Arsenal v Bolton - Carling Cup 4th round

[Gail Platz]

Oh dear oh dear, looking at those goals, oh dear.

Arshavin's - Why the feck were our 'defenders' just backing off him? Regardless of how overrated he is, you simply cannot give someone with shooting ability like his that much space.

Park - Who the feck is Park for a start, and why did he have so much space? Who was right back today? I've no idea but I'd put my money on Steinsson because he was nowhere to be seen. Nice finish though.

What else could they have done mate? Step forward and put in a challenge and they either risk Arshavin going past them and having a one on one with Bogdan or using a little trickery and winning a penalty.

Well considering the distance he ran with the ball he shouldn't even be getting close to the box to even think a penalty may be given, he should have been closed down way before that. Attackers HAVE to be closed down, yes there's always the risk of giving a foul away but I'd much rather see a challenge on a player with a chance of winning the ball rather than backing off someone with Arshavin's shooting ability meaning 99 times out of 100 it's going to go in the net anyway.

[Hoboh]

Oh dear oh dear, looking at those goals, oh dear.

Arshavin's - Why the feck were our 'defenders' just backing off him? Regardless of how overrated he is, you simply cannot give someone with shooting ability like his that much space.

Park - Who the feck is Park for a start, and why did he have so much space? Who was right back today? I've no idea but I'd put my money on Steinsson because he was nowhere to be seen. Nice finish though.

What else could they have done mate? Step forward and put in a challenge and they either risk Arshavin going past them and having a one on one with Bogdan or using a little trickery and winning a penalty.

Well considering the distance he ran with the ball he shouldn't even be getting close to the box to even think a penalty may be given, he should have been closed down way before that. Attackers HAVE to be closed down, yes there's always the risk of giving a foul away but I'd much rather see a challenge on a player with a chance of winning the ball rather than backing off someone with Arshavin's shooting ability meaning 99 times out of 100 it's going to go in the net anyway.

Stand yer ground that's what your after fella!

[wanderers_on_tour]

Oh dear oh dear, looking at those goals, oh dear.

Arshavin's - Why the feck were our 'defenders' just backing off him? Regardless of how overrated he is, you simply cannot give someone with shooting ability like his that much space.

Park - Who the feck is Park for a start, and why did he have so much space? Who was right back today? I've no idea but I'd put my money on Steinsson because he was nowhere to be seen. Nice finish though.

What else could they have done mate? Step forward and put in a challenge and they either risk Arshavin going past them and having a one on one with Bogdan or using a little trickery and winning a penalty.

Well considering the distance he ran with the ball he shouldn't even be getting close to the box to even think a penalty may be given, he should have been closed down way before that. Attackers HAVE to be closed down, yes there's always the risk of giving a foul away but I'd much rather see a challenge on a player with a chance of winning the ball rather than backing off someone with Arshavin's shooting ability meaning 99 times out of 100 it's going to go in the net anyway.

Fair fair that's just the way I saw it dude and with the Walcotts/Suarezs of the world I don't really blame players for just trying to usher strikers towards the byline especially when tackling at an engle. I get where you're coming from though.

[Gooner Girl]

'the tall and buffed triathlon hunk' ? I'll have that.

Although truth be told I was just holding my belly in for GG.

Trying to stand up straighter and make yourself look taller then me, eh?! And thanks to you, even Bobos insulting me on facebook now!

[Prufrock]

You can't back of defenders like that. Knight showed a lot Of fear there when Arshavin jogged at him.

All he needs to do is step up and force him round the outside. That way you can double up, or force his shot from a more difficult angle where you're more likely to block it.

Closing somebody up in the box doesn't mean you have to commit to a challenge. But I wouldn't expect Knight to know that, cos he's feckin' shit

That's it, you take every other black-shirt out of the picture, and he'd have done the right thing, but once you've got support you've got to actually fecking do something other than slowly gangle backwards. Shithouse. Davies hardly covered himself in glory either like, but dear me.

[elfil76]

Saw the hightlights, agree with some that our attack seems to be more potent with Ngog and Klas.

Anyway, knight still doesn't warrant a start and I would like to see use stick to Wheater and Bibi on the left.

Petrov, Robbo, KD out at the moment.

[Gary the Enfield]

'the tall and buffed triathlon hunk' ? I'll have that.

Although truth be told I was just holding my belly in for GG.

Trying to stand up straighter and make yourself look taller then me, eh?! And thanks to you, even Bobos insulting me on facebook now!

I'm on Facebook too. Invite me for a whole new set of insults if you like!

[Gooner Girl]

'the tall and buffed triathlon hunk' ? I'll have that.

Although truth be told I was just holding my belly in for GG.

Trying to stand up straighter and make yourself look taller then me, eh?! And thanks to you, even Bobos insulting me on facebook now!

I'm on Facebook too. Invite me for a whole new set of insults if you like!

Perhaps I will, if only to get my own back

[Abs]

I cant believe some of you are happy with the performance. I said before the game you should win. Take a real look at the 11 players you played against.

Yennaris as right back. 18 year old reserve midfielder
Miquel as left back. 19 year old reserve centre back

Central midfield of Coquelin and Frimpong who has 3 & 4 PL games for Arsenal.


Park only playing his second game as striker for Arsenal and Arshavin behind him.

It was really disjointed 11 as Wenger didnt want to risk any important player. Arshavin only played cause Rosicky got sick on the day. So you should be angry for not beating that 11. You are a PL team, not a league 2 team.

Also Knights defending for the first and Cahills defending for the second were laughable. Just back off and off until they score

[Gary the Enfield]

I cant believe some of you are happy with the performance. I said before the game you should win. Take a real look at the 11 players you played against.

Yennaris as right back. 18 year old reserve midfielder
Miquel as left back. 19 year old reserve centre back

Central midfield of Coquelin and Frimpong who has 3 & 4 PL games for Arsenal.


Park only playing his second game as striker for Arsenal and Arshavin behind him.

It was really disjointed 11 as Wenger didnt want to risk any important player. Arshavin only played cause Rosicky got sick on the day. So you should be angry for not beating that 11. You are a PL team, not a league 2 team.

Also Knights defending for the first and Cahills defending for the second were laughable. Just back off and off until they score

We are well aware of our failings as has been discussed many times. Are you aware of yours? If not, take a good hard look in the mirror and try to convince yourself you have a life!

[thebish]

I cant believe some of you are happy with the performance. I said before the game you should win.

here's the thing - none of us give a toss what you said before the game or what you say after it.

[Gooner Girl]

Errr, not that i make it a habit to side with Bolton fans Abs, but you are being a bit of a numpty. We had several experienced players in our team also and i believe it wasn't exactly Boltons 1st team they put out, they made several changes too... and they very nearly beat us. Were unlucky not to take it into extra time.

[boltonboris]

We made 9 changes.. But in all honesty, that team is arguably stronger than the one we played against Sunderland

[thebish]

Errr, not that i make it a habit to side with Bolton fans Abs, but you are being a bit of a numpty. We had several experienced players in our team also and i believe it wasn't exactly Boltons 1st team they put out, they made several changes too... and they very nearly beat us. Were unlucky not to take it into extra time.

I wouldn't be surprised if Arshavin on his own cost more than the team we put out...

[boltonboris]

Let's see..

Bodgan - 0

Steinsson - 3.5

Knight - 4.0

Cahill - 5.5

Gardner - 1.5

Kakuta - Loan

Tuncay - Loan

M. Davies - 1.0

Pratley - 0

Muamba - 5.0

Klasnic - 0

So by my reckoning.. (starting 11) It's roughly £20.5 Million.

With £6 Million coming off the bench.

That back 4 cost us around £14.5 Million to assemble!! Megson signed the 2 shite ones and the other good 'un. Toddy brought in Ricardo about 27 years ago.

Ironically, our best (IMO) back 4 cost around £9 Million

[Gooner Girl]

Arshavin cost us around £19mil...

Enjoyed thebishs match report, not too sure how accurate some of his descriptions of TW members are though...

[thebish]

Arshavin cost us around £19mil...

Enjoyed thebishs match report, not too sure how accurate some of his descriptions of TW members are though...

looks like I wasn't very far off then! my descriptions are all spot-on!

[Gary the Enfield]

Arshavin cost us around £19mil...

Enjoyed thebishs match report, not too sure how accurate some of his descriptions of TW members are though...

looks like I wasn't very far off then! my descriptions are all spot-on!

Got mine right.

[mummywhycantieatcrayons]

Arshavin cost us around £19mil...

Enjoyed thebishs match report, not too sure how accurate some of his descriptions of TW members are though...

looks like I wasn't very far off then! my descriptions are all spot-on!

I thought they were pretty much on the money too... though Bobo was possibly hard done to, especially given that he looked like he'd just stepped off his yacht in the South of France (which he actually probably had...).


Good read, Bish. I think on this occasion it is harsh to describe Pratley as 'woeful', unless you know something about how upset he was to come off that I don't. I've seen him start in the flesh three times now, and on the previous two (Norwich and Chelsea at home) I thought he was utterly, utterly useless, but he looked ok on Tuesday. Perhaps the Arsenal u15s is his level? You yourself mention a decent shot - a chance he made for himself by winning the ball and driving on with it. He also did well for our goal.

None of this is to say I wouldn't drop him immediately for Muamba, mind.

The other thing that passed me by a little bit was Klasnic performance. He's had quite a lot of praise for putting in a 'fuller' performance, but that didn't stand out for me. I might watch some of it back.

[boltonboris]

Thought Arshavin was about £12 Million?