One way of looking at the EFL cup from an Arsenal point of view, with Southampton heading up to the Emirates stadium on Wednesday to fight it out with us for a place in the semi-final, is that it is a great chance of a trophy for the Gunners this season.
If we do beat the Saints this week it will put just a home and away clash away from a Wembley final and with big clubs like Chelsea and Man City already out then Arsenal are one of the strong favourites. The final comes nice and early as well and could give us a nice boost and then be out of the way with over two months of the Premier League still to go.
Another way of looking at the EFL cup is that it is an unwanted distraction and is down in fourth place on the list of priorities for Arsene Wenger and Arsenal. We still have at least three more Champions League games to play and the FA cup games start soon after the turn of the year, while our regular injury problems and the desperate wish of the fans to challenge for the Premier League makes these league cup games and the timing of them in an already busy fixture list seem like a nuisance.
I am sure that the manager will have all this in mind and will be trying to weigh everything up to get the right balance, but how seriously do you think Arsenal should take this week’s cup clash? And how strong an Arsenal side do you think we should put out?
Bob.
We should take this seriously as it’s our only realistic chance at silverware, along with the FA Cup. Southampton are a tough opponent, so I hope we have a decent team out. Rest Sanchez though.
To say that the EFL up is “our only realistic chance of silverware” is a complete exaggeration.
Realistically it is, along with the FA Cup. Do you honestly believe we’ve got a better chance of winning the league or the Champions League? I would say that is even more of an exaggeration! Second place last season was the our best finish in the league in a whopping 11 years (and that was with ALL of our rivals messing up, this year they’re much stronger), and I can’t even remember the last time I saw Arsenal in a semi-final in Europe or even a quarter-final for that matter.
To say that we can’t win anything apart from the cups shows you have a completely defeatist attitude. If any player shared your opinion, I would recommend them for an immediate transfer. This time last year, nobody gave Leicester a prayer at winning the league, but it was their belief that ultimately carried them through to the title. Porto famously won the Champion’s League and Greece also won the Euros. Birmingham recently won the FA cup….I could go on. We have also won the league numerous times. What our club doesn’t need is this type of negativity. The fan is supposed to be the players’ twelfth man. It is no wonder that things get really edgy very quickly for the players when a vocal section of the supports show little faith. Arsenal have no divine right to win anything however if Arsenal is your club you should get behind them and be a true supporter.
Did you even read my comments? When did I say we can ONLY win the domestic cups, and when did I mention about the players attitude? I don’t mind you disagreeing with me, but don’t just make stuff up! All I said, that realistically, the cups are our best hope of a trophy. Neither of us can predict the future, I am just basing my opinion on what I’ve seen from Arsenal this season, and one has take into account previous failed seasons because we have the same manager.
And how on earth is it negativity, just because I don’t think Arsenal can win everything? Do I think Arsenal could beat Barcelona if we met again in the last 16 for example, of course I don’t! That isn’t negative, that doesn’t make me a bad supporter, that’s me just having a realistic opinion on the outcome. Of course I’d want us beat them, and anything can happen, but it’s unlikely, especially given Wenger’s track record in Europe.
I want Arsenal to win, just as much as you do, but I refuse to bury my head in the sand as well. I am not blind to our shortcomings.
I hope we go for it. A trophy is a trophy!
I think Wenger will take it pretty serious
Martinez
Jenkinson – Holding – Gabriel – Gibbs
Coquelin – Xhaka – Ramsey
Reine -Adelaide – Giroud – Iwobi
Just saw Giroud’s tweaked his hamstring. Things are decidedly thin up front. A good chance for one of our U21s to put in a marker – Willock or Mavididi?
We should take the cup very seriously. With should start with the team below and have all of the big guns on the bench.
————–Martinez—————–
Niles—Holding—Gabriel—-Gibbs
———Coq—-Ramsey———-
Ox———–Iwobi————Adelaide
————-Pirez—————–
We have never won the EPL, so it would be nice to get it
Southampton are tough and may play a stronger squad
We need to rest a lot of players and we can rest players against Basel too
A lot of matches in December
Rest Alexis, Cech, Ozil, Monreal, Koscielny, Coquelin, Xhaka
Play Ramsey, Eleney, Gabriel, Gibbs, Iwobi, Giroud
Play a few youngsters too
I see all the team combinations above and all looks good to me but Southampton need this more then us so it will be a fight
‘I think Nacho went for the shot to be honest’
The above quote is by Theo walcott when describing his header post match when he was with Sanchez on sky sports. This guy has an ego or some kind of feeling of superiority over other players. This is one reason why I will never respect this guy. It looks like a cross to me and most other people, so why put down a fellow team mate down like that? Why doesn’t he say it was a great ball by Nacho? What about his useless balls into the box when no one is there. When he is trapped in by two defenders, he sends blind croses into the box.
I check the video again today to make sure that is what he said.
Matee Theo is one of the nicest guys out there, yeah what he said was strange and out of character but I think you’re going overboard the, it’s not like you hear him say stuff line this every week ??