So, mercurial defender Mikael Silvestre says that if we want to win anything this season we’ll have to improve on Wednesday’s woeful performance, I suspect when he said the same thing after the Burnley game he forgot to tell his team mates, or at least I hope he did, because if he didn’t, we are in trouble.
I think there comes a time when Wenger needs to realise that these kids just aren’t as good as he keeps telling us they are and there also comes a point when you have to stop waiting for the day when they ripen and go out and buy now, much the same way that every other team in world football do, it’s called football management.
Take Barcelona for instance, they have Messi and Bojan, but they also buy a lot of great players, like Henry and Hleb. They have the balance right, and as we have the third highest wage bill in the EPL it’s not hard to work out what they are all paid to keep them on board, and that I think, is the comfort zone and that could be the problem.
Watching the Porto game was like watching the FA Cup last season and I said then that Arsenal should have refunded the fans that went. I had the opportunity to travel with the team and decided not to, well, coming back with those players and the manager would have made interesting reading, so in a way I’m sorry I didn’t.
Middlesbrough next up, well my memories of this fixture are not good, we lost last year and we were on fire up till that game, I also remember losing on the first game of the season once when Reyes scored, I don’t know why they cause us so much trouble, because I also remember beating them 7 nil at Highbury, what I do know though is if we play like we did against Porto, we can expect to get hammered.
I cannot understand how we can play so well at Stamford Bridge one week, then play so badly at Burnley and Porto the next, it can’t be good for moral that’s for sure, and they can’t keep saying they didn’t perform.
Expect a big performance from this team on Saturday, if we don’t get it, the championship is over, and if we don’t beat Middlesbrough we shouldn’t expect to win it, I was going to say we are playing a team that spends less than we do, but we’re not are we!
I was hopeful that we were going to spend big this January but as he keeps telling us how lucky we are having this talented crop of youngsters, I’m not so sure, but what I am sure of, if he doesn’t deliver this season, questions will be asked, this season Arsene I think is the last season of your experiment, please get some good players in before it’s too late, we still have time and we don’t need much, but the excuses are wearing a little thin now.
I would hate to see him get kicked out, I really would, it’s a bit like watching Muhammad Ali fight Larry Holmes that one last time when we all said he should have retired, Arsene, this is your Larry Holmes moment, do become an Ali, you can still change things before it’s too late, get your cheque book out.
Needless to say we need a result on Saturday and I think we’ll get one, if not it will be an early bath for us the fans this season.
Le Grove is now smart phone compatible!
Pedro
Geoff
Morning all!
1st?
Well, I better read it then….
Good morning Grovers
i hope cesc’s charm improves our performance.
Still here!
Sadly, so is Wenger…
Morning All
Good read Geoff.
I prefer to remeber the times when Boro were a 6 point team. Sadly, no-one is anoymore.
Nice post — It must be hard trying to bring different angles to the ,,Arsene you must buy new, experienced (with a emphasis on experienced) players” story every single day.
I ask you this grovers…. We all agree that we need 1. A solid CD, 2. A DM and a world class striker. So lets say that Arsene decides to buy one player in the Jan window (this is actually a possibility), which player and in what position do we go for. We know we can´t spend City money… so we´ll have to do with max 15 mills….. which player and what position I ask again.
“I cannot understand how we can play so well at Stamford Bridge one week, then play so badly at Burnley and Porto the next,” – cause it was our second string teams….Look at the christmas period coming now…game after game…..those games were dead rubbers.
I read it too Geoff – I disagree slightly. I think we have lots of talented youngsters but that they are still too young to make an impact without the experienced players around them.
Another game to not look forward too !
One of the best things this team could do is give up playing Mikael Cuntbag Silvestre.
Get rid of the manager, and replace around 1/3 of the squad, and I reckon we could build a team that might do better than 4th.
I don’t think we need a CB Iceland if (and it’s a big if) Gallas is motivated. Gallas and JD are solid enough with Toure pushing for a spot and Silly Vespa there as cover.
You are one of the more extremist blogs out there (which is good because it helps to achieve a sensible balance between the AKBs and yourselves), but I agree with what you are saying here
I think we need DM and a linking Hleb/Rosicky type player.
Why can’t i get excited about this away game
Jimbo – seriously? Get rid of the manager?
Sorry, morning Grovers……..
Yes, get rid of the manager. Should have done it a while ago, but it’s been plain as day this season that Wenger’s not really working out for Arsenal at the moment.
Too much dependence on poor players that he’s signed, little tactical nous, and can’t motivate the side – that’s pretty much the hallmark of a poor manager, don’t you think?
QOS I look at the likes of Wilshere and Ramsey and drool, then I look at Randall and Song and do the opposite, I’m not sure our youngsters are as good as he would have you believe, we don’t win youth cups and we don’t win the reserves league do we.
boro away…….sigh…
If we have the 3rd highest wage bill, where is it going ??
Do we have a groundsman on £50k pw & the best ticket manager on £70k pw !!
Because seems like we are wasting a hell of alot on Sylvestre, Song, Bendtner, Eboue & Gallas.
We’d be better spending their combined wages on a decent Doctor.
I don’t see what people have got against Randall to be honest.
Dont you think that now were a ‘second rate’ team i.e likely to finish 4th that Wenger has to put more of a focus on his tactics. It seems we can’t just go out and beat teams now, sureley we have to adapt our game and try and beat the other team tactically! We just look lost on the pitch at the moment.
Who’d you replace Wenger with Jimbo?
I don’t have anything against him, I just don’t think he’s good enough for this team, I look at Barca and Madrid and wish we had squad players like they do.
Geoff – the problem is first that Arsene has ammassed so much power inside the club in the last 10 years that nobody inside the club dares challenging his views any more. And second, that because he now believes he can walk on water, he is an accident waiting to happen. Normally when that situation happens at a company, the boss has to drive the business completely against the wall before anybody (and then!) dares asking questions about whether the course taken was right in he first place.
get smart .
get zaki !
he has shown he can score goals even for a crap wigan side ..
the chev’s are interested in him and with drogs out you can tell scolari is hedging his bets
I just hate seeing us miss a bargain player who will probably make it in the EPL . .
and if he’s good enough for the chev’s we should pounce on him !
Im sure wigan wont let him go without a fight but he is valued at 4-5 mil ..
even if he went for 8 mil he would still represent a valuable option for us .
I think gallas will go also ! and send him far away because we will still hear his comments
even after he goes , and maybe thats why he’s so quiet recently !
i wonder what he thought of silvestre’s comments !
Not sure who’s available 777777… A few options out there, though I’d be disinclined to go for a big name italian or spaniard…
David I’ve let you on so welcome, I hope you’re not a Trojan horse though!
This might sound harsh but maybe we could do with a better assistant manager; now i dont know how much input Pat Rice has but he always seems to me to be a ‘yes’ man! Maybe getting someone in to shake wenger up a little could work, ideally someone who has the potential to manage us themselves in the future??
It would help if AW had a fixed idea of where each player should play.
I am no fan of Eboue, but he has played all over the place this season, so has Diaby, Denilson , Song, Bendtner and Song.
None of these players are blessed with the ability to continually change positions. It must be better to learn one position properly before moving on….
Gooner 2 I think this will be the last season he walks on water though.
I wouldn’t sign Zaki personally, think he’s had a bit of a purple patch at the start of the season but hasn’t continued his form (injury hasn’t helped).
Looks decent, but will almost certainly go for much more than he’s really worth.
Mauro Zarate’s contract runs out this summer though – now there’s a player I think we could sign.
I reckon we need at least two players per position…. what is the dream team then — do we get rid of the rest?
GK: Almunia/Fabianski —- Do we need another GK?
RB: Sagna/Eboue/Traore (Eboue out?)
CD: JD/Gallas/Kolo/Silvestre (no one out there)
LB: Clichy/Gibbs ( I have doubts about Gibbs)
RB: Walcott/Eboue (not again, we need a proper back up winger)
CM: FAB/Denilson/Diaby/Ramsey/Wilshere (not even talking about Song, but then again, I´m not a fan of Diaby and Denilson)
LB: Nasri/Rosisky/Vela?
RVP/Ade/Vela/Dudu/ (get rid of Nik, what about Simpson?)
I think that it´s obvious we either play an attacking 4-4-2 with no DM and hope we score more goals than the opposition or we get two decent DM´s or capable wingers. Other than that, I believe we have the talent.
Where do people see Jack and Ramsey playing in the future — I mean if we were to get a world class DM — what would happen to those players? Do we sub them with Fab? no…. Ramsey and Jack have not played well on the flanks…. where do they go. I´m starting to believe Wenger a bit, when he talks about the quality. — where do we fit our youngsters in? but then again — the youngsters aren´t ready yet… when will they be and does that mean that we want to buy a player to use for only 2-3 years?
Agree with that Raddy, it’s very strange why he does that.
zaki is only on loan at wigan !
so buy buy buy !!!
Morning all,have read your post Geoff,and firstly it wasn’t the c.c. team that played at porto,there was a quite a lot of experience in the team,i stress experience but not quality.Eboue is mentally shattered and as has been said before is at best a reserve r.b.,gallas is too emotional and his ego has been hurt,so i expect him to leave,bedntner just can’t play the lone striker,as has been seen many times before and he just isn’t good enough.djorou is the one bright spark.wenger contradicts himself every time.when we play away midweek he says the players are tired coming back from international duty,and every time without exception when the first team is rested for a whole week,they lose their next match.Cesc is too young to handle the emoions,arrogance and other traits of so many players.i have never seen such a disunited bunch for decades,there must be a reason
Ethan. Not Zaki for me
If we are to go and buy an EPL CF, then surely we should go for Santa Cruz.
Though I would like us to sign Eto’o.
Kelsey
The reason …..
In the words of The Specials…. Too Much, Too Young
Hehe… thanks Geoff!
No Trojan horse here…. Just reading your other post about calling a spade a spade….
My thoughts are that I think the squad is ok. The problem is that it is always just ok, and that we are lacking 1-2 players to really challenge. Last year, we should have kept Hleb and Flamini (at least one of them) and then added 1-2 more quality players.
But no, every season it seems we lose 1 or 2 and then bring in young kids to replace them… Classic 1 step forward 2 steps back.
I’m sick of it, I want to bloody win something
iceland
i think he will loan out nik and bring in simpson ..
they just extended his contract and i wouldn’t be surprised if arsene introduced him in to the 1st team in 2 weeks
BR
eto’o would be nice
Morning all….As much as I “keep the faith” I really do feel it’s time for the boss to freshen things up.
Yes we DO have a superb group of youngsters who WILL be a thing of greatness….one day. Right now, these said youngsters are getting complacent. No longer are they grabbing at opportunities to play….because they’re already 1st team players. They thought they had arrived….now they’re struggling to keep their brittle confidence together.
That bit of experience you speak of is vital, and January is the time. If we carry on like this, the possibilities of becoming another Ajax are realer than real (maybe we already are?).
Anywayz….nice article
Morning all
Morning all.
Re. Zaki, I heard the ex mankskummer Wigan manager say “the agreement was we would have him(Zaki) till the end of June”, so presumably he can’t be sold till then.
On another matter I heard the Mirror’s hack on ManureNews(SSN) defending shrek boy for another one of his stamping episodes. God, that lot are so far ManUres arse it’s untrue.
It’s been time for a change for a while – and yet Wenger never ceases to fail to deliver.
Wenger and the Arsenal Board are in agreement as to the way things are. they wont spend. Champions league football is enough for them. I dont think they’ll sack him ever. We probably wont win anything this season. one very important player will leave. wenger will promote some youth players without buying to replace….sad story of my beloved club
If Wenger’s got half a brain, he’ll get another CM, another winger, and a proper replacement for Gallas this January.
Chances are he’ll buy a bunch of kids, because he couldn’t bare to drop his beloved Denilson or Eboue, but there we go.
I can’t agree about complacency Rockstone
I think that they are overwhelmed by both the level of expectation, and the enormous gulf in speed between the stiffs and the EPL/CL.
It is easier for the youngsters to respond on one off games like SU and Wigan, than to play on such a regular basis. Even Cesc took time to develop .
Ramsay should be getting sub appearances. Jack should get a half hour in meaningless games at the end of the season.
I think in recent weeks Denilson has been superb, really do believe he will be a top player but what chance does he have when he is playing next to Song, theres no wonder the team have no confidence.
nicely put jimbo !
he always never ceases not to amaze me either .
Jimbo
But Wenger hasnt Got another CM, another winger, and a proper DC.
so what does that say
morning all…
boro … that match is already starting to give me jitters.. if we lose or draw the whole weekend is fucked!!!
Morning All
Jimbo / Guys
For me the crux of it is this . We don,t really know if we have money to spend or not
I SUSPECT WE DON,T . I f So there is no one better than Wenger to do things on a none spending budget , Why do you think he keeps buying youngsters ? Because its cheap and he is gambling that they come thru .
IF there is money and he refuses to spend as this is his experiment THEN . I have had enough of it and it is time for a change .
jules.. i think when the emirates was built wenger did not have any cash.. so he went down the young kids road.. now that he has the dosh he can’t abandon his kids.. cause they do show promise!! so he’s caught up between what to do and what not to do.. in the meanwhile.. us fans.. are fucked!
The ‘We’ve got no money’ argument is lame, and not substantiated by anything in the published accounts, or any statements to date from the club.
Wenger spends no money because he’s trying to do exactly what he got fired for doing at Monaco – filling the first team with kids, and generally becoming uncompetitive. Just look at his history, and that should be enough to show that what we’re seing now is about personal ambition, more than it is good for the club.
We need to stop this.
Choy ,
you could be right , the whole world and every pundit knows we need a couple of expirienced players but he won,t do it as he does,nt want to be seen to be wrong
mean while !!
The youngsters need to be around senior players with passion and drive, that’s how they learn to fight and also love the arsenal! Apart from Cesc, Toure and Clichy who else is there that would put their body on the line?
sell Bendtner and get Roque Santa Cruz, that would keep Adebayor on his toes, maybe even out of the team
if Gallas goes i would like Haangeland. Ive seen Fulham several times and he is a good header, good positioning, good passer and strong in the tackle. A bit slow but good value
then ofcos we need a Macherano to free up Cesc. De Rossi or YaYa would do nicely
AND a winger like Ashley Young or Da Silva with speed and trickery
replace 2 and buy 2 new ones….not that hard is it!?
if Santa really existed (not the paraguay guy) i want Buffon too, but hey..
geoff, raddy, choy, ethan, ddm, GoS and all you grovers…how goes it people?
Goodmorning!!
Anyone know about the team/squad for tomorrow?
It is a big game tomorrow, a must-win, in so many respects.
I’m actually going for 3-0 to us.
Cesc will keep the run going strong…
20 THINGS YOU CAN ONLY SAY AT CHRISTMAS
1. I prefer breasts to legs.
2. Tying the legs together keeps the inside moist.
3. Smother the butter all over the breasts.
4. If I don’t undo my trousers, I’ll burst!
5. I’ve never seen a better spread!
6. I fancy a little dark meat for a change.
7. Are you ready for seconds yet?
8. It’s a little dry, do you still want to eat it?
9. Just wait your turn, you’ll get some!
10. Don’t play with your meat!
11. Stuff it up between the legs as far as it will go.
12. Do you think you’ll be able to handle all these people at once?
13. I didn’t expect everyone to come at the same time!
14. You still have a little bit on your chin.
15. How long will it take after you put it in?
16. You’ll know it’s ready when it pops up.
17. Just pull the end and wait for the bang.
18. That’s the biggest bird I’ve ever had!
19. I’m so full; I’ve been gobbling nuts all morning.
20. Wow, I didn’t think I could handle all that and still want more!
QoS….sorry….morning!!!
Haangeland would be a good buy.
Yaya would be shite though, because he’s nowhere near as good as people think, and De Rossi would never leave Roma.
Think on…
A Blonde was sent on her way to Heaven.
Upon her arrival, a concerned St Peter met her at the Pearly Gates.
‘I’m sorry,’ St Peter said; ‘But Heaven is suffering from an overload of goodly souls and we have been forced to put up an Entrance Exam for new arrivals to ease the burden of Heavenly Arrivals.’
‘That’s cool’ said the blonde, ‘What does the Entrance Exam consist of?’
‘Just three questions’ said St Peter.
‘Which are?’ asked the blonde.
‘The first,’ said St Peter, ‘is, which two days of the week start with the letter ‘T’ ‘?
The second is ‘How many seconds are there in a year?’
The third is ‘What was the name of the swagman in Waltzing Matilda?’ ;
‘Now,’ said St Peter, ‘Go away and think about those questions and when I call upon you, I shall expect you to have those answers for me.’
So the blonde went away and gave those three questions some considerable thought. (I expect you to do the same).
The following morning, St Peter called upon the blonde and asked if she had considered the questions, to which she replied, ‘I have.’
‘Well then,’ said St Peter, ‘Which two days of the week start with the letter T?’
The blonde said, ‘Today and Tomorrow.’
St Peter pondered this answer for some time, and decided that indeed the answer can be applied to the question.
‘Well then, could I have your answer to the second of the three questions?’
St Peter went on, ‘how many seconds in a year?’
The Blonde replied, ‘Twelve!’
‘Only twelve?’ exclaimed St Peter, ‘How did you arrive at that figure?’
‘Easy,’ said the blonde, ‘there’s the second of January, the second of February, right through to the second of December, giving a total of twelve seconds.’
St Peter looked at the blonde and said, ‘I need some time to consider your answer before I can give you a decision.’ And he walked away shaking his head.
A short time later, St Peter returned to the Blonde. ‘I’ll allow the answer to stand, but you need to get the third and final question absolutely correct to be allowed into Heaven. Now, can you tell me the answer to the name of the swagman in Waltzing Matilda?’
The blonde replied: ‘Of the three questions, I found this the easiest to answer.’
‘Really!’ exclaimed St Peter, ‘And what is the answer?’
‘It’s Andy.’
‘Andy??’
‘Yes, Andy,’ said the blonde.
This totally floored St Peter, and he paced this way and that, deliberating the answer. Finally, he could not stand the suspense any longer, and turning to the blonde, asked ‘How you arrive at THAT answer?’
‘Easy’ said the blonde, ‘Andy sat, Andy watched, Andy waited till his billy boiled.’
And behold, the blonde entered Heaven…
dh16 – How about Keown as a new assistant manager?
Defence Attorney:
Will you please state your age?
Little Old Lady:
I am 76 years old.
Defence Attorney:
Will you tell us, in your own words, what happened the night of April 1st?
Little Old Lady:
There I was, sitting there in my swing on my front porch on a warm spring evening, when a young man comes creeping up on the porch and sat down beside me.
Defence Attorney:
Did you know him?
Little Old Lady:
No, but he sure was friendly.
Little Old Lady:
He started to rub my thigh.
Defence Attorney:
Did you stop him?
Little Old Lady:
No, I didn’t stop him.
Defence Attorney:
Why not?
Little Old Lady:
It felt good. Nobody had done that since my Albert died some 20 years ago.
Defence Attorney:
What happened next?
Little Old Lady:
He began to touch my breasts.
Defence Attorney:
Did you stop him then?
Little Old Lady:
No, I certainly did not!
Defence Attorney:
Whyever not?
Little Old Lady:
His touching made me feel all alive and excited. I haven’t felt that good in years!
Defence Attorney:
What happened next?
Little Old Lady:
Well, I was feeling so ‘spicy’ that I just laid down and told him ‘Take me, young man. Take me now!’
Did he take you?
Little Old Lady:
Hell, no! He just yelled,’April Fool!’And that’s when I shot him, the little bastard.
morning michael P… i think most of the first team is back.. don’t know who will replace nasri though.. hope its not the passmaster!
ahh yes, the passmaster…
Apart from being one of my favourite all time gooners (Pat Rice is on that list too), what actually qualifies Martin Keown to be our assistant manager?
Jimbo
If so then it is getting beyond the joke
look at the team of 04 , dennis , TH14 , bobby , freddie , lauren , keown etc etc
and then look at now , bentner , song , eboue , etc etc , its so far backwards its embarrasing .
Last week seeing Eboue who Wenger said had,nt played and was tired , come on at l m to replace Nasri , then to be replace by the well known left mid , silvestre was the last straw for me ,
and today I read sivestre saying we have a big squad ………………….. L O L !
You’re right Jules – and that’s exactly why we need to call time on the Wenger fiasco.
silvestre.. oh lord..
Jimbo – anyone who got fined for trying to batter horse face at Old Trafford qualifies. We need more of that
early bath!
i wish we still had RP07
guys what do you think he was saying when he scored that goal against the Bin-Dippers
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=bX8Fpi4BojA
The modern game of football I feel, requires players to be a specialist in their specific position.
Constantly playing them out of postion can’t be good for their development and I think it would make players disorientated and unfocussed.
You have to make split second decisions and movements in our current modern game. Watching arsenal play and attack FAST is Awesome to watch! I feel we just can’t achieve that if players are not played in their SPECIFIC SPECIALIST POSITION.
Think Arsene got it wrong there, Just my thought. Come On You Gunners
Geoff good post, I have reluctantly over the past few weeks no months found myself agreeing with your school of thought. I would say that Wenger at the least should be given until the end of the season or dare I say beginning of next before anything is done. What is obvious however is that some of these kids are not or never will be good enough to play for Arsenal, money needs to be spent although I am in two minds whether that should be in Jan, maybe we should even consign this season to the memory banks. Regardless of what happens over the next 6 months I will never forget what Wenger has done for this club and those memories only buy my loyalty.
Jimbo without being overly critical can I ask when you started supporting Arsenal?
Anyway all could look different if we win on Saturday..Ooh to ooh to be…
Kelsey .
Don,t go to KFC , as when you have finished with the legs and breasts ,
all you are left with is a smelly box !
Jimbo, please give some indication of who you want instead. I’m interested to know who you would get in mid season to manage the team.
Jimbo .
Im not quite there yet but if he buys no one in jan and says about the squad being good enough again , then I wil be with you on that .
make or brake Arsene
Morning Michael.
Like you I am optimistic about Boro. It is about time we put together a decent run
Morning Micheal P!
To be honest Jimbo – I still think Wenger is the best man for the job. I think our problems stem more from what you’ve not got, rather than what we have got, if you understand my drift.
I think Wengers great but he’s human and he makes mistakes. There doesn’t appear to be anyone at the club telling him when he’s wrong.
For me, he’s had a bunch of great years and one terrible summer. But the great years earn him the right and time to fix it.
I think sacking Wenger is one of those ‘be careful what you wish for’ requests.
Just like the Spuds sacking Jol…. or the Chavs sacking Mourinho.
There isn’t another manager who could take us over and push us one… and lets drop the Van Basten and Bergkamp combo… or Adams… I can’t think of an available manager who would do a better job.
Wenger just needs to alter his ways…
Morning all,
Good post.
I think that Wenger WILL spend in January. He has too.
This season has so many parallels to the 2005/06 season.
That year we struggled in the league and come January signed Walcott, Diaby and Adebayor.
We will come in the top four this season too and as everybody on here knows, I think we will win the Champions League.
If Wenger doesn’t buy then he playing a very dangerous game. It obvious the sqaud needs to be stronger.
I would love a real signing of intent. One that will lift the fans, the clubs and the players.
I think we may get it. Its a gut feeling I have.
Pedro.
Remember that Goal Bobby Pires Scored against the Bin-dippers.
what do you think he was screaming out when he scored it ?
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=bX8Fpi4BojA
(2nd goal in the Video)
MB, sure you can ask…
Started supporting Arsenal when I was 5, and went to my first 1st division game – that was ’88.
So that makes my Arsenal Age about 20.
Now I got to every home game, and try to make 8 or 9 away trips a season.
Tell me, how long do you have to have supported Arsenal before I can start criticising Wenger?
Auzzie Read my comment of 9.30.
Great minds ……..
QOS
So buy what you have,nt got then ! It is so obviousto all what we lack but why won,t he address it , Lets hope it is dealt with in Jan .
Whats happened to the pace and power we used to play with .
Song , Bentner !?????? Please !
777777, I wouldn’t change Wenger mid-season. That will do our year more harm than good, and we need all the help we can get to finish 4th at the moment.
I’d get rid of him at the end of the year though, if not as soon as we’re guaranteed CL football next season.
QOS, this summer was just the latest in a succession of terrible summers.
I can’t remember the last time that Wenger’s managed a summer particularly well.
Wenger at least deserves the chance to fix this season. And next.
I agree with QoS. We need a couple of tweaks to the squad.
A central midfielder who will protect the back four, Maybe a keeper? And a natural wide player.
All this squad is a couple of players who have won things and who can lead the squad by example.
I think thats the main reason Wenger signed Silvestre.
It infuriates me when I read that people rate Denilson or Song or Eboue or any other crappy player like Randall. This is why we are in this mess. its because we have got so many average players in the team. thats why we cannot and will not challenge for the title. we used to have 11 players as good as Cesc in the the team now we have about 4.
seriously we could buy Danny Murphy or Grant Leadbitter or Sean Davis or Nicky Butt and they would probably come in, win a few tackles, make a few passes, misplace a few passes and even score a few goals. But you know what, they’d still be fucking avarage playes who are not good enough to lift a top 4 team up the table. You dont want to be using crap players in the Arsenal team unless you absolutely have to in an injury crisis and even then only 1 of the 11 can be average if you want to win a tough game.
fact is we are carrying too much mediocrity and then we praise them for making a few tackles and passes. I know class when I see it, so if we are calling a spade a spade then I can say all this. Fuck me these players get paid way too much money and half of them are not even fit to lace Bergkamp’s boots.
Pedro, you can’t think of another manager that would get Arsenal to 4th, and maybe win the odd cup?
I reckon you’re not thinking hard enough…
IF we could have the old Wenger back, of pre-2004, then fine and dandy, but that Wenger’s gone – what we’re left with now is someone who’s completely different.
Morning Wrighty 7
I hope you are right mate .
hello grovers, back from vacation. there was news on espnstar website banitaz sayin v cant win and at the end of story they mentioned agger and alonso on the way out in january……………..i personally think it will be alonso caz fab has already expressed his desire to play alogside alonso (way back in summer) and i thick as a captain he can push AW a bit to sign atleast ( i pray it should be two in jan) one.
can n e body tell if alonso is here in jan can he play in cl knockout stages!!!!
Gallas most probably will leave…the way he played against porto (i didnt saw tht match read at some blog may be this or other one)…….
if one leave and with walcott injured (no chance of rosicky) i think AW will be in no position to say NO TO BUYING
Pedro… Did you pick up my email last night?..
as i don’t know how to send properly..
Morning everybody..
Morning All.
May be Ivan will be the catalyst to reinvigorate this club. It needs a shake up top to bottom and that includes the football management side. Not necessarily binning people left-right and centre but a little reminder that we’e in the trophies and results business. That’s what competitive sport and business is all about.
DDM -apologies for not responding last night. Had to rush off and get home before the youngest went to cubs. Yeah I can hear that noisy git from where we are. Fair play to him for having a go but I wouldn’t want to sit too close to him.
Raif. What a great link. Thanks.
Jimbo. AW is The Man for me. He is the only manager apart from SAF, who has consistently shown that he can build a team. This one is taking longer than the others, but I have no doubt he will achieve his goals.
Had AW managed to sign Alonso, we would have the midfield we crave. So blame O’Neill for not selling Barry to the Bindippers.
Morning Jules,
Same here mate!
no he will be cup tied
What i thought was evident against Porto and made me think is where is the pace in this team? Excluding Clichy and walcott how many of our players burst past the opposition or get to the by line to whip in crosses? or even running in behind the defence? doesnt seem to happen no more. Gone are the days of henry pires freddie (even wiltord) flying up the field on a counter attack!
Wenger hasn’t built a team for 4 years.
He got close last year, but still handicapped it on the wings, and now he seems happy to dismantle it again.
Wenger hasn’t been a good manager for Arsenal for a few years now. Unless something pretty drastic happens between now and may, it should be our #1 priority in the summer to get rid of him.
Gazzap .
As I said earlier , compare what we have now to 2004 !
Oh dear
Jimbo my friend you have answered the question in more ways than you will ever know.
I respect your passion if not your sentiments
MP – How you doing fella?
Still confident about our wager fella??
Cheers MB
morning avenell .
Good Morning Fine Ladies and Gents – oh, and dennis
Great read Geoff..
Tomorrow we will scrape a win, but three points will be coming our way, we like playing at lunch time…. I hope…..
Lots of speculation about Nik going out on loan in Jan, if he does that must mean we are either going to keep Simpson, and hope that Dudu will be ok, or another striker is definately be bought in Jan. If its the latter, i rellay hope he is already playing in the EPL, Santa Cruz would be great, he would make the most of the chances we create. Yes I would prefer Villa, but we wont be able to afford him.
Hangeland – he is a possible player we could buy as Hogson has said he can go for the right price.
And Arda Turan would be a good addition for me too
So there you go Arsene, thats three presents you can get me for Christmas please
Its quite simple going into Summer 2008 we were nearly there. A bit of luck and we were league champs. Certainly the addition of a decent centre back (JD even) and we were as good as anyone.
Problem was this summer we weakened the side.
But our rivals improved. Utd bought the Striker they needed and kept Ronaldo. Liverpool bought a decent winger. Villa strengthend and matured. Only Chelsea you could argue didn’t get what they wanted and tbf they’ve gone backwards too.
One summer at this level is all it takes to go backwards.
How foolish of me – Four please Santa, that big midfielder is needed too, and I dont care who it is, as long as Cesc names him
I hope we get some money for Bentboots . Whats the point him loaning him again !
Big Raddy
no probs fella.
about the Alonso/Barry Deals.
Wenger was trying to be smart and Force Liverpools hand by saying he was intrested in Barry When he wasnt.
when O’neil came out and said he hasnt spoken to wenger about Barry at all, blow his idea out of the water.
he thought he could be smart by playing them both. Scare liverppool into buying barry and he gets Alonso on the Cheap. but it didnt work.
Good points QOS
1029 – WICKET! Tendulkar c & b Flintoff 37, India 102-5
Erm, what the ballyhoo is going on? A loosener from Flintoff, presumably brought back to trouble Yuvraj, and Sachin Tendulkar spoons the simplest of return catches at him. The M.A.Chidambaram Stadium is quieter than the Emirates Stadium on a Champions League night all of a sudden.
WTF!!!!!!!!!
If we were to get a proven CF, my personal preference would be for David Villa, a true world star, it would give a great life to the players and fans of the club, but more realistically it more likely to be Santa Cruz. Oh cobblers i say buy both………Chamon!
Jimbo,
I understand what you are saying mate. Fresh manager, fresh start and fresh ideas and all that but I agree with Pedro.
“Be careful what you wish for”
Believe me, if Arsene Wenger was sacked then I can guarantee that EVERY top club in Europe would take the chance to snap him up.
I glad that he is here, managing our club.
Yes I agree that he can be infuriatingly stubborn in his actions but I think the message from Gooners is getting through to him now.
He had a bad summer but surely he is owed the chance to fix it?
Thats taken from the BBC website..
Slightly off subject(s), how many of you fine people knew that Nutter was a coach at Blackburn????
yes i did
dh – i am watching the cricket, england are doing well, even monty has had a c&b, damn good one too, hit out of the middle of the bat at him !
Hello Sarge, no worries fella, but you know it’s actually normally a very slightly built lady that’s banging that soddin’ drum
Arsenal’s Johan Djourou has revealed he loves smearing himself with mango-flavoured body butter. “I pay attention to hydrating my skin properly and to feeling good,” said the Swiss international. (BBC news)
that’s the answer they are all a bunch of puffs
Totally agree Wrighty.
He gambled this summer on getting Rosicky back, being able to buy a CM at a knockdown price on the last day and that one of our Carling Cup 2007 generation would step up.
He might have got away with taking one of those risks in isolation but not all three.
Hopefully now having someone else doing the buying would at least prevent the second from occuring again.
Rico, i read he has made 3 good stops to day as well. But whats with the Arsenal dig?? Bit unnecessary dont you think
well it in telegraph gallas and nik set for exit…i dont know abt u guys i m still +ive on cl compaign
Wrighty .
read my 9.53 , I agree there is no one better than Wenger on a budget ,
but if the money is there and he does,nt spend again in Jan , I will really start to question Wengers poaition .
wenger HAS to act in January, he has no other choice from my perspective. He is in last chance saloon. A total failure in the run-in and season ticket renewals will be hit hard. the club cannot afford that.
dh – what dig ??
Jules,
smelly box
i might get a red card if i answered that
Wrighty7,
If that was Wenger’s first bad summer, I’d understand, but it’s not – the last 5 years have been characterised more by opportunities not taken than any kind of meaningful success, and for me, failing to build on a team that was only 4 points off the top is absolutely the last straw.
He has a chance to fix it – that chance lasts until May, and depends on the players in whom Wenger has misplaced so much faith to either turn their seasons around, or on Arsene to do what he should have done months ago and try to fill the holes in the squad in January.
If he can’t, and he’s got at least a whole season now to build a cohesive, motivated team, then he should go. What we’re asking of Wenger now is no more than we’d expect of any other good manager. If he can’t even do that, then I don’t see why we should persist with his pet project any longer?
Very clever Freddie, why did you bother?
raif.. why the fuck does wenger always look for bargains.. look at our rivals.. they don’t keep bargaining for one or two mill..
boswinga crazy ass money for a full back.. look at his assists and goals..
berbatov.. very expensive as well.
keane and rieira.. they cost quite a lot…
we’re the only club that has act miserly !!
dh16 – please could you tell me the comment about Arsenal that you believe to be ‘a dig’ at them ??
Rico, the commentator writes after sachins wicket: the stadium is quiter than the Emirates on a champions league night
Big Freddie… is that what real supporters do, hope their team does badly so they can get a ticket?
Pathetic.
Pedro he’s been tin tacked, no idea how he gone on, is it half term?
Wrighty, I agree mate. He may have had a poor last few years… but some of those years were down to the finances. That is why he dismantled the invincibles.
A woman calls her boss one morning and tells him that she is staying
home because she is not feeling well.
‘What’s the matter?’ he asks.
‘I have a case of anal glaucoma,’ she says in a weak voice.
‘What the hell is anal glaucoma?’
‘I can’t see my ass coming into work today.
dh16 – sorry, i got the wrong end of the stick, blame my age
I thought you were saying i had a dig at Arsenal, I missed that on the commentary -
Geoff, remember all those people we offered season tickets to in the summer… who were desperate for them… then when it came down to it, they wouldn’t pay up…? That’s Big Freddie.
dennis
Pedro – how can you say it was down to finances?
Wenger’s first catastrophic year, after he sold Paddy, he tried to buy Julio Baptista (when he was good) and Robinho in the same summer, and failed, and then went and forked out £20m+ for Ade, Theo and Diaby at Christmas when it was obvious that he’d hamstrung the side.
It’s not to do with money, though we undeniably have a bit less than some of our rivals, it’s to do with bad decisions.
We are nearing the end of a 5 year project moving to a new £800 million pound stadium, I just cannot work out why we haven’t been spending on players.
Just can’t put my finger on it ….
Pedro .. are you avoiding me?
ave -they will be bought in the january sales, maybe even some today as Woolies and Tesco have 50% off !!
choy
i wish i could give you the right answer. but all i can do is guess that Wenger most likly dosent agree with the whole idea of paying Over Inflated Prices for players that seems to be going on now days, thanks to Clubs Like Chelsea in the past and Man City now.
in a funny kinda why i dont blame him as alot of us are all complaining about how theres to much money in football with Players Wages and so on.
its the same with Transfer fees, Far far to much money is being paid for 1 player that will most likely end up leaving in 4 to 5 years time.
which in effect will leave giving you minimal return on the fee received for the player next to how much u got him for in the first place
Pedro, they were all real fans as well, real fans until they have to part with there cash.
Well, I can’t really argue with that…
DDM – I would be over the moon if he sold Ade, Nik B and RVP to bring in Villa and Santa cruz with Dudu and Vela as back up strikers….
Dudu is the gayest nickname for a player ever.
So how about £13 million for Wiltord all those years ago then raif, he believed in buying players then.
Gazzap – Fucking spot on fella, well fucking said.
Dudu and Kaka on the same team – imagine that…. certainly wouldnt be shit!
Jimbo,
Totally agree Wenger should have built on last season. Had we keep that squad and added to 2-3 players we would be dominating right now.
Wenger let some players go who played an important part in the side and hardly replaced them. That’s why we are struggling.
It gutting to see how close we were last season and how far away we seem this season but sacking Wenger isn’t the answer.
There aren’t many coaches in World football better than Wenger. I can’t see who could replace him.
I just hoping that now we have a new COE Wenger can concentrate on the playing side of things. Like he used too when David Dein was at the club.
Wenger has been juggling the job of managing and negotiating since Deins departure.
Wenger wouldn’t stump up for Ashley Young. a young English player who would probably stay his whole career. But he forks out more for Reyes. You pay more for English players because once they get to a good club they stay there for life (if the club wants them).
rico – You cheeky monkey
hello dennis – me, cheeky……
Gazzap… great point about Ashley ‘Gooner’ Young.
The greatest scouting network in the world and they forgot to look over the fence!
Jeez you two… get a cyber room! haha!
Like Ashley Cole, David Bentley, Sol Campbell.. loyal..
I’d have Young and Richards – both lifelong Arsenal supporters. When was the last time we had an Arsenal supporter playing for us?
Geoff
Yes Geoff, and we got nothing for him when he left when we could have made at least 8 mill for him.
and last i checkd There was no Inflated fees and it was a little easyer to buy players back then were you got a little value.
do you Think Essian, Drogba, and other players would have been Bought for so much back then?
i dont.
Avenell, got your e-mail late last night!
The bollocks mate! haha! We loved them!
by the way Ashley Young is a Gooner. he loved arsenal his whole life. was gutted when arsene said no.
DDM – You’re having me on. A little lady with a big bang. Opportuntiy for some double entrendres me thinks …..or just a plain smutty base sense of humour
But Wrighty, it’s not as if this team even looks particularly well coached these days either – the football we’re playing is lightyears behind where we were 5 years ago (or even last year), we’re static in midfield, our passing is slack and innaccurate, we have no penetration behind the frontmen without Walcott…
We were tactically outmatched against Porto, but also against Wigan – this isn’t a well drilled, well coached bunch of kids at the moment, it’s a spineless collection of talented teenagers with very little in the way of direction or invention.
im sure i saw somthing in the paper with Ashley Young saying HE WAS a arsenal fan.
but not any more
Brighty,
Great shout about Micah Richards, I’d love him at Arsenal………….
Avenell… we got the best years out of Sol… Cashley is just that type of person… and Bentley wasn’t good enough.
Bentley was shit and we chucked him out. sol was loyal to us til he was shit and we chucked him out (when he was at spurs he was not at a top team). Cole is a thick little turd who is very much the exception as was purely driven by greed.
Raif… once a gooner always a gooner… we’re like the CIA.
Pedro.. Would you like a couple of them, I can understand why you wouldn’t wear them (ID), you can have a pair as prizes for a christmas quiz or the fantasy league if you want..
Or favourite poster.. (save me posting them)
Pedro.. it was there loyalty.. We never wanted to sell them.. We have a terrible record with english players..
Pedro – lol good point.
Also Geoff –
Spurs chairman Daniel Levy has told former manager Juande Ramos he can only take winger Aaron Lennon to Real Madrid for £20m. (Daily Mirror)
if that isint Inflated Tranfer fee then i dont know what is. i wonder what the fee would be if it was a english club after him????
Jimbo,
Agreed about that too mate. The team do look slack and lacks penetration. We had bundles of that.
A factor could be down to a lack of confidence. When on top of your game you have that extra zip and can go that extra yard.
Its obvious that this side are lacking confidence at the minute.
Look at us against Manchester United, full of confidence and a superb performance.
Wenger has never been great as a tactician in my opinion, I think he’s just been very good at buying the right players.
We’re missing a linking player like Rosicky or Hleb this season and that’s what it making us look so poor.
Brighty – I’d actually discharge some moisture at the anticipation of having a forward line of Villa, Santa Cruz, Vela and Eddie with TW14 thrown in the mix too
telegraph’s transfer list says possible targets of alonso, yaya toure and kalou form epl and one experianced player (well 22 years is an experienced player in AW dictionary) Yohan Cabaye of lille…but bid of 12mn i dont think they will sell him for 12
You are right there QoS.
Wenger isn’t the greatest tactician. He basically sets out his stall and doesn’t worry about about the opposition.
Pedro – Jealousy’s a terrible thing my friend, you need to get over it and move on, it could end up ruining you
yes wrighty!
I can see a hiding for boro tomorrow….and about the ‘big name’ signing, im telling you guys, we WILL be buying in Jan!!
rico – you are Le Grove’s resident Le Cheeky Minkey!
and he throws his bottle every now and then
Yo Micheal P!
I think so too mate.
I’m having a bet on Arsenal winning 4-0.
‘Boro are cruising for a bruising!
Avenell, they are great, we’d love to keep one an do a Christmas prize for the other! Let me know how much they are and I’ll square up with you!
DDM… I have issues… ;-(
we miss rosicky more than ever. he gave us width, trickery, vision, can score grea goals, assists, and….he tracks back like you wouldnt believe.
Come back Tomas!!
“Boro are cruising for a bruising”??????
I just realised how lame that sounded……………
*COUGHS*
Anyway, Geoff, how those Hippos??
Sarge – ‘Tis true my friend, a little lady with a huge weapon in her hand
Pedro,
Do you want a tissue for your issue?
yes wrighty! what are the odds on that? let me know, i’ll slap some money down!
QoS I agree wth you there. His substitutions of late bear that out. There has only and still is only one way of playing with AW. When it works it’s sublime and when it’s not working we look clueless. He has a system and recruits players to make it work.
I don’t buy into this ‘I have intelligent players’ twaddle. Intelligent players can solve problems on the pitch and adjust their tactics accordingly. AW programmes his players to play his way and if all else fails trust to good fortune.
haha! Yes please wrighty… i’m getting tear juice all over my key board!
My one and only hope is that Wenger realises that keeping the fans onside is actually quite important, and the somewhat shameful booing of Eboue should have showed that.
DDM I like it. A lady that can bang all day whilst holding a stiff rod in her hand.
lol.. ddm.. your discharge comment had me cracking there
Pedro.. There your blog christmas pressies as a way of saying thank you for all the work you and geoff put in mate..
You’re a star Avenell! Thanks, if you ever need tickets or anything, you just let the ticket master know!
wrighty i need an avatar…help!??
Nikki-B could be going out on Loan in Jan.
Gallas could be Sold to Juventus,
and Rosicky is to see FC Bayern Munich’s Doctor about his Hamstring,
Michael P
make a account on WordPress. and then add a Picture as ur Avater on ur Profile / Dashboard
If Gallas goes do we need a stopper type CB or do we need a footballing CB?
raif , nice one mate.
at the risk of sounding like an ass…..wordpres?s???
Haangeland’s not a bad shout at all, you know…
An avatar you say???
Micheal P my matey. Your best bet is asking IT genius Pedro, one of the founders of Le Grove.
He sometimes pops in on here so with a bit luck he maybe around today.
I think you need to go to WordPress or something mate!
QoS – A stopper that can at least find a red / yellow shirt in the Keown / Adams mould. Safety first and aesthetics second.
gallas and nicci will go before we buy.what will that get us about 11 million= 22 songs
Michael P
http://wordpress.com/
go on that Website and make ur self a Profile.
once you do that let me know i can help you as you go along
raif…am signed up…what now?
Qos,
I think Djourou can be our dominant centre back and he can use the ball well too, which is an added bonus.
If Gallas goes then hopefully Toure, (who is similar to Gallas) can step up to the plate again.
Signing wise, I’d like Micah Richards. He’s a Gooner and I think he is a superb defender. He can also play DM.
iv’e got a good feeling tomorrow we will win,boro have injury’s so its a chance to capitalies.im predicting adebayor to get a brace after his little break during mid-week.cesc will be as will van persie,im predicting 2-0 0r 3-1 come on you gunners we need this
Pedro – Maybe your ‘issues’ could be resolved with a little Hippo love
Michael P
ok mate what u do now is go on to the top left were it says MY ACCOUNT.
click on that and then a drop down menu will come down. on that click on Edit Profile
on that screen you will see were you can upload a Picture as your Avatar
BBK,
How you doing??
HOLD IT DOWN RUDEBOYS.
Who will play in Midfield tomorrow?
Denilson’s stats surprised me the other day.
Geoff
who da man? You da man. I’m where you are @.
Hey! We in Australia are lucky to be in a recession. Well we could be in a depression
What a load of crap wenger spreads over the media. Give us a Cup or go. End of
As an Arsenal supporter, since ’71, I don’t feel lucky/fortunate/gifted/whatever.
Grovers,
I just wanna say this, before I forget!
Who says that ladies dont know anything about football?
QoS, Rico, Peaches, you all do lady kind proud!
Even my G’friend comes out with the occasional remark that I think “hold on, she’s right there!”
Except the other night she let herself down a little. She asked if Arsenal were playing Portugal……….Almost there! I had to laugh! haha
Thank you dennis – that is sweet
Cheeky Minkey Me…..
Out to Christmas shop, how boring!!
Catch you all later, have a good day
All I can say is when The Club sub contracts out the job to find the right men (manger & Pat Rices replacement) they get someone like a David Dein to pick the right candidate.
Thanks Wrighty, that’s appreciated.
Wrighty.. At least the ghost of the mad axeman didn’t get you last night..
Fuck off!! by the way..
Hey Wrighty I bet a lot of AKB’s thought that too! You’re right about our girls though, they know what they’re talking about.
DISCLAIMER…
F**k off! is Wrighty’s way of greeting me and was not at any way aimed at you loverly ladies!!
Michael P
whats your Status Report, Soldier?
Over!!!!!
Avenell, I was lucky mate…..Fuck off.
Hey Geoff, whats that mate?
I think he’s lost raif!
nuqneH Wrighty7 & Avenell
Ha ha ha, oh dear, hot off the Online Gooner press…………
The Three Amigos.
If Arsene Wenger really thinks these three clueless chimps are the best available… I suggest sell Eboue for £1million, Song for £2m and unbelievably Bendtner for £5m and replace them with Gavin McCann for £0.5, Jonathan Spector £0.5 and Carlton Cole £1 mil. I defy anybody to say that these three useless pr*ts would be any worse than our very own Three Amigos – and think of the profit that would be available for Arsene not to spend in the transfer window.
choy
HAHAHAHAHA
Wrighty7 & Avenell
by the way that was Hello in KLINGON
who the fook is jonathan spector??!
I will now raise a very important issue, which will require careful consideration –
Chips ‘n’ Gravy or Chips ‘n’ Curried Sauce????
This is SERIOUS shit gentlemen, and Pedro
Holla Raif!
dennisdamenace
hahahaha you remember the drink still.
im sticking with Melted Butter and a Half pint of Beer
I Will YOUTUBE it aswell
Hi Raif.. I just looked all through the comments to see who you were talking too!
I went to the first Star Trek film in the “70′s” and left early I just don’t get it!!
ANY Arsenal central midfield would have a high number of passes. its down to the football we play. so much play goes through the middle of the park on the floor compared with other teams. Its not that Denilson is doing particularly well. He also plays is every game. I would not be at all surprised if he has made more passes than any other player in the prem this season, but its lies, damned lies and statistics I’m afraid.
I can still recognise class when I see it and Den is not a class player.
Great post, Geoff! This is the moment when Arsene has to pick himself up, consider his legacy and change.
yes raif…have uplaoded a gravatar…..
DennisDaMenace,
You are either a Northerner (chips and gravy) OR a Welshman (chips and curry sauce)
For me it would depend on whether I was going out tonight. If I was, I’d leave the curry sauce alone. Nobody wants to smell curry breath on a night out!
If I was staying in I’d opt for curry.
on wordpress…now???
avenell
haha, i dont even watch star trek my self. but i have seen the Movies and there not bad.
the latest one thats comming out looks very good. i just saw the trailer so i thought id brush up on my KLINGON
wrighty all good m8,got a good feeling for tomorrow
Michael P
i thought you was M.I.A soldier
I thought a KLINGON was something left in your pants after using the loo!
michael p.. you do have to sign in to WP. You will then see a grey bar on the top of any wordpress blog.
im back from the depths of hell…..
Me too BBK
Jonathon Spector, wasn’t he the fella responsible for the ‘wall of sound’…….ha ha ha!!
Wrighty7
- hahaha that is true. but the Klingon race came out first lol “i think”
Michael P – welcome back.. i see you have Debriefed yourself with a AVATAR of your own
Welcome to the Revolution Soldier
raif – You’re a sick man fella
thank you very much for all the help boys….raif and choy, take a bow….you’re both gents and scholars!
yes raif….the revolutions is gaining momentum!
I don’t know about the wall of sound, but the way I see The Arsenal at the moment, Slaughter & The Dog’s “Where have all the boot boys gone” is ringing more true.
…..this current crop of fancy pants may as well be wearing ballet shoes
michael p.. always a pleasure
Wrighty – How dare you sir!
Gravy – Northerner.
Curried Sauce (of the Chinese variety) – Southerner.
Where on God’s green earth did the Welsh come into this????
Surely the only sauce they’d want with their chips would be mint sauce, the wool wearing throwbacks
dennisdamenace –
ill stick to my Promise. if we do spend in the window i wil drink the BUTTER BEER.
Michael P – and no problem mate . always willing to help a Fellow Arsenal revolutionary
hey raif you good m8
pink ballet shoes
Rail.. this was better..
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=FCARADb9asE
Crumbs!
http://www.onlinegooner.com/exclusive/index.php?id=904
There must be someone within Arsenal who gathers press/media/fan comments and feeds it back to AW etc
Or maybe not????….
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-why-bendtner-will-come-good
this is the exciting news of today
http://www.sport.co.uk/news/Football/11085/Senderos_ready_to_return_to_the_Emirates.aspx
I agree on Nik B.
Wenger will be live on web chat on Tuesday at 3pm, I hope I get a chance to speak to him!
We need a win against ‘boro, we have good history against them, 3-0 to Arsenal.
Wengers just saying that so he can get the full £5 million for him!!
I hope so avenell!!
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-webchat
Here is the form, I’ve just realised all the questions will be like an old style radio questions and answers where listeners write in with their questions.
Morning all
I’m disappointed that Senderos would return to the fold if he hasn’t been playing – surely the point of being on loan is to get more experience not less time on the pitch.
Currently Arsene seems more set to destroy his young players’ confidence by not adding experience than to build them up.
Strange, very strange . . . . .
Fucking marvellous…
Afternoon all
finest cuts…where can i find the live web chat?
ok…i just see the link!
I’ve just read the Bendtner article, good backup from the club for their player, but I think we all know that he’s financially very well rewarded, and yes he doesn’t get results/his reward after putting in so much hard work.
“However, Wenger is sure that if the 20-year-old continues to put the work in he will get his just desserts.”
Yeah if you keep playing like that Bendtner you will, maybe Birmingham fancy our shiny booted striker back? I think that would be a good reward for wearing those pink boots and making everyone think that Arsenal fans think wearing pink boots is cool. We already have a club uniform, perhaps boots should be included in that.
BOY BETTER KNOW
yeah im good mate
is hoytey playing for boro tomorrow?
pedro,
what’s fucking marvellous
ive always backed nikkib to come good…i think he has lost his way at the moment, the hard work seems to have made way to swaggering around like he has made it already??
Raif!?
its me!
Arsene Wenger’s live webchat with pre-screened questions that he’ll have up to four days to consider an answer to (those that will be answered that is).
if senderos is being recalled you can bet your bottom dollar gallas is leaving,any takers
Senderos coming back… it’s like the unwanted cat you dump in the woods, only to arrive home and find it on your damn door step…
Kelsey, if we sell Gallas without a world class replacement… Wenger has truly lost it.
senderos coming back is just fucking marvellous. another fucking sub-standard player. Hopefully wenger will get rid of him in the summer as he clearly tried to do this summer.
what will it take to shock wenger into stop having faith in crap players? a 5th place finish?
i for one would much rather senderos than song in the squad…
I would much rather have G Hoyte at the back than Ponderos.
Michael P…. it’s like asking you which terminal illness you’d rather have…
Rob The Goon
Woop Woop. whats cracking man.
The Times today reports that juve are interested in Gallas and we are interested in the guy from Fulham – name starts with H
Senderos is better than Song any day of the week, I’d rather do a straight swap for a Hull City defender than have Song.
Pedro. LOL
Queue…
‘I see a lot of similar traits to Tony Adams’
Well, unless Senderos is a heavy drinker… I haven’t noticed any…
Hangeland
can’t you see it,wenger has lost it completely,he still thinks this squad walks on water.he wont sign anyone of note and by the way where’s bitchslap gone very quiet on him
Rob The Goon
how u feel about the Game Tomorrow? you think we ganna get the 3 points?
also watch this
http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/terminatorsalvation/large.html
however stupid gallas has been in the past, and recently, he is a world class defender.
Losing him in jan would be a big blow, especailly considering the current form of our defence. Whatever the line up at CB, it HAS to be WG + someone else.
JD will come good, but I think we need a monster CB to come in Jan to shore things up and allow JD to improve his game with less pressure….
So he ain’t good enough for AC but he’s good enough for us!
Says it all!!
Adams was the best defender of his generation. Senderos aint even the best defender in his household (he has a pet dog)
i say keep gallas till end of the season. it would be Harsh to get rid of him in Jan
but the flip side of that is how much is he Hated in the Dressing room. it could turn out to be a growning Negative Effect as the season goes on.
only Wenger could make that call.
AC aren’t stupid. If they had a top defender on their hands he’d be in the team. thats why they are sending him back.
Ringo Starr the best drummer in the world.. He ain’t even the best drummer in the Beatles..
so milan are basically saying thanks Arsene, we tried to get a good CB on the cheap by raiding your squad, again, but in fact, we’ve decided to SPEND in JANUARY by bringing in a PROVEN CB…….nice….
milan are looking at mexex….how many times have we been linked with the guy ?? ffs!!!
mexes even…
hatrick!!! oh yeah!!!
haha, true Gallas… his girlfriend is probably better!
We should have a look at AC’s shopping list and hijack it!
Adebayor:
‘We have the best team since I joined the club,’
‘We just have to have more faith.’
http://www.metro.co.uk/sport/football/article.html?Adebayor%3a_Im_so_glad_I_didnt_quit_Arsenal&in_article_id=443840&in_page_id=43
Can’t you see this is the best team???
It doesn’t matter that we’ve had seven defeats this season, this is still the best Arsenal team since Adebayor joined…believe!
I guess it’s because now we have Adebayor!
Finest, money can blind your judgement at the best of times!
Raddy….I see your point, but it pisses me right off watching Bentner fuck about, only to score the occaisional goal. He staggers round in his gorgeous boots…breaking down a half decent move…..what a shaper?!! There are others…I could go on…
Who here thinks AW will play Eboue on the left of a
Denlison-Song-Fabregas-Eboue
?
Eve after last week I am sure he still won’t start with the players showing promise on the left like Wilshire, Gibbs etc. and will continue with this shite?
Wenger must be dishing out some strange pills or is hynotising them or something. I think he means this is the worst team he’s played in since he joined. perhaps he just enjoys having a good old laugh with Song and Eboue?
Raif,
i think gallas will go in january.whatever went on it is disrupting our game.we were dreadful against wigan,burnley and porto.is wenger still in charge ? one wonders.if he doesn’t act now our season is finished.senderos coming back is laughable,but will wenger go and buy a seasoned quality defender if there is even one available ?
So, MP Mexes is NOT one of your three mysterious January purchases then
Great Blog – really hit the nail on the head.
Wenger has a chance to rectify all this and I think we can forgive him this season if in January and next summer he recruits some quality (with experience) to the squad.
I think what really is a shame is how optimistic I was at the start of the season. I don’t think we were given enough credit for how close we got to winning the title last season. The departure of Flamini and Hleb was disappointing, but I didn’t think it’d have this effect because that’s the only feasable explaination I can think of as to why our season has gone tits up. I’ve read people post on this site saying Hleb was shit etc, but he was a bit of a magician really – Ballack even said had Bayern bought him they would have won the Champion’s League…hmm.
Boro will be another nervy affair and it could be a painful 1-0 win…I hope not, I hope we score a few, but that’s just an Arsenal fan thibnking with his heart. My head is telling me that it will be a struggle and even though I like your blog Geoff, I think we’re out of the title race already.
You might not agree, but we should concentrate on the FA cup and Champion’s league and bring some pride back to the club.
kelsey
yeah the gallas issue is a funny one indeed. i can see both happening. staying or going.
im not taken by the Sender comming back storys. ofocurse i would rather have us buy a new CD
i guess the big question is who is Available, and at Wengers Price
well ho ho to arsene for not wanting to pay over-inflated prices for players…..he certainly doesn’t take the same high moral stand when it comes to paying this overhyped undeserving bunch of prima donnas overinflated wages….we have the 2nd highest wage bill in the pl…the highest ticket prices of any club.
I know this has been said before but we must re-evaluate our spending power.
Thanks to the complete dorks running our economy, the £ has lost almost 40% against the Euro in the last 6 months !!
So, the cost of buying a foreign player has risen accordingly.
Which is why AW will buy from the EPL (if at all)
players are available….well, to every other club anyway!
I think eduardo coming back will be a big plus point, rosicky we should rule out for the rest of the season….as for the players like song and eboue should be shipped out in jan….they are clearly not up to the Arsenal standard. I think eboue may still have a future at the club as a right back understudy to Sagna, but that is it. And he will only improve if that is where he plays…Wenger keeps playing him (like everyone else) out of position…go back to when we beat Real Madrid in their own back yard…eboue gave a masterclass in the right back position in that game!!
This january, we need a CB, a CM and an out-and-out winger.
In RvP, Ade, Vela and Eduardo, we have a fantastic strike force, no doubt.
Strngthen in the middle of the park and out on the wing – Provide the strikers with good supply and we will be fine.
And on tomorrows line up…..if wenger goes with the like of Cesc, Denislon and Ramsay, all mainly CM’s…..why not throw in LJ to have freedom to get at their fullbacks??? The guy is pure class and the best option we have out wide at the moment!!
big raddy…..going on your comment about only buying from the EPl…..who would those players be?
Alonso, Hangelaand, A.Young for me please!
what is arsene waiting for, a player transfer fee crash? with players such as ManU, Chelsea, and now Man city, it is foolish to think that player transfer fees will come down…for example, we could have bought David Villa for around £20m about 2 years ago. now that would not be possible. and to think that players like Song, Eboue, Diaby earn more in a week for their sh*t , uninterested , disgraceful performances, than most fans make in a year of hard work makes me sick. i’m not a fan of denilson, but atleast he tries
Welcome to Le Grove Jo… sorry for the delay in releasing your comment.
Michael. I am sure Song will start tomorrow. Further, he will play Diaby, if he is fit.alongside Denilson, that will be the midfield.
No place for Ramsay (he played on Weds).
If indeed we are ‘forced’ into buying EPL based players, then the four we SHOULD buy IMO are – Ashley Young, Santa Cruz, Essien and Wheater! Chances? A big fat fucking ZERO!
Everytime I see that teams before kickoff and Song and Denison are both there, a little piece of hope inside of me dies.
Ramsey and Wilshere are class. I like class. I pay money to watch class not mediocrity.
I think the EPL players we should sign are;
Alex
Tevev
Alonso
Maybe even Palacios or Valencia from Wigan, might add a cheap bit of width!
gazzap – spot on mate! same here.
good to see people writing down there christmas list ..
but the thing you dont all realize is that Arsenals father is Ebenezer scrooge
Gazzap – I’m exactly the same, everytime i see the starting lineup and see Song, Denilson and Eboue, i shake my head and lose a little more interest………
wenger will
tell you dudu is like a new signing, toure will be back soon , bitchslap is almost ready , and so is ramsey , and jack , he will evevate simpson to cover for bendnters loan deal …
and rosicky should return soon ( AGAIN ) ….
we might sell gallas , (more like he wants to leave ) and we will replace him with some aging nobody from a Siberian football team !
If the Bindippers let him go, then Alonso.
No way will AV sell Young. Or MC, Stephen Ireland.
I hope that WG stays, but if he doesn’t then I would love to see Agger come to THOF.
Would Pool let us have two players …. I doubt it.
Glen. The Tevez call is great. He would really liven us up – superb player.
I haven’t seen enough of Wheater to make a judgement
At this second young would be nice, but when theo is back young wouldn’t get near the team, so would be a big waste of money considering how much he’d cost! Elano would be a fantastic signing, he’s the one realistic signing I’d like us to make from the prem. Ireland would be amazing but city would never sell him unfortunately.
If Juve want Gallas, then we should look to swap him for Melberg.
From the Prem.. Alonso, Young and Bullard.
Also get PV04 back to educate some of these youngsters on what it is to be a player for The Arsenal
i think arteta would fit in nicely….
DennisDaMenace,
Sorry about the Northern, Welsh thing!
I’ve been watching too much Gavin and Stacy. In one episode all the Welsh girls are eating curry sauce and chips and Gavin comments that the Welsh eat curry sauce on everything!
Hope I didn’t offend you matey!
A, I like Theo but if you offered me him or Young, I would take Young. Not sure why Fabio has not got him in the England first team. I think its down to TW being at a top 4 club – they do get more favour when it comes to selecting the England squad.
Pool wont sell Alonso mid-season no way at all. Barry is def staying at villa and our hope of getting Alonso was based on Barry to Pool, so forget Alonso.
So the car manufacturers were turned down?
Oh dear…
Theo is a CF not a winger, he only plays there because it’s the only way he’ll get a game at the moment, that and the fact that AW refuses to buy an actual winger. Hence the ridiculous situations of having Diaby, Denilson, Eboue etc etc play out wide. We have NO wingers!!!
i dont think any of the people youve mentioned we would be able to sign !
1. the money
2. there our competition ..
it would be like selling cesc to the chevs or man U .. or liverpool …
alonso – aggers – tevez
dreaming ..
as for young .. i agree with A , no need we have theo ..
wenger will pool from europe or buy bargain basement EPL players at a stretch ..
but he will sell prior ..
No doubt if AW did actually buy Ashley Young he’d be currently sat on the bench watching the inept Eboue play wide left and wide right, fucking clown.
I’d like Young.
Imagine Young down the left and Theo down the right!
Their pace would scare the shit out of the other side!
DenniDaMenace,
What did you go for in the end?
Forget Young, he would cost £20m easily because O Neill is a cunt, a good manager but a cunt.
A cheaper and more realistic option would be Barnetta of Bayern Leverkusen.
What about Simao or Maxi Rodriguez?
I’ll even take Joaquin!
raif…you still there?
just came back from lunch…
terminator salvation looks deep!
as for the game tomorrow…
well…our history isnt that against them isnt that good apart from the 7-0 hiding we gave them. But we have captain cesc now so we’ll take the 3 points thank you very much!
i think joaquin would be another reyes…not in terms of ability but mentality…hes a country boy and wont last in london!
Stu – The reason we’re in this shitty situation is because we always go for the cheaper options. If AW and Co want this club to move forward then they will have to go after the Ashley Young’s of this world, we’ve already got a team full of cut-price, under achieving nobodies………..
Wrighty – Always chips ‘n’ curried sauce fella, always!
I suppose so DDM. But can you really see Wenger paying 20m for anyone? because I cant, unless someone forces him to do it, and with our board that will never happen.
Ohhh and with a side order of cold Peroni…….
Absolutely Stu, but as long as Wenger persists with his youth/transfer policies we will be forever playing catchup with ManUre, Chavs and Bindippers, and we’re gonna find it harder and harder to fend off the likes of Villa, Citeh etc for an ECL position……
Ha ha nice one matey!
Did you read my 2:25 comment mate DDM? It will explain what I meant earlier!
I know that the club have a lot of scouts but are they all youth scout because anytime the club are linked with someone from outside the prem, they are always young, never established players.
Why aren’t we ever linked with a 25y.o. from Italy or spain or even germany? I know its not Wengers style but surely he doesnt control all the scouting.
Wrighty – The Gavin & Stacey comment had you teetering on the brink of yellow cards ville fella
You know what worries me?
I used to laugh at the Spuds ambitions. Every year they go on about finishing in the top four and I laugh about it.
I’d say, “You won’t take our top four spot, and is that all your after? We want the League”
Unless things change we might find the Spuds ambitions becoming our own…….
So who do ye think will win the toon-tyne dance off??
Im going for the mackem mover(sunderland).
Ha ha okay DDM!
Goddamit!!! Lets spend some money!!!
Honestly Stu, can you imagine the repercussions if AW were to not add to his squad in January, lose another one or two ‘established’ players in the summer, buy one experienced player again and basically promote from within. The same cyclic crap, two steps forward, three steps back. People are disillusioned with it all NOW, imagine what it will be like if nothings changes by the start of next season????
wrighty…the spuds have put us in the shade with their spending…..shame to say it, but very true.
Don’t get on the wrong side of the Joke Police Wrighty…
Sorry Pedro, just thought I’d cause some controversy on a Friday afternoon!
Heaven Forbid, Wrighty
Do you remeber those 100 things to do with a Soud that used to be in the fazine (can’t remember which). Very funny.
I know life is cyclical ….. we were in the Wilderness between the 30′s and the 70′s. A period of 40 years. And the Spuds have been a laughing stock since 61-2. So, I guess there is a case for role reversal. But I pray it is not in my lifetime !!
(badly expressed but you get the point…… )
Michael P… Spurs have put us in the shade in the same way a Chavy Lottery winner could put a normal millionaire in the shade.
They’ve spent a bucket load on classless shite… I wouldn’t want to go down that road…
Pedro, im not saying that they have bought well…..but the bottom line is that they HAVE bought!!!
If it was a bad joke (… or even a great joke)… DDM will be on you…
Oh no!
I don’t mean that the Spuds will ever be in our position!!! NEVER!
I just meant we may find ourselves aiming for 4th spot every year!
Personally I cant see Wenger buying anyone of note in the window. It will come and go without even a twitch. It will be more of the same. The real kick in the balls from the summer window was Wenger saying that e would go to the wire to finalise deals and them he shows up at the reserve match the night the transfer window closed. He is a cunt for that alone.
DDM.
What will happen is that the fans will vote with their feet.
In a time of economic strife, people will not pay £50+ to watch sub-standard shite. We will start to see empty spaces at the Emirates. Just look at the empty stadia in Italy
Rob The Goon
im here mate. T4 looks alright. hopfully it dont flop.
as for the game i Expect a win like i do in EVERY game. but then my head says can you really trust they cant pull off a win with the way we play with players like Song and Eboue in our team. hopfully we pull off a win.
we should have added Nasri, Alonso and a CB to our squad, whilst holding onto the flamster and hleb.
Now THAT would be a team to push for the title,
Song wouldnt get anywhere near the 1st team!
Wenger is a victim of his own success and us fans have got so used to seeing high quality performances week in and week out that we have become utterly INTOLERANT of anything that falls short. I think it’s time to RE-THINK what’s actually going on. ALL teams have rocky patches, bad performances, and players who sometimes seem like their not good, enough, not bothered or have lost the plot. Boring football and dud performances come along much more frequently and other clubs and even fans of Chelsea and Man U, Liverpool just accept that as normal. Constant complaining is only making things worse!
TIMELINE
Fans BOO team on Saturday. Team performs poorly in mid-week. Fans complain that players don’t care. So, now I ask, what’s going to happen this Saturday…?
Which of the Spuds bought in the spending spree would you like at THOF ?
For me, it is only Woody.
players who i would like from the EPL.
Alonso
Upson
Barry
Ireland
Which Spud would I take?
Probably Jacket and I’d have CURRY sauce on it!
Will the spuds bring out a 50 year anniversary replica kit?
Like we have our “89″ one they could have there’s done in black and white with there shorts over there Knee’s and steel toecapps Nike “blacksmiths ” boots.. and smoke a pipe during the warm up..
Nice Tomao.
& We are going to win on Saturday
LOL Avenell
timao
i Disagree.
Wenger his a Victim of his own stubborness,
he wont Buy when he needs to. and he carrys on playing the crap players who just cant believer as much as his preasis says so
raif that’s an emotional assertion which does not take account of the facts
Raif,
This is a new phenomena. It is only in the past 3 seasons. Prior to that he bought every year.
Could the stadium be the culprit ?
Timao… if you set the bar high… you have to maintain that level… that’s life. You are just making excuses for Wengers shortcomings by pointing out that once upon a time expectation wasn’t so high.
As for your booing conclusions… pretty weak. You think one player gets booed on a Saturday and they don’t get over it for 4 days? You think they are even thinking about it?
Come on… they are professional athletes, not fragile wimps… they are also get suitably recompensed.
If I got booed by my fans, I’d work my bollocks off to make sure that didn’t happen again.
Oh, and proof of that is in this question ….. how many of the Invincibles were Home Grown ?
Big Raddy / avenell
the ONLY thing they will bring out witch is a 50 year anniversary would be ….
the 50 year anniversary DVD RE-Marsterd 4 – 4 Draw on Blue Ray
Titled 4 – 4 “I WAS” – “WAS YOU”
Pedro, I’m not saying that having an entire stadium booing the team (boo one player and you boo the team) had an effect on the team’s subsequent performance. I’m not saying it did not have an effect. I merely observe what happened.
I see the i was 4-4 banter is being cracked open again then! haha
A reel to reel: “My Grandad was “
i dont understand this booing thing….. I am an aberdeen fan as well and if a game goes to half time with aberdeen being 1-0 down the players get booed off and the same at full time but it doesnt have the effect it has had on eboue on any of them
tomorrow requires a complete performance, 3 or 4 goals, and a clean sheet.
this current squad needs stability and after the chelsea and wigan wins, we need to build on this and get a decent run going. Who is to say we wont be top, or a lot nearer the top if we just focus on a good winning run. the scouse are coming up soon (is that home or away?) and beating them would go a long way in climbing back up the table.
The bottom line is that wenger siimply has to buy – and he will – the fact is that he cant come out now and say he is going to buy because it will undermine the likes of song, eboue and nikB….he wants total focus and commitment from these guys until january when he can actually do something about the situation.
Stubborn or not, Arsene and Arsenal know thet we need a minimum of 2 new, worldclass and experienced signings.
We are Arsenal FFS!!!!
Raif…. us oldfellas were referring to the Spurs Double team of 1961. Well before you were born !!
Pedro. I think Eboue’s response will be ‘Fuck Off, you bastards, I am going to earn my £30k a week in the sun’ (if anyone is foolish enough to sign the clown)..
And I agree that Wenger should be aiming to maintain the high level he has set. And surely no-one would say that Wenger doesn’t think the same thing. So what’s the problem with that?
With special ariel pictures from the ” Graf Zeppelin cam”..
timao –
emotional assertion which does not take account of the facts ???
what Facts? Facts that Wenger wont buy? lies about the clubs Finances? the fact we havent Won anything in 4 / 5 years?
the guy is stubborn, he wants to do and win things his Way and no other, and to be honest Its not working. we are lossing our Place as a Top 4 team, one more season with this Medioca Team and we wont be in the Top for at all.
other then that i 2nd what Pedro says
talking about 4-4 look at these comparisons on the last 6 league games, since that game.
us;won 3 goals for 5 conceded 9
spurs; won 4 goals for 8 conceded 5
bedntner has scored 1 league goal this season
Thanks Kenny, I think you have just given us a categorical and definitive reason why it is not a good idea to boo your own team!
Pedro…im with you and Raif.
The standard was set….wenger should have focussed on maintaing success, at th very least, and build on further successes from there.
You dont see other clubs who are consistantly schieving and winning turning around the next season and saying “oh well, we need to go into transition for a year or 3″.
We really shouldnt be were we are right now……..
Timao, I could point out that the temperature was 4 degrees warmer in Porto and we lost… so what happens if the temperature increases on Saturday?
There is no correlation.
The problem is that the standard has dropped and we’ve watched it drop consistently for 3 years.
As for complaining… people are not complaining on here… they are discussing the issues and possible solutions. Even if we were top of the league fans would still dissect the team… that’s what football is all about.
I only recently found out that Wenger did the same thing at Monaco that he is doing now.
He won a few titles with them and then started his “experiment”. They turned into a midtable team and its all his fault.
Big Raddy surely that 1961 Double win for them has been Writen out of the History Books its been that long??
as im sure it has not effect on todays history whats so ever.
i think they will have more chance making more money from
the 4 – 4 “I Was” “Was You” Blue Ray dvd
Stu
Yes thast right i think he got sacked 4 or 5 games into the season, then he went to Japan
The fact that we have never finished outside the top four, that we regard Champions League football as a right and that despite what everyone seems to fear, we have once again qualified for the knock-out phase, and on top of that we are only eight points off the lead in the Premiership with less than half the season played having beaten Man U and Chelsea along the way.
It’s funny how everyone has just realised that mess Wenger made of Monaco when he left. I didn’t know either. Good old Myles is good for somethinh eh.
A, Elano is a big pile of crud. The guy can’t even run.
You are of course right Raif.
But the ’61 team is what they base their delusion that they are a big team upon …. fools
timao
can you please tell me who we have lost to aswell?
Our quality has dropped, but
Chelsea have spent £500 million,
Liverpool have spent £200 million
Man U have spent £200 million.
If we had of spent that sort of money plus the stadium, we would be in £700 million of debt in a reccession, not the best place to be!!
We would then be in a Leeds position, and have to sell our best players for Fuck all anyway..
anyone ever been to boro,the shithole of england.the only good thing i can remember was leaving there as quick as possible.
looking at my stats we are conceding 2 goals a game,that isn’t even uefa cup form.if you add the 4 v spurs which makes 13 conceded in 7 games.
marseilles is a good parallel he won 1 title and invented the word stubborn,until he was eventually sacked.
Timao, of course we regard Champions League football as a right. Arsenal sell the most expensive season ticket in the world, we have the second highest Wage bill in the country and we’ve just moved into the most state of the art stadium in world football.
We are 8 points off the top of the league… we’ve lost 5 games and we look very unconvincing.
Fans are worried for the sake of it… most know what it takes to win the league and we know that what we currently have as a squad isn’t good enough. We don’t want to fight it out for fourth every years… we want a team that will compete.
Is that not a fair ask?
i meant monaco
Geoff – I see your still using the term KIDS. In doing so you are indirectly giving these overpaid primadonna’s an out. KIDS more often than not do not have to take responsibility for their actions. The same concept follows through to football.
How often after shite displays have we heard that the team was primarily made up of the KIDS. Sickens my arse. Stop using the phrase please.
Pedro- “there is no correlation between smoking and lung cancer” – at least that’s what the tobacco companies used to say! And I’m all for dissecting the team but I do believe that people have got a tendency, when things don’t go their way, to just complain. That’s what I”m addressing. And how can you say you watched the standard drop consistently for three years when we had a great season last year, (cf 2005-06) cruelly fucked up by injury to RVP and Eduardo.
Myles is a twat.
Agree Pedro.
What’s more, we want fighting spirit and conviction from our team. Too often this year, that has been missing.
Plus, we are now extremely hard to watch – bordering on boring I would suggest.
This Monaco argument is a crock.
To base your criticism on anything other than his Arsenal record isn’t logical.
He is the best (or maybe second best,) manager we have EVER had. His record speaks for itself.
Even SAF – who is IMHO the best manager of all time – had a lean spell.
But I realise I am wasting my time defending him on Le Grove. I get accused of being an AKB, and some folk only want to see the negatives, which at the moment are many.
You don’t know what you have, ’til it’s gone……
Wengers youth policy at Monaco didn’t work? Wasn’t it wenger who found Arsenal’s greatest player when he was there?
Was Dennis Bergkamp at Monaco?
Timao… third in the league and a quarter final in the champions league isn’t a great season.
It was nice to compete up until Feb… but that wasn’t a great season. Watching your team capitulate is never an enjoyable spectacle.
Smoking and lung cancer is a probable correlation… your correlation is like trying to connect smoking with the declining bat population.
We are competing on all fronts except Carling Cup. raif I know who we lost to this season, so do we all. but just look at the example of Harry Redknapp, renowned for giving players encouragement and Roy Keane, renowned for berating players. OK (and please try this without bringing our unillustrious neighbours into it if you can) what sort of fan do you want to be – a Redknapp or a Keane?
Big Raddy
i think what the lads are trying to say with this Monaco Wenger things is
Wenger tried this same idea with the Younsters, and when for the Youth Project. and it ended with him loosing his Job.
tho i dont think Wenger would loose his job at arsenal but the comparisons are similar
Was Dennis Bergkamp voted Arsenal’s greatest player on Arse.com?
avenell – should have been.
Who Gilles Grimandi?
If you weren’t depressed already, read this…
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-why-bendtner-will-come-good
…I should be working, but I’m reading about Arsenal on the net…Iwasting time at work? I feel like an Arsenal player!
I agree !
timao
dont Bring in our unillustrious neighbours into it if i can? you just bring them in by typing his name. and forcing me to read it on my screen so i bring in what i like thank you.
so who would i like to be, Non of what you have spoken of
Roy Keane, tell me who is he Managing now after 5 loses on the Trot????
Harry Redknapp, his just Lucky as the Scum had established players all ready. all he had to do was play them in the right places and motivate them, somthing Ramos couldnt do in SPANISH.
and to be honest the way we are playing we wont be fighing on any fronts what so ever..
it sound all simpe to you but u fogrget to notice how close we are from droping out of everything even the Top 4.
I dont agree with wenger that the amount a player is paid has nothing to do with the number of bad passes they make. If you pay a player 80k a week I expect him to make 95% good passes. If he only makes 50% good passes then he is not worth paying 80k a week, simple. If he has one bad game out of 100 then you ignore it. If he has 50 bad games in 100 then he shouldn’t even have played 100 games for Arsenal.
If wenger wants to give average players time to improve while using them every week then OK, but Arsenal wont win anything while they develop and as we know, the best players will get pissed off waiting and leave, leaving you with only young developing players with no one to learn from.
been said before but its so obvious.
5th place will be a wake up call we all need…then the players who don’t want to be there will leave and we’ll be left with a team that want to play for us and make us great again…
encouragement, that’s all I’m saying, it works. great to debate with you guys as ever – see you later
mo
Me and Pedro, who has been saying it for longer then me.
has been saying Nikki B will come good aswell. Remember Nikki b is a 3rd choice Striker. and playing as the LONE striker witch is a hard job for a 20 year old striker.
were as players like Song and Eboue (Before Injury) & Denilson Play consistently shit.
he just needs a good run in the team.
Kelsey,
I went to Middlesboro a few years back to attend a wedding, and even though it was mid summer it still felt/looked like a shit hole. Aside from the derelict factory sites the houses were nearly all prefabricated, monopoly toy style houses, these were laid out, row upon row, in the (very rough) estates scattered over the vicinity of the town.
You’d think the trademark smog hanging over the town would make things worse but since nearly all their heavy engineering industry has gone(they might still make a few cars though) there’s probably less pollution than there used to be – hoorah for the recession !
It doesn’t bear thinking how godforsaken the place looks in mid December, frozen ,wet cold and grey.
As Sir Beefy would say “A good place to send your mother in law”.
timao.
No Need to Run…. mate.
Mo…we have had too many wake up calls this season….we’re just not, as a team acknowledging the wake up calls…merely ignoring them!!!
Timao….we’re not ‘competing’ on 3 fronts….yes, we’re in 3 competitions still, but to say we are competing at the mo is not right.
Barcelone are competing.
Inter Milan are competing.
Chelsea and Liverpool and Manure are competing.
We have been stuttering all season
Out of love for the club, we’re all discussing ways FORWARD…..why should we not expect CL football each year and to be title contenders???
Bendtner is like the Duracell bunny with Tesco value batteries in..
raif…you scared tiamao away!!
Nikki B isn’t good enough, I don’t care what people say…
He has a bad attitude and he never plays the simple ball. I don’t want to hear about how young he is and how it’s hard to be a lone striker…he’s been given a job to do and if he’s not up for it then see you later or learn your trade in teh reserves or loan. We’re Arsenal not some mid table shite team and we deserve a striker who is the finished article and when our two main strikers are out injured/suspended then our 3rd choice will come in and do a job.
lol raif,i’m not running but i probably am a wimp, i have to go buy some flowers for the missus because she bought a special cake to give someone at work today and I ate it last night while she was asleep (how was I to know !?) anyway, happy blogging Grovers!
Michael P
hahahaha
it did look like that didnt it.
i wont be suprised if he comes on with a different name talking about how he agrees with his Old name as sombody else
timao
hahahahaha ok man. have a nice day. till next time
Mo,
Bendtner was in the reserves for a few years and he was our top scorer all the while. He had a great partnership with Lupoli but he wasnt deemed good enough and is now a sub at norwich.
Bendtner is shit this season but i am one that is willing to wait. I believe he will come good too but not in this shit team. He needs good players around him to look up t and learn from but all he has nowdas is Ade and RvP. Hardly rolemodles for a young striker.
Guys how do you think Lupoli would have done if he stayed at the club
Lupoli was considered the best finisher in our club, but was homesick and went back to Italy..
Can I just point out that despite having a poor start to our campaign, we are still in touch in the EPL, Through in the CL. Still in the FA Cup (OK, that is clutching at straws,). And we have found quality players in JD and Ramsay.
I have to do something to combat this huge wave of negativity flowing through Le Grove this week.
Thinking of which, I developed a thick skin because when I started to support the Arsenal we were total shite. I had no expectations, and when the good times came, it was greeted with an air of disbelief.
Wenger has changed that.
i think we was lazy in giving him the deal he wantd maybe.
tho i can see the Home sick story being very True
the Problem with Wenger/Arsenal. its a case of
1 step Forword 2 steps Sideways,
Shit, my ally in positivity has left the building….
Lupoli did show alot of promise in pre season games and CC too but was strangly allowed to go. Whether or not the story is true of not I dont know.
He went to Fiorentina, never played and wanted to go to the championship. Odd goings on there.
Lupoli left because he wasn’t good enough. He just isn’t strong enough for the EPL.
I wish him the best at Norwich.
raif,
redknapp took a team at the bottom and motivated the,told them they weren’t shite but good.where is wenger’s motivation and where is his mind going when he brings eboue on at left wing.he constantly plays players out of position Why ?
why does he play bentner as a lone striker,it doesn’t work.has he lost it,or is he on a mission to prove he is right and is oblivious to any other reasonable option.
Take the other point of view by the akb’s,we are third only 8 pints adrift and into the knockout stages of the c.l.
but this is the worse selection of players seen in wengers 12 years.3 are good,some are understudies or squad members the rest are either crap or too young.With the odd buying every season for the last 4 we would be a team everyone feared,not a laughing stock losing to the likes of fulham,stoke and hull.
Could the Lupoli case be a “Mutu” type problem?
How many strikers have we had at 20 and were not very good have turned out “great”?
Alliadiere? The only comparison I can think of is Anelka and he was good at 19.. you have either got it or you haven’t and I don’t think Bendtner has..
BR, do you mean that Lupoli took illegal but not oerformance enhancing substances, was realeased by his club and ordered by eufa or fifa to pay his former club upwards of £15m.
I liked Mutu, would have been nice to have him in the team.
Kelsey, are you determined to depress me. I KNOW we have problems.
And to say we haven’t signed players is not true.
We have signed Eduardo, Rosicky, Sagna, Hleb, Nasri, Gallas. Silvestre and Theo . Plus Ramsay and Freeman.
Our problems stem from being unable to replace Flamini. To me, it is as simple as that.
I feel sorry for Bendtner in that after a bad performance some people come on and say he is shit and compare him to Benzema, Anelka at that age and other young superstars. All players develope differently but some people think he should be setting the world alight.
kelsey
Wegers motivation for the Team is a List of Bullet Points
and Wenger must like the idea of Utility players, and Versatile players as to why they play all over the place. or maybe Wengers Thinking could be. his players will be happy toplay anywere long as there playing..
ofcourse i dont agree with any of them.
Me too STu. Leaving the Chavs has made his career.
I have no idea if Lupoli was a “good time Charlie”, it just was a possible answer as to why his career nosedived so quickly.
IMO Rosicky is as missed as Flamini.
They both left the team aroung the same time so there is no way of calculating who is missed the most.
Apparently when we beat the Chavs last season Rosicky had more successful dribbles and passes than Hleb and more successful tackles that Flamini. I dont have a sourse but i definately read it on here.
I can only recollect one team being able to play that way Raif
and they got beaten by the utilitarian Germans in the WC Final. Even with great players, it doesn’t reap rewards.
Rosicky last played in Jan when our form started to dip.. Flamini played until may…
Give Nik B to WBA on loan now and then I would tell WBA they can have Bendnter if we can have Ishmail Miller in the summer.
Stu,
rosicky is like the parrot in the monty python sketch
If we were the harlem globetrotters wenger would reign supreme
Mozart could have been an Arsenal great. So comfortable on the ball, quick feet, great shot, imagination and good positional sense.
But let’s face it. His career is over.
I thought that Flaminis last game was around march? The first leg against Pool in the CL he limped off and didnt play for the rest of the season. Or is that my imagination?
What for Gazzap ?
Bendtner will be a far better player than Miller will ever be.
Bet you a case of Peroni. Payable in 2014.
Gazzap.. I am not a great fan of Niki, but can we afford to loan him without bringing anyone else in?
Ade, plus RVP and Eduardo (Vela) is too much of a gamble..
Flam’s injury along with Dudu and RvP was the reason we are not EPL champs.
The sole reason we are shit this season and were great last season is the midfiled reshuffle.
Cesc is shit this season because all the creative responsibility falls on his shoulders. Rosicky and Hleb were capable of controlling a game and allowing Cesc to just play without stress, even Flamini to a certain degree could control a game. But Denilson, Eboue, Theo, Nasri just arent good enough or ready.
Its the same for the strikers. Last season they expected to few good chances because of what the midfielders were capable of but this season they have to try make their own chances, which they arent good enough to do.
I think the problem with Arsenal at the moment is
1) The rabble in midfield at the moment. I think there are quite a few players who are capable of being good players, but the problem is the massive imbalance there. I mean, we played four central midfielders against Porto!! And of all of them, only Ramsey impressed, with the rest drifting in and out of the game. I think we need a solid midfielder, with good positional sense, strength, and mobility & stamina, preferably one who can tackle. I think Makoun or that Blaise fella from Ettiene are decent shouts. Also I think we should get a pair of wingers, we need at least one. Ashley Young would be a superb signing, but I think Wenger has to be smart about this one, it doesn’t have to be an obvious signing, sometimes they don’t work, or have people forgotten that even the touted transfers backfire quite a lot lol.
Defence wise, we could do with maybe a versatile defender who can play across the back, Silvestre is an example of transfers backfiring, apart from a few games, he has not impressed me.
If I could sell anybody, I would sell Song, he is a player on the fringe who isn’t doing anything that he is supposed to do in his position. Denilson is a possibility of selling, if the right offer came in, but I remember him being SO promising when he first came, if he could just get back to how he was then and build from there…..
I would not sell Eboue however, I think he is a good player and one for the squad. He has his off-days quite a bit, but he can be useful. I think we could do with a striker, I am yet to be convinced completely by Ade n RVP. They get their goals in lumps, instead of over a consistent amount of games. Albeit, their service has been bad.
I will look at some of the players I know of, and see how they would fit into this Arsenal team, remember, this aint football manager, they have to fit into the team, and guarantee that they can play well and adapt to the style aswell as add balance.
Stu….i made that point about Rosicky and its very true. he tackled, trakced back and made more successful tackles, passes and challenges than flamini and hleb, and he was the catalyst in most of our counter attacks.
We miss Tomas’s style and technique, as well as his pride and passion.
A lot more than we miss Flamini or Hleb.
Flamini played when we beat everton 1-0 in May!
Rosicky was a great player for us, he also had quite a few shots even when he missed lol.
I think he can still come back, but he has to train pretty hard. I think Bischoff is probably gonna be groomed as his replacement due to similar style of play, I think thats why he was signed.
Big Raddy,
Totally agree about Rosicky. He is mustard.
I really really hope he comes back but I’ve a horrible feeling he wont.
avenell,
Fine so Flamini played in may but after the 1st lg against pool he was injured for a few weeks tho.
MP,
thanks for clearing that up. I wouldnt want to plagorise(spelling?)
I maybe wrong but definataly not Jan when we lost Rosicky..
Hleb we do miss, because his technique and ability to hold the ball when we need it the most is important, especially to this current side. Flamini we miss because he had energy and mobility, and covered ground, doing Cesc’s dirty work for him.
What about Kevin Nolan? He has heart and determination and he’ll grab an oppertunity like playing for Arsenal with both hands. He might not be glamourous but he’ll get his finger out.
Nolan can jog on!!!!!!
Think about it…Nolan could do a job at Arsenal. He scores goals and gets tackles in…what’s wrong with that?
I understand what you are saying Mo but Nolan doesn’t have the technique to play for Arsenal mate.
Nolan??
Mo….please close the door behind you!
raif:
only a fool would admit wenger hasnt made mistakes. everyone does. but we dont know whats going on behind the scenes. what we do know is that wenger WANTED players but he didnt get them. hopefully with Gazidis around, Arsenal can start making things happen again.
because honestly i cant yet imagine a post wenger arsenal. and i dont know if i want to. things have gotten bad but the guy deserves a chance to make things right
Yellow card Mo!
Wrighty7
I’m worried about Rosicky too. It’s seriously such a shame. He’s always made a difference when hes played. It looks like the doctors have bumbled this one big time. Have my fingers crossed though.
Sion De Freitas
even though he didnt shoot, he had a big field presence. you miss him more in games like wednesday when no one in an arsenal shirt could hold the ball for more then 2 seconds without losing it or doing something stupid.
i do miss the days when hleb would draw like 5 defenders and still find a way out
But technique can be improved. Under fat sam he played so well…and how many times did he piss us off when we played Bolton? Under Wenger and the players around him, he could be usefull. Even from the bench. At least you know what you’re going to get from him. And I bet if he does play for us he’ll get an England call up…poor man’s Gerrard? Better than having Song surely…
Welcome to Le Grove faker! You’re on…
ok, ok…I know Nolan is not teh best player in the world. But in the Premiership he does a good job and we need a no frills player. And he can score goals too…
Faker,
Rosicky is a class act and Arsenal really miss him. I think Wenger was preparing to take a gamble on him being fit for this season.
Hence no replacement.
This is the midfield and the strikers we would have had in our squad, IF Wenger had done everything possible to hold onto these players……IF ONLY…..
Cesc, Rosicky, Nasri, Hleb, Flamini, Diarra, Gilberto, Diaby….with Ramsey, LJW, Merida et al all coming through
Thierry, Eduardo, RvP, Adebayor, Theo…..with Vela, Bendtner and Simpson coming through
Suddenly, i have a massive urge to shed some tears….
It’s true Faker. But how many times did you scream ‘ shot’ at him. He was one of the most frustrating players. But there is no denying his enormous talent.
I am happy with his replacement – if he can stay fit for more than 2 games……..
thanks Pedro!
Had thought that with Vela around and being down in the pecking order, he’d try him more on the left wing. maybe hes worried about him defensively
MP,
I gave Pedro a tissue because he had an issue so he might lend you it mate!
I just can’t think of anyone we could get to fill that void in midfield. I won’t go on about Nolan and I know where you guys are coming from…he’s not the usual Arsenal type of player these days. But remember, we had a squad full of Nolan types in the 90′s…and we did alright then didn’t we?
I just think we need a workhorse and a guy who can G up the players around him. We have too many show ponies at the moment. We need an ugly player who gets stuck in and botehrs the opposition.
Big Raddy
Hleb’s defincies were there for all to see, but I think the chemistry and connection he had with flamini and cesc in their triangle of love really much more than the sum of their parts. but yes, exceedingly frustrating ill admit ;] i really thought hed turned a new leaf in the first couple games when he started banging them in…
and dont get me wrong tho, im exceedingly happy w/nasri and hes already achieved more than i thought possible in the first few months. but whats w/arsenal and finding chronically injured players…
Flamini said this in march…
Mathieu Flamini last night said he wants to commit himself to a new long-term contract at Arsenal.
He had been stalling on a fresh five-year £50,000-a-week deal which had left the Gunners fearing Juventus were set to sign him when his contract runs out this summer.
But after their win at AC Milan the 23-year-old said: “Like I’ve said before I’m very happy here. Every game I give more than 100 per cent and I love playing for this team.
“We’re a new generation, we have to create a new history. I want to be part of that history so I hope I’ll be here for next season.
“At the moment my advisers are talking with the club so I really hope everything will be OK. I can’t put a time on it, but I really want to stay.”
Off subject. but fuck me, it is a bastard to build a web site. The download said 30 minutes. & I have been doing this since 8 this morning, and it looks total shite.
Might have to beat the wife if I get more frustrated
Avenell ….. Stop it
Michael P –
I think the big issue for all of us to realize is that, we don’t know that he didn’t. who is to say that AW didnt do EVERYTHING in his power to try to hang on to these players? its tough when your power negotiator is Ken Friar (no love lost there mate, not your fault).
A really big issue has been instability at a club level with a lack of leadership and direction and too much responsibility piled on Wenger. (Dein & Edelman departure, worries of hostile takeover, losing medical staff, etc)
I want Wenger to pick the team, who plays, who goes, who comes. I want his 100% focus on this. I want the CLUB to make things happen for him. Wenger’s been spread too thin.
Hopefully Gazidis coming in will address this problem
Sneaky fucker wasn’t he!! I bet Arsenal had that on the table all season..
Sorry radders..
There was a question raised about Platinis plan to include domestic cup-winners in the CC and how it would affect the top four placings in the EPL.
This link, which is not terribly well written, says that Platini has agreed to shelve his plan to include domestic cup-winners but has had his plans ratified to include champions of lesser footballing nations in the play-offs.
It says that the top-three English clubs will get automatic qualification and the fourth will enter the new system of qualification from 2009/10.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/european/2327138/Uefa-ratify-Platini‘s-Champions-League-reforms.html
ladies and gents, im off for the evening, have a top weekend and here’s to the gunners adding to the Cesc-winning streak and smashing boro to bits tomorrow.
It’s been emotional….
come on the GUNNERS!!!
Nolan wouldnt be a bad buy but he wouldnt be a good one either. He has nothing arsenal about him but i would welcome his agression.
Now Gary Cahill, thats a different story, brave in the tackle with an eye for goal. Young, English and not doing a bad job at Bolton either. And remember that bicycle a few years ago. Please dont book me!!
Well said Faker
Could be a problem for Villa Peaches…
And I still want to see Arshavin at Arsenal. He has already said that Spurs and Rangers aren’t good enough, which makes him a good lad in my book.
Hi Raddy
Could be a problem for anyone who ends up fourth as the plan is to have qualifying spread over a month!!!! Must be like when liverpool won the cup but needed to play through the stages to qualify.
Imagine having to do that in World or European cup year?!?!
How about we get Bullard, Nolan, Cahill, and Chris Morgan. At least then people won’t like it up em, when we give it up em!
Big Raddy
Arshavin’s clearly a big game player but I think he’s way overpriced given the Euro hype. Plus, I don’t know that he sufficiently addresses our more glaring gaps right now.
I’m sure Arsene said Arshavin wasn’t strong enough – but what does he know . . . .
look, its tough to fault Wenger for losing Flamini. the guy wanted money and he had no qualms joining AC Milan no matter how much he liked Arsenal. there was no way were going to match their package. the offer was on the table and he never took it. had we won the league or CL, things may have been different but here we are now.
the flamini effect was huge. but denilson is growing on me and hes got a lot of potential to develop. lets not forget flam was ineffective for 2 years
SSn announce that the FA have extended the transfer window to Feb 2.
Peaches … It’s only one game for the forth placed club.. but a harder game than it has been in the past..
there is a chart at the bottom..
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/7737736.stm
faker
i dont expect W
“Fourth”
raif, think you got cutoff.
and is any1 else sick of that scumbag platini? i mean im all for opening up the competition to more teams but theres just always something disengenuous about his tactics
How long has Platini been in charge??
Its actually a known fact that Platini hates Wenger. In France they believe that Platini is jealous of Wengers success as a manager, something that Platini himself failed at.
It has to be more than a coincidence that now that Arsenal ae doing porly and are fighting to finish fourth that a new stipulation regarding the team in 4th is brought in. Platini will do anything to screw Wenger over.
faker
i dont expect Wenger to admit Mistake. i expect him to take the action needed to fix them Mistakes,
maybe he has tried and it didnt work out, like with the Two 11th Hour bids for Alonso that was Rejected,
and Inler who decided he wanted to stay at his club.
and thank god the Rejected Intrest shown in Soloman Kalou,
end of the day.his Gambling big he wanted to Wait till the last Day of the Tranfer Window to make some Signings. he should have been Bidding for a Alonso or a Inler the moment he new Flamini was leaving.
all im saying he put all his eggs into one basket and it didnt pay off. now were strugling. why didnt he make a Bid for Kompany. he can play Both Center back and Defensive Mid,
surely he could have made a few Plan B,C,D,E Signings if A didnt pay off.
and i agree with you that Gazidis can hopfully push the boat a little on that front.
im NOT asking for Wengers Head
faker
I FUCKING HATE PLANTINI.. i hate the guy more then any thing. then after that i hate Septic Bladder aswell. these guys are trying to kill club football to try and keep International football appealing
ohh look at that. i half posted Comment by me haha
sorry for that. looks like i did get cut off. lol
Arsene Wenger is the Usain Bolt of football management; we know he is capable of winning races the Invincibles bear testement to that but for some unknown reason Wenger is acting like a Usain Bolt who is jogging in a 100m race instead of sprinting.
It’s so infuriating because we know he is one of the very best; he should be at the head of European football; he should be leading Arsenal from one CL victory to another. So why is he choosing to jog instead of sprint? Come on Arsene, run, run.
Stu
also Plantini’s Dad gave Wenger his footballing Break. maybe back then Wenger and Platini had some Beef going on or somthing.
or Platini had the feeling that His dad Favored Wenger over his own son.
this could just big Daddy Issue for Platini
Don’t thin k there would be a problem in opening a ‘I hate Platini’ club on Le Grove.
Once again a truly brilliant player has turned into a Fat Fuck
Stu – I’m sure Platini hasn’t gone to all this trouble just to get at Arsene
He doesn’t like the shift in power towards the EPL from Italy and Spain but he can’t single just us out for the changes.
Raif,
Platini is just a small, jealous cunt. Lets just leave it at that!
Big Raddy – i like that idea alot.
Maybe the revolution should be to take over european football
raif, so true.
no plan b, just plan A: shoot the moon. how far can I stretch my dollar, increase my term. maximize EVERY situation. it can be infuriating. i mean comeon, he tried to appease us w/silvestre?? wenger sitting on his high horse with his negotiating tactics and transfer timing could be easily seen as just as foolish as calderon’s epic wooing of ronaldo and in the end to get no one and lose robinho (ignoring van der vaart for the sake of drama, plus hes not that good, although his wife is a fucking spectacle!)
but, looking at it from the perspective financially, where we’ve come out of one of the biggest financial spectacles in history with this huge bubble and credit crunch, the transfer scene is now much more suited for Wenger’s type of strategy (Man city aside). Chelsea isnt buying, Liverpool’s owners cant refinance, cant build a new stadium. We’ve weathered the storm fairly well and maybe now we’re positioned where we can finally take advantage and fulfill our potential.
i mean for once. I want wenger to get the players that he wants
When Wenger decides to quit football management i would love to see him replace Platini
how must that little fat shit feel then
Can anyone print some badges?
Sorry about the swearing Peaches, I did’t realise that you were in the room. Unforgiveable I know.
im glad we all agree on platini. i just dont understand how small minded people like that ever get in a position of power. hwat sort of world do we live in
All those in favour of “WE HATE PLATINI” say aye, all those opposed-
AYE!!
raif
that would be the day. his personality is perfectly suited towards a venture like that. well principled, appreciates good heartedness, pragmatic, idealistic. i mean, simply put, hes a good guy with good intentions who would do good things
Apology accepted – I just blush and close my eyes
Pedro can print some badges I’m sure. Are you there Pedro?
Pedro – Am I now Le Grove’s official joke monitor
Hello everyone – Raddy, you been using naughty language – thats unlike you
If Platini wants to change club football, then he should make the CL a knockout competetion from Day 1.
The league is just a money spinner, and the huge empty stadia are proof that is is Television driven.
The huge differential between being in the CL and not, is one of the root causes of football being so predictable throughout Europe.
faker
yes i tottally .. i have been saying for a long time the football bouble will pop in terms of Money. this financial credit crunch we are in could be the start of it.
some clubs will find it hard to get money so maybe they will snap at the chance to sell soon as a club makes a bid.
hopfully wenger can work some magic.
Evening Rico.
You are right, it is unlike me
AYE!!
Rico please tell me what your avatar is? I think it is a guinea pig in a goal.
Hi Rico – r u ok, busy times for us girls eh?
Raif,
It will be the small clubs who will struggle. We will start to see Championship teams going to the wall. And Div 2/3 becoming part-time. Especially as the ponsors will not renew advertising contracts.
Global entities like the CL teams will just get leaner.
Scary times ahead.
The problem we have in this club is Arsene still keeping faith with average players year-in-year-out. He never ever wants to replace them even though they don’t qualify to play for the club. Some of the average players are:
1.Almunia-average, can’t get us 15 points a season
2. Eboue-playing poorer and poorer since 2006
3. Song-not good enough
4. Denilson-not ready, can’t shoot, passes only sideways and backwards
5. Diaby-not good enough
6. Bendtner-not good enough
All these players are not the quality required to challenge for the title or any silverware however, they are hanging in there because Arsene wants them but not Arsenal.
Arsene Wenger is on an ego trip and will realise that only after he fails once again. These so-called quality players are really not good for the club. 3 million fans can never be wrong.
evening grovers, how is everyone?
ive got a severe case of squirty bum syndrome about tomorrow, its going to be tough but hopefully the boys will pull a rabbit out of the hat and bang in 6 goals an keep a clean sheet, and then i wake up!!!!
Big Raddy
Hmmmm very true indeed, im actully hoping Liverpool get more hard up. and deeper in dept
JonJon hi mate,
wasnt it Squeaky bum time LOL
More Sexism Peaches ?
I cook an English Xmas dinner, and buy all the stuff (no M & S puddings out here unfortunately). And being a house hubby, I buy and wrap the gifts.
That said, her outdoors makes a huge Danish Xmas dinner on the 24th.
Or are you talking of another reason to be busy ?
hey raif,
squirty bum syndrome is my own adapdtation of sir snotty noses saying.
you can also call it squirty bum demons, but i use that for currys and other spicey foods.
Who me – sexist?
Forgot about the house husbands out there. Apologies to all house husbands, you do a great job lol xxxx
How can you do xmas dinner without M & S pudding? Can I send you one?
This isnt just Arsenal Blogging…………………
Its Freshly Typed LE-GROVE ARSENAL BLOGGING
What an enticing offer Peaches !
Logging off for a bit. I am cooking a beef stew tonight. Not my favourite but keeps the cold at bay.
Sorry fellas for all that domestic stuff. I am rock hard really
theres nothing wrong with a bit of cooking Raddy, im a bit of a whiz in the kitchen myself.
lol raif,
Is that the cause of your liitle problem Jonjon?
yes avenell, the boiled cornflakes are playing havoc.
JonJon,
you liked that one haha,
Le-Grove is the M&S of blogging
lol raif
As you and raif are on…. I have made a t shirt up as we discussed the other night and Pedro is going to give one away at christmas in a prize draw or something…..
Hi guys!
Jon- it will be very tight game, and I expect a 1:1 draw or a lucky 2:1 win against Boro. We don’t know how to play against them, and You know our midfield will be very weak. We don’t have Nasri and Theo, so it will be a very tricky tie. Maybe if Arsene will start with Ramsey, we could steal a win, but with Diaby and Song……………….well, You know.
OHH CAN I SEE IT
Maciek
Song will always be song but at least with Diaby, there’s that slight chance he’ll have a blinder
it’s a mellowed down version Raif.. but I’ll juice it up a bit if you win!!!
avenell, thats a cracking idea.
hi maciek, we are abit inconsistent at the minute, i dont know what to expect,
avenell
haha ok mate..
I will expect a loss because at least then i wont be as disappointed when we actualy lose. Our recent record at the riverside is poor and we are worse than last season so another defeat is on the cards.
to be honest I’m dying to see wilshere start on the left. give him a chance to link up when the likes of clichy, RVP, fab, etc. are playing
Maciek.
I actually quite like Diaby, but I think he has to play in the center, probably at the expense of Song.
My midfield after the game at Porto would probably be:
Ramsey, Cesc, Diaby, Wilshere
sion
i like diaby as well. but i dont see him putting in the work rate for defense and he tends to hold the ball too long. would still prefer cesc/denilson in mid. its really our only option at this point
A little Off Topic..
im just watching Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles season 1 for the first time.
WHAT A LOAD OF SHIT, i can’t believe they are killing one of my all time greats
We all know the basic midfield that we would like but as long as they are alive then Wenger will persist with Song, Denilson and Eboue nin midfield. Thats a given.
We have noone to play left mid so I would just stick Merida there. I know he is a CM but what other option do we have.
I reckon Diaby left Song and Fabregas in the middle and Denilson right is the way wenger will run it..
raif, i refuse to watch them cronicles,
i wish to remember the terminator as it was
no not killing. MURDERING, till there’s only a Dried up rotting carcass
JonJon
im in the same thinking as you. thats why i have put it off.,
but i thought ill Bite the Bullet and see how much i will be Disapointed,,
Stu
wenger, when discussing wilshere, specified that unlike ramsey and merida who are more in the mold of cesc in terms of vision and distribution, JW is more of a dribbler (who happens to have exceptional vision and distribution) so he seems a natural choice on the left wing but its probably too early in his development at htis point.
raif mate
hopefully christian bale will adequately compensate when T4 comes out…
Denilson has been working hard, which I like, but his concentration is worse than Diaby’s, and rivals how bad Song’s concentration is.
Diaby has the strength that we could use in the center of the park, and I feel he could be as good as Paddy if he can have more tactical awareness and can play a more subdued role. I don’t see why he can’t use his strength there. Denilson is being a pussy at the moment, always falling over. I remember when he first came, he used to tackled tougher than Flamini, now he’s being a poof. He can still be very good though, but he ain’t impressed me that much next to Cesc, compared to when he first came.
Also JonJon. Have you seen the latest trailer to the new Terminator movie comming out??
sadly avenell, thats how i see the team too, we will find it tough.
ive gone off diaby, he doesnt really do anything, hes got good feet but everyother part of his game is quite average, i think the injuries have hampered his developmant, hes been forced to start from scratch time and again, i think if we get another injury jinxed season from him the penny must drop for wenger and he should let him go.
Evening All,
Ahh, Diaby. Talent there for all to see. But so frustrating. He loses focus so easily, especially against the small teams. How bad was he against Stoke. But how good was he against Man U.
He needs to play fit, take his chances and make himself undroppable. If he doesn’t do that then I can’t see it working out.
When Cesc leaves, I can honestly see a great partnership with Ramsey and Diaby in the middle, so long as Diaby can make the step. They’ve both got class and muscle. Diaby just needs to use it. He needs to get mad!
just cheered myself up and watched the 5-3 win against boro in august 2004.viera and sol didn’t play.cesc was masterful and reyes played a blinder.3-1 down at half time,we tore them apart to equal the longest unbeaten run of 42 games.
those were the days
Faker -
I really really hope so as Christian Bale dosnt take no shit Scripts for a movie, just look at the movies his done. all excellent,
Faker:
I understand where Wenger comes from with Wilshere, he’s young, he’s a dribbler, they’ll kick him etc, but I just wish he would take the risk and play him, he’s our only other creative outlet at the moment. It’s having a player who can change a game in your favour and not playing him!! He ain’t like Theo, I doubt his confidence will be fucked.
raif,
you could compare those chronicles to todays wenger squad, a big let down from his originall ones
i think wenger should bite the bullet and shake it up a little
I have seen a lot of players come and go but diaby is an enigma.i want to think he could really be good,maybe with a run in midfield instead of playing in different positions might help, i still see something there or maybe i am just being optimistic.
Kelsey, that was an amazing game. IU hated boro for scoring 3 against us tho BASTARDS!!! How dare they. Our comeback was masterminded by Bergkamp. Those were the days indeed.
alves has scored three goals for middlesboro
whats betting he plays a blinder against us???
JonJon
haha good comparison,
watch this
http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/terminatorsalvation/large.html
Kelsey, its not just you lol. Myself, and a friend of mine are the same about Diaby. My mate likes him a lot and reckons he could be even better than Paddy!!! I personally doubt that, but I think he could be a world class player for us
Diaby is one of those players that hasnt done enough to hold down a place in the starting XI but you are also afraid to let him go incase it comes back to bite you. Like Aliadiere. He never played for us but scored the first against us last season at the Grove.
kelsey
there is definately something there with diaby, but like i said his injuries have fucked him up. i dont think he’ll ever develop as wenger thought he would, plus i dont think he’ll ever stay injury free, we’ll be lucky to get 20games a season out of him.
Also JonJon
if you listen to what Jon Conner is saying in the trailer,
“This is not the future my mother warnd me about” “somthing has changed”
thats my ONLY worrie so far, that means sotmhing in the past could have ulterd the piossible future of what we first thought to be the case in the First 2 Terminator movies. i wont speak of 3 as that was Bollocks,
i really hope his not Refering to the events thats going on in this The Sarah Connor Chronicles,
raif, that looks good. dont think it’ll top the 1st one though, that was and is a classic
Faker,
did you Notice that in the trailer aswell?
When people say Wilshere and Ramsey are as good as Cesc was at 17, that is a big ask. Cescs vision and time on the ball has always been amazing..
Simon,
I respect You opinion, but could You tell me honestly where would You put Diaby, playing 4-4-2 or 4-5-1. We could all see, against Porto 2 days aga, that he isn’t a central offensive midfielder, so where could he play? He isn’t a bad player, I didn’t say that, but he isn’t needed at our team in my opinion. He isn’t a winger as well.
stu
for me the alidadiere comparison isnt fair. whereas i never really thoguth he looked good enough, diaby shows us flashes of brilliance and has the necessary physical attributes which makes it htat much more frustrating when hes unable to tap that potential regularly.
i agree raif the 3rd one was crap,
i think theres only so far you can go with the same storyline, after a while it becomes repetitive and cocks it all up. but changing the story line doesnt really work either they should of stuck with the 1st two films and thrown the third in the bin.
its like beverly hill cop, the first two were excellent, the third sent me to sleep.
True Avenell, but I’ve seen Wilshere do things that are incredible for his age. Ramsey isn’t as good as Cesc was, Cesc has always been polished, whereas Ramsey is still a little bit raw, while being a great player. But Wilshere could eclipse both of them, the fact that he is a player who takes people on, coupled with his vision, awareness, passing ability, and an eye for goal (check his reserve & U18 records!), makes him an enigma for someone who wont even be 17 till january.
it’s funny we blog all day and two things keep repeating themselves.injuries if only they were not so injury prone and song,eboue bedntner not good enough for a side that wants to win silverware.it’s a common theme.
Hi Kelsey,
I can totally see Diaby leaving to a team on the cusp of the CL places in Spain or Italy and making it. For a player like him there’s too much pressure to deliver right away before he even gets a run in the team with us.
I just wish he’d stop getting injured so we can find out if he’ll make it after all.
It feels like we’re driving a porsche around some back streets but we need a motorway to find out how fast this baby can go…
whoa raif, i never caught that but it looks like you’re on to something………lets hope for the best….have only heard bad things about Chronices but i guess i should look into it anyway
alidadiere was at arsenal for 8 years.unbelievable.
Hi Faker,
Yes, Diaby is very talented, but like I have said previously, he isn’t needed. He can’t play as a winger or CM, he isn’t much better as offensive midfielder/second striker as well.
Maciek
lol its actually “Sion”, but don’t worry, everyone gets it wrong lol.
I think Diaby is a central midfielder, straight up. Not necessarily offensive or defensive. I think the need for a specific type of midfielder has been exaggerated beyong reason. Any central midfielder who is neither offensive or defensive by trade, and can do both, must be able to do a tactical role in a specified area in midfield. Diaby can do a job offensively and defensively I feel. He has to apply his strength, plus his tackling has got better.
Even Mark Randall can be a defensive midfielder, he’s got a LOOOOOONG way to go, but his positional skill is impeccable.
Sion.. you make jan sound miles away… I hope Wishere signs a good long contract on his birthday.. Perhaps Wenger might play more when other clubs cannot get at him!!
We seem to have 5 nearly’s for every position, I just wish we put all there wages together and buy 1 finished..
Song, Denilson, Diaby. They’re all different but all exactly the same.
Bungholes
Its impossible really to compare Ramsey and LJW to Cesc.
Cesc came into the team surrounded by great players. Edu, Vieira, Gilberto, Pires, Henry etc etc etc
But Ramsey comes into the team surounded by Diaby, Denilson, Song, Nasri etc. All these players are still learning, they shouldnt be the senior players in the team but because of Wenger thats the way things are now.
How can youngsters learn of older worse youngsters??
lol true, i keep thinking thats why Wenger won’t play him. I just think he has the right mentality to play, because he is fearless, like Rooney, Cesc and Messi. Theo wasn’t like that, although he, like Cesc and Jack, is humble, he doesn;t have that approach that they do, he was without confidence. I can’t see Wilshere having a loss of confidence. You seen that kids face? He looks like one of them kids that always catches the bus just before it drives away lol.
i think thats the idea behind wilshere avenell, he’s yet to sign a professional contract, so wengers trying to hide him until he’s old enough to sign, the more attention he attracts now the more chance teams will do to us what we normally do to them.
I wouldn’t piss on Platini if he was on fire!
Correction – I would piss on Platini if he was on fire, if i pissed petrol………
id love to set him on fire after id pissed on him. best of both.
Sion
you make a great point about CMs, yes they should be able to do everything. the issue here though is who will better partner Cesc. what made Flam so great was his phenomenal workrate and lack of ego, these 2 were ying and yang. it allowed cesc to operate freely in the space hes most comfortable in.
with denilson, I often see cesc looking for a pass and not getting it becasue denilson is taking the initiative which is no bad thing, but theres a lot more overlap between the two players and as such take up each others space in the middle of the park. I still rate denilson though, I think he will develop into a really good CM. time will tell.
diaby is more dribbler than passer. he holds the ball very well, has good feet, and great strength but more susceptible defensively in terms of positioning and tracking back. he is definiely way more effective in the last 1/3 of the pitch
Faker:
I agree definitely, that was always my qualm with Diaby, does he have the tactical nous to play a defensive role?
I want to see someone brought in, as it is evident that Randall, Coquelin & Lansbury aren’t ready for such a role, even though they have qualities to their game that can help them defensively, especially Coquelin, who you could argue could play in the first team now!
I think someone who had Flamini’s energy, but with good technique, and good positional sense (flamini’s stamina & aggression compensated for his average positioning skills)
Sorry Sion, I’m really sorry.
I didn’t want to twist Your name, and I didn’t want to be disrespectful. I don’t know why I did it. I has been writing here for 6-8 weeks and since then I have met a lot of fantastic people here at Le grove( including You) and it’s for the first time, since I’ve twisted someone’s name. Sorry, once more.
Its ok, im not mad at all Maciek, dont worry about it
Faker / JonJon
i can’t believe what i have just seen, on this Chronicles,
the Terminator Storms into Jon Conners School. shooting at jon, instead the Possible Jove Intrest on Jon gets shot
Jon then dives out the Window were the Terminator follows him, By walking out the class room instead of Jumping.
before walking out he turns to the rest of the class memebers and says, “Class Dismissed”
*Back to Jon*
were his running away dodging bullets were a Pick up track saves him. you here a girls voice Say, “Come with me if you want to live”
camera pans onto her showing it was the love intrest who got shot,
the fucking Termintor to protect Jon Conner is a FUCKING teenage girl Robot.
jonjon
and while hes burning in your sweet sweet pee id love to take a crapper on his face
Faker, Sion,
If Diaby isn’t an option, why don’t give Kolo his chance in the middle of our midfield?
Pick up Truck.., sorry for the crap typing. im typing at speed and while rather Annoyed lol
Kolo treats the ball like a hot potato, Djourou would be better imo.
Isnt there a rule that yo shouldnt piss on a fire because the fire against the flow (so to soeak).
faker – please, there are ladies present.
Boys will be boys . . . . . . . .
JD acually came to the club as a DM didnt he.
raif
that sounds terrible. terminator dumbed down for 13 yr old girls huh.
maciek
im pretty sure if toure was an option for that position it wouldve happened already. i remember wenger commenting on his muscle structure not being suitable haha. i think what it really comes down to is that he doesnt have the stamina.
you shouldnt piss on a fire stu because heat rises, you’ll burn your misters off.
The problem with diaby is that he doesn’t treat the ball like a hot potato!!
The other night agianst Porto, the positioning off the ball was atrocious, no-one ever came to help anyone out, Vela was often cornered and there was no-one to make a short pass too
Peaches.. I do the naughties after midnight so don’t blame me..
Stu.. Jd is more like Vieira than most of our squad, he has the height and the tackling ability, he should be given a chance… Trouble is when he does get the chance it won’t be with the first team players around him..
peaches
well i feel pretty embarassed. on my first day here too
Stu,
I think that was originally his natural position. I like JD, i could see him being a composed DM. but i think we need him more desperately at the back where hes really starting to come good on his potential.
hugh, hows it going after midnight?
The problem with Wenger bringing the kids through is that they dont come into a good team any. Its fine promoting 2 or 3 kids a season as long as they only have a handful of apperaances and push on from there but now AW brings through the wrong kids and puts them into a shit team.
Avenell,
JD would be an option but he is needed in the centre of our defense. Cana,please(ok, I know-LOL).
boys,
we have ladies present please control your urge to pass urine.
Peaches… It’s been more nightmare on Oporto St, The “Emanuelle’s” Ade and Eboue haven’t been performing lately
faker – you weren’t to know, and those other naughty boys just got in deeper and deeper. . . . . . . .
I think i’ve change my mind on Cana. I now realise that its wrong to judge a player on a few youtube clips. He hasnt been bad during his CL games but he hasnt been amazing either.
do you change your avatar for the XXX show – i thought the pink bunny was good
Le Grove Watersports club.. tut tut tut..
Stu,
exactly hes gotta be a little more ruthless perhaps in terms of dropping underperformers. can anyone really imagine a player like song getting regular first team action on any other top european team? its kind of mind boggling. he’s still a kid himself but what does it show or teach guys like ramsey. wenger is forcing people to ask the wrong questions and no one likes the answers they’re getting
sorry peaches, deepest regrets. the conversation did turn horrible.
no more talk of urine or misters or eboue!!!
Djourou is a good DM from what I’ve seen, but he is a great CB too, so I would keep him at the back.
Coquelin should be ready soon enough, I like the cut of his jim lol. He’s got great energy, and decent positional AND tactical awareness. And he is a tough tackler too, even though hes quite a little guy.
Peaches.. Yes I did but my “clock” was under threat..
peaches
so true, these brats lured me into a false sense of gratuitous shamelessness. ::sigh:: platini brings out the worst in people.
IMO
cana is shit. just very aggressive. not a good enough player i feel
Whoops, sorry ladies, and rico :blush:
You see, we definitely should have had a plan to kidnap the flamster last week at Portsmouth.
I can’t see how Diaby is gonna fit into out team – thats if he stays fit of course. he can’t play alongside cesc and hes rubbish on the wing. Maybe he should be converted to a striker – hes not really defensive enough to play in mid-field.
DDM… borrow a
of me… 
Makelele effectively made the position, he was the first to actually play defensive midfield and he was really small, but he knew where to be and when. He wasnt a beast but could hold players off and was a smart fouler (if such a think exists).
I think also Diaby needs a run of games to get comfortable and feeling out his role in the team. I can see him playing LW this weekend
I think denilson has what it takes to grow into the brazilian mascherano. he needs some time. the kid hasnt even played a full half season in his current role yet and has already got the numbers to back up his imporance. lets see how that goes. i am more worried about width. also would be nice to have a worldclass striker
Johny, mate!
You have hurted me:-) I see I’m alone in my admiration for Cana, but I wouldn’t mind De Rossi or Aquliani from Roma, either. What do You guys think about Jimmy Bullard from Fulham. Would anyone here like to re-sign Diarra?
Our midfield will be Denilson, Cesc, Song and Diaby but should be Wilshere, Cesc, Ramsey and ……………Merida? Left mid is the hardest because Nasri and Rosicky should be playing there.
Partly my fault – I did introduce the Platini debate. But you were all so depressed that I had to do something to change the mood.
Platini = naughty boys having fun
when i referred back to the boro 5-3 win,cesc was 17 but he was playing with a class act in bobby,dennis,theiry,even reyes and freddie.now look who he’s got 4 years on.
Maciek,
Diarra – no
Aquilani/De rossi – i prefer Aquilani
Bullard – good but too old now, almost 30 and not a DM-ish
Cana – better than what we have.
Sorry maciek my friend,
allow myself to unhurt you by agreeing about de rossi,
id have bullard tomorrow id i would re-sign diarra but i think theres alot of politics behind diarras return, wenger wont buy players hes sold.
Makelele WAS a beast, just a small one!!!
Great defensive midfielder, he did make the position. The only other player that could do the same job that he did, was playing for us already. His name was Gilberto Silva!
But Makelele’s attributes made him the best. Coquelin has those attributes though, watch him play, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Makelele did well in picking his wife too, the sexy ass woman from the M&S adverts!
I am so sorry guys and girls, my pc crashed and i only just got my network back
peaches – im good thanks, amd you? and yes a busy time for us girls, shopping for Christmas, where is Julian Clarey when you need him ( no offence anyone, i love him)
London – you are spot on re my avatar – and isnt she cute
Eureka!
Seedorf from Milan?
re; coquelin,
the boys going to be good, but to rely on a 17 year old to fill a problem position in the team is abit much to ask, we need proven quality, an experienced domestic and international player
Hey you all, anyone seen the new tin of Quality Street – the mutts nutts, full of all the fav’s and no orange or strawberry cream stuff – so good, we are eating ours right now
shame we let diarra go. de rossi would be very nice though idk if it would really solve our problems. man, honestly, im just dying to see JW start w/the first team. DYING.
I have seen in Polish press an article, in whitch they are writing, that Real Madrid want Johnson from Boro. Is he a good player? All I know is, he is a winger.
Maciek, remember that Ramos is in vharge there now and they are also after Didier Zakora. Johnson is left footed and english. Thats about it.
Yes Faker, but he was unpatient(Diarra) and he had an EGO, bigger that Ade’s one.
but Maciek, the millionaire dollar question is… was his ego bigger than Bendtners??
I agree JonJon, thats why I say we should bring someone in till he can be ready to play.
Senna would have been the ideal Signing IMO.
Stu,
He is after Zokora, and Bentley-LOL. Maybe he will re-sign Robinson from Bkackburn, and sigh Ekotto and Dawson as well.LOL. And amke Martin Jol his nr 2.
How much does Nik get a week?
Sion,
Someone inquired about Senna during the summer and Villareal said they wanted about 30m. Not worth it imo.
Diarra is definitely one that got away – Wenger should have given him and Flamini equal time, Flamini was fighting for his place but Diarra wanted first team football thats why he left chavski so in the end we lost them both!!!
Faker.
I would love to know Your opinion about Bendtner. I really like our Dane and I’m sure, he will come good, but he has said many times, that one they he want to go to play at Barca or Real. We don’t really need that sort of players at our Club.
Stu-he is earning to much.LOL.
*sorry, make
poorly played by Wenger there. he had too much faith in Flamini but thats just the sort of person he is I guess. hell always give you the benefit of the doubt. but honestly, could our team really handle more histrionics? character doesnt change and diarra had sort of a reputation for being a crybaby. with him, gallas, bendtner, ade, and the occasional RVP blowup. too much man management. i much prefer denilson honestly. im telling u guys, hell come good. hes barely been given the chance and hes already done pretty well
Pedro/Geoff
You two really need to take a sit down, a deep breath, and take stock of what you two have created for us fans –
I am not sure how long i have been on Le Grove now either as A N Other, or as now, little old Rico –
But what i do know is that the amount of fans who now post here has grown vastly, i can no longer refresh without missing many comments –
It’s just fantastic that you two have given us a ‘place’ where we can all chit chat about our club – we are all like a big happy gooner family.
I for one am truely grateful for Le Grove , and I am sure there are many others out there who will agree
Pedro & Geoff – Thank You
here here rico.
well said.
peaches – you are right, and now he is crocked, definately should have stayed a Gooner
Faker,
Denilson has been good this season but the team has been shit because of it. He is playing in a position where he must protect the back 4. His job involves a lot of negative play but all the stats he is top of are all attacking things. Assists, Passes etc. Isnt that supposed to be Cescs job?
Maciek, I actually just finished a post this morning addressing NB: http://www.fakerblog.com/
I think basically for me, given wengers youth policy, we’ve all kind of developed a warped sense of reality and expectation. Bendtner definitely has attitude problems but I think hes a winner in a bit of a rut right now. This is made so much tougher by the amount of pressure thrown on him and lack of support from the fans who don’t rate his work ethic. I think if he can overcome some of these problems, he could really become a star. His link up play has been really really good at times.
I really think that had he converted just 1 of those 1v1 chances in the cup, things would be much more different for him. and lets not overlook the game winner he scored against dynamo not so long ago. not too shabby for a 4th choice 20 yr old.
Yes Rico- I agree!
Wenger wanted diarra to prove himself in the CC but he refused to play according to this… Read the quotes and the dates…. He was a bad ass..
http://www.thefootballnetwork.net/main/s378/st129722.htm
I’ve decided – I want Xavi and Senna please.
Good evening all, Big Raddy told off for swearing? We can’t be having that, there are plenty of very very naughty women out there so don’t feel guilty, they are just as bad as men.
Why are we seeing a dampening of expectations. I’m not buying into Middlesbrough being all that tough, every Premier League team has quality players in it, but we can beat Chelsea and Liverpool, Aliadere and Alves aren’t exactly unstoppable, we’ll take the intiative in the game and this is just the type of team we can get a big result against, clean sheet and 2-0 or 3-0 for me.
I hope Djourou plays, we’re in need of some quality defenders.
As for the Diaby debate, to me he’s an all round midfielder, great technical control, great athleticism, I don’t see a problem with putting him next to Cesc and playing the classic version of 4-4-2, the offensive and defensive roles suit our style best, but we need a Gilberto or a Flamini to do the hoovering role. Sorry but I don’t feel confident about Song, and I believe in natural progression, in evolution, not sticking him in there because we’re charitably donating towards his development, back to the old school where you have real competition for places, rotation based on form not on need for experience.
That could be a question for Arsene Wenger, does he believe that Song is superior or ever will be superior to his previous midfielders (I don’t want to hear the “different qualities” argument because every player has his own skills set and will differ to another……do his stats show that he plays a better game than any of our previous defensive midfielders, and if so why persist with choosing someone who most likely will never equal or surpass the ability of previous defensive midfielders or defenders. Those players were brought in because they were good, not because they had potential to be, when was football ever about that?
Wenger always talks about choosing someone based on their quality, not on their passport. I fully agree, therefore why is Song chosen so frequently and above all the quality central mifdfielders on the market? And what’s the crack with Eboue, the “passmaster”, there are tons of players whob can pass and run, and can do far more besides, it’s retarded giving someone so much praise because they can pass the ball, I can pass the ball, a lot of young kids are good at passing the ball….passmaster….yeah right.
Stu,
I agree w/the pt you’re making. Flamini complemented Cesc almost perfectly whereas Denilson overlaps a lot more. It is no doubt so far an imperfect relationship but do u see no potential for progression? Flamini was a headless chicken for a couple of seasons before he grew into the midfield powerhouse that he was last season. Denilson needs to understand his role better but he seems a levelheaded guy and hes still only what, 20, 21?
Rico, i definitely concur. Have lurked blogs for a while but today is my first day contributing and its a revelation the community you guys have got going here. Two thumbs up and keep up the good work.
finest – too damn right there are, but its good that you boys get a bit of jip
and Raddy – well he is such a good old egg, its good when someone clips his wings, and so nicely:)
Great poinst faker. I have aded Your blog to “My favourites”. I will leave a comment on it, from time to time, if You don’t mind.
great link finestcuts. rereading those quotes, im glad hes gone
*point Faker, sorry
It certinly does boggle the mind that Song continously persists with Song.
Song should no way be ahead of anyone.
We have a wealth of CMs coming through at the club but with Song here will never get their chance. Lansbury, Merida, Le Coq, even Ramsey
“cough”
Very much appreciated Maciek
just started posting so its great to have someone take a look. still need to sexify the site tho…will get to that..
avenell – you need some Benylin
song is a good player with good attitude but i must be missing something because I just dont see where and how hes good enough to be in teh regular starting XI for AFC
Rico have we fell out? You used to call me ave
I prefer “tixylix” after midnight XXX..
Stu, I agree, I think Song hasn’t taken his chance, hes had a run in the first team and has overall been poor, no matter how good he is or could be. I think someone else should get a chance.
ave – you naughty boy, you havent spoken to me for days, so i trd for you attention…..
Have we fell out – why no my friend, who lives amoung green fields, animals and near the ocean! of course we have not
Stupid boy Pike
ave – ‘tixylix’- come on
Rico.. your diet of pickled onions and Quality Street has stressed me out!
Finest
A good read and an excellent comment.
Hehe, For me,it’s sexy enough, but You will have many guests on Your site, so I understand. Well, there is something magical about Le grove, isn’t it? I was reading this blog for about 1,5-2 years and the number of users is growing still, and it’s bigger and bigger and…… I”m sure, Your blog can be as great as this, if not greater.
ave – home done pickled onions – they are the dogs doo daa’s. i am addicted, my late Pap’s used to do the best – so have you seen the new QS then ??
Rico
Please tell me what your avatar is?
When I saw Song playing against WHU, I said to myself that he could have been an answer, but since then he has gone backwards, and I still remember his behavior against spurs.
London – I did earlier, its a guinea pig in goal, just as you said, i have four myself and would have more but dont have the room…
I see Diarra has been mentioned again.
I’ve never understood why Wenger didn’t just let him go out on loan until the end of the season.
Diarra gets first team football and Wenger gets to keep the player.
It would have made even more sense as Flamini’s future was in doubt.
Rico.. Yea i love them too me old Girl used to make them, used to eat them like apples..
Er indoors done some apple and spiced tomato chutney this year. (burnt the wok mind).. next year we will try the pickled onions..
No Maciek that is not true, he had a better games against Chelsea and Wigan some people have even commented that they thought he was “very, very good”. Personally I would lose the two verys and change good to OK.
Wrighty… fuck off…
I think Diarra refused..
ave – you are so spoilt by your good lady – you just make sure you always look after her, be fair and honest to her…..Good pickles and pickled onions are hard to come by
I didn’t know that Avenell. By the way…….Fuck off
Wrighty
I had never thought of that “Why didn’t he just send Diarra out on loan” he would have almost certainly have come back more appreciative.
Wrighty – Please….. !!
Rico!!!
Betcha you are looking forward to Xmas!
Have you seen my 11:39am comment???
Sorry for swearing Rico!
Its just the way Avenell and I greet each other!
just read it Wrighty – thats funny what your good lady said…..
but i am no footballing expert, well, unless its rating Nik B
London,
Thats what I thought!
Send him on loan to Pompey, he’s happy, he then would appreciate the set-up at Arsenal and come back determined to succeed.
I was cracking up when she said that! Ha ha
I mean it though Rico. Yourself, QoS and Peach’s really know your stuff.
You should all be very proud!
Hi Wrighty – i read the comment too, nice to get a mention xx
No problem Peaches…………
maciek, thanks for the support
to be honest, I was pushing for Song to be the flam replacement we’d all been waiting for after we failed to sign in the window after his great africa cup of nations showing and a few assured performances at CB. this really peaked as I grew increasingly impatient with denilson. I was lucky enough to catch the newcastle game at emirates and I despite the win i remembered complaining about denilson the entire time, lack of workrate, loose passing. it was hard picturing someone other than flam, especially when he was doing what cesc was supposed to be doing and not picking up the defensive slack.
i will say that, since then. denilson has grown on me esp w/some assured displays while song has beckoned the question of why hes on this team more and more.
for me, with song/denilson/fab in midfield, it barely accomplishes what flam and cesc did with only two people while further crowding the center and inhibiting cesc. it means cesc gets less space, and less touches of the ball which is really not what we want. our #4 has been playing a lot deeper this season…
hello faker,
why can’t one comment on your site
hey kelsy, you should be able to in the top right of each post. what happens when you try?
http://www.fakerblog.com/?p=19#respond
should work… let me know and ill try and sort it out
faker.. it worked for me mate!!
cool ave, see it
. first comment, woot! thanks to everyone for support, its much appreciated
I don’t agree with you on Bendter, but you don’t want a row from your first poster…
haha, wouldnt mind that at all mate. trust me i was uber tempted to jump on the anti-NB bandwagon. esp w/the pink boots (Nike must be pretty steamed). but i think/hope he can come good. he has all the ingredients…
hi peaches – i did answer you earlier
wrighty – thats a kind comment about us girlies – we all try
I am ker-put and my bed is calling, very loudly…..
ave – nighty night and behave after midnight and be safe, and everyone else, be good and sleep well, and Wrighty, keep one eye open
Night Night All
kelsey – didnt see you there, oh spanish luxury living man by the sea, with olive trees and oranges…. night night
I’ve commented too, how’re you gonna keep track of whats going on over there?
Faker,
Didn’t know you had a blog!
I’ll add you to my blog links
Has any striker of 19 years old, who is at best average managed to come good in there twenties?
Owen, Rooney, Anelka, Merson,all had something.
Nikki B has no awareness, poor first touch and no energy….
We should buy v.d.vaart, Barnetta, Schweinsteiger, Chiellini, Neuer, Aquliani, Villa and just some squad players. I dont think thats too much to ask for!
yes people , how goes it??
faker, agree with you on NikB…sometimes we forget that he is just 21.
i think he has the right ingredients too. I would love him tohave the same class and experience that cesc had around him around 3-4 years ago….
ave – SIMPSON – he will come good, he just needs to play
Nik – please shut the door behind you
Not another Nikki B debate!!! Ha ha
no ‘ mass debate’ over Nik for me, Im off
Night Al, and for real this time, or i will be divorced!!!
I just read something very interesting on Wiki. Manuel Neuer grew up idolising the one and only Jens Lehmann. Maybe Jens could put in a word for us. Neuer is one of Germanys hottest prospects.
rico – you were nearly convinced about nikki a couple of months ago, I remember. He looks so lost – like he doesn’t know what hes supposed to be doing.
What I think we have is a collection of talented footballers who are not directed how to play as a team. That definitely comes down to management especially as they are so young – they obviously need more team-building on the training pitch.
Wrighty – you should have been here earlier we did Platini bashing !!!
I like Simpson.. he has got 75% of what we need, but he finishes like Wiltord in the reserves..
I think he’s another Aliadiere, but he needs a chance, he is only a year younger than Bendtner and older than Walcott so arsenal cannot rate him highly..
peaches – i was just staying positive, and trying to see what every one else did, but i didnt and dont now – but please believe, i really hoped he would do right on the pitch. since then the drink and clubbing stuff has not helped….
Villa peaches, Villa
night rico – catch up tmoro xx
rico, i have been saying that about simpson from day 1.
he has something special about him, is a hard worker and makes some direct runs at goal which are in dire need at the moment!
he will be a class act very soon, You dont bag the first professional hat trick at the emirates…..if you dont have class, quality and a powerful shot!
Villa and Vela – be still my beating heart
I missed Platini bashing????????
I hate that muppet!!!!!!!
faker, good blog mate, and i NEVER say that lightly.
you are on the favourites list alongside legrove and wrighty’s blog.
yes wrighty, how goes it?
curry and chips??????????????
thanks peaches, will be tough keeping it all together im sure. cheers wrighty. mihael p, its tough for him because hes had a bad run of games along w/his onfield demeanor. I hope he can overcome it.
stu, far from unreasonable. y not de rossi too if we’re getting aqui
rico – simpson could be promising, a bigger sexier jermaine defoe perhaps
michael p,
thanks mate, im touched, really
Vela, Villa and Van Persie!
The three V’s!!!!!
Im just so jealous of Simpsons lovely tash!
faker,
just sent you a get well card
goodnight rico,hope you didn’t eat the whole tin,we need some QUALITY
what about michael owen on a free trouble is he’s on about 120k a week
peaches – i will take the Villa and Vela thought with me…..
Le Grove – you have a lot to answer for !! Add imminent divorce to list !!!!!
Moscow – …
Stu,
How about Rene Adler? He would be my first choice, next to Akinfeiejev.
Micheal P!!!
It goes well! How are you???
You keeping strong matey?
Curry and chips???? Thats for Welsh people! ha ha Sorry DDM!
wrighty
denilson,diarra and diaby
the 3 VD’s
Thats alright Kelsey.
Get Owen on a free and we can afford to pay him £150,000 a week!
all good faker, nice to see some refreshing angles on the arsenal.
you are already head and shoulders above many blogs…keep it going man.
so…..tomorrows game…or has that been and gone as a topic?
For what its worth, im going for a 3 or 4 nil…..this could be just the sort of game the first team needed. Martin Lawrenson is predicting 1-1….twunt…..hope he is made to look like a complete FOOL!!!!
and, im with wrighty in that i cant believe i missed the platini bashing…what a complete twunt that fella is…..
The 3 VD’s!!! Ha ha like it!
ooh wrighty – the three V’s – love it xxx
hmmmmmm…..owen….i have never really been convinced due to his injurys….but his instict is superb….i imagine he would bag 25+ per season at the emirates if he could stay fit…..would you buy him wrighty??
Michael,
Any news about transfers?And names?
Maciek,
never seen Adler play so cant really comment.
MP,
4-0 matey!
3-0 is 19/1, cant find 4-0 though
ddm is a boyo???
yes mate, strong and focussed….had a few bad dreams so far, but thankfully, none involving arsenal…yet!!
looking forward to watching the game with my boy who turned 1 last week….every time i say “Arsenal” to him he cant stop clapping! love it!!!
19/1…….i think i should lay some money down at ladbrokes tomorrow….
Maciek…how are you sir?
Nothing new as yet….but the name i was given when i was told about the transfers was……………
actually the more i think of it ,owen could be right up wenger’s thoughts.experienced,eye for goal and a freebie.if ade gets85k why not
……….de rossi and iaquinta………
MP,
NO NO NO NO NO NO matey DDM isn’t a boyo! Ha ha!
We got our wires crossed earlier. I thought the Welsh ate Curry and Chips, saw it on Gavin and Stacy!
DDM would virtually kill me! Ha ha
Micheal Owen?? Always thought he’d do well in an Arsenal shirt………….He’s injured too much now though.
Dunno if it would be worth the risk!
MP,
Thats quality about the little un mate! Bet thats well funny to see him clap Arsenal!
gavin and stacy? heard good things about that but dont get much time to watch much tv these days, i prioritise my tv time with the gunners!!
not such a great thing of late, but hey, just like a marriage, we have to endure the bad days to get to the good!
de rossi would really tickle my fancy. we could really use his onfield leadership too. owen’s a little too one dimensional for me, I’d rather give Vela a chance
Peaches,
Imagine the three V’s at Arsenal!!!!!!!!!
In a 4-3-3,
Vela down the left, RvP on the right (he plays blinding there for Holland) and Villa causing havoc in the middle!
They could all interchange as well!
anyone watch arsenal forum tonight,talking about jon samuels who got so much stick from the home fans,even before kick off,that eventually it got to him and gave the crowd a v sign and was never heard of again 69/70
wrighty, there is no better feeling!
he is literally ecstatic when i say “Arsenal!”
and when i say “Where’s Fabregas?” he lifts his hands in the air and shouts!
seriously, it makes me piss myself laughing every time!!
all about keeping it in the family! He will be signing up to junior gunners soon….that way i get to get my hands on tickets too!
Gavin and Stacy has actually just started on BBC1
I’m thinking of going to watch the reserves on tuesday – dudu is gonna play hopefully.
Anyone else gonna go?
Whats Gavin and stacy??
a shame that a player like villa wants to join us but we just cant afford him…or can we? but could valencia really say no to 75m from man city? at least abramovich has been bleeding networh int he last couple of months along w/that fat bastard from red and white
Thats good stuff MP!
If things keep up your have to teach him to boo Eboue soon! Ha ha
wrighty, maciek, peaches, faker and co, have a good evening,
faker, was good to meet you, speak soon!
right, am off to teach my boy some new Arsenal songs!
Peaches,
Can’t wait to see Dudu back in action.
I swear I was almost in tears when he got injured. If you look on my blog at the time (did it off my mobile in those days!) I was so gutted!
nite MP, talk again soon
Have a good one MP!!!!
Villa was valued at £18m before the euros and even said that he wanted to join us. Now after it he is beong touted by Citeh at 60m?!!!!!
I’m seeing this all the time on blogs – lack of width. What exactly do people mean by it? Last season we didn’t play with width, Hleb and Rosicky are not width players. Is is just another way of saying lack of quality players in wide areas?
Theo Walcott brings width but he’s shit most of the time so I don’t think hugging the touchline is pre-requisite for a good Arsenal performance.
What is a fact is that poor wide players lessen the effectiveness of the full backs offensively as they do not get enough time to get forward. Look at the goal against Man City last year, Adebayor’s first one at Eastlands. Hleb holds the ball infield, gives time for Sagna to bomb on and overlap, Hleb feeds him the ball and he eventually crosses for Ade. Goal!
Michael P – I think you must make a video of your little’un and post it, how sweet
Stu,
Gavin and Stacy is blinding mate!
Thanks Michael-I’m ok,
How are You? How is Your “recovering process” going?:-)
wrighty, i have still not looked at the pictures. i just cant. amazing that hes back already, hoping for hte best
Paulinho,
Arsenal haven’t played with wingers for years! Even RP07 and Freddie used to come inside
peaches….will do!
good night all!
wrighty….enjoy g+s!
Ok. Bye Michael. Sleep well mate!
Faker,
It’s going to be brilliant mate!
I wondered whether he would be the same player. I guess we will tell when he makes his first challenge.
I think he will be even better. He is a tough little git.
Nite MP!
MAciek, will do! speak soon pal!
I have heard that Eddie was playing in the reservs match. Any true in this story? How was he doing?
Wrighty, never have and probably never will watch Gavin and Stacy. I’ld rather pla te playstation.
I would agree Wrighty although I think Pires and Ljungberg were a bit more willing to go on the outside, especially Ljungberg. They used to bring a nice balance between coming in and staying out. Worked well in the prem but sometimes we got outmanoevered in europe, lacking cohesiveness at times.
Hleb and Rosicky are a bit more technical, less goal threat, and come inside more. Almost auxillary central midfielders, especially Hleb. It helped us technically in europe to hold possession but sometimes our blade was blunt in the league.
I appreciated both styles. At the moment we kind of have neither.
maciek, he is back on the 16th against portsmouth, reserve game, next tuesday!
right, i really must go!
Wrighty… dudu was a good player but we are building our expectations of him up very highly.. I just hope he can live up to everyones expectations.
He was our third choice striker, and our fourth choice is pretty bad..
paulinho,
its true that arsenal get a lot of width from our fullbacks and thats fine but its one thing to have a player like nasri who prefers to cut in rather than hug the line the entire way versus playing people out of position to compensate. with the porto game where we essentially had 4 CM players playing, diaby, ramsey, denilson, song. there was no width whatsoever.
i agree with what you are saying but we need that option. often we are too one dimensional, winger cuts in slows down holds, waits for fullback. when theo or nasri play, the defender really has to be wary that they are simply going to have a run at them and creates all sorts of space, different options and angles. we need to at leave have that option.
rosicky and hleb are fine for that. but we dont even have THAT at hte moment. we have denilson on the wing. thats my point
Maciek,
you being Polish and im assuming that your living in Poland too, how is your knowledge of the polish league?
Who is the star player of the league and would they be good enough for Arsenal??
Pool did it with Skrtael and the Mancs with Vidic.
paul,
just saw your next post and i have to agree. its not necessarily about width but wide players instead of other guys playing out of position: denilson, fabregas, diaby, song, eboue
Paulinho, how good were Bobby and Freddie for Arsenal…….MUSTARD
Avenell, I understand what you mean. I think he was just adjusting nicely to the EPL and then IT happened.
I wonder how good he’d have been now had he not got injured.
ave,
i feel everyone’s expectations will be managed, and even so, the fans will understand and have patience. im sure wenger will also protect him, maybe overprotect him at first. its just nice to see him out and about again
I would agree Faker, I just wanted to a bit of clarification about what people mean by it. Do they want Stewart Downing?
I like that way we play with midfielders coming in however it all boils down to quality. When you have Denilson or Diaby out there it can be very cumbersome and plodding. However with Rosicky or Hleb it can be a thing of beauty and a strength to our game – it was a certainly a feature last season of our success.
That sort of style can have the fans pulling their hair out when it’s not done properly, granted.
I think Diego Capel would be a nice direct left winger to give us that option.
Diego Capel…………..Good shout. I rate him
I have nothing but the utmost respect for Eduardo, especially pulling that fine lass of his.
No seriously we are a bit desperate at the moment and we must not think Eduardo is the total soloution,
I know we will give him time..
definitely, hleb and rosicky were also fairly good about tracking back and putting in the grunt work so the fullbacks were really free to bomb forward without feeling too exposed.
we are feeling desperate arent we. its about time a couple of players just had an outright blinder. maybe diaby tomorrow????
Our players played a blinder last season up until about February.
faker
Rosicky was good at tracking back, I’m using the past tense, I can’t believe it, but Hleb! No way.
london
when i saw him play on the wing, he was usually pretty good about it. lets not forgot he played a bunch of games behind the striker with eboue on the right so was prob more lax then
Well Stu, mate,
Yes, I’m Polish, and yes I’m stil living in Poland. Our league level is really average, and since Boniek and Mielcarski, we haven’t got any quality players, aside from our keepers, who are all great and much better than English ones(did’t want to be rude, but that’s a fact).
Błaszczykowski is great, and I mean-REALLY GREAT. He would be a fantastic player for us, because he is a natural,right, winger. Liverpool want him, and that’s just says You something.
Radoslaw Majewski from Groclin is labelled “Polish Fabreagas”, and one day he could become a huge player, and Ince wanted him this summer at Rovers but he decided to stay.
Lewandowski from Lech Poznan is another one- a tall-190cm-forward who can shoot, is inteligent and can score, would be good for us. He has scored the third goal against Ireland recently.
Dawid Jańczyk was bought by CSKA but since then he has gone backwards, very fast and could be good one day. I don’t rate Podolski, but I like Borowski and Trochowski(Bundesliga).
And Fabianski will be just FAB for us.Trust me.
Faker
You are clutching at Straws, arn’t we all! Diaby is a charity case the only reason he is still with us is because he broke his leg.
Of course he did London. The guy worked his bollocks off in every game. H e was constantly harassing and harrying, cleanly winning the ball and giving it to Fabregas.
Remember Fabregas’s goal against Milan? Who ran down Gattuso and took the ball off him in midfield and gave to Fabs? That’s right, Hleb. He did that countless times.
You would never catch Diaby doing that.
Faker
I agree with you, but my idea of tracking back is doing some defensive duties like winning the ball back. Rosicky can but Hleb simply doesn’t.
Paulinho
You are Hlebs biggest fan, I wouldn’t dare disagree with you. The last person who did was Keyser and that went on for about a week.
Stu,one more thing,
Here in Poland is one player, who is an absolute star-Semir Stilic, from Lech Poznan- You will soon hear about him, since Celtic and a few clubs from Premier League are after him. He is The Serbian Fabregas, and he is great at taking free kicks. Great player and a real joy to watch.
About non Polish defenders. We got 2 great central defenders-Arboleda from Lech Poznan, and Marcelo from Wisła Kraków. I would like to see at least one of them at Arsenal.
london
haha im a bit more optimistic than you are! diaby was pretty huge his first game back. i still rate him as a player, he just seems to lose focus and sometimes lacks a sense of direction or purpose in terms of what he wants to do. but hes still a huge physical presence and great ball control. when he clicks, hes really really good but half the time it looks like he doesnt know what to do w/his talent
paul,
u wouldnt, and thats one of diaby’s biggest liabilities in midfield.
Paulinho
I agree with you on all the points you make about Hleb; you regularly point out all his atributes and he has many but I never think of Hleb as a player who tackled back and won the ball; although, I am glad you reminded me of the Milan game as I went and you are right Hleb was sublime.
Maciek,
thats all very interesting. We are in desperate need of all that you mentioned. A tough defender, a right winger and a free kick taken.
Faker
Diaby was very good in the two games he came back after injury, that is against Chelsea in the CC final and Fenerbarche but the same thing has happened after both games: he’s dissapeared.
Ok guys, I’m off to bed. Night!
London, he often tackled steathily and without fanfare so it was easy to overlook it.
Sometimes I wish he didn’t track back. We all remember PSV don’t we…..
…. and yes that Milan game was very good. If you watch that game again you’ll notice how many times he won the ball high up the pitch. I noticed it again for Barca last week. He really doesn’t let defenders settle when he’s switched on!
evening all,
when hleb left, the majority of fans where glad he left, i just think they were kidding themselves, we really miss hleb, although his end product wasnt great, he created space and made things happen, he could chamge the game and take three defenders out in one go, we have nobody like that now.
Yes Paulinho, unfotunately we remember that game. Most pointless foul ever.
Night Maciek. Pray for an away win tomorrow.
evening guys
we really miss hleb, his end product was questionable, but he was quality, he created space and had the ability to change any game, he could take 3 defenders out of the game at the same time and we dont have anyone like that now
Wenger bought Rosicky and Hleb. They were already established players, so whats changed?
Why is it that he doesnt buy players like that anymore. Those 2 were both bought from Germany and they did great for us. Sure they didnt win us anything but if they had stayed then we might have. It just goes to show that buying from Germany never fails. So whos next???
I miss Rosicky more than Hleb. With Rosicky you get speed of attack, deft passing, excellent defensive work, great shot and goals.
We just need the tune “Memories” by Barbera bloody Staisand playing
id love us to sign ribery, but thats obviously out of the question, other than that i dont know stu….
for me riberys the pefect wide player, fast, can dribble, pass, cross,shoot,
boy did we miss the boat with him
JonJon,
I dont know a lot about the layers in Germnay but I like Bastian (like most prople) and Barnetta of Leverkusen.
lol
i agree london, we miss rosicky alot.
he and fabregas had a perfect understanding of who to open up defences,
ppl say cesc misses flamini, but he misses rosicky just as much, and hleb,
you could say we had the perfect midfield balance last season, shame about this year.
sigh.
i liked bastian too, but hes just signed a new long term deal so thats out of the question also
It’s bizzare how Wenger let Ribery slip to Germany and why he wanted to, I mean he can’t use the climate, food, culture excuse.
JonJon
I used to think that if we had any two of those three playing we were in for a treat but if all three were fit the other team were never going to touch the ball.
Cesc,Hleb,Rosicky
Listern to the song and don’t be afraid to cry.
If someome mentions Pires,Viera,Henry I am going to blub like a baby
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=GNEcQS4tXgQ
london
i agree, that midfield was terrific last season, we took teams apart, now we take ourselves apart
fucking heartbreaking
london
i listened to the first word and had to turn it off
sob sob.
London…. Reminded me of Brian Talbot, but I don’t know why..
London.. reminded me of Brian Talbot but I don’t know why..
Testing..
I expect us to win big tomorrow….i think the boys need to make a statement.
London .. reminded me of B r i a n T a l b o t but I don’t know why..
David,
we’ve needed to make a statement about 6times already this season and they havent come. We are yet to have a consistent run of games this season. And Boro are bow our Bogey team so…..
ure absolutely correct Stu
But i think since the Liverpool game is coming up soon…this could be our chance to “warm up” for it.
Best til Last???
Which one of these deserve to be our next keeper?? Im still undecided but both seem better than Almunia and are only 22-23 and are already fighting it out for the German no.1 spot.
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=85iGrCMUzXg
stu
Igor Akinfeev !!
get that lad and your goal keeping woes are covered for the next decade ..
get the best and forget the rest
Ethan,
where have you been all the times I have suggested him. Any time I mention his name Maciek pops up and says that Fabianski is far better and I should forget about Akinfeev. I rate the Russian very highly too but why would Wenger ever buy a russian??
http://www.sport.co.uk/news/Football/11085/Senderos_ready_to_return_to_the _emirates.aspx
Good news all roung eh?
What happened to my link????
http://www.sport.co.uk/news/Football/11085/Senderos_ready_to_return_to_the_emirates.aspx
It better work this time!!!
Senderos and Djourou in center of defense, best bet. No egos, no seniority complex. I think it would be a good move with Toure as the backup.
stu
hleb was technically a Russian ..
but mariek will say fab2 as mariek is polish !
you can clearly see fab2 isnt ready, he made a muff of it in the C.C …
and if anything shows he still is too unpredictable to get the job of no.1 !
thats the problem with goalies very very few are any cop until they age a bit ..
that is definitely a position that comes with experience ..
and a top rate goalie could win you 4 or 5 extra games a year ..
also arshavin was russian too and would have joined us so the rumours go if he didnt want ade’s wage per week !
he would of represented far better value for money ..
it also shows you wenger is aware of good players yet doesn’t have the money too buy him if he didnt sell the log prior (ade).
It has become quite clear that the supporters are clearly divided as to the state of the club at the moment.Some argue that we are 4th in the league, and have qualified for the knockout stages of the CL,both factual,and that arsene knows what he is doing on a very limited budget.Our net spend in the summer was 4 million,so what did we get.We got nasri only after securing the sale of Hleb,silvestre a 31 year old injury prone player who united were delighted to offload.bischoff who was an amateur until one year ago,another with countless groin operations and ramsey who at 17 is one for the future.the only reason we are still 4th. is that teams keep taking points of each other and yes we beat united and chelsea,both unexpected with our inconsistency.several names are being mentioned to boost our squad in january,but none of this will happen unless players like gallas and possibly bedntner are first sold.We have no money available,it’s all tied up on deposits,not sales in the highbury development.we have no leader,we have conflict amongst certain players and players who aren’t good enough.The last 3 games were woeful.Wenger keeps referring to BELIEF,what belief,he is payed a lot of money to motivate the team,and it is not working.now i hear senderos is coming back and even if we win today what does it really mean.the players are flat,being played out of position and the squad is the weakest in 12 years.We have conceded 13 goals in our last 7 p.l. games and won 3.does that look like a team filled with confidence.yes we have had injuries but we have a knack of buying injury prone players and this experiment will never work.the recession will have its effect,the £sterling is now equal to the euro(a 40% drop in 9 months) so maybe if we buy it will be from within the p.l.When i look at footage of our team 4 years ago and now,it makes me cringe.The club is in demise.
Good Morning people
I have woken this morning to the realisation of just how much my level of expectation has declined as this season has progressed.
We are playing Boro and I find myself wishing for anything but a loss. It sad not expect to beat the Teesside whipping boys on at least three nil.
But I don’t; I can only suppose that it is fear; the fear of knowing that one more loss and the league is well and truly beyond our grasp.
Come on Arsenal, prove this cynical old bastard wrong.
they are injury prone kelsey because wenger doesn’t believe in weight training ..
rather training them like 100 m sprinters than ogres ..
but if you look at most 100 m sprinters they are hardly light weights physically .
He would rather wait for theo too fill out as against giving him a rigid 6 months of weights in the gym ..
no wonder all our guys are injury prone .. they are out of there weight class with a lot of teams in the EPL . who would rather win with brute strength ..
its fine to have a training ethic of treat them like sprinters but the down side is more than your fair share of injuries …
I know i lived in the gym for 4 years and whilst some people say it makes you slower , it only does if you stop running also .. plus it never stopped the likes of jean claude van dam who was the euro kick boxing champion for several years straight .. he is built like a brick shit house
and still lightning quick .. Well he was when he was plying his trade .. and others like ben johnson who was also built like a brick shit house and was the fastest alive .. and the steriods he used were no different to the ones carl lewis used ..
london
i feel the same way instead of looking forward to watching an ass kicking , im thinking of will Jeremie fire up and score against us ? or can we even get a point when they have Alfonso alves in there team .. last time we played them it wasnt pretty ..
i hope they treat this game seriously and go into it with the rigor of the chev’s or man U game .
it really is pot luck of which arsenal turns up on the day …
and i cant see it changing any time soon ..
RE : the gym or not too gym ..
i think wenger is old school and doesn’t fully understand the value,or more like believes the old wives tails of bulking up slows you down , which simply isn’t true ! not if you manage your team correctly .. and balance there training effectively ..
Morning All.
Kelsey, what you write is undoubtedly true, but the only real problems I see are the lack of a real sense of purpose (what you call belief), and the need for a Flamini replacement.
You know my feelings about starting the day with a negative bias….. so …
We are going to win today. Perhaps we will win ugly, but win we will.
Come on you rip-roaring Gunners
Ethan,
I gym, always have, and as an ‘older’ gentleman, I feel it becomes more and more important. I agree that bulk doesn’t affect speed, though your Johnson argument could be refuted by the lithe (but beautifully built) Usain Bolt. Where it falls down is in the way muscle reaction times and flexibilty are required in different sports. And different positions on the pitch….
Morning Raddy,
I wont mention £sterling so that is being optimistic.Ethan has a point,theo is a good example plenty of speed no end product.the majority of the team need bulking up,though i read overmars was quicker and he wasn’t that bulky.
Anyway we will win today by at least 1 goal,is that alright.
Apparently Boro have a makeshift defence.
Morning GM
I am not concerned by the opposition. We acn beat anyone, it all depends as Ethan so righly says, on which Arsenal turns up. I am hoping for a MU/Chavs performance
morning everyone, just thougt id come on and get peoples thoughts before i travel up even norther!!!
i dont expect anything today, i dont really no what arsenal will turn up. i dont think we have ever beaten boro while southteeth has been in charge.
i just want a good effort at least, if they sweat blood for the cause and give 200% for the badge i’ll be happy.
morning JonJon,
i presume you are going to the game.my thoughts for what it’s worth is whoever scores first will win.not a simplistic view,but i am fed up us going one nil down and chasing the game.more than half our games this season we concede first,that’s the key for me.
Have Geoff/Pedro had their larry holmes/Ali moment?
Where is the post ?
They can’t pull the trigger anymore!
They’ve both overslept. a definite yellow card offence
What no Blog?
10:30 and still no Post
thats odd lol
hey kelsey, yep im off to the game.
only takes about an hour to get to boro from leeds so i got time to kill.
i just think that even if boro have a makeshift defence we’ll still struggle to break them down.
im not expecting anything, that way i wont be as upset if we get beat.
its all about effort today, after the porto dibarcle, the fans need something back from the players
At their peak Geoff and Pedro moved like a butterfly and stung like a bee…… It’s sad to see the ravages of their long career take their toll….
Enjoy the Game. JonJon,,
if you dont then surely we wont either lool
hey raif, still enjoying the chronicles???
fuck that Shit. i only saw Episode 1.
if im forced to watch another i will be hanging my self.
Do Not Watch it Jon.. its to late for me. run and save ur self
whose going to win the x factor my money is on the group
just biding time,post is always late around xmas time
JLS, i think there alright.
its a close one to call who will win this years X-factor
JonJon
also Jon and sarah conner time travled at the end of Eposide one season 1, so they have basicly fucked up the future was we know it.
Hench what MAN Jon Conner says in the movie trailer
as we know it***
does anyone know who hoffenheim is???
does anyone know anything about their attacking mids or strikers???
barca have scored on average 3 goals a game and are the top of europes average goals a game list, hoffenhiem are second with something like 2.99 goals a game ahead of madrid, chelsea etc.
i just saw a list of about 15 teams who score the most goals on average a game and we werent even on it,
who the hell are hoffenheim??? their german or something but i thought the german league only had 1 team???
lets buy all their players!!
Evening/Morning all
It’s a worry when we have Boro away and as an arsenal fan i’m not looking forward to seeing the result, i felt more confident going into the United and Chelsea games than i do about facing Boro away, purely because of the lack of passion thats been shown against the ‘lesser’ teams and that i knew against United and Chelsea the players would show more passion.
Vela surely has to start on the left to give us some pace and width in the midfield, with Ramsey on the right, the rest of the team pretty much picks itself, unless its time for Fabianski to get a chance.
no prediction from me, cause whenever I do one we lose…
Difficult today
If you go off the rest of the season so far, we are probably due another lacklustre performance that ultimately means another defeat.
Hopefully that will not be the case and we can start shaking off the early season and take the 3 points. Not too bothered about how we play, I just want to see 110% from everyone and 3 points
when did we last beat boro away,anyone know
few seasons back when we won 7 – 0. after that we havent won at all
dont watch x factor after the audition stages and them chronicles i give a wide berth to.
the chronicles was just starting last night as i was channel surfing and i was going to see what it was about after you’d been tearing it to peices raif
but then i got to the A- Team double episode and theres just no comparing
HAHAHA
Good Old A-TEAM.
a movie for that is in the works..
lets play eboue as a striker and Vela as a winger
raif that was at home
kesley we havent beat boro since southgates been there.
found it lads
Arsenal’s most recent league victory on Teesside was 0-1 on 9 April 2005 when Robert Pires got the winner. It was their fifth successive maximum on Middlesbrough turf.
Hoffenhiem? Wasn’t he in Baywatch?
PAULINHO
HAHAHAHAHA
Boro will win today IMO.
Can see it now, sloppy passes in midfield, stupid corners given away, goal ensues from one of them.
Just can’t see us having the strength to get the three points with these bunch of chancers.
lol paulinho
not long till kick off. gday all
No comment today? I guess there’s no news and nothing that hasn’t already been said, early kick off today, lets wait and see how the lads perform.
I’m confident because we have Fabregas back, the RVP-Adebayor partnership works well up front, and those three are our key attacking components.
Predicted lineup.
It’s difficult to predict todays lineup, but because we have our main front 3 available our chances are good.
Wenger is refusing to be drawn into transfer speculation, I think that’s fair enough, as long as Wenger is not refusing to buy players just because of his beliefs about the team.
As for the Porto result, mixed messages from Wenger:
““Since I’ve been in football, when you don’t win it is because you don’t want to. It is those who want to that do it and those who don’t do it, it is because they cannot.
“The culture is always the same, it is based on who does not want to be a star and who does not want to be the best in the game – but everybody does.”
Clealy the result must be let go of, but it proves that we’re lacking strength in depth, either there is a monumental improvement in the squad in the next few weeks or we need extra players to help for the rest of the season.
NEW POST!
… a bit late… sorry!
Gforex…
i do agree but i don’t think that’s completely true. I’m so confused!…