Arsene made ten changes to the Arsenal team on Wednesday when they faced a good Southampton side in the Quarter-Final of the League Cup. If we had won it we would have been two semi-final games away from a Wembley appearance and a great day out for the fans, and maybe even a trophy to show for it!
But Wenger made his decision and the Gunners were duly defeated by the Saints to reach the last four. But should Wenger have tried a little harder to win it? Yes we all know Wenger wants to concentrate on the Champions League (in which we have no hope whatsoever) and the Premier League, which will be harder to win this season than ever before. But wouldn’t it be nice to have just one little trophy at least at the end of the season?
One person who is livid about it is the ex-Arsenal player Paul Merson, who vented his anger in the Star. He wrote: What is Arsene Wenger on? Ten changes for a quarter-final? Unbelievable. You’re not going to win the trophy resting all your players. But why weren’t they all banging down his door demanding to play? It’s a quarter-final. Arsenal could have won a trophy. When their grandkids ask them what they did at Arsenal, what will they say? ‘Oh I came fourth every year and made the club lots of money’.
Win this competition and you can tell them you won a trophy at Wembley. They will all be watching the final when it comes along wishing they were in it. Win this trophy in February and it buys you March and April. The fans can’t complain then. They will now, and quite right too. It was so disrespectful to do that.
They put a team of kids out against a Premier League side. A good Premier League side as well. They were asking for trouble. Even if the game only cost a tenner for some fans, it’s not good enough. They should have let them all in free if they were going to mug it off like that. Any of the teams left in it can win the thing now and they will all fancy their chances. But Arsenal might as well not have been in it.
They’ve even thrown away their unbeaten record. It’s unbelievable.
I guess he has a point. The Emirates was packed, no matter how much they paid for their tickets, they still came to cheer on a side that was unbeaten since the opening day of the season. They expected to see them win, so it is little wonder there were boos at the end of the night…..
How many of them are going to go out of their way to bring their kids to another League Cup game in the future if not even Wenger is interested in winning it?
Darren N.