One Man went to mow. . .

[BridgeMonkee]

Went to mow a meadow [apparently]. . .

Chelsea FC Vs. Arsenal

In the spirit of Entente Cordiale (French for "friendly understanding") what are you thoughts? Should be a great final.

[leftwing]

My thought is that I hope Arsene sticks to his guns and plays his youngsters against us. Great experience for them, silverware for us if he does. My suspicion is that we will see Henry in the starting lineup.

2-1 to the Blues.

[mother_goose]

I think he will stick to the youngsters but have his big guns waiting in the wings. Should be an exciting game either way... just wished I had enough loyalty points to get a ticket :(

[Middle Of The Shed]

Went to mow a meadow [apparently]. . .

Chelsea FC Vs. Arsenal

In the spirit of Entente Cordiale (French for "friendly understanding") what are you thoughts? Should be a great final.

Must say, slightly dissapointed actually, the ground would have been bouncing at Cardiff if we played Spuds, not sure now.

Still will be good nonetheless.

[Miles Brasher]

Went to mow a meadow [apparently]. . .

Chelsea FC Vs. Arsenal

In the spirit of Entente Cordiale (French for "friendly understanding") what are you thoughts? Should be a great final.


Looking forward to the last cup final in Cardiff, and hopefully a fast paced exciting game.
And just to make you smile, in the spirit of all things Arsenal I shall be watching this game in France ;)

(assuming I can find a screen in the alps that's showing it!)

[okocha1]

Wenger was very hesitant in saying which team he would be putting out. "Youngsters". Well if you look at the team last time we played them in the league it consisted of:

1. Senderos
2. Clichy
3. Fabregas
4. Walcott (I believe)
5. Djourou

In the Carling Cup he has also played Denilson, Diaby, Hoyte.

Aliadiere, Eboue, and Van Persie are 23 (older than Robben, Diarra and Kalou might I add).

He may not start Henry, if Chelsea go into the game in high form and a winning record, he probably will. I honestly would like to face Arsenal's strongest team because I know we can beat them. In the league played them well, despite not having a coherent attack and misfiring/invisible strikers. The key for them will be having someone play that Gilberto role effectively, as he was the key to their draw in our league match. Anyways, I hope for an exciting final regardless and hope for a Chelsea win.

[Middle Of The Shed]

This was posted on another message board which I think sums up this whole "kids" debate.

I can't be the only one who doesn't buy the media-driven crap about Wenger's 'young guns' or youth team etc. Let's take a look at last night's team:

Manuel Almunia - turns 30 in May
Justin Hoyte - has some 50 games Premiership experience
Kolo Toure - their best defender and one of the best about
Philippe Senderos - a backup when Gallas is fit but hardly a reserve
Armand Traore - this one is a legitimate youngster
Gilberto Silva - is 30 years old
Cesc Fabregas - their best player
Denilson - we'll call him a legit one, but close to £4m was spent on him really, in terms of comparison we could use Mikel.
Theo Walcott - hardly a youth teamer, hardly without Premiership playing time
Emmanuel Adebayor - first choice striker for much of the season
Jeremie Aliadiere - He's nearly 24, he's been about for 8 years now.

Subs: Gael Clichy, Thierry Henry, Tomas Rosicky all came on last night, they're all first teamers

So we take a grand total of TWO legit youngsters there, and arguably 5 of the 11, nearly half, are first team regulars. The way the media are going on you'd think they're regularly playing the likes of Marc Randall, Henri Lansbury, Nacer Barazite, Joe O'Cearuill, et al. Basically as a comparison to their direct roles it'd be this for Chelsea

Cudicini, Ferreira, Terry, Boulahrouz, Bertrand, Makelele, Essien, Mikel, Woods, Shevchenko, Kalou

Now if Chelsea had got to the final on that team, I ask you, would it be Mourinho's young guns?

[fernb8]

...went to mow a meadow

one man and his dog spot went to mow a meadow...












oops thought we having a little sing song here

[Miles Brasher]

This was posted on another message board which I think sums up this whole "kids" debate.

I think the point being is that the general age of the outfield players has been considerably lower than other teams have put out so they get labelled the kids.

As for the team last night, of the starting 11 only Toure and Gilberto would start in our strongest 11.

None of the following were involved last night and would in theory be higher up the pecking order than the other 9.

Henry
Baptista
RvP
Ljungberg
Hleb
Flamini(?)
Eboue
Djourou
Gallas
Lehmann

Hoyte, as I'm sure Monkee has mentioned, only plays when Ebuoe is injured
Henry wasn't even on the bench last night as your article says.
Fabregas is arguably our best player but given the discussion is about Arsenal playing the kids, and he's certainly young, he's justifiable
Mikel cost 14 mill not 4 mill
Adebayor only played because Baptista was injured, and if RvP is fit, is behind him and Henry.
Theo Walcott might have had a few games in the Prem, but he's certainly not 1st choice, and isn't even 18 ffs.

Given that the media have spent the last couple of years saying our squad is too small, it's ony right that they acknowledge that's no longer the case

[Middle Of The Shed]

...went to mow a meadow

one man and his dog spot went to mow a meadow...

oops thought we having a little sing song here

All the way to ten.

Doesn't quite have the same effect typed out though! ;)

[BridgeMonkee]

Miles is as usual as dubious as a Frenchman who says he was in the "resistance" :D



ten men went to mow






went to mow a meadow \0/


\0/ CHELSEA!!!

[fernb8]

All the way to ten.

Doesn't quite have the same effect typed out though! ;)


I dont have that much free time.

[yasik19]

i bet Wenger will field 2 or 3 youngsters and the rest will be the usual suspects.

[Miles Brasher]

i bet Wenger will field 2 or 3 youngsters and the rest will be the usual suspects.

It'll come down to the number of injuries we have at that point. If Gallas and Djourou are back, and Hleb and Ljungberg are back he can play around a bit. Despite it being the final he'll still be more concerned about the next PL or CL match.

[nicephoras]

Mikel cost 14 mill not 4 mill

Come now Miles.

[Miles Brasher]

Come now Miles.

Sorry, £16 mill not £14 mill for Mikel and £.3.4 mill for Denilson. But other than that good comparison.:rolleyes:

Oh apart from the fact that Denilson actually looked better than Obi Mikel :p

[BridgeMonkee]

It'll come down to the number of injuries we have at that point

Ah, bless, poor lickle arsenal...they have no money and injured lickle bones, poor young players snatched from the breasts of their mothers and forced into Wengers dressing room. . .how will they survive?

[Clan]

Sorry, £16 mill not £14 mill for Mikel and £.3.4 mill for Denilson. But other than that good comparison.:rolleyes:

Oh apart from the fact that Denilson actually looked better than Obi Mikel :p

Every time you post, his cost goes up :D

I think it's far too early to even try and predict what Whinger will do.

One thing for sure though, he won't play a side full of kids that'll get the club embarrassed in a cup final.
No matter what, there'll be bags of expierence in their side.

[RealMadGunner]

Just curious, do u guys think will Jose field an-almost first team ?! With the likes of Cech, Makelele, Drogba etc ?!

[Miles Brasher]

Just curious, do u guys think will Jose field an-almost first team ?! With the likes of Cech, Makelele, Drogba etc ?!

One thing for sure though, he won't play a side full of old men that'll get the club embarrassed in a cup final.
No matter what, there'll be bags of energy in their side.


:D