Le Grove

I wake up to the news that William Gallas has been mouthing off to Wenger that he and talisman Kolo Toure can’t play together, if this is true and Wenger is listening, I have to say, I am a little concerned.

This is why he should listen.

• Kolo was the beginning of your revolution.
• Kolo would die for the fans and for the shirt.
• Kolo never gives in.
• Kolo never complains.
• Kolo was alongside Sol Campbell in the invincibles, so he can play.
• Kolo got sent off in a cup final.

Gallas is a great player, but does seem to cause a lot of problems and when he leaves, will always be considered a chav and will probably guest on Sky as a Chav, just like Pat Jennings did and does.

This is why he won’t.

• Gallas is French.

If he does decide to let Kolo go then he must use his brains and demand Richards as part of the deal, otherwise it will be like the Hleb and Henry deals, they get everything and we get a sack of cash we’ll never spend.

The Arshavin rumours won’t go away and word is now he’ll take a pay cut and given he’ll have to take one in Russia anyway soon, he could well be on his way. I now expect that deal to happen. Arteta looks to be the Cesc replacement and to be honest I’m not against that either, these two arriving will make us a much stronger unit, especially when the injured players come back from sick leave.

It still leaves us short at centre back and if Kolo leaves then he really needs to bring in Chelleini or Richards, my choice would be Chelleini because he is that good, but I wouldn’t sulk if it were Richards.

To be honest though with Gallas at 31 and Kolo at 27, I could also see Gallas going and YaYa coming in.

Shay Given for Almunia I would take but not as well as, it makes no sense to bring in another to cause disharmony in the camp, so I can take it or leave it, but I wouldn’t pay £8mil, I’d sooner spend that outfield.

So lots could be happening today and tomorrow, I hope he acts quickly because we need help now, not at the end of January and there are not a lot of clubs out there spending so that old chestnut excuse is dead.

Astonfuckingluckyvilla, you can’t be that lucky for much longer you smug northern monkeys, your time will come and you’ll be scrapping Hull or Wigan for 6th place.

Have another hopeful day today Grovers!

So all the rumours about us letting Jay Simpson out on loan are bollocks and that’s the best bit of news during our miserable run up to Christmas I’ve had.

Spookily young Simpson shares his name with the great Homer Jay Simpson of the world renowned adult show ‘The Simpsons’ but that my friends is where the similarity ends, this kid can be our Defoe, actually I think he’s somewhere between Defoe and Bellamy.

Good piece of business boss, now let’s see him up the pecking order ahead of Bendtner, he’s had his chances, give someone who cares a go and ship Bendtner out to someone who wants him.

I think the Arshavin rumours are happening too often now not to have some truth in them, it reminds me of the Nasri deal, now I like the Arshavin I saw against Rangers in the UEFA Cup and I liked most of the Arshavin I saw in the Euros, but against Spain he went missing and for me he’s certainly worth no more than Hleb, so if Wenger can get him for under £15mil I’d be happy, if not I wouldn’t want him.

I still like the idea of bringing in Scott Parker as defensive midfield but only if we were sure his injuries are behind him, I’m guessing Alonso is a deal that won’t happen now and the YaYa thing was always a no goer so I hope he has a few irons in the fire, I still like the Ribery for Bendtner idea and Song for a case of Gatorade, but we so need a winger, we saw against Portsmouth what a difference Vela made when he came on and he’s not really a winger.

Well we only have a couple of days to go but I really think there are only us and ManCity still in the real buyers enclosure, so we should show our hand sooner rather than later and get someone big in fast.

I guess Villa have been given money as they know it’s their last real chance to get into ECL and an investment now makes sense, the Spuds are desperate to avoid relegation and they still have the Berbatov money burning a hole in their pockets and they now realise Harry is in fact a shit manager, who’ll probably go back to being an Arsenal fan once he gets fired, so they may spend too.

It is funny how no one else has moved for Arshavin though isn’t it? Not one club, if he does come I hope he adapts really quickly.

Maybe today, probably tomorrow, have a great day Grovers.

So if you were expecting a Pedro match report I’m sorry, this is a Geoff end of the year report and I’m feeling pissed off so please read on, if you are one of the few that are happy with what you’ve been seeing, stop here and go to Arsenal.com you won’t like what I’m about to say.

Please, do you think you are talking to children Mr Wenger? Do really really have to come out with comments that you would give to a 7 year old to placate them?

We pay too much money for the garbage that too often these days comes out of your ever more bizarre press conferences. So if we lacked a bit of zip because we lost a two goal lead at Villa Park, what did Portsmouth lack? They lost their last game 4-1 and to West Ham at home.

Yes I know we we won, but only just and that 5 minutes of added time felt like 20 minutes.

If it wasn’t for a bit of brilliance from William Gallas and an Almunia like flap from Calamity James we may have lost that game we lacked a bit of zip in, I counted one shot on target, but then I was looking away in disbelief for a lot of it, So forgive me, there could have been more than one.

That’s disgraceful for any Premiership club, let alone the Arsenal.

It must be tough earning £80k a week like some of our players do and having to play twice in the space of 2 days, when I played football, sometimes it was a double header, one game after the other, many times I would play Saturday and Sunday, but you know what, I looked forward to it, otherwise I would have done something else, these young players of yours in many cases earn more in a week that many Arsenal fans do in a year.

Do people in football not realise how unbelievably privileged they are? I know we’ve said many times that Arsenal need to win ugly, but that wasn’t ugly, that was shocking, winning at Villa Park would have been ugly, but this was Portsmouth for Christs sake, at least apologise for a crap performance, get rid of the shit players and go and buy some decent ones instead, we’ve put up with this mediocrity for three years now and frankly we’ve had enough, don’t spoil 9 great years by being stubborn for 3, the fans will turn on you and no-one wants that, we think you have done wonders for this club, but there is a limit.

You’re wrong Arsene and I believe there are people on the board that have told you that, we the fans have told you that, the press are telling you that as are the ex players, so what, and we’re all wrong?

Every game we play I send out the rallying cry, we all get behind the team, you send out a shit side that plays like a shit side, then you come out with excuses, let’s have the last three games worth of excuses shall we.

Liverpool – You said we were the better side yet the whole footballing world said we weren’t, they said we were lucky.

Villa – You said that their management knobbled the referee, Jesus we should have been 4 down by half time not one up, we were lucky to get a draw, no matter how much we felt robbed.

Portsmouth – You said we lacked zip, Adebayor was crap and he wasn’t even playing against Villa for goodness sake.

Why can’t you just admit that we have 4 or 5 players that aren’t good enough, get shot of them and spend some money, our money, do that and we can clean up, everyone but you can see that.

Why is it that successful people so often fall from grace because they are too stubborn to think they are wrong, go and read Margaret Thatcher’s autobiography, learn about stubborness, see the light before it’s too late, we all love you, but the love affair won’t last for ever.

We can rule Europe with 3 or 4 top signings, that’s all, we won’t do it with what you have. Certain players need to be sold and everyone but you knows it, I won’t name them, but you must deep down know, you had the invincibles.

I didn’t go to the game today I watched it on a link, I didn’t go because I was protesting at the rudeness and aggressiveness of the stewards and from the holes I saw all over the ground many others didn’t go either but for some reason the announcers lie about that as they said we had 61,000 there, you may all think that you can lie to us for ever, but you know what, you can’t and next season when your experiment fails, as it invariably will, you’ll see people protesting with their feet, and however many fans you think you have waiting in the wings, they won’t be there, why? because the fans aren’t as stupid as you all think they are, many will be worried about the future, many will not want to pay to see what you are now serving up week in week out.

You act like you and the team are the victims, no sir you’re not, we are the victims, I woke this morning to hear that at least 100 retailers are about to go under, they say more people will lose their jobs than at any time since records began, you and your team on the other hand are recession proof and will always have a roof over your heads so please don’t have us feel sorry for you, we don’t.

Pedro went to the game yesterday with Finestcuts who brought us over a bottle of Vodka, all the way from Poland, so Finestcuts, thank you so much my friend!

Let’s hope you read this Mr Wenger and find out what the realities are in the real world and get us a team that will make the next year a little more bearable.

I’m sorry if some of you think I’m putting the mockers on today by suggesting a tonking, but if West Ham can beat Portsmouth 4-1 away from home then it really shouldn’t be a problem for Arsenal to dish out a pounding, and given the great news that Song won’t be playing, it will be like watching a passing team all over again, so I’m looking forward to seeing us get three points if nothing else.

It will be nothing else because Song will return and Arsene will buy no one, or no one of interest in the window, as the experiment will drag on for another 5 months until the summer where we’ll lose our best players again, groundhog day continues.

I listened to TalkShite yesterday on my way to the driving range and two mupppets by the name of Collymore and Houghten were talking about Wenger, they both said that nothing beats Wengerball but that doesn’t mean he can’t be criticised, and they said he needs to change what he’s doing or he’ll lose his coveted 4th spot, they said in the first half at Villa we were awful, they said Wenger said we were the better team against Liverpool and we clearly weren’t, so to sum up they said he needs to spend.

Collymore said he researched how many times the board has come out this season alone and said Wenger has huge funds at his disposal for players. It was 7 times. They also said that the whole footballing world, which inlcludes many ex-Arsenal players all said he needs to spend money. They said the board has said it too many times for it to be wrong. I agree.

Someone said on the blog yesterday that if we don’t qualify for the champions league will will fail to attract top players next season, hey! wake up people, what does that matter, we wouldn’t buy them anyway!

Ok, I hope I’m wrong and that the manager buys some new players in the window and gets rid of the dead wood. The dead wood for me is Song, Almunia and Eboue and loan out Bendtner because he needs to prove he can make it at the top level and so far this season he hasn’t showed anything that I would want for my pub team, let alone the love of my life, the Arsenal.

I really believe we are only 3 or 4 players off being dominant, but if we don’t sign those players we won’t finish in the top 6, let alone the top 4, and the sooner Mr Wenger realises that the sooner we will win things, the minute that Song went off against Villa we started to play better football and had Ramsey been given the playing time Song had so far this season, he would be twice the player he is now and 4 times the player Song will ever be.

Arsene if you rate Song, please tell us what he did in the Villa game that warranted your unbelievable praise, because no one in the footballing world can see it, he’s slow, positionally woeful, gives away fouls, loses possession, can’t seem to pass to his own players and is slower than the wonderful old lady that sits behind me at the Grove.

If you’re going today Grovers have a great day, I really expect this to be Tony Adams last game in charge, so Arsene, keep him behind in the changing room today and sign him as your number two, let Pat retire, he’s been a loyal servant but we need too kick on and win something this year.

Arsenal 5 Portsmouth nil.

Sorry, I forgot my preferred team, not the one he would pick, my team.

Fabianski

Sagna Gallas Djourou/Kolo Clichy

Nasri Denilson/Ramsey Diaby Vela

Ade RVP

Arsenal boss, French recluse Arsene Wenger said that the rest of the top teams haven’t looked untouchable and if we can beat Villa today then we CAN WIN THE LEAGUE!

What he meant was everyone else is as crap as we are, so all is not lost if we can nick it against Villa and we can get to January and bag some fire sale bargains.

As it’s only us and ManCity that actually have money and the Spuds probably still have £12mil from the laughable sale of Berbatov there will be plenty of selling clubs around so we could see some Arsenal canny buying.

Today it was announced that West Ham have transfer listed Bellamy, Upson, Green and Parker, well if we don’t buy Chelleini and Alonso, then Parker and Upson could be the cheaper alternatives, I wouldn’t be against it if West Ham swapped Green for Almunia at the same time.

Wenger is up to his old tricks again where he tells us who he almost bought but thought they were too expensive, so Ashley Young at £9mil joins the illustrious list that includes star names such as Ronaldinho, Robinhio, Ronaldo and Torres, thanks for letting us know that you at
least thought about it boss, when I see Song trotting out today terrorising the Villa, I’ll take great comfort at the money you saved
us and get off on his exceptional talent.

Thing is though all festive jokes aside he does have a point, the rest aren’t exactly ripping it this year, so if we do make an astute signing or two then we could be the one’s pulling away on the back nine.

I think we may surprise Villa today, but he must tuck Nasri in the middle with whoever and put Diaby in the hole, and if he doesn’t put a wide man left, he’ll be being predictable, so please boss Vela, Gibbs or Clichy.

We need to win today boys so make us proud and wipe the smug smile off of O’Neil’s boat race.

Great to see so many of you on the blog yesterday a big increase on the 6 comments of 2007, so it was worth doing!

Finally, competition answers!

Who succeeded George Graham as manager? Stewart Houston

When that manager left Arsenal which club did he manage next? QPR

Winner: Mark C

Have a great boxing day Grovers, today we begin the move up the table.

When Mrs Bear asked me what I really wanted for Christmas I said Green, Chelleini, Alonso and David Villa, she said to me ‘don’t be stupid, everyone knows Arsenal don’t spend money anymore’

She didn’t really, but you get my drift, I really hope that we make some signings in the window because we all know we need them and if he signs one of them it will really make my Christmas.

A short but happy festive post Grovers, whatever your religion and wherever you live let’s not forget to have fun and celebrate Santa’s birthday.

Also remember to drink sensibly and responsibly, being drunk is not big and it’s not cool and whatever else you do, don’t buy a puppy for anyone, a puppy is for life (are you listening Arsene)

Pedro and I would like to wish you all a happy Christmas and to thank you all for all your support this last two seasons, tomorrow’s a big game, win that and we’ll win the league, oh yeah and it will snow today, right!

Have a fun filled day Grovers, back to football tomorrow!

The Peroni massacre of 2008...

Let’s start with Arsenal old boy Lassana Diarra, yesterday he signed for Real Madrid you all saw the pictures of him in their kit kicking a ball, but did anyone notice it’s still only December 22nd and not January, when of course the window is supposed to be open. …Oh sorry, I forgot, they are Real Madrid, like Chelsea and ManU they have different rules.

So Diarra left us for Portsmouth because he was behind Flamini and he wasn’t having that, now he’s behind 6 Real players, strange fish headed twit. Still we got £5mil as part of the deal, well done Arsene, I would sooner have had either the player or the £20mil that Pompey got but that’s Arsenal for you.

Sadly it looks like Cesc could be out for 3 months, so it’s now we should be buying, not in two weeks time, now, the same names are coming up Inler, Arshavin and Finnan… Finnan?! Yeah I know, that has to be a joke right? I thought that about Silvestre though.

Arshavin interests me, but he’s no Cesc replacement, more of a Rosicky type of player, but at £20mil I would sooner sign Alonso, Barry or Cana and have change. By my simple maths we should have at least £14.5mil from the sell on of Muamba, Bentley and Diarra plus a further £2mil from the sale of Hoyte and that wasn’t even from our transfer budget, it’s bunce, so we can at least buy Alonso.

So add the £25mil from the transfer kitty and we can get some real quality in, I would consider Green, Chelleini, Alonso and Arshavin if not them then Green, Upson, Cana and Villa. Whatever happens we need to spend some money, this is becoming a joke, if he thought we needed no-one before the Rosicky injury then surely with Cesc out he must see we really need some help and that only gets us back to where we were last week, pre the Cesc problem.

Other news is Bendtner for Ribery, that would be an awesome deal, so I can’t see that happening, but whoever we get, we need at least one EPL ready player, we can’t afford to wait 6 months for them to bed in, so maybe a mixture of the above.

The thought of a midfield of Diaby, Song, Denilson and Eboue makes me want to start watching the cricket. How on earth he thinks we can finish in the top four with those jokers fronting the team is totally beyond me, even the worlds maddest AKB must see that as a frightening prospect.

There comes a point in football where you begin to miss-manage a club, like Enron did, like the banks did and like Arsenal are now doing, and by management I don’t mean Wenger, I mean the board, they have now to wake up and smell the roses before we become like Tottenham, it’s not too late and we are now in the new December transfer window, so boys GET THE COMPANY CHEQUE BOOK OUT BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE.

My final point today is this, Mr Wenger says he won’t buy ‘ready made’ as he doesn’t want to kill the kids, so here’s a solution boss, why don’t you play them? I’m sure Vela, Ramsey and Wilshere are as puzzled as we all are as to how Song, Diaby and Eboue are picked ahead of them and if he’s not careful, Jackie boy might go and sign for Chelsea.

Let’s also hope that when Cesc begins his recuperation that they lock him up in a monastery to stop Barca working their evil spells on him.

Buy now Arsene, whilst we still have something to fight for.

Before I begin, can I just say it was a pleasure to share a Peroni or two with so many people from the site yesterday (Gunner8, Raif, Steve, Odub, Bud, Geoff, Breton Gunner…)! My hangover is a testament to the enjoyment clearly had! I’d stick some pics up, but technical difficulties have prevented me doing so!

It’s a shame things weren’t so enjoyable in the stadium yesterday. Many people had their match day experience ruined yesterday by overly officious prat’s in orange macs. I was harassed by stewards all game for standing up… can I just apologise right now for ruining the match day experience of the pane of glass behind me… oh and the blinds.

Arsenal should wind back the CCTV of the game and check how many Liverpool fans were sitting down during the game. So Arsene, next time you complain about fan contribuition, take a look at what noise police are doing. They are the number one factor in decimating the match day atmosphere… funny how they backed off after your appeal for more noise at the spud game… arresting people for swearing at Howard Web… what a fucking liberty.

The first half was reasonably impressive from Arsenal. The teamed lined up pretty much the only way it could, a midfield of Nasri, Song, Cesc and Denilson. They all grafted in the first half and the opening didn’t take long. Nasri pinged a ball to RvP who controlled the ball with the grace of Thierry, shifted outside and rifled the ball home. A fantastic goal and another glimpse of the precocious talent he possesses.

Liverpool did manage to equalise in horrific fashion… Robbie Keane latched onto a Liverpool volleyed clearance… the ball bounced on the 18 yard box… Keane expertly buried the ball in the top corner. Lets not moan about the flukey finish, that is what he is paid £80k a week to do… lets instead focus on how professional defenders allow themselves to continuously fooled by high balls… lets ask why Almunia wasn’t on the edge of the box ready to claim the ball and take Keane with him… it really was poor on every level. I would be disappointed if my Sunday league team conceded a goal that soft.

Liverpool went close again a couple of times and then the moment we had all feared for sometime… Cesc went in hard on a 50:50 challenge with Alonso, and came out injured. Apparently it could be knee ligament damage, which is a real worry when you consider quite how bad Arsene’s plan B was… Here goes…

1. Fab off
2. Nasri moves to the right
3. Diaby comes on and goes left
4. Denilson sits in the middle

Yes, the whole midfield was shuffled around bar Song. Can I just ask what Diaby has to do to get a game in the middle of the park? May I also ask why we put players on the bench with a set position… then when it comes to the crunch, we are too afraid to use them? It’s pretty pointless being there if you have not intention of playing them, right? We’ve all seen what Rambo and co can do given the opportunity… why not give them a chance?

The second half opened and Arsenal’s tempo had diminished. Liverpool played some great football and we spent the opening ten minutes chasing shadows. Then Adebayor went into a challenge to shield the ball, he won it posession fairly… but Howard had other ideas… he blew up, gave a freekick to Liverpool and sent of Adebayor. What a joke…

The window pane and I were fuming. I don’t want to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but do you think Arsenal football club did bad things to Howard at boarding school? I mean… he really does hate us doesn’t he? Who sends a player off for two pretty innocuous challenges like yesterdays? Adebayor is hardly renowned for dirty challenges is he? That sending off ruined the game for me… and serious questions need to be asked of Web.

If one good thing came of the sending off it was the galvanising affect it had on the crowd. They booed for all the right reasons and for a good twenty minutes… the siege mentality crept onto the pitch and the players upped their work rate. It didn’t really matter though… we didn’t have the right tools on the pitch to make an impact on the game. Liverpool went close a few more times and Almunia made a few crucial saves… and just to cap off a great afternoon… in the 91st minute, Arsene brought on Eboue.

A game changing decision if ever I did see one. Eboue was greeted by a chorus of over the top cheers… I don’t know what is worse, booing or just taking the piss?

The game went out with a whimper and Arsenal were probably pleased to have achieved a point.

Almunia: Made some top saves in the second half and pretty much kept us in it. I thought he could have done better for the first goal. He should have been on the edge of the box ready to claim that or at least head it away. He wimped out, stood rooted to his line… and you know the rest. 6

Clichy: This man is not enjoying his football this year. Playing with people you don’t trust can cause your game to fall away… and that is what is happening. He has gone from being one of the most consistent players in the country, to a being a touch erratic. Don’t get me wrong, he made some great interceptions and tackles… but you feel he is always on the edge of making a mistake. 6.5

JD: He’ll have nightmares over that long ball last night… Keane’s pace was too much for the Big Swiss defender last night and that doesn’t bode well for the Villa game. Other than the error, I thought he played ok. 6.5

Gallas: I thought he played pretty well again. I kind of get the impression he is just chugging along until he gets his move in January. It is quite hard to judge a player when you know he has been humiliated by the club and his heard might not be in it. 7

Sagna: I thought we had a pretty solid game out of the powerful Frenchman. If he was a car, he’d be a VW Golf… reliable, strong and not too fancy. 7

Nasri: He punched a peachy ball into RvP for the goal, but other than that he didn’t really do too much. His lack of pace is clear for all to see, and his ability to hold onto the ball is no where near that of Alex Hleb. He seems to have whatever Reyes had… I don’t think he enjoys being roughed up and I think he is having a difficult time adjusting to the rigours of the game. 6

Song: He had a great game after Adebayor was sent off… he upped his work rate and really pulled his weight for once. Prior to that, he didn’t do anything wrong… which is about all I can say about him? Whatever your opinion on him… the one thing you can’t say about him is he will be a revelation in his position. For me… that is what we need next to Cesc… high energy, aggression, pace and keen to run for the full ninety minutes. 6.5

Cesc: I thought he was having a tidy game until he was crunched. How ironic that for £2million, we may have prevented that injury in the summer! What Arsene does now is a mystery… surely he wont persevere with Diaby, Song, Denilson and Nasri…! Wenger’s dream line up… most Gooners nightmare! 7

RvP: Superb finish with his right foot and a pretty good performance over all. He lead the line well on his own after Ade was sent off and his finish in the first half was superb. Hopefully he can find some consistency in the second half of the season and really show us his worth to the team. 8

Adebayor: I was really impressed with the Togan in the first half. I thought his touch was great and his work rate was much improved. Others in the ground disagreed with me. No way did he deserve to be sent off… now we have to suffer losing him for the Villa game. 7

Subs:

Diaby: I can’t remember him doing anything of worth? Mind you… playing him out wide is like putting Almunia up front and expecting goals. How will he ever impress enough out wide, to get a chance in the middle? 4

Eboue: Woooooo hooooooo! 10

I’m pleased with the team performance. The players on show pulled of the best result possible. However, Liverpool are not title contenders… everyone in the ground knew they were there for the taking… and we cocked it up with some poor defending. This current squad are not good enough to sustain a challenge, now, minus Ade and Cesc… we look like we could be in real trouble against Villa.

Troubling times ahead.