but congratulations to Birmingham City. It sounds almost as entertaining as Eric Cantona's recent assertion that Sir Alex Ferguson has something of Gandhi about him.

all over again. Very League Cup.

than "KEEPERS BALL!!!" in football, even if the keeper says it in a different language to the rest of the back four. Arsene Wenger is the sort of person who will continue to argue his beliefs, in his case that he doesn't need an experienced goal keeper and centre back, despite all the evidence against him. He should start a thread on it here, he would definitely get a visit from Kid A.

.....win over one of the bore-four (or is it the contrived five?).
Tremendous.

Wenger's assertion that his team were tired (BBC Five, 6.30 p.m.) shows that the route for England to take in the future is to pick players who 'aren't' tired.
If the 'Champions' League/Europa League players are 'tired' in February, is it really any wonder that they're 'tired' every other June?

Time for the players of Birmingham, Sunderland, Wolves, Bolton, Blackburn to clean their boots because these are the players who should wear the England shirt instead of Rooney et al.

Especially happy for little johnny rotten.

centre-back or the keeper, blame Wenger. How many trophies would Arsenal have one in the last six years if they had the likes of van der Sar and Vidic at the back? Those two cost Ferguson peanuts by today's standards and are precisely the type of player Wenger should have bought years ago.

It's difficult to understand why Wenger can't see this. After all, his first great Arsenal side was built around one of the best and hardest defences the game has ever seen.

They included:
Zigic first goal
Draw at half time/Brum at full time
Brum to win in normal time.
Thank you Brum and good luck to you.
Seemed like a proper cup final and nice to see it on terrestrial tv.

...to see the Arse lose.

I know. Petty and small minded and very very enjoyable.

Well, that really hurt. No way to lose a cup final.

At the risk of coming over as a Wenger apologist, those putting the boot in on him may wish to bear in mind that he has constructed what is currently the second best team in the country on a net positive transfer outlay.

Okay he's sometimes highly frustrating (today's subs baffled me - how did Rosicky get the full 90?), but the armchair managers pointing out that he should have bought Vidic and Van Der Sar (no kidding!) and that he needs a new keeper and centre backs (best defence in the country since the current keeper stepped in, only conceded two more league goals than what has to be recognised as a very strong Utd back line) should step back and look at the big picture.

Sure, it was a defensive howler. But the team (and club) remain strong and, depending on injuries (which are wenger's real issue - he can't keep his best players fit) and will continue to compete on multiple fronts, at least until Barca put us out of Europe.

As a season ticket holder I'm perfectly happy with the defence (although our 4th choice centre back is a bit dodgy). What I'd like to see is another world class forward to rotate with robin van persie and a recognition from the club that sometimes a bit of old fashioned steel and mental strength is required.

Oh, and finally, well done to Birmingham. For all the criticism of Arsenal that was a great cup final performance and you deserved the win.

Apologies - i didn't mean to misquote you.

VDS and Vidic are the best keeper and centre back in the league, arguably in Europe. Should Wenger buy players like them? I sure he'd love to. But who would you suggest who is available, within budget and willing to come.

Meanwhile, you could say the same about Ferguson's purchases in other positions. He paid £18m for Anderson, which has hardly looked like value. He also bought Bebe and Obertan, neither of whom are much cop.

My point is that you could just as easily watch a poor Bebe performance, ask "what does ferguson know about signing wingers" and suggest that he should have bought Nasri instead (who was almost the same price).

Some Transfers work, some don't. All managers buy players who don't work out, Wenger no more so than most.

Apologies again for the misquote, I just think it's a bit too easy to criticise at times. I've heard a lot of people say Wenger should have bought a centre back in January, but who was available to him? Gary cahill for 15m? The Bolton fans I know tell me he's not worth half that. Chris Samba? Is he any better than what we've got.
Arsene wenger is very, very good at what he does. Not perfect, by any means, but very good nonetheless. If there was a centre back "like vidic" who was available to him then I think chances are he'd spot and acquire him. But the fact is that players of that quality are hard to find, particularly when City and Chelsea are pricing you out of the Market.

Although from Fife, my son is an Arsenal fan and did not have one of his better days - that goal gets no better every time you see it! I was pleased for Birmingham's seasoned bunch of pros and their Scottish management team (oddly from both sides of the loathesome sectarian divide......)

Fergie's successor?

He seems to think that there's only one way to behave ... his way. When someone else has a different idea he sulks which as we know is the proper thing to do under the circumstances!

I couldn't really give the game my full attention as I was still recovering from watching West Ham play one of the best 90 minutes I've seen in a very, very long time. And we still gave away the traditional comedy goal - a real "after you Claude" moment, but for once it didn't matter.

Sadly I opted to go to Upton park to see WH play Birmingham a few weeks back instead of yesterdays game. Still, I promise to stay away more if we play like yesterday again.

Birmingham, it was good to see a domestic trophy being won by a side who actually consider winning it a big deal for a change.