Carling Cup Final Fiasco: Same Old Arsenal

My worst nightmare as an Arsenal fan is turning into a reality. In one of my last articles, I feared that injuries to Theo Walcott and captain Cesc Fabregas would play a big part in Sunday’s Carling Cup final against Birmingham City at Wembley. Well, the absence of these two players did have a huge influence on the outcome yet the general feeling is that the Gunners were undone by a metal blockage that could only arise out of years of unsuccessful attempts of winning silverware. Six years to be exact and May, 2005 was the last time Arsenal Football Club landed a trophy in North London. Is it the curse of Highbury or in other words is the Emirates good enough to inherit the huge success the club enjoyed at the famous Ashburton Grove address of Highbury Stadium? Since August 2006, the Emirates faithful have been left distraught and frustrated at the end of each passing season. Still every single Gunner fan trusts his/her old professor, Arsene Wenger, and we are proud of our manager.

With all due respect to Birmingham City, the Carling Cup final was Arsenal’s best chance of ending the club’s trophy drought yet from the onset of the match the Midlands side matched the hot-favourites from the Capital stride for stride. So, full marks to Alex Mcleish and his boys. Some quarters of the Arsenal team were so confident about getting past Birmingham that at the final whistle few of the Arsenal players just could not believe that a rare silverware had been snatched away from them by a team that is involved in the relegation battle of the Barclays Premier League. Did over confidence play a part? May be but it was the same old Arsenal. Lots of possession combined with beautiful football and plenty of chances yet the final result is zero. The towering figure of Nicola Zigic was a nuisance all evening for the Arsenal defence as expected but Laurent Koscielny and Johan Djorou are good enough professionals to counter the threat. Yet, the soft Arsenal centre-back pairing was under pressure throughout proving what a miss Thomas Vermaelen had been throughout the season. The injured Belgian defender is a class apart yet at a club like Arsenal FC, there is no able replacement for the former Ajax player.

Devastated Johan Djourou's reaction reflects the growing frustration of Gooners

Robin Van Persie’s stunning equalizer brought back hope but in turn the vulnerable Dutch striker had to be forced off the pitch for an apparent knee injury. It’s the injury curse again! As far as the immediate future is concerned, without Fabregas, Walcott and Van Persie, the season is as good as over to be fair.

The defensive blunder in the fateful 89^th minute proved how immature the club is when it comes to winning trophies. Still we never bother to sign a world class defender and a goalkeeper. On the other hand Ben Foster was at his best and his heroic saves in the dying minutes that prevented the Gunners from going ahead landed Birmingham city a rare piece of silverware and a second Carling Cup winner’s medal for himself.

Birmingham's hero Ben Foster

Still we Arsenal fans love to believe in our manager, our players and above all our football philosophy and the philosophy is all about playing the prettiest football in the whole planet yet nothing to show for it come the end of the season. On our day we can beat even the so-called invincible Barcelona, we can match the coveted Ajax Academy in producing and developing the best young footballers yet Arsenal Football Club fail to win trophies. We, Arsenal fans, are probably the most frustrated in the world.

Arsene Wenger has a huge task in his experienced hands. The task is all about lifting this wounded side. Arsenal were the only English team to be involved in all the four competitions and now with the Carling Cup a thing of the past, time to focus on the FA Cup, Champions League and of course the Premier League is at a premium. The French boss admitted that the shock defeat could have an impact on the club’s assault on the other three trophies.

He was quoted as saying, “Everyone is devastated in the dressing room, they (the players) are destroyed, and I don’t want to add to that,”

“I am bitterly disappointed like the whole team. We had some problems to start the game, the number of games we played caught up a little bit on us.”

Asked if the defeat could affect the rest of Arsenal’s season, Wenger said: “It can. We are tremendously disappointed to lose, and we face a lot of questions after that mistake.

“We have to be strong enough to stand up to it and show that we have the mental strength to respond.

“That’s what a team is about; these kind of things are part of the game. We had enough chances to kill off the game when it was 1-1, but we didn’t.

“What we have achieved so far is amazing — only one defeat in 18 games, and in the last minute here.”

Rebuilding the squad’s shattered confidence would start in earnest when Leyton Orient pays a visit to the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday for the FA Cup fifth round replay and Arsene Wenger knows that he faces a crucial month of March when his team travels to the Nou Camp for the Champions League second leg encounter and Manchester United awaits in the FA Cup quarter final provided the North Londoners avoid a second successive Cup slip up against a brave London minnow.