MAMA MIA! (before you read on, this is a soccer post, so yeah. might be boring! hahaha)

Carling Cup Semi-Finals, Second Tie,
Final Score.

Tottenham - 5 Arsenal - 1
(Tottenham win 6-2 on aggregate)

firstly, congrats to all spurs fans! a great, open game which saw many chances for you guys. good job ending your barren run against Arsenal. no, i realy mean it, no sarcasm. good play!

for an Arsenal fan, this defeat is...saddening. not that we don't have any other hopes of silverware this season, but then time and again, year after year, Arsenal's youth team gets so far in a competition where other teams field their 1st teams, and end up knocked out. it did'nt help that they lost by 4 goals, that the 1 goal scored by Arsenal came from a 1st team substitute, that this was Tottenham's first win against Arsenal in 10 odd years and that they totally outplayed us. credit to their attacking quartet of Berbatov, Keane, Jenas and Lennon. they were superb.
kinda reminds me of Arsenal's OWN attacking quartet; Adebayor, Fabregas, Helb, Van Persie. they had pace, flair and strength.

to be fair, i think Arsenal were beaten at their own game and were off-colour. Tottenham fought fire with fire, counter-attacking when Arsenal pressed, just like how Arsenal play. this should be another pressing issue for Arsenal. other teams in the league would surely have seen this, and instead of the old tactic of packing bodies in the midfield, they will press up and deny Arsenal space to play their passing game. but that's football. you learn from mistakes and adapt to what other teams throw at you. look at how Arsenal overcame the other teams (esp. Blackburn) physical, 5-man midfield, approach this season? i'm confident that Wenger can come up with another winning game plan for Arsenal. What do i think? i think Arsenal should spend the coming summer developing a gameplan similiar to the one which they used to win Everton 4-1 in the league. which was a mixture of long balls from the back 4 and fluid midfield passing. why so in place of the intricate, around-the-pitch-passing of now?

now that they have Eduardo, they have a potent finisher. he has a good touch too, so long balls should be able to feed him with scoring chances. whats more, he has some fancy footwork, meaning if the pass is in-accurate, he can take the ball to the flanks and throw in a cross, ulitmately, for someone like Adebayor of Gallas to head in.
in Van Persie, they have a pacy and powerful support striker. this is where the passing aspect of the game comes in as he is better on the ground than in the air. don't forget, he has a fantastic left foot.
in Adebayor, they have a mixture of both. he is great in the air, pacy on ground, can hold off defenders to create space and also he is hardworking.
in Held, they have a support striker, offensive mid-fielder and winger. dribbling. thats what he does which creates openings and space by drawing players to him. ever-improving.

with the mid-field well-balanced; Fabregas the engine and source of creativity, Flamini covering the back 4 and making bursts, the 2 wide players over-lapping. and the back 4 stable; Toure and Gallas both fast and strong, Clichy and Sagna making superb over-lapping runs to support the attack with their crosses. Arsenal hsa a good squad. and with their youth-team maturing everyday, they have a bright future. the only problem is their game, which teams may have finally found a way to counter. more long balls. not that pretty, but effective. and a well-taken goal resulting from a long punt doesn't look too bad too.

to my beloved Arsenal, pick up from this defeat. it may be heavy, but treat it as a sharpening and come out better. for now, GOGOGO in the other cups. we'll get some silverware this time round!

and of course, don't get me wrong, i LOVE Arsenal's gameplay now. all that great passing makes my heart flutter. just that, i feel a few long balls would be make it that much better.

till next time,

1-nil to the Arsenal!