Arsenal, somehow, managed a 0-4 destruction of Newcastle United in the Carling Cup last night despite looking somewhat disjointed and unconvincing for the most part. Having said that, Newcastle never looked overly threatening throughout the match and whenever they did have a decent chance Szczesny performed brilliantly.
A lot has been made of Arsene Wenger taking the competition more seriously in terms of the strength of squad he fields now that Arsenal seem to be desperate for silverware. However, the team who lined up to face Newcastle last night is not much different from the side who were beat at Eastlands in the quarter final of last year's cup. There were four of the same starters last night as there was last season, arguably, if Wilshere and Ramsey were available that would make six. Gibbs was injured for last season's game, as was Djourou and Nasri started last season's clash against Liverpool so given the circumstances, I don't think the team is all massively different.
The most notable priority shift in Arsene's mentality is not so much the starting line up but, the bench; there is now first teamers such as Fabregas, Arshavin and Sagna occupying bench for the competition.
With Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City out of the competition there is a real chance that Arsenal could give it a good go this season and I think Wenger is very keen to take advantage of the situation.
The only question is, how much would change if Arsenal won the League Cup? It has been well documented that Wenger has previously used the League Cup to give the youngsters some much needed experience however now it seems that he cannot afford to do that to the same extent.
Would Arsenal really be able to silence their critics through one League Cup victory? I suspect not, but what it would bring to the club is a winning mentality, something that captain Cesc Fabregas said his team lacked recently.
Very, very few of these Arsenal players know what it feels like to win anything (and, I'm not counting the Emirates Cup!). This group of youngsters has not achieved anything together resulting in a lack of confidence when it comes to getting over the final hurdle. I suspect that should they lift one trophy, even if it is the Carling Cup that they may go on to win several, not necessarily in the same season but soon afterwards.
Theo Walcott, who scored two goals last night, believes this too, saying: "Our fans have been desperate for us to win a trophy and the players have as well. Hopefully we can win the Carling Cup and it will be one of many."
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