Tough Opener For Carling Cup Gunners
Sep 24th, 2007 by 'holic
I have to confess to being easily bought! Until last season I have been fairly ambivalent about our progress in a competition that has been sponsored at various times by, among others, the Milk Marketing Board, Littlewoods, and Coca-Cola.
Carling changed that to an extent last season when they made sponsors hospitality packages available to the fans of the competing clubs in the Final. Of course the progress of the young Gunners to that Final also helped considerably.
I suspect a number of you are like me. When the draw for the opening couple of rounds is made you hope the kids will be able to cope with lower league opposition likely to be at full strength.
This season the draw has decreed that big Sam Allardyce and his new club, Newcastle United, will provide the initial test. Arsenal have home advantage, and astute ticket prices at just a tenner have ensured a full-house.
The Geordies currently have a Premiership nosebleed, sitting in fifth place, just five points behind leaders Arsenal. Once again we will fear for the home team who are likely to give first starts of the season to young Polish goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski, new midfielder Lassana Diarra, and young Danish striker Niklas Bendtner.
With Emmanuel Eboue poised to return I could imagine Theo Walcott being switched to the left side of a Diarra/Denilson central pairing in midfield. Bendtner could possibly be partnered by Eduardo in attack. The tie could well be decided by the performance of Arsenal back four, likely to include Alex Song, Justin Hoyte, Armand ‘knuckleduster’ Traore, and one other, maybe the seventeen year old Norwegian, Havard Nordtveit?
At the best of times I would caution you about following the ‘holic pound. For a match such as this you should definitely follow your own gut instinct. I have a sneaking suspicion this will go to extra time, and maybe penalties. I haven’t checked the odds but 2-2 after ninety minutes should yield a decent price.
Regardless of the outcome I hope that those of you who are going who cannot normally get tickets to the Grove enjoy your evening. Make a real atmosphere, lots of singing, no mexican waves, and any abusive songs about fat Russians should be belted out at full volume!
6 Responses to “Tough Opener For Carling Cup Gunners”
Arsenal.com have the reserve side down to play Lewes on the 26th, away.
Expect a full team for the Carling Cup game.
I enjoyed last year’s Carling Cup run tremendously. It would be a surprise to get knocked out this early, and would put a damper on the plan to collect four trophies this season. The Carling Cup and FA cup might be the only chance for players like Armand Traore to get some games. With all the good form across the team, you wouldn’t expect Arsene to disrupt the side for EPL or CL games.
John, it’s far more likely that the Reserve side will be made up of more youth players than Wenger play a full strength team against N’castle. There was a reserve game coming up when we played Spurs in the LC last season and the average age of the reserve team that night was 17!
Real shame it’s not on the television. I wouldn’t usually say that about the Carling Cup but last season’s campaign was immensely enjoyable – it gave us a chance to see some of our brightly talented youngsters and they really were something special.
Last season, we had a bit of a tough run and because we did well there’s a lot of optimism about the Arsenal fans. This won’t be easy though. We’ve still a strong team but Newcastle will likely be at full strength.
Hate to sit on the fence but I wouldn’t be surprised if it wouldn’t either way.
ATID, you are linking to a WordPress registration page. grab it quick if you are thinking of blogging under that name. Thanks for visiting.
Update, I’ve found you and amended the link. Good luck with that.
I bet I put Arsenal ‘Til I die. Keep making that mistake. Cheers for the correction and vote of confidence.