENDTNER -NOT GOOD ENOUGH.AGE IS NOT AN EXCUSE HOW OLD IS AGUERO,MESSI FOR CHRIST SAKE THE GUY IS JUST A PIECE OF TALL CRAP. WE NEED A HUSTLER PREFERABLY AN AFRICAN THEY ARE KNOWN FOR HUNGER AND RUTHLESSNESS IN FRONT OF GOAL ESPECIALLY NOW THTA HUNTELAAR IS GONE TO MADRID.WELL TILL SATURDAY KEEP FIRING GOONERS.LOVE FROM NIGERIA.
Only Jack and Ramsey will make it from this years CC crop. The rest will be plying their trade elsewhere within 2 years. That also goes for the vastly overrated Vela who cant hack it against tight defences.
fabianski – 5.5: Partially at fault for the 1st goal and looked shakey aftwerwards.
Rodgers – 4.5: Was a liability in defense and has no future here.
Silvestre – 6: Did not stand out
Gibbs – 5: Did not get forward enough and made some mistakes on defense. Not a good performance.
Hoyte – 5.5: did not get forward enough
Randall – 5.5: Started the moves that led to Bendtners two one on ones. Unfortunately, he missed a great chance and was at fault for the second goal.
Ramsey – 5.5: Not a good night for him. Was responsible for some lost possession and really offered nothing going forward.
Wilshere: 6: Not his night.
Merida – 6.5: Arsenals best midfielder tonight and would have been higher if he took his chance.
Vela – 6: Average performance from him
Bendtner – 4.5: Did himself no favors tonight and will have annoyed Wenger and gooner fans. He should have scored at least one goal. Bendtner better start improving soon or he will be sold.
Subs
Lansbury – 7: Played well considering this is not his position. His passing help create openings for other players but he had a few moments where he looked shakey defensively.
Gosh calm down some of you! Bendtner wasn’t that bad really. Sure he probably should have put away one or two at least but I’m pretty positive on another night he would have! We’ve had games like this in the past with the 1st team too, plenty of chances but the ball just won’t go in the back of the net. He scored 2 against Shffield and took a great goal in the CL recently. He hasn’t been playing regulary and hasn’t been at the best of form lately. He is also still 3/4th choise striker in the team and will only get better as the potential is there without doubt.
Overall I thought most did pretty well but not on a consistant basis though. Randall I thought did well but slowly and surly got worse and his “defending” for their 2nd was horrible. Rodgers probably shouldn’t have started or maybe been on he right as Hoyte has a little more experience in comparison.
Despite the result is frustrating with the amount of great chances missed, it’s been a fun cup seeing all these kids. Some of them have great potential to make it at the club.
the comments on ere are funny….its true bendtner had a shocker…
but vela was not any better.
we could have really done with eboue at right back 2dai..bombing forward for us.
wilshire came in side all the time and neither lansbury or hoyte bomb forward as much as i woud have liked..
Hey Stone, nicely put.
There are too many pratts on this site bagging the club, the manager and teenage players.
Get off their case !!!! They did themselves and the club proud.
Playing Burnley at Turf Moore is no easy task.
How many of you “supposed” supporters have played football at a competative level? Until you have you have no right to abuse these young lads like you do. You are so quick to bag them now they’ve lost.
Sure, some of them wont make it at Arsenal but does that give you the right to abuse them so. We all have bad days in our lives and so it is with footballers. They are only human !!!
Maybe our team isn’t as strong as the other top three but are we indebted to overseas money men? No. Sure we owe on our stadium but once that is paid off we’ll be more self sufficient than any other club in the world. So, don’t bag the club or Arsene they are building an empire we can all be proud of.
So if we go a few years without a trophy, who cares. It’s not all about winning !!
Good luck to the class of 2008. I wish you all well no matter where you end up playing. Be proud of what you acheived. You made us “true” Gooners happy with your displays this year.
*shakes head* some of these comments are laughable! Somebody said Merida and Gibbs won’t make it….that’s hilarious! With Song or Djourou in the side and a better striker or if Bendtner was a more clinical finisher we’d have won no problem. Our little kids have done so well recently and now you want to shit all over them. This is a learning experience for all of them! Rodgers definitely won’t make it at Arsenal. Randall…not sure about him either,needs to change his attitude and get more upper body strength because he was tossed aside for the 2nd goal. I just wish some people would stop crying over their keyboards! This is still a very talented crop of young players!
“Simpson Poor Passing” what are you talking about he was solid and on point when he came on , Bischoff how that guy got your play of the month when hes doing i dont know but Bendenter is SHIT
Judging by these comments anyone who hadn’t seen the game would get completely the wrong impression.
I thought it was a pretty good performance, we were just unlucky. We had 5 (yes, that’s 5) one-on-ones – on another day we’d put a few of them in, Bendtner would have a couple of goals, and everyone would be happy.
And unlike what others have said, the workrate was excellent, and I include Bendtner in that. The only player who was disappointing was Silvestre.
Ok everyone please calm down, we had a disappointing result last night but is wasn’t all our players’ faults. Why all of you blame Bendtner for wasting chances but don’t mention the good form of Jensen – their GK? He played very well, I dare say the best of Burnley. He blocked every chances of our strikers thanks to his good anticipation, that’s all. I don’t remember but is that what he’s done against Chelsea? He can become a PL team’s GK in the near future I think, so don’t get upset with our players. Moreover, Bendtner has created passes for his team-mates which could have been assists, you couldn’t expect more from him. I know if our youngsters had been sharper last night we could have led 4 or 5 goals to 1 just in the 1st half but man, not everyone is Thierry Henry.
Oh, and about Wilshere, he played well I think, just because of the cold weather and some physical challenge from the Clarets, he got exhausted too soon. Ramsey wasn’t good today I agree but about Randall I don’t. Apart from the chance he missed and the goal he couldn’t prevent, Mark showed his composure and consistency, he even kept the ball better than Ramsey. What he need now is to get stronger to challenge bigger players. Remember when they were young, Lampard and Gerrard usually lost against stronger players, if people hadn’t believed in them, you guys couldn’t have had so many joys watching your national team playing now. So don’t take offence, ok?
I just wonder if there’s a chance for Randall to get Simpson’s strength and Simpson’s get his composure. If so, they could be more brilliant.
And Merida played well tonight too, remember he isn’t born to play in the flanks, last night I saw him play the way just like Fabregas whenever he moved into the center. Don’t be too harsh to our players guys, what players at that age need is encouragement, not critics.
I still think we was a bit unlucky last night.
Can someone tell me why the “F” I need to calm down? In that case where the fuck are we going to have a good season talk-less of a good week. Tell me this can you see Bendtner playing in any of the top three club? some of you guys are pulling my leg, telling me Bendtner did not play that bad! give me a Fucking break
Guys read Bendtnes wikipedia page. Go to the very bottom and their is already a comment about the CC game. Its worth the visit.
Actually don’t bother its already been edited. Under styles of play it had another line saying “On Dec 2, comparisons to Theirry Henry and zlatan Ibrahimovic have proven to be unfounded as bendtner has squandered many chances including two one on ones against Burnley in the carling cup.”
I thought this comment was funny, but someone doesn’t share my view and he edited out the comment. So don’t bother visiting the site.
half of you people are such fucking hypocrites…
Some of our players looked complacent esp Randall, Bendtner and even Ramsey. I dono why we didnt start with Coquelin and Simpson. The tempo was too high for the likes of Vela and Wilshere. I have alot of time for Randall who reminds me of Carrick, I think he should play ahead of Ramsey not behind him in CM but at 19 he needs to show more. Same applies for Hoyte. Gibbs did well, he has a great attitude & he seems to be improving all the time maybe we should try him in DM as he has a fantastic engine.
Merida was our best player today, Lansbury and Simpson also looked lively. Ramsey needs to ignore the hype around him and stop playing to impress
Fabianski 5.5 – A few great saves but overall a nervous performance, slippery surface?
Hoyte 6 – Solid.
Rodgers 4 – Horrible, is partly at fault for the first goal for crashing into Fabianski when he’s trying to claim the ball.
Silvestre 5 – Bad positioning on the 2nd goal, didn’t play the ball to midfield and instead opted for pointsless long balls, not an Arsenal CB and it showed.
Gibbs 7 – Really good performance, tenacity, technique and looked to feel more at home at left back.
Merida 7 – Our best attacking player even though he tried to over elaborate on occassion. Good to see alot of fight in him and that he won’t get bullied off the ball.
Ramsey 5.5 – Starved of service from defence, but overall a disappointment.
Randall 4 – What on earth was he doing? Probably won’t make it here.
Wilshere 5 – He’s 16 years old and tonight it showed. Too small, too fragile, too slow.
Vela 4 – Out-muscled and looked poor in possession, got a 1on1 but didn’t convert.
Bendtner 5.5 – Not as poor as people think. Good flicks that lead to clear cut chances, battled in the air and got himself in good areas. If he would’ve scored his first chance the entire tie would probably have been the other way around. Unlucky and, therefore, frustrated.
This was probably the first time any of these youngsters came up against this kind of opposition, and, during those circumstances, they did well. Burnley played just like teams play against the first team; defensive minded and set on counter attacks, great attitude and work rate, never leaves anyone any space ever by hanging onto their opponents backs all the time and alot of discipline. If this game would’ve taken place at the Emirates I suspect things could’ve been alot different, but, at Turf Moor in the December cold against a physical side this young team will always struggle, but still created 7 good goal scoring opportunities. With a better conversion rate we would’ve been on our way to the semifinals.
Seriously, Bendtner is better than Adebayor was when he first got here. I wonder about how sincere some of those haters are about him. Are you just pointing fingers at him because we haven’t been doing good this season? Or are you really this much against the guy. Well sure he is not as good as Theo or Vela, in my opinion at least. But I think he is better than both Ade and RvP were at the same age. Remember that he is the main star of the Danish national team and scores regularly for them. In the game against Portugal few weeks back he trashed Bosingwa and scored. He did very well against Chelsea. I have always said that Nick is just up against a wall and he just needs to break that wall and he could become a world class striker. He has a really good understanding of the game. Sometimes he just tries to do things a little too difficult. He can make some great passes, just look at his amazing pass to Adebayor for 2-0 against West Ham. He is rather fast, a good dribbler and might just be our strongest aerial threat (Everton, Tottenham, Liverpool last year). I have big hopes for Nicklas and he will be a great player for us. You can hate him all you want but it doesn’t change the fact that he has a lot of quality. Was nobody here giving up on Walcott about a year ago?
Ps. look at Bendtner’s goals, they are most pure quality.
Can everybody pipe the fuck down!
Yes, it wasn’t a great performance… But give dredit to Burnley, they were a very good side and they had absolutely nothing to lose playing an Arsenal team full of kids.
Put it into some sort of perspective will you PLEASE?! Shut up, anyone who suggests Wenger should be sacked! He has developed a very talented crop of youngsters who didnt play too badly tonight and have provided us with arguably the two best performances by any team this season.
I understand the disappointment with Bendtner’s performance today as he realy should have scored four. He is supposed to be border line first team player and he looked lazy. The same goes for Silvestre. But as for the youngsters, its unfair to heap this much expectation on them and there was clearly still some very promising performances:
Jack Wilshere was not awesome as we have come to expect, but he showed signs of true quality and he is only 16.
Aaron Ramsey looks very assured and he picked out some outrageous passes today, especially the one with the outside of the boot to Vela.
Carlos Vela ran tirelessly and showed some good touches and was a little bit unlucky at times.
Kieran Gibbs looked very promising indeed, a young English Clichy in the making. Gonna make Ashley Cole look amateur!
Henri Lansbury looked a very assured player when he came off the bench out of position.
Fran Merida also looked like he could well be a class act in the
near future.
Randall didnt have a great game, but people are way too keen to jump on people’s backs after one poor performance.
Gavin Hoyte is not really a right back and he is not attack minded, he showed in the second half that he looks a promising young centre back.
Just remember that every top player has their off days and not too long ago you were all hailing these youngsters as the best kids in the world. So everybody chill the fuck out because this group of players is undeniably a very good one wwith not only good european talent but good British talent. I expect6 or 7 of these boys wll be first teamers in the years to come.
Tell me what you think?
Cheers
Silvestre is slow and was responsible in both goals arguably.
Bendtner and Silvestre did not take the occasion seriously- these two first teamers are responsible , they did not have the hunger the motivation like all others on the pitch.
Selection mistake by Wenger again
Graham:
You give Hoyte a 5.5 saying he did not get forward enough – how about when he moved to central defence (his best position) in the second half? Did you consider that?
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the difference between vela and bendtner is that ones been here for a couple of years now, and if anything looks like he’s gone backwards in that time. vela has only just joined, has already shown glimpses, and is set to have a great career, but you’d expect him to kick on now, which bendtner just hasn’t done. He’s an international striker who didn’t look like he wanted to be there, and thats unforgivable. he’s always been accused of arrogance, and those boots don’t help, but he really needs a kick up the backside if he’s goijg to have a career at arsenal. otherwise we should just cut our losses if the attitude isn’t going to chnage, we’ve got dudu coming back and vela will shine, so we’re not short up front. it would be a shame, as i think he has real ability, but its nothing without a good attitude and desire, 2 things you hardly ever see from him.
I think we have poured out so much crticism on our young guns considering the fact that they had to travel away from home for the first time in this competition to play a team who had just come back with a lot of confidence from stamford bridge after a win against most of their biggest players. Also with the fact that they had to survive below freezing temperatures and a bout of snow before kick off. I didnt except much considering these factors. But they have gotten some experience and there are some positives to pick from the game.
1. Merida n Lansbury showed they could become great midfielders.
2. Jay Simpson is a very good prospect.
Finally I think it was very difficult for the boiz playing under the temperature conditions away from home(large crowd and boos) and would have won the match had it been at the emirates. Lets give them some time. The best is yet to come. At least it’s a valuable experience for them also putting in mind that the ref was against them for most of the match.
Arsene made a huge mistake in the selection. He should have played Bendtner and Simpson as pair; drop Merida for Vela to play wide left. Bartley could have been better than Rodgers in the CB position.
Thought Fran Merida was great last night and it was a very positive 45mins for Lansbury, reminded me of a young Gerrard when he played RB in his early days.
Overall another very positive development cup run.
Bye, bye Randell.
You guys need to just chill out really, we should be proud of these guys for what they have done. You know they don’t have together all the time right? They beat teams that play together all the time. Burnley plays together week in and week out together, the kids don’t. If anything it was Mikel and Nick two of the older players that really screwed them up. If we would have had the team that beat Wigan we would have beat them. I really believe that and I’m so proud of Gibbs and Simpson because those brought it this whole Carling Cup, even tonight those two brought and should be giving chances this season.
Bendtner wasn’t THAT bad, a few nice touches, but it was hard to find Vela as he was being marked out of it, can’t fault him for effort though.. I think the lads were physically and tactically outdone, but still it’s great experience for them.. Let us not forget the ave age was something like 19, and that’s with 30-odd Silvestre in the team! Gibbs needs to learn to defend if he’s going to be taken seriously as a fullback, Randall should be sold, Ramsey has more in common with Cesc than Merida, who showed some good touches, but, as a CM, he kept tucking in instead of giving width.. Despite that, it was a decent game to watch, no?
I hope Bendtners Performance last night shows Wenger he wont cut it here, I would be on the phone to Ajax for a swap with Hunterlaar plus a few million.
He just looks so lazy. Simpson must be gutted, he should have started bad decision that by wenger.
I think that Bentdner have answered in “best” way to Wenger. He was angry to play with reserve team and it s been showed all time by his movements through the pitch. I dont see bright future for Bentdner at Arsenal.
Silvestre was asleep at the switch for the second goal and didn’t exactly shine against the likes of Paterson and McDonald, so his slating the kids for losing concentration is a bit rich. You would expect more from a senior player captaining a young side in terms of communication and marshaling the defense. Did not see him talking to his back line or having a word with Randall for not following his man on the opener…
Hopefully Djourou can stay healthy as our record with him as a CB is outstanding and Toure can oust Silvestre and push him back to Clichy’s backup. In fairness, Silvestre has done much better than I had expected and has been more reliable than Gallas, but he is not a solution…
Nacer, I think I would change my mind on a couple of ratings. Perhaps Hoyte should get at least a 6 as he did well as a CD. I gave randall a 5.5 and I should have put him down at 5 or 4.5. I was impressed how Randall was passing had improved a lot since the games against Wigan, but he missed the best chance of the game and was partly at fault on the second goal.
I don’t think this sort of result should come as a surprise. There is no doubt plenty of talent in this young squad, but when 8 or more of them play together at this level, there are going to be a couple of critical exposures:
– The lack of older more physically developed players in key positions sees them getting pushed off the ball. You can’t expect them to mount a physical challenge.
– The lack of experience on the pitch meant they did not react the way they should have when they went behind, and some individuals needed a rocket out there to get focused. Who was going to fire it?
Against a reserve or youth side, they might have come back. But against a strong championship side away in a cup tie? This was always going to be a test. Clearly ‘intelligence’ to work out the right solutions and execute them, can’t be relied on with players this young. I think it all comes down to a better balance with some experience and strong onfield leadership.
Bye bye Bendtner and take your poncy pink boots with you when your sold off. What a waste of space that useless donkey is. He isn’t fit to clean Adebayors boots let alone play alongside him.
Graham…”RAndall was partly at fault for the 2nd goal”. are you having a laugh? He was 100% at fault for the goal as he was the one who failed to hold off his marker who just brushed him aside like a wet leaf to score. Also if his passing has improved it must have been abysmal before. The player is conference standard at best.
what a bunch of moany tossers, a tough game against a good hard working side.
this is the reserve team who happen to be young and inexperienced. relax take a load off.
Did you notice that when burnley scored 1st goal, some young heads dropped and only GAVIN HOYTE went round players getting them to raised their heads and game. Where was captail Silvestra.