Le Grove

Ok that headline is for the disgruntled blogger yesterday that was so upset I mentioned Adriano in yesterdays headline, so today I thought I would try something completely factual that doesn’t allow for any imagination and looks a bit like the mother of all blogs …Arsenal.com

He was so upset he even started telling us why at 2.30 this morning, so todays headline is for him, I hope it helps.

Ok Grovers, this is for the rest of you!

Juve go for the Flamster and Inter swoop for Diaby.

True enough Inter Milan, top of Serie ‘A’ chase well known Arsenal crock, Abou Diaby, the Arsenal youngster who recently signed a 6 year contract has attracted their attention, they haven’t seen him play as he’s always injured, but Arsene Wenger signed him so he must be worth a Punt.

Flamini is of course a free agent so any team would be after him but until he signs a new contract, this speculation will go on.

I don’t understand why it always seems to take for ever when signing a contract, how much? How long? and where do I sign? Doesn’t seem overly complicated does it?

Red and White try to increase their stake, makes you wonder what David Dein does all day, doesn’t it? he must have the easiest job in the world, what did you do at work today David?

‘Not a lot love, I did buy another share though’

Theo said that he hasn’t visited Eduardo as he wants the visiting to last so will see him later, or that’s what it said on Arsenal.com

The papers have once again written us off, saying that the goals have dried up and Eduardo’s injury is a massive loss, statement of the obvoius or what?

I think Theo will spring to life if he’s given a central role and with Rocking Robin knocking, we’re not far from salvation, I really think we’ll stuff Villa on Saturday and go on to win the league with games to spare.

John Carew worries me a tad, but I think Theo is the key as he will be trying to show he is a better player that Agbonlahor and Young.

Cracking day of comments yesterday Grovers, you make the none footballing days a pleasure!

Oh and I forgot to mention that Almunia said something interesting on Arsenal.com

I feel so sick that I can hardly write this match report.

Almunia was drafted back into the squad after illness and Walcott started out wide.

After about 2 minutes, Eduardo was tackled late from behind, rolled over with studs grounded and snapped his leg. Taylor was given a straight red. The snap was so bad many Arsenal players looked visibly shaken. McFadden complained about the red card like the complete cunt he is… It is difficult to understand how a fellow professional can be so callous? I also can’t understand how another human can do something that grotesque to a person. from the pictures, he wasn’t even looking when the foot was on his shin. Its GBH with intent, simple as, Gunnerblog have a pic here if you wish to see… its fucking gross though, so be warned

Alex Mcleish’s defence was shameful.

“He didn’t think he made a lot of contact with him. It’s not in Taylor’s make-up to produce a malicious tackle.”

He need to take a good look at that picture and tell me he’s not that type of player.

Arsene Wenger was pretty disgusted by the challenge to, he said the below to skysports,

”I think this guy should never play football again,”

“What is this guy doing on the football pitch?

”I feel the idea has been going around for some time that to stop Arsenal you have to kick Arsenal. That sort of injury was coming for a long time.”

I’m so gutted that he will miss Euro 2008.Our thoughts are with Eduardo, and we hope you get well soon.

The game restarted after nine minutes and we looked out of sorts big time. Our passing was crap and we looked like our minds were on other things.

McFadden picked up the ball ran into a crowd of players, was dispossessed fairly by Flamini (Check the trailing leg touch the ball first), then McFadden dived over the top of the Flamster and a free kick was given. We all knew where McFadden was going to put it and he duly did.

Gutted. The football gods were clearly watching a Spanish game or something?

We coughed and spluttered for the rest of the game, Adebayor winning plenty of balls in the box - and doing fuck all to put them on target. I think he had about 4 headers at goal?

The second half started and there was a lot more about our play. We found rhythm and started to look like a team with intent. We had a few chances, Cesc coming agonisingly close - somehow denied by Maik Taylor.

The corner was belted in, Ade rose up high for it… Taylor ran into him… Ade nodded it on and Theo volleyed it in! 1-1! Fan-fucking-tastic!

Andy Gray said it was a foul on the Keeper. Do I need to say what I think of his opinion?

5 minutes later Theo capitalised on a Birmingham mistake, took the ball through the middle and instead of passing it… he drilled it into the bottom corner! GET IN THEO!

The statistic of not having and English player score a goal in the league all season was well and truly banished.

We had something like 21 attempts on goal. Ade missed a glorious chance when through one on one… if he’d looked up he could have played Nikki B through… it was an open goal! But instead he went for the shot and Taylor saved again. I don’t know what anyone else thought, but it seemed to me that Ade and Nikki were not enjoying each others presence on the pitch.

I said to the guys I was sitting with that all the chances we were squandering could come back to bite us in the ass and I though Ade was being selfish today.

As the 92nd minute nearly passed, I was getting excited, another Birmingham attack passed, a ball rolled out towards Clichy… he let it run… the camera panned out and a Birmingham player was on the end of it! Clichy stuck his leg out… PENALTY!

It looked bang on as well. Replays however suggested to me that Clichy actually won the ball… so we had been done by another farcical bit of reffing.

Up stepped McFadden… goal.

Fucking gutted.

What got me even more was William Gallas’s attitude. He stormed up to the half way line (Before we’d even conceded the penalty) and sat down like a spoilt little brat. Arsene had to walk over to get him to stand up. I appreciate the fact you are pissed off, but you are the captain. Grow up and support your team mates. Clichy didn’t mean to make a mistake, if the ref was any better he would have spotted it wasn’t a foul and he’d been conned again. Its gives out the wrong message to the fans and more importantly… our rivals. He looked like he was saying, ‘fuck it, its over now’… its the same in any sport, don’t let your emotion get the better of you and at 30, he should know better.

If ManU win today, the gap is closed to 3 points.

3 points - 5 points, what’s the difference?

I doubt we will lose the title by 2 points. There are still plenty of points left to play for and if we beat ManU and Chelsea, we will win the league. You’d hope so anyway.

RvP is nearly fit again, same for Rosicky and Diaby. Walcott may have just found his scoring form and you can bet your bottom dollar Eboue wouldn’t have scored those goals.

So lets pick ourselves up, and move onto the next game. We’re still firmly in the title race and there is not time to feel sorry for ourselves. This is the first time we’ve been done in the last minute this year… we’ve done it to enough teams so we’ll just have to take it on the chin. We didn’t play badly either and Taylor was in the form of his life

In other news, Ade is being courted by Milan. I’ve said this before… Ade will be a pain in the Arse with things like this, his ego is huge and from past quotes, he is fully expecting to play for teams like Milan and Madrid. Be prepared for a summer of shit from him.

Heads up gooners, its still in our hands!

So Arsene Wenger had a few interesting things to say during his press conference yesterday.

Firstly he said that he puts his team before profits.

“At the end of the day I feel that [profits] are an internal matter,”

That all sounds pretty good to me but sometimes I wonder how true it is?

You do have to ask whether he is forgetting that he sold Diarra to Portsmouth because of profit. I can’t find the quote, but I remember he was asked why he wouldn’t loan him and he said something along the lines of, ‘you couldn’t guarantee he’d get first team football if he was loaned’…

So he was essentially saying Arsenal would end up lumbered with a worthless player if he failed to get a first team spot at a lesser club (Aliadiere is a prime example of this). So we sold him in January to maximise the profit.

Wenger said this in December,

‘I understand the frustrations of players who don’t play but at the end of the day I will do what is best for the club. That is my first responsibility.’

Would responsibility to the team include keeping players who will be useful, even if they are unhappy? Fergie didn’t flog Ronaldo when he kicked off after his behaviour during Euro 2006 (I know Ronaldo is a better player, but Diarra was still important).

Wenger also took time out to talk about the fans,

‘People pay a big price to watch a football game and they don’t care how much money you make or how much money you lose. It is down to you to do the job of making this Club survive and to give the fans what they want when they come to a football game - enjoyment. That is our responsibility.’

Again, I completely agree with what he is saying but he is missing the biggest part of what we enjoy… winning trophies! We’re not Newcastle fans, we don’t go purely to see a good game… Our footballing style is a tremendous bonus, but like Chelsea fans always say, ‘I’d prefer our trophies and souless club, to your pretty football’.

Now, I am not criticising him, I am merely pointing that he maybe a little off the mark when he suggests we only go to enjoy the spectacle.

He went on to talk about the management of finances.

‘I was never in a club with any deficit. I spend what is available and not more. If it’s not enough, it’s not enough. But that’s the basics for every manager for me at the start. You cannot put the life of a club in trouble or in danger because you want to buy players that you cannot afford.’

He is doing a great job managing our finances, but I think the club has grown to a sufficient size now where if there is a player we wanted… and the price was inflated (Like all great players prices are)… we should compete. I know that sounds silly, but if the price is inflated and big clubs are willing to pay it, its normally because they are worth it. Okay, I know there are flops, but Torres ain’t half bad, Rooney is okayish and Tevez is doing the business. All players we could have competed for.

When the summer comes, will we be in for Benzema? Doubtful. Will we be in for Sammy Eto’o? Not a chance. Will we sign an established star to compliment our youth? I wouldn’t bet on it.

Wenger reckons after he secures his current players he may add to the squad,

‘If I can add one or two more and I have funds available I will do it. But the first priority is to keep the team together and the first case I have not solved yet is Flamini.’

… that quote should go into Wengers famous cliché’s…  Its as famous amongst Arsenal fans as, ‘I did not see the incident’ and ‘The spirit in the team is great’!

Its all by the by, but I just thought he kind of contradicted himself a bit. We can’t argue with his success this year so far, but it would be nice to be able to compete on 4 fronts instead of two, maybe this is the summer where we start acting like a big club in the transfer market.

Onto more important things. His comments about Flamini’s contractual position were not as positive as I’d have liked! Citing Flamini as a problem that has not yet been solved doesn’t fill me with confidence! He is key to our future success, replacing him would cost millions and I’m struggling to think of a player capable at the moment?

Still, in Arsene we trust.

Today it is Birmingham. Wenger has not revealed who will take up the reigns in goal, but many suspect it will be Almunia. Most people on the site yesterday were in favour of Almunia between the sticks, because he has had a great season so far and his pacey distribution has been missed.

When Wenger was asked if Lehmann would retain his place he said,

‘Come to the game tomorrow and you will see.’

Trying to shift a few extra tickets eh?

He had this to say on the state of the squad,

“From Wednesday night we have lost Kolo and Emmanuel Eboue through injury and suspension,”

“We have no-one really back from the squad who played in that game apart from Manuel Almunia.”

So I am predicting a 4 or 5 goal haul. I think we’ll come out of the blocks desperate to bang a few goals in and get the ManU game well and truly out of the system!

How good does 8 points clear sound!

See you in the comments section!

So I felt 2-0 was going to be the score.

It wasn’t, but 2-0 should have been the score!

What a great performance from the Arse! We dominated them from the 1st minute, to the 94th!

I’ve had too many Peroni’s to give you my normal Telegraph style match report , but I can give you a run down of what I liked, and what I disliked.

What did I like?

Well, finding out that Odub and Steve weren’t a couple of lunatics was a nice start to the evening! We discussed our hopes and dreams (Regarding the game guys!) and decided we thought Gilberto was probably past it, we would prefer Walcott to Eboue… oh, and no one liked Eboue or Arsene’s tight ass apporach to transfers!

We also felt that Arsene short changed us in the 2 domestic cups this year… and he owed us!

Predictions were bold, and all of us were confident!

We arrived in the stadium nice and on time. As we entered the arena, the players entered the pitch… so no sitting about shitting our pants! That was until the stadium announcer said that Denilson was playing! Do WHAT! Don’t worry, after a minute of complaining, my brother pointed out he was in fact not playing…

We started brightly, you could tell by the slickness of our passing that this was not going to be a game where we played badly. Hleb was amongst it early, Flamini was crunching people and Ade’s first touch was looking good!

This is when my nerves took over, so all I can give you is my chronologically ordered thoughts that I stored through text!

Jens Lehmann made an amazing save from a header… simply brilliant, I couldn’t believe he kept it out! Well played Jens, you had a blinder today. Your handling was great and your distribution was top notch. Some people will complain that your goal kicks were being intercepted by Milan players. I say, if you kick a ball 60 yards and an Arsenal player isn’t on the end of it… its the Arsenal players fault.

I was really pissed at Eboue’s inclusion after his shameful showing at ManU. I was fully expecting him to be shite, but in fairness, the guy was really good tonight. He trekked back, he created and he had a few digs at goal. He really should have done better when played through by Sagna… but whatever, he was and asset to the team tonight.

Sagna, despite having valid personal problems was a rock in defence and a real menace going forward. Well played Sir… your professionalism in such adversity is was commendable.

Eduardo was the most anonymous player on the pitch tonight. He had a nice little run in the first half, but other than that, he really struggled. Is he just a goal poacher, or can Arsene bring out the footballer in him and get him to contribute more than just goals? I think unless RvP returns to the fold, we will be seeing 4-5-1 in Milan.

Hleb was brilliant tonight, he hardly lost the ball, his passing was creative and he tracked back to do his fair share of defending! He even swung at a volley, only to see it blocked. I think Hleb is one of the best players in the world, if he was English or Brazilian, people would be touting his greatness around a little more liberally.

Kolo Toure went off after about 10 minutes, this was a real worry amongst my fellow season ticketers… Not for me because I have faith in the big guy… being part of the Swiss faction requires this as a prerequisite.

Was I let down? NO FUCKING WAY!

Big Phil was an absolute rock, what a game he had! It was the big Phil we have all wanted to see this season! Well played Phil, long may that form continue. We may need it if Kolo’s injury is that bad.

Adebayor started off a bit shaky, but he really found his feet in the second half causing the Milan defence all sorts of problems! Arsenal turned to the long ball in the second half and Ade had a few clear cut chances but fluffed them…

…does it need mentioning?

Oh ok, but only because I have to. Ade missed an open goal in the last minute of the game… he hit the bar from 2 yards.

Could it cost us? Maybe… but for me, Milan were made to look average tonight and I just can’t see us losing in the second leg. Containing Arsenal is a tough job and they got away with it tonight… the second leg, they will not be so lucky.

Cesc looked jaded tonight, I felt his passing was off and he didn’t play that well. Maybe it was because of the ManU game, maybe he is just out of form… but we need the real Cesc back if we are going to despatch of the old boys in 2 weeks time

One final mention for the Flamster. Class A all night long. He kept the big boys of Milan quiet and it is amazing how much the team miss him when he is rested. I hope he signs that new deal sharpish becuase a lot of clubs are going to be interested come what May!

So overall, we played great. We banished the demons of Old Trafford and we turned on the style big time.

We didn’t lose an away goal and we look like we could turn them over in the second leg.

Just a quick mention to Mike, who despite getting his eyes lasered, still managed to post a comment last night! Well played Mike, I hope the Op went ok!

So I am pleased, how about you guys?