NO HOPE, SPURS
Arsenal came from two goals down to earn a dramatic 2-2 draw with Tottenham Hotspur in this morning's Carling Cup first-leg semi-final tie.
ERNEST: Spurs were leading 2-0 against an Arsenal team of mainly youngsters, but seemed to throw it away. With the second leg next Thursday morning, can Spurs still do it and reach the Carling Cup final?
Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas and Spurs' Steed Malbranque tussle for the ball.
TOHARI: Spurs have no hope. Realistically speaking, (Arsenal manager) Arsene Wenger may just add one or two more big names to the team, since they were already able to pull off such a comeback this morning.
Logic tells me that Arsenal will kill them off next week.
What do you make of Spurs goalkeeper Paul Robinson?
I think England are in trouble if he keeps playing this way.
His club form at this level is questionable. There's no command at set-pieces or the high balls.
In such a tense game, you depend on the goalkeeper to help with the confidence.
When he missed that ball from a free-kick in the 61st minute, you could see that the Spurs defence were shaken badly.
For Julio Baptista's second goal, Robinson rushed out too quickly, and really shouldn't have, because it was quite obvious Justin Hoyte was going to cross the ball.
He left an empty goal.
Arsenal boasted a number of youngsters, but was the win entirely due to them?
In the end, it came back down to the more senior players.
Baptista is an experienced player and a Brazilian international.
The key Gunners this morning were Fabregas, the two substitutes (Emmanuel) Eboue and (Aleksandr) Hleb, and Baptista.
The youngsters provided the speed past the older Spurs players in the second half.
So what was Wenger's tactical masterstroke?
Eboue and Hleb, coming on after the 56th minute, provided more stability in Arsenal's midfield.
That helped Fabregas string the passes from central midfield.
Baptista got more service as a result.
Will Wenger keep the youngsters for the second leg next week?
I think the youngsters will be full of confidence after this.
Wenger may keep faith in them, because he knows they will surely want to repay him with another good performance to reach the final.
ERNEST: Spurs were leading 2-0 against an Arsenal team of mainly youngsters, but seemed to throw it away. With the second leg next Thursday morning, can Spurs still do it and reach the Carling Cup final?
Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas and Spurs' Steed Malbranque tussle for the ball.
TOHARI: Spurs have no hope. Realistically speaking, (Arsenal manager) Arsene Wenger may just add one or two more big names to the team, since they were already able to pull off such a comeback this morning.
Logic tells me that Arsenal will kill them off next week.
What do you make of Spurs goalkeeper Paul Robinson?
I think England are in trouble if he keeps playing this way.
His club form at this level is questionable. There's no command at set-pieces or the high balls.
In such a tense game, you depend on the goalkeeper to help with the confidence.
When he missed that ball from a free-kick in the 61st minute, you could see that the Spurs defence were shaken badly.
For Julio Baptista's second goal, Robinson rushed out too quickly, and really shouldn't have, because it was quite obvious Justin Hoyte was going to cross the ball.
He left an empty goal.
Arsenal boasted a number of youngsters, but was the win entirely due to them?
In the end, it came back down to the more senior players.
Baptista is an experienced player and a Brazilian international.
The key Gunners this morning were Fabregas, the two substitutes (Emmanuel) Eboue and (Aleksandr) Hleb, and Baptista.
The youngsters provided the speed past the older Spurs players in the second half.
So what was Wenger's tactical masterstroke?
Eboue and Hleb, coming on after the 56th minute, provided more stability in Arsenal's midfield.
That helped Fabregas string the passes from central midfield.
Baptista got more service as a result.
Will Wenger keep the youngsters for the second leg next week?
I think the youngsters will be full of confidence after this.
Wenger may keep faith in them, because he knows they will surely want to repay him with another good performance to reach the final.
posted by dgarden at 11:16 am
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