Carabao Cup Final | Arsenal v Manchester City | February 25, 2018 16:30 GMT | Sky Sports

[Rimaal]

People saying this cup doesn't matter, just think about how you felt after Birmingham in 2011. Obviously that was a different situation because of the trophy drought, but losing a cup final against a rival would hurt.

The cup doesn't matter to me, but losing to City, or any team really, does matter. I want to win always. I need to win now because we're down, and we need a pick me up, couldn't care less about this trophy.

 

[GoonerJeeves]

A trophy is a trophy, it is not like it is the Zenith Data Systems Cup...

 

[mavelous]

a wild, wild hope that both Jack and Nelson might get starts due to fitness of Ramsey and Iwobi. hope auba proves his worth though.

 

[tap-in]

a wild, wild hope that both Jack and Nelson might get starts due to fitness of Ramsey and Iwobi. hope auba proves his worth though.

I would like to have seen Nelson given more chances than he has this season. AMN has been given loads of chances and I'm yet to see anything that tells me he has an Arsenal future. Nelson & Nketiah have been given next to nothing.

 

[Jury]

People saying this cup doesn't matter, just think about how you felt after Birmingham in 2011. Obviously that was a different situation because of the trophy drought, but losing a cup final against a rival would hurt.

The Birmingham final, for me, was more about avoiding total humiliation than ending the trophy drought. I knew people would laugh at it 'only being the LC' , as I would have, so ending cup drought was a very distant second that day. But yeah, we opted for total humiliation again.

 

[Juan Matas Beard]

Well you've got the atmosphere advantage, they can't even fill Soccer AM.

 

[Tir Na Nog]

a wild, wild hope that both Jack and Nelson might get starts due to fitness of Ramsey and Iwobi. hope auba proves his worth though.

Nelson's starting for the under 23's today. While Jack will most likely start even if Ramsey does too, which is the best scenario for me.

 

[samshere]

-----------Xhaka
----Wilshere-----Ramsey
--Özil------------------Mkhi
------------PEA

 

[Tir Na Nog]

-----------Xhaka
----Wilshere-----Ramsey
--Özil------------------Mkhi
------------PEA

Not eligible bro.

 

[A_G]

The Birmingham final, for me, was more about avoiding total humiliation than ending the trophy drought. I knew people would laugh at it 'only being the LC' , as I would have, so ending cup drought was a very distant second that day. But yeah, we opted for total humiliation again.

The trophy drought had to end though, just to get the media to stop over-emphasising it constantly. I also feel like losing that game had ramifications for the rest of the season and the years to come. Win that cup and I don't think the season would have disintegrated as it did, you would have had that Barcelona win + trophy in the space of 2 weeks which could have given the team the momentum needed to finish strongly. As it happens, we lost and then collapsed in all four competitions which probably made up the minds of Fabregas and Nasri to leave, as well as giving RVP serious reservations about signing a new deal.

And people say it's only the League Cup, but look at the winners in the last 10 years:
2008- Tottenham
2009- Man United (v Sp**s)
2010- Man United
2011- Birmingham
2012- Liverpool
2013- Swansea
2014- Man City
2015- Chelsea (v Sp**s)
2016- Man City (v Liverpool)
2017- Man United

Even if it's viewed as "only" the LC, the top clubs (and Tottenham) have also tried to win it in years past.

 

[Jury]

Finishing 6th takes all the gloss off winning this tbh. Winning the community shield against someone like Chelsea or a NLD win would make me happier.

 

[samshere]

Not eligible bro.

Ohk then I guess we'll see El Neny in the midfield and one of Ramsey or Wilshere pushed into the front three. We really need to get a genuine winger in.

 

[Jury]

The trophy drought had to end though, just to get the media to stop over-emphasising it constantly. I also feel like losing that game had ramifications for the rest of the season and the years to come. Win that cup and I don't think the season would have disintegrated as it did, you would have had that Barcelona win + trophy in the space of 2 weeks which could have given the team the momentum needed to finish strongly. As it happens, we lost and then collapsed in all four competitions which probably made up the minds of Fabregas and Nasri to leave, as well as giving RVP serious reservations about signing a new deal.

And people say it's only the League Cup, but look at the winners in the last 10 years:
2008- Tottenham
2009- Man United (v Sp**s)
2010- Man United
2011- Birmingham
2012- Liverpool
2013- Swansea
2014- Man City
2015- Chelsea (v Sp**s)
2016- Man City (v Liverpool)
2017- Man United

Even if it's viewed as "only" the LC, the top clubs (and Tottenham) have also tried to win it in years past.

It's the least important by far still. Top clubs win it because they have the biggest squads. Top clubs will win the cups the vast majority of the time. They all try and win it, to an extent.

 

[Rex Stone]

The trophy drought had to end though, just to get the media to stop over-emphasising it constantly. I also feel like losing that game had ramifications for the rest of the season and the years to come. Win that cup and I don't think the season would have disintegrated as it did, you would have had that Barcelona win + trophy in the space of 2 weeks which could have given the team the momentum needed to finish strongly. As it happens, we lost and then collapsed in all four competitions which probably made up the minds of Fabregas and Nasri to leave, as well as giving RVP serious reservations about signing a new deal.

And people say it's only the League Cup, but look at the winners in the last 10 years:
2008- Tottenham
2009- Man United (v Sp**s)
2010- Man United
2011- Birmingham
2012- Liverpool
2013- Swansea
2014- Man City
2015- Chelsea (v Sp**s)
2016- Man City (v Liverpool)
2017- Man United

Even if it's viewed as "only" the LC, the top clubs (and Tottenham) have also tried to win it in years past.

I remember saying to my mates minutes after Martins scored that was it for our season. That result would have ideally had a roll over effect in chasing down Utd and surviving away at Barca in the 2nd leg. Momentum could've made a huge difference.

One of the few times I've known anything football related with certainty that it'd all blow up in our faces.

 

[Jury]

I remember saying to my mates minutes after Martins scored that was it for our season. That result would have ideally had a roll over effect in chasing down Utd and surviving away at Barca in the 2nd leg. Momentum could've made a huge difference.

One of the few times I've known anything football related with certainty that it'd all blow up in our faces.

This club doesn't do momentum though. How many times have we thought we'd kick on after a result and we've done the opposite? We always do the opposite. All the big single results have done in the past in raise expectation, of which they can never deal with. And it also makes this lot complacent, which doubles the chances of failure. If there's one thing you just can never rely on this lot doing, it's 'kicking on'. You can rely on them folding like a deckchair after a result, though. You can put your balls on that. It took us 6 weeks to get over losing to Man Utd, according to Wenger.

 

[A_G]

Top clubs win it because they have the biggest squad c̶o̶s̶t̶.

True.

This club doesn't do momentum though. How many times have we thought we'd kick on after a result and we've done the opposite? We always do the opposite. All the big single results have done in the past in raise expectation, of which they can never deal with. And it also makes this lot complacent, which doubles the chances of failure. If there's one thing you just can never rely on this lot doing, it's 'kicking on'. You can rely on them folding like a deckchair after a result, though. You can put your balls on that. It took us 6 weeks to get over losing to Man Utd, according to Wenger.

A big single win wouldn't have been the same as winning a trophy though, that would have been a huge weight off of everyone's shoulders imo. We already experienced the total humiliation as you called it at the beginning of the month with the 4-4 at St. James' Park, but bounced back 10 days later to beat Barcelona. We could have carried on by beating Birmingham in the final, but you have to feel like that was a blow that no one at the club recovered from.

 

[Jury]

True.

A big single win wouldn't have been the same as winning a trophy though, that would have been a huge weight off of everyone's shoulders imo. We already experienced the total humiliation as you called it at the beginning of the month with the 4-4 at St. James' Park, but bounced back 10 days later to beat Barcelona. We could have carried on by beating Birmingham in the final, but you have to feel like that was a blow that no one at the club recovered from.

The 'bounce back' against Barca doesn't fall into them bouncing back, for me.

We played well in the 4-4 at Newcastle and were shafted numerous times by officials in that game. We were scoring goals and in great form before that, and beat Wolves straights after the 4-4, before facing Barca. Then Barca rolled into town with their dodgy away record in the CL, and we were buoyant and expecting a good performance. We won, and you'd think we'd 'kick on' after that.... You could not have had a better cause to be optimistic after that. They were arguably the greatest club side ever...

We won just 4 games of the remaining 17. One of which was against Orient. Yes, the Birmingham defeat finished us, but that Barca win should have given us all the belief we needed. It didn't.

 

[SA Gunner]

We'll win this game, just watch.

Say what you want, Wenger seems to get it right in cup finals.

2-1 Arsenal

 

[Sanchez11]

Finishing 6th takes all the gloss off winning this tbh. Winning the community shield against someone like Chelsea or a NLD win would make me happier.

Wenger has never won this cup it is important to him

 

[hydrofluoric acid]

Its important to won all the cups. Specially when you are 2nd but very close to 3rd tier club in England. We dont have the chance to be picky.