Carling Cup: Arsenal 2 - 1 Liverpool Post Match Grumble

The main downside for me is not that we're out of the competition but that there will now be less opportunities for the youngsters / fringe players to get a game

Negatives:
-Babel
-Plessis
-Voronin (to a much lesser extent than the two previous)
-Subs came on too late.

Positives
- Aquilani made his debut, and looked impressive
- Degen
- N'gog
- Center backs
- Insua's wondergoal.

cetral defence was crap..spearing won't be able for the step up.. the difference when aqualani came on was very evident. Also Babel looks like he has thrown in the towel for liverpool.. Voronin was average but still had his best few mins for liverpool.Degan and Insua look good going forward but defensively are very poor.
In honesty the game means nothing..
I would have preferred to see aqualani start and get a full half and be taken off at half time..

Before we played the Mancs and looked at the next few fixtures I said this is the one we could afford to lose if we are to lose any because after all it is the least important.

Sure it would have been good to go on and win it but I would rather us be out of this than the title race or Europe.

Fair few positives to take from this game, like the performance of N'Gog, he looked much more confident going into this game. Also seeing Insua get off the mark in spectacular fashion and Aquilani make his debut and he played some very good passes, especially the one out to Degen.

This match also showed that some players just aren't good enough, I.e. Babel and Voronin. They don't perform when we play our big guns and they done even worse against a bunch of youngsters. They both had great chances to get it back to 2-2 but they fu**ed them up.

I wouldn't get too down beat about this game, more important game at the weekend IMO.

MOTM? I don't know. I was most impressed by Ngog, Degen, Insua and Aquilani. Soti wasn't bad either, but those four.

Someone else said it...I don't know if I can defend Babel anymore. I want him to do well, but time after time it's the same thing. the only one left mystified by his technique is himself.

Aquilani will have Lucas shitting himself. I know it was twenty minutes, but they were twenty inspired minutes.EDIT: by Aquilani.

Joke
Babel
Voronin

The rest did alright, Degen and Aquilani played best. Benayoun and Kuyt were invisible which is a bit frightening as they are regular first teamers.

*Looks at score. Looks at side on the field. Looks at name of competition. Shrugs*

Aquilani was really the only thing I looked forward to about the game, and it looks like he was promising. Other than that, always have a hard time caring about this cup. Never like to see Liverpool lose but it isn't a big loss. And a lot better than the 6-3 result a few years ago.

Bring on Fulham!!!

sh*t Cup, so I'm not too bothered. I want them to concentrate on the League.

Liked Aquilani..Looked fit, had good presence out on the pitch. Very Impressed.

Defence.....What can I say.   sh*t set play, sh*t defending all around. I noticed a lot of guys "Standing" around and not attacking.  I dont get it. They teach 5 year olds in Youth Leagues better defense tactics than we were showing.  Oh well.  F**k It!

We'll see at Fulham and see if we can take the Man United win into the weekend.  

Babel was awful. Should have buried that chance.
Voronin was awful. Silly mistake for their goal and any chance that came his way he just wasted.
Kuyt was good defensively but going forward yet again he was poor.
Plessis wasn't great either. Played very slow and simply.
Spearing was alright. Passed it well and got stuck in. Could have done a bit better in the final third.

Ngog was very good IMO. Worked hard, created chances and caused the Arsenal defence lots of problems. Can't believe he was taken off.
Degen was good, made some cracking runs. Should have scored early on though.
Aquilani was pretty good too. Contributed more than our other central midfielders in just 15 minutes. Some cracking passes from the lad.

All in all, I can't really say I'm surprised with the result. And yet again Rafa makes the changes too late. Yossi should have been on long ago.

Cav - bit rash at times.
Degen - few decent runs but didn't put the ball into the box quickly enough
Skrtel - no wonder he's been dropped for Agger
Greek - didn't do much at all
Insua - quality strike, not much else throughout the game.
Kuyt - sh*t going forward (as usual) but offered some cover from their set pieces.
Spearing - didn't do too much to get hyped up about but was always looking for the ball.
Plessis - waste of space.
Babel - should never be allowed to play for the club again.
Ngog - put himself about and worked hard.
Voronin - some decent touches and passes.
Benayoun - didn't see him.
Aquilani - one decent pass and a good effort with the overhead.
Ecclestone - wasn't on long enough, but for when he was should of been up front since he is a forward.

Overall, too many passengers today. Another year passes where we won't be adding to our 7 League Cups. Disappointing and "oh it's only the Carling Cup" won't wash because it's another defeat. 4 out of 5 games we've lost now. It may 'only' be the Carling Cup but this is a chance for those to impress, they didn't. That, along with the result itself, is what's disappointing. If we get injuries, these are the players we're bringing in and F**k me if that's our squad we're in sh*t street.

Must admit i was disappointed with Spearing looked very average

Cav - bit rash at times.
Degen - few decent runs but didn't put the ball into the box quickly enough
Skrtel - no wonder he's been dropped for Agger
Greek - didn't do much at all
Insua - quality strike, not much else throughout the game.
Kuyt - sh*t going forward (as usual) but offered some cover from their set pieces.
Spearing - didn't do too much to get hyped up about but was always looking for the ball.
Plessis - waste of space.
Babel - should never be allowed to play for the club again.
Ngog - put himself about and worked hard.
Voronin - some decent touches and passes.
Benayoun - didn't see him.
Aquilani - one decent pass and a good effort with the overhead.
Ecclestone - wasn't on long enough, but for when he was should of been up front since he is a forward.

Overall, too many passengers today. Another year passes where we won't be adding to our 7 League Cups. Disappointing and "oh it's only the Carling Cup" won't wash because it's another defeat. 4 out of 5 games we've lost now. It may 'only' be the Carling Cup but this is a chance for those to impress, they didn't. That, along with the result itself, is what's disappointing. If we get injuries, these are the players we're bringing in and F**k me if that's our squad we're in sh*t street.

Do you only breathe negativity?

F**k me.

We'll tw*t these cu*ts twice in the league, they are lightweight.

Couple of things,

This particular Arsenal Side only play in this Cup Competition, and the early parts of the FA Cup, so they are rested, and well up for these games.

There 2nd team is better than ours.

Babel and Voronn are very average/poor.

I'm only disappointed by three things, one we lost and two, I got the Prediction League Wrong, and three, the Different spellings of Aquilani.

Quote from Rafa:
"I haven't seen it but Aquilani told me it was a penalty. Anyway, you can't change it now. It's disappointing to have lost but we saw some quality and it was a good game with chances for both teams. Aquilani showed quality - his match fitness is something he can only improve by playing games. Hopefully he can have a big impact on our season."

Ferguson Take NOTE. Defeat with Dignity.

Beginning to think Voronin sees himself as a second Dirk in that he apears to want to play more of a supporting role than as a striker, very reluctant to shoot at times. Thing is we already got Kuyt to do that and he's far better at it.

Really pissed off with Plessis and Babel.  Babel was just typically useless but Plessis was far too slow and once an Arsenal player ghosted past him he stopped and looked on - key example being their second goal when he let his player past and stood on the edge of the box!!!  Needs a good kick up the backside rather than a new contract!!

The FA cups ours this year anyway, we wont get draws quite as hard as this me thinks.

I have been backing him but i don't think he'll improve, babel s sh*t, voronin(what burns me the most is to see him wearing our #10, he's really a disgrace to that #... Plesis take him back to france, he'll never make it with liverpool and lastly yossi i'll give him a slap on the face if i was standing with him right now, he was playing as if he is a boss now, as if he is in another planet of football, he under rated the arsenal youths... Rafa put him on the bench so that he'll use him as an impact player in case we need it... We needed it and he came on and touch the ball only once or twice in 20 mins... 20 mins was more than enough to turn things around, he took the game too lightly...   

Beginning to think Voronin sees himself as a second Dirk in that he apears to want to play more of a supporting role than as a striker, very reluctant to shoot at times. Thing is we already got Kuyt to do that and he's far better at it.

In all fairness, Voronin probably has a better passing game than Dirk.

had to switch off cos i can't listen to redknapp anymore..i don't like losing but this cup is only a hassle the longer you stay in it.. january feb are busy enough without having to 2 legs semi finals and then play a back matches if you get to the final

Beginning to think Voronin sees himself as a second Dirk in that he apears to want to play more of a supporting role than as a striker, very reluctant to shoot at times. Thing is we already got Kuyt to do that and he's far better at it.

Yes with the exception of Torres this seems to be tend

The ref was obviously playing for the arsenal limited company, and the sad thing of all was that they were doing time while they were winning!!! If I were an arse fan then I will felt a little disappointment..

Voronoin:please quit playing football now. aquilani is the mate that we are all waiting for.
I'm still confident that we're going to make it this year (as long as voro quits..)

Babel can F**k off, either get the next train out of Liverpool or jump in front of it.

Actually, better not give you a decision to make, you'll only squander it!