Carling Cup Final
 

Just for the attractive football, I think I will go for Arsenal in this one, but have a feeling Chelsea might be a bit too strong for them.

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Cardiff council has put up signs to direct the fans...


Blue for Arsenal

Red for Chelsea

:dunce:

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Hope Terry is ok, he looked pretty bad.

Not a bad game, can't beat a bit of handbags.

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I shall be steering well clear of the city centre pubs tonight....

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Yeah pretty good game, whilst Chelsea won obviously, i think Arsenal were the winners long term. Some of their play against very experienced and World Class players was great. I think they said the average age at one point was 20.9 wasn't it? Incredible. Looks like yet again he won't need to dish out millions to bring quality in as it's already there.

Good game though (apart from the punch up), footy was a good advertisement for the league again.

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Arsenal team involved in mass brawl, two players sent off.

Déja vu anyone.:rolleyes:

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Chelsea players too, one of whom started the whole thing off.

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It's not an Arsenal game unless there's a brawl :D

I wonder if they'll win anything this year?

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Fabregas is a disgrace. Absolute idiot. Needs to grow up.

Chelsea deserved to win.

Hope Terry's alright, though.

(I'm a Man United fan.)

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thought he was.......but not as much as robben needs to

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I feel sorry for the fans caught up in the train signal problem, seven or eight trains didn't make it to Cardiff before half time.

DW

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League cup is next to nothing anyway, I doubt they'll lose a second's sleep over it

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Funny, the fans and players didn't seem to think it was a "next to nothing" match ...

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I'm sure they would have rather won the final than lost it and both would have wanted to get one over their rivals.

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Arsenal obviously didn't or they wouldn't have played reserves all the way through, the only people who have any respect for this competition are the fan's of lower league clubs who make money from it and lower Prem club's who qualify for Europe from it and bizarrely Jose and Russ

---------- Post added at 23:46 ---------- Previous post was at 23:43 ----------

You know it would have really knocked Chelsea if they had lost, imagine the confidence blow they'd feel losing to Arsenal's youth/ reserve team, would of served the title up to you guy's on a plate

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True the League Cup isn't the most glamorous tournament but they lost that, they won't win the league, I can't see them getting progressing much further in Europe so I suppose all they've got left is the FA Cup. Or maybe they'll just end up with another empty season like last year.

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Maybe they will end up empty handed but then I doubt they were banking on winning the League Cup, to call their season a success, unlike Fergie last year

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I don't remeber him ever saying last season was a success :confused:

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I do


But Ferguson insisted: "Winning one trophy is good, I'm telling you. "No matter what it is, you have to take that as a successful season"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...td/4746394.stm

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So he did.

I suppose he is right in a way though, there are only four trophies available and even if you win the lesser of the four it's still a success.

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I suppose winning the League Cup alone doesn't constitute success, however we came second last year to the team who bought the title so yeah, add those together and I'd call that fairly successful.

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Fergie begs to differ

But Ferguson insisted: "Winning one trophy is good, I'm telling you. "No matter what it is, you have to take that as a successful season"

I doubt he will ever call coming second a success though

I also love the way you keep saying they bought the title, nobody has ever bought the title, Liverpool have invested hundreds of millions over the years and never won the prem, where as Arsenal have made a profit overall and won it a few times, Chelsea have made a massive investment this season and look like falling short, money is just one aspect and with the league unlike the cup you genuinely get what you deserve

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I decide for myself what I call success, thanks very much!

Notice how Chelsea suddenly became really successful when the russian took over?

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Yes but unlike Fergie you don't decide what Man Utd call a success

Yes I did notice the Russian's effect, I noticed how team's gave up, settled for second best, played for draws against them etc. Money is important but it's not the be all and end all, you get what you deserve, my team will almost certainly get relegated now, I could say that we have been unlucky, how we play team's of the pitch until they score and then fall to pieces and it would be true, it still doesn't mean we don't deserve to be at the bottom though

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And if you check my posts, I did not say that I do!

So you agree that Chelsea's resurgence was based on money?

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At least when Man Utd won it, they won it fair and square and with some really good football. Chelsea play crap football and are only where they are now due to the massive instant cash injection. The likes of Man U, Liverpool and Arsenal have had lots of cash over the years, but not all in one go. They've had to be careful with the money, unlike Chelsea.

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I didn't say you do, just pointing out that your team's manager disagrees with you

I would actually suggest the foundations were laid by Claudio Ranieri, and built upon by current good management, there is no denying money helped them greatly in achieving success but if it were simply down to someone signing cheques, why bother with a manager at all

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I think most managers in the position of Mourinhio would have achieved the same things. Other teams need to choose new signings carefully but Chelsea can just bring another player in if the first one fails. An example is Sean Wright-Phillips, he didn't fit in properly, so they just buy more players in his position until they get one that fits in well. No other club would be able to do that and shows how Chelsea's money has got their success.

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How many managers do Real Madrid get through?

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Was a good game. First half was all about Arsenal's youngsters, and I was glad to see Walcott bag a goal (even though I'm a Chelsea fan). Pity he was the only youngster on show for England though. Arsenal's team was all about the future of 'World' football.

Chelsea, IMO, owned the second half. Experience, strength and stamina prevailed.

I felt sick when JT hit the ground like a sack of spuds, though relieved he was back in the dressing room after the match. Hard as nails! :cool:

Anyone who says the Carling Cup is worthless, is just bitter. At the end of the day, its the first piece of silverware in the cabinet. The players yesterday, on both sides, certainly didn't think it was worthless.

As for the 'Chelsea bought their trophies' and various other money related bull**** comments - meh. Chelsea were on the up for years prior to Abramovich's involvement and the previous couple of managers were slowly building a fantastic framework at the club. Of course the Russian's money helped but it wasn't the answer to everything. Look at Real Madrid - perfect example of a rich club with money spent on world class players, but you can't throw them together without any good direction and force them to gel. They certainly aren't winning trophies left, right and center. When Mourinho joined the club we peaked. He's a good manager, and good managers make a difference.

Back-to-back title winners - that's no easy achievment. If the money makes a difference, how come all of a sudden this year Utd are leading the pack?

Money isn't everything. A lot of football is all to do with injuries, performance levels, moral and above all - a large portion of luck.

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Except Walcott wasn't the only English youngster Arsenal played

Your right Arsenal didn't think it was worthless, thats why they gave all their senior players the day off

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Most of the Madrid players are past it and are has beens of world football. Plus Barcelona over the past couple of years have been unstoppable.

What a load of rubbish. Chelsea were and had been a mid-table team for years until Abramovich came along with his money. There is no way whatsoever Chelsea would have won back to back titles and gone as far in the CL with the team they had before he came along.

United are leading the pack this year because they have upped their game considerably, they have the most number of points at this stage of the season than they have had for years and have a lot more desire and hunger to win their trophy back than Chelsea do. Yes Chelsea have had injuries this season but have more than enough players to put in the first team (ever heard of the youth system??) and United have had their own injuries also. I don't think luck is a big factor in winning the league, it is maybe in cup competitons but i havn't seen a league season where the team that won hasn't deserved it.

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They have always had a high turnover of managers despite spending vast fortunes on players

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Yes and they had been winning trophies up until the last few seasons, which proves my point even though i was talking about Chelsea rather than Madrid.

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They only won la liga twice in the 90's and twice this century despite spending hundreds of millions on players

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They won la liga in 1989/90, 1994/95, 1996/97, 2000/01 and 2002/03, they won the Champions league in 1997/98, 1999/00 and 2001/02, the intercontinental cup in 1998 and 2002, the Copa del Rey in 1992/93 and the Supercopa de Espana in 1990, 1993, 1997, 2001 and 2003. Not bad if you ask me.

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As I said then four league titles in the 90's and 00's and obviously it isn't good enough for them as their managers inevitably end up getting sacked

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if I was John Terry's missus, I would be taking out more insurance policies before the next game he plays... :disturbd:

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:confused: Who was the other one yesterday then ?

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Justin Hoyte

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Both teams charged by the FA... http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/foot...up/6400985.stm

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Indeed - look at chelseas hounours - not at lot going at all until RA, was there? 13 total...Wow, I bet their cabinet is about to fall through the floorboards with the weight of it all..... :rofl:

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You seem to have forgotten about a couple of UAFA cup triumphs

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Well it certainly seems as though Chelski have, no mention of them in the official website Trophy Cabinet,;)

And I thought it was UEFA.:)

Cannot find them here either. http://tinyurl.com/34f648
Jim.

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They beat Stuttgart 1-0 in 1997- 98 season and Real Madrid after a replay in 1970- 71 season btw it was the old Cup Winners Cup competition, now amalgamated into the UEFA cup, I'd not been up long when I posted that ;)

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They won the Cup winners cup in 1971 and 1998 and they won the super cup in 1998 but have never won the Uefa cup.

---------- Post added at 18:26 ---------- Previous post was at 18:24 ----------

Beat me to it :)

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Yep ! TheDaddy was referring to the European cup winners cup.

---------- Post added at 18:27 ---------- Previous post was at 18:26 ----------

And me :D

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So, I make that 1 League Championship, 2 FA Cups, 2 Cup Winners Cups and a pile of Mickey Mouse trophies before RA. :p:

Jim.

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Surely thats a coincidence though. :D

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Hmm we haven't even got on to the glorious Full Member triumphs yet and mickey mouse has been mentioned

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Well Chelski are streets ahead of anyone else in one respect, this will be the fourth time in 12 months that they will have been charged with failing to control their players.:(

Jim.