The Spurs, for once, got everything right against the Gunners.
Arsenal failed to impose themselves in any department—defence, midfield, and up front.
The Gunners were so badly overrun, it was unbelievable!
Their performance was so bad that I could not help but laugh. But what was more hilarious was that Arsenal got the equalizer—when with the chances the Spurs were given, they could have taken home a bagful of goals from the Emirates.
Arsenal were down and out for the entire 90 minutes, but somehow managed to grind out a neutral result. I've never seen the young and experienced Gunners side put up such a horrible performance. However, all's well that ends (reasonably) well.
After such a below-par performance, will Wenger stick with the team or do we change to our strongest squad? My guess would be for the status quo. Wenger believed that the Carling Cup is a chance for the young Gunners to shine. They have come this far together, and if they lose, they go down together. It is the right way to look at it, keeping the future in mind.
Big lessons would be learnt, and it has been a while since the final a year ago, which Arsenal were unlucky to lose, dominating the game but leaving their finishing boots at home.
If you have a long unbeaten streak like Arsenal, you tend to feel an air of invincibility surrounds you, and once that happens you don't give your full 100 percent on the field. Hopefully, this team has realized that from this performance.
What does the future hold for the Gunners?
Say goodbye to Gilberto. He was the backbone of last season's team. However, this season things have not gone his way, with Flamini firing so spectacularly. Gilberto is now 32, it and looks like his Arsenal days are numbered. He played horribly last night, and as a result, the midfield was non-existent.
People say Denilson is the next Fabregas, but he has a long way to go to match the Spaniard's play. Denilson could not get into the game at all last night, and was completely overrun by an empowered Spurs squad. It will take a couple of seasons for him to earn his place in the starting lineup.
Walcott could not hold the ball for more than five seconds, and was extremely frustrating to watch. It seems like he always picks the wrong pass, and he had a particularly bad day yesterday. Not the first time he's done this!
Traore performed pretty well, was moving lively up and down the pitch, and at least got a look in. He was always in action—unlike Denilson, or even Gilberto. Decent performance.
Overall, the kids are all right. What they are lacking at the moment someone to lead them. Gilberto failed at this last night, and there was no one else to look up to for the raw, young guns. Who will be the next general of the team?
Last season the young guns were blazing, but the first team was a let down. Today's game showed that Wenger should rethink his Cup strategies.
Agree/disagree? Cheers!
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9 months ago
Spurs were the better side from every angle, and they shud have won the game.
The kids were the luckiest on earth last night to go away with a point, s Defoe missed a sitter.
However, the tie can still change to Arsenal's way, coz they have Adebayor and Eduardo at their disposal. So, anything can happen.
looking forward to the second leg though..
nice read btw
9 months ago
were you watching the same game? it wasn't arsenal playing badly it was spurs playing well! and even then the only big difference was chanches, it was a fantastic match very different from the usual all-out scraps between the teams.i felt this was a poorly written article, you didnt even mention berbatov who was breathtaking at times or the level of commitment shown by everyone on the pitch. denilson showed some good touches but without his anchor man supporting him what could he do, to say he was overran is a massive overstatement, his main downfall was his poor set-pieces which again you didnt mention. and before you say it id write a report on the game but i can't be bothered as the editing on this website is is doing my tits in. Thanks again alberti
9 months ago
n.b how could it be disappointing to draw after scoring against the run of play and being 1-0 down for 40 minutes??
from 9 months ago
1 - This was not exactly a match report. This was a report of what i thought of the YOUNG GUNNERS performance.
2 - It was disappointing to be run over by another team for 90 mins and scoring a lucky goal.
3 - The editing here has RAPED this piece. It does not even come close to how the article started out. Quite funny actually.
4 - I am an Arsenal fan. But i am not biased against good football. I do hate it when Arsenal play bad football.
What is the ruckus all about?
9 months ago
Compare this match report article to http://tinyurl.com/2c54cx and you can quickly see how bush-league BleacherReport is . The only reason I read anything on this site is because of links from Facebook.
Quality over quantity BR. Getting a bit tired of really shitty articles over here...
from 9 months ago
1 - This was not exactly a match report. Go to BBC or goal.com for those. This was a report of what i thought of the YOUNG GUNNERS performance.
2 - It was disappointing to be run over by another team for 90 mins and scoring a lucky goal.
3 - The editing here has RAPED this piece. It does not even come close to how the article started out. Quite funny actually.
4 - I am an Arsenal fan. But i am not biased against good football. I do hate it when Arsenal play bad football.
What is the ruckus all about?
9 months ago
This was the worst Arsenal - Tottenham derby I have ever seen. And I think it was the Gunners' fault. They just didn't match their previous performances in Carling Cup. Last year, for example, they crushed Liverpool 7:4, again with the young players.
Arsenal players looked tired in the second half. They didn't have a single scoring opportunity except for the goal, and a large part of the game was played in front of their goal. The Spurs are not used to such play because they do not have the creative players to break a well-organized defense. Berbatov was the only one who had ideas how to reach the goal but neither Defoe nor Lennon nor Jenas nor Malbranque nor any of the others seemed able to understand his ingenious thrtough passes. Although Tottenham were the better team, they just didn't deserve to win.
from 9 months ago
mate where u smoking crack when u watched the game? the game was played at a ridiculous pace in the first half then settled down into a more technique based game in the second, thats why is was such a good game because the matches tend to be really scrappy. malbranque was excellent, lennon isnt there to play defence splitting passes hes a winger, his service was limited and he did well whenever he got his foot on the ball. how you can describe the team who have scored the most goals this season as lacking creativity is quite ridiculous
9 months ago
1 - This was not exactly a match report. This was a report of what i thought of the YOUNG GUNNERS performance.
2 - It was disappointing to be run over by another team for 90 mins and scoring a lucky goal.
3 - The editing here has RAPED this piece. It does not even come close to how the article started out. Quite funny actually.
4 - I am an Arsenal fan. But i am not biased against good football. I do hate it when Arsenal play bad football.
What is the ruckus all about?
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