By Rob Deyzel
Why oh why can’t the Gunners win a trophy! Arsenal were billed as firm favourites for the carling cup on Sunday against a struggling Birmingham side at Wembley. However the Blues Martins was to steal the show.
The game was unusual for a cup final in that it was an end to end exciting encounter between two sides desperate to win silverware. Birmingham it has to be said were the hungrier side and were willing to run around the pitch all afternoon to give themselves the chance to become Blues legends. Both sides battled that cannot be argued and Arsenal clearly wanted to win. The first chance came the Blues way when a corner was won. The ball was played deep and flicked on with giant front man Zigic nodding the ball in from 3 yards to send half the ground into pandemonium! Both sides continued to attack with Jack Wilshere leading the charge. The young midfielder breaking through and smashing the ball against the bar. The attack wasn’t over and Arshavin picked up the ball turned and crossed for van Persie to fire in. 1-1 and the red side of Wembley jumping with joy. Both side never flagged and it was a somewhat untidy but exciting game to watch.
The second half was full of mistakes from both side with moments of class from the Gunners. Rosicky and Arshavin again firing wide of Fosters goal. The game was tooing and throwing from one end to the other with extra time looking more and more likely. Then Arsenals frailties showed once again. A simple ball into the box led to a mix up between Wojciech Szczesny and Koscielny allowed Martins who had just come off the bench to tap the ball into the net to win the Carling cup for Birmingham for the first time since 1963!
the final whistle blew and both players and fans alike looked dejected and in tears. Should Arsenal have won the game? Yes. Did they deserve to win the game? No. This win was supposed to be the catalyst for the Gunners to push on and win the EPL and the champions league. I fear how this loss would have dented their confidence for the rest of the season. I remain confident though that if Wenger is as good as people say he is at motivating players that this final loss could still be the driving force to make sure that this season doesn’t once again finish trophy less
