Bastards! They Didn't Play Their Kids for Me to Look At
The Carling Cup has in living memory, been a glorified
Reserves competition for the big clubs and for the last few seasons, we’ve been
treating it as that was as well.
Pochettino certainly didn’t give a shit about any cup competition and
the same was true of Nigel Adkins before him.
Maybe it was a Cortese thing but whatever the reason in the past, Ronald
Koeman showed against Millwall that we are going to have a right go at it. This new intent from the club has been noted
by the fans and hence, we have 5200 people in the Emirates tonight. It has to be said though that prices of a
tenner a ticket which I assume had to be agreed with Arsenal have definitely
played their part so fair play to both clubs.
I started guessing who Wenger would put in his side by
looking at their squad. How ridiculous
is it that a club with that much money and resources and 100 consecutive years
of Champions League qualification can only have 6 defenders. I can’t think of any outside of Debuchy,
Mertersacker, Koscielny, Gibbs, Monreal and Chambers. Wenger has obviously done marvellous things
as Arsenal manager but that is bordering on the negligent, rivalled only by the
situation at Old Trafford. Anyhow, with
Debuchy being injured as well I really can’t see too many of the first choice
defenders being picked. Maybe a couple
of the 400 attacking midfielders they have can fill the void – there’s an
opportunity for us here.
Sadio Mane is picked to start and forms a front 3 with Pelle
and Tadic with the prolific Big Vic recalled to partner Morgan and Steve Davis
in midfield. The defence sees Matty
Targett picked instead of Bertrand and Florin Gardos comes in to partner Jose
as Maya is still recovering from the Bony assaults at the weekend. The Master
Child Catcher has caught some children from elsewhere other than Saints and
they are all in the defence as predicted, along with Calum Chambers who I wish
well in his Arsenal career but I hope he’s complete shit tonight. Wenger’s defender issue has at least given
him an opportunity to play a few games for his new club, unlike some of our
other dearly departeds. There are
familiar international names elsewhere though with Wilshere, Sanchez, Rosicky,
Diaby & Podolski, along with World Cup stars Ospina and Campbell.
It’s a fairly open game from the start and we carve out a
great chance as Pelle knocks down to Tadic who clips a lovely ball into Davis
who has broken from the midfield. He
gets there before the keeper but just pokes it at him and the chance has gone. To me, he should have done better having got
to the ball first but never mind.
Arsenal have some serious players up front and in midfield
and look dangerous when they get the ball in and around our defenders. Wilshere and Sanchez combine before Sanchez
is breathed on by Fonte and hits the deck.
The ref buys it and the free kick is about 20 yards out, just to the
left of centre, up steps Sanchez and curls it over the wall and into the top
corner. All Fraser can do it wave it
goodbye. It’s a brilliant free kick but
it pisses me off that the decision is soft to say the least. It’s also worrying for the rest of the game
because you know Arsenal’s little midfielders are going to be diving around
everywhere.
Sadio Mane has had a few darts at Coquelin at left back but
he switches sides to have a run at Bellerin at right back who looks about
12. Arsenal’s Academy players come from
two sources, abroad or from Southampton.
Targett and Davis get the ball out to Mane who runs at Bellerin from the
left wing and the youngster does well and stops him getting to the line. Mane tries to head across the box and is
heading away from goal when Rosicky comes flying in and catches him. Down he
goes in slightly theatrical fashion and penalty given. Definite foul regardless. Rosicky is making that wasp chewing face and
is waving his arms about but he hasn’t got any cause to, other than at his own
stupidity. Dusan Tadic is on the
penalties and he calmly puts it down the middle as Ospina dives out of the
way. I must admit that I prefer the
Lambert style of penalties where you’ve got a 99% chance of a goal even if the
keeper goes the right way but it’ll do for now.
I like Alexis Sanchez.
He’s a great player and was marvellous for Chile in the World Cup but in
my mind he goes from that to being a complete twat and figure of hate with one
wave of an imaginary yellow card. Big
Vic has clattered him to be fair but keep your imaginary cards in your pocket
you fucking twat. The real yellow card
comes out for Vic and the big man is going to have to be very careful from now
on. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it
again, imaginary card waving should get you a yellow card straight away.
Saints are creating the better chances still and Targett
feeds Pelle who superbly puts Mane in again behind Bellerin but the ball seems
to get stuck under his feet and Bellerin gets back to clear. There’s another decent chance for us as Tadic
runs at the right hand side of the defence.
The ball gets away from him but an Arsenal clearance hit Clyne on the
knee and bounces loose to Pelle who turns and hits it an instant and grazes the
outside of the post.
Our midfield are absolutely bossing it in there and feeding
Mane whenever they can. Another
attacking run from the wide man wins us a corner and Tadic’ kick from the left
is nodded clear by Chambers to Clyne. He’s 40 yards out, one touch to control and
bang! GOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL!!!
He’s absolutely leathered it and Ospina has no chance as he shifts his weight
the wrong way and it rips past him into the roof of the net. What a fucking goal. Have some of that then.
The most pressing task is to get back to the dressing room
2-1 in front and we have a good go at not doing that as Sanchez plays Podolski
in but he goes near post and Fraser calmly deflects it away with his
forearm. One does not simply beat
Forster at the near post. The corner is
shite and over everyone and so we are deservedly leading.
The question of whether we’d try and soak up pressure or go
for a third goal is answered straight away in the second half as Mane releases
Targett with a superb backheel and he swings it over to Tadic on the right who
cushions a cross behind Pelle and Davis comes steaming in but hits it straight
at Ospina. Again, the ginger master of
the baize really should have scored.
It’s all Saints again and Arsenal are beginning to show signs
of desperation in appealing for a penalty as Campbell hits the deck having been
brushed by Fonte. Even though it’s never
a foul in a million years, when you’re away at a Big 4 club, it’s always a
relief when the ref actually doesn’t give something. He give us a free kick however when Diaby has
a shocking first touch, Mane nips in and Diaby hoofs him up in the air and
truly looks like a player who is not in control of his legs. The free kick is roughly from where Sanchez
scored from and though Tadic beats the wall with a low drive, Ospina get across
to save well.
Wenger is getting a bit frustrated on the sidelines. The John Cleese silly walks are coming out
and so are some big guns from the bench as Cazorla and Chamberlain come on, the
latter to a largely positive reception.
Their arrival coincides with a bit of Arsenal pressure and Bellerin gets
away on the right and crosses into Sanchez who toe pokes it but the ball hits
The Bohemoth in the chest and is cleared.
Cazorla might be good going forward but he’s a liability if there’s a
tackle for him to win and Tadic does him completely with a turn and we’re away
again as the ball moves to Davis, to Pelle and finally to Mane on the left who
shoots across the goal and it looks close but it goes for a throw so it can’t
have been really. It’s more or less the
last contribution from the new man as he’s substituted and Shane Long comes on
to basically be annoying.
Chamberlain makes his one positive contribution and skins
Targett who seems to pull up but Fonte reads the cross beautifully to
clear. The biggest threat to us is that
the ref is going to fall for a dive and Rosicky flops over an imaginary leg and
buys one which luckily they waste with Gardos clearing. There is classic Jack Wilshere a minute later
as he runs headlong at the defence, knocks the ball too far and then launches
himself into Fonte and dives on the floor.
He’s a little twat and the ref should book him but of course, instead of
that he gives Arsenal a free kick right on the edge of the box. If he’s dived a bit further they’d have had a
penalty I assume. Luckily it’s a bit too
close and Sanchez can’t get it over the giant Pelle and Gardos section of the
wall.
We should make the game safe with a great break down the
left. Steve Davis and Graziano combine
to feed Tadic in the middle and he should step over it or poke it to the
totally unmarked Shane Long but he seems to get caught in two minds, gets
tackled and a great chance is lost. We
have another great chance as we win a corner and Davis swings it over. It’s a totally free header for Graziano from
10 yards and he rises superbly and heads it over the fucking bar. I’m sorry but that has to go in. Fuck.
The clearly struggling Targett has had a magnificent game
but he’s cramped up and Bertrand is on.
I’m sure Matty was taking the piss a little bit but getting booked for
not limping off quick enough is a bit harsh.
90 minutes are up and you just know that as we’re away at a big club
that it’s gonna be at least 4 minutes despite there being no stoppages and sure
enough it is 4. Wanting the make sure
that Arsenal have the maximum opportunity to equalize, the ref manages to book
Fraser for time wasting and then rightly books Pelle for running back 30 yards
just to grab an Arsenal midfielder round the shoulders. We are in truth the only team who looks like
scoring again and a Tadic break down the left results in a cross which cuts out
the keeper but Long arrives just after the ball flies past and careers into the
net.
The generous 4 minutes of injury time were up and then we
had 90 seconds more but finally the ref got fed up with waiting for Arsenal to
score and blew the whistle to confirm our first win at the Emirates and our
first win away to Arsenal for donkeys. Marvellous stuff and totally
deserved. These are great days and every
game seems to bring new positives to the table.
Today it was the exciting debut of Sadio Mane who though he gets shoved
off the ball a bit easily, proved to be a right handful and seems to have a
speed of though and movement which is going to hopefully means he doesn’t turn
out to be another Mayuka. It was also a
full debut for Florin Gardos who was playing against Sanchez who cost £35
million and Podolski who has about 50 goals for Germany. He played with a real air of calmness about
him and didn’t seem rattled at all, brought the ball out comfortably and really
looked the part. With Toby Alderweireld
also competing for a place at centre back, we can confidently say “off you
fuck, Dejan”. We got both of those
players for about 60% of what Liverpool gave us for Lovren.
The defending as a whole was superb but the game was won in
midfield where Morgan, Big Vic and Steve Davis were magnificent. Big Vic in particular played well after his
booking to ensure he didn’t give any Arsenal players a chance to dive and get
him sent off and he looks more of an all-round midfielder, now he’s not limited
to instructions which were basically “sit in front of the centre backs and
don’t move”. My only gripe is that we
should have scored more as there was some wasteful finishing from Pelle and
Davis and some chances butchered with a poor final ball. Davis gets in positions to score 10 goals a
season but his finishing is woeful. The
approach play to set up the chances though was excellent with Tadic at the
heart of most things but Pelle is looking more at home as an attacking
spearhead with every game.
Oddly, the two main ‘Meltdown’ merchants in the media, Neil
Ashton and Ben Smith, both chose tonight to break with their usual bollockspeak
and give Saints some praise. To be
honest, you can’t help but praise the start to the season we have made. A win at Arsenal, albeit a rotated Arsenal,
will make even a blind man see it appears.
Wenger gave Saints credit too which I felt was genuine but it also
deflects any criticism away from him for disrespecting another cup competition
and away from his players who in the main, didn’t do it tonight. I’m sure there will be plenty saying Arsenal
had a weak line up and all that shit but it’s Arsene Wenger’s fault that he has
no reserve defenders who have any experience.
Him moaning about us committing fouls in midfield is a bit rich when all
his midfielders do is dive about like little bitches to try and cheat free
kicks out of referees. They don’t need
to do that as the players concerned are all better than that. He's probably just pissed off that with the exception of Matt Targett, we didn't have a team full of youngsters for him too salivate over.
Ronald Koeman was
obviously delighted with the win and the performances of Targett and Mane and with the team as a whole but most pleasing for me was the insistence of ‘feet on the
ground’ for the QPR game on Saturday.
Ronald knows that no one wants to lose to that twitchy bastard.
And what about ‘that’ goal.
I’m sure Clyney will get picked for England now as the goal will be
reshown everywhere and everyone will be talking about him. In truth, the goal should make no difference
to whether he gets in the England squad or not.
He’s the best right back we have by miles and that was true before and
after the goal. What a fucking goal
though. There is nothing quite like the
ball hitting the roof of the net from miles out and a goalkeeper lying on his
back, wondering what the fuck just happened.
So into the last 16 and the draw is being made tonight. (Stop Press: We got a shite draw away at
Stoke). A bit of bad news came through
that JWP has a fracture in his foot and is likely to be out for 10 weeks which
is a bummer but on the upside, we have players to cover that position and it’ll
maybe give Harrison Reed a chance to join the 18 and step up. Now it’s back to the Premier League and come
to us you twitchy bastard and bring Rio Ferdinand with you and let’s see what
he’s like with Sadio running at him.
Come on You Reds!!!
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