Arsenal laid low by Birmingham City's astute use of Nikola Zigic

The winner came from a mistake but the Blues hustled and worked tirelessly in midfield for a deserved win

Birmingham's strategy made a virtue of the much criticised Nikola Zigic's aerial strength and their midfield five worked tirelessly to cover his immobility by denying Arsenal space in their half by a clever deployment of pressing whenever the Gunners broke into their half.

An entertaining first period finished all square after Birmingham's great graft had given them an early ascendancy. Their midfield's hustling and sensible use of Zigic, telling him to do what he does best and flick the ball on with his head from direct diagonal balls played from both wings, gave Arsenal plenty to ponder at half-time.

Birmingham did not get the penalty they deserved when Wojciech Szczesny upended Lee Bowyer but they were not dispirited and kept plugging deep balls into Zigic and Bowyer anticipated his flicks with early movement and well-timed runs. Craig Gardner also moved intelligently and Sebastien Larsson and Keith Fahey timed their supporting runs perfectly to feed on Zigic's knockdowns.

As Arsenal's passing improved Birmingham retreated in their 4-5-1 formation and left the Serb upfield as a spectator, not wanting him to expend any energy fruitlessly but rather telling him to focus on maximising his heading strength.

Alex McLeish had drilled his forces thoughtfully and they knew exactly when to trigger the group pressing which restricted Arsenal's goal attempts in the first period. The five midfielders dropped to halfway as a group and then hunted Arsenal's ball carriers down as a pack with terrific team spirit.

With Arsenal forced to shoot from distance, Ben Foster excelled, superbly parrying efforts. Birmingham battled bravely under pressure as Roger Johnson and Martin Jiranek kept their positional discipline and Bowyer and Barry Ferguson suffered heavy challenges. When the end of the road was in sight Zigic was substituted as Arsenal began to look the fresher of the teams and were threatening to take the game.

The pace of the substitutes Obafemi Martins and Cameron Jerome became important as Birmingham narrowed the gap between the forwards and midfielders to maintain concerted attacking phases.

It was sad that an awful mix-up decided the game. All the pundits will talk of Arsenal's failure to purchase a goalkeeper and centre-back but fate was cruel on them. They conceded the first goal with too many defenders obscuring Szczesny and Johan Djourou's lack of concentration allowed Zigic to score. Robin van Persie's equaliser was a piece of magical timing and technique.

The winner came from a mistake but Birmingham earned their victory through terrific teamwork and astute deployment of Zigic's strengths.

Source: David Pleat, The Guardian on 27 Feb 11

Arsenal v Birmingham City: five things we learned

Arsenal got what they deserved, Alex McLeish is a top manager and small clubs get nothing from referees at Wembley

The pre-match pressure was too much for Arsenal
The anxiety etched on Arsène Wenger's face in a pre-match interview was symptomatic of the nerves his players showed on the pitch. It was as if all the talk about waiting six years for a trophy, allied to their billing as favourites, was too much for Wenger's team. Arsenal had a spell in the second half when they were well on top and only Ben Foster's brilliance denied them the lead but generally they played in fits and starts. It was alarming to see Birmingham pinning them back and pressing for the goal that would have given them a 2-0 lead in the first half. Cesc Fábregas and Theo Walcott were missing but their absence was no excuse for this disappointing display that highlighted their mental frailties.

Cameron Jerome was right about Arsenal's defence
"If Arsenal have a weak point, it's the back four and the goalkeeper," Cameron Jerome said in the lead-up to the match. It felt like a dangerous comment to make and one that would give Arsenal additional motivation but instead the Birmingham striker proved to be spot-on. Johan Djourou and Laurent Koscielny endured a nightmare afternoon at the centre of the Arsenal backline and Wojciech Szczesny will also want to erase the game from his memory. Djourou was guilty of a schoolboy error on the first goal, when he was caught ball-watching, while Koscielny and Szczesny got in a terrible mix-up to give Birmingham their winner. It summed up their afternoon.

Arsenal failed to heed set-piece warning
All the warning signs were there beforehand for Arsenal. From the sight of a 6ft 8in striker leading the line to the statistics that highlighted just how dangerous Birmingham are on set pieces (six of their eight Premier League goals against Wenger's team have come from that source), Wenger's players had no excuses for not being alive to the threat Alex McLeish's side pose on dead balls. Yet from Sebastian Larsson's corner, Roger Johnson won the first header and Zigic the next to give Birmingham the lead. Djourou was marking Zigic but he started to follow the ball when it was arrowed towards Johnson, leaving the Serbian, who is often accused of not making the most of his height, to nod in.

Alex McLeish is a top manager
How else can we view Alex McLeish? In his last three seasons the Birmingham manager has won promotion back to the Championship at the first attempt, delivered the club's highest top-flight league position in more than 50 years and now won the club their first major piece of silverware since 1963. His is a remarkable record, especially given the resources at his disposal. He got his tactics spot-on for this occasion, setting Birmingham up in a 4-5-1 formation that stifled Arsenal but also encouraged his own players, especially Lee Bowyer, to break and support Zigic. It was a plan that worked to perfection. Birmingham are in Europe and no one deserves the plaudits that will follow more than McLeish.

Small clubs get a raw deal at Wembley
The 2010 League Cup final was only four minutes old when Nemanja Vidic hauled down Gabriel Abgonlahor in the penalty area and somehow escaped a red card. It was a poor decision, although at least Aston Villa had the consolation of a penalty kick. There was not a single crumb of comfort for Birmingham here, however, after Bowyer, played on by Gaël Clichy, burst on to Zigic's pass and was brought down by Szczesny as he attempted to round him. It should have been a spot kick and a straight red card. Instead, the assistant referee, Ron Ganfield, wrongly raised his flag for offside and Birmingham were denied playing against a 10-man Arsenal side for 88 minutes.

Source: Stuart James, The Guardian on 27 Feb 11

Obafemi Martins grabs glory as Birmingham beat Arsenal

If Birmingham City held one advantage over Arsenal it lay in the art of endurance. A side striving not to fall out of the Premier League reached a peak in their history by defeating opponents who took far too long to discover impetus in this Carling Cup final. After 89 minutes, the substitute Obafemi Martins thrived on hapless defending to notch the winner. Alex McLeish's side had brought the club their first trophy since taking this prize in 1963.

Arsenal's defects warrant prolonged examination, but the real priority is to salute Birmingham. They are inferior in almost every respect to Arsène Wenger's team, as the 3-0 loss to them at St Andrew's in January emphasised, yet their powers of endurance were remarkable and not only for the saves that Ben Foster produced when Arsenal seemed bound for the winner.

There was a boldness to Birmingham, who understood that a cup final is not to be wasted by cowering in the hope that luck comes your way. Nikola Zigic may have been the man who most caused disquiet to the opposition. The Serb had scored only seven goals before this occasion, but he exposed the unsatisfactory defending of Arsenal and, in particular, of the centre‑half Laurent Koscielny.

The Frenchman made a ruinous nuisance of himself with a minute remaining. Koscielny moved as if to kick a long ball from Foster and distracted his goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny. He then let possession spill to the Nigerian Martins, who came to Birmingham last month on loan from the Russian club Rubin Kazan. No matter how brief his stay in the Midlands turns out to be, he has a permanent place in the memory of every Birmingham supporter.

Arsenal, for their part, were co-conspirators in this result. After six years without a trophy, it is impossible to believe they were complacent. It is more likely that we were witnessing nervousness as they rolled the ball around to very limited effect in the first half. There were intimations even then of vulnerability in the ranks.

Zigic regularly highlighted that. He not only scored the opener but should have added to it. After 28 minutes, Sebastian Larsson put a corner towards the fringes of the penalty area and Roger Johnson got the better of Koscielny to nod the ball into the goalmouth, where the Serb diverted the ball into the net with his head.

Arsenal's apprehension was marked well before that. Although they were behind then, the situation might have been far worse. Szczensy would have been sent off in the second minute for bringing down Lee Bowyer, following a pass from Zigic, had it not been for the mistake by the assistant referee Ron Garfield in raising the flag for offside. McLeish's side showed a desire to seize the opportunity, while Arsenal lost track of where they were and why.

This may have been the least of the four prizes that Wenger's side were pursuing, but there will be further misery if they continue to be so brittle. Arsenal might as well have been out to illustrate every defect that is suspected in them. So it was that tension prevented them from showing fluency. Birmingham were close to recording their second goal much earlier in the second half, when a Keith Fahey shot came back off the crossbar.

It was to be expected that McLeish's men would raise their game. There was nothing to fear when almost everyone had taken it for granted that they would fall to inevitable defeat. The side's great feat was to believe in themselves for so long. There was nothing that resembled an Arsenal onslaught until well into the second half.

When Arsenal at last achieved impetus, there was a string of saves from Foster, particularly when Samir Nasri and then the substitute Nicklas Bendtner forced him into action. At that stage in the second half, Arsenal might well have achieved total command.

Instead they drifted away from a target that seemed well within reach. That should be at least as disquieting to Wenger as the fact that a prize has eluded him. The side's focus and standard of play were both prone to being blurred. It would have been better for Wenger if Cesc Fábregas and Theo Walcott had not been absent through injury, and many could have anticipated there would also be a craving for the presence of the defender Thomas Vermaelen, who has been absent for almost all of this season. Birmingham behaved from the outset as if every player had been convinced by McLeish that there was glory to be had if they attacked the Arsenal central defence with confidence.

There might have been a second goal for Zigic, who displayed zest and mobility that had been well disguised on other occasions. Birmingham could have extended the lead 11 minutes from the interval. Jack Wilshere's challenge on Craig Gardner merely knocked the ball to the Serb, but he did not connect properly and Szczesny blocked without difficulty.

Arsenal may attempt to trick themselves into thinking that nothing of real worth has escaped. There are greater honours to be sought, but this was an outcome to plant new doubts in men who were starting to develop faith in themselves. The immediate priority is to inch back to normality by beating Leyton Orient on Wednesday. The requirement for a replay in that FA Cup came with an 89th‑minute leveller for the League One team.

We should appreciate then that this continues to be an Arsenal team in the shadow of their prolonged fallibility. The weeks to come do, of course, include the return with Barcelona in the Champions League. There is much that could go wrong and Arsenal have heightened the apprehension by falling to admirable Birmingham.

Source: Kevin McCarra, The Guardian on 27 Feb 11

Arsenal may find it difficult to recover from this disastrous day

Wembley witnessed a collapse less protracted but potentially more damaging than the tossing away of a 4-0 lead at Newcastle

At the final whistle Arsenal's players stood, sat or knelt on the lush emerald turf like figures in a tableau of despair. Motionless, traumatised, suddenly drained of the last vestiges of belief and hope and even pride, they looked dismayingly like Bayern Munich after Manchester United had finished with the German side at the Camp Nou in 1999.

Jack Wilshere hit the crossbar here and Robin van Persie was the author of one of the most beautiful goals ever scored in a Wembley final – surely, at least, the best ever scored by a player on the losing side – but Tomas Rosicky's bungled attempt to backheel a clear chance into the net with 10 minutes left somehow epitomised Arsenal's display on an evening when they failed in the attempt to win their first trophy since 2005.

So stunning was the defeat that they will find it difficult to recover their morale, although the press of events in the Premier League and the European Cup over the coming weeks may serve to take their minds off a disastrous day. Pointing to the enforced absence of Cesc Fábregas, Thomas Vermaelen and Theo Walcott will not help. A club with Arsenal's ambitions and resources – they have 19 players out on loan – should have acquired the capacity to ride such misfortunes.

On paper, this was a mismatch: thoroughbreds versus mongrels. Of such contrasts are cup classics made, and in the eyes of more than one neutral the two sides produced arguably the best football match yet seen at the new Wembley. To make it so, the occasion required not just Birmingham City's honest effort, dogged persistence and resilient structure but Arsenal's insecurity and anxiety, a neurosis born of the weight of the expectation, conscious or otherwise, that they would ease their way to victory by virtue of their superior class.

It would not be too harsh to suggest that Arsenal got exactly what they and their manager deserved for a performance that began with the most blatant piece of undeserved good fortune, contained enough individual mistakes to fill an entire season and ended with the sort of defending that a team produces when not enough attention is paid to constructing a side equally strong and self-confident in all areas.

Of course they had their moments. At half-time, with the score at one apiece, it was tempting to feel that had Lee Bowyer been wearing the Arsenal No7 shirt, rather than the ineffectual Rosicky, the north London side would be two or three goals up and on the way to ending that wait for another trophy.

Yet they should have been a goal, and a man, down after two minutes, when a fine pass from Keith Fahey found Nikola Zigic. The angular 6ft 7in Serb, whose control with his feet is customarily wayward enough to make Peter Crouch look like Alfredo di Stefano, played what may have been the best pass of his entire career, a delightfully perceptive and carefully weighted ball for Bowyer, who ran smoothly on to it with only the goalkeeper to beat and was promptly upended by Wojciech Szczesny, only to be given offside, quite wrongly. A correct decision would inevitably have led to the goalkeeper's expulsion.

The West Midlanders did not dwell on the injustice but profited from the knowledge of their opponents' vulnerability. Arsenal's defenders were never comfortable with the threat of Zigic, who scored Birmingham's goal in the visitors' 2-1 defeat at the Emirates Stadium in October. Szczesny, who lacks only two inches of the Serb's height, could not get close to him when Roger Johnson headed a corner back towards the six-yard box, and Birminghan took the lead.

Arsenal had started to put their attacking game together but they discovered Ben Foster in a mood to show what Manchester United and England missed. Of the goalkeeper's nine saves, the last two were truly exceptional. When Nicklas Bendtner's shot was deflected in the 76th minute, Foster was already diving but reacted by throwing up a hand to turn the ball aside. Four minutes later he flew to his left to tip away Samir Nasri's goalbound drive.

In the absence of Fábregas, Nasri had been expected to provide the goalscoring threat from Arsenal's midfield. But rather than attempting the sort of incisive dribbles that often reached their climax with a goal in the first half of the season, he tended to loiter on the fringe of the Birmingham penalty area before transferring the ball and the responsibility to a team‑mate.

Andrey Arshavin, whose dribble ended with the cross that Van Persie volleyed home before the interval, was more incisive, and it came as a surprise when the Russian was withdrawn, rather than the pallid Rosicky, to make way for Marouane Chamakh in the closing stages.

"We have to take a lot of pride and encouragement for the challenges ahead," Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, said, having witnessed a collapse less protracted but potentially more damaging than the tossing away of a 4-0 lead at St James' Park three weeks ago. Wilshere was one of the few Arsenal players to emerge with credit, going about his work neatly and unobtrusively alongside the dreadfully inaccurate Alex Song. It was his uncharacteristic error, however, that led to the opening from which Fahey hit the post early in the second half.

Birmingham City will not waste too much time on sympathy for Arsenal and their six-year search for something new to put in the trophy cabinet. For the winners, ignoring the Leyland Daf Cup and the Auto Windscreens Shield, the result ended a drought going all the way back to 1963 – between Lady Chatterley and the Beatles' first LP, as a certain West Midlands poet might have put it.

Source: Richard Williams, The Guardian on 27 Feb 11

Drought continues as Gunners freeze

It was the least of their ambitions but failing to secure it still hurt like hell. Jack Wilshere's tears showed it really did matter, as his team-mates lay prostrate in the usual manner of a last-minute defeat. Now, Arsenal might well be facing another season in which the trophy cabinet stays locked.

Catastrophe had struck them when Wojcech Szczesny and Laurent Koscielny's shared error gifted the League Cup to England's Second City, with Birmingham winning 2-1. With Manchester United reopening the gap at the top of the Premier League, this has been an unhappy weekend for Arsenal. Now Barcelona lie in wait, not to mention Leyton Orient. This day was Birmingham's, and deservedly so despite the lucky break that granted Obafemi Martins his winner. The memories of ten years ago, and that image of Trevor Francis consoling a stricken Andy Johnson, have been augmented with the club's second winning of this trophy after a gap of 48 years. Now it is Wilshere who is a poster boy for Wembley woe.

A year ago, Manchester United found that winning this trophy came at the cost of injury to both Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney, as Wembley's clagging pitch sucked reserves of energy. They at least could take solace in having something to show for their season. Arsenal now walk a tightrope and their manager admitted that the manner of this loss could have a worrying effect on his team. "I am bitterly disappointed like all the team," said a desolate Arsene Wenger. "We had problems to start with. It took us a while to get into the pace of the game, and in the second half we were on top but the goal gave us no time to respond."

The Gunners' attempts to win four trophies meant this was a lesser light for them, a fact confirmed by a lack of cup final tailoring - their pre-match pitch attire was tracksuits while Birmingham's players were suited and booted. Birmingham's first major final at Wembley since 1956 clearly meant a great deal to both their staff and fans, Alex McLeish's pitchside manner manic in contrast to Wenger's studied cool until all went wrong. In the end, the spoils went to the team who wanted it most.

That six-year trophy drought on which Wenger is clearly bored of answering questions continues. This was an occasion in which damage limitation and protection of leading players was hugely important but it was another target that was missed. In scoring his goal, Robin Van Persie clearly injured himself and was forced to leave the game early with a knee problem. For too long, Arsenal played as if other things were on their mind. Cesc Fabregas was clearly missed, and so too Theo Walcott. Arsene Wenger made mention of them post-match and pointed to the difficulty he faces in performing a balancing act with his squad. Birmingham, on the other hand, could concentrate on this fixture, a point of view which erred in forgetting Blues' fight for Premier League survival.

The Londoners entered the break lucky to be level, though Van Persie's goal was wonderfully taken. It had arrived at a time when Birmingham had been well in the ascendancy, though was inspired by a Wilshere drive against the bar which temporarily lifted his team-mates' tempo.

Blues had begun with a belief they maintained throughout and were denied what surely would have been a penalty when Lee Bowyer was wrongly ruled offside when surging through on goal only to be upended by Szczesny. A sending off may well have resulted too to further echo last season's final when Nemanja Vidic should have been dismissed for an early foul against Aston Villa. It was a moment always likely to be heavily mentioned post-match if Birmingham did not triumph but will now be forgotten though McLeish told of how at half-time he "gathered our team, saying that we must retain our composure". Meanwhile, the young goalkeeper may even wish he had been so punished. He was culpable for both Blues goals and has probably begun more talk about Arsenal lacking a trustworthy goalkeeper.

It was aerial power that was always likely to be Birmingham's most potent weapon and Nikola Zigic's 28th-minute header was a victory for McLeish's training-ground drills, and a first moment to rue for Szczesny, whose late commitment to Roger Johnson's flick left him in limbo as the Serb nodded past him. Sadly for him, his afternoon was to get far worse.

Arsenal's second-period showing had to be better and yet it was not good enough. Wenger perhaps needed to resort to hurling Wembley's finest bone china to lift his charges' desire; they seemed for long periods to be lacking it.

The Gunners could have fallen behind again when Keith Fahey crashed the ball off the base of the post in the 57th minute. At this point, Birmingham were still the team raising their game to match the occasion. Only Wilshere of Arsenal's players matched their determination, with both Alex Song and Tomas Rosicky particularly lacking in drive and Gael Clichy struggling as Zigic towered on his shoulder. It seemed as if McLeish had targeted Arsenal's shortest defender on set-pieces. A gameplan had been struck, and stuck to and was a great success or "executed brilliantly" in the words of McLeish, who stopped short of slapping his own back and moved the credit to his players.

On a day when much went right for the Scot, even he could not have predicted the manner of victory. "You do need luck," admitted McLeish in the time-honoured magnamity of the victor.

As Wenger pointed out, a lack of "communication and determination" caused it to be scored. "The ball was in no-man's land," said Wenger, who described Szczesny and the equally guilty Laurent Kosciely as "destroyed" in the dressing room. "Someone had to take responsibility. Nobody from Birmingham was going for the ball." A costly error then, and one which may have far-reaching effects on the esprit de corps of Arsenal.

Now they are chasing for three trophies that all look far harder to win than this should have been. "The Carling Cup is playing just four or five games," said Wenger. "We will not throw 38 games away because of one game but we don't deny it's a massive disappointment."

MAN OF THE MATCH - Ben Foster
He will likely not be denied the champagne reception he complained wasn't forthcoming when he won this trophy with Manchester United, and can be highly pleased with a display that matched the quality of his previous showing on this stage. Two saves made with his legs, first from Arshavin and then from Bendtner were low on artistic impression but high on importance.

ARSENAL VERDICT
They will feel cursed, unlucky and bruised but when they were expected to blow away Blues with free-flowing verve, they singularly failed to do so. Wilshere was outstanding in that he was often the only player who looked up for it. That late goal was cruel considering they had begun to dominate, but their first-half performance was poor enough to deserve their fate.

BIRMINGHAM CITY VERDICT
Alex McLeish may have won plenty of trophies north of the border but this must register as his greatest triumph and he admitted as much. His players worked manfully all game and indeed were no less creative than their storied opponents. They had luck, of course, but they rode it well, and their fans can look forward to European adventures that McLeish forgot he had qualified for in winning this trophy.

ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA
Wembley's PA system made its usual incursion into the eardrums of the spectators, with a volume and music policy that surely acts against Brent Council's noise pollution policy. Welcome relief was provided by the playing of ELO's "Mr Blue Sky" and it had Blues fans pogoing in the aisles.

Source: John Brewin, ESPN Soccernet on 27 Feb 11

Wenger's reaction to the Birmingham City 2-1 Arsenal match

on the late goal...
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. It took us a while to get into the rhythm and pace of the game. In the second half we were on top, unfortunately we couldn’t score the second goal and, in the end, we made a mistake that left us no time at all to respond. We were preparing to play extra time.

on Birmingham...
Congratulations to Birmingham, they took advantage of the mistake [and] they took the trophy which hurts us tremendously. We have to be proud of our attitude, continue with our belief, pick ourselves up and face the other challenges we have. The team is very disappointed and we will face a lot of questions after that mistake tonight but we have to be strong enough to stand up. It is a good opportunity to show that we have the mental strength to respond to the situation like that.

on his view of the winner…
It was a lack of communication, determination a little bit as well. Like always, when the ball is in no-man's land, someone has to take responsibility and go for it. What was amazing [was that] no-one was going for the ball from Birmingham.

on the mood in the dressing room…
Both of them [Koscielny and Szczesny] are destroyed. I don’t think it’s a good moment for me to add anything. We have to lift them up again and help them, that is what a team is about. That is part of the game, we had enough chances to kill the game off before. They could only be dangerous, in the end, on free kicks. Maybe we were a bit nervous on it as well.

on the penalty shout in the second minute...
I didn't feel that [Szczesny was lucky to stay on], I felt it was offside.

on how much defeat will affect his squad...
Exactly [it could affect us], we don't deny that. It is a massive disappointment for the team but we have massive challenges in front of us - the Carling Cup is four games, five games but a championship season is 38. We will not throw 38 games away because of one game.

on picking themselves up...
I am confident we have the character and this is a good opportunity to show it.

on Van Persie's injury...
He has a knee problem. Yes [he did it in scoring].

on the importance of the Carling Cup...
We came here today to win the game, we didn't want to lose the game. In the last 18 games we lost one at Ipswich in the first leg of the Carling Cup [Semi-Final] and we lost today in the last minute on a very special goal. What the team is overall achieving is absolutely tremendous - that's why we go for every single game to win it. We are on such a long run that it is difficult to take because we are used to winning.

on losing players to injury...
What is difficult for us to take at the moment is that we lose too many players. We lost Walcott and Fabregas on Wednesday. Birmingham played their reserve team against Sheffield Wednesday and they started stronger than us until we got into the pace of the game. Physically we had a disadvantage because of the repetition of the games we play.

on making defensive errors...
Making mistakes is not positive, of course.

Source: Arsenal.com on 27 Feb 11

27 February 2011: Birmingham City 2-1 Arsenal, Wembley Stadium

A last-gasp defensive mix-up put paid to Arsenal’s hopes of Carling Cup glory at Wembley on Sunday.

With one minute left on the clock, a long free-kick from Ben Foster was flicked on by Nikola Zigic and seemed destined for the arms of Wojciech Szczesny. But the keeper, distracted by Laurent Koscielny’s attempt to clear, fumbled the ball into Obafemi Martins’ path.

The Nigerian couldn't believe his luck and rolled it into an empty net.

It was heartbreaking for an Arsenal side that had looked the stronger as a gruelling Final headed towards extra time. Zigic had headed Birmingham in front in the first half but Robin van Persie equalised with a fine volley.

All that mattered for nothing in the end. Now Arsenal must pick themselves up and stay on track in three other competitions.

This hurts, but it could still be a season to remember.

When Arsène Wenger woke up on Cup Final morning he had two decisions to make. Who replaces Cesc Fabregas, who tweaked his hamstring against Stoke? And who steps in for Theo Walcott after he sprained an ankle in the same game?

Andrey Arshavin was a predictable deputy for the latter but Wenger sprang something of a surprise when he selected Tomas Rosicky instead of asking Samir Nasri to fill that Fabregas-shaped void.

The absence of their creative hub and speedster had certainly weakened Arsenal but they still emerged at a colourful yet rain-sodden Wembley as firm favourites to see off Birmingham, a club that had waited considerably longer for silverware - it’s 48 years since they won this very prize. But Arsenal have slipped up in similar circumstances before: remember Luton in 1988 and Swindon in 1969?

Wembley has changed rather a lot since then but the threat of an upset was the same. Within two minutes of the first whistle, this year’s underdogs reminded Arsenal why complacency was not an option. Lee Bowyer raced through on goal and was unceremoniously taken out by Szczesny. A cast-iron penalty was wiped out by the offside flag - and replays showed the linesman was wrong.

Shaken into life by that early scare, Arsenal advanced.

After seven minutes Van Persie fizzed an audacious effort past the angle after Wilshere had clipped an ambitious return ball into the box. A minute later Nasri cut inside from the right and found Arshavin with a clever angled pass. The Russian span his marker and shot low but Foster blocked with his legs. Then Nasri shanked high and wide after a slaloming run into the Birmingham box had taken him past three defenders.

The tone seemed to be set: Arsenal probing, Birmingham stifling. But the underdogs were rather more ambitious than that.

Keith Fahey tested Szczesny with a curler from 20 yards but their main threat came from Zigic. Birmingham looked to him for knockdowns into the path of their midfield runners and the six-foot-eight striker had already caused Johan Djourou and Koscielny plenty of problems before he opened the scoring in the 28th minute.

It was a simple enough goal: Sebastian Larsson picked out Roger Johnson with a right-wing corner, he nodded goalwards and Zigic rose high to flick a header past Szczesny despite the best attempts of Nasri on the line.

The ghosts of Swindon and Luton were back to haunt Arsenal and, although Van Persie headed just wide seconds after the goal, the Cup almost slipped away in the next ten minutes.

The red-and-white half of Wembley had Szczesny to thank after the goalkeeper rushed out to make a point-blank save from Zigic after he got clear inside the box. Then Djourou made two vital interventions in a matter of seconds to stop crosses reaching their intended target of Zigic.

Arsenal were struggling to contain the Serbian but their own centre forward would steal the spotlight from him six minutes before the break. Wilshere made it possible with a surging run and a thumping drive that crashed off the crossbar and Arshavin collected the rebound and wriggled past his marker to cross for Van Persie to volley into the corner. Arsenal were all-square.

Nasri stung the hands of Foster in first-half stoppage time and Rosicky flashed a first-time shot wide at the end of a quicksilver move three minutes into the second half. The tide seemed to be turning.

But just when you sensed Arsenal were taking a grip, Birmingham almost caught them with a sucker-punch. This time Jean Beasejour robbed Djourou and the ball rolled for Fahey, who saw one shot blocked and a second effort cannon off the post with Szczesny helpless.

Van Persie, injured while scoring his goal and only just back from a hamstring problem, made way for Nicklas Bendtner with a little over 20 minutes left. The Dane is remembered fondly among Birmingham fans for his successful loan spell at St. Andrew’s four years ago. This was his chance to tarnish that reputation.

He so nearly did within six minutes of coming on. Cutting in from the left, Bendtner unleashed a shot that took a deflection and tested Foster’s reflexes to the limit.

It was the second time in quick succession that the keeper had saved his team after keeping out Nasri’s venomous drive moments before. Moments later he hacked clear as Rosicky tried to dink the ball over him and Nasri was thwarted once more as Arsenal piled on the pressure.

If you had to pick a winner at that stage, it would have been the Gunners.

But there would be the nastiest of twists to this tale.

Source: Chirs Harris, Arsenal.com on 27 Feb 11

Johan Djourou's improvement typifies Arsenal's new defensive mettle

The once frail centre-back is now an integral member of his team's improving rearguard

Arsenal revel in a narrow win. Expansiveness is so natural to them that last Wednesday's 1-0 victory over Stoke City at the Emirates was treated almost with glee because it could be brandished as proof of maturity. The club face Birmingham City in the Carling Cup final with a conviction that they now have more than one means of succeeding. Arsène Wenger's defence can even be spoken about as more than the handicap of old.

It is, of course, true that Arsenal drew 4-4 at Newcastle United after holding a 4-0 lead, but the collapse came after injury forced the substitution of the centre-back Johan Djourou, who had scored the first goal of his career with the club to put them 2-0 up that day. While the centre-half's departure neither excused nor explained such frailty, his relevance to Arsenal was still emphasised.

Barcelona were wasteful at the Emirates in the first leg of their Champions League tie, but Djourou was also part of the resistance that let Arsenal rally from 1-0 down to win the game with late goals. The defender's own powers of recovery have been remarkable. A severe knee injury threatened to end his career and the sole appearance for the club last season was as a substitute in the concluding match of the campaign.

Arsenal now rely on a defender who once looked brittle. "I give him a lot of credit for two reasons," Wenger says. "I have seen him suffer after the surgery and not be capable of walking. And I saw him work with dedication for nine months. Nine months in a footballer's life is six years in a normal life. He has never shown any sign of feeling, 'I don't want this any more'. At the start of the season, if you had asked me whether he would have played so many games, I would have said: 'No chance.'"

It must, of course, be recognised that 13 starts in the Premier League and five more in the Champions League also reflect the achilles problem that has sidelined Thomas Vermaelen since August. Djourou, all the same, has made the most of his opportunity. He was on loan to Birmingham for four months in 2007 and familiarised himself with life in the less-exalted areas of football. "Arsenal is a great club and a big club," he says. "It was a different fight [at Birmingham]. You are fighting for survival. If you play a derby against Aston Villa it's a different kind of football." The knee injury also compelled him to struggle since he feared that the recovery would be restricted: "You are always thinking: 'Am I going to come back to my best level?' Some players come back and are never the same."

Djourou is beginning to look dependable and that is an element in the larger consistency that keeps the club in contention in all four competitions they have entered. With the exception of the aberration at Newcastle, the side have not conceded more than one goal in any match since 29 December. By Arsenal's standards, that is extreme rigour.

Djourou will be engaging with his former Birmingham team-mate Cameron Jerome in the final, but their last meeting ended in a 3-0 win for Arsenal at St Andrew's last month. Although injuries suffered against Stoke deny the favourites Cesc Fábregas and Theo Walcott, and Jerome has suggested that Wenger's team is weak in defence, Djourou reacted with a serene good humour that suggested neither the centre-half nor his team-mates see any cause for fear at Wembley.

Source: Kevin McCarra, The Guardian on 27 Feb 11

Gunners can begin march to greater glory

To fight on four fronts is as great a challenge as is possible in English football. On Sunday, Arsenal have the chance to write off item No. 1 in their quest for unmatchable glory. However, the cracks effected by spreading themselves too thinly are beginning to show. Wear and tear will always happen along the way. Luck is required and needs to hold out.

Sunday's late-afternoon stroll on to the Wembley surface will mark the end of an 11-day period in which they will have played in each of the four competitions. They remain on course in each, but not without cost. The high of beating Barcelona in the Champions League was followed by a crashing down to reality with a draw at Leyton Orient, while a vital league win against Stoke City saw significant collateral damage.

Birmingham City will feel relief at not facing either Theo Walcott or Cesc Fabregas, who both departed early on Wednesday. Walcott's sprained ankle rids him of the chance to put on a show at Wembley, a place where he has enjoyed mixed fortunes. Fabregas' absence is less definite but unlikely in the face of Wenger's focus on frying bigger fish.

In Birmingham, he faces a familiar foe, and one with whom he has a testy relationship. The scars of Eduardo's multiple fracture at St Andrew's are yet to heal in more ways than one. Martin Taylor may now be a former Blues player but the legacy of his ill-timed tackle three years ago is still one of enmity. Alex McLeish mounted a stout defence of his charge then and has never wavered from his opinion since.

And McLeish's team play a style of the type that can antagonise Arsenal's aristocratic air of self-entitlement. That will be the underdogs' aim. This is a team of experience, and battle-hardened too. The likes of Lee Bowyer and Barry Ferguson may be long in the tooth, but are big on snarls too, and both have played at the highest of levels. Captain Stephen Carr won this trophy in 1999 as a Tottenham player, and will be keen to repeat the experience.

And the Scot is no stranger to showpiece occasions; having led Rangers to five cup triumphs while a manager north of the border. Indeed, his last major honour came in 2005, a date that rankles with Arsene Wenger too. That was his last lifting of silverware, over in Cardiff after a successful penalty shoot-out wrested the FA Cup from Manchester United. This season has seen him alter his usual approach to this competition, his selection of a group of definite first-teamers against Tottenham in September alerting to a change in focus when before he had used the quest for the third-most important domestic bauble as a chance to play his younger players.

Indeed, in the 2007 renewal of this day, his team's last final, Wenger stuck with a young team of which only Manuel Almunia, Fabregas, Walcott, Abou Diaby and Emmanuel Eboue remain at the club from his squad of 16. He has a far stronger squad now, and is likely to be able to blood players of a higher quality here while still being able to keep powder dry for the battles ahead.

Arsenal player to watch - Samir Nasri
With Fabregas highly likely to be offered only a watching brief, focus will shift to the Frenchman who has often outstripped the Spaniard as Arsenal's leading light this season. Nasri has already shone at Wembley this year; in November he pulled the strings as a new-look France team passed England to death. He is recovering from his own injury problems and looked rusty against Barcelona, only to spring into life and play a leading role in a grandstand finish. The Gunners will look to such an ability to straddle the big occasions.

Birmingham player to watch - Nikola Zigic
Well, you could barely miss him, could you? He may even begin the game on the bench, but it is unlikely that McLeish will not make use of a player who provides a question that Arsenal have not always been able to answer down the years. The Serbian is still considered as work in progress by his coaches, despite being past 30, but has the attributes to cause problems to a soft-centred central defence. While Johan Djourou is rapidly becoming the key man in that area for Arsenal, Laurent Koscielny has looked far more assured on the European stage than against what can be politely termed the "British" style.

Key battle: Robin van Persie v Ben Foster
The Dutchman looks to have seen off the challenge of Marouane Chamakh to be Arsenal's chosen leader of the line, and has been protected ahead of this game. Two goals against Wolves and that snap-shot against Barcelona reflect a recovery of form and confidence that was jolted by injury for over a calendar year. Ben Foster will have to be on his guard against a striker who likes to hit the ball early, and will hope not to be caught out in the manner Victor Valdes was at the Emirates. The goalkeeper returns to the scene of his greatest triumph. Two years ago he was Manchester United's hero in a penalty shoot-out to defeat Spurs in the final and will hope to repeat a performance that gained him the status of a likely England mainstay, which he has squandered since and faces a long road to recover.

Trivia
Birmingham City's only major trophy was their winning of this competition in 1963. The final was an all-Birmingham affair and fought over two legs on a home-and-away basis. The first leg at St Andrew's saw the Blues beat Aston Villa 3-1, with goals from Ken Leek and Jimmy Bloomfield and then come away from Villa Park with a 0-0 draw. The winning manager was Gil Merrick, one-time England goalkeeper after whom a stand is named at St Andrew's.
 
Source: John Brewin, ESPN Soccernet on 27 Feb 11

Wenger only concerned with consistency

Arsene Wenger accepts lifting the Carling Cup would finally end doubts over the latest Arsenal generation being able to deliver silverware to Emirates Stadium - but feels sustained success at the top of the Premier League is already a bigger achievement.

Much has been made of the Gunners' trophy drought, which stretches back to the 2005 FA Cup and coincided with their move from Highbury. Arsenal have not stood still in that time, either on or off the pitch, reaching the final of both the Champions League and Carling Cup since, while also pressing hard for the domestic title only to fall short at the final hurdle.

Wenger, though, still believes the club's achievements in delivering consistent top-level European football at their new 60,000-seater home in Ashburton Grove cannot be undervalued.

''It is always very difficult to say whether it is harder to finish always in the top four, or to win the Carling Cup,'' the Arsenal manager said. ''The most difficult is consistency at the top, and the proof of that is that only two clubs have been able to finish in the top four for each of the last 12 years, us and Manchester United.

''It is true that winning the Carling Cup will mean we don't have to answer that question any more about whether we can win trophies. It will be important for the confidence of the team for the rest of the season.''

Wenger added: ''We have a young squad and this will do much for their confidence. Winning the Carling Cup will be like beating Chelsea, like beating Barcelona - another step forward.''

Doubts remains over captain Cesc Fabregas, but Robin van Persie is expected back from a minor hamstring injury to skipper the side at Wembley in what many believe could prove the catalyst for Wenger's youngsters to go on to bigger and better things.

''Because people are so much after us about trophies, we want to win one, but mainly because to win it would give us a lift,'' the Arsenal boss said. ''There is a weight on the team - we have to deliver trophies because we have not won any.

''The players say: 'okay, we want to win a trophy to show you we can win one'.''

Wenger added: ''How big the trophy is everyone will rate differently. I am confident that we've been, up to now, the most consistent team because we're still in everything. So it will convince the team they can deliver more.''

Source: ESPN Soccernet on 26 Feb 11

How Birmingham can unsettle Arsenal

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger believes something has changed in his team this season.

"We have matured, certainly, because we can win a game when we are less creative and less fluent, with intelligence and calmness," he said after the 1-0 Premier League win over Stoke at the Emirates on Wednesday.

"One or two years ago when we were not on our top game we dropped points, but on Wednesday you could see the team realise, right, let's not make a mistake and I must give a lot of credit to my players for that."

Recent performances against Newcastle aside, there is growing evidence the Gunners are riding storms in certain games to emerge on the other side with the equanimity that Wenger talks about.

The Stoke victory was a good example and the last time the north Londoners faced Sunday's Carling Cup final opponents, Birmingham, they also had to come through a difficult spell.

New Year's Day at St Andrew's was a stern test for Arsenal with some fierce challenges dished out by the hosts, but the 3-0 win over Alex McLeish's side was achieved with a maturity to give fans an added belief.

That resilience will be tested again when the Gunners get their first taste of a Wembley showpiece since the 1998 FA Cup final, without their injured captain Cesc Fabregas or Theo Walcott.

Again it will be a game of perhaps different styles as figures show the two teams appear at different ends of the table when it comes to the percentage of long passes they play in the Premier League.

But if Wenger's side cannot be roughed up anymore where else might Birmingham be able to find a weakness in the Gunners' armoury?

Former Arsenal centre-back Martin Keown believes that Blues will still try to break up their opponent's rhythm by being quick to close down their midfield.

However, Keown argues that by sitting back, as Stoke did on Wednesday, Birmingham will be making a mistake.

"The answer is to have an attacking threat," the BBC football pundit says. "Personally I think you need to play a couple of strikers to really test Arsenal when you are in possession of the ball. The more you sit back, the more they are just going to attack you."

"Something they do seem to struggle with, I believe, is people making good runs from midfield, which is what Barcelona did to great effect but they just couldn't finish off their chances."

"Arsenal play a high line in defence and they don't pick off runners from deep but there are few teams prepared to be ambitious enough to play that game against them."

"People tend to sit in and take a rest once they gain possession but it's a case of attacking when you get the ball."

Given the amount of possession that Arsenal tend to have it is no wonder that players need to regain their composure before launching a counter attack.

Yet recent evidence suggests taking that approach does provide good results. Over the last two seasons, the Gunners are second-worst, behind Wigan, at conceding Premier League goals via counter attacks.

Another route to goal for Birmingham could feature the pinpoint deliveries of Sebastian Larsson and the 6ft 7in frame of striker Nikola Zigic, via set-pieces.

Serbian forward Zigic was on target when Arsenal beat the Blues earlier this season and it is clear that McLeish's team use him as an outlet.

"I would play Obafemi Martins and Cameron Jerome up front, especially at Wembley with the big open spaces that exist," Keown argues. "Also, I don't think Wembley is a set-piece pitch because it is too big. You cannot reach the penalty areas with effective balls from too far away."

"It's all about denying space and playing a pressure game and playing percentage balls into deeper areas. Then you can rely on free-kicks and corners to be effective."

"If I was a centre-half playing in this game it wouldn't necessarily bother me too much if Zigic was playing. But if you have got pace and power playing around you then you've got more of a problem. That's what Martins will bring because he is rapid."

"Lee Bowyer can make decent runs from midfield to join them and Craig Gardner has got an eye for goal too. Birmingham can play, certainly, but they may not have the strength of belief in themselves to do that."

As for Arsenal, Keown believes they can cope without the injured Walcott, who often provides their greatest source of width and was a menace at St Andrew's in January.

Whether the same goes for Fabregas is another matter, but Keown dispels the myth that Walcott is vastly different from his possible replacements.

Player touches from the game at St Andrew's show how Walcott and Samir Nasri, in particular, rarely hug the touchline.

"Arsenal have Andrey Arshavin who can play in a wide position very intelligently, and Nasri has done that to good effect too," Keown explains. "No player at Arsenal is told to stay in a wide position, they are only starting positions, and for me Walcott is a better player when he comes inside."

"You don't rely on crosses from Arsenal players; it's about linking up intelligently. Yes, Walcott's pace will be missed because he terrifies the opposition, but don't underestimate Arshavin and Tomas Rosicky, who may well come in instead."

The Carling Cup final will be Arsenal's seventh game in February but Keown says - if they are fully committed - they will be too strong for Birmingham.

And he thinks that if the north Londoners manage to claim their first piece of silverware since 2005 it will only underline their fortitude, which has been doubted by others for so long.

"I just think winning on Sunday will get people off their backs because if you're not winning things people consider you to be second best," Keown adds. "The players will consider themselves to be winners but it's that trophy that proves it to everybody else and that's what they need right now."

Source: Alistar Magowan, BBC Sport on 25 Feb 11

Carling Cup final: Arsenal eye end to winless run against Birmingham

For Arsenal, the drought may soon be over. It is almost six years since Patrick Vieira hoisted aloft the FA Cup on the podium at the Millennium Stadium and a squad still infused with the spirit of the Invincibles of the previous season celebrated the seventh major honour of Arsène Wenger's tenure as deflated Manchester United players skulked from the turf.

That drab and goalless occasion might be more easily forgettable had the trophy cupboard not remained bare ever since. Back then there was an assumption that this club would claim silverware regularly. On Friday Wenger spoke of "a weight" pressing down on his team but, against Birmingham City at an expectant Wembley, his side can be liberated.

There is an irony that it is the Carling Cup, a competition that Wenger has always treated with a measure of disdain despite his team's excellent record in reaching the latter stages, which the Frenchman now hopes will provide a catalyst for more significant prizes. Only last year, when reflecting upon Aston Villa's appearance in the final against United, the Arsenal manager had risked riling Martin O'Neill. "If you win the League Cup," he had said, "for me you cannot say you win 'trophies'."

That outlook has been tempered – Wenger recognises this club needs to remind itself how to win – though he is consistent in his attitude towards the Carling Cup's long-term significance. Victory will be a springboard to further successes, not the culmination of a season's work even if the longest trophyless run of his 27-year managerial career is ended. Arsenal are competing on four fronts and, should they lose against Birmingham but win any of the other three, they would end more satisfied.

"It's not the main trophy," Wenger said. "The most important are the championship and the Champions League. Then the FA Cup and, only then, the Carling Cup. But to win a trophy would give us a lift. It's true that winning it will mean we no longer have to answer that question 'are we able to win trophies?', but I'd still argue that the most difficult thing to achieve is consistency at the top. The proof of that is that only two clubs have been able to finish in the top four for each of the last 12 years: us and United. But winning this trophy will convince my team that they can deliver more."

They have come close before. The Carling Cup may have been considered primarily an opportunity to blood bright young things, but Arsenal have been quarter-finalists at the least every year since 2003. That is a measure of the power of their youth ranks. Wenger considered the lesser domestic cup "a revelation" for developing his players but, this year, for the first time perhaps since the latter days of the Invincibles, Arsenal's squad appears to boast real depth. Their selections no longer feel weakened.

The whole level of squad quality has been raised: fringe players can be expected to excel, youth-team graduates are now first-team regulars. Jack Wilshere, Nicklas Bendtner, Alex Song and Johan Djourou all began the eye-catching 6-0 dismissal of Sheffield United in the third round in September 2008. All will start at Wembley. Cesc Fábregas, too, first made an impact in this competition. "The League Cup gave them their first taste of a big game, and they won't forget that," Wenger said.

If that provides the players with special motivation, then the management, too, has recognised the value of claiming the trophy for the first time since 1993. Wenger may not be comfortable lingering on the period without silverware, but he does not rest on past successes either. He claims not to remember where any of the winners' medals accumulated over a glittering managerial career have been stored. "I'm a futurist, I'm not nostalgic," he said. "I don't collect anything. Some must be in a cupboard somewhere."

But, while his side may have been growing steadily, they have too often stumbled at the last. The psychological impact of success on Sunday is clear with their determination to succeed in the Carling Cup apparently set in stone at the start of the campaign. "This season the boss really wanted to go for it because this team needs some sort of mental boost, or mental unblocking, that can come from winning a trophy," Fábregas said. "As soon as we win something together, we will realise we can really go on and win more."

The Spaniard, the only current Arsenal player who featured in that final in 2005 but absent on Sunday, is a World Cup winner. For most in this squad, first-team success of any kind has been elusive. The only trophy of Bacary Sagna's career to date remains the 2005 French Cup. "Just when we were close to winning something at Arsenal, we'd get scared," he said. "We'd stop playing. We have not reacted in the right way, but now we can look forward. This game is a chance to show everyone we can win things. We have got wiser and have learned from our mistakes and our problems. We are ready. We were scared, but we are not any more."

That resolve will be tested by Birmingham yet, regardless of Arsenal's ability to return from a mini-wilderness, Wenger will remain focused on greater prizes. There will be no open top bus rides through Islington on Monday if victorious, with the squad due to begin preparations for the FA Cup fifth-round replay against Leyton Orient. "This job turns you forward," added Wenger. "When you go to bed at night, do you look back at the good moments you've had in your life, or do you look forward at what you want to do in the future? I'm more about what's happening tomorrow." So often the world has been told this team is crammed with natural-born winners. Now they can prove it.

Source: Dominic Fifield, The Guardian on 26 Feb 11

Arsenal's evolution: six years on, have they found a winning formula?

Since winning the FA Cup in 2005, Arsène Wenger has struggled to find the players to emulate his last successful side

Goalkeeper
Jens Lehmann's finest two hours for Arsenal came during their last trophy win. Impenetrable in the 2005 FA Cup final against Manchester United, he saved the decisive penalty from Paul Scholes in the shoot-out. It felt like a cathartic moment for him at the end of a season when his pride was pierced by the ignominy of being dropped for Manuel Almunia. The German refused to accept that the reserve he barely deigned to talk to could ever be a better keeper than him. As it turned out, over the past few seasons Almunia has strained to cope with the responsibility of being No 1.

It is bizarre that a club of Arsenal's stature should muddle through in such a critical position for so long, with Almunia and Lukasz Fabianski taking turns to have the jitters for the most part. This season has seen the cream rise to the top. Circumstances have elevated Wojciech Szczesny and Emirates regulars are still enjoying the novelty of seeing a cocksure, authoritative goalkeeper between the posts. The 20-year-old has made a vital difference.

Defence
Having proved that he can construct a miserly defence in the undefeated league season of 2003-04, Wenger has found it enormously tricky to replicate the feat. In 2005 the back four contained experienced players who have always taken it as an affront to concede a goal: Lauren, Sol Campbell, Kolo Touré, Ashley Cole. But there was a hint of problems to come with the lack of reliable cover at centre-back. Philippe Senderos never quite won the faith of the manager, while Pascal Cygan always looked like something of an aberration in the Wenger masterplan.

It has not been easy to unearth quality in that position. The manager once mused that you don't just pick up a great centre-back at the supermarket. Indeed. Even seasoned internationals couldn't quite fit the bill. Mikaël Silvestre was unconvincing, William Gallas suffered when he was given the captaincy, Campbell returned for a cameo and Sébastien Squillaci has been error-prone. Wenger has been more successful with slightly more expensive shopping. Thomas Vermaelen was the new bedrock until injury removed him for the bulk of this campaign. Laurent Koscielny shows promise. The key to recent solidity, though, has been a youth product who is flourishing at last in Johan Djourou.

Midfield
In reaching the 2006 Champions League final Wenger found a fine balance in the heart of his Arsenal team: Gilberto Silva anchored diligently, Freddie Ljungberg and Alexander Hleb probed energetically, a young Cesc Fábregas provided the vision, Mathieu Flamini the crackle, and Robert Pires was on hand to lend finesse. The premature departures of Gilberto and Flamini were a problem for a while, exacerbated when Lassana Diarra came and went with unseemly haste, but the emergence of Alex Song has fixed that.

Samir Nasri has grown into a worthy successor to Pires, Fábregas has become ever more influential, and together with Andrey Arshavin the midfield is a rich source of goals as well as pretty possession once more. Hleb was a rarity anywhere near the scoresheet. And then there is Jack Wilshere. The prodigy has fast become a thrilling member of the establishment, and he has his place for keeps at the expense of older players who have had to move to the fringe in Abou Diaby and Denílson. People forget that Diaby suffered the same kind of injury as Aaron Ramsey at a similar age. He has never quite been the player he was expected to blossom into, and must wait to see how fully Ramsey can overcome his setback.

Attack
The tactical curiosity of the 2005 FA Cup final is that the veteran Dennis Bergkamp foraged up front as a lone striker. The strategy was quirkily unusual for Wenger's Arsenal. It was a sign of how desperate they were to avoid defeat to Manchester United. Thierry Henry was out injured, and the manager was not confident of outscoring opponents who had the beating of them that season. Of course, the issue of a long-term replacement for Henry had been rumbling along, as each summer the heavyweight suitors flashed their cash around Highbury.
Robin van Persie and José Antonio Reyes were the main contenders brought in young with a view to taking over up front eventually. Reyes was an expensive disappointment, while Van Persie's career has been punctuated by such repetitive injuries he has earned the soubriquet "glass ankles". This season, having recovered from his latest spell in the treatment room, Van Persie has come back in fine style. For very different reasons Eduardo and Emmanuel Adebayor came and went but ended up cult hero and cult villain respectively. Van Persie now has two big men (Nicklas Bendtner and Marouane Chamakh) and a speed merchant (Theo Walcott) for company, who have 27 goals between them this season. Van Persie has 12 from 12 starts.

Source: Amy Lawrence, The Guardian on 26 Feb 11

Why the League Cup is no longer the poor relation to the FA Cup

Once ignored by the top-flight clubs, the much-maligned tournament is now being treated much more seriously

The ghost of Alan Hardaker may be permitted a quiet grin of satisfaction this weekend. Hardaker was secretary of the Football League for 23 years until his death in 1980 and ruled with an iron fist inside a steel glove. The cynical view was that he had so much on his critics within the game that few dared oppose him.

Yet when, at the start of the 1960s, he produced a plan to streamline the league into five divisions of 20 teams the clubs would have none of it. However, they did seize the sop offered by Hardaker to make up for a potential shortfall in fixtures. This was a League Cup to be played in midweek under the floodlights which many clubs had recently installed.

Sixteen chairmen were against the new tournament but 31 were in favour and the inaugural competition was played in the 1960-61 season, Aston Villa winning the two-legged final by beating Rotherham United 3-2 on aggregate. Most of the members of the old First Division ignored the League Cup until it was decided to play the final as a one-off at Wembley with the winners earning a place in Europe through the Fairs Cup, provided they were a top-flight side.

For many years after that the competition continued to be regarded as a poor relation. In recent seasons, however, the FA Cup's status has declined amid the billionaire bombast of the Premier and Champions Leagues, with the leading clubs fielding the teams of odds and sods that they once put out solely for League Cup ties. Meanwhile the poor relation has acquired an added appeal of its own.

Sunday's League Cup final between Arsenal and Birmingham City will mark the 50th anniversary of the tournament which was once dubbed "Hardaker's folly". Few are expecting a classic but few ever went to a League Cup final anticipating a game to live long in the memory, which is a little unfair on a competition that could claim to have produced more memorable climaxes than the FA Cup since the final was moved to Wembley in 1967.

On that day in March Queens Park Rangers, then in the old Third Division, came from behind to beat West Bromwich Albion 3-2 with the eccentric skills of Rodney Marsh bewildering the First Division side. Two years later another Third Division team, Swindon Town, inspired by Don Rogers who scored twice in extra-time, defeated an Arsenal side that included Bob Wilson, Frank McLintock, Ian Ure, John Radford and George Armstrong.

Birmingham's supporters will be encouraged by the knowledge that the League Cup has not always been Arsenal's happiest hunting ground. In the 1988 final they were the victims of another Wembley upset when Brian Stein's last-minute goal, and his second of the match, brought Luton Town a 3-2 victory with their reserve goalkeeper, Andy Dibble, having saved a penalty while trailing 2-1 after starting in place of the injured regular, Les Sealey.

Arsène Wenger's undergraduates outplayed Chelsea for much of the 2007 final but after Didier Drogba scored what proved to be the winner six minutes from the end there was a shameful brawl which marred what had been one of the better recent encounters. Birmingham took much more credit from losing the 2001 final to Liverpool on penalties in Cardiff after matching the opposition in a 1-1 draw.

Of course there have been some dud League Cup finals. Aston Villa and Everton shared two bore-draws in 1977 before Villa won the third game 3-2, and few would have complained then if the original non-event had been settled by a shoot-out. Yet generally the good games have outweighed the bad and one of the best exhibitions of football to win a final was produced by Maurice Evans's Oxford United team when they beat Jim Smith's QPR 3-0 at Wembley in 1986.

For the clubs an attraction of the League Cup is that it gets itself out of the way in good time for the finalists to concentrate on other things. Arsenal may be preoccupied with the need to maintain their close pursuit of Manchester United at the top of the Premier League while preparing to hold their narrow lead over Barcelona when they return to the Camp Nou in the Champions League, and Birmingham's priority is to avoid relegation. But if both can concentrate on winning something Wembley may get another act which the FA Cup final is finding it increasingly hard to follow.

Source: David Lacey, The Guardian on 25 Feb 11

English at ease in last 16 but European balance of power tilts Spain's way

English clubs expect to reach the Champions League knockout stages, but the Premier League's high profile in the competition appears to be wavering

Sir Alex Ferguson took his disgruntlement straight from the dressing room to the press conference at the Stade Vélodrome. Regret over the goalless draw with Marseille in the Champions League cannot have been connected purely to the quality of the match. After all, the opposition's flaws must have been a relief and a pleasure to him in the away leg.

The manager was dissatisfied with his side. He had a case when Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov offered so little that the winger Nani must have been dismayed that his own excellence early in the night met with no response. Beneath all the introspection, however, lies an assumption that the Premier League clubs should always be to the fore. At this stage of the tournament at least that frame of mind is understandable.

The worst to have befallen English sides so far was the runners-up slot occupied by Arsenal after a couple of botched matches in Group H. It is taken for granted that La Liga outranks the Premier League and Barcelona, at their best, give that assumption plenty of credence. However, only three of the Spanish teams made it to the Champions League proper, with Sevilla eliminated by Braga in the third round of the qualifiers.

Even the novices from England appear, so far, to have mastered the competition. Tottenham Hotspur took a look around and concluded there was nothing to fear as they beat Milan at San Siro in the first leg of their tie. The Premier League is not at the very peak of its existence, but the years gone by have reinforced a mood of confidence that stays in place even as the faces change in a club's squad.

When Internazionale beat Bayern Munich to lift the Champions League trophy last year it was the first final since 2004 not to involve an English club. Know-how has been built up in these Premier League sides even if the line-ups change. It will matter to Ferguson that Ryan Giggs and Rio Ferdinand should be fit for the return with Marseille, a game in which Paul Scholes could well start.

Nonetheless, the English clubs in the tournament have achieved reliability more than greatness. United have won the European Cup on three occasions, a tally that has them trailing clubs such as Ajax and Bayern Munich, never mind Real Madrid. The Anfield crowd also issues frequent reminders of Liverpool's record on that front.

Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham have yet to lay their hands on the prize, although the latter club is excused on the grounds that it was challenge enough to get into the competition. In their different fashions, it is Chelsea and Arsenal who have gone furthest in adapting themselves to the Champions League milieu. Arsène Wenger, to be precise, had simply to follow instincts that prize not merely ball retention but the flowing movement that exposes defences.

That type of project is almost unimaginable at Chelsea, a club so inherently volatile that it could not stop itself from alienating José Mourinho, a manager who is still only 48 and may, at Real Madrid, win the Champions League for the third time with a side from a third different country. The restless craving for the Champions League often seems a barrier to Chelsea's attaining it.

The club is on its sixth manager since September 2000, although it was no fault of Chelsea's that Guus Hiddink stuck to his commitment and returned to managing Russia. Carlo Ancelotti, the incumbent at Stamford Bridge, has won silverware while exercising a steadying influence. If the decay in the squad is underlined by patchy results in the Premier League, there is hope that a special impact is being reserved for the Champions League.

Chelsea, however, not only have older players but count on them as the key to victory. Ancelotti has been extolling Didier Drogba, despite the fact that the Ivorian turns 33 next month and is the subject of transfer rumours. Signing Fernando Torres for £50m was intended as an act of rejuvenation for Chelsea.

United, to some extent, have looked to an old guard but Ferguson is also seeing impact from Nani, a winger in his fourth year at the club although he is still only 24. While the manager ought to dread the day when Scholes and Giggs retire, there is a concerted effort at revitalisation. A newcomer such as Chris Smalling is starting to look more of a contender for the team than a cover for the old guard.

Arsenal should be making an impact on the Champions League, but the return leg of the tie with Barcelona is particularly forbidding. With Chelsea short of dynamism and Tottenham still getting acquainted with the tournament, it is United who seem England's most forceful contender. By and large, though, the high profile enjoyed by Premier League sides in the competition appears to be wavering as power swings towards Real as well as Barcelona.

Source: Kevin McCarra, The Guardian on 24 Feb 11

Arsène Wenger is tantalisingly close to the glorious formula he craves

For nearly six years, Arsenal's manager has worked his way to the point where his team are strong on four fronts

Nostalgia paints with honey – and so it should, because to where else but a romanticised past can supporters escape the frustrations of the present? The point arises because Arsenal approach the end of their near six-year wait for a trophy. Comparisons with the Invincibles of 2003-04 and Arsène Wenger's two Double-winning sides could yet burn up the debating hours.

Birmingham City fans will have to forgive the presumption of an Arsenal win on Sunday. No ribbons are on the cup. Cesc Fábregas is limping and Theo Walcott is hors de combat with an ankle strain. Wenger's classiest defender, Thomas Vermaelen, has been much missed this term. But for the purposes of a quality assessment that starts its work in 1998, it is reasonable to take the bookies' odds and guess Arsenal are about to escape their mini-wilderness.

Only when the Premier and Champions League campaigns have expired will we be entitled to place the current lot alongside Wenger's finest teams and assess their merit. Yet one of the most innocent pleasures of following a successful football team (not that most of us know that feeling) is deciding which of a string of winning sides is the one that best pumps the blood.

There are still Manchester United followers who refuse to vacate those gilded years (1992-97) before Sir Alex Ferguson won his first European Cup near the end of the Millennium. These were teams of mighty intent. Schmeichel, Hughes, Cantona, Ince, Bruce, Irwin, Pallister: these were goliaths, assembled for the purposes of domestic domination.

With that mission fulfilled, United fanned out with a more European style, first with an unprecedented Premier League-FA Cup-Champions League treble in 1999 and then the cosmopolitanism of the Cristiano Ronaldo years. The realm of the senses is no bad place to start, and for many, still, no memory excites quite like the image of Ferguson's early title-winning sides ripping visitors to Old Trafford apart with a blend of skill and muscularity.

Strong characters are an entertainment genre, and that United side had plenty. By "strong" we mean possessed of an inability to regard defeat as an acceptable outcome. Compulsive winners experience losing as a personal affront, and are driven, by a fear of suffering such depressions, to avoid them at any price, which is why you hear conquered players say: "I never want to experience this feeling again."

Wenger's Invincibles were shot through with this mania. From the 2-1 home win against Everton on 16 August 2003, they went all the way through to a 2-1 victory against Leicester City on 15 May 2004 without losing a single league fixture. Along the way they lost FA Cup and Carling Cup semi-finals and went out of the Champions League to Chelsea in the quarter-finals.

Again, unlock the sensory memory bank and Highbury glows afresh with the pace, beauty and macho resolve of Arsenal's play. At the back, Lehmann, Lauren, Campbell, Kolo Touré and Ashley Cole kept guard. Ahead of the back five, Vieira, Edu and Silva were complementary pistons, defending and driving up the pitch with equal force. Best of all, the squadron of assisters and finishers: Henry, Bergkamp, Pires, Ljungberg, Parlour, Reyes and Kanu.

Watching last week's Arsenal-Barcelona style parade, the thought occurred that no international football match in memory has achieved so many artistic highs all the way through the 90 minutes. Also salient is the knowledge of how much the elite game has changed since the Invincibles, and certainly Wenger's Double-winning sides of 1998 and 2002.

In his early years, Wenger's success was based on George Graham's Impenetrables: Adams, Dixon, Keown, Bould, Winterburn, plus Vieira and the marvellous Petit. Bergkamp, Henry and Pires could afford to attack without wing-mirrors. The fundamental difference between the Arsenal of 1998-2005 and now is that the current generation have lacked the collective defensive strength to sustain the Wenger manifesto of constant positivity.

In the goalkeeping position, Wenger is guilty of consistent miscalculation. Old-guard defenders also mutter about the current back four's failure to operate as a single entity. The great Arsenal back lines were never five individuals. Co-ordination was the religion.

Wenger, though, has never adopted a fixed standpoint. His view was that football was evolving into a highly athletic game of top-speed counterattacks and sweeping moves, with less meaty tackling. But his mind was moving faster than history. Parts of the game remained resistant to his ideas about how it should be played. Safe goalkeeping is a non-negotiable. Consistent centre-back pairings are still not optional extras. Struggling teams still need to be picked up and carried by the mentally tough.

For nearly six years Wenger has worked his way round fallibilities to the point where Arsenal, with March nearly here, are strong on four fronts. These are tantalising days for a manager who found a glorious formula, seven years ago, but then craved an even better one.

Source: Paul Hayward, The Guardian on 24 Feb 11

Match Preview: Birmingham City vs Arsenal

If Arsenal win the Carling Cup on Sunday, Arsène Wenger will leave Wembley with a satisfied smile on his face. But despite having ended that famous six-year spell without a trophy, developed a young vibrant side and silenced a few critics, the Frenchman’s demeanor may have changed by the time he gets home.

By then his thoughts will be on opening up the Leyton Orient defence rather than open-top buses and his winner’s medal may well have left his possession for good.

Make no mistake, the Birmingham game is massive for Wenger and his team. But the manager wants this to be the first of many prizes – hopefully this season – and the Carling Cup is only the springboard.

“To win this trophy would give us a lift,” said the Frenchman at his press conference on Friday.

“There is a weight on the team at the moment. We have to deliver trophies because we have not won any.

“I’m not the only one for whom that is important. There’s the players’ feelings too. They say: ‘Ok, we want to win a trophy to show you we can win one’. And I believe to win would give us a lift for the rest of the season.

“We have a good bond, a good confidence level and are highly determined to do well on all fronts. What will be vital for our success is that we focus well on the next game and give it the biggest importance. That’s the final game in the Carling Cup and will give everything to be successful.

“We are on a very strong run now. If you look at the start of the season, we are well above the predictions of the specialists.

“What is important is not what happened in the last six years but what we can do from now on.”

It is typical Wenger. The Frenchman has always shunned the sunshine of success. He’d prefer to watch a Belgian Second Division game on his giant TV than toast a triumph with backslappers. But his philosophy goes much deeper than mere modesty.

“I’m a futurist,” he said. “I’m not nostalgic. I don’t collect anything. I don’t know where my medals are. I’ve given some away, some must be in a cupboard somewhere. Frankly, I’m not a collector at all.

“This job turns you forward. When you go to bed at night, do you look back at the good moments you’ve had in your life, or do you look forward at what you want to do in the future? I’m more about what’s happening tomorrow.

“So on Monday morning we will come in and practice to win against Leyton Orient.”

On Thursday, Wenger had told TV Online that the hamstring injury picked up by Cesc Fabregas would cost him a place in the final. Media reports the following morning suggested the captain might make it so Wenger had to re-iterate the point at his pre-match press conference.

The Spaniard will be out for “one or two” games. Theo Walcott’s sprained ankle will sideline him for “two to three weeks”.

Robin van Persie, Laurent Koscielny and Abou Diaby are all available. The Dutchman will captain the side in the absence of Fabregas.

This is Arsenal’s seventh League Cup Final and they are going for their third victory. They reached Wembley the hard way by beating Tottenham, Newcastle and Wigan before coming from behind to see off Ipswich in the Semi-Final. For their part, Birmingham got past Rochdale, Brentford, MK Dons, Aston Villa and then West Ham.

Arsenal have beaten Alex McLeish’s side home and away this season but 6ft 7ins striker Nikola Zigic did put them ahead at Emirates Stadium back in October and in the January transfer window they brought in the powerful Obafemi Martins to partner him.

While Arsenal’s wait for silverware has been long, Birmingham have lifted just one trophy in their 136-year history – this one in 1963. However this season, you can argue that McLeish's men are a cup side. They have won eight out of nine knockout ties and, aside from Sunday, are in the FA Cup Quarter-Final. In the League they have won six out of 26 and are three points off the relegation places. However Wenger is fully expecting them to ease away from the dropzone before long.

“Birmingham are a team I respect a lot because they have always consistent behaviour in their motivational level,” said the Frenchman.

“They have stabilised the club in the Premier League and they are now in the Carling Cup Final. We will respect that.

“We know we will face a Birmingham team that is highly determined to do well. We expect them to be at their best and that means a big performance from our side will be requested.”

Wenger has always had an interesting relationship with the Carling Cup. His decision to play a very young side initially drew derision from the wider football world but it is now copied by many major sides. In turn, the Club supported that with cheaper seats that were not necessarily part of the season ticket package thus widening the fan base.

The youthful teams thrived and the home games sold out. So, in many ways, it will be highly fitting if this new generation team lift the Carling Cup as their first trophy. Most of the team will have made their debut in the competition while many fans watching at home and in the stadium will have been properly introduced to Arsenal via this event.

Yet, it remains a side-dish not a meaty main course for a greedy manager.

“The most important trophies are the Premier and the Champions League,” said Wenger. “After that you have the FA Cup and, after that, the Carling Cup.

“But for us it’s a trophy. How big the trophy is everyone will rate differently. We will just try to win it.

“I’m confident that we’ve been the most consistent team up to now,” he concluded, “because we’re still in everything.

“So it will convince the team they can deliver more.”

Sunday could close one six-year chapter in Arsenal’s history and open another much greater one.

Let the story unfold.
 
Source: Richard Clarke, Arsenal.com on 27 Feb 11

Arsenal's Theo Walcott misses cup final, Cesc Fábregas a major doubt

Arsenal face an injury crisis for Sunday's Carling Cup final after Theo Walcott was ruled out with a sprained ankle suffered in last night's 1-0 win over Stoke City and Cesc Fábregas emerged as a major doubt after going off with a hamstring problem.

Arsène Wenger hopes to discover on Thursday whether Fábregas will be able to play after his captain was withdrawn early in the first half. With Robin van Persie and Laurent Koscielny – who were missing against Stoke – awaiting fitness tests on Friday the manager may have to field a team against Birmingham City at Wembley missing five frontline players, because Thomas Vermaelen is a long-term absentee.

After a victory that was sealed by Sébastien Squillaci's first-half header and took Arsenal to within a point of Manchester United at the top of the Premier League, Wenger said: "Walcott has an ankle sprain. For how long he is out, I cannot tell you. For Sunday, he is definitely out. Fábregas [has] a hamstring problem. We will assess that tomorrow. Tonight it is impossible to say how serious it is."

It would be a major setback to Arsenal to lose Walcott or Fábregas for an extended period as they enter a crucial sequence of fixtures. They hope to win their first trophy since 2005 on Sunday and among the games that follow over the next three weeks are a Champions League last-16 second leg at Barcelona, an FA Cup replay against Leyton Orient and a possible Cup quarter-final tie at Manchester United.

Fábregas's recent career has been blighted by hamstring troubles, which have already disrupted his season. He wrote on Twitter: "I dont know if I'll make Sunday or no, but all I know is that from this moment to Sunday 16:30 I won't sleep if it's necessary. I've waited too long to captain a final for Arsenal and I won't give up till the last second."

Wenger said: "It is of course a concern that he is injured but it can happen, unfortunately. He was very upset. I am as well. It is not his fault, it is not my fault, it is part of sport." Had it been a tackle that forced Fábregas off after 14 minutes? "No. It's strange that it happens so early in the game. We have to face it," Wenger said.

Regarding Walcott, whose pace was a threat before a second-half coming together with Dean Whitehead led to him being taken off on a stretcher, Wenger said: "I don't know what to answer [to how he is feeling]. He is disappointed of course."

When the teams met a year ago a Ryan Shawcross challenge on Aaron Ramsey broke the midfielder's leg and created bitter feeling between Wenger and Tony Pulis, the Stoke manager. Wenger had no complaints last night. "Overall the game was played in a good spirit. I cannot complain. It was committed with strong challenges but overall correct. I don't have an issue with Stoke or any aspect of their game. It is a team that you know that you have to prepare mentally before you go into this game as you won't take the points if you don't do that."

"Nobody likes to play against Stoke as they have a special way of playing the game but for me, tonight, they defended very intelligently for 90 minutes. They were very disciplined and denied us space. When we found a little bit of space, they quickly cut it off again and we could not take advantage. I was quite surprised how intelligent they were."

Wenger hailed how his team had overcome the early loss of Fábregas. "We have matured certainly as [we] can win tonight when we are less creative but with intelligence, braveness and calm. That is what has changed," he said. "One [or] two years ago when we were not on our top game we dropped points. Tonight the team realised that we must not make a mistake. We must give credit to the players."

Regarding the title race he said: "It was night when nobody else played [in the Premier League]. On a night like that, if you can take advantage, and take three points, [get] closer to the top, it means your team is really hungry for success."

Manchester United face Wigan Athletic on Saturday and then Chelsea next Tuesday in the league. Asked whether they are now under pressure Wenger said: "This is the period where everyone is under pressure. Chelsea is under pressure. Man United is under pressure. That is part of being in this position. Three months ago when we lost here against Newcastle who gave us chance to be in the top four? We have come back in a strong position and I am not complaining. I am happy to be in this position."

Source: Jamie Jackson, The Guardian on 23 Feb 11