anyone going tomorrow? i'll be making tracks at about 1pm ish.. if any uk based gooners or anyone from this board going, fancy a pint somewhere before and after? if so leave some response here pm or whatever and we'll get something sorted out. heres to facing bolton in the final cheers!
Picked to loose? Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but, the team that went on the field tonight was doomed from the start! The only way we were going to score was from a set piece or a 30 yard drive, and Edu came close with a drive before scoring from a set piece! The lack of experience and tactical naivete up front meant this team had no teeth. For all our possession, no one was penetrating down the flanks or through the middle. This left us playing "ping-pong" with the ball in a congested midfield; perfect for an opportunists like Juninho. For all his skill, Bentley lacked pace and strength. The strength will come, but, pace...? Reyes might be able to impress in La Liga and may well be able to perform magic, when surrounded by our 1st choice team, but, in tonights company he showed why the EPL is the toughest league in Europe, if not the World. His decision making was slow and he was frequently muscled off the ball with embarassing ease (looked a bit Pires and Henry when they 1st arrived!). His own goal was almost as good as Lauren's against City; Stack never had a chance! Bentley and Reyes rarely followed play into the penalty area; no 'fox in the box' there? Would've helped if there'd been someone to follow in! Edu was imperious, my MOTM (Stack was very close 2nd), but, where were the rest of the old guard? Parlour, Vieira and Cole all had to play more offensively than usual, but, we were into the 2nd half before this seemed to fully sink in. Paddy did step into the breach and it was a joy to watch, but, the breach was already too wide! Cygan's going to come in for some criticism, but, I think he was forced to play higher up the field after MK was dismissed and that made his job tougher. I missed the 1st 5 mins and spent the whole match trying to figure out who was left back and who left mid between Clichy and Cole? The shape of the whole team was a bit of a blur! For my money we would have had a much better chance if we'd started with Quincy Owusu-Abeyie, instead of Reyes. A blunt instrument with limited effectiveness, young Quincy's runs would at the very least have opened up more space for the rest of the attack to operate in? Friends, Gooners and Arsenal fans I come to bury Keown not to praise him. In the absence of injuries, I would be suprised if we ever see him in another competitive first team match! Is this curtains for the last of the old rear guard?
heres to the final :d http://www.millenniumstadium.com/vs...121913-123218-15436-49016-custom-item,00.html
oh yeah, boro have never ever in their whole entire history been to a final! being a gooner i now know my way round cardiff and the millenium stadium very well! good luck to ya mate..... but okocha WILL rip u apart! oh well.... ill just have to wait to the fa cup final till having to make my journey to cardiff.... thats if im not still in germany from the chamopions league final! lol
arsenal reserves got beat 2-1! silly notherners..... hahaha once you get that cup final out of the way u can go back to the relgation battle.... but seriously, good luck to ya on the 29th
we can only beat whats infront of us and vieira,toure,cole,reyes(bestbuy),cygan,parlor, edu not really reserves are they
yeah but stack, clichy, bentley, quincy do. that team have never played together before, so dont know what each other are like! its all very well sticking loads of good players together but getting them to work with each other is somthing else.... as, to be hounest, boro proove week in week out! so many fab players, but yet a *#*#*#*# team! catch my drift?
we had 2 of our best players side lined too in ugo and the boat.... and im sure as we change our team EVERY week without fail, that team hadnt played together before.
Lad, any wonder as to why you only have nicked us in the carling cup and not ANY other competition? sure this would(could) of added a possible trophy in the case this year but i think we have wee bigger aspirations....... phishy~ im personally hopin Bolton gets some silverware~
This thread is silly. Why not just congratulate 'Boro (and Lad) on beating us and reaching the Final? What's the point in agruing about who started or not? The game is won on the pitch, and they won fair and square. They were the better team over 2 legs, end of story. 'Lad, good luck in the final against Bolton, who are one of the teams I despise most in the league.
1) i paid a pub tab of 100 quid (The Saddle) 2) got into a pub fight in farnworth, in which i had to deal with the local police... sucked! but i do love jay jay okocha!
yeah the final is two afta the african nations finish and at this rate nigeria aint gunna be in the final so he'll be back in plenty of time!
Congrats to 'Boro. We had a side good enough to win and they beat that side, so they deserved to go. Most 'Boro fans are smart enough to put the whole semi in perspective. I'm hoping they beat Bolton. I can't stand Allardyce ever since he kicked us off the pitch last season and had his team injure 3 players in 5 minutes. Let 'Boro have their day. Some of us are sounding lke Man Utd fans. Boro PLEASE beat Bolton.
i understand that the games would have been completely different and most likely we would have struggled if you had the likes of pires,henry,campbell etc playing. I was just getting annoyed at the people who were patronising the competition, but come may and if arsenal havent won anything, (not that i think they won't but just for the sake of me talking), how many would regret not taking this competition as seriously as you probably should have. and i hope we can oblige and beat bolton
Boro lad, we need to find you some friends on the Boro forum so you leave us alone with your vicious Carling Cup taunts. Seriously though, to answer your question....even if Arsenal end up with no trophies at the end of the season, I will honestly say that I'm fine with the "level of gravitas" with which Wenger took the Carling Cup. It's not because I think the competition is worthless but because we have such a crowded schedule and not a very deep team compared to ManYoo and Chelsea, Wenger needs to pick times when he can rest some of the normal starting XI. The Carling, unfortunately, has to be one of those times. Furthermore, in fairness to your squad, our lineup (which you've pointed out) wasn't a bunch of nobodies. They just played poorly (so I've heard, didn't see it), got a man sent off and that was that.