A feast of Carling Cup action saw Aston Villa and Spurs dumped out by Bolton and Stoke respectively. Michael Owen grabs a brace as Man United cruise at Leeds, Blackburn win again and Newcastle show their resilience to end Steve McLaren’s cup hopes. Arsene Wenger reverts to 4-4-2, while Stuart Holden’s return gives Owen Coyle a timely boost. Here’s some Scribbles on last night’s action:
Blackburn recorded back-to-back wins for the first time since early January as they saw off Leyton Orient last night. The 3-2 scoreline was far more comfortable than it sounds- Yakubu made way for Jason Roberts up front and the latter opened the scoring with a penalty for Rovers, while new summer signing Simon Vukcevic marked his first start with a goal as the pressure on Steve Kean was eased a little further.
A first start of the season for Michael Owen saw the Man United forward grab two goals at Elland Road. United strolled to a 3-0 win, with Dimitar Berbtov partnering Owen up front, indicating the strength in depth Sir Alex Ferguson has at his disposal. Danny Welbeck also returned from a hamstring injury in a game that saw Berbatov finish the match at centre half for the league leaders. Antonio Valencia carried on from where he left off in the weekend game with Chelsea, taking to the field as United’s right-back, with Michael Carrick at centre half.
Alan Pardew made nine changes to his side as Newcastle travelled to Nottingham Forest. The Toon Army favourites conceded more goals last night than they have in the league all season- perhaps understandable, given the number of alterations to the starting XI. Peter Lovenkrands done his selection chances no harm with a brace in the 4-3 City Ground win, while the game also saw the return from injury of Hatem Ben Arfa, much to the delight of the travelling fans.
With his side facing their third match in just six days, Harry Redknapp also made nine changes to the Spurs lineup for the clash at Stoke. The visitors still fielded a strong starting XI- Rafael Van der Vaart and Roman Pavlyuchenko were the front two, while Sandro returned from a knee injury to boost Redknapp’s midfield options.
Tony Pulis’ Stoke were also taking part in their third game in six days. Much to the delight of their weekend opponents Man United, the subsequent extra time and penalties meant another gruelling match to their busy schedule and Pulis-unlike Redknapp- played pretty much a full-strength side for the Britannia match. Having already faced Chelsea and Liverpool at the Britannia. Stoke are now unbeaten against three of last season’s top six at home, though Fergie’s side will put that record to the ultimate test next Saturday evening.
Arsenal battled back against Shrewsbury to secure their place in the next round. The Gunners played a 4-4-2 formation, according to their official website, with Ju Young Park partnering Marouanne Chamakh up front. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was outstanding throughout and grabbed the goal that put the Gunners ahead, after they had slipped behind early on. Yossi Benayoun added the third as Arsene Wenger made eleven changes from the team that lost at Blackburn on Saturday lunchtime.
Wolves got back to winning ways with a 5-0 home triumph over Millwall. Having suffered two back-to-back Molineux losses, Mick McCarthy made sweeping changes to his side ahead of the trip to Liverpool this weekend and Dave Edwards excelled on his first game since February, opening the scoring on three minutes. Big Mick was satisfied with the win, saying post-match:
It was a much-needed victory for all of us and a good performance. We’ve had one bad performance against QPR. Everyone highlights it and it looks awful and it was awful. But it doesn’t make us a bad team or a bad group of lads.
Aston Villa tasted defeat for the first time this season under Alex McLeish as a poor home performance saw them dismissed by Bolton. Big Eck fielded a strong line-up, giving starts to the likes of Stephen Ireland, Marc Albrighton and Nathan Delfouneso, as he fielded Gabby Agbonlahor as a lone striker. Villa rarely threatened though and were booed off the field by their own fans, as McLeish admitted:
We were not good enough on the night and did not deserve it.We had our moments in the first half but we never troubled the keeper enough. We got into some good crossing positions but never made the impact we wanted. Now it is up to the team to bounce back. That is the reaction I am looking for.
Stuart Holden made his first-team comeback for Bolton in the2-0 win at Villa Park last night. Owen Coyle’s side bounced back from a run of four straight defeats with a comfortable Carling Cup win, with goal from Chris Eagles and Gael Kakuta ensuring their passage into the next round. It was Holden whom Coyle hailed post-match, saying:
Considering Stuart has been out for so long after an horrendous injury, for him to play with such intensity and at the level he did tonight, was great. I’ve always said we are a better team with him in it, not just because of his workrate but also the quality he brings when on the ball.
Kenny Dalglish was dealt an injury blow yesterday with the news that Daniel Agger is out for four weeks with two cracked ribs. The Dane seemed to pick up the injury in the build-up to Spurs’ opener at White Hart Lane on Sunday and his loss may see Sebastian Coates given a chance at the heart of defence for the weekend clash with Wolves. Alternatively, John Flanagan could come in at right-back with Martin Skrtel moving to the heart of defence.
Wigan boss Roberto Martinez received a boost with some positive news on Hugo Rodallega. The Columbian was stretchered off in the weekend defeat at Everton and Martinez had initially feared losing the forward for a few months but said yesterday:
The scans came back really positively, it doesn’t seem there are any big concerns in terms of the structure of the knee. We won’t know how long he’s exactly going to be out but what’s clear is that the injury is not as bad as we first thought.
