Cesc was brilliant in the second half, but Denílson was also a big part of the reason to why we dominated Spurs then. His work-rate was exceptional.

Robbie Keane is a class act and Mido has been injured for a long while (he's only back) so obviously Keane is the more fitter, sharper & better replacement for Berbatov.

Shouldn't have any excuses though, they are ridiculous. Keane is good enough for the Spurs First team and always has been, most of our team playing tonight was not good enough to make the First team's bench.

Just thought I'd mention that Keane has been out injured for a long time as well. In terms of injuries, there was really no reason to choose one over the other, in which case, perhaps Mido would have been the better option.

Gazza - You hit the nail on the head there. Spurs were dominating until Martin Jol brings on Keane for the injured Berby and switches to 4-5-1 FFS!
You could see that played straight into Arsenals hands, Martin Jol is tactically inept and needs to grow a pair of balls.

4-4-2 was working so well but he got so scared of losing his lead he thought switching to 4-5-1 and packing the midifield would save him.

After the game the reporter asked Wenger 'Do you think their change in system helped you', Wenger just laughed, he must have thought it was fvcking christmas!!!

J Axe - dont be so smug about your socalled reserves earning a draw at WHL, that was quite a experienced team out there. Almunia over 30, Toure and Senderos played whole of last season for 1st team, Cesc and Hleb first choice midfield, Baptista Brazil international and played for Real Madrid, could go on.

i had a little smile about that too Jono , Wenger had to make sure he was not being too disrespectful to Martin Jol when asked by the reporter but you could see he was happy about the change .

I thought the crucial point was the inclusion of Fabregas in the Arsenal line up , i was not sure whether Arsene Wenger would play him but it made all the difference . We had a few more first teamers than i had expected but i suppose being the semi final made it a bit more important to include a bit more experience . The free kick that led to the Baptista own goal was a bit harsh but the Robbie Keane offside decision evened things up i guess . Walcott was very poor last night and agree that he was trying to hard to beat people and impress rather than playing for the team , Eboe was also a good substitute immediately causing Spurs all sorts of problems as soon as he came on . Two great goals by Baptista and a bad error of judgement by our England number one Paul Robinson (i wonder if Mclaren was watching) , hope the injury to Hlebb is not too bad and i felt sorry for Alliadire who came off injured again , it was good to see Diaby back playing . According to Wenger he will play the youngsters again at the Emirates for the second leg , i think they deserve it and i would not be surprised to see Fabregas included in the team again next week

Aye Fabregas was a huge difference maker in this match, the lad is unfortunately absolute class but if you give him as much time on the ball as we did today then you are just asking for trouble.

I guarantee you he wont be nearly as effective against Bolton in the cup when they pressurise him out of teh game. You watch, they will shut him down whenever he even thinks of getting the ball, and it will work wonders. Exactly what we should have done today.

i think i remember that leading up to the second Arsenal goal , Fabregas had the ball but he was unsure what to do with it , no Spurs player bothered to challenge him or win the ball back , then of course he chips a beautiful ball over for Hoyte to run onto and cross for Baptista who coolly slotted home .

I hope against Bolton that we can adapt our game to cope with any possible tactics they use , they are still a bogey team for us but it is about time we were able to see off teams who play like that . But you never know , one game Rosicky is the hero , another game Henry is the match winner , Fabregas was the man of the match last night ...

and Spurs were effective in the first half last night , Fabregas did not get much of a look in , i think they just laid off us a bit in the second half which is like asking for trouble and Fabregas made the most of it .

i hope Spurs win cuz then we have a easy team to play jk i think it would be a bad game is Gunners face blues again look at the last match we played against them it was filled with diving and bad sportsmanship.

Smug? Stop moaning will ye. I'm allowed to revel in the fun of it all.

- Almunia is 29 and nowhere near as good as Lehmann.
- Senderos did not play the whole season. He only stepped in when Campbell was injured or went AWOL. He is not a First team player at Arsenal. Just about makes the bench in front of Djourou, as Gallas is our starting Central Back.
- Hleb came on for what, 10mins and went back off injured? Hardly time to make big impact.
- Baptista is at Arsenal because he was rejected from Madrid, deemed not good enough to get in the team. He is also not good enough to get in the Arsenal First team, just about making the Subs bench.

Cesc & Touré were the only First team players who played the game. Eboué came on late into Midfield and Hleb had a short appearance near the end also.

Our youngsters (a team aged at an average of 20yrs & 7months) did extremely well and deserve miles more credit that you're giving them. I hope Wenger fields the same first 11 next week - because they can beat your First team.

i think we should not get carried away with the way we played on Wednesday , it may be true that Fabregas and Toure were the only regular first team players that would usually play every week barring injury or suspension , but we still had several players that have played for other clubs or have some experience having played in the first team during the last couple of seasons . I would not say now that Senderos is an inexperienced youngster ...he has now made over 67 appearences for Arsenal and should be able to cope in the first team whether he is first , second or third choice . Baptista is as Jono said a Brazilian international and whether he was not good enough for Real Madrid does not make him an inexperienced player and he has shown over the last few games for Arsenal that he is maybe good enough for the first team . Almunia has been at Arsenal for a while now but just has not been able to get the games because of Lehman , Hlebb has now made over 40 appearences for us and i would not say is inexperienced , the same for Eboue who has now played over 30 matches for us since he arrived . In fact the only players on Wednesday with limited playing experience were Hoyte , Denilson , Alliadiere, Walcott , Traore , Diaby ...still an impressive performance though .

That was objective, nice one Conner.



I thought I heard the commentators say the average age was 21.5 years if you dont count the goalie. Nevermind, doesnt matter anyway. We had a very young team out too, Daws, Gardner, Lennon, Ekotto, Hudd. Just so happens thats our first team, hehe. Well some of them will be replaced by the likes of Jenas, King, Lee etc.

I never said those players were inexperienced at all. I just admitted that they would not be first choice First team players at Arsenal, which is quite interesting when looking at it. Baptista & Senderos are good players, both play for their Country and both have played at the highest levels & have done well. I know that and my point was that these guys would not fit into our First eleven. They are our Reserve/Fringe players and it's exciting that we've got that quality in depth.

Hleb is a First team player and a top quality International player with bags of experience. But I wasn't going to include him much in that team who did so well, because he didn't play enough of a part. Eboué had a short cameo appearance also and he's another youngster. I've called neither inexperienced even if you've pointed out how they aren't.

Hoyte is a good young English player. He has done well this season, making the First team and playing well also.
Traoré is an excellent prospect despite not playing too well against a superior opponent.
Walcott is another promising young English player and played poorly on the night.
Denílson was excellent and he's another young, inexperienced player.
Diaby thought his career was over a while back and he made his first start since that horrible break & dislocation, he is also young and inexperienced at that level you could say.
Aliadière has some good experience, but yet he is another young player who is just not good enough to make the grade in the Arsenal First team at the moment.

The fact that all these young players were good enough to beat West Brom, Everton, Liverpool and get a good draw at White Hart Lane makes me clap them on and get excited by their progress.

The fact that Touré & Cesc (both quite young in their game) were the only First team players on the park for Arsenal is also really exciting.

If we get knocked out of the FA Cup by Bolton, do you think AW will still keep the same young team in the CCup?

Or try and use more experience to get us to a final?

Wenger has already promised that he will use a similiar team and I very much doubt that he will go back on his word. Henry might be on the bench with Rosický & Adebayor just incase. Eboué might come back to start next Wednesday too.

But I think a very similiar young side will play in the Carling Cup regardless of the result against Bolton.

What worries me is the amount of injured players going into the Bolton game. Gallas, Freddie, Hleb, van Persie, Eboué and Djourou are all injured plus Gilberto is suspended. Walcott might get another start against Bolton?

i never mentioned your name at all J-AXE in my post ... i may have made my post after yours but i was not implying that you were talking nonsense , i just felt that with Senderos , Toure,Almunia , Baptista and Hlebb while he was on along with the six youngsters you named ...we should have been able to put on a good performance whatever team Spurs fielded ..

Apologies. I just assumed that you were responding to me.

Happy days. Jol loses again.

Aliadière, na na na na!

Well, we reached the final this time - no silly late goals like last year versus Wigan.

Not quite a young boys team, but there are still eleven players that didn't figure in today's game that most teams would be proud to use

Yeah, proud to use and also another set of 11 good enough to beat Spurs.

we are going to Wembl.....oops no its Cardiff ...... Well , we finally made the final and thoroughly desrved the win . Again the crucial inclusion of a few big guns made all the difference , Rosicky , Fabergas and Clichy all played important parts in the victory when they came on . Rosicky in particular with his workrate and trickery causing Spurs all sorts of problems , Fabregas ..so calm and in control even when under pressure Clichy working hard down the left and providing some moves for our attackers . Walcott was again quite poor , Denilson showing him how to take a corner or free kick ..an dlaso had afew great shots at goal . Adebayor was all over the place and a well taken goal that should have proved the winner ..still we got there in the end thanks to Alliadiere (and probably Ricardo Rocha`s) and Rosicky whose shot hit the post and was unfortunately (for Spurs) deflected in by Pascal Chimbonda

a few statistics for any who are interested to check and comment ....

Arsenal 3

Shots on Goal - 24
Shots on Target - 8
Corners - 13
Tackles Succes Rate 89.7%
Yellow Cards - 2
Possesion 62%

Tottenham 1

Shots on Goal - 9
Shots on Target - 2
Corners - 7
Tackle Succes Rate - 67.3%
Yellow Cards - 5
Possesion - 38%

Have to say, Denílson was absolutely superb. Stand out performance.