Carling Cup Final: Kids Do Us Proud
55 comments February 26th, 2007
I have had a very, very, very long day. But I still have no hesitation in saying that the trip to Cardiff was more than worth it. I was immensely proud of our team’s performance. For the entire first half and long spells of the second, we outplayed a Chelsea side devoid of imagination. A midfield with an average age of 19 dominated the likes of Essien, Lampard, Ballack, and Makelele, and we only lost because of a failure to capitalise on our chances.
Theo Walcott opened the scoring with an absolute beauty – some lovely touches of skill and a great one-two with the outstanding Abou Diaby preceding a sumptuous curled finish. In his finest game in an Arsenal shirt, this was his finest moment. A lot of my doubts about the boy were dispelled by the sheer composure he showed on this big stage. What a shame then that both he and Diaby have injury problems.
Chelsea’s equaliser was heavily against the run of play, and it came from Didier Drogba (who is balding, and failing to hide it). There’s been a lot of talk about him being offside – if the rule is that advantage should go to the attacker, then I believe he was on. However, what irritates me is the inconsistency: that linesman in particular made some very strange decisions throughout the game, one of which I’ll come to in a minute.
In the second half, our tired legs became more and more obvious. After Diaby injured his foot kicking John Terry’s head into outer orbit, our momentum slowed. The longer the game went on, the more you felt Chelsea might nick it, and so it was when Didier Drogba brilliantly headed home an Arjen Robben cross. If you want to talk about why Chelsea one, you can look at two individuals: firstly Drogba, but also Petr Cech, who made outstanding saves from Baptista and Diaby. That, and a bit of luck.
The game was marred by an ugly late scrap involving most of the players on the pitch. Curiously, the ref managed to send off one of the peace-makers, Emmanuel Adebayor. He also sent Kolo Toure and John Obi Mikel to the stands. For me, this was terrible refereeing. I’ve watched those clips again and again, aswell as being there live, and no party is worse than any other – nobody needed to be sent off. As it was, it finished the game as a realistic contest and Chelsea completed the win.
Still, like I say, I’m so proud of the young players and what they achieved. We know all about Cesc Fabregas already, but the likes of Diaby, Denilson, Traore and Walcott all made huge strides today. If anything, the defeat will serve them well in the long-term: there is nothing like pain to drive you to success. And if we get slated for being involved in the melée, then frankly I don’t care: The Battle of Old Trafford sparked a season unbeaten.
Tomorrow I’ll have player-by-player analysis as well as a view from the other camp. For now, I’m going to bed.
