Hardly the Footballing version of the Treaty of Versailles

Cus Geezer · Post by **Cus Geezer** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 6:37 pm

I'd be lying if I said that I didn't care if we lost last night.

I'd be lying if I said 5-1 wasn't embarrassing.

But let's go back to August and ask yer average Arsenal and Spurs fan......

Come January would you like to see your side look virtually a certainty for a champions league position, beating your North London rivals twice in the Premiership and being comfortably above them in the table in exchange for losing the Carling Cup Semi Final with a deliberately weakened side or would you want it the other way around?

I think all would say the former and any Spurs fan who says that they would prefer the latter are a deluded lying baffoon.

The fact is that the Carling Cup is still fourth on our list of priorities and we haven't fielded our strongest side in that competition since the Chavski semi of 1998 - I challenge anyone to point out where we have since fielded our strongest XI in the League Cup.

Last night was embarrassing but it is nowhere near reparation for what has been inflicted on them in the last eight and a quarter years.

- will Spurs ever go such a time without losing to the Arse?

- How much longer until Spurs beat us in the Prem or FA Cup (or if they're ever likely to meet us in the CL Quarter Finals which is almost certainly a no!)

- Will Spurs win that cup this year? Hardly likely.

- Will Spurs win one the Premiership of FA Cup in the near future? Even less likely

- If Spurs ever get into such a position will they win that title at Ashburton Grove? let alone win it unbeaten

The fact of the matter is I wouldn't swap the last eight and quarter years for their next eight and a quarter years for anything in the world - would they say the same?

I wouldn't swap our manager and squad and future earnings for their's for anything in thing in the world - could they swear on their parent's/wife's/children's/blow up doll's life that they could say the same?

Congratulations Spurs fans on reaching the final (and I mean that most sincerely folks!) but don't kid yourselves that the balance of power has actually shifted because both you and I know that it hasn't. So enjoy your day at Wembley because such moments will not come around too often.

Our reaching the final of the Carling Cup last season was a footnote in our recent history - to you it's a footprint and that my friends, says it all.

Wayno · Post by **Wayno** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 7:13 pm

Great post Cus

Gooners444 · Post by **Gooners444** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 7:17 pm

Thank you for this post Cus Geezer! I feel much better now

Post by **flash gunner** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 7:22 pm

Nice one Cus

Post by **REB** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 7:22 pm

great post cus,, puts things in real life

26may1989 · Post by **26may1989** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 7:45 pm

Cus for Pres.

Post by **flash gunner** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 8:02 pm

26may1989 wrote:Cus for Pres.

I wouldnt go that far

Cus Geezer · Post by **Cus Geezer** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 8:04 pm

If you do not vote for me I will TAKE power!

green gooner · Post by **green gooner** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 8:28 pm

Very good take on the defeat Gus, however, after the defeat in the final last year, Wenger said the loss would be good experience for the young players. He said the same after last night.

Now what I want to know is this, are we going to be a team of winners or very experienced losers

They will have good credentials in playing out of position and getting spanked by our London neighbours

God forbid we get dumped by the Keegan factor in the FA Cup and have the experience of exiting both cups in one week, not a nice experience at all Arsene

Cus Geezer · Post by **Cus Geezer** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 8:44 pm

green gooner wrote:Very good take on the defeat Gus, however, after the defeat in the final last year, Wenger said the loss would be good experience for the young players. He said the same after last night.

Now what I want to know is this, are we going to be a team of winners or very experienced losers They will have good credentials in playing out of position and getting spanked by our London neighbours

God forbid we get dumped by the Keegan factor in the FA Cup and have the experience of exiting both cups in one week, not a nice experience at all Arsene

I wouldn't say so.

If it weren't for the League Cup we might not have had Cesc come through the ranks so quickly, as he made his debut in it in 2003. Same with Cashley Hole in 1999.

It's been good for bringing young players through - it's given Eduardo an opportunity to get acquainted with English football quicker with his goals against Sheff. Utd.

I asked if people would like Arsene to field a stronger side against Spuds in a previous thread, it was almost a unanimous no.

Would you rather we get to a final and semi in successive seasons and bring young players through, or do a United and get knocked out early by the like of Southend and Coventry and just have a policy of throwing tens of millions to bring the Rooney's, Nani's and Tevez's in?

Who else would get that far in a tournament without bothering to field a full side?

green gooner · Post by **green gooner** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 12:59 am

Seriously Gus, I commend you for being so positive and a hell of a lot of stuff you said is true.

But we saw the negative side of a young team getting stuffed with Nic and Ade. Clearly it meant a lot to them so I question Arsene saying that to him the game had little importance, what message does that send out to these young players?

Well I hope they do learn from two years of hurt and I hope we win it next year with our next group of multi-national young talent.

augie · Post by **augie** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 10:11 am

Excellent post cus and it def sums everything up. Whilst I understand where green gooner is coming from(the wounds are still somewhat raw) I think the only real negative that should be taken from that defeat is that our kids/reserves/back-up is not good enough and the need to buy still exists. I would go along with the majority that say they would rather have played the kids in this cup than try and win it with 1st team but only on the basis that it gets used to assess the pogress of the kids but when we do that then we need to take the results of these tests and take corrective action when & where it is needed. On the bigger picture though cus has rightly listed out the difference in acheivements & ambitions of both clubs and I know which side I'd rather be on

donaldo · Post by **donaldo** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 11:01 am

Good Post Cus

But I feel that the youngsters who got us to the final last year and played so well for 60mins v Chelski have gone backwards this season.The likes of Traore,Diaby,Denilson and Theo have not improved this season as we would have expected.Anyone who says they are better players this season is wrong.And there lies the problem.Last year the kids beat the Spuds over the two legs.This year we were never in the tie,the Spuds dominated both games.

This is where Wenger has to make some tough decisions in the summer does he give these players another year or does he sell them.We have a great first eleven but if the back up is not strong enough we our going to struggle when we get key injuries like we did when Cesc,Flamini, and Helb were out at the same time

26may1989 · Post by **26may1989** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 11:18 am

green gooner wrote:Well I hope they do learn from two years of hurt and I hope we win it next year with our next group of multi-national young talent.

"Two years of hurt"? A Final and a Semi-final with the second string side seems pretty good to me. Would you prefer we did a United and got knocked out nice and early when no-one was watching?

I hope we win the Premiership and the CL next year, and if things go well, the FA Cup too. I couldn't give a toss whether we win the League Cup or not, leave that to teams who do care about it, as long as we get a few games to give real experience to younger players.

Magic Hat · Post by **Magic Hat** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 11:30 am

Troare is 18, Theo is 18, I think they deserve till they are 20 at the least. Older then that, Wenger has to make a judgment call if Denilson is just suffering second season syndrome, whether Diaby will ever be the player we hoped for

Mind you, for struggles, we didn't do too badly in Dec.