***Official Arsenal v City Carling Cup Thread***

[Sister of fu]

WTF has happened to johnson?

Whenever he gets into the one on one situation, he tries a trick and gets tackled, wins a throw-in but by this time is completely closed down and the ball has to head back out.

Is he the most overrated player in England?? Fans of other teams go on about amazing he is (as he is English) and when I say he disappears for long periods and his final ball is shit they think im lying. I tell them that they only see MOTD highlights when it shows the good bits. Very frustrating to watch when he could be so much more.

[freshie]

WTF has happened to johnson?

Whenever he gets into the one on one situation, he tries a trick and gets tackled, wins a throw-in but by this time is completely closed down and the ball has to head back out.

Is he the most overrated player in England?? Fans of other teams go on about amazing he is (as he is English) and when I say he disappears for long periods and his final ball is shit they think im lying. I tell them that they only see MOTD highlights when it shows the good bits. Very frustrating to watch when he could be so much more.

I think that just about perfectly sums up how City fans and fans of other teams see AJ

[Original Dub]

We look so ponderous, every time we win the ball we slow the game down. I think it's beause there's so many players not used to playing alongside each other.

Got it in one my friend.

[Douglas Higginbottom]

NDJ has made some cracking blocks and tackles this evening.

I think Nige is doig his job very well tonight although a bit earlier the word was "hes bordering on "useless".
Nasri is the worry for me, just cant seem to get fully involved but plenty of time for him to score the winner yet.

Big congrats to Panti.2 fine saves

[Moonchesteri]

I've horrible feeling about tonight right now. I'm afraid we lose the game and someone important will get injured too.

some positives from today are Nedum, Kolo, Savic and Panti as they've have all been good today !

[Blue2]

WTF has happened to johnson?

Whenever he gets into the one on one situation, he tries a trick and gets tackled, wins a throw-in but by this time is completely closed down and the ball has to head back out.

Looks asleep at time, not really aware of what is going and doesn't seem ready when he gets a pass with his back to goal.

[Slim]

I've horrible feeling about tonight right now. I'm afraid we lose the game and someone important will get injured too.

Quick, support Arsenal for 45 minutes.

[bigblue]

We look so ponderous, every time we win the ball we slow the game down. I think it's beause there's so many players not used to playing alongside each other.

I think it's worked out well for us though. We pass it around the back and the arsenal youngsters, looking to impress, keep sprinting after it. They can't press us so high all game and not run themselves into the ground.

[Blue2]

Not sure if the sub was purely tactical, Kolarov seemed to pick up a knock early on, but if he didn't he shouldn't complain any way, he was poor.

[Moonchesteri]

I've horrible feeling about tonight right now. I'm afraid we lose the game and someone important will get injured too.

Quick, support Arsenal for 45 minutes.

Nah. this is the rollercoaster I want to be part of. and hopefully my original gut feeling is horribly wrong today

[Sister of fu]

WTF has happened to johnson?

Whenever he gets into the one on one situation, he tries a trick and gets tackled, wins a throw-in but by this time is completely closed down and the ball has to head back out.

Is he the most overrated player in England?? Fans of other teams go on about amazing he is (as he is English) and when I say he disappears for long periods and his final ball is shit they think im lying. I tell them that they only see MOTD highlights when it shows the good bits. Very frustrating to watch when he could be so much more.

I think that just about perfectly sums up how City fans and fans of other teams see AJ

Jaime Redknapp has just about summed everyone outside of City's though on AJ saying what an amazing game he has had and that he has the beating of his man. He beat his man once and then kept doing the same step over and getting tackled.

[1950]

That Frimpong character is irritating. And quite good tbh.

[PoC]

Just out of interest, will it be a replay or extra time and penalties if its a draw at full time

[steveo_88]

Baffled by Mancini's sub.

I know Kolarov hasn't been at his best yet but still

Fixes a defensive weakness, as usual Kolarovs lack of pace and Chamberlains superb pace down Arsenals right!

Kolarov wasnt playing left back though, Zaba is...and he's not venturing too far forward. Kolarov and Zaba on the left (two defensive players) wouldve seemed like enough cover.....hm.

Kolarov was on the left wing and will have been responsible for shadowing Chamberlain when we don't have the ball, marks Chamberlain out of the game. However Chamberlain has lightning pace whilst Kolarov is slow as fuck, this makes this task almost impossible. Couple this with Chamberlains ability to get past the fullback and we saw we had a major problem.

Aguero has the pace to shadow and the ability/experience to intercept the ball or predict Chamberlains runs, this combined with Zabba did nullify Chamberlain after the substitution. As I said good move Bobby!

[Mark (Blue Army)]

Just out of interest, will it be a replay or extra time and penalties if its a draw at full time

Extra time and penalties mate

[PoC]

Jaime Redknapp has just about summed everyone outside of City's though on AJ saying what an amazing game he has had and that he has the beating of his man. He beat his man once and then kept doing the same step over and getting tackled.

The guy is an impact player and should only play the second half off the bench when we need pace on the wing

[freshie]

WTF has happened to johnson?

Whenever he gets into the one on one situation, he tries a trick and gets tackled, wins a throw-in but by this time is completely closed down and the ball has to head back out.

Is he the most overrated player in England?? Fans of other teams go on about amazing he is (as he is English) and when I say he disappears for long periods and his final ball is shit they think im lying. I tell them that they only see MOTD highlights when it shows the good bits. Very frustrating to watch when he could be so much more.

I think that just about perfectly sums up how City fans and fans of other teams see AJ

Jaime Redknapp has just about summed everyone outside of City's though on AJ saying what an amazing game he has had and that he has the beating of his man. He beat his man once and then kept doing the same step over and getting tackled.

Jamie Redknapp is a moron who knows fuck all about anything and his views on AJ are typical of most non-City fans. Most of their views of him, like you said, are based on a 5-minute highlight reel instead of the full 90 minutes that we see

[Beefymcfc]

De Jong looks a bit off the last few weeks...

hes bordering on "useless".

Wierd isn't it, I'm thinking he's looking a lot sharper and actually distributing the ball really well. What seems to be missing is his defensive tackles, as if he's a bit scared. Contract/Moving on worries, I don't know.

Zab's has been everywhere and I've liked Edin's play, shame he has 3 on him everytime. I think we need to get it down the right more 'cos AJ has had the beating of him. A bit of support to open the space will open them up. Not Ned though, you can clearly see he ain't ad game time - looked fooked after one fun forward, give up on getting back.

All-in-all, not bad at all, just wish Tyler would crawl up Taggarts arse and die.

[freshie]

De Jong looks a bit off the last few weeks...

hes bordering on "useless".

Wierd isn't it, I'm thinking he's looking a lot sharper and actually distributing the ball really well. What seems to be missing is his defensive tackles, as if he's a bit scared. Contract/Moving on worries, I don't know.

Zab's has been everywhere and I've liked Edin's play, shame he has 3 on him everytime. I think we need to get it down the right more 'cos AJ has had the beating of him. A bit of support to open the space will open them up. Not Ned though, you can clearly see he ain't ad game time - looked fooked after one fun forward, give up on getting back.

All-in-all, not bad at all, just wish Tyler would crawl up Taggarts arse and die.

I think he's playing much better today than he has done recently but it's hard to gauge how well he is playing when the opposition is the Arsenal 2nd/3rd team

[Beefymcfc]

Why the sub? The only thing I can see is that AJ was getting the ball in there or it was pre-planned to give Sergio some game time. AJ will play against Norwich.