Arsenal
Lukasz Fabianski
Philippe Senderos
Justin Hoyte
Armand Traore
Alexandre Song
Denilson
Mark Randall
Abou Diaby
Lassana Diarra
Eduardo
Nicklas Bendtner

Blackburn
Brad Friedel
Stephen Warnock
Ryan Nelsen
Christopher Samba
David Dunn
Robbie Savage
Steven Reid
Morten Pedersen
David Bentley
Matt Derbyshire
Roque Santa Cruz

Halftime
2-1 Arsenal.

Arsenal dominated the first 35 minutes of the match so far. But gave up a goal in the 42nd.

So whats been going on in this match, last time i looked you wee 2-0 up

Great ending so far....

So... Evert0n, Spurs, Arsenal and just waiting for Chelsea to reach the semis now.

Basically, Arsenal dominated the first 35 minutes scoring 2 goals, Diaby, and Eduardo. Then we gave one up in the 42nd. Brilliant cross by Blackburn. Then we gave up another goal off a set piece in the second half. We lost Denilson in the 90th minute to a red card. Then went into extra time and again Eduardo was clinical and slotted the shot right past the keeper for the winner.

No hope for Liverpool?

Amazing result.

Looking at the Arsenal selection, I couldn't have imagined us being strong enough to beat Blackburn. For a start, that Arsenal selection hasn't played together regularly and Blackburn play regular Premiership and European football!

That Arsenal reserves team could finish in the top 6 in the Premiership.

The cross that led to Blackburn's first goal appeared to be offside, but McCarthy was clearly about 2 yards onside when he was given offside later on, so things balanced out a bit, and both sides hit the woodwork too.

But, there aren't many times with such a relative lack of spending money that can make 11 changes from their last game and take on a pretty-well full-strength Blackburn at Ewood.
Then they had to bring on 2 relatively unused players as subs - Barazite and Merida.
Many teams would have had much more established pleyers on the bench.

I think Mike Riley wanted to show off his early Christmas present - a pack of cards (all yellow and red of course )

Nothing like getting carried away is there Axey,people are saying Celtic and Rangers would struggle in the Premier League but it would be easy strolling for the Arse reserves

They are superb promising players but they aren't that good yet lol

Cruising through the Carling Cup AGAIN!? Knocking out full strength Premiership sides - outclassing them in every measure of the game?

On those performances where they've been tested when it matters, yes there is enough quality in there for them to be in and around the top six.

Newcastle, Blackburn, Sheff Utd, Spurs, Liverpool, WBA, Everton (that I can think of) have all been beaten by the Arsenal Reserves in this competition in recent times. It's no fluke. The quality is evident.

You call them "promising" players - but here, Diarra walks into the French National First XI, Eduardo with Croatia (their top scorer), Bendtner now with Denmark, Denílson has been selected for the Brazilian National team, Diaby has represented the French National team also, Senderos is key for the Swiss, Hoyte is an England u21 International, Fabianski the Polish 2nd choice and so on.. these guys are already experienced and performing at the highest levels - and collectively they're a class outfit - hence kicking out all these strong Premiership sides.

Still wouldn't finish in the top 6 IMO,they would finish 7th

You wouldn't really know, but based on those performances alone in the Carling Cup (which is what we're talking about) they would be right up there.

But, these players get rests and breaks, they also have to go out and prove themselves for the first team. The likes of Blackburn might underestimate them and of course cups are completely different from Leagues. It's hard to predict where they'd wrap up in the League. But as I say, on those performances they're up there with the top 6 in terms of quality and ability IMO.

I agree with Axe and what Robbie Earl said tonight.he said make no illusions,it is condescending to call that Arsenal team "boys"when they clearly play as men.Top 6?IMO certainly.Blackburn had a full-strength team looking to finish top 7 this season.No match for Arsenal though.That team would slaughter the auld firm.

However,Denilson's challenge was disgusting and definately a straight red.

No idea what goes through the minds of these players when they prepare to make challenges like that.

They happen quite often these days, despite the well known punishments.

One thing to remember J-Axe is that these "boys" play here and there... They arn't playing week in week out in the premiership.

I do think they would probably make the top ten, but it's impossiblel to say if they are up to it tbh.

Also this Arsenal side hasn't won nething for a few years now. The heat is on to turn this promise into a trophy. Ill be VERY interested to see how they handle the pressure as it builds week after week towards May.

As much as I would love to believe that this squad that played tonight would finish in the top 6, it wouldn't happen. A top 10 finish would be guaranteed, but no guarantee on a top 6 finish. I think they would drop too many points come the end of the campaign. We saw it tonight. 2-0 up and dominating the game, and then all the sudden we let Blackburn get back into the game instead of holding strong and finishing it off. If this was a league game, we would have dropped 2 points when early on, it was us clearly walking away with 3 points.

- Attacking options, great (Eduardo is truly World Class, Bendtner will be World Class in the coming years)
- Midfield, good (Diaby, Denilson, and Diarra are all great players and they work well together)
- Defense, ehhhh decent (needs lots of work, but they are still learning after all)
- Goalkeeper, great (Fabianski IS the future of Arsenal goalkeeping, he'll be fighting Almunia for the #1 spot next year and will probably fully win it over in 2 years.)

errr Outclassing someone wouldnt be having to go to extra time to win it, or being just 50/50 on posession or having a lot less shots on goal, shots off goal, offsides, corners (good indicators or whos having the most attacking time of it) infact the only thing you did more of in the game was commit fouls. Trying to kick them off the pitch? This is Blackburn you are playing here, the only they should be able to stay with you is stopping your beautiful football by fouling all game yet it was Arsenal doing that.

Top 6?, no hope IMO. Theres a lot of difference between 4 or 5 Carling Cup outings a season and a Premiership campaign against teams fighting for their lives every week. Today if it was a Premiership match you only would have drawn with Blackburn who wont make the top six themselves this year.

blimey J-Axe .....you really do go way way over the top sometimes .. I watched the whole game last night as well and i dont think we outclassed Blackburn at all ...not in every measure of the game , as you put it ...in the second half we were hanging on at times , just booting the ball away after Blackburn had made it 2-2 ...and Blackburn were arguably the better side second half .

I dont think you can compare performances in the Carling Cup to Premier League football . You are purely speculating ...the quality and ability of a team is totally different to actually performing on the day ..in terms of quality and abilty our first team should have torn Middlesbrough apart a week or so back ..we just could not get going though and nothing worked for us ..in the end losing 2-1 .

Man Utd , Arsenal , Chelsea , Liverpool you could say have enough quality and abilty in their teams to theoretically win every match they play ...it doesnt work like that though does it .

you really are off your head.


did you even watch the game? if you did then how the hell can you come to that conclusion?

biggest load of crap you have ever come out with

Fabianski 7.5
Hoyte 7.0
Song 8.5
Senderos 7.0
Traore 6.5
Randall 6.5
Diarra 7.5
Denilson 7.0
Diaby 7.5
Bendtner 7.0
Eduardo 8

Reasoning

Fabianski
Made two or three excellent point blank saves, to be honest nothing he could to about the two Santa Cruz goals.However a few uneasy saves and blunders but nothing that can't be erased with experience.

Hotye
Quiet for large periods of the game, caught out a few times positionally.Made a superb double block to keep us from going to penalties.

Song* (M.O.T.M)
Absolutely phenomenal performance from bombing forward through the center and beating the likes of Bentley and Savage all ends up, to busin' his gut trying to get into the opposition penalty area and creating a real nuisance of him self.
Although caught out of position on numerous occasions, can't really take anything away from such a superb performance.

Senderos
Made a few vital interceptions but not the best performance you'll see by Senderos positionally he wasn't that great.

Traore
Solid enough performance by the 18 year old , but fell victim to a good through ball that lead to the first goal (though it was offside).

Randall
Didn't contribute enough going forward and rarely tracked back.Surprised Wenger kept him on as long as he did.

Diarra and Diaby
Were rock solid throughout, linking the play well and with great effect, but to0 many intercepted passes,between them both for my liking when we were on a counter-attack


Denilson
A bit of a disappointing performance in my eyes, i feel when the ball reached him hes slowed up he tempo and allowed Blackburn defenders to get back into position.Lack of experience was shown when he lunged in on the tackle that gave him his red card

Bendtner
Looked a bit rusty when he was allowed into the penalty area he was always looking for that extra touch or that extra pass which 7/10 were to be intercepted.

Eduardo
Very, calm, collected and composed when he was presented with a clear goalscoring opportunity on both occasions he excelled with great precision finishing.

Only saw the first half, but Diarra was outstanding. Best player on the pitch by a mile. His game must have gone downhill drastically in the second half according to your 'reasoning'.

And to say that the Arsenal reserves would be a top 6 side is ridiculous. Maybe playing well throughout a cup competition, but do you think that they could maintain that level throughout the whole season. First half they played well, but Blackburn's performance made them look even better. They have been on a poor run recently conceeding alot of goals and the defence was shambolic last night. Samba is a timebomb waiting to happen. First touch like a car crash. Robbie Savage? Why bother? Don't rate Derbyshire at all.

writing Diara twice was my mistake and i have corrected it.
And TBH Diarra was one of our best player's in the first half , however he became increasingly sloppy in the second half.
Try watching both half's of the game before trying to contradict me