Stop celebrating and open your eyes please: We’re the shame of the Carling Cup
This morning, as I was writing my post-match thoughts on the Wigan match, I just couldn’t not think of all those who would be envious of our triumph.
And, as punctual as a Swiss clock, my question - invidiousness? - turns into a statement: invidiousness. The Sun promptly reports on an interview given by Chelsea coach Ray Wilkins. Can you guess what he said?
The fact we’ve won the Carling Cup twice in the last four years and Arsenal have won none justifies our policy, You enter a competition to win the competition. Why go into it if you’re not concerned whether you win it?
Playing a young or weakened team undermines the value of the competition. And we have not and will not do that. We want to win it, big time.
I just love it when I predict the future. The whole article can be found here. And yes, others will follow.
UPDATE: Shall I say more?
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Trackbacks
- Daily Dose: Nov 12th, 2008 | The Offside
- Burnley vs Arsenal: Match preview - The young ones, chapter #3 | The Gunning Hawk: A blog about Arsenal F.C.
- Oh, we’re now also the shame of the Champions League! | The Gunning Hawk: A blog about Arsenal F.C.
- Oh, we’re now also the shame of the Champions League! | The Gunning Hawk: A blog about Arsenal F.C.
- Oh, we’re also the shame of the Champions League now! | The Gunning Hawk: A blog about Arsenal F.C.
- Oh look, we’re also the shame of the Champions League now! | The Gunning Hawk: A blog about Arsenal F.C.
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WHAT A CLUELESS IDIOT YOU ARE!
Chelsea put out a second-string team against BURNLEY! Only 4 first team players were on the pitch: Drogba, Kalou, Malouda and Deco. The rest are benchwarmers. AND THEY LOST ON THEIR HOME GROUND!
And that’s something to be PROUD of???
Man Utd put out a youth reserve team and they couldn’t beat QPR!! They had to put out a first team player, Tevez, to save the game and they could only win it by scoring a penalty!
THAT’S something to be proud of???
Liverpool had second-string players on the pitch (with a keeper I’d never heard of before) and they were hammered by SPURS, a team that was headed for relegation until recently.
THAT’S something to be proud of???
Whereas Arsenal put out a team of young players against a FULL STRENGTH premier league team and hammered them 3-0. Arsenal have singlehandedly revived this competition. Until Wenger, no one was interested in watching the early rounds, just the final.
ARSENAL HAVE MADE THIS COMPETITION WORTH WATCHING.
Yes Marcus, we are on the same wavelength, I guess.
I’m not sure who you are calling an idiot. If myself, please re-read the article, especially the part where I said that “I just couldn’t not think of all those who would be envious of our triumph”.
It was a sarcastic post
Hey. Obviously, my first time on this site (linked from the theoffside.com). With both games (Arsenal - Wigan and Liverpool - Spurs) being on sky sports over the past few days, I can say that I am very impressed with the young English talent coming through the bigger clubs.
I had to listen to Manchester United against QPR on the radio, and it seemed as if QPR were very defensive, until the penalty. This is in contrast to Wigan, who I thought were playing good football against Arsenal in what I thought was a good end-end game.
The liverpool vs Spurs game was also an open encounter, where liverpool just lacked any talent to break down a briliant spurs team (even with Torres and Babel). If Gomes could sort out his goalkeeping from crosses, it would have been 4-0.
Anyway, I dont feel very optimistic about my teams chances in this competition, having seen those two matches on Skysports, especially if Sir Alex keeps his word and plays his youth-reserves. I just hope you two play eachother in the next round, while Manchester United can show Chelsea how to beat Burnley (I hope this doesnt come back to bite me in the ass).
As for devaluing the competition… it has not been seen as a must win for any team (in my lifetime - im 20). The fact that United dominated much of the 90’s and have only ever won the league cup twice says it all in my opinion. Im sure Arsenal fans will agree that any competition where Spurs are one of the most successful is one of the least important in history.
I know a lot of Arsenal fans have been calling for Wenger to try and win the league cup to ensure silverware, but I hope he continues with his youth team.
Thanks for your time,
Drabik
Hi Drabik.
Glad you found the blog and decided to participate in a non-hostile way despite not being an Arsenal fan.
What you say is very correct: we have to understand that this competition is and should be priority #4 for the top four clubs in England. Surely, the Premiership, Champions League and F.A. Cup are more of a priority for them. Arsene Wenger, and in a way also Fergie, decided to approach this “problem” by starting with a very young line-up and the gamble has paid off. Not only supporters are filling the stadiums to see if these young kids can fulfill expectations, but it also means that the 11 who go out there will approach the match in a very serious way, rather than an uninterested approach. I’m not based in the U.K. so can’t watch Arsenal matches but I read in other blogs that many who were at the stadium had the time of their life, simply because there was no pressure on us supporters.
In Italy, they only have one cup, the Italian Cup, and only the final is taken seriously. Before that, stadiums are empty, players are uninterested but believe me, no-one in the media writes that they are devaluing the competition.