The Kids Can Stamp Down On Adebayor And Co.
Dec 1st, 2009 by 'holic
Welcome to December, and thank goodness November is over. Let’s hope we are able to draw a line under our last two Premiership performances, and kick on in the Carling Cup.
The trip to Eastlands looks on the face of it to be a tough ask of what is likely to be another young Arsenal side. On Wednesday morning the squad will be announced and could render a lot of what follows complete nonsense, so bear that in mind if you are foolhardy enough to consider copying the ‘holic pound!
Arsene Wenger wore a wry smile as he ventured “I believe we have a good mixture of experienced players and young players but we will play young players that is for sure. It will be a typical Carling Cup side“. The smile could hide a stronger than expected selection, given that we are assured that City will play a full first-team in a bid to book a semi-final berth. I think not though.
I see only one enforced change to the back four that did for Liverpool in the fourth round. Armand Traore should continue to stand in for the injured Kieran Gibbs. In the midfield I could envisage Samir Nasri making way for Jack Wilshere, although do not entirely rule out Denilson from being given at least an hour to continue his return to full match fitness. Carlos Vela could deputise for Nicklas Bendtner up front.
The game will provide an important test for those knocking on the first team door, or indeed those who may be looking to catch the eye of potential buyers. Whilst the likes of Aaron Ramsey, Fran Merida, and Wilshere will be looking to impress Le Boss, I’m sure that Kerrea Gilbert, Phil Senderos, and Mark Randall, if used, will be looking to impose themselves on quality opposition for altogether different reasons. Just keep your eyes peeled for those wayward size twelves, boys.
Much is made of the fact that City are on a run of seven consecutive top-flight draws against some of the Premiership’s lesser mortals. Those who consider our chances limited probably thought the same before we earned a thoroughly deserved victory against a more experienced Liverpool side in round four. Our last League Cup trip to Sky Blues resulted in a similarly unlikely win five years ago. Anybody remember Danny Karbassiyoon’s winner? I know I do.
Regular readers would be amazed if I said I didn’t think we could do it. I’ve taken the liberty of ordering an extra nerve-settling bottle of rum as it is not beyond the realms of possibility that this may go to a penalty shoot-out. The Tricky ‘holic pound likes the look of Paddy Power’s 13/5 for Carlos Vela to score at anytime. The little Mexican loves this competition, and one of the strikers has to stake a claim for a starting berth against Stoke on Saturday, so why not him?
I can’t help but admit that I am letting my heart lead my head on this one. There would be no finer photo opportunity than Emmanuel Adebayor trudging off with jubilant Gooners in the background. Just don’t forget though, if you are going, to give a rousing reception to Kolo Toure. His performances of late may suggest we offloaded him at the right time, but City’s captain was an invincible and may well be regarded as an Arsenal legend in years to come. Cheers big man.
49 Responses to “The Kids Can Stamp Down On Adebayor And Co.”
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stamp on their tits.
some sort of poncy cocktail for me ‘holic.
got a good feeling abt tomorows game.
I’ll just leave all the silly coloured ones on the bar, Samuel. Help yourself 🙂
I’m wavering between supreme pessimism and mild hope, dizzy!
Wavering between supreme pessimism and mild hope is perfectly ok holic, it’s all part of being an Arsenal supporter.
Is we Cornish, or Devonish, infiltrator, Mr Grockle?
What’s that brewery by the Designer Outlet Village in Swindon (the old GWR sheds), ‘holic?
I’ll have a pint of what they make please.
Was Archers, Snail. Went into administration earlier in the year. Damn shame. Had a pub locally where you could go and sup five of their brews, and a good night out it was too. 🙁
Bugger that. Any stock left?
Do you think I would be here… 😉
Play to win. Shoot where there is a chance of a goal. Stop trying to thread in the box where five to eight defenders are waiting.
The difference between Arsenal and other teams is the nnumber of passes.Yeah I know the gunners can outpass to the death any team .The problem is points are not awarded for this.The other problem is it gives the defenders time to regroup.It is obvious to all except our manager.
Another defeat will,in my opinion,lead AW to do some serious soul searching.Remember he once he said he had e world class talented kids at Arsenal.
Having wc kids is one thing. Performing at the epl is another. I regret that their potential,no doubt wc,have been given a rude awakening by Chelsea.
Pint of Meantine Pale Ale, please, ‘holic. Was in London last week, Landmark Hotel, and they served that at the mirror bar. Amazing, very hoppy but drinkable beer. Good pun name as well (the beer is from Greenwhich:p)… Just drank a Ribera del Duero Reserva 1998, was lovely, but want a beer. So pour me one.
What, this is a football blog? Oh… uhm… Arsenal to win! Wilshere to recreate the hype of the summer, and Vela to get a goal. Expect Fabianski to make wondersaves against the gangly git, but to make an enormous mistake and gift them a consolation. Expect to see some weird and samey clothing from Cesc and co….
Cheers!
We will be taken to the cleaners tomorrow and Wenger will have eggs on his face but why on earth should we care as long as he doesnt.
Wow, that was meant to be MeantiMe…. my mistake. The pun does not work with the spelling being Meantine.
Wow, Danish. One happy fellow. Might I suggest you respectfully agree to my request, which summises you to vacate the premises? AKA f-off.
If Senderos and the old French guy play God help us!!
Are you sucking on a lemon again, Danish? Chill man.
Good beer, haho, although you nearly crossed a line there 😉
2.45 PM kick-off here so I’ll need to take a longish lunch break to tune in, turn on, relax and float downstream. Very difficult one to read.
Would be great to see Vela and Walcott on from the start. Control of the mid-field will be key and I’d like to see Cesc, Song and Denilson with Wishere or Ramsey there. I thought I read that Merida was out because of his red card?
Is Fabianski fit yet?
Come on Young Guns. A win would boost the spirit in the camp no end.
I
I think Citeh will shit themselves. Kolo and Ade will know how good some of these lads are. They also know that if they do not get off to a good start that the crowd will get on their backs. Let’s not forget, this is a big competition for them. About as big as it gets.
A nice dop of Pedigree for me tonight holic. Just while I put my feet up and send some well thought up words to some spud buddies of mine.
Safe bet that pound on Vela me thinks. I’d put a handful of dollars on it myself if I could.
Looks like there’s a lot of head-scratching to choose the team. Almost everyone from the CC team and the epl team has been mentionned… I want us to win tomorrow but at the same time as long as we fight well I won’t hold it against the kids if Adebayor has his second good game of the season.
I reckon it’s 50-50, Citeh is not Chelski but the kids aren’t the first team either.
I’m pretty sure we’ll see Vela, Walcott and Eduardo at some stage, rightfully so as we need them fit as fast as possible.
Come on you kids, make us proud!
Batrender, a wee glass of vodka to keep a cool head!
I’m thinking Fabianski is in, BtM, behind Gilbert, Senderos, Silvestre, and Traore. (sorry, neville, see last round).
Denilson or Eastmond mopping behind four from Walcott, Ramsey, Merida, Wilshere, Vela;
and Eduardo or Sanchez Watt up front.
There, I can’t resist giving a worthless team prediction:
Fabianski
Eboue – Senderos – Silvestre – Traore
Ramsey – Eastmond – Wilshere
Walcott – Eduardo – Vela
Merida’s red card will prevent him to play tomorrow:
It looks like Kerrea Gilbert is out in January so I don’t think he’ll play ahead of Eboue.
Then Arsene said we would see Eastmond and Wilshere.
I kinda feel sorry for Coquelin and Frimpong as they are both deserving. Perhaps Eastmond will go back to RB and Coquelin will mop up.
I know Arsene rates Denison highly ( as I do) but I doubt he will feature unless things go awry.
hears an idea. why not give some homegrow players a go, willshire eastmand etc . bound to be better than the bunch of pussies who disgraced arsenal fc on sunday . at least they will put a tackle in. wenger out along with his nursery school project
You’re a mile off the markk. A spud guest visitor perchance?
I should Rosicky should start instead of eduardo who can come later on with Nasri on the bench Mozart was out best player last sunday
it will be the right team for Carling cup just see how Mancs played a perfect mix last night and got the result against spuds
Just a word to the travelling gooners. As much as we all hate Ade, just dont piss him off.. We dont want a motivated Ade against our second string defence!!
Just read that AW is entering the transfer market. I think its a ploy to deflect the pressure on him.If he announces he wants to buy player x the price will rise.
In truth he is responsible for all the problems at Arsenal. This sort of thing has been happening the last four to five years eg the goalkeeper is aproblem area. Yet he trusts Alumunia.The densive midfielder since the departure has not beem adequately replaced .Walcott,Vela and Eduardo are midgets in the land of giants.
Seriously he has to address the problem areas at Arsenal before swooping to sign precocious Brazil kids of wc potential.
We have enough of these kids and he better know his philosophy will backfire and even if the gunners were to win the cl,a long shot,they maybe unable to defend it due the qualification citeria.
I’m pretty pessimistic about our chances tonight. Seems to me our FIRST team has had difficulty with Citys game plan of fast counter attacks. How the hell do we expect our second string to cope, with a central defensive partnership of Senderos and Silvestre…
Yes, that’s right soccerfan, it was Arsene himself who went and injured all of those players. His part in the conflict in Afghanistan cannot be overlooked, his record in relation to global warming is none too clever, and how pissed must he have been to have wrapped Tiger Woods car round that tree?
If I can persuade Ivan to sack him would you be interested in the job? You sound like you really have a firm grasp on reality. Now lean back and let the nice nurse give you your injection, there’s a good patient.
‘even if the gunners were to win the cl,a long shot,they maybe unable to defend it due the qualification citeria.’
I do love how all the ‘we won’t make the top four!’ doom-mongers are currently coming out of the woodwork again.
BtM, I wish I had posted this yesterday because Tomorrow Never Knows. Damn those hippies.
Matt, thanks for reminding me about Fran. I watched the bloody game as well. Bloody alzheimers 😉
Actually you were prescient 😉 as it turns out Merida’s ban kicks in after the game. In which case it will be very likely we’ll see him on the pitch.
‘Holic, once again you fail to give full credit where it’s due.
You omit the clever strategising that AW did with Tony Blair pre the invasion of Iraq. His role in 2006 Tsunami isn’t mentioned. And his tactical tip to Obama to use the internet as a key differentiator in the recent US election is overlooked completely. Tut-tut, you need to raise your game, barman. Young soccerfan’s brain cell clearly needs nourishment.
Oh yes, and Snail will testify to this, it was Arsenes himself who gave another clue to us all and revealed that the Walrus was, in fact, Paul.
A Penny Black for me from the kids at Eastlands tonight please. I think that’s as substamptial as I can be.
Enjoy the game, ‘Holics.
Sorry BtM, my recent historical studies are clearly incomplete.
Good to see you making an attempt at the end there. I think we will give them a good licking on the back of said stamping 🙂
…although we may be relying on the post to help out a bit. 😉
If we play extra time tonight, and Chavski don’t, both our and Chavski’s players will be in the same VIP departure lounge at Manchester airport for the flight home. (Thanks Reggie at UK Charter).
Could be interesting given Sundays result?!
My money’s on big Phil doing a belly flop 😉
More nervous about this one due to the affect it would have on our seemingly egg shell like confidence, and the fact that losing to Adeb…..’s lot would really hurt, than exiting the CC.
Wenger has so many things right, our best manager ever, but I think a fair question would be why does one defeat (or even a conceded goal) seem to completely scramble the team’s brains? Repeatedly.
Will raise a glass and tuck into some chorizo to all of you making the trip…
A cup of tea on the go and pondering how people think it is impossible to balance a first team and get in youngsters at the same time. When that Wellington Silva fella we have supposedly just signed comes to Arsenal, assuming he will have the obligatory 2 years in Spain- van Persie and Eduardo will be 30. Football is a cyclical game and we are at the start of our Ashburton/London Colney/Hale End rotation.
Hmmm I got it all wrong: neither Walcott nor Eddie are included so it’s Sanchez Watt and Vela spearheading the team.
And arsenal.com makes it look like Song will play.
GO GUNNERS!
I’ll be bakk (Arnold-style) after the game but, as of now, watching it, isn’t Silvestre doing a bloody good job with regards to his speed? He kinds of solves everything at the moment, even dangerous tackles in the box and surges out to stop counters. I’m impressed.
I’m going to put it like this – he doesn’t have that much pace and it looks kind of dangerous all the time but that experience really shines through. He does SOLVE it in the end. So, no, I don’t want him against Drogba, but hey, he does kind of keep City mostly quiet.
Might well change this opinion…
…I have
Well, I’ll just have another glass of red and a cigarette methinks and we’ll all talk about this later. No biggie. We lost, fairly, had a few chances, still believe we could have won this 1-0 with a bit of luck and less pushing (ie space for counters from City) but that’s the way it goes. Here’s to a win this weekend!
I think Silvestre went off the boil very quickly. Why he was self-appointed playmaker I haveno idea. He kept giving the ball away and putting us under pressure. Thought we looked poor all round. Too little experience for me. Thought Song had a good game but for taking out Wilshere and letting Bellamy through. We lacked invention, didn’t think Rosicky looked sharp, and Vela looked unable to get the better of any of the defenders. 442 would have been better for us. We looked too confused in the midfield, which made Ramsey look ordinary. Overall 4/10 and that’s generous.
Now that Song has been booked a 5th time, he’s out for Stoke on Saturday.
I’d say 2 players were clearly above the cut: Vela and Song even if he was at fault on the first goal.
2 more OK: Fabianski (should have done better on the second goal) and Wilshere.
Roskicki, Ramsey, Merida and Eastmond either lost or gave the ball away too easily. Considering how poor the midfield performed the other lines can’t be blamed too much.
Silvestre didn’t do that bad, he’s at fault for the last goal but not the other 2.
I’m left wondering: why did we play Song instead of Senderos? Why didn’t we play Walcott and Eddie who need games to get back on tracK?
The most positive part about all this is that Citeh will now be fired up to try and beat Chelski this week-end.
Anyway all this is a diversion. We have to and get battle-ready and win against Stoke.