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A Defeat That Felt Like a Victory.
I know there's probably a couple of threads on this, but I just wanted to chuck my own opinion up on here.
So, our Carling Cup side got beaten by the UEFA Champions.
It's slightly galling to hear David Pleat bang on about our unbeaten run coming to an end, but does Wenger really care about it?
A few of the young lads didn't have great matches, sure. Traore, for example, was totally outclassed by Alves. Denilson wasn't great in the centre of the park, and once we get Djourou back from Brimingham in Janurary, to fill in for Toure when he goes off to the African Nations Cup, no-one is going to consider Senderos as a central defender.
Eboue needs to calm down, and Eduardo - please find another yard of pace and a boot for your right foot.
They played better than us, sure, but will Wenger be concerned about finishing second in our group? With a full strength team there would be very few European sides who would want to come up against us in the first knock-out stages. He wants the league more than this, and I can understand why.
I'm only slightly worried about whether we can hold on to Bendtner. He was imperious last night, and it'll be very hard to keep him over the summer if other teams start asking about him.