Young Guns Win One And Lose One on Same Night
Dec 10th, 2008 by 'holic
A great performance by the youngsters away from home in a tricky cup tie, but enough of the youth team, who twice came from behind to defeat Aston Villa 3-2 at Villa Park in the FA Youth Cup. Some of their mates endured a different night altogether as Porto earned a thoroughly deserved 2-0 Champions League triumph.
No complaints here. It would be easy to be critical of the usual suspects, but also a bit of a cheap shot. The senior players did not impress in any way shape or form in Portugal, but to be fair the spine of the side once again was changed in its entirety.
It would be interesting to see just how the likes of Ramsey, Vela, and Wilshere would perform if they were in a side that included the spine of Toure, Fabregas, and Adebayor. Instead they were added to players who are searching for form and confidence. I wonder what they really learned tonight?
It was a gamble worth taking, with qualification for the last sixteen assured, and a tricky visit to the Riverside on Saturday lunchtime ahead. It didn’t work out as we would have liked, but looking at the winners of the other groups you may consider being second this season is not as costly as it might otherwise have been. If we can avoid Barca and Bayern I think we will be a good bet for the last eight.
I will probably be posting briefly, if at all for the next week. The management has undergone an operation today so I will be busy elsewhere for a short while. Shame we didn’t get a result in Portugal to cheer her up, but I have texted the news of the big result of the night. Well done the under-18’s!
19 Responses to “Young Guns Win One And Lose One on Same Night”
Best to the management. Jameson with ice, please.
Not good last night, despite the absentees. Showed how much we need to add to our squad in January.
Good luck to the management/
who are our possible opponents?
A bottle of port as an early Christmas present? Why, thank you.
It’s really all about the match on Saturday. Fingers crossed Cesc will be fit.
Linked with a couple of players from Lille also. What’s that coming over the horizon? Transfer madness…
Cheers blogs, large one on the house.
Thanks eie too. We can play Roma, Panathinaikos, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, or Juve. Not a disaster by any means, I think.
Poor, poor, poor: but with that starting line-up we couldn`t really expect much better, especially with Vela starting wide left. The big question though, is who the hell has now got Eboue`s shirt!
I hope we get any of them bar panathinaikos as we may underestimate them whereas we would be underdogs against the rest and most probably beat them. Still if we play as badly as tonight agains any team we will lose. What dissapointed me more than anything was the fact we could not even play for the draw we needed to top the group. Same basic mistakes which keep reoccuring. When will the penny drop with these players and management.
At least all those people who cryed that Eboue was being played out of position and was one of the “BEST” right backs in the C.L. will now go back to the funny farm
All the best wishes to the management, ‘holic. Hope everything is all good.
Cheers.
What an AWFUL way to lose, We looked HOPELESS. Maybe as an Arsenal Fan-a-tic I am overly crtical but it hurts when you witness your team playing so INEPTLY!!!
Lets see some STEEL, STYLE & GOALS on Saturday!
So is Wenger saying that his best players cant play two games in a week ? If he is what a load of bullocks.They are paid a kings ransom and cant perform consistently over two games for their employee.I really, really hate the modern day footballer.
Not much to feel great about in Portugal tonight. A lot of possession in mid-field. One shot by Ramsey for their keeper to save. The mandatory set piece give away goal at our end. Real lack of fight in their half. Was Simpson on the bench? I would have brought him on for Bendtner.
I thought Ramsey did OK and will have benefited from the experience. Vela worked hard showed some good touches without ever either creating a real chance or getting himself into a really dangerous position. Denilson had a good game. Song blew hot and cold. Neither Bendy or Diaby did themselves any favours in terms of mounting a real challenge as justified starters.
Tonight showed the lack of depth in the squad. Also showed Silvestre will likely only feature for this one season. Gallas looked very disinterested. I won’t be surprised if he leaves in January.
Regards to management for a speedy and full recovery, holic.
Massively poor and massively disappointing in my view. It was always going to be disjointed, but the standard of passing was dreadful. I have moaned several times on here about leaders and I am going to do it again. I get really pissed off when there are players in that side who should be helping young players deal with occasions like that. I fully accept that players have off days. I also accept that some may not be as good as others. But that in no way excuses those entrusted with the task of leading others through a tricky tie for doing bugger all. I was really disappointed with the likes of Gallas and Silvestre. I want to see so called senior players taking control of situations. I mean, what is the point in having the best kids in the land, if when they get on the pitch there is no one there to guide them? There is no excuse for it in my opinion and I am rapidly getting very bored with it. We were completely rudderless tonight and that is just not good enough.
Positives on the night included Ramsay who I thought at least tried to create and put himself about. Diaby had a decent start to the game. Then a shocking lapse at the back and all of a sudden he just melted. Wilshere was the real bright spark for me. He was positive in his running, unforgiving in the tackle and showed a lot more fight than some players nearly twice his age. And is it me or does Bendtner just look as if he feels he is so much better than he really is? His first touch tonight was a pass. Shocking. He just looked as if he was sulking for most of the game. We were also so narrow and lacked so much pace. I would seriously conisder involving Wilshere on Saturday. He seems the only one we have available that is prepared to actually run at people.
All I can say is that best they sort their lives out before Saturday. We really do need a positive result and performance at Boro.
Best wishes to the other half Holic. Hope all is well.
Up The Gunners
I wouldn’t mind Bayern though.. We owe them one.. And this seems the right time..
Nice to see bendtner clapping to the fans….. but if I was him I would have made a quick exit after such a poor showing. Jack Wiltshire again impressed with at least a passionate showing but the game left me feeling very frustrated with minimal shots on goal.
Best wishes to Mrs ‘holic.
Not worried about who we get in the next round, a lot can happen between now and then.
Bugger.
Only consolation is that Porto looked very good IMO. That bloke Rodriguez down the left – wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up playing for us in a few months, a la Eduardo.
The worst of it was the weak and feeble way we consistently gifted them possession. Poor passes here and there, but more often than that players running straight at Porto players and inviting easy tackles by not shielding the ball. It made you realise that Cesc’s most important skill is not the 40-yard pass but the touch just before it when he turns away from the defender to give himself a yard of space.
Diaby, Song, Bendtner and Denilson had stinkers, with Gallas and Silvestre not far behind. Bendtner’s version of holding the ball up is to ping it straight back 20 yards to the bloke who just passed it up to him, leaving us no better off. At times we were too inept to get out of our own half.
All Arsenal’s passes were between 5 and 20 yards. When Randall came on in the last few minutes we started at last to see a different passing range that instantly opened up space.
All the best to the management and to you, ‘holic
Best of luck to Mrs. `holic.
I like the way Wilshere, Gibbs, and Randall came on and tried to play the way they played in the Carling cup tie against Wigan. It was too bad that the others around them were not interested.
good luck to the managment from the dizzy gang in spain holic. fizzy water for me