Well, the title is oversimplifying it a little bit, but let's not lose sight of everything in the midst of all the fallout from the Adebayor-Bendtner incident, and Spurs' champagne-spraying celebrations (as if they'd won the Champions' League or something).

The Carling Cup is, and always has been Arsenal's 4th priority. The Carling Cup, as Juande Ramos told us recently, was Tottenham's No. 1 target, and Dimitar Berbatov even said this was their "match of the year".

Hence we saw an extremely pumped Spurs team, at home, on the cusp of a Wembley final, playing a disjointed Arsenal side that have the slight distractions of competing for the league, and being in the Champions League AND the FA Cup.

The Spuds haven't won in this fixture since 1999, and that pathetic record of theirs was bound to end sometime. This was the perfect opportunity for it - at home, Carling Cup semi-final (which they messed up last year), and against their local rivals' second/youth side. They played like it was their "Match of the Year", and sadly we played like it was our lowest priority competition. However, while defeat is somewhat (only slightly) palpable, the scoreline was the shocking bit.

And on that, I have nothing to say other than "WHAT THE FUCK?". At 2-0 I shook my head, but though OK there's a chance. At 3-0 I grimaced, and at 4-0 I burst out laughing from the sheer absurdity of it all - who would have thought? Spurs up 4-0 against the Arsenal in a cup semi-final. Happily for them the record books will not tell us that the Carling Cup is a mickey mouse tournament, nor that Arsenal played a secondary side, but that's the price of losing.

Credit to them, they were excellent on the day, and quite clinical, but some of the Arsenal players were god awful. It wasn't even that weak of an Arsenal side, with Gallas and Sagna drafted in because of injury, and Hleb playing on the right to add some creativity. Fabregas even played most of the game after Denilson had come off injured after 20 minutes. Some of the players just did not seem up for it, and captain William Gallas particularly was awful.

Arsene Wenger gave in to the temptation of including some senior players, understandable given the size and nature of the fixture, but I understand completely his regrets in not letting some of the youngsters have a go and playing the players that he did, because some of them were just not in the game. 

The players will have to respond at the weekend against Newcastle, and it will be difficult with the cloud of the whole Bendtner-Adebayor clash hanging over them. Adebayor's behaviour was seriously, seriously out of order, and no matter how much he's done for the club, striking a junior teammate in public, in a game such as that, is completely unacceptable. While Bendtner is a cocky, mouthy lad, he is one of the family, and i'm sure the players and other people within the club are just shocked by what Ade has done.

There is some serious patching up to do.

Arsenal struggled, and probably came away with an undeserved 1-1 draw against Spurs in the first leg of the Carling Cup semi final at Ashburton Grove. It was Tottenham who created the most chances and controlled most of the play, with Dimitar Berbatov especially impressive, but Theo Walcott shot deflected in off his own chest to steal a draw for the Gunners after Jermaine Jenas had given their local rivals the lead.

Let's keep this all in perspective however - Tottenham's first team put in one of their best performances of the season, and Arsenal's second team put in one of their worst performances of the season, and Spurs still couldn't beat us.

The goals are below:

Unfortunately Arsenal's thinning squad took further blows as Robin Van Persie, Johan Djourou and Philippe Senderos were all injured. With Kolo Toure, Emmanuel Eboue and Alex Song away in Ghana for the African Cup of Nations, and Lassana Diarra looking likely to leave, there suddenly looks to be a big shortage of defensive talent in the squad.

Gallas is the only recognised first-choice centreback, and although Justin Hoyte filled in well in the second-half for Djourou, he is not going to win many balls in the air. That might mean Gilberto dropping back alongside Gallas, but then with Diarra possibly leaving, it leaves Mathieu Flamini as the sole recognised defensive/holding midfielder.

Van Persie's unfortunate attempt at a comeback will be regarded less seriously at the moment due to the fine form of Eduardo, but things can change very easily. It's a big month or two for Arsenal, and Arsene Wenger just might look into bringing some players in, perhaps even on loan.

The big news for the Carling Cup semifinal first leg at Ashburton Grove is that Lassana Diarra has been dropped, and that Robin Van Persie is in the squad. Fran Merida has also been left out, and that probably means that he's on his way to Chris Coleman's Real Socieded on-loan for the rest of the season.

Diarra not being in the squad means he's probably on his way, or that he's causing enough trouble for Wenger not to want him anywhere near the squad. Not quite sure what is running through his odd little (big?) head, but Arsenal has always been the place to be for young French players, and Wenger has an excellent track record of making them into internationals. Diarra is just 22, and his a big future ahead of him, but he's still quite raw. He wants to play so that he can be a France regular, but the irony is that most of his appearances for France have been filling at right-back, so what is he aiming for exactly?

He came from a Chelsea team that played ugly football and where he got no chances to an Arsenal team that plays wonderful football, and where he's gotten some chances, but what does he expect? To walk into a midfield that has Fabregas, Hleb, Rosicky, and Flamini playing out of his skin? Like Wenger said, he has to work his way into the starting lineup, that's how it is at a big club, and Diarra is causing problems and talking too much without having earned the right to do so.

He is a talented lad, and I hope he just goes out on loan, because the futures of Gilberto and Flamini are still in some doubt, so we might well need his holding abilities next year. Sam Allardyce was rumoured to be interested in signing him for Newcastle, but Sam Allardyce has been sacked, so who knows.

As for Van Persie, it's a welcome return for him. I doubt that he'll be starting, but it's a fantastic option to have him coming off the bench, and his individual genius is going to be much needed over the coming months. In games like the ones against Newcastle, Middlesborough and Portsmouth, where the team dropped points and looked uninspired, Van Persie could have made the difference with a dribble or free-kick or one of those inch-perfect shots from impossible angles.

The squad is as follows:

2 Abou DIABY
3 Bacary SAGNA
6 Philippe SENDEROS
9 EDUARDO
11 Robin VAN PERSIE
15 DENILSON
19 GILBERTO
20 Johan DJOUROU
21 Lukasz FABIANSKI (GK)
26 Nicklas BENDTNER
30 Armand TRAORE
31 Justin HOYTE
32 Theo WALCOTT
36 Mark RANDALL
40 Vito MANNONE (GK)
41 Gavin HOYTE

They are likely to lineup as:

Fabianski

Hoyte Djourou Senderos Traore

Walcott Denilson Gilberto Diaby

Bendtner Eduardo

That's a fairly straightforward 4-4-2, but Walcott will probably push further forward, with Diaby staying more central, and it might well be 4-3-3 depending on the situations.

The other possibilities are Sagna playing at left-back (Traore was awful against Burnley), or at right-midfield, with Theo on the left or up front. Van Persie could play wide in a 4-4-2, or on either flank in the 4-3-3, although the right-side is preferred by him.

Spurs have no real news coming into this game. Ledley King has returned for them at the back, and Michael Dawson will partner him in the middle. They have more or less a full strength side with Bale and Kaboul the only noteworthy absentees.

Update: Juande Ramos has apparently dropped Paul Robinson for this game 

The first goal, scored by Eduardo. A cracker after good work by Bendtner, who had a good game without being too effective:

Second goal, again by Eduardo, and a great pass from the youngster Kieran Gibbs. Some of you might remember him from the Emirates Cup where he played very well against Inter Milan. He was on the wing in that game, and Arsene Wenger described him afterwards as a "mini Ryan Giggs". Well, on Wednesday he played at left-back and gave a good account of himself, even though he is primarily an attacking player. Just goes to show the "total football" philosophy that is running through the club at the moment:

As for the third goal, well Denilson had a pop from long range, and it went in via a slight deflection from the defender, although enough to deceive the 'keeper. Denilson had a fantastic game, and this was a great reward for him:

Other honourable mentions go to Theo Walcott, who looks much more confident, and hit the post, and Lassana Diarra, who looks a fearsome prospect (although he hung on to the ball a bit more than he needed do, but he was probably just trying to impress). 

Here's the Arsenal squad for the game:

2. Abou DIABY (Age 21)                    
8. Lassana DIARRA (Age 22)                    
9. EDUARDO (Age 24)                    
15. DENILSON (Age 19)                    
17. Alex SONG (Age 20)                    
19. GILBERTO (Age 31)                    
21. Lukasz FABIANSKI (GK) (Age 22)                    
26. Nicklas BENDTNER (Age 19)                    
31. Justin HOYTE (Age 22)                    
32. Theo WALCOTT (Age 18)                    
34. Kieran GIBBS (Age 18)                    
39. Henri LANSBURY (Age 17)                    
40. Vito MANNONE (GK) (Age 19)                    
41. Gavin HOYTE (Age 17)                    
42. Fran MERIDA (Age 17)                    
43. Nacer BARAZITE (Age 17)

That's an average age of 20.2, and if you take Gilberto out of that, it makes the average age a staggeringly low 19.4.

The absence of Arman Traore means that Justin Hoyte will probably play at left-back, with either his brother Gavin or Lassana Diarra playing at right-back.

Gilberto and Alex Song will be the likely central defensive pairing, with Bendtner and Eduardo playing up front together.

The spots on the wing are up for grabs - if Diarra plays in midfield, then Diaby will probably play on the left, if not, then Diaby and Denilson will play in the centre together, with Gibbs, Merida, Walcott and Barazite vying for the wide positions. Gibbs is due a chance on the left after his impressive pre-season showing there against Inter Milan.

Probable starting XI:

                   Fabianski
Diarra     Song      Gilberto    Hoyte
Walcott   Denilson   Diaby    Gibbs
           Bendtner    Eduardo

Oh and serial murderer Chris Morgan has been whining about how no one shook his hand last year.

So explain this to me - while fans all over the world are gettin hunted down and banned, and clubs being fined for their misbehaviour, why were Chelsea fans allowed to throw things on the pitch all game and get away with it?

Okay, yes, we know they are a bunch of classless, ignorant pigs, mostly Johnny-come-latelys and plastic fans, and even the traditional sort that were basically trashy drunks, were only slightly better than Spurs supporters to begin with. But even then, on an occassion like this - a cup final against a major rival, with millions of people watching (yes, millions of people watched, that was the effect of Arsenal's FOOTBALLERS reaching this final), you would have expected them to behave.

Instead, things were thrown onto pitch all game long - food, paper, plastic, all kinds of nonsense. Cesc Fabregas was hit by a piece of celery when taking a corner kick, several others players had to dodge and throw-away stuff. Manuel Almunia, the most non-controversial nice-guy figure that you could ever find was even struck by something from the crowd, and required treatment from the physio. (This was right when Arsenal had conceded the corner from which John Terry got kicked in the head, and it was because the Arsenal physio was close by treating Almunia that Terry's life was not jeoparised). It's funny that Chelsea get away scot-free again. In 2002 at Highbury, when a pound coin got thrown at Jamie Carragher, the fan responsible was hunted down and banned for life. Can you imagine any such thing being done by Chelsea? No chance. Why? Same reasons again, primarily a sheer lack of class, and additionally a lack of control, and a lack of standards being set by a club that despite breaking all the rules, persists with a siege mentality like no other. You have shameful people like Abramovich and Kenyon who have broken every rule in the book, and then bragged about it, and you have the ultra- (but very talented) Mourinho, and they've created this bizarre pseudo-posh yob culture at the club. It's honestly quite painful.

"Where were you when you were shit?"


Cesc holding up celery that the Chelsea fans threw

I watched Ashley Cole make his Champions League debut against Sparta Prague as a second half substitute for Silvinho, and he gave a zippy energetic performance. 3 days later, he scored his first goal for the Arsenal, starting the game against Man City because Silvinho was still injured, from a well worked set piece in a 5-0 win. Sometime later, he started against Bayern Munich in an important game, and was absolutely fearless and effervescent. That was the birth of Ashley Cole at the Arsenal, the Londoner who wore his heart on his sleeve, who was a Gooner through and through, and who claimed that he used to cry as a little boy when listening to the radio to matches that Arsenal lost. He was a rarity for Arsenal as well as England, a talented English youngster, who had come through the youth ranks and provided a left-footed, left-sided option to both club and country when they needed it most. The fans made him a hero - we loved loads of the players, but he was special because he was an Arsenal boy. He was being touted as a future Arsenal captain, and the heart and soul of the club. What a load of shit.

Ashley Cole is nothing but a fucking pretentious, dirty, money-grubbing, two-faced disgusting chav. He betrayed the club for money, lied all the time, jeopardised some of our most important games and moments, and showed disrespect to everyone including his teammates, all so he could make a bit of cash.

And he sunk to new lows on Sunday at the Carling Cup final. Although Ashley didn't play, he was warming up during the second half, and in the course of doing his warmups came close to the Arsenal fans section several times. It wasn't just enough to see his pathetic face during a final where Arsenal were having such hard luck, but Cashley Cole had the audacity to repeatedly make a point of kissing his Chelsea badge and grinning at the Arsenal fans everytime he was running past them. It's shameless and it's classless, and it's exactly what you'd expect from a pathetic, misguided cunt like that. We're all a bit bitter, we're all a bit sad, but hey... We've got William Gallas! Fuck off Ashley, you're lucky the Arsenal fans aren't as badly behaved as that bunch of monkeys at Chelsea, or you'd have had a bottle or two smashed over your head by now.

Back when he didn't have Roman Abramovich's mobile phone stuck up his arse:

First off, Chelsea are a bunch of fucking horrible cunts. Now that we've established that, we can move on (briefly) to the football, where Arsenal went ahead 1-0 with a great Theo Walcott finish. Chelsea equalised not too long after with a goal from Drogba, where he was clearly offside, but we're Arsenal, and they're Chelsea, so obviously nothing more can be expected of the officiating. Robin Van Persie scored a perfectly good goal last season against Chelsea, which was ruled out for offside, and Drogba was a good 2 yards further on this effort, so it was pretty poor officiating. The young, inexperienced Traore didn't help by being sucked upfield, and Drogba had time to take 5 or 6 steps to settle himself before slotting through Almunia's legs - no challenge on him at all. Then late in the game Arsenal gave the ball away cheaply in their own half, Robben crossed, and Drogba easily beat Senderos to the ball to make it 2-1. Another Drogba goal that is down to very poor defending from Senderos, and I don't know why Djourou wasn't playing. Almunia was OK without being great, but Cech was monstrious for them and it could have been 2-0 long before they scored if it wasn't for him.

So on paper, Chelsea win 2-1. Anyone who watched the game would have seen the real story - Arsenal's young players playing brilliant football, controlling the game, and running circles around a bunch of unambitious overpaid shitheads. Chelsea celebrated afterwards as if they had just won the Champions League (regardez the "Winners 07" shirt that they put on), and Drogba's over-exaggerated celebrations are always hard to take given the cheapness of some of his goals. I'm angry about this not just because of the late brawl, but also because the Arsenal kids didn't get the result they deserved. It was gutting. Overall there are definitely more positives to take out of this game than negatives, but footballwise only.

And now to the incident. Kolo and Mikel were challenging for the ball, and Lampard was around. Toure and Mikel were getting heated, and then Lampard wades in and says something and suddenly Toure went mental like you could never imagine and that sparked a huge brawl. Lampard was definitely involved in the middle of it, not sure exactly what John Obi Mikel did, and there were several players in the thick of things. Watch the highlights carefully, Kolo and Mikel are angry, but then Lampard steps in, and Kolo absolutely loses it like he's never lost it before, and that sparks a huge brawl. Cesc, who always gets involved, got involved, stepping in to let Lampard know that he can't just say and do whatever he wants, and then Lampard and him went at it, and Drogba came and had a go at Cesc as well, and once they were all separated, Lampard went after the little Spaniard again. I love that Cesc plays with so much heart, but i'm worried it will burn him out.



Kolo and Mikel did nothing but shove like crazy, maybe they deserved their reds, but Lampard got away with just the yellow. As always, it's Arsenal who are portrayed as the dirty ones, but Lampard is as fucking horrible as anyone else you'll find. But what else is he? He's English, he's one of England's only half-decent midfielders, and he's a fat overrated overpaid cunt playing for a team run by an arrogant monkey and owned and funded by a criminal. As you can see neutrality is not my concern at the moment. Cesc stepped in, alternating between aggressor and peacemaker, but Lampard was the one who waded in to start with, and shove, and say something, and then just kept going at it. Cesc was booked, and he was frustrated but he understood. Lampard you could almost see smirking as he received his token yellow - he knows he's untouchable.

Most ridiculous though, was the sending off of Emmanuel Adebayor, who stepped in 3 times as a peacemaker when everything was going crazy. He did absolutely nothing, and he was quite rightly absolutely livid when the assistant ref told the linesman to send him off. He was furious, he had to be restrained, and it took the physio Gary Lewin, Henry and everyone else to get him off the pitch. This was the problem with the replays not being shown, but to everyone watching it just looked like a bunch of angry thugs being sent off. Adebayor did NOTHING at all, and that was why he was angry. I'm told that Emmanuel Eboue might have clashed with Wayne Bridge and that Adebayor was sent off for this. What kind of stone age are we in where the linesman can't tell a 6'3" ponytailed black man from a 5'10" shaven headed one? This was nonsense. African football fans will be very, very unhappy.

It's very dissatisfying as you could imagine. Lots of positives for the youngsters to take, because they outplayed Chelsea, but the red cards are a horrible after-effect - Toure and Adebayor suspended for 3 matches. Cesc's yellow will mean that he needs to be careful, because he's gotten a few this season. Diaby and Denilson were oustanding, and the team was in general. Up front Aliadiere worked hard, and Baptista tried (but was sluggish and off the pace). Once again, Senderos was at fault for Drogba scoring a winner, and despite all the qualities of the Swiss defender, his mistakes seem to outweight them.

John Terry was injured in the game as well, heading a 50-50 ball and getting a kick in the head from Diaby for his troubles. It looked like a very serious injury, and I was concerned for him at the time, but right now i'm just disappointed that the big fucking r***ist hasn't ended up in a coma. Diaby had a wonderful game, but he looked quite distressed by what he'd done to Terry, and I think that's probably more the reason why he was substituted.



Unbelievable bitterness stemming from undeserved loss is what the doctor would probably diagnose right now, but Chelsea really do make it difficult with the way they behave, and the media compound it by always pointing the finger at Arsenal and their "foreigners", and always backing up Chelsea's nonsense, especially as far as Lampard and Terry are involved. I'm sure Zokora and King and Chimbonda over at Spurs were quite happy to see TheWorld'sBestDefenderAndBestPlayerInEnglandCosHe'sEnglishJohnTerry flat out on the turf.



Anyhow. Enough. That's two losses on the bounce now for the Arsenal, and it's tough for the team. The lack of an offside call for Drogba's goal was pretty gutting as well, especially when the big fucker acts like he's just scored the best goal ever. Last year Robin Van Persie had a brilliant left-footed effort disallowed for offside when he was at least 2-3 yards more onside than Drobga. But it's Chelsea, or it's Arsenal, or maybe it's both. Explain why Michael Essien wasn't given a second yellow, while poor Denilson good booked for a harmless foul. Early on, a cross was put in from Walcott, and Baptista dragged it back instead of taking a shot, but was tackled, and the defender was nowhere near the ball. Where was the Penalty? Where was the penalty when Aliadiere was brought down clearly at Blackburn? Where was the penalty when Hleb was chopped down at West Ham? Where was the penalty when Flamini was brought down at Highbury a couple of years ago against Chelsea?

Arggghh. Big, tough week of football up ahead. Congratulations to Chelsea, good luck to the Arsenal, and fuck off to Fat Franky Lampard. Look out for some heavily biased, heavily edited highlights to start circulating all over the place soon. I'm sure you can guess by now what the purpose of those will be. Rupert Murdoch can't die soon enough, the disgusting prick.

Apologies for all the expletives.

Goals from Emmanuel Adebayor, Jeremie Aliadiere and Tomas Rosicky (well.. an own goal by Pascal Chimbonda), gave Arsenal a hard-fought but well-deserved victory over Spurs in the Carling Cup Semi-Final second leg at Ashburton Grove. Arsenal had taken the lead in a tense game through Adebayor in the 77th minute, in a game in which they dominated possession with scant reward. Fabregas and Rosicky had come one by then, and it was the latter who found the Togostick in space, allowing him to slot a left-footed shot past Fatty Robinson.

Unfortunately, with 5 minutes remaining, Mido equalised for the Scum. I was most unperturbed by this, because I was firmly under the impression that away goals mattered, and I couldn't understand why the commentators were acting like Tottenham were back in it, until I realised that they were actually - back in it; away goals only counted after the end of extra-time. Devious.

So, anyhoo. Extra time it was. Unfortunate, because Arsenal could have held out, but Mido had scored a very good header. The free kick leading up to it was quite soft, and reminescent of the first leg. It was out on the right-flank, in the right-back position, and the feisty Denilson went shoulder to shoulder with a Spurs player. Huddlestone curled a free kick into the near post area, and this time Mido outjumped Kolo Toure to score a great header, as opposed to Baptista's unfortunate own goal last time around. The free kick in the first leg had been horribly soft, this one slightly less so. Questions could be asked about the defence, but when a 5'10" Kolo has been outjumped by a 6'2" Mido then you have to just get on with it.

And get on with it the Arsenal did. What great character this young side shows. Instead of getting nervous and starting to crumble, they just picked up their game and went at Spurs, with amazing confidence and control. Fabregas continues to be a class apart from everything else around him, and what a player Denilson looks. For an 18-year old Brazilian kid who's barely played at first-team level to come to a new country and put in performances like this, he must have exceptional character. He's always fighting hard for the ball, always chasing, harrying, tackling, and never hesitates to shout or communicate with his teammate (whether or not it's in English.. I don't know). He's also got a wickedly venomous shot on him - 5 or 6 times Robinson had to parry absolute thunderbolts away. his technique to hit those is fantastic because he was launching them off volleys, half-volleys and straight off the ground. He's also got great control, vision and, being Brazilian... more than a few tricks up his sleeve.

Ok, back to the game. Well extra-time was a strange affair, because Spurs barely touched the ball. Arsenal were maruding with little reward, but things were still OK because they would still go through on away goals if the scores remained the same after extra-time.

If the game was somewhat close by the 90th minute, it ended with the possession being 61% in favour of the Arsenal, with the Gunners also having 11 shots on target to Spurs' 3. Still the White Lillies managed to hold out. Desperate stuff. That is until their pretty-boy Portuguese sub, Ricardo Rocha decided to stoop to about 5 millimetres above the turf to get in a diving headed clearance. He failed miserably of course, and Aliadiere pounced on the rebound and smacked it past Robinson's near post. It's a great moment for the young man who's been here as long as Thierry Henry but never really shone. He's scored the winning goal in a cup semi-final that's also a North London derby. It couldn't get much better, and hopefully he'll get his chance in the final.

Arsenal continued to dominate the game, and there were a few chances wasted here and there, but also some good keeping and defending on the part of Spurs. The icing was firmly laid on the cake however, when on a break, Adebayor flicked onto Rosicky, who turned brilliantly in the box, shimmed and dribbled past a few defenders (leaving Rocha for dead, what a great game for him), and smacked a shot off the inside of the near post that then hit Chimbonda and went in. The Spuds had a few corners after that, but really there was no chance of coming back from there.

So well done to the kids, although some of those kids - Fabregas (19), Senderos (21), Clichy (22), Hoyte (20), Adebayor (23) - are very, very experienced now. Good on them.

Amongst the other youngsters, Traore was decent again. Physically for a 17-year-old he is incredible. Fast, tough, tall, and reasonably skillful, but lacking defensive nous. He will get that with experience.

Walcott (17) was okay, promising, but no end-product still.

Diaby (20) continuing his rehabilitation after Dan Smith's disgusting tackle on him last year was much improved. Ineffective in the first leg, he passed and held up the ball well, showing his skill and a bit of the Vieira-ness he seems to have about him.

So Cardiff and Chelsea lie in wait, and although the selection for the final will be interesting, i'm sure the youngsters will still get their chance. Not only has Arsene Wenger never won this trophy, he has never reached the final of it, so he will not want to have his players underperform.

Well, what a bloody odd game... 6-3 at Anfield, who would have thunk it? That's Arsenal's third win against them this season, and they've won 3-0, 3-1 and 6-3 (12-4 in total!). I remember people saying early on how Liverpool were going to be the top challengers to Chelsea this season (I must admit I thought this too), but they have been quite miserable.

The much-maligned Alex Song was largely excellent scoring a (fluky) goal and pulling the strings in midfield.

Julio Baptista has said he wants to score goals, and well.. he did. 4 for the Beast today, including a peach of a free kick from Thierry Henry territory. He also missed a penalty.

And let's not forgoet Jeremie Aliadiadieriarediere, who scored the opener, and provided the assists for all of the Beast's goals from open play.

What a weird game. You rarely expect to go to Anfield and have an easy time of anything, but to go there under these circumstances and be 4-1 up at the half, it was quite unbelievable.

For starters, the Arse beat them 3-1 on Saturday in the FA Cup at Anfield, a result that was great enough in itself given what a fortress Anfield is, and how many troubles Arsenal have had there in recent years (2 losses in the two previous Benitez seasons, and just 2 wins in all Arsene Wenger's years at the club prior to that.. one coming in the 2001/02 double-winning season, and the other in 2003/04 unbeaten season). So you'd think firstly that the 'Pool would be out for revenge. To compound that, given their form in the league, the Carling Cup was now their only chance of domestic success, so one assumed that they would be going for the win. In fact, when this fixture was originally scheduled and then abandoned due to fog in December, Liverpool had name a full strength side, but yesterday they had a mismatch of players on there, with a lot of their stars rested. And lastly, treating the competition how he does - as experience for the kids, Arsene Wenger put out his usual Carling Cup reserve/youth side. So all-in-all, there really should have been no excuse not to win for Liverpool, but they were torn to shreds.

Arsenal were sensational going forward with their movement and quick passing, but Liverpool didn't help with shambolic teamwork. Just as he did for Rosicky's second goal on Saturday, Gerrard failed to make anything close to resembling a tackle on Julio Baptista for the Beast's hattrick goal. Stevie G did hit back with one of his stunning volleys (5-2), and then obviously over-the-hill Hyypia headed a 3rd from an excellent cross by the otherwise useless Palletta.

Tough stuff for the Kopites, especially with Mark Gonzalez getting injured after trying to tackle Theo Walcott early on, and then his replacement Luis Garcia damaging his anterior cruciate ligaments in a 50-50 challenge with Justin Hoyte. Poor Garcia is now out for the season, and Liverpool will definitely be looking for reinforcements in the transfer window.

For Arsenal, a great vindication of Arsene Wenger's youth policy. Apart from reserve goalkeeper Almunia who was 28 (and has been EXCELLENT in his three games against Liverpool this year, perhaps he'll play on Saturday?), no other outfield player was over 25. The team sheet read like this:

Hoyte(21) Toure(25) Djourou(19) Traore(17)

Walcott(17) Fabregas(19) Song(19) Denilson(18)

Baptista(25) Aliadiere(23)

That is pretty special I have to say, and then key thing is that 2 or 3 of these teenagers are already established first-teamers. I know it's a cliche, and that it keeps getting said, but just wait a few years... to have monstrously talented players playing together and getting top-level experience from such a young-age... only the best can come out of it. We just have to hope that we can keep the team together, stay injury free, and sign the right blend of experience and youth when we need to.

YouTube Highlights are below:
0-1: Jeremie Aliadiere
1-2: Julio Baptista
1-3: Alex Song
1-4: Julio Baptista
1-5: Julio Baptista
3-6: Julio Baptista

Have to say it again, Aliadiere really was tremendous yesterday, he looked sharp, strong and full of running and invention. This is his last chance at Arsenal, and hopefully he can take it.