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Don't hassle the 'hoff

Ahhh, the Carling Cup… the League Cup, who what is sponsored by the beer called Carling. Exciting things to know about the League Cup:

  1. The semi-finals are held over two legs and it’s the only competition that I know of which counts the away goals rule AFTER overtime.
  2. It only takes 4 wins for a Champions League team to claim this trophy.
  3. Arsenal last won it in 1993.
  4. Theo Walcott’s first ever Arsenal goal was scored in the 2007 League Cup final against Chelsea, which was marred by unfortunate celery throwing, Chelsea players cheating, and some hideous cheat named “Drogba” scoring two goals to give Jose Mourinho his 18th trophy, in his own mind.
  5. Arsenal follow a “youth policy” in the League Cup, which means that they generally play their second tier players to get them some match time in big games. Teams like Chelsea and Tottenham, who have no youth team to field and who hold the 5 game tournament in high esteem, as if it were a real tournament, play their first team.
  6. The only reason why anyone takes this tournament at all seriously is that once every 5 years a team like Tottenham can win it and by doing so be granted a spot in the UEFA Cup and thus “play in Europe” which in turn lowers the competition enough that mangers like Juande Ramos look like tactical geniuses and then, in turn, manage Tottenham and the cycle of life for a bottom feeder club is completed.

The question of the day against Wigan is “who will Wenger play?” We know that Wigan are without Heskey (who has been doing a wonderful job for England and Wigan) but their main threat, Zaki, is going to be giving fits to the Arsenal back line and Song and Djourou will need to be on the top of their game to stop this guy.

Up front, I’d like to say that Bendtner will get a rest, but honestly I can’t see that happening. I suspect that Wenger will go for a 4-5-1 again, to give balance to the defense, and that means Bendtner is needed up front to hold the ball and be the big target.

Which brings us to the midfield. With the Boss saying that 90% of the team that played against Sheffield United will be on display again tonight, I expect only 1 change. Wilshere and Ramsey are all but guaranteed to start but if the boss does elect to play a 4-5-1 we could see a little Bischoff slotted in there behind the striker, and Carlos Vela out on the wing.

Maybe!

And hey, that’s what’s exciting about this tournament from an Arsenal perspective; we get to see players like The Hoff play.

So, like I said yesterday, the match is kicking off at 11:45 PST on Setanta and Doyle’s is carrying it live. Come on down and have a pint and sandwich, win or lose it is always fun to see the Arsenal youth team.

all aboard the failboat!

Well, I just spent the last two hours looking at match reports and combing through Football stats sights and I can’t for the life of me find a breakdown of formations that Arsenal has used. So, there will be no breakdown of and comparison of the relative success of the 4-5-1.

The closest thing I could find is the Telegraph’s breakdown. They show formations and loads of other cool stats (like balls won, etc.) but they only show the last 4 matches. If any of you can find formation information I’d be eternally grateful.

The only news stories today are more fallout from Wenger’s Friday press conference. I guess his comments about winning the “right” way and not “killing” your opponent because needing to do so shows a lack of self belief were aimed at Mad Mourinho. Well, DUH! Mourninho is possibly the least self assured person in the history of the EPL. I mean, we’re talking about a man who claimed the Charity Shield amongst his “5″ trophies, which is the moral equivalent of Hillary Clinton claiming Florida in the win column.

I think Wenger should just ignore Mourinho and keep doing what we do: winning trophies by playing football the way we want to play football. I kind of think of Arsenal as the only Punk team in the EPL. They play football their way, on the cheap, and with a sort of attitude. It’s quite the time to be an Arsenal supporter. Let’s do the double and shove the trophies up the holes of the detractors in the press and the retarded Man U supporters.

Speaking of which… Pomparsenal beat Man U 1-0 in the FA Cup this morning and on a penalty kick no less. The apoplectic reaction of the Man U fans at the temerity of the referee to award a penalty against their glory glory man united was quite a spectacle. It’s even better that they are foaming at the mouth about an opponent “diving:” classic Man U.

Hey, I wonder if the press will say this is the downfall of Man U and that they’ll never win the title after today’s “devastating” defeat?

I doubt it.

What with Funguscunt pulling the press’ strings.

Anyway, Wigan away tomorrow and already there’s some crowing about the condition of the “pitch” at the JJB. I’d hate to see Arsenal take their eye off the ball now and see a repeat of the Sheffield United match of two seasons ago. Wigan’s a sort of similar team full of overly physical assholes and now with their pitch in utter disrepair I predict a physical battle all the way.

Fingers crossed: here’s to 3 points tomorrow.

CYA then…