Arsenal’s wait for a trophy will continue after they somehow contrived to lose the Carling Cup Final to Birmingham at Wembley.
Anyone wondering whether Arsene Wenger’s team drink their beer out of bottles will now know that the London side pretty much stick to a white wine spritzer on a night out after yesterday’s debacle.
The game itself was one of the better domestic cup finals in recent times and it looked as though it was heading to extra time until a mistake from Wenger’s man between the sticks put pay to any chances of this.
Wojciech Szczęsny gifted Obafemi Martins a goal late on after the mix up with defender Laurent Koscielny, meaning that Arsenal saw their trophy drought getting ever closer to an unprecedented 10 years and you have to wonder about the manager’s job.
The bookies are glad that Arsenal didn’t go on to lift the first part of what would have been an extraordinary quadruple. William Hill spokesperson Graham Sharpe commented: “We faced a seven figure payout had Arsenal gone on to win the Quadruple and as much again had they lifted the Carling Cup itself, so that defensive mix-up was a £10million bonus for the bookmaking industry.”
“Punters had plunged cash on Arsenal as though defeat was out of the question – but Alex McLeish – and Ben Foster – found the answer.”
Since the double winning years of the late 90s and early 00s, and Wenger’s invincibles you have to ask whether any other club in the top four would have kept hold of the Frenchman for so long.
The fact is though that he’s cheap for what he does. In spending little or no transfer money every season but continually qualifying them for the Champions League it means Arsenal, as a business, is a well-oiled machine.
