So big Phil’s adventure with the ‘World class Milan’ is over, Wenger is set to give him one last chance to revive his career as it looks like Gallas will go, possibly to a world class club like Milan.
The’ World class’ bit is what Phil said when he thought his Arsenal career was over, which just goes to show you have to be careful what you say when you move to another club, however briefly, I would be happy if he brought his mate Matty with him though!
How funny, they don’t want him because he’s not good enough, but we do. What is that saying? Gallas, regardless what you think of him is still a class act, to put Phil and Johan together could be an inspired move, or it could be an unmitigated disaster.
I was kind of hoping we’d sign the big lump we so desperately need, but that now looks like it will be Phil but funny, a big part of me is saying it might just work, him and his Swiss chum could be the pairing that actually takes off, no sulking and both grateful to be playing.
Wenger said this on Arsenal.com when asked about new players, ‘If I say yes and I don’t do it people will ask why I haven’t done it. If I say no and we lose one game people will say I am crazy because I didn’t want to buy, In England every problem is sorted out by buying a player when you lose a football game’
Okay, I think that’s answered that! Funny but I thought that’s what you did in football, you know, bought players when you need to improve the team, our leader’s again told us how lucky we are to have such a young team with so many players being 20 or 21. So what? What does that mean?
Still we’re in the next round of the Champions league which is great and a reunion with Gilberto could be on, though I would prefer it to be in the final, and we are still in the FA cup and still in the Premiership race, so perhaps we will grow together and the team will start to play better.
The funny thing was, this young team were on fire pre-season and that’s the bit I can’t understand, you would think the younger players would get better as the season went on.
Still today is a tricky one, Middlesbrough, they used to be a guaranteed 6 points but now going to the Riverside is like going to Anfield, I hope we go back to the pretty football and grind out a result, I didn’t like the ugly game I witnessed last week and I really don’t want to upset anyone again so soon, but I just think we play better when we play the Arsenal way, add a bit of shutting down, aka Milan, ManU and the chavs and bingo, we’re back.
It will be a tight game but I think we’ll win this time round, Arsenal have come in for much criticism in this last few weeks, so I think they’ll want to show the footballing world how good they are and how well they can play.
So with that I’m going for 17 nil again. Of course I’m kidding! 2 nil to the good guys, have a great weekend Grovers!
fukin hell, imagine if we got villa!! well we need a signing like that ,and it would almost certainly gaurantee cesc staying.
cheers pat, that article will cheer me up untill wenger comes out and shoots our optimism down in flames.
True SouthCoast, I expect a big up to Nicolas Bendtner at any minute from Wenger, after all the arrival of Villa would stunt his development at the club…….
All I can say is stunt away!!!!!
Hopefully Wenger has been biggin up “puke boots” to up his price for the big F O….
Haha Eto just missed a penalty against Madrid at 0-0. Twunt!
Lets hope so Avenell
I know he has been given enough examples already, but surely now Wenger realises that Diaby, Denilson, Song and Bendtner are not good enough. Diaby is the only one of the four that I have a sneaky feeling may be a good squad player,
See AW is already using the age old we must have belief bullshit?! He has seriously gotta find something new to say
!
Hi avenell – I’ve got more chance of winning X factor than us signing Villa don’t you think?
By the way – I reckon the reult was fixed, Simon Cowell really wanted Alexandra – she’ll make him more money! He’s like our board, he’ll say anything to get a few extra bob…..
We shoudl of the majority of our squad and bring in at least some of these players.
GK : neuer, Alder, Akinfeev, Stekelenberg, hildebrand.
Defender : Chiellini, Zapata, a polish CB that Maciek recommended, Upson, Ferdinand, Hangeland, Metzelder, Albiol, Vermaelen .
Midfielders : De Rossi, Aquilani, Cana, Alonso, Flamini back(?), someone German for their efficiency, ANYONE DEFENSIVE, v.d.vaart, etc etc
Wingers/attack-mid: anyone who can cross a ball, Ashley Young, Vicente, Silva, Schweinsteiger, Barnetta, Diego,
Forward : Villa, Huntelaar after he fails in Spain.
Did I leave anyone out.
They are all half decent squad players, If they have 9 or 10 top class players to play alongside. But playing more than 2 or 3 weak links is bringing the whole team down.
I’m not too unhappy with the defence or even the keeper, but we need in order of preference. A midfielder like Alonso. another Nasri /Rosicky type to play on the opposite side to Nasri and a striker who can play on the floor Villa, Eduardo??
Cut the Wimbledon long balls out of our game, lets get Cesc back to what he does best..
Who won te X-factor??
I have no problem with diaby and denilson as squad players. song is useless and cant do nothing with a football, a waste of a player and he is anonymos in the centre.
Sorry I meant Diaby, Denilson,Song and Bendtner.. I got distracted..
who cares who won the x-lax factor!!
Rico rico rico – you know how we dreamt of David Villa . . . . . . . . well The Mail says. . . . . . . . but are we gonna believe it
X factor keeps er indoors happy while I’m on here..
Moan moan moan Rasputin – twas not a fix, Alexandra was amazing
buy messi.. arsene!!!
wotcha ave – how will you keep the lovely lady busy next saturday?
alonsos a definate for me, and hes getable
santa cruz would be getable (although villa would be nice)
krancjar would be getable (although silva would be nice)
id take diarra back too
we dont have to spend multi millions we just need to find players who are better than what we have and at the minute it shouldnt be too hard
Peaches… She will find Nigela or some Sex in the City repeat she always does..
Anyway Peaches… She wants a watch for christmas.. and she is a Newquay gal.. Are the watches that look like bangles/braclets (Roxy, Quiksilver) cool or could you recomend.. pretty please..
fuck imagine villa getting the opportunities that fab provided today to rvp and adebayor!!
JonJon,
I forgot about Krancjar. He has been out for a while and just returned so i cant see Pompey letting him go but he would fit in nicely. I wouldnt take Santa Cruz now. He is way off form and we have a squad full of those right now.
I said it before and i’ll say it again, Germany is full of great players. All very good technically and good at organisation. German efficiency is something we could do with. Rosicky and Hleb both played there before joining us and they werent too bad.
ave – is she the kind of girl that likes to be surprised or should she have exactly what she wants?
Peaches
I know Alexandra was amazing, but it was obvious that the popular support was for JLS – not my faves but the audience’s I reckon!
We won’t buy David Villa. He’s likely to cost over 20 million and we could buy 2 or 3 good players for that who would vastly improve our squad.
Peaches, I am sorry to throw cold water over the Villa dream but he said yet again this week he does not want to come to England. In many ways it is quite refreshing, instead of arriving here and saying that he cannot get used to the weather, the food, the culture etc although in Hlebs case because he never had these in his own country so he had to make up a new one, he said that he couldn’t get used to the hustle and bustle of London, anyway I digress, Villa is just being polite by avoiding all the usual excuses by repeatedly saying that he does not want to come to England. Sorry.
avenell, ive got a good trick for pressies for your woman,
the secret for me is……
get her something that reminds her of her childhood, something sentimental (and expensive
) that brings back happy memories of when she was young of either a special place or a special relative.
it proves…
1, that you always listen to what she tells you and you remember
2, you love her more than anything else in the world
it always works.
Rasputin
Valencia have already turned down 45 millon euros for Villa.
peaches … no she will love anything I buy her.. she’s the bollocks (just don’t tell her)..
She wants the dreaded ” cough” but I’m not going down that route again..
OK London – so we’re not going to pay more than that for him are we?
Rasputin – why is it obvious that the popular support was for JLS – if they had the popular support surely they would have won
Stu
You make a good point: Germans travel well.
I will avoid the obvious joke of just ask the Polish.
Peaches – its fixed……….
Rasputin
Sadly not.
stu… id take santa over bendtner, blackburn are struggling, and so his he
but last year when he had bentley providing him he it 17 goals for a midtable team.
krancjar is the wide player we miss, been out injured and so hasnt been around but a quality player noetheless, pompey are skint, the club is upfor sale, for a reasonable price we could nick him and it wouldnt break the bank.
the german game is based on organisation so maybe your right, if we want a good CB or DM we should look to that league
jonjon I don’t want to sound like Arsene and bullshit her..
ave – she sounds perfect – the smart moneys on the roxy according to my daughter
Of couse it’s fixed
JonJon – I agree 100% about RSC – he would be amazing in the right team. He’s big, powerful, quick and can score with both feet and his head. He’s just not getting the service at the moment.
Rasputin – its not . . . . . .
hahaha avenell.
Hey rasp – did you see Phillipes coming back?
I assume everyone saw the Barça-Madrid game; I felt like a kid looking into a sweet shop and being told that I cannot have anything.
OK Peaches, how come Alexandra gets Beyonce – one of the best selling current singers and JLS get West Side – an outdated group of has beens, and the Irish vote is already going to Eoghan? Cowell manipulates the whole programme – what an embarrassment t was to watch Shitney mime the other week?
Avenell
How old is your daughter? You may have already said but I missed it.
Thankfully im not the only one who thinks we need a German influence. Jens, even though he was a keeper, had a big influence on our team and organised the defence marvelously.
Anyone know where i can find spell check?? It just fell off the toolbar a few weeks ago and oh how i miss it!
Peaches, I thought we’d hit rock bottom when we got Sylvestre and now Big Phil is on his way back – its humiliating. And in the next breath, people are saying we’re gonna sign Villa – bit of a contradiction don’t you think? We should bring bck Traore and Barazite. Traore is a far better left midfielder than Eboue.
speaking about service… our strikers get enough service. they are just not good enough!!!
I have fire fox I didn’t even know you could get spell check!
Rasputin – JLS were supposed to have Rhianna to sing Umbrella with them but she went back to the states yesterday. Don’t get me wrong I think for the first time in the competition that both were excellent.
rasputin.. we had vela who played the entire season on loan in la liga on the left wing…and he still put on eboue.. he will not play traore.. !!!
ave – my daughter is 23, can be relied on – very cool
Peaches – are you saying they only had one day to rehearse a new song – fixed…I’m telling you. It wa probably fixed last year as well, the welsh guy (Rhiddian or something) was a far better singer but the more marketable pretty boy won.
Peaches ask little peaches if this type of watch is cool..
nixon- ladies -the-tribella- watch .jpg
nixon- ladies -the-groove- watch .jpg
if we are relying on senderbramble to come back and save our season then something is definatley wrong at this club
we need strikers who can finish
we currently have a load of strikers that cant finish their dinner on the best of days
Peaches/Ras my daughters “23″ … but ma bitch is “37″ born in the double year..
I feel sorry for Fabregas, our only world class player playing with a bunch of muppets. It must be soul destroying. I bet he watched that Barça-Madrid game and said to himself “I wish I was playing there”.
I’m also starting to feel sorry for Wenger aswell: he must be frustrated; I am not saying that it isn’t of his own making but the man must be disapointed to see just how average so many of the players have turned out to be. I have been trying not to moan today, damn I just failed.
choy..I agree Vela should have played left mid and he was on the bench but Wenger still played Eboue – WTF?
I made a joke on here a few months ago to the effect that someone had kidnapped AW and replaced him with David Pleat after plastic surgery – its the only way I can logically explain why a man who previously was the most astute brain in football had turned into a complete muppet.
The conspiracy theorists will tell you that Wenger has actually been told not to spend the money on new players and to ‘keep quiet’ when they make conflicting statements.
Rasp – we all thought it was a good move for Phil to go out on loan when sylv was signed.
Where does Arsene start?
would anyone take arteta away from cash strapped everton???
I would bite your fucking hand of for him.
Alan Sheep Shearer says that it is very frustrating watching “his” team play so poorly! whats that about. Why is everyone feeling sorry for Wenger??
Its his team selection.
There is the hidden bonus of Arteta being Spanish which would go some way to keeping Cesc happy.
Rasp – is that me? Am i a conspiracy theorist?
haha JonJon, i was just about to ask that. Wierd, its as if you just saw his hit the crossbar with a freekick or something.
Peaches – for me it all hinges on who is telling the truth. Either Wenger, the board or both are lying. I cannot conceive what would persuade Wenger to come out with the BS he’s spouted since the start of the summer if he didn’t believe what he was saying. He is too comfortable and no-one seems to be challenging his decisions. If he doesn’t buy experienced quality players in January and the money is there for him – then I think its time he went…..
Oh and I would definately not mind Arteta at the club.
ave – little peaches has gone out now – thats what you do at 23 – I’ll run it by her tmoro
Peaches – you’re not an X favtor conspiracy theorist so how could you be an Arsenal conspiracy theorist?
Delay has done his shoulder at last but we probably dont play them until he recovers.
If Wenger has money and doesn’t spend it in January we have all sadly overestimated Wenger by some considerable margin.
He must be unhappy with the situation; he must be; he can’t be that blind surely.
*Delap
im in the same thinking as you london.
lets go get alonso and arteta and have the three amigos in our midfield
liverpool need the cash so do everton, its realistic
sell eboue and bendter and song if we have to, to raise some funds
haha stu yes that made me think about it, ive always rated arteta though, hes done well at everton
JLS did only have one day for that song – but Louis Walsh is a rubbish mentor, they could have had much better songs all the way through – he tried to turn them into Boyzone/Westlife cos thats what he knows.
They should have been funky and soulfull and really made the most of their personalities.
Yes Simon has the power but Louis is not very good
London,
he can’t be that blind surely.
Then how do you explain that he NEVER sees anything bad that his players do, whether it be a dirty foul or a dive. He never sees it. Maybe he has selective vision. That would explain why he doesnt see anything wrong with Song, Diaby, Fish, Denilson etc etc etc
I’m not sure London.. When Wenger used to put out weakened sides in the CC he used to cover his ass and put Henry and Pires on the bench. But as it started to work he got braver with the subs bench..
now he seems to have done the same with the squad he has pushed it and thinned it out and pushed some more now his gamble is coming unstuck!!
I have foolishly supported Song when everyone has been calling for his head. I watched every touch he made today and the ratio was as pathetic as 8 bad passes to two good. I want to cry it’s so poor.
Just going back to RSC. If Blackburn dont sack Ince soon then they are sure to be relegated. If Wenger acts fast he might beat Fergie and Hughes to him. But since when does Wenger act fast. Unless they are excptional talents ala Song.
Thanks Peaches!!
Sorry I like to do my Christmas shopping on here now!! Le Grove the One Stop Blog shop!!
It’s bizzare Avenell he surely must want more as respected manager in his position.
Just realised who RSC is I thought it was the RS owners club!!
Wenger’s lost the dressing room. Nobody believes in him any more. He can’t turn what he considers to be his best eleven into a side that can compete for the prem this season. There are better players in the squad but he stubbornly refuses to play them – its ridiculous…..
We are a shadow of our former selves. Only two or three players in the current side would stand a chance in the invincibles. We haven’t replaced Vieira, Pires, Bergkamp, Henri, Gilberto, Lehman, Flamini, etc etc.
I watched the pre match interview with Wenger; he looks like he has aged 5 years just this season alone.
RSC – santa cruz?????
I think Wenger has got so many problems now that he doesn’t know which one to solve first. Instead of listening to us in July/August and signing a DM he now has no consistency in mid-field which has shown up the defensive failings, added to which we’re not scoring goals either and everyone confidence is low.
The team play with lead in their boots although today there were some flashes of lovely football in the first half – until boro scored thatis.
Wenger must realise that we are a shadow of our former selves and must be burning to do something about it.
Wenger has defiantely lost the plot now. If there arent wholesale changes in the summer(provided he finishes in the CL spot and is still here) then he has to go. There are no 2 ways about it. Maybe he should be introduced to Barack Obama!
It does come back to what so many of us saw: a new DM in the summer.
Confidence is paper thin. The players lack belief. Wenger has run out of ideas and excuses, he can’t motivate them and they don’t have the ability to paper over the cracks. Drastic surgery is required to the squad – 4 or 5 out and 3 of quality in would do it.
The Villa side look more convincing as things stand. 4th we will be very lucky.
yo yo yo,people what a crap result today,i personally don’t think we will achieve 4th spot this season,last season we were better then what we are now and still could not achieve nothing,to me that says a 1000 words.It’s all about looking to forward next season already and buying and selling wisely in order to catch up again.
Positive BBK.. you promised..
I hate to say it but Harry’s boys looked pretty motivated against the mancs
even if we do make signings in jan we will still be short in terms of settling in periods for the new players
come on avenell can you really see us finishing 4th on this current form
I still think Wenger is smart enough to realise that things are not going to plan and out of professional pride he will want to change things.
We need one signing to get 4th spot; we need three to win the league.
BBK
It deoends who it is. If we were to get Arteta to replace Song then 4th spot is ours no problem.
London – who do we need for 4th spot
Peaches
The mancs had an off day and it flattered spuds.
I wish I could say something positive to cheer us all up but…………………………
I’m taking my depression to bed – nite nite Grovers.
a very dark evening all…
So song became song again….Denilson was shit…Diaby doesnt belong on the left and Almunia shouldve saved that goal…
January where are you?
BBK.. I don’t really know how the f**k we are 5th…
Peaches
Arteta will do. It’s within the realms of reason.
Laters Rasp..
David
I am with you up to Almunia: big ask to save that one.
exactly avenell im not being negative this is the reality we are in im just stating the fact of the matter
I didn’t watch the game from the beginning but I assume he had the usual suspects on the bench – why didn’t he bring Nikki on earlier? Why didn’t he inject a bit of pace on the wing? LJ or Vela would have terrified boro in the last 30 mins – why wait till 75 or 80 mins to change?
ave is it really a suprise?
We lost 5 times…and one of the people we lost to….are 4th.
Peaches
Wenger was scared of loosing the match.
David…You cannot go by that theory coz we beat 2nd and 3rd..
Night night Rasp, catch up tmoro xxxx
I’m off to bed. A demain mes amis.
I’ve not had a dislike for so many players in our team, since about 1983… This is a sad state of affairs!!
London
If we had Cech keeping that wouldve been a good save….Almunia was too slow to react to that…and JD got caught ball watching..
Respect London….
If hes scared of losing the match then its lost from the beginning surely?
The play is so slow, by the time we’re in front of goal there are dozens of the opposition there and no way through. Why do we play like that now?
there’s only a couple of players in this current team i would really like to meet other then that i really feel i have no affiliation with them.
David, I agree with everything you’ve said, especially about Almunia, should have dont alot better. But i must correct you. It was Gallas who was ball watching.
because we dont have pires, henry,and ljungberg any more all sweeping forward together, peaches
BBK,
who is that? Clichy, Cesc, JD, Eduardo all seem like great people…..who else??
we lost 5 times already….and drew 4 times….
thats 23 points lost……its incredible.
But i think its clear now that our problem is a Management problem.
And how Wenger continues to persist with a failing formula is incredible.
when we attack now it is so slow,can you remember the last time we made 3 passes and were in front of the oppositions goal.the football we play now is way to predictable
Peaches.. fab has lost his wengerball mates Hleb, Rosicky and Flamini.. before that Bergy and Pires was the boys..
Now we have the crab Denilson and Fab has to sit deep to keep his eye on Song..
clichy,sagna and toure stu
We should be on top of the Mancs with a win….Against Boro…who have lost to just about all the top 4 this season…
so we sell bendtner and buy santa
song eboue diaby denilson go and we bring in arteta alonso and krancjar
gallas looks like leaving, we should bring back senderbramble and sell him and get ??? any ideas anyone?
relegate almunia to #2 and get given or kirkland
there……………..
xmas list written and emailed to santa claus.
Yeah its all good n well that we beat 2nd & 3rd, but what about the lower placed teams? the games that actually count?! So dont give me theres nothing wrong bullshit!
the two defenders i think wenger will try and bring are zapata and hanky head from full-ham
JonJon,
Chiellini and neither Given or Kirkland. I’ld go for Akinfeev, Adler or Neuer. I;ld get rid of Almunia too.
BBK – you said it, those were the days!!! The saddest thing is that so many other teams now have their own version of pires, henry and freddie sweeping forward and we have plodding plodding plodding . . . . . .:roll:
peaches excellent observation…the pace is slow because Denilson and Diaby are slow….
Denilson is slow in intelligence…and would rather look to see a pass than make a run….and Diaby is just a slow player…that is why playing diaby with Vela in on the same flank was the most stupid Managing decision i have seen (apart from sub in for Bentner with 10 min to go) in a long time…because vela is use to playing with the likes of Gibbs, fran and the lot who have considerably greater amount of pace so the link up play suffered greatly.
Hangeland night not be as good as he seems. He is only PART of the fulham defence. Defending is easyier than some think. All you really need is organisation and understanding.
Stu
my mistake i did intend to say Gallas…lol.
I think JD was out of position as well though. He couldve intercepted the cross and we wouldnt have this problem…
exactly peaches,we are so far behind man-u and chelsea it is really bad and sad…
Rob if that’s aimed at my comment .. read all of todays post..
It was a reply to a we are 5th because the 4th placed team beat us post..
might and easier
if don’t get maximum points out of our next two league games we could struggle to finish in the top four liverpool next sunday is a massive game and then we got to go to villa park on boxing day which i feel maybe a tougher game for us then liverpool ! villa are flying at the moment what id give to have ashley young running down the wing for us !
personally i dont really rate hanky head stu but we all know picking out quality defenders and wenger do not go together
I would rather we get Keown in instead of another defender. If Senderos is coming back then MK can work his magic on him again. Plus Keown would bring some desperately needed agression into the players.
i would much prefer ashley young to theo walcott at this current time i was thinking we should of payed the money for him before we got walcott
Ashley is quality…and he is looking better every game….
I think Villa would play us exactly as they did…..10 men behind the ball and gabby upfront on the counter attack…
It would be interesting to see how Wenger deals with this…because you know wot they are going to do. Lets see if Le Boss has a strategy this time.
After the Delap throws I seriously started question Wenger’s game time strategies.
theo walcott is a good player but to be brutally honest i feel ashley young has more confidence and bottle than theo, young is slightly older than walcott but hopefully theo gets more confident as he gets older ! if hes still an arsenal player !
That’s fucking it. If he doesn’t buy in Jan, I’m loaning my season tickets out next year.
Fucking pissed off.
Wenger has never acrually used tactics in his life. Against Stoke, Wegers idea of tactics was playing the tallest team possible and it still didnt work at all because all our defenders are tiny.
walcott is all about running on to the ball with his pace he needs to start trying to cut inside and not run in straight lines all the time
david.. i think villa could be a major turning point in our season because if we lose up there!! arsene has no choice but too strengthen well in january otherwise we will definately struggle !
guys, theos a striker, ashley youngs a winger
wenger plays theo out of position because
1, rosicknotes dead
2, he wants to develop his game like he did with henry
its unfair to compare them both,
theo will come good but wenger has to start playing him upfront off the last man, thats where he is most effective
Evening all by the way….