Hello all,

Well another competition over for the season then. The young lads were taught a lesson about profligacy today by Burnley who now progress to the semis. I suppose that is what is good about this competition. It is a learning experience and, while I would have liked to see our boys go and win this cup, no-one cares too much one way or the other on the outcome.

So a lesson learnt then, hopefully. Down to mainly the unbelieve heroics from the opposite goalkeeper, Jensen I believe. Vela, Bendtner, Ramsey and I think Randall, all had clear goal-scoring oppurtunities destroyed by Jensen. Realistically, had there been any other keeper in that net, Arsenal would have been 1-3 up at half-time. But they weren't and so came out surging in the second half looking for that equaliser. Randall had an unbelievable run through the defense, dancing past them as if they were not even there, and then played the ball just past the far post for the finish. Arsenal now had a sense of urgency about them; pushing forward and holding a vast amount of possession. Unfortunately, it was not to be. Just as it looked like we might get something from this game, up pops Burnley and makes it 2-0. It wasn't a complete knockout blow for the Arsenal side, however as much as we huffed and puffed we couldn't  force a goal and were left to rue missed chances. 

So then, the fun and excitement of the Carling Cup is over for another season, let's hope Mancs and Spurs both lose their ties, and leave the cup for the championship sides. This loss may not be so bad for the league however. As many have noticed, a brilliant win for the Cup boys, has always resulted in a horrific result for the usual team in the League. So maybe this time, as the lads head back out against Wigan, we will win, and continue to win, because now there can no longer be any great Carling Cup wins. A bit of stretch maybe,  but possible.

Anyway, in completely unrelated news, on Robin van Persie's controversial goal, I was watching a replay of the match and the commentators were saying that play went on because the referee said the ball hit a Chelski player on the way through. Whether this makes it any more legal i have no idea. I have always been quite unsure of this part of the off-side rule, as I've seen many a time, players called off-side and on-side after the ball has deflected off another play from the other team. So perhaps a bit of clarification on the actual rule would be good FIFA.

Well that's it for now, have a good day and keep the faith,

Asian Arsenal.  

Hello all,

And yes it's that time of the season again. Following the extroadinary success and relative disgrace of the Carling Cup and Premier League respectively, The Carling Cup has become my favourite competition. This time our young lads are in action against Burnley. The brilliant thing about this competition is that, because of its infrequency in terms of matches, the players are always rearing to go and usually put in an unbelievable performance.

So Burnley. Whilst they are a championship side, and we have just displaced Wigan (who are although at some times also a championship side), let us not forget that they did just beat Chelsea. And yes you remember correctly, the Chelsea who say we are "ruining the competition" by playing a young side, and pledged to play a full-strength line-up in the Carling Cup. So it was burnley who beat a full-strength Chelsea team. The victory came after penalties following a 0-0 scoreline. But perhaps this should scare us. As many blogs have mentioned, teams that want to play football against us will always lose. Now 0-0 onto penalties is hardly football when your playing against one of the top teams in England *cough*. So it would seem they are capable then of playing proper, good-old-fashioned, Championship football, wherein the weaker team just sits back with 11 men behind the ball fashioning a wall of sorts. Very hard to score with, but very hard to score against as well. And seeing as how they're facing us this time, I think they may just decide to play the same game. Try and hold out for penalties.

However, let's not forget the power of this young team, that annihilated Sheffield and then destroyed Wigan. So expect another emphatic scoreline I think. As usual in this competition, we will probably play the 4-4-2, I believe with Vela and Bendtner up front. They usually provide the spark for each other, and I would not be surprised if we scored more than 3 goals tomorrow. Fabianski has also been a mixture of unbelievable and fucking disgraceful in the past games, so we'll have to see how their side of the score table turns out to be. There is however some bad news, Silvestre has been picked to play in this line-up. Not that i think he's a bad defender or anything, but it spoils the chance of other youngsters to get that valuable first team experience in them. Other than him, I think we should be seeing some of the more regular Carling Cup players; Ramsey, Wilshere, Merida, etc. So I think we should be in for another fantastic game, and it is always brilliant to see the kind of talent that is surging through the ranks at Arsenal. I predict the match will end Arsenal 3 - Burnley 0. Maybe even higher.

Anyway, have a brilliant time watching the game, and keep the faith,

Asian Arsenal.  

Hello all,

just a quick post today as I'm bogged down in study for my exams. The draw for the Carling Cup quarter-finals has been made and amazingly we have not been placed against the crappy north-london side. As this is the only competition that I think we have a chance of winning now, I like to focus a lot on it and it is very exciting to watch Arsenal play well for once. So the draw is as follows:

Burnley - Arsenal 

Stoke - Derby

United - Blackburn

Watford - Crap

All these matches will be played in the week starting December 1 and I think ours is on Tuesday 2 December. I'm hoping, assuming we pass through this round, that we face one from the Stoke -  Derby match, or even better that there's massive upset and the semi-final teams are Arsenal, Backburn, Watford and Derby. Then I think we may just have this competition won. Still our game against Burnley has probably been the best of the lot and we should progress with ease to the semis. 

Well that's all for now, have a good day and keep the faith, 

Asian Arsenal

Hello all,

Not too much happening presently in the world of Arsenal so a bit of a shorter blog today. Former boss Geroge Graham has come out and said that Arsenal are the envy of every other club. This in response to Arsenal's great youth system showcased by our thrashing of Wigan. He goes on about how the youth at the club is amazing and that Arsene is doing a great job. And I think he may have hit the nail on the head here. Because after speaking to some Liverpool and United supporters, I was grudgingly told that Arsenal, on their day, are exciting to watch and that our youth is the best in the country if not the world. I feel this says alot about Arsenal, that even supporters of rival clubs can still see the greatnessof our play and youth. 

This envy was emphasised by the chelski coach's comments about Arsenal wrecking the competition and how they would field a full strength squad. Chelski then went on to lose on penalties with a senior squad against championship side Burnley. The only reason Chelski fielded a full-strength squad is because they don't have the youths who can win a match, and after today it's now apparent they don't have the seniors either. In the other matches of the Carling Cup Spurs beat Liverpool 4-2 and Blackburn ousted Sunderland. So it seems that the only real challenge in the next round will be if we're drawn against the Mancs or maybe spurs will pose a slight threat. So I expect we should at least equal our position from last year if not beat it. 

Well that's all for today, Aston Villa preview tomorrow, for now have a good day and keep the faith, 

Asian Arsenal. 

Hello all,

Hope you were able to enjoy this morning's game as much as I did. Our 3-0 drubbing of the Latics was simply extraordinary, and should have instilled a bout of confidence and experience in our youngsters. The win featured two debut goals from Jay Simspson who looks to be a very promising striker, and a magnificent chip over Kirkland from Vela. It's of course very exciting to see the kind of talent and potential that we have in store and there was definitely no lack of either against Wigan. Wilshere had another fantastic game showcased by his unbelievable through ball to Simpson for our first goal. Gibbs also looks to be another strong talent and plays very much like Clichy, long searching runs down the left side of the pitch and looks to get things going. Another player who I thought stood out was Randall, he played tricky first touch football throughout the game and it looks like we will probably see more of him in the years ahead. 

Another fantastic aspect of this game was of course the clean sheet, something our regular first team has failed to achieve since the game against West Ham. Our back line looked very strong, whilst Fabianski was a mix of absolutely magnificent and absolutely dreadful. The highlight of his night was a fantastic double save towards the end of the match that won Arsenal the clean sheet. 

I expect that we will be able to progress far in this competition with this squad and would not be surprised if we won it. I believe the next match in this competition is in early december so not too long to wait to see Arsenal's youth in action again.

Turning back to the Premier League, this weekend we face a recently defeated Aston Villa at the Emirates, more on that in the days to come. But after our win against Machester United I'm hoping for a gush of momentum to spill forth into the Arsenal side and carry us through the rest of the month with wins. It is a big month with games against City and Chelsea ontop of the Villa game and a game against Kiev in the Champions League, a win in which would surely see us qualify. But I think we can get the ball moving now and it still, I believe, is do or die for Arsenal considering the points gap at the top of the table we can't really afford to be dropping too many. I think relecting on the game against Wigan it would certainly not hurt our chances if we brought in Djourou to the regular first team. The big swiss is an excellent defender and header of the ball and his big presence in the centre of defence would certainly be welcome. That said, Gallas and Silvestre do seem to be a good combination, we'll just have to see what Wenger does with Toure, because surely he can't keep playing him with Gallas, a tried and failed combination. 

Anyway more on that later, for now enjoy the win, dream of the possibilities of the Arsenal youth and keep the faith, 

Asian Arsenal

End Of Match: Good game as Arsenal keep a good clean sheet and progress to the quarter finals

88': Good run from random wigan, good save from fabianski, then shot again and fabianksi turns it onto the post

70': Goal!!!!!!!!!! Sublime finish from vela, after a good ball, under pressure, slides in and chips the ball over Kirkland

66': Goal!!!!!!!!!!!!! break from  arsenal and vela squares to Simpson who smashes the ball into the back of the net

65': Good ball down the right, no cross, peters out

64': Good play and simpson gives it to Vela who puts it over

62': Fantastic play by Ramsey and a good ball to Simspon who strikes it straight at the keeper

51': Great play inside wigan 18yard and just over from simpson

50': Good play from wigan bad finish

49': Penalty claims for Wigan off Djourou's arm

49': Penalty claims for Wigan off Djourou's arm

Half Time: Arsenal lead 1-0 with a fantastic goal from Simpson, should be a great second half

42':

Goal!!!!!!!!!! Wilshere with a fantastic pass and simpson puts it past kirkland

37':

Good run from Gibbs ends in corner for Arsenal

23': Brilliant curling shot from Vela well saved by Kirkland

17': Good save from Fabianksi leads to an Arsenal break, wrong option chosen at the other end and its Wigan's ball.

16': Great passing play from the young arsenal side, sublime ball from vela and then the shot instead of the cross led to nothing

13': Nice shot from Simpson onto to crossbar.

13': Beautiful play and nice ball puts Vela one-on-one, takes far too long and Kirkland makes some great saves.

8': Good play by wilshere leads vela into the area with not alot of space, oppurtunity wasted

Before Kick Off:

Hello all,

Another live commentary of the Wigan Game. Wenger has gone for a 4-4-2 bringing Hoyte in at right-back. Should be a cracker of a game.