Very weird game.

As usual, Wenger fielded Arsenal’s second team for the first leg of the Carling Cup semi (also known as the Kiddy Kup). Van Persie was one surprise inclusion, but in my opinion that only means that Eduardo now is our first choice starter ahead of him, and rightly so.

The game was quite shit to be honest. We played even worse than we did against Burnley earlier this week. Any decent team could and should have ended the first half at least 3-0 up, so good thing we were only playing Spurs. The first half could be summarized as Berbatov vs. Arsenal defenders. Berbatov won that battle easily, all his through passes were perfect, and our defenders looked like Benny Hill video at times.

Berbatov is quality. He also is smart enough to know that he is better than Spurs, which makes me worry about seeing him in a ManU or Chelsea shirt next season.

Jenas scored from an easy counter attack. Not much else to say about the first half. Second half started with Eduardo and Sagna replacing the ineffective Van Persie and the woeful Djourou. Up till the last 15 minutes, we were lucky to be only 1-0 and it seemed like there was no chance for us to score. Then out of nowhere, Eduardo slides the ball between two defenders and Theo, who tried to kicked the ball but the defender got it first and kicked it up to hit Theo’s hand to roll into the goal. A real magic ‘touch’.

After that it looked like the team believed they could get more out of the game and went for it, while the hair stylely challenged Defoe showed why they don’t mind seeing him go with an easy miss.

To summarize the game, the midfield was shit, defence was a bit less shit until Sagna came to the rescue, and our front two carried the team just like they did the past two games.

The one major positive about the game is how Hoyte surprised me with his excellent performance at CB. Last year, I always had him and Flamini as two players who are below Arsenal’s level technically and didn’t expect either to last with for long. Flamini blew us away with his performances this season and proved me wrong, and today Hoyte was exceptional after Sagna came on to cover the RB position and Hoyte went central to replace Djourou.

The most important thing about our result is that Spurs are still almost 9 years without a win against us, and 15 years away from their last win at our home. The streak continues.

Player Ratings -

Fabianski - 5 - A few shaky moments in not going for the ball when defenders expected him to do so, and that one corner he flapped.
Traore - 6 - Did well in controlling the overrated Lennon, and unlike last game, actually held his position well.
Senderos - 7 - Solid defending, did very well.
Djourou - 4 - Nightmarish game for young Johan. He is much better than he showed.
Hoyte - 8 - Average first half at RB, a revelation in the second as CB.
Diaby - 4 - Another bad game. Read rating from last game.
Denilson - 6 - Not bad, not great. Some decent passing, some misplaced passes. Average.
Gilberto - 5  -Started off the game looking like a blind man, improved as the game went by.
Walcott - 6 - Average game, he needs to improve his final touch and decision making. Did well in finding space to score.
Van Persie - 6 - Did well in the first half, nothing spectacular though.
Bendtner - 9 - OK first half, much better second half when Eduardo came on. Those two look great together!
Subs -
Sagna - 8  - How anyone could fit it in so quickly with a team is beyond me! Great buy!
Eduardo - 9 - Great assist again. Great overall play. Great buy again by Wenger.

Man of the match - Bendtner again.