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Sunday, February 25, 2007

Young Gunners should be proud

As a Liverpool fan I was embarassed at our defeat at the hands of the Arsenal younsters in the Carling Cup. I thought that may have been a one off, but I was wrong. The Young Gunners went on to beat Spurs in the semi's and to be honest, they should have beaten Chelsea in today's final as well.

The pace, ability and sheer confidence they displayed today was a delight to watch. Ok so the brawl at the end was unsavoury to say the least but that should not dampen a great display by players who are merely kids.

I congratulate Chelsea for winning the season's first trophy. I have a feeling this may not be their last piece of silverware this season . . .

7 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

The players who played against Liverpool, Spurs and Chelsea make up the vast majority of Arsenal's first choice 16 (apart from Lehmann and Henry:

Almunia, Toure, Hoyte, Eboue, Senderos, Fabregas, Gilberto, Baptista, Rosicky, Aliadiere, Adebayor, Walcott, Hleb, Flamini and Clichy

11 of them played some part against Wigan and 2 of them were on the bench.

So please, stop this "Arsenal play their kids" lie. The Arsenal reserves or youth team did not play in the league cup games you mention.

2/25/2007 8:29 pm

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

forgot to add Denilson

2/25/2007 8:29 pm

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

as a lfc supporter, i predict that manure will slip up against us and chelsea, and in a few more of their ties.....chelsea will win the league and fa cup as well.....but not the cl.....porto seem to be a tricky side and a better one than last year and the year before.....chelsea will beat them however only to fall to a club like real madrid or milan.....

2/25/2007 8:34 pm

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i am a liverpool fan but arsenal fully deserved to win that cup they did put out a team of mostly kids truth only a few first team choices they will be huge and will win the prem many times in years to come as for the champions they have noting in years to come like liverpool deserved too lose

2/25/2007 11:16 pm

 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Please this Arsenal kids nonsense is getting too much agree with anonymous and have been saying this for sometime....yes they are young but have been regulars in the first 11 many other clubs have youngsters making up the core of their teams playing week in and out yet dont go harping about losing in the finals.......
As always another goon generation have learnt a vital lesson how to choke at the last hurdle but dont worry lets blame everyone else for it............

2/26/2007 5:41 am

 
Blogger RedsMan said...

I felt Arsenal fielded a less experienced side definitely in comparison to Chelsea who fielded a known starting 11. Traore instead of Clichy, no Flamini, Eboue, Henry, Hleb, Ljungberg, Lehmann, Gilberto, Adebayor and therefore not a strong Arsenal as it could have been. Nonetheless I suspect Arsene Wenger opted for pace through Walcott and Aliadiere mixed with the experience of Fabregas and Baptista and the marshalling of Toure as skipper and Senderos, both World Cup stalwarts, to help hold out the Blues.

When Diaby fashioned out a route for Walcott to move, it looked as if Arsenal would be too quick for Chelsea to handle, as the Blues seemed lethargic to string any form of pressuring attack in response to Arsenal passing it around and moving off the ball. But crucially Drogba beat the offside trap, that looked suspiciously to have caught him, to score. Then Chelsea began to get further into the game but lacked some impetus in pace why they brought on Robben at half time. And it worked as they began to push back on Arsenal much more to gain their second goal, Drogba moving quicker than Senderos to get in front for his header.

I'm glad for John Terry's recovery for it was a nasty moment as his brain took the shock of impact. I may have missed it but otherwise I felt Jose Mourinho or someone from Chelsea should have thanked Arsenal physio Gary Lewin for his immediate reaction in rushing on and having to slightly shove through to treat Terry, already familiar with Terry from the England camp. Terry had regained consciousness and returned to join the team in celebration.

As for the melee at the end, it was unsavoury for more than one reason as players should have conducted themselves better, particularly Toure as captain. He was rightly sent off for raised hands and a kick at Mikel, Mikel hadn't done anything other than tug on Toure prior to and deserved a yellow. Fabregas should have been dismissed for manhandling Lampard instead of a booking, as for Lampard I couldn't tell further his involvement so a booking was probably warranted.

Adebayor may have possibly had some involvement in Wayne Bridge lying on the ground and receiving treatment. One linesman had a word with referee Howard Webb before Webb dismissed the Togolese man so that was issued on advice. Adebayor may receive further punishment for his reaction and failing to leave the field appropriately.

Overall Arsenal began well and looked to grab hold of proceedings until Drogba sneaked away and dragged Chelsea back and in the second half Arsenal lacked enough bite in the Chelsea third to threaten Cech further why Chelsea gained their winning goal. The melee was usual so for me in football and definitely should be clamped down on but the only bad point in the final was Terry's injury.

As for "they have noting in years to come like liverpool deserved too lose" coming from a LFC fan, I doubt you really are.


RedsMan.

2/26/2007 8:18 am

 
Blogger T said...

Good stuff SKG, Redsman and Blindjak.

Been meaning to say thanks to SKG for sporting comments since I saw his post on Monday... this is a case of better late than never!

3/01/2007 9:39 pm

 

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