Reaction to the Loss Versus Chelsea And More

Morning all. Yesterday was tough wasn't it? I felt like we had been building up to that match for quite awhile, and I was so excited for it just to be let down. A promising start gave way to a pretty miserable ending. There aren't many things worse than watching your team lose in a cup semi-final, but one of the things that is worse is watching the Chelsea cunts celebrate after beating your team.

When I saw the team selection yesterday, I have to say I was a little bit disturbed. Why Arshavin wouldn't play when he hasn't been able to play in the Champions League was really something I questioned. He's brought a lot to the team since his arrival and I think he could have done the same yesterday. Alex Song has been playing the best football of his life in the past few weeks yet he was left on the bench in favor of Diaby, who hasn't been playing much and I don't think many people would argue the point that he is superior to Song anyway. I didn't like the selection, I have to say. I expected to see Song in the lone holding role, with Arshy, Walcott, and Cesc as the attacking mids and RvP and Ade up front together.

I think the formation we decided to use caused us more problems than it was worth. Diaby and Denilson weren't very good with their distribution and while I thought Denilson did ok shadowing Lampard in the first half, I think Arshavin would have proved a better option instead, by creating space and helping out Adebayor up top. I thought Diaby had a pretty terrible game and Song, for me, would have proved a much better option.

The overriding feeling I guess is just disappointment and bewilderment. I just can't understand why he decided to play the players he did, but mostly I feel bad for the team, especially Lukasz Fabianski. He played a dreadful game, and for someone on that huge stage for the first time, it might affect his confidence for a long time. Unfortunately, we don't have any other options at keeper right now so he is going to have to rebound right away. He's definitely had some problems though thinking he needs to come out of his box for balls that he can't win. Sometimes you have to just trust your defenders to do their jobs adequately enough so that you can do yours, and he just doesn't seem to have the right mentality on those balls right now. Adebayor didn't have a great game, but I think a lot of that had to do with the lack of service he receieved. Theo's crosses often found nobody and van Persie didn't have close to his best game either. It must also be said that Sylvestre was just awful on the second goal and when he stopped chasing the ball it showed a real lack of passion for the team and the game.

Arsene Wenger was complaining about the pitch after the game, but I really didn't want to hear about it. Yeah the pitch was pretty bad but everyone plays on the same one so that can't be used as an excuse, and the fact is we were just outplayed on the day. So we're out of the FA Cup and we've only got one chance left at a trophy, and that's the Champions League. We've got a league match against Liverpool this week too, so there's still a lot of crucial games coming up, but in reality the big ones are the ones against United in the Champions League. Villa have been awful in the league lately and 4th spot seems pretty well secure.

I don't really have much else to talk about today because it's just so hard to take, so I'll get something up tomorrow to preview the Liverpool match. Leave your thoughts on the match, the team selection, or whatever else you feel like talking about. I'll talk to you all tomorrow. Cheers.