League Cup

A good opportunity to give our other Polish goalkeeper - Szczesny - a run out, together with Lansbury, perhaps a couple of the other youngsters will get some playing-time too. Otherwise Bendtner and Walcott will start so it looks as if we're taking this competition a touch more seriously than usual, which is a good thing even if the trophy itself isn't that big a deal when we'd really like to win the league and/or the Euro trophy. Still, our squad is far better in depth nowadays in terms of quality - no reason why a couple of youngsters shouldn't aid the overall success of the club.

An excellent result, 3 well-taken goals and a joke own-goal sealed the win. Unfortunately Lansbury didn't get on the pitch, Fabregas was brought on which, I can only assume means the boss thinks Captain Cesc still needs playing time to get match fit.
Szczesny did his goal-keeping work well - Koscielny looked sharp and aggressive in the tackle (I don't think he lost one and was also bright enough to block shots) - Walcott was calm and composed at speed to take his two goals well - a good performance which showed just how strong our squad is these days.
Oh yes - Joey Barton was brought on late in the game for Alan Smith, whose two contributions were a great 25-yard shot (well tipped onto the bar by Szczesny) and a poor attempt to stop Walcott (yellow card) - and proceeded with a cowardly knee in the back/thigh of Eastmond (should've been a yellow card) and a late body-check on Fabregas (yellow card). Barton shouldn't be allowed on a football pitch IMO - I suspect he's a nutter, pure and simple.