MANCHESTER City failed to make it a Manchester double over mighty Arsenal as they made their exit from the Carling Cup at the City of Manchester Stadium.
Arsene Wenger celebrated a new contract with the London club by watching his youngsters defeat the Blues.
The first three-quarters of the game proved to be relatively dull with neither side wanting to give too much away but slowly Arsenal took a hold of the game largely through the efforts of teenager Arturo Lupoli.
Young Dutchman Van Persie was put clear by Lupoli before sweeping home a first-time shot from a similar position to one he had missed woefully from earlier in the game.
Victory looked to be in the bag when Daniel Karbassiyoon added a second in the 90th minute but there was still time for Robbie Fowler to pull one back.
That proved to be the final effort of the match and it was Arsenal who took their place in the last 16 of the competition.
Shaun Wright-Phillips had a long range shot earlier in the half which Manuel Almunia, one of four debutants in the visitors' line-up, collected at the second attempt, and Willo Flood looked likely to cause problems all night but City had little else to offer.
What did you think of City's performance? Have your say.
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Only saw on TV but looked awful. KK's comment after the match that "these are the only players we've got" spoke volumes about how he has wasted his millions. I believe that his management style has gone to pot since the resignatin of David Bernstein (whic he will never admit) The club is rudderless and I actually believe that a change of Chairman may be more useful than a change of manager. Still think we will stuff Norwich if Elk is fit
I'm embarassed to be a city fan tonight , no commitment at all. Sinclair for me has played his last game and most of the kids looked like rabbits caught in lights. Apart from SWP the rest were utter crap. The arse fielded a reserve side we should have torn them to pieces, but NO we rolled over and DIED. END OF!
One phrase comes to mind Laughing Stock?
Well, IMHO, we could have won that game 9 times out of 10 if we'd played our best uninjured team tonight. So why didn't we? We don't risk Macca but we do risk SWP, AND play him out of position??? Bosvelt and Mc would have had midfield tied up. Overall it was a pathetic attempt and I'm left wondering what Keegan was hoping for. Didn't he say he was taking it seriously?? But then he plays kids. It's just the latest in a long line of inconsistent, directionless moves from him. Very worrying that there was nothing on the bench (Though I do think BWP will get there). Dismal game, dismal objectives, dismal result. WE SHOULD HAVE BEATEN THEM!! BTW, Fargolias Fargoosia Ferruti in midfield for the Arse looks like a decent player. Pennent was very average and van persie was a poor man's Joe Cole (not great)
Embarassing... international players outplayed and out-fought by a youth team.
so, with an almost full strength side, city fall too the second string of arsenal,either they are very good,or...& i suspect this is the more accurate...city are not very good,the young blood didnt perform, i think it is just too early for them,i dont know about fowler going on a fitness regime,but by the look of him synclaire certainly needs to go on one!! with home support,admitedly not big on the night!! we should have nailed this one, so to use the old cliche, lets concentrate on the league....& mid table mediocraty.....thats no being negative,.....just realistic !!
so, with an almost full strength side, city fall too the second string of arsenal,either they are very good,or...& i suspect this is the more accurate...city are not very good,the young blood didnt perform, i think it is just too early for them,i dont know about fowler going on a fitness regime,but by the look of him synclaire certainly needs to go on one!! with home support,admitedly not big on the night!! we should have nailed this one, so to use the old cliche, lets concentrate on the league....& mid table mediocraty.....thats no being negative,.....just realistic !!
To lose to the reserve side of another premiership club who have only a passing interest in the competition,is a humiliation for the club and supporters.The young players brought in played very well,especially Willo Flood,but most of the senior players were a disgrace,as was the organisation(or lack of it)of the team.The fans at City put up with a lot,but after a performance like this it wont be enough for the chairman and manager to shrug their shoulders,a public apology should be made for what for the fans was a public humiliation.
I Think this was the worst i ever seen, To lose against arsenal reserves at home is a disaster.The only positive thing in the game was Onuoha.And i don't wanna se Fowler in a city shirt again.
CTID
Oh well theres always the F A Cup, K K don,t say that we can win the F A Cup, one game at a time pleeeeze.
At least some youngsters got some experience tonight so that was good.
Typical City, all huff and puff before the competition talking up our good prospects of a good run and in 12 short minutes our full strength side available is beaten by a bunch of teenagers from the south. If the Arsenal female side played us at Eastlands I know who my money would be on. What is it about that name that turns our players into submission before we even step out onto the pitch. Forget about the cups this year we will need to focus all our attention on staying in the premier league and believe me it will be a long hard road for us to stay up this year. Norwich have not won yet but somehow I doubt that will be the case come Monday at 9.55pm. I suggest that anybody who wants to clean up if they like a flutter put their money on a Norwich win or at worst a draw because Chelsea was a one off for us. We lack the spirit, the compassion, the drive, the skill, the flair and the management team to do nothing but look over our shoulder in the hope that 3 teams have fewer points than us. Why can't we do an Everton, a Bolton, a Charlton etc etc only Kevin Keegan and the players know and if they do not know it high time we get someone in who is capable of knowing how and actually emulating the feats of these teams. Our long suffering supporters over the past 30 years deserve much better from the team that puts on the blue shirt each and every week. One win against a team who are likely to finish in the top three does not a season make and stupid, naive, premature comments from the Chairman that a top ten finish is on the cards does not help our cause one bit. We are a top ten team if we play to our maximum ability each and every weak but we lack the self belief to put more than one odd performance together. I doubt we are capable this year of stringing two wins together and we are in far worse shape at the same time we were this time last year. Believe me that Worthington's team will scrap and give us everything they have and if we play like we did against Newcastle and Arsenal's babies we will find ourselves right in the mire faced with the prospect of a trip to Old Trafford with no hope of getting anything other than a thumping. Pessimistic some may think, I wish it was but realistically this season will be nothing more than a scrap to avoid the drop and if we are in the bottom three by XMAS I know we are doomed to play against Preston at least twice next year.
Another Defeat on KK's long list of defeats! So much for another badly timed - over the top top comment - 'we can win this cup' he was saying only yesterday! The senior players were a real let down today as they always are - the kids wanted it more! What hope do we have when a bunch of children are able to destroy a team of high paid professionals who are playing at home? (Fowler you need to go) Another depressing night of shame....its only the league cup yes but the losing mentality is ingrained in this club and its here to stay - just watch how many ppl say ' well at least we did this' Its a defeat, the history books say so - end of story!
What a load of crap...loosing to arse's teenagers !!
We could do without the injuries a cup run might bring. Just as well from that point of view.
City's senior professionals are paid good money and most of them cost big fees. What a pity that several are not honest workmen, and let the side down repeatedly by their lack of effort.
I hope that at the end of the season, Kevin Keegan lets several players "go." It is far better to rely on our home produced players and the academy seems to be functioning well.
Absolutely pathetic and what makes matters worse is that the gunners had five or six 17 year olds in their team and they gave us a footballing lesson,my girlfriend informs me that FIVE LIVE (alan Green &co) were taking the P---s out of us and ridiculing us over the small crowd. we really could have done with a cup run to generate more funds but with KK in charge we are on a slippery slope,did anyone else notice how fat sinclair is? or how Fowler is no better than before? WE ARE IN A BIG MESS and our coaches are pathetic! PROBABLY ANOTHER EMPTY SEASON!
Kevin has no idea when it comes to tactics during the game... Flood ruled the right wing in the first half ... so he switches him to the left !!... and Negouai as a striker when we have Bradley sitting on the bench next to him !!!??!!! ... your leaving in 18 months Kev .... dont let it be sooner ... get your bottle back and let us have more attacking and watchable football for these next 18 months.
That had to be city's worst performance since groclin. I never want to see negouai again. You cant really have a go at the kids but the senior players played rubbish. There was no service to the strikers whatsoever. Flood was the only one who performed like a premiership player. Norwich are our next game and they are without a premiership victory this season. The game has Norwich win all over it unless city pull there finger out. CTID! Someone shoot me.
Embarassed to be a Citee fan. This was supposed to be the night when we saw what great young talent at the club. Instead it was possibly the worst performance I have seen by Citee in years. We're the laughing stock of football. The Rags beat Arsenal's first team and we get beat by their Third strength team, I think that tells it all..... Norwich haven't won a game this season, so put your mortgage on them beating us!!!
Morning Blues, a Red imposter here Im afraid. I was just wondering how Willo Flood played for City last night? Is there much potential there? My dad's Irish and everytime I go back there everyone is raving about how good he is.
What a load of crap...loosing to arses' teenagers !!
Morning Blues, a Red imposter here Im afraid. Just wondering how Willo Flood played for City last night? Is there much potential there? My dad's Irish, and everytime I go back there, everyone raves about how good he is.
What a load of crap...loosing to arse's teenagers !!
surely we can get rid of trevor sinclair on the basis of unexplained absence, the guy is a joke and should be ashamed of himself. bet he's not, just laughing all the way to the bank with his two year pension from city. he even claimed he was a city fan when he arrived and it was the dream move at the time, i bet it was!!!!!!!
unfortunately the midfield was useless, meaning our strikers had no service. SWP should have played in midfield AND up front then he could have supplied himself!!!!!!!!!!
I was disgusted with our team last night. What an oppurtunity our kids had to prove themselves against some of the best young talent our league has to offer. But no! what a waste this was: now what follows could be for a number of reasons but I suspect A.) Keegan told the team to play this way or B.) Our lads were so crap that this is the only thing they could do (unlikely). The trouble was we didn't even try to play football, I couldn't beleive how obvious it was...The long ball! at no point (literally) did we keep it on the deck and try and play through the middle. instead it got fed out to thatch or mills who then just punted it! Arsenal were more than comfortable in dealing with this and so everytime we got the ball we just gave it back to them so they could try again to string a move together. Those boys were there for the taking and we wasted such a good upportunity! still i thought nedum shined, croft looked promising but still very inexperienced and made wrong decisions, SWP was great as always (would like to see him play in the hole rather than up front). rant over.
AWFUL PERFORMANCE;IM GLAD I DIDNT PAY TO WATCH THAT!