English League Cup Third Round 21-22 September **Spoilers**

[Twinblade]

Not at all concerned about the result last night, but was surprised by the strength of the Arsenal lineup, but then I guess, that long without a trophy you have to try where you can.

I was impressed with the majority of the youngsters on display in both camps, Wilshire was superb for Arsenal and I thought Culkar did well for Spurs considering he had to pass a fitness test yesterday morning to play.

Very disappointed with Bentley, even if it was his first game back after an injury layoff, Fabianski dropped his usual clanger but made up for it with the save from Keane in extra time.

 

[Tunney]

hows that?

arsenal may have had a slightly stronger line up but they also had players starting there first games of the season such as fabianski, djourou and lansbury

So, Arsenal had two outfield players playing their first game of the season? Spurs had Caulker, Livermore, Walker, Sandro and Bentley (plus GK Pletikosa) all making their season débuts. That's half the team!

 

[ellingham]

At the end of the day Harry and his players have said the following

• We are closing the gap on Arsenal
• We will go further than them in the champions league
• We will finish above them in the premier league
• We will also have a 60,000 seater stadium and fill it every match

Are they all still living in dream land after finishing 4th last season?
Lettuce be reality;

• Tottenham won't get in the top 4 this season
• They are all ready struggling with the extra European games
• They have no strength in depth
• They have poor young players
• They will not get a new stadium unless they are taken over
  
  And to all the people complaining about soft penalties, Keane's goal was offside so it should never have gone into extra time in the 1st place.
• They will be forever in our shadow

 

[ellingham]

So, Arsenal had two outfield players playing their first game of the season? Spurs had Caulker, Livermore, Walker, Sandro and Bentley (plus GK Pletikosa) all making their season débuts. That's half the team!

No, you were forced to play that team because you have a thin squad, just because we have a superior reserve team with a fantastic mixture of youth and experience, ooh I bet those grapes taste sour...

 

[G|mp]

What's with all the Spud trolling ellingham? :/

You beat them move on........

 

[jakeke]

It was funny when Gibbs made Lennon switch sides because he made him look so woeful, I'm really hoping that all the 'Lennon is amazing' talk will never, ever re-emerge

 

[G|mp]

I like Gibbs and if he keeps improving at the rate he is, is a shoe in for the LB after Cole retires.

 

[Tummy]

But he isn't that, wait, errm, they aren't that kind of team.

 

[jakeke]

He's been absolutely outstanding for the last year or so (about 5 games) - Gibbs that is

 

[cm1179]

Agreed. I don't think any of them had particularly bad games. I think everyone is forgetting that Spurs lost in extra time with a team lacking match fitness. Caulker (still only 18) and Bassong looked dead on their feet by the end.

Sandro looks like a very, very good prospect though. Can't wait to see him get some more playing time.

but they hardly had particularly good games, come on, be honest. for periods of the first half, arsenal were hitting us with wave after wave of attack and we looked lost (although they did only score one goal in normal time and that was down to poor defending) but it had to be done sooner or later, just a shame it was against arsenal. we are struggling with the demands of the cl as it is and these players deserved a run out, they're just not as organised as arsenal but i believe it will come. i still think that BAE, pav, keane, bentley and maybe palacios need to go.

 

[jakeke]

I haven't read through the thread, but did anybody else notice that linesman who flagged Gibbs offside when he was a yard on and then gave Keane onside when he was a yard off? What's going on there? Made the game feel artificially close due to some big clangers.

 

[Gooner14]

Not at all concerned about the result last night, but was surprised by the strength of the Arsenal lineup

There where several injuries to youth players who may have played and some out on loan. Frimpong, Nordtveit for example. I think to be fair he played the right team as it was a tough away game, I suspect if in the next round we draw an 'easier' game at home he may revert to a far younger side, seeing the likes of Afobe, Yennaris and JET.

 

[cm1179]

keane wasn't a yard offside at all, it was a very close call. more like half a football boot.

 

[jakeke]

The cut of the grass showed his left foot to be a yard ahead of play at least. That shouldn't detract from the fact that he's got his two biggest decisions of the night utterly wrong and both in the favour of the same side. It shouldn't be allowed. What if Spurs would have got another lucky goal, it would have been outrageous for them to go through last night

* There is, in straightforward terms, no chance that Jack Wilshere will survive ten years, perhaps even five years, without suffering a serious injury caused by a foul tackle. There's just no way that he will be able to survive the type of treatment his coming-of-age performance - which included two assists and a total of 139 passes at an average of one every 52 seconds - generated without suffering a serious misfortune further down the line. All credit to him for refusing to shy away from the ball even when his Fouls Won tally reached double figures, but the depressing reality is that such bravery will inevitably come at a cost further down the line.

Wilshere :adore:

 

[Yas786]

Awesome result for Arsenal last night 4-1 although would have been more happier if we made it 5-1

 

[beachBOYken]

So, Arsenal had two outfield players playing their first game of the season? Spurs had Caulker, Livermore, Walker, Sandro and Bentley (plus GK Pletikosa) all making their season débuts. That's half the team!

yeah true you had a few more first starters but its no good making excuses

as for the penalties , perhaps the first was a little soft but it made up for keane's offside goal and i think there was a part in the game where arsenal were clean threw on goal but got incorrectly called for offside?

 

[K1LLSW1TCH]

yeah true you had a few more first starters but its no good making excuses

as for the penalties , perhaps the first was a little soft but it made up for keane's offside goal and i think there was a part in the game where arsenal were clean threw on goal but got incorrectly called for offside?

Yes Gibbs, he looked certain to score after he dummied and the keeper dived for it, leaving an open goal in front of him. The pass was inch perfect and the run was great from Gibbs, I can't remember who played RB for Spurs last night but they were terrible, they played Gibbs onside and interestingly enough the linesman only flagged for offside after all of the protests from the Spurs players, a good few seconds after the pass had been made. Either way, there's no point mulling over the details, the end result is the most important stat, we've won here now let's move on and prepare for the next one.

 

[Tunney]

I haven't read through the thread, but did anybody else notice that linesman who flagged Gibbs offside when he was a yard on and then gave Keane onside when he was a yard off? What's going on there? Made the game feel artificially close due to some big clangers.

Yup, that linesman was terrible. Same linesman got about 5-6 decisions wrong.

And as for anyone saying that Arsenal have a better reserve side than Spurs, you're totally wrong. Spurs don't have a reserve side!

 

[Greenlizard0]

I haven't read through the thread, but did anybody else notice that linesman who flagged Gibbs offside when he was a yard on and then gave Keane onside when he was a yard off? What's going on there? Made the game feel artificially close due to some big clangers.

Yeah, I noted it earlier on in this thread.

The officials last night weren't consistant at all. 3 fouls in a row against Wilshere weren't booked during the first half, yet in the second the ref gave us yellows for lesser fouls. There was also the penalty/free kick right at the beginning which wasn't given, an offside which we were wrongly penalised for in comparison to Keane being let through, and finally of course Gibbs' onside run after that.

Like Sunderland we had a poor referee. Wrong offsides etc., are annoying but of course there's a much more worrying aspect of rubbish refereeing.

The challenges that are being allowed against Wilshere are worsening. Don't forget there was the foul almost off the pitch in the North East. There is an all too familiar feel about this, and the well spoken about and seemingly acceptable trend for these types of players to be hacked away at, is only going to lead down one inevitable road. Wenger's right, he (among others) do need protecting from the referees otherwise each foul is going to get worse and worse and more acceptable until Wilshere gets a serious injury. No doubt from a player who isn't usually like that, and who will of course express plenty of guilt afterwards.

edit - beaten.

Slightly off topic, but Ramsey was looking just as good as Wilshere is now, poor bloke must be sitting at home feeling sick at how well his 'replacement' is performing. If we can get him back and in form it'd be an ideal time to really consider shipping off Denilson or Diaby. The former may have had a good game last night but I still don't think he's really going to get better/is good enough to warrant a squad place. Even though he was exhausted at the end Lansbury too was pretty decent, and I'm not just talking about the goal.

 

[K1LLSW1TCH]

I'm in favour of selling Diaby, not sure how much we'd get for him probably only a couple of million but I'm sure he'll do okay for some mid table French side.