Reading in the "whatever its called this year cup"

[AFCasap]

brilliant one off game nothing more...controversial "extra" injury time gift...wenger immediately stopped harassing the 4th official....shipped 5 scored 7.... eisfeld looked v good, can use both feet skill, vision, brain, balance etc, better than others on the books and i don't mean arshavin

[SammyDroppedHisShorts]

I genuinely dont care if we win the mickey mouse cup or not

Be good to win it and have a day at Wembley but, I really dont care.

We should beat Reading. After todays performance I;d say another lucky 1-0

Oh ye of little knowledge

[OneBardGooner]

Perhaps there IS more to the square pegs in round holes argument...Arshavin was excellent playing through the middle - AND he ran All night.... if he isn't too knackered I would prefer to see him instead of rambo against manure

Chamakh did well and shows given the opportunity he can doa jjob, I remember when he first joined vanjudas *word censored* was injured and he was playing well..then judas *word censored* came back and he has been forgotten & poor since, so maybe if he can play or more active role when Pods & Giroud are rested...

Eisfeld IS quality I've seen him in 3 reserve games this season and he something of the Jack Wilshere's about him - he has time & space on the ball and he can pick a pas and although small can put his foot in....

Jenks was as industrious as ever and reliable .

Sadly the goalie looks very much in the same vein as flappy - pity as we need someone to push Shez....


For me last night Theo for the first time ever actually grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck - like an experienced player should - and showed the lesser experienced players - by example.

Giroud although only on @ 60 mins really put a shift in and helped make the difference.

Never been on such a roller coaster ride like that in any previous Arsenal game.



Does anyone know when the draw for the next round is???

[dukeys a gooner]

Perhaps there IS more to the square pegs in round holes argument...Arshavin was excellent playing through the middle - AND he ran All night.... if he isn't too knackered I would prefer to see him instead of rambo against manure

Chamakh did well and shows given the opportunity he can doa jjob, I remember when he first joined vanjudas *word censored* was injured and he was playing well..then judas *word censored* came back and he has been forgotten & poor since, so maybe if he can play or more active role when Pods & Giroud are rested...

Eisfeld IS quality I've seen him in 3 reserve games this season and he something of the Jack Wilshere's about him - he has time & space on the ball and he can pick a pas and although small can put his foot in....

Jenks was as industrious as ever and reliable .

Sadly the goalie looks very much in the same vein as flappy - pity as we need someone to push Shez....


For me last night Theo for the first time ever actually grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck - like an experienced player should - and showed the lesser experienced players - by example.

Giroud although only on @ 60 mins really put a shift in and helped make the difference.

Never been on such a roller coaster ride like that in any previous Arsenal game.



Does anyone know when the draw for the next round is???

I think it's after tonights game, just like the last round..!

[richpye]

Next round draw is tonight after the Racists vs Mancs tie.

Not seen enough of the game to really comment on overall performance, but a couple of highlights/things to mention for me.

1) Reading's goals were really quite good (with exception of Kos and Martinez og's). Could Martinez say he could have done any better with the other 3?

2) Giroud - Performance was excellent from what I saw. Ok so he's not RvP which is gutting, but in his own right he's growing on me.

3) Arshavin - God we've wasted his talents in his time here so much

4) Chamakh - Lets see a few more games of consistency before going mad

5) Walcott - Echo previous posters, he's got to be better than Gerv through the middle. I like Gervinho on the left wing as he's decent at beating the mad, but he's just not compose enough in front of goal.

6) Frimpong - Crystal Palace beckons at this rate. We've just got better players than him

7) Eisfeld - This 500k is looking scarily good value at the moment. I know it's early but between pre-season, last night and reserve performances, surely 1st team sqaud beckons???

[ClockEndNick]

--

[OneBardGooner]

Apparently the chavscum are asking their fans to wear scary outfits to tonights game.....

http://www.metro.co.uk/sport/football/9 ... ed-players

"Chelsea plan fancy dress horror show to 'scare Manchester United players'
Chelsea will be hoping to scare the life out of Manchester United when the two sides meet in the Capital One Cup on Wednesday, with the Blues encouraging fans to turn up in frightening fancy dress."


What something like this!?



John terry should feel right at home!

[barnetgooner]

Perhaps there IS more to the square pegs in round holes argument...Arshavin was excellent playing through the middle - AND he ran All night.... if he isn't too knackered I would prefer to see him instead of rambo against manure

What game were you lot watching?!!?!?!?!? Yes Arshavin put in a nice pass for the first goal and a good run for the sixth but otherwise he was absolutely appalling. Eisfeld's control and passing was significantly better.

This argument about playing him in centre mid is nonsense as well, you simply can't play someone there against proper teams who gives the ball away that much and has such a shocking attitude. Yes he has talent, we all know that, but he simply doesn't try hard enough 90% of the time.

[highburyJD]

for the equaliser Arshavin surely HAS to pass
can't believe he shoots from such a tight angle with two on the penalty spot

Frimpong's whole game is energy, not fully fit he's a waste of space

[DarylAFC]

I genuinely dont care if we win the mickey mouse cup or not

Be good to win it and have a day at Wembley but, I really dont care.

We should beat Reading. After todays performance I;d say another lucky 1-0

Oh ye of little knowledge

I was hoping this wouldn't come up

After last night, I want us to win this. Those lads deserve it after the shift they put in.

So... is the egg still on my face?

[MK Gould]

Left at 4-2 and watched it in the pub next to Reading station with about 200 other Gooners... fucking magic

Given that so many of the memorable moments over the course of the season come in the last few mins and injury time of games, I can never understand anyone leaving before the end....! But especially last night when even at 0-4 it always felt like a goal would have put us right back in the game. What made you leave at 2-4..... ?

That said, I thought the support from the gooners (those that stayed at least..... !) last night was top class. Even at 0-4 they were still outsinging Reading. Reminded me of similar support last season when we lost 2-8 at OT.

The only times I can recall leaving early were when we were 1-4 down at City in the "Adebayor game" - but only after my son got hit with a bottle - and when we were 0-4 at WHL in a game we eventually lost 0-5.....

[hugh jardon]

An incredible night! Missed the first goal as the buses from the station to the ground dried up and so had to jump in a taxi to get there asap, got to our seats and straight away Koscielny put them 2-0 up. The rest of the first half was humiliating with the Reading fans to our right coming up with some amusing chants such as "Robin Van Persie is laughing at you" and others that would come back to haunt them "You're getting fucked on the tele"... The away fans shouted "We want our Arsenal back" in disaproval and I heard other shouts of "Sack the board" and "Gazidis Out" that never took off.

Thought Walcott took his first goal superbly and although still 4-1 down at halftime I was genuinely convinced that we could get something from the game as we had played so poorly and could only improve.

Interesting that Wenger didn't make any changes at halftime as all eleven players had been truly awful but fair play to Giroud who really had the bit between his teeth when he came on and made a huge difference.

Thought Frimpong was appalling and no coincedence that when he went off we were so much better. His replacement Eisfeld put him to shame and was excellent continually driving us forward. Arshavin and Walcott were also much improved after the terrible start.

Amazing celebrations in the away end for the 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th goals, exactly what football is all about! 4-0 down to 7-5 up even Chamack scored twice and both decent goals!

I really think the club should be looking to win the league cup as it is a reailstic target and winning something would surely give the players confidence and help create a winning mentality.

[SteveO 35]

Perhaps there IS more to the square pegs in round holes argument...Arshavin was excellent playing through the middle - AND he ran All night.... if he isn't too knackered I would prefer to see him instead of rambo against manure

What game were you lot watching?!!?!?!?!? Yes Arshavin put in a nice pass for the first goal and a good run for the sixth but otherwise he was absolutely appalling. Eisfeld's control and passing was significantly better.

This argument about playing him in centre mid is nonsense as well, you simply can't play someone there against proper teams who gives the ball away that much and has such a shocking attitude. Yes he has talent, we all know that, but he simply doesn't try hard enough 90% of the time.

Agree with that comment. Don't want to be a miserable bugger because this game has left me feeling sky-high today but Arshavin was doing my head in. If Ramsey had given the ball away as often as he did last night, there'd be another 20 pages to this thread. At 0-4 he was trying backheels and flicks and doing my sodding head in, especially given that he was supposedly the senior pro out there last night

Chamakh, Walcott, Giroud and Eisfeld dragged us back into that game last night, and Jenkinson upped his game from half time too. Arshavin was mostly a passenger as far as I was concerned

[DB10GOONER]

Perhaps there IS more to the square pegs in round holes argument...Arshavin was excellent playing through the middle - AND he ran All night.... if he isn't too knackered I would prefer to see him instead of rambo against manure

What game were you lot watching?!!?!?!?!? Yes Arshavin put in a nice pass for the first goal and a good run for the sixth but otherwise he was absolutely appalling. Eisfeld's control and passing was significantly better.

This argument about playing him in centre mid is nonsense as well, you simply can't play someone there against proper teams who gives the ball away that much and has such a shocking attitude. Yes he has talent, we all know that, but he simply doesn't try hard enough 90% of the time.

Absolutely. AA23 was shocking for most of it, pissed posession away time after time. His bit of quality shone through with a couple of fantastic passes but mostly he was appalling.

FrimpSong was shockingly bad too. Ok, he's coming back from injury but Jesus, that is no excuse for being piss poor to THAT extent.

Anybollocks, negativity over. WHAT A FUCKING COMEBACK! I was jumping round the gaff yelling, woke the kids, probably the neighbours kids too. We were so bad in that first half I thought we were gonna get done about 6 or 7 nil. Honestly. But fair play to the lads, they dug in and fought back. I don't think our first choice 11 would have had a comeback like that in them.

I still want Arsene gone but have to give him credit for the substitutions - absolute game changers. So that's ONE in the last 7 years!

Delighted to see Giroud amongst the goals and in all honesty MOTM for me has to be Feo Feo. If he could play like that, with that commitment and drive, even one out of 3 games he'd be world class.

I'm still buzzing after that game.

[northbank123]

Arshavin was (as ever) frustrating at times last night, and he was guilty of giving the ball away in dangerous positions a few times. Jesus, the fact he even took on the shot instead of rolling the ball back across for Walcott's third was unbelievable greedy. But imo he still showed why he has something to offer this squad.

I personally thought he was the one pulling the strings for much of the comeback. Eisfeld was brilliant and appears like he has a brilliant nack of creating a yard of space for himself from nowhere, and also looks like he can pass a ball. Chamakh and Giroud worked tirelessly and showed how shit Reading defenders really are. Walcott, although still managing to spurn a few good openings through sheer clumsiness in the first half showed a clinical streak and nous that I thought beyond him.

But Arshavin was time and time again picking up the ball in space, turning and driving forward, and more often than not playing a well-weighted ball for another attacker. The way he was moving yesterday drags defenders around and it's that that facilitates other players to find space and take advantage. Also, every time he got the ball one-on-one with defenders he beat his man, and although he ultimately failed to score or pick out a cross like on Saturday this is something we don't have from Gervinho or Ramsey.

He's a player with a brain that can beat a man on both sides and, in the correct formation, can be destructive. I'm not saying he was perfect or that he should start Saturday but he's got more ability in his little Russian cock than Gervinho and Ramsey have combined. I haven't seen him looking to get on the ball like he was yesterday for a long long time, and somehow he managed to last 120 minutes of football.