Jan 10
Late goal give the Latics the edge heading into the second leg. I would not be crushed if we failed to advance in this tournament.
34 Responses to “Carling Cup: Wigan 1 - 0 Arsenal”
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January 10th, 2006 at 5:14 pm
Read we created few chances, with Flamini, Gilberto and Hleb (journeyman of journeymen, masters of the lateral pass), why am I not suprised?. Guess we’ll have to win at Higbury.
January 10th, 2006 at 5:16 pm
i think offers us a good chance of a trophy, wud love to see the kids win and make it to the finals. though looks tough now…and wigan deserve it more
January 10th, 2006 at 5:18 pm
I would not be crushed either, had we given the slightest bit of a toss. I’m angrier about the lack of trying, not the loss.
January 10th, 2006 at 5:20 pm
I agree. It sounded like this was more of a training scrimmage than an actual cup semi.
January 10th, 2006 at 5:28 pm
I will not be crushed as well if we don’t win this tournament but there is more to this game than the Carling Cup. If you give it your all and loss fair play but these players are absolute disgrace. No wonder the fans did not turn up to watch this Cra$p.
As Kenny Samson just said - There are no excuses for this very very poor.
These kids are suppose to be the future of Arsenal even with Gilberto, Cygan, Freddie, JAL, Hleb, Flamini and Senderos not to forget Cesc all on the field. And not to forget Wigan had only 14 players available for this game so no excuses here pls.
I bet my life on Arsenal winning the return league but for those of you who can’t see in the bright lights maybe you will see in the **AYE CARUMBA**(censored)$ing dark that these over rated kids are not good. What is wrong with JAL, Hleb and Gilberto and the next Tony Adams “Senderos”.
Real Madrid will be very worried !- After United I said Arsenal should win their next 6 games but this is not good.
January 10th, 2006 at 5:38 pm
None of the players had any influence on the game. They are more than a Journeymen.
January 10th, 2006 at 6:02 pm
Who watched this game?
I know I have been accusing people of exaggerating lately, but quite honestly this was probably the worst Arsenal performance I have ever seen - especially the second half.
I know the players weren’t up for it, obviously, but there have been lots of Arsenal games recently where the players weren’t up for it - but nothing as bad as that.
That was the first time in 27 years as an Arsenal supporter that I have switched channel. I’ve never done that before. It may not mean much to you, but for me it felt strange to do that. I didn’t do it to make a point, I did it out of complete boredom, and the fact that I would rather watch Celebrity Big Brother.
I can’t think of a more damning reason for not watching an Arsenal game than that.
January 10th, 2006 at 6:13 pm
Must be a symptom of Arsene’s coaching tactics. It seems like he can’t even motivate some of his protege’s to give it their all for a semi-final. It seems to me like the kids regard it as a novelty cup, “Ohh, don’t worry we’ve got the champs league this year.” It’s like there is an arrogance amonst some of the players like they’re better than it. That’s not the way people or teams win. It’s the way you get defeated.
January 10th, 2006 at 6:16 pm
Flamini was the worst player on the pitch. The kid is witless.
January 10th, 2006 at 6:17 pm
In their defence, these kids seem to do better when they play by themselves, after all they are used to playing together. The more the competition progresses and Wenger ’strengthens’ the team, the worse they do. But then you could argue the competition gets stronger. Dunno.
January 10th, 2006 at 6:21 pm
I don’t know what Wenger sees in this very, very average Flamini kid. But at least he didn’t pay a cent for him. More than we can say for others
January 10th, 2006 at 6:21 pm
Yeah, I could argue, considering Wigan have played about 6 games in 2 weeks and they only had 15 fit players to choose from tonight, and 2 of the best ones had to go off before half time injured.
So not only were they tired, but the squad was down to its bare bones, and Arsenal still lost.
Honestly, this was BAD. I mean if this is the future, there is no future.
January 10th, 2006 at 6:24 pm
I also watched a bit of Celebs BB. Once the lady said she can’t watch this crap anymore I had no choice but to change the channel.
The best comment of the day was on Sky Sports after the game when an 70 yrs old man told Kenny Samson this game is not worth even a ?. That says a lots. I really hope Kenny tells Wenger the truth. This Arsenal is turning into a joke.
January 10th, 2006 at 6:25 pm
I listened to the game on bbc.com. We were total rubbish. No skill, no teamwork, no drive, but plenty of falling and plenty of errors. I dont think that Senderos completed a single clearance. Every time it was Wigan with the ball, wigan beats Senderos, Gilberto rushes in to clear the ball. I like Senderos and I always keep saying he’ll get back in form. The problem is how on earth can you play him as a center back when he has poor judgement and is beaten in every battle for the ball before it even begins. Cygan had a better game than him. Like I said I like the guy but if he cant defend against Wigan what is he going to do against Madrid or even a group of fourthgraders
The new Tony Adams my arse. I really do hope that through some miracle he learns not to be scared of every player on the opposing team and proves me wrong. A frightened Center back!!! Sorry Im rambling. He’s young, he needs to get it together, or he needs to go. Im starting to worry that Freddie’s Calvins are getting too tight, because he’s a senior player and doesnt seem to care if we win or lose. The flamini, hleb, and cesc are all great creative players, but cant play physical football. Im not sure we won a single challenge in the whole game. What breaks my heart is that Im really rooting for these guys. There’s nothing more exciting than a young team coming into their own. Imagine what the future would hold for the club. The problem is that for the time being it seems we need to keep waiting for that to happen. All this being said Im rooting for the lads and hoping that another physical game with bolton doesnt shut us down. This team needs work right now. The talent is there but mentally we are not. Granted we have had a lot of fixtures lately. I pray Arsene finds away to turn them around. PS… I miss Paddy and Ashley if youre listening hurry up and heal.
January 10th, 2006 at 6:39 pm
Can anyone here name me one kid or 2 under Wenger who had been soo good for Arsenal or come through the ranks. A. Cole was a product of GG and Pls don’t mention Henry cuz he wasn’t a kid when he joined Arsenal.
Flamini in a million years will never be a player. Come back Steve Sidwell. Is a fact and I said it but Flamini and Cygan playing for being French no other reason.
January 10th, 2006 at 6:44 pm
I didn’t watch it, I’ll say that much, but I did slog through the full 90 minutes of the match on bbc radio, plus all the time wasted by the lights going out.
I simply do not understand any player, especially a fringe player, who would pass up a winner’s medal, for any competitive cup, to add to their CV. It is not acceptable at the Arsenal.
January 10th, 2006 at 6:48 pm
Freddie was very busy keeping his underwear clean tonight.
I called Senderos the next Tony Adams because if you remember last season lots of folks were saying all sort of things about him after 12 good games. I also remember some members on this site were calling for the head of Sol. I hope I can now say I was right. You don’t judge a player after 3 good months but the season afterwards.
January 10th, 2006 at 6:52 pm
Well, you spoiled it when you said that. Wenger just sold Vieira - who you may have noticed is French.
But I get your point. The trouble is, some of these kids may come good - in FIVE YEARS. We simply cannot wait for that to happen - it’s hard to imagine that Wenger actually believes they’ll be top class in a year or two.
I am sure he’s intent on splashing the cash either now or in the summer. There’s no way he could watch tonight’s game and not be gravely concerned.
January 10th, 2006 at 6:56 pm
Yeah, Senderos was pretty bad again. Everything he does is physical and has nothing to do with kicking a ball. Djourou was better then him.
Nearly every game Senderos plays he comes within inches of getting sent off for bringing a player down one on one who’s outplayed/outpaced/outfought him.
He’s still learning, but it’s not going well. He just doesn’t seem to have the mental strength to cut it at the top level let alone technical skills or pace.
January 10th, 2006 at 6:58 pm
I think Senderos should leave for regular football. A defender needs regular football to develop, say at a midtable team where you have smaller spotlight. He did well when he was playing regularly. Anton Ferdinand will be miles ahead of him in three years time. To be honest I think most of the kids should leave for regular football. They’re at a point where reserve football isn’t helping them and they’re just decaying on the bench. Bentley may not be lighting up the prem any more than Lampard did in his early years, but his playing time at Blackburn gives him a far better chance of doing so than those stupid reserve matches.
January 10th, 2006 at 10:02 pm
7 clean sheets out of the last 11 1st team games, thats bloody good…Hold up, I’m reading these stats upside down! Oh, we haven’t scored in 7 of the last 11 1st team games….That’s bloody awful!
January 11th, 2006 at 12:43 am
You cant expect things from kids when they dont play.
You have to give Lupoli a first team chance and start like TH14 if u want him to be good.
Sendy need to play more games to get his confidence back. Cant expect Flamini to be better cause simply he is not playing enough. Cesce will be better cause he is playing.
Owen did not become a great player if Liverpool did not play him regulary in 97-98 when he was 17 years old. Same thing for Wayne Rooney , cause Everton played him, he become great.
Many young player are already in first team football, cause they played regular football football, then they were bought by bigger clubs, say for example Robben of Chelsea.
Quicny, Babel and Maduro, all same age, grew up in Ajax. Quicny moved to Arsenal, he is not playing very often, but Babel and Mauro are playing almost every week. So they were picked up for Holland. I can see them being in bigger role with bigger clubs in 3-4 years, while Quincy would struggle.
I am sure Arsenal picked up Quincy cause he was more promissing than the others.
January 11th, 2006 at 2:49 am
Senderos is suffering from typical sophomore blues. Last two games, he has been playing with Djorou and Gilbert. Next few games, he will play with Campbell. Let’s hope he fares better. In any case, youngsters need playing time and guidance from experienced folks to improve. You can’t just become a great player by yourself, unless you are a genius.
At the moment, our attack is not functioning and that is the reason we are not winning games. No point in blaming the defence when they have kept 8 clean sheets in last 14 games. Failing to score in 7 of the last 11 is the root of the problem. That is completely atypical of Arsenal. How about blaming our experienced players - Ljunberg, Hleb, Gilberto, Pires, etc. - who are not performing? They don’t have any excuses. What to do with them?
January 11th, 2006 at 3:30 am
Absolute disaster of a game I have never seen us play worse. I know it was just a bunch of kids but our midfield was pretty much the same as what we usualy start aside from Pires. Our defennding and midfield play was atrocious. I bet Wigan had possession 80% of the time that second half. Unacceptable for a team with high ambitions like us. I was talking to another fan at Nevada Smiths and we both agree that the team lacks any toughness. Everyone is trying to be too cute and fancy and it is clearly not working. Wenger needs to sit down and look at himself and realize the likes of Flamini, Cygan, and the rest will not win us anything.
January 11th, 2006 at 4:34 am
I watched the beginning of the game, and then I fell asleep. Cannot recollect at which point of the game I dosed off, must have been after 15-20 mins. Woke up a couple of times during the game but collapsed soon after. Yes it was that exciting.
My only recollection from the game was Freddie skying an opportunity - come to think about it, can’t be sure whether I saw this live or during the highlights. Anyway, the point is Freddie is becoming something of an expert in not scoring.
Carling Cup used to be quite exciting as our kids always gave their best and had a real go at it. Perhaps too many from the senior team played last night. How did we sink so low…….
January 11th, 2006 at 5:18 am
Another thing that has not been mentioned is Arsenal’s tactics.
He played 4-5-1 again, but none of the players had a clue what they were doing.
First Quincy was the lone striker, but he looked completely lost, so after 20 minutes he was switched with Reyes, then before half time he was switched with Ljungberg - by the start of the second half nobody seemed to want to be the striker - the formation was 4-6-0.
What sort of management is that? Clueless and embarrassing. Henry & Van Persie were out so why not just play Lupoli or Bendtner as a lone striker instead of trying to fit square pegs into round holes with the usual disastrous consequences.
January 11th, 2006 at 6:16 am
I would also agree that the performance last night was one of the worst I have ever seen and the fact it was quite a strong side on paper makes it even more the worrying. Instead of Big Brother, I found solace in the soapstar singing thing, Roxanne was easier on the eye than our football ;^)
I thought our defence played okay to be fair and Senderos was decent but the midfield and attack was a swirl of nothingness. Reyes is seriously not good enough and it’s getting beyond a joke how stupid that player is. I am starting to think Arsenal started turning crap the moment he came over from Seville.
Granted the pitch was shite but it wasn’t that bad and I am sure the likes of Ronaldo and Rooney would have adapted but adapting seems beyond people like Reyes and Quincy, who was quite frankly embarassingly bad last night.
If there is any consolation Wenger’s face during the game seemed to indicate he had maybe finally realised how medicore some of his players are but by the time the interview came around he had the know-it-all smirk on his face that indicated just as much how once again the whole game went over his head. I’m sure right now as I write this the our performance is improving in his mind and he’s probably gathered statistical information revealing Flamini ran 3.5 yards further than Graham Kavanagh and Jimmy Bullard so therefore ran and bossed the midfield. Keep deluding yourself Arsene………
January 11th, 2006 at 7:45 am
I see that Wenger keeps shying away from playing Lupoli despite his banging in goals for the reserves. Surely, yesterday was the perfect oppurtunity for him with Henry and RvP injured. Instead we see Quincy. It leads more credence to the theory that Wenger likes cute and fancy players (like Hleb, Reyes, Quincy, etc.) more than direct ones like Lupoli. No wonder he hasn’t signed a proper striker.
January 11th, 2006 at 7:48 am
I guess Rick was right when he said the problem with Arsenal is the O’s not the D’s. Did anyone notice how many times Wenger change QOA, JAL and Freddie around. And how many times we had to change our formation from 4-5-1 to 4-4-2 to 4-3-3. If the last season at Highbury is a transition season then I’m afraid the first 2 seasons at the Grove will also be cuz these players are not good enough.
The teams above us in the league are doing something Wenger never did and that was to strengthen the team. It very simple, is either we buy some players or we die a very painful death as a team.
And Pls Mr Wenger stop whinging and deal with the reality. Stop whinging about nothing and deal with the facts. Yes Roberts challenge was an accident so was Hleb on Bullard and what about Senderos million and one fouls.
The midfield yesterday was a shocker and that was the first team players not the youth team some folks think. The only players out were DB10, Pires, Henry and RVP. Any given day only 2 would have play.
January 11th, 2006 at 8:00 am
i don’t know how so many of you can say that you don’t really care about this competition. truly, it is the lowest of the four crown jewels. however– it looks to be the most likely way we’ll get silverware this year.
league=utterly futile.
champions league= hope so but by no means holding my breath.
fa cup=bolton next. we beat them at this stage last year, but a lot was different last year, no? we won the cup last year, but i challenge you to convince me that we deserved to.
carling cup=already to the semi, but down 1-0 first leg to wigan. even if we beat them next game we will undoubtedly face the mancs and lord knows how we fared against them in recent years.
so the prospect of facing a season without silverware is quite real, and utterly depressing.
January 11th, 2006 at 8:11 am
peter hill-wood was quoted as saying “we will not be held to ransom” in regard to henry’s new contract.
let that sink in…..
WHAT THE F*CK ARE YOU THINKING? the man just pledged his allegiance to the club, knowing that more $$$ awaits elsewhere and this is how we approach the situation? henry is pure class, and willing to show loyalty in this day and age of piracy. we should hire personal slaves for him (the royal p*nis is clean..) this man should be afforded all luxury , and instead this is our public statement?
that’s fine. the man is offering his hand and we hold out our own, covered in sh*t.
January 11th, 2006 at 9:17 am
If the wages aren’t available I would advocate sacking Flamini, Senderos, and Quincy and giving Henry their wages.
January 11th, 2006 at 9:29 am
true dat. anything that can be done should be. this is the premier striker in the world, to let him slip away would be a bloody travesty. he will fill the er, i can’t say it—- emirates stadium.
January 13th, 2006 at 1:47 pm
I understand. I wasnt trying to make an attack at your comment. Just expressing my own frustration and disappointment with Senderos. A lot of people were very enthusiastic about Senderos, including myself I was merely saying perhaps ‘we’ were wrong.