Carling Cup: Tottenham Hotspur v Arsenal – half time report
It was a night when the English Premier League teams opened their campaign in the Carling Cup and this was the marquee fixture of the round.
Arsene Wenger started the match from within the stands as he accepted the charge levelled against him by the Football Association for using improper and derogatory words towards the match officials during Arsenal’s last match against
Sunderland when his team conceded a late equalizer to squander 2 points.
As far as the teams were concerned Arsene Wenger ditched his football ethos of playing youngsters in the League cup and opted for experience in place of youth. He did however mix it up as he handed the 20 year old Henri Lansbury
his debut for Arsenal.
Wenger made a statement of intent with his team selection as he went for an attacking 4-3-3 formation away from home with Fabianski in goal, Eboue, Koscielny, Djourou and Gibbs in defence, Denilson, Wilshere and Nasri in a three
man midfield and Lansbury, Vela and Rosicky in a three pronged attack.
Harry Redknapp however opted for a defensive team but stuck with youth as he deployed a 4-5-1 formation at home.
Redknapp handed Pletikosa a rare start for Spurs in goal while Naughton, Bassong, Caulker and Assou-Ekotto started as the back four. Bentley, Livermore, Palacios, Sandro and Giovanni Dos Santos took their place on the pitch across
the midfield and Roman Pavlyuchenko started the game as the lone striker.
It was always going to a tactical battle with one team possessing a more defensive approach and one team with an all out attack policy, but it was Tottenham who threatened to break the deadlock early in the first half. David Bentley
had fired his free kick from wide left just over the Fabianski’s bar in the 9th minute.
Straight from the restart Arsenal went on the attack and perhaps were unlucky not to get a penalty as Henri Lansbury charged down the Spurs defence from the right hand side and what appeared to be a blatant nudge by Assou Ekotto
on the striker was waved off by the referee as he decided it was not a foul.
Arsenal had most of the possession in the opening 15 minutes and were duly rewarded with a goal when Kieran Gibbs played a clever pass to Rosicky who passed it to the over-lapping Jack Wilshere on the edge of the box. The youngster
played a stinging ball across the face of the goal only for Henri Lansbury to slot home into a gaping net. Arsenal were 1 up only after 15 minutes and it was Henri Lansbury’s first ever goal in senior colours.
Despite having two men short in the midfield due to their formation, Arsenal were playing beautiful football as they passed the ball around with mesmerizing ease and forced their opponents to resort to physical play.
Arsenal were not afraid of the physical approach of their rivals on the night and stuck to their principle of passing their opponents to death.
Tottenham did however threaten to attack with David Bentley again going close in the 20th minute but his effort from 22 yards was high and wide of Fabianski.
Arsenal dominated the proceedings but Tottenham did have their chances on the break and could and should have been level in the match on 27 minutes when Dos Santos broke at lightening pace and passed the ball onto Pavlyuchenko
on the edge of the box, but the ex-CSKA Moscow man slalomed it into the side netting.
The game continued to be played at a frantic pace but Tottenham seemed find their feet in the game later on and looked a little more comfortable on the ball.
There were no clear cut chances until the breather apart from one or two long range efforts from Spurs while Arsenal stuck to short passes but could not find a way past the Tottenham rearguard.
Tottenham's physical approach was being kept in check by the referee as Pavlyuchenko, Kyle Naughton and Livermore were all cautioned for their challenges and received yellow cards before the break.
Both the team went into the tunnel for a half time breather with the score line 1-0 in favour of the visitors.
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