Arsenal v Bradford City AFC; Capital One Cup Match Preview
It’s being billed as David vs. Goliath by some. However, before Saturday you’d be hard pressed to find out which team was which. But as Arsenal take their road show up to the great frozen tundra that is the Coral Windows Stadium, confidence may slowly be returning to a side that has very little of it to show.
The season has been one of more tumult than we all care to remember. And while the win on Saturday may have been a little questionable, sometimes you need just that kind of luck to break a funk. It’s akin to the famous scene in Bull Durham where the team gets off the team bus exhausted and on a horrendous losing streak. They moan that they could use a rain break, instead of playing their next game. Kevin Costner, says I can make it rain and on a drunken late night trip to the stadium they are to play in, turns on the sprinklers, and cries “Oh my, we have a natural disaster.” The team then goes on a run that sees them into the playoffs.
So while the PKs weren’t exactly a rain storm the win hopefully is that needed break that frees the team from their poor run of form.
Their trip to face Bradford City almost seemed in doubt in the last round as the Gunners quickly went down to Reading 4-0. They staged one of the most epic comebacks of the competition and of this team. Now, looking at the remaining teams, the Capital One Cup looks more promising as a silverware target as only Chelsea remain the biggest club still in the competition apart from the Gunners.
Additionally, luck of the schedule smiles on Arsenal this week as the Gunners have a full 6 days between this match and the next league match versus Reading on Monday. And the hope is that the side that takes the pitch tonight is filled with enough first teamers to really give the David v Goliath story line some credence.
But Arsenal shouldn’t underestimate this team. They’ve claimed one large scalp already in Roberto Martinez’s Wigan side. Arsenal admittedly underestimate and we saw the result of that. Not saying that Bradford City AFC are on the same level as Swansea however, warnings need to be headed and Arsenal need to have a killer instinct about them if they are to move through to the semis.
Based on the time between matches, I expect a side made up of first team reserves and players that need time.
Projected XI for Arsenal are:
Mannone, Jenkinson, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Meade, Coquelin, Rosicky, Ramsey, Arshavin, Chamakh, Gervinho.
Predictions:
Arsenal – 3
Bradford City – 0
Match Facts:
- This the first time the two clubs have met in the League Cup.
- Bradford are the first League Two club to qualify for the last eight of the League Cup since Wycombe Wanderers in 2006-07, who eventually lost over two legs to Chelsea in the semi finals.
- Arsenal have reached the last eight of the League Cup for the 10th successive season and victory tonight would see the Gunners set a new outright record in the League Cup by qualifying for the semi-finals for the 15th time.
- Arsenal have been knocked out by a club outside the top flight once in the last 22 seasons; a 0-2 defeat against Burnley in the quarter finals in 2008.
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Henry will probably be banned from training with Arsenal since he had dinner with Usmanov. Nice timing by Red & White Holdings.
Agree Mazza, Wenger’s demise is as much to do with what he doesn’t do and the Rosick scenario was one stark ocassion. A Ferguson or Mourinho seem more in tune with what resourcing they need and deal with it on a more objective basis. Wenger seems overwhelmed by sentiment and his own aversion to being forever seen as a creator rather than an accumulator of talent. He desparately wants to be proven right by winning ‘his way’.
Nice to have the classic’s return, the site is the better for the comments from the Mazza’s, Joshua’s, Vibes, Staggs, Steve’s, Caribs. The fact there is so little comment is the surest barometer that all is not well and people are not being entertained.
In the background, some wiley ole dogs with great stamina, and sharp business skills circle. They eye up Kroenke who has the upper hand for now, a majority holding and a record of simply accumulating and sitting and moving on to his next investment. But the Usmanov’s and the Dein’s aren’t fly by nighters in this game. Dein is a businessman, a high level footballing administrator mover & shaker par excellence, and a lover of Arsenal FC. Sooner or later they will strike – you can be sure that they both have aspirations above the status quo.
Usmanov has not bought 30% to simply play a voiceless support role for Kroenke’s wider business ambitions. No, for Usmanov I imagine this is largely a diversion from his business interests – it’s his creative side coming out. His desire to see his wealth shape a piece of history that will live on in the memory.
Dein is Arsenal to the core. More Arsenal than Wenger or Gazidis. A guy who has invested much of his adult life in shaping Arsenal FC only to be derailed by his trademark behind the scenes manouvering. For Dein it’s an occupational hazard – the wheeling and dealing that served Arsenal so well and made the stuffy old Board look sagely eventually undermined Dein himself. Dein is a protagonist, he acts first and causes things to happen. Would you say the same about the other board members? I doubt Kroenke would want Dein back. Not only would Dein start wheeling and dealing to see Arsenal shoot for the top again but there may also be some history now due to what has evolved. Kroenke struck a deal with the Board who sacked Dein and Dein in turn aligned himself with Usmanov. So all is not simple.
For me the Usmanov/Dein relationship is actually more aligned. Both see Arsenal FC as an object of sporting passion first and a sporting business to be managed second. In that sense they are kindred spirits and are pursuing the same objective. Kroenke doesn’t have that outlook – as we know. Both Usmanov and Dein understand the realities of professional sport whilst also understanding the elements of business. Wenger would be better served by a Usmanov/Dein combination at the helm. My sense is that Usmanov would let Dein oversee the footballing administration of the club and interact with Wenger or whoever the manager is. If Dein returned it would jeopardise the plethora of executive roles that have amassed. Gazidis and Law play in Dein’s patch and one must doubt their utility. Gazidis could survive is he subrogated himself to Dein and essentially did his bidding.
Usmanov’s courting of Henry is interesting. Hard to argue that Arsenal would benefit from having some modern legends playing relevant roles at the club. And Henry is a legend and a sharp cookie – I think. But… I wonder where Usmanov sees this strategy going – what is his bigger picture? He’s carefully managed his public utterances re Wenger – always positive even whilst urging a higher standard. That’s clever. He’s close to Dein, he now seems to be courting Henry, both these guys are uber close to Wenger. What’s his next play?
the only good thing about this game was that ray hudson called it. he is, by a mile, my favorite commentator; funnier than even dick vitale or john madden. that guy is hilarious and, unlike arsenal, he never lets me down.
back in 2004, i introduced myself anonymously to some guys on a forum called arsenal america and declared that arsene wenger didn’t deserve all the credit for arsenal going unbeaten that season. old heads like mazza, stag, seattle, and a few others can tell you that my stance was far from popular. wenger was like god back then. time always tells.
funny that kiwi mentions the ’07-’08 season as arsenal’s best since vieira left. first,arsenal did ride adebayor that season. after henry left, it was supposed to be van persie’s team. van persie got hacked down in a friendly against slovenia which gave “ade the dade” a chance. his contribution ensured arsenal didn’t miss van persie. well, to quote the late notorious b.i.g., “shit done changed”. arsenal miss van persie big time right now. robin’s departure has been as significant as vieira’s was. anyway, ade asked for an increase from his paltry 30k a week salary to somewhere near what a top striker in europe should be earning. wenger told him to prove he could produce again. ade let his agent do some agent shit and got his guy a new deal. like you, kiwi, i don’t understand why people hate adebayor either.
next, hleb playing in the hole behind the lone striker was not a stroke of genius by wenger either. it was as accidental as that old reeces’ commercial where the guy put the chocolate in the peanut butter. i remember diaby got injured in a pre-season game and wenger had no more center mids on the bench, so he brought on eboue on the right wing and moved hleb to center mid behind cesc and van persie. hleb and cesc switched and the attack improved exponentially.
next, flamini was supposed to go on loan to birmingham city that season. the only reason he didn’t is because gilberto reported to pre-season late after playing in the copa america and chelsea didn’t accept arsenal’s diarra bid until the last day of the transfer window. arsenal didn’t offer flamini an extension that summer so he was always going to leave on a free; especially after playing so well. i remember telling everyone that he was going to leave and no one believed me until april or may. you have to manage players better than that.
wenger’s gotten it right by signing vieira, van persie, henry but he didn’t make them great like the myth would suggest. players like cech, ibrahimovic, yaya toure, and cristiano ronaldo all went on to become great with wenger passing on them. i was a fan of vieira, van persie, and henry before they came to arsenal and i can tell you that they would have gone on to be great regardless of wenger. he got alex song and his endurance wrong too. wenger does know somethings but not nearly as much as people have tried to make it.
First time I remember Hleb playing in the hole was either Ajax in the Amsterdam Tournament or Casino Salzburg where we lost 1-0 but played unbelievable football. I knew then that our first XI was capable of incredible stuff.
In our first match versus Fulham Hleb played RVP and it worked well. RVP was actually played as a lone striker then and did pretty well so it’s untrue when people say last season was the first time he played there. He was doing well in that role and in general that season but got injured. Ade did well but makes you wonder what might have been in RVP had been fit. Still Wenger buggered that season in Jan not replacing Rosicky.
Gonna jump to the top but I can’t write much…Our time in Spain is winding down and I’m off to Britain soon. Luckily (or not?), I got some of the last tickets to the Newcastle match. People voting with their feet ain’t an option when you’ve got idiot tourists like me willing to pay for a big night in London….Likewise, sorry Stag, money to spend in January isn’t the answer for an Emperor whose imaginary clothes have been torn to shreds….
I still think the Empire may be OK and that it could even (over time) strike back. If anything the result the other day reveals the effect of the ever dropping quality of a squad TRYING to please their leader under conditions of enormous pressure. You’d think league two Bradford would be a simple enough proposition but starting a first team (minus Giroud and Arteta) just ratcheted up the effect (and was an idiot, double down sort of move from Wenger, IMO). Captain all-too-average (Vermaelen) got a head in to prolong the agony but chief creator Santi and English lads Jack and Ox just couldn’t do it on the pitch though at least the latter two buried their pens. Post shots show the desire of the captain and our back-up #9 (Chamakh) to avoid letting the Bradford keeper into their (messed up) minds. Thank god (note the small g….) we didn’t have to see Gervinho lose another cup (last year’s ACoN….) with an airshot akin to the tap-in Gibbs put onto a platter for him…..
Thank you Kiwi for the explication of Wenger’s big year when we almost rode the black Francophones (Gallas, Kolo and Ade) and the little mixed Euro midfield (Cesc, Hleb, Sicky) to a little something. Personally, I think that group actually overachieved. It all turned in one match, of course, but the persistent racism that turned that day (and the season with it) must be acknowledged. Somehow, with revisionism, it’s OK for an overexcited English lad to maim a Brazillian in the opening moments, as it’s OK to call a dubious, but game changing penalty on Clichy in the waning ones. And a sit down protest from a black captain is equally unacceptable….. That fans, both Arsenal’s own and “neutrals” throughout England and Europe, should blame the players should shame EVERYBODY. And still, it’s Diaby, Denilson, Song, Kolo (who overcelebrated a late equalizer vs somebody) and Ade who couldn’t get it done and then got injured or took the big money, etc. rather than RVP, and the Euro boys mentioned above But I guess I’m digressing and I really don’t want to paint things (completely) white and black…..
Going forward the matches ARE winnable. Will we win them? Only a fool would bet on it, but I am that fool. What other path is there? The Manager is the Club and it’s time for the players to respond. The matches are all too “lose-able” but now that rock bottom has been found upwards (or sideways) is the only path and it should allow a little freedom. I think we get through without losing (not good enough, of course, for most), but as always WTF do I know. If I were Wenger, I’d dream up an injury for Vermaelen while letting Kos miraculously back in and letting (suddenly) our best PK taker (Arteta) stand in as Captain. Surely Giroud was just being rested…. Should (to be sold in January…) Sagna and Theo also “be injured” or not? Tough questions that only God himself can answer. Luckily He is our manager and makes such decisions….. (And it should be recalled that a happy consequence of the loss at Bradford is two less games in January…. I think the true believers call this “intelligent design”…..)
In the end, Kiwi, I think this is what the “supporters” are lamenting, that one man, who we basically support, has taken on so much and that there is no delegation, no checks to his power. If there were maybe a new manager could come in and buck up the squad to get back to a reasonable footing… Well, that would be nice, likewise a new board or owner or CEO who might make the right moves in January or over the summer. As it is we’re on the “sustainable spending + emperor + hope” model. As such, it’s nice to hear that Pep G. is making noises about possible divine interventions….
At least we don’t play til Monday. Time to check the schedule to see if it’s possible for ALL our rivals (everybody except the Manchester teams) might drop points. Since they all play each other and the could at least draw, why not?…..
OK.
so… Ivan the Great met with the Arsenal Supporters Trust today.
He apparently spoke with 100 supporters, about the current state of the club.
For all you folks who REGULARLY CLAIM ARSENAL do NOT HAVE MONEY… that we are hampered still by the “money pit”… The Emirates…
The AST said:
“The Arsenal Supporters’ Trust cannot fathom why £70million was left untouched this summer. Arsene needs to get over his distaste for spending and use the resources that, after all, are provided by the hard-pressed fans who watch the team.
CHEIF EXECUTIVE IVAN GAZ said:
Arsene Wenger has been given “considerable resources” to spend in the January transfer window…
THE MONEY HAS BEEN THERE, and STILL IS THERE TO SPEND.
So, you apparently believe the club is FLAT OUT LYING to the SUPPORTERS??
They are saying there are “considerable resources to spend”…
but there really aren’t?
It’s a LIE?
We don’t have money?
Man this site is as quiet.
Just looked at the fixtures; we have 5 easy EPL fixtures coming up over the next 2 weeks. Potentially we could win all 5 and Wenger could echo Mark Twain “the reports of my death are greatly exaggerated”. Reading, Wigan, West Ham, Newcastle and Southampton. You couldn’t ask for a nicer little run over the Christmas period.
But… what will the team do for him? Bradford should have been a gimme – it wasn’t – the team flumped. So you never know.
Interesting listening to old salts like Keown, Robson and Auclair. Keown is clinging to Wenger like a cult follower, Robson has clearly cut his ties with the club under Wenger and hammered in to Wenger in fine style, and the oft charming Auclair lost his zen – almost displaying Wenger-like prickle. The frenchies have that about them. They don’t take a dose of humility well at all.
…interesting to read a few Johnny come lately’s (like Arseblog and 7am) come to the party and start calling out the state of Arsenal FC and its manager. Better late than never I guess.
For many of us the penny dropped a long time ago, some are a bit more wed to sentiment or a misguided sense of optimism.
Interesting to reflect on the desert years and consider when we last did well during this period and see if there was anything to glean from that. The best year post-invincibles was 2007/8 when we finished 3rd but only 4 points behind Manchester United. In that season we accrued 83 points – which is very good compared to the other years wondering through the wilderness of youth and values. In the other years we averaged 70 points per season and 16 points behind the leaders which is kinda crap for a club of Arsenal’s standing either during Wengers successful years or before he came along.
So what, if anything, can be gleaned from the 2007/8 year of relative success? What did that success look like on the playing side?
Well, as is typical of Wenger’s better seasons and common with many winning teams 2007/8 saw the use of a relatively compact group of players.
The defence (incl. GK) was pretty consistent in appearances, although it must be said it was hardly a defence anyone would pick as their favourite, it included the unhappy marriage between Gallas and Toure, the flakey Clichy and the exceedingly C- Almunia. But it did take the field often – so maybe there’s something to be said for consistency in defensive selection.
For me the midfield was the hub and key to the success together with an x-factor player who I’ll come to later. The midfield three clicked, it worked, Fabregas was supported by the industrious (if treacherous) Flamini, and Hleb (of Mazza fame) with that amazing close control.
The x-factor will be exceedingly uncomfortable and unpopular for Arsenal fans. He is perhaps the most unpopular ex-Arsenal player of modern times. Adebayor’s goals were EVERYTHING to this side, without his tireless work up front and goals Arsenal wouldn’t have come close.
But what about those other uber-important players that Arsenal persisted with for so long and have relatively big untarnished reputations I hear you ask? Messrs Van Persie and Rosicky and Diaby? Well, you know, they were in the place they always were for Arsenal FC, injured and not doing anything except absorbing funds and representing an opportunity lost. (they started 13,15 and 9 games respectively). The legend Van Persie scored 7 goals compared to Adebayor’s 24.
What really struck me about that season was the frail threadbare look of the playing roster (if you take a snapshot look at the season). So much happened on the back of a few. It’s not unfair to summarise that the season was carried on the back of 4 players – Adebayor, Fabregas, Flamini and Hleb. They were flogged in to the ground (and you might recall that in your memory bank). Whilst Van Persie, Rosicky and Diaby (and the unfortunate Eduardo) chilled out on the sidelines picking up their enormous salaries for doing little (again) the hardworking foursome carried the hopes of the club – and as we know they petered out at the end.
For me the relative success of 2007/8 was a nadir for the players as a group. Immediately after the season end several things happened and it should be seen in the context of the season that had played out. Hleb and Flamini left, Hleb to Barcelona and Flamini to AC Milan on a free. And Adebayor (after that very good season) demanded a large payrise… he then incurred huge stick from the fans and left the following season. One can also imagine a view forming in the mind of Fabregas the youngling even at that time. He too had been flogged over the season, and then watched as his two midfield mates departed, and then he would have observed the lack of an adequate response from Wenger in the transfer market. You can be sure his mates (Hleb and Flamini would have expressed their doubts over the strength of the squad leading to their departure). And then, three years later Fabregas would follow Hleb to Barcelona, at the same time as Hleb’s replacement Nasri moved on to City. Wenger’s ability to sell his vision and retain his players is now complete. No one buys it, not even Tim from 7am.
We know by now what to expect after a major disappointment. A manager calling what is black white. This time it’s “I can’t fault their effort”. Well… you know… you gotta laugh (albeit a bit manically).
We got tossed out of a cup we should be genuinely trying to win by a rag tag team of division 4 nobodies. But Wenger can’t fault the effort and there’s “no blame”.
If you follow the wisdom of Arsene Wenger, we can no longer compete with the money bag clubs like Manchester City, Chelsea and Manchester United, so… it seems to follow that if that is indeed the case (which I question) we should exert some considerable effort in winning those competitions that do remain under our sphere of potential success. The FA Cup and the League Cup are major events in their own right and I’ve never bought for a second this nonsense that they barely rate a mention or afterthought. Supporters love celebrating success, it’s why we follow sports teams so closely, it’s the utlimate. But somewhere along the way Wenger has convinced himself that supporters share his perspective – that we’re happy to offer him and his team an annual run in the CL and securing a top 4 place. That’s not my sporting values at all.
A FULL STRENGTH ARSENAL SQUAD… were knocked out by Bradford… which is in the 4th Division of English Football.
But there will be folks who STILL back Wenger. Still back the status quo … who don’t think the supporters should DEMAND action from the club.
It keeps getting more and more embarrassing…
what can happen next?
Sell Theo in January… Sell Sagna in January… then when we don’t bring anyone in other than Henry on loan… (he should sell a few more kits for the club, right)…
Wenger will bemoan the January transfer window as not being a good time to buy, and Rosicky and Diaby returning to fitness, will be like new signings.
as I said last thread.
8th place here we come.
This is the WORST team I have seen at Arsenal in a LONG LONG time.
there is some talent here, for sure… but the GOD that is Arsene Wenger (in some peoples minds of course)… is not getting anything close to the best out of his players.
It is WELL PAST his time to go.
You are absolutely right Stagg, it’s the worst Arsenal team I have seen in Arsene’s career at Arsenal. One interjection here, not the worst squad, merely the worst team. Probably the best individual starting 11 we have had in 5 years.
Wow, perfect example of ten degrees of separation. Wenger should not be sacked, he should resign. He will never be fired before the end of his contract because Kroenke and Gazidis would never absorb an 11 Mill loss in salary owed.
We can only hope he doesn’t get any money to purchase more shit players on huge wages and extended contracts. He has totally lost this team and even Bould as an interim coach would be better.
This has got to be the nadir.