Carling Cup Final 07: The Reign of Blues and Reds

It was as if having two of the best teams in the world, consistently in the top 4 of the English Premier League weren't enough for a Carling Cup final. It was as if the championship wouldn't have been complete and wasn't nerve-wracking enough by not having controversies, which are rather common in regular EPL games. It was as if the Blues haven't had enough injuries in the past several months or so that another one had to be knocked out, albeit accidentally. And, it was as if the Arsenal kids were tough enough to win.

Arsene Wenger kept his word when he played his kids in today's final. There was no sign of the Gunner's big men: the mighty Thierry Henry, goal scorer Emmanuel Adebayor, and Rosicky. It was a rather fresh roster of players, which included Armand Traore, Abou Diaby, Denilson, and Jeremie Aliadiere. Fair enough, his kids gave a good fight during the first half of the game as they posed threats through pace and playing tactics and scored early in the first half, in the eleventh minute, courtesy of Theo Walcott; Cech, I believe, wouldn't have had the chance to chase the ball and save the Blues. At the same time, the Blues struggled to create chances, despite in top-form Didier Drogba's equaliser eight minutes after. But as it seems to be a tendency for the Blues, close to the end of the first half, and it proceeded until the second half, we saw them picking up pace and greatness, this time making more shots on goal, better passes and tackles, and less slipping. (Was something wrong with the pitch that so many players were slipping, that Drogba even had to change boots?) At this point, Wenger seemed to have become threatened as one by one, he started bringing in his bigger men: Emmanuel Eboue, Alexander Hleb, and Emmanuel Adebayor. He didn't keep his word. Bringing in Henry, of course, would've been too obvious. He had to keep his faith in his squad of now half-kids and half-big men.

Then the controversies. First, there was the contested offside goal by Drogba. No matter how we debate about this, nobody's going to concede that it was or was not offside. It won't even matter, will it? Referee's decisions are final. So, Gunners, move on. Admittedly, perhaps if the situation was the other way around, with Chelsea leading and Arsenal trailing then somebody scored a goal the same way Drogba did, we will be contesting all the same. Arguments will come pouring down, from left to right but it will not change anything. Will it?

Second, Diaby's boot smashing on John Terry's face, apparently hard enough to knock out the talismanic Chelsea and England captain. Terry must be having his worst season yet, injury-wise. First it was the back problem, which kept him out for several weeks or so. Then came the ankle problem, which came during the Champions League match against Porto. Finally, this one in the Carling Cup final. Everyone was concerned enough about the incident. Yes, even the Arsenal players, and that was a well appreciated gesture. Undeniably, we were all reminded of the tragic Cech (and Cudicini) incident last year. His protective cap serves as a constant reminder to us all. As if it wasn't enough. The question that lingered in everyone's mind was, is he okay? is he safe? Thank God he was. Drogba's brace brought victory to us. Our first silverware. He won for us, he won for Terry. To everyone's surprise, the captain was back soon enough, just two hours after he was carried away on a stretcher, with an oxygen mask on his face, to celebrate the victory dedicated to him. All Blues fans could say was, Terry is a superman! Many others asked, is the man made of steel? The blues which surrounded us all soon faded away. It was such a sweet victory.

Finally, probably the most controversial event as of yet for the season: the brawl, which paved the way for 3 reds, 2 yellows, and obviously an interesting 19-men match. It all started with Kolo Toure when he decided he wouldn't allow Jon Obi Mikel pulling his shirt and holding him back. As if this wasn't a common scene. So , he picked a fight. Mikel, who didn't want to be treated so badly, responded back. Then came Cesc Fabregas, whom I had high regards for until he decided to act like a big guy and pull on the neck and start fighting Frank Lampard, who was only trying to stop the fight. As if Lampard wasn't big enough for him, he also had to argue with Drogba, then back again to Lampard. In my opinion, he should've gotten the 4th red card. But of course, people will say, this was a championship game. Emotions were high. The dispute was somehow understandable, even expected. I concede. But the attitude of the Gunners' players? No way. If you ask whose mistake it was, Wenger himself implied it when he said, "Another regret is that we lost our nerves with seven minutes to go and we must always keep our nerve." Furthermore, he said, "It was a brawl, a few punches were exchanged but not only from our side. It was just tense, both teams wanted to win..." Ah, there are the keywords: they wanted to win.

In retrospect, the game was a very emotional one. Hopes were up, expectations were high, and the desire to win was skyrocketing. At the end of the day, the Blues prevailed, the Gunners became Goneners. But still, the 2-million dollar (or pound?) question to Arsene Wenger is, if they wanted to win, why let the kids play? This decision was the very reason why there was so much frustration and disappointment on their side. They wanted to win but halfway through he realized, the game was so close he had to bring in some of his big boys. Then when his players realized that even with the big boys playing, they still couldn't get what would've been the winning goal, some of them decided to be aggressive and barbaric. Admittedly, some of our players acted the same. (But who started it?) A bad tackle would've been let go if it were a regular EPL match. But it wasn't. It was a championship match; the first silverware was up for grabs. Considering the pressure on both sides, each had to play the smartest way they could. Did Chelsea play the smartest way the could have? Yes. They had Cech, Terry, Lampard, Sheva and Drogba. Later on, they brought in Robben, exposing each of the main players to the possibility of acquiring injuries yet again. As if we didn't have enough of that. Did Arsenal play the smartest way they could have? No. The end result? The brawl happened, two yellow cards added to the already abundant number, if only the kid, once again deserving of another red, was responsible and mature enough to act the way he does when playing on the pitch and finally, the red cards reigned, perfectly representative of their team.