Nov 05
Buried amidst the swirl of coverage surrounding the match on Saturday, the draw for the quarterfinals of the league cup was held on Saturday, and Arsenal were drawn away to Blackburn. The same Blackburn who knocked the Gunners out of the FA Cup last season. I’d imagine that Arsene will stick to the youngsters for this one, but it’ll be a tough test to be sure.
The match takes place at Ewood Park on December 18th at 3PM ET. No word yet on whether it will be televised here in the US.
21 Responses to “Carling Cup Quarterfinals Draw”
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November 5th, 2007 at 2:01 pm
Give the kids a go and I’m not sure they’ll do too badly at all. Blackburn are a very good side and I’m not surprised at all that we drew them instead of Chelsea or Spurs. Notice how many of our away north games are in November - December? This just adds one more game. Anyway there’s no proof to back my statement up anyway so I’ll just shut it. But point is — Let Theo and Bendtner have fun at Ewood Park..if we lose then so be it but I hope Cesc n Ade n Kolo n Gallas dont play there.
November 5th, 2007 at 5:23 pm
Blackburn are a really good challenge for the development team. It’s a rite of passage game. If they deal with Blackburn away they will take huge confidence.
Agree LDE, we are facing a stiff test with the number of away games coming up - 6 of the next 7 games are away. Whilst none of the sides make you shake in your shoes, 6 out of 7 needs a mental toughness and a determination to get the points despite the environment.
In the past November has been a stumbling month for Arsenal sides. Let’s hope this team can maintain the points accumulation.
November 5th, 2007 at 9:40 pm
Yawn - though if we beat Blackburn’s first side with our B-team….
Still, the Carling Cup = nap.
November 5th, 2007 at 9:49 pm
I’d be happy to win the Carling Cup. Whilst it’s the least glamorous prize, it’s a prize, and it would provide further affirmation of Wenger’s youth development policy.
I’ve also grown to love the fact that Wenger bloods our young players in this competition. That means so much more than a bunch of not-good-enough squad players running around. We’re getting a glimpse of some players who will be future stars and who will provide the beautiful game for our club in the future.
November 5th, 2007 at 10:04 pm
i’d be happy to see the Big Dane and Samba go at it….. clash of the manchild
November 5th, 2007 at 10:52 pm
In response to scraps18 . . . your yawn is insulting!
To think that we alone, among all of our football fan counterparts, get to continuously glimpse the future of the club is very exciting. We were able last week to see Walcott, Bendtner, Denilson, Traore, Gibbs, Fabianski, Diaby, Song, Diarra and Hoyte as well as Merida, Lansbury, Barazite and of course Eduardo and Gilberto absolutely control the picth. It was a thrill watching them emulate the senior team with their crisp passes and measured crosses. It is truly a priveledge for us to see these games here in the states. They often don’t get shown in the UK.
And remember, when ManUre tried to emulate Arsene’s formula they got bounced by Coventry for Pity’s sake! We are very lucky. It’s almost as if we have two full teams to support. I for one hope they pull it off. Both for their own confidence as well as to push the seniors to do something memorable as well.
November 5th, 2007 at 11:13 pm
Playing the reserve kids has one advantage - we can be sure they will give their 100% and more, for one pure reason - to win the tie and get another chance to play in the first team for the next round, to earn more opportunity to show their stuffs and impress the gaffer.
at least that’s my feeling when watching the first 2 rounds, they really took the game “seriously” and played with a high intensity. whereas the first teamers may want to reserve themselves a bit for a Carling Cup tie, nobody wants to get injuried in a Carling Cup match and lose their first team place, as with the competition for places this season, chance is that they may not be able to win the starting job back easily.
So let’s stick with Arsenal B again!
November 5th, 2007 at 11:13 pm
#6 has the right attitude. Bring Blackburn the f**k on. Let our Arsenal reserves go into Ewood Park with a full metal jacket on. The pressure is on Blackburn at home with their first team. Win, lose or draw, our team will take something out of the game. That is what is important about the Carling Cup for us-the team’s growth and development.
November 5th, 2007 at 11:29 pm
It will be a tough game but lets stick with the same side as the first two games. No reason why we can’t win with them. No point in risking the first team players in a packed Dec schedule.
November 5th, 2007 at 11:47 pm
I’m in the majority here.
The League Cup is a valuable competition for Arsenal F.C. for all the obvious reasons stated by many, but it is valuable only as long as AW sticks to his past approach which is to use the competition to give many on the squad the chance to develop against quality competition. That is why advancing is so important - it gives those players more opportunities.
I thoroughly enjoyed the Cup last year, and I was happy that AW stuck to his guns and did not play TH14 and many of the other top members of the team in the finals against Chelsea. That team’s play in the final for me was inspirational to see how the young ones left it all out on the pitch, even though we lost. And, to see Chelsea so happy about beating a bunch of 19 year olds was icing on the cake.
Bravo to AW and the Board for allowing us to play this competition with a specific purpose and objective. We are lucky beyond measure.
November 6th, 2007 at 12:31 am
I say let the kids play the first few rounds of the FA Cup as well. I want to see the first team focused on the League and Champions League. The rest is all gravy. Feed the kids.
November 6th, 2007 at 1:01 am
I cannot believe how sour Ferguson became after their draw. He just can’t stop talking. Now he’s calling for a cap on foreign players??!! Great then. So Man U can win the league more easily with their massive spending power (be able to pay inflated price for English players)?
How about Man Utd allows to design all the rules and regulation in the Premiership, arranging the fixture list, as well as choosing the referee every game?
Ferguson claimed “But I think if you asked a neutral, they would rather see more home-based players.”
But hey, I bet if u ask a neutral, they would rather see a more competitive league with every team stands a chance winning the title as well. So how about putting a salary cap? I would love to see how well Man U would do with a salary cap on them!
November 6th, 2007 at 1:11 am
What an absolute c*&t Fergie is .. here’s teh link BTW to anyone who wants it…picked it off the ManU thread..
http://football.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/0,,2206008,00.html.
This is the exact reason I don’t mind Liverpool and Chelsea to an extent…if you outplay them…they will accept it and even give you credit on the way…and it is the same viceversa…. but with ManU Fergie’s overbearing arrogance translates itself to his bunch of studs and they come out and blab as if they thrashed us of the park. I HATE MANU till I die or till Usmanov takes over
coz after that I wont watch Arsenal anymore 
November 6th, 2007 at 1:19 am
Isn’t it lovely to see Fergie rattled?
November 6th, 2007 at 1:32 am
I like the fact so far the Arsenal camp has been quiet regard of all those stupid comments from Fergie and Owen H.
Our main task is to win the EVERY NEXT game, if we continue to do that, they can say whatever they want.
clearly Fergie has been trying his utmost to provoke a response from Wenger. I hope AW will ignore Fergie’s outbrust. Just to make sure everyone of our player keeps their eyes firmly on the ball.
November 6th, 2007 at 1:35 am
When your football does the talking, why bother otherwise?
November 6th, 2007 at 2:07 am
Ferguson is just basically an old drunk howling at the moon. He is despicable - all of this is because a goal was scored just before death to ruin his preconceived notion that his club has an inherent right to the title.
OK, I’m getting a bit worked up… Nipuna is right - it is great to see the old sot getting rattled.
In the worlds of the midfield master, Cesc Fabregas: “F*ck Off.”
November 6th, 2007 at 7:29 am
as i said before and as arseblogger also: isnt it a lovely thing to be trading barbs with fergie at the top of the table once again….rather than having stupid arguments with sp*rs fans over 4th place
November 6th, 2007 at 8:20 am
Amazing, another one!! Now we are not even allowed to celebrate scoring over Man Utd!
http://www.football365.com/story/0,17033,8652_2864172,00.html
November 6th, 2007 at 9:36 am
It’s sad that Arsenal.com don’t make wallpapers for games we don’t win. The one where Cesc says some nice words to Ferdinand would be a classic. If anyone can find that, please post the link.
November 6th, 2007 at 11:14 am
Sky Sports has Blackburn v Arsenal live on Tue 12/18 at 8pm in the UK. Setanta has shown all the Carling Cup games shown by Sky so far here in the USA, so it should be on. Check http://www.soccertv.com/england.cfm in the week before the game for confirmation.