Le Grove – Arsenal blog featuring Arsenal news

So now Arsene Wenger says Manuel Almunia doesn’t get the credit he deserves, what? And he also rates him along the same lines as Van Der Sar and Cech, okay boss, I think you need to lie down in a dark room and have a rest.

So now Almunia joins the list of Song, Eboue, Denilson, Bendtner, Gallas and Kolo Toure that I can remember Wenger saying does not get enough credit, well apart from their huge, huge salaries we also need to give them credit as well, you ungrateful bastards, give this young team credit.

Okay quick bitch out of the way and now I will get onto other things, the Mail has a picture of Micah Richards and he is saying all young boys want earrings and fast cars, wrong Micah, earrings are what girls want, boys want fast cars, now whilst I know the wearing of earrings is contentious so for this debate I’m going with fast cars for boys and earrings for girls.

Anyway I’m going off wanting Micah to join us of late, I’m siding with Chiellini, but we have a long wait ahead of us there. Today we play Fulham and today we really need to start scoring if we are to get into the top four, remember the start of the season when we played Fulham at Craven Cottage? I do, I was expecting 5 goals and a stonking win and we played like shit and lost 1 nil, that was the start of the rot, that was our first loss and the sign of bad things to come, so today we need to avenge that defeat and get our season back on track, today we need to win big to exorcise those demons.

Today believe it or not I’m going for a big win, 5 nil. I think today will see the team finally realising they need to start catching up or losing out, so maybe we’ll see some urgency.

We need a win today to get our champions league qualification back on track, I have a feeling Villa will lose, don’t know why but I do.

Keep the faith today Grovers and don’t forget to thank Manuel and give him the credit he deserves. And no being sarcastic either, he does deserve more credit, he doesn’t get enough and those clown stories are hurtful and unnecessary.

Yes it’s true, Kolo Toure is urging Arsene Wenger to buy Souleymane Bamba from Dunfermline, this nugget from the Ivory Coast plays in central defence and can also operate in midfield so would solve our problems next season, and with the Cup of African nations coming up this could be the perfect time to buy him.

Right that hopefully will be todays only red herring, but I thought I would let you all know early on, talk of Bendtner out and Villa in is as ridiculous so that’s as far as I’ll go with that one.

Gazidas has told the press that Arsenal are being really kind to their loyal fans by freezing the price of season tickets, as they really don’t have to because they have 47,000 mugs queueing up for them, how gracious Ivan, you should be reducing the price, not freezing it.

I never understand why prices continually go up, do your salaries? I would think many out there are fighting to keep their jobs and business’s afloat, do pensioners get big pay rises?

I would like to propose we put BBC reporter Matt Barbett in the chump box this week for his interview yesterday with the mother and sister of the family of 6 that were killed by the Portuguese truck driver, he was interviewing them and I could barely watch and at the end he says to the sister, ‘do you forgive him?’

She naturally said ‘NO’ he then said ‘why?’ If I were there I would have ripped his useless pony arsed head off, what a callous prick, can you imagine it, if it happened to me I would hunt the guy down and rip him to shreds, and Matt Barbett wants to know why they couldn’t find it in their hearts to forgive.

Back to football, I just put that in because life in this country has gone beyond a PC joke. It would be like asking David Cameron if he forgave god for dealing that poor little boy such a cruel fate, why can’t the media leave people to grieve and re-build their lives, why the constant intrusion?

This is what they do to Arsenal, never the Mancs, never the spuds or scousers, always us, they can’t leave us alone, if I were Arsenal I would get myself a decent agency to handle the press, and yes Ivan, I am available.

Fulham up next and Hangelaand fancies his chances, well Alfie I’m not going tomorrow, not because I can’t stomach another nil, nil bore, but more because I am beginning to think I am the Jonah, the last game I missed was Cardiff and we scored 4, so tomorrow I’m seeing if it is in fact me.

Also I will be around to police the site and join in the merryment of what I expect will be a royal tonking, maybe 6, I fancy our new boy Arshavin to shine and maybe some of the others to step up. I would think that Denilson gained some confidence and if Diaby was then fit maybe the two of them can have another go, but he’s not so not why not try Nasri in the middle with Vela and Arshavin on the wings?

Either way we are in the process of getting our big guns back and hopefully seeing less and less of Pinky and Perky.

Have a happy Friday Grovers, my absence tomorrow may just do it.

Geoff isn’t the only one who can tell history stories.

In AD 180, Roman General; Maximus Decimus Meridius was enslaved after he was double betrayed by the future Emperor , Commodus. He was sent to Zucchabar, a rugged province in North Africa. Maximus was told if he wanted to gain freedom, he had to become a gladiator… and make the masses love him…

Well, after dispatching six opposing gladiators, Maximus turned to the crowd and screamed…

‘Are you not entertained!’

True story, you can catch the Ridley Scott documentary somewhere online I think?

Anyway… my point is I can draw parallels.

Arsenal, with their backs against the wall tonight, faced and impossible task… Roma (6 Gladiators). How were we going to win with inferior equipment (Maximus only had a sword – Arsenal had Eboue)?

Well, I can tell you how… we replaced Song with Diaby… and Arshavin with cough-boue.

Diaby gave us a creative edge and played his heart out for 70 odd minutes. Many of you will know that I gave him a little pep talk on how to approach the Roma game last week… please, don’t give me too much credit, after all, it was up to him to act on my wise words.

There were many good performances out there tonight.

Nasri maintained a high level of performance for the most of the game. I thought he caused Roma alsorts of problems. He swapped positions all night… was he the main striker… left mid or the second striker? I didn’t really care… he was great.

Denilson was top notch. Quietly mopping up and distributing well… unambitiously… but well. I’ve said it all year (Calender)… he is doing a good job for us, it might not be obvious, but Gilberto’s role wasn’t obvious… and Gilberto wasn’t playing for anyone of note at 21.

In fact… an argument often levelled by the Denilson haters is that he isn’t a Brazilian under 21… well, Gilberto only signed his first pro contract at 21… Yes, at 19 years old, Gilberto was working in a sweet factory for £50 a week… he only gave football another try because his friends persuaded him to. So there is hope for Denilson yet.

Bendtner missed a few sitters, but he set up RvP for the penalty claim. Knock his finishing and knock some of his touches… but don’t tell me he doesn’t work hard for the team, and don’t tell me with a little bit of composure he can’t be a top striker for Arsenal. He is only 21 and he’s scored 9 goals and has 4 assists (19 games)… compare him to the Arsenal faithfuls love child, Theo Walcott who has played 13 games and only has one goal and one assist… and you’ll see why I think he receives unfair criticism.

I’d also like to take time out to praise the ever reliable Gallas. Apart from rolling onto the pitch late with Kolo for the second half, I thought he was great tonight. He’s been solid and professional since his armbandless return and I think we are finally seeing £90k’s worth of centre back commanding our defence… We’re not getting many ‘Big Phil’ moments these days are we? If we can maintain this solidity and consistency at the back… and the strikers can start finding the net… we’ll be contending for trophies come what May.

The only performance I wasn’t impressed with was Eboue, I have a feeling I will be in the minority here… but ask yourself what was impressive?

He made some great runs… but what is the point in a great run if you are tackled at the end of it? He also did wonders for his reputation by diving when Brighi touched him. Some will say he managed to get De Rossi suspended… but once again he reminded referees across Europe he is not to be trusted. Didn’t rate his performance last night and I think Vela could have done a better job…

Sagna and his weak attacking play were exposed tonight. I think most Gooners look away when he is about to whip a ball into the box… he really is a poor crosser. I know it’s not his main roll… but as a professional footballer… he should be able to deliver a half decent ball into the box.

Finally, without wishing to tow the company (blog) line… I thought the Song substitution was a bad idea. He can do an average job on a good day… but coming on tonight showed why he is never going to be a world beater. He was slow, his positional awareness was weak and his shot was atrocious. Tactical changes like that are not welcome… the crowd made their feelings known with a grown and shrugs of disbelief.

Other than that, I am all smiles! The people telling us that we were going to lose… seem to be the same people complaining about the win?

Forget the missed chances… we had 14 attempts on goal and we managed 2 on target…

Vintage Arsenal, right?

We go into the next leg not having to worry about an away goal, we managed another clean sheet and we continued our unbeaten run!

Has anyone got that 2006 feeling?

I have…

Happy Wednesday Grovers and a big thanks to everyone for making last nights blogging experience a friendly one!

Ratings:

Almunia: Can’t knock him lately, can you? He made a stunning save early on, tipping a high powerful shot right of his post… a save that I have criticised him in the past for not making. I thought he commanded his box well and his distribution was good. 7

Sagna: I can’t really add anymore to what I said above… Good at the back, crap in attack. 6.5

Gallas: Again, see above for indepth thoughts. I thought he was great. 8

Toure: Not a bad performance, managed an attempt on goal if I remember correctly. 7

Clichy: Suffers the same issues as Sagna going forward… tonight though… he didn’t really roam. 6.5

Eboue: Not impressed. I don’t get excited about watching a player run 50 yards and lose the ball and I don’t like diving. 6.5

Denilson: Stealthy and efficient. He didn’t stand out… but that’s the way you want it with a holding midfielder. Tackle… 5 yard pass… I’ll take that sort of game all season long. I think he’s going to come good… I really do. 8.5

Diaby: I think one of the bloggers (Bud) said that Diaby always has a great first game back… well, tonight was no exception. He really is a bag full of talent… Wenger’s challenge is harnessing that consistently. Rumour has it he picked up a knock… I hope not, because this Rosicky type behaviour just wont do! 8

Nasri: Just a bundle of mischief… he sneaks around the final third, popping up wherever he can sniff out a bit of danger. I imagine he is a nightmare to play against because he doesn’t have a fixed abode… he is a footballing vagrant… left, right, up front, in the hole… he is going to be a truly magical player… A few of his passes where poor tonight, I thought he over powered his first pass to Nik and he played another one behind him later on, but his confidence is growing. 7.5

Nikki: Played in a beautiful chip for RvP to manufacture a penalty. He swapped the left wing with Nasri and did well… I really think he is going to become a good player for us… if there is a player I am willing to be patient with, it is our 21 year old Dane. 6

RvP: Again, he missed a few good chances… most notably the one that Diaby set up with a dream floated 30 yard ball. We really need Eduardo back in the team… Like Paul Merson said after the game… we don’t have an out and out goal scorer. I fully agree… we have 2 second strikers playing at the moment… and one that can’t be arsed who is injured. At least Robin buried the penalty. 6.5

Subs:

Vela: Didn’t really light up the evening. I feel sorry for him… he played a well against Cardiff, he was dropped… missed a sitter last week… now he looks low on confidence. He’ll come good though. 6

Rambo: Looked sharp and sprightly when he came on and he caused a tiring Roma a few headaches with his mazy runs. 6.5

Song: Silly sub… he is a player that struggles from the start… not an intelligent player to bring on when keeping a lead is essential. Even Gilberto struggled last year when he was brought on in the last 20… 4

So this is it, the one our entire season is geared up for, the Champions league, the big one, the one in which they all say we can go all the way in, this is the toughest one because after the Roma tie, we in theory will have our best 11 back and fit and lift the European Champions League at last.

These guys need to give one monumental effort to keep the competition alive, this is our Jerusalem!

The time for talking is over, Robin, Nikki and Diaby I think will lead the line and if Robin’s ambition matches mine, he will need to have a blinder and I think he will.

The time for talking is at an end, we drew the Milan game this time last year but we need to win this one because Roma are much better at home than away in this competition, they will defend sure, but make no mistake they will be trying to score, so we must score more, tonight we need the spirit of Anfield, Cardiff and Milan, tonight the boys need to stand up for the manager that has stuck by them all season, tonight is for us and for Arsene.

Now although I mentioned Diaby, I actually expect a midfield of Vela, Song, Denilson and Nasri and I expect a big game from Song, he needs to run after everything and let them know he’s there, if it were down to me I would play Diaby in the hole with Denilson but if he plays Song and Denilson then they need to assert themselves from the off and get in their faces, let them know they’re there.

The defence pick themselves and need to be alert, no sloppy goals tonight, defend like your lives depend on it guys, because it does.

The main reason I would pick Diaby to partner one of Denilson and Song is because he will get more room than he would against a premiership side, Vela on the left and Nasri on the right gives us more width than Eboue and therefore makes us more potent, so I hope the boss finally realises that and gets on with it, but whoever he picks I expect a big game from them.

I would also like to see Bischoff, Ramsey and Wilshere there to come on after the others have worn themselves out.

I am going tonight from the dentist, I will be in pain and very vocal, I believe we will all be very vocal but the pain I am hoping will be with the Roma fans at the end of the night and not with us.

Tonight will be nervy and tight but I expect nothing other than a win, if we want to win this we have to beat the best, so we may as well play Roma now.

If I were in the team I would run my bollocks off, nothing else matters apart from tonight Arsenal, go out there and make us all proud, and if that means having to watch Eboue, Denilson and Song together then so be it, I will shout your names from the rooftops if we win, this is your time boys and I for one am behind you all.

Robin to get a hatrick, Nikki B to get two, Nasri and Vela to get one a piece and Diaby if he plays will get the other, if he doesn’t it will be Song or Denilson.

So I make that 8, go get them Gunners, go and prove the footballing world wrong, go and make your manager proud and go and make us all happy.

I can’t wait. Have a great day!

Pedro has made some changes to the blog which makes it easier to comment, don’t ask me how, it’s way to complicated!

I have to say I am always surprised when I hear our leader claiming they came for a draw and camped in our half for 90 minutes, so I have two questions on that subject.

1) So, you expected them to come and play all out attacking football and then what… …lose?

2) Try telling that to Alex Ferguson. How many teams go there and camp in their half, apart from us and the chavs, …er all of them, and then what?

The point I’m making here is it’s the same for all the big teams, and remember we used to be one of them, since the doomed experiment we have drifted miles apart from ManU and now Liverpool, Chelsea and Villa, and Everton are parked up our arses as well.

We can’t keep blaming everyone else, yes they were defensive, but if it wasn’t for Almunia we could have as easily lost as drawn or won. We have to start playing offensively,and creatively, starting with Roma tomorrow, I would say with the way we set up against Sunderland, we looked like ‘WE’ were trying for a draw, two inept defensive midfielders in our starting line up sent out the message, we want to protect our ‘NOT LOSING’ streak.

I get fed up with hearing about the debt ManU have, do they care? Do their fans care? Last week the bookies paid out on a domestic treble for the Mancs, how embarrassing for us, it’s February for christ’s sake.

Whatever they spend, they get back in winnings and shirt sales, who out there has an Eboue, Song or Denilson shirt? well apart from them, their mums and my cousin who made his mate wear an Eboue one as a forfeit.

I had us down for 6 nil at the weekend, but no, another shocking result against a poor team and yet another ruined weekend, now I read Wenger isn’t going for an attacking line up against Roma because we can’t score goals, what the….

So okay then know-it-all, what would you do?

Okay, I think Bischoff, Ramsey, Wilshere or even Coquelin can offer us more in midfield that Song and Denilson can, Eboue is just a joke player and should never feature again save coming on for Sagna.

A great defensive midfield player should cover every inch of the pitch, like Flamini did, or be a wall, like Gilberto was, Coquelin would do that as would Aaron Ramsey and I would sooner see one of them than the current offering, it’s not working, the results have shown that so change it.

Gazidas tells us we have the worlds best manager, he learnt the Arsenal way quickly didn’t he, he’s been here 5 minutes and he’s already trotting that old story out. I love Wenger, but I hate this intransigence, it’s killing us and if we don’t watch it we’ll end up trophy-less again and out of Europe, when will someone wake up and and realise what we all do, we are 3 players short and until we replace them we will win nothing. Not even a premier league game against a shit side like Sunderland.

I don’t know if Bischcoff is the answer but if we don’t try him, why sign him? We know the other options aren’t working. I think the reason we aren’t scoring is because the supply lines go sideways and when the forwards get the ball they just snatch at it, it’s panic football because of poor selection.

We need to start with Vela and Nasri out wide, we need a big lump like Diaby in the middle with a playmaker like Wilshere, then we’ll see what we have, what we’ve been doing isn’t working and never will, time to change Arsene, this may well be our last chance in Europe for Champions league football next season, please don’t blow it because of your pride, it’s getting very boring, admit you’re wrong and move on.

I’ll be there tomorrow and hoping like hell my head doesn’t drop when I see the team sheet. We have nothing to lose, we know the three stooges aren’t working, throw on the creative kiddies.

Arshavin was awesome by the way, what a great signing, I heard a lot of people saying they didn’t realise he was so short, so? What about Messi, Maradona and Scholes, it never hurt them did it, we can’t all be 6′ 6″ like me can we?

I lied about that by the way and the Scholes thing was a curved ball just to make sure you were reading.

We got a nice mention in the Gooner magazine this weekend so thanks Highbury Spy it shows we read yours and you read ours, keep up the good work!

Have a great day Grovers, tomorrow defines our season, next season!

I said on twitter before the game that the ying of today would be Arshavin… but the yang would probably be Eboue starting instead of Vela…

I was wrong… but the premise of my idea still remained true. Arshavin started… but Wenger had to ruin it by playing Denilson and Song in the middle. If this season has taught us anything it’s that Song and Denilson are capable in the middle individually… on a good day… when there’s a south easterly breeze… but not together.

How many teams outside the top 6 put out a central midfield pairing that negative? Are we chasing 4th place or the longest, least successful stretch of games without a loss. Honestly… it’s like the opposite of the invincible’s… it’s like putting £80 into a fruit machine… and taking the same amount out every night… for 11 days solid! Being unbeaten is beautiful.. but not when you draw more than Clint Eastwood in dirty Harry…

What happened to the coach that used to play 4 up front to snatch a victory? What happened to Arsenal’s feared reputation as an attacking cavalier team who could punish a team at any moment? Where did our balls go?

I don’t know… we were ok today… but Sunderland never feared us. If I am brutally neutral… I’d say they created a fair few chances… and at a glance, due to their kit… sometimes their centre mid looked like Ronaldo running at us. How poor is that? I’m watching Sunderland carve us up , and my brain is telling me Ronaldo must be playing because he is making it look so easy!

Arshavin didn’t disappoint… big players never do, do they (Veron, Mutu, Crespo, Reyes)? He didn’t receive too much of the ball but when he did, he either tried to create or he had a shot. His first chance in an Arsenal shirt was an outside of the boot low pile driver that whistled just past the post… his second attempt came from good work out right, he cut in and rifled the ball towards the top corner, only to be denied by Fulop.

As first games go… I thought he was impressive. I said earlier in the month that I didn’t think he was what we needed… and I still maintain that to a certain degree… but great players lift the fans, the players and the management. He is going to be a shining light at Arsenal… no doubt about that.

Nasri was also pretty handy today… he and Arshavin swapped wings on a regular basis and it caused problems for Sunderland… but not enough for my liking… which leads me on nicely to…

…Song and Denilson. They were ok today… as ok as they could be. Neither gave the ball away a lot… both did their fair share of the donkey work… but they just lack something… I just can’t see them lifting major trophies for us. Will either of them ever match players like Petit, Gilberto or PV04? It’s highly unlikely…

Imagine a Monet painting… with a big black paint blob in the middle… you can see the beauty it could offer, but because it has a black blob of paint in the middle… it’s never going to win any awards… that is how I feel about the current Arsenal set up. We’re like a vandalised work of art… except this work of art has been vandalised in dry marker ink… and it would cost a minimal amount to clean it up and allow it to contend again. Why is it only me and 55,000 other gooners that can see that?

I call it... 'hole in my midfield'. Turner Prize nominee anyone?

So what can we take from the game today?

Well… first up… we created a few chances. Well, Robin went close, but his chip flew just wide. Nik B went closer with a glancing header… Arshavin was denied twice with two shots from outside the box… and Robin missed a one on one late on. Vela also missed a chance that Ade may have buried… jeez… even Kolo forced a save!

We defended very well.

Yes, you heard it hear first… our back 4 looked pretty solid against one of the largest strikers known to man. Kenwyne Jones might have the work ethic of Adebayor on a lazy day… but he is still a handful. All of the back 5 can be proud of themselves. Especially Big Al who I thought was superb today.

Thirdly… well… I don’t have any more positives.

My negatives in alphabetical order.. go like this

Bringing on Carlos Vela for Arshavin made sense… the Russian was tired and it was obvious. However… with 15 minutes to go… what was Wenger thinking bringing on Eboue? Ok… you want stats… here they are…

Eboue: 18 games, 1 goal, 3 assists

Still unsure of how bad those stats are for a right midfielder… well, Eboue manages an assists every 0.16 games… that’s about 1 assist every 6 games. He manages one goal every 18 games and he manages something productive every 4.5 games.

Do those stats radiate game changing ability? Did anyone feel defensively threatened enough to bring on Eboue… even though he sat up front? I’ve got an alternative… he goes by the name of Jack Wilshere… what are his stats I hear you scream in a high pitched girly voice… well, they go a little something like this…

Jack Wilshere: 3 games, 1 assist, 1 goal

If you do the maths (Don’t check my figures), I calculate that if Jack had the same amount of games as Eboue he’d have 6 goals and 6 assists so far this year. If I can do the math on that one… why can’t Wenger? What was Eboue going to do for us? When has he ever changed a game…? Jack is the most promising youth prospect of his age group in Europe… surely he would cause more problems for Sunderland than Eboue? Not that Eboue did terribly… he did lay a nice ball off for Robin… but it’s not the point (If your aunty had bollocks she’d be your uncle, right?)… why is he offered up as our game changing solution?

Am I the only one who thinks along those Jacky boy lines? Am I the only one who remembers what it was like to be at 17… fit as a fiddle and desperate to play football at least 8 times a week?

I dunno… it’s just a bit disappointing that our manager has turned into Jose Mourinho… I thought Arsene was all about playing for the fans entertainment… a bit of risk…?

I’m not going to give any player ratings because to be honest… it was so average out there, I’d probably give them all a 6… but in conclusion, I do have something to say.

Our finishing is off key… and on another day, we may have won by 5 but how many times are we going to say somthing like that? When do you have to hold your hands up and perhaps say their is something fundamentally wrong with the team… because their always seems to be an excuse? I’m not scapegoating players… but when the middle of your team is slow and flat… that is a pretty huge indicator that days like this are going to be the norm opposed to the not so norm. Song and Denilson are not a winning combo and to be honest, the jury is out on whether they’d be a winning combo with Cesc or whoever else playing next to one of them. I’m just interested how far into this experiment we have to go before we say, shit… we’re playing Spurs in the Uefa cup next Thursday?

Pretty much the whole crowd booed after the game today… they are all fans, they all paid their money and they all went to today’s game with renewed optimism. It’s upsetting to see the coach play a negative team… especially when you are playing Sunderland and you’ve got form players from the previous game benched (and you’ve drawn 7 out of 12). What must Carlos think? No wonder he screwed his chance… it must feel like Wenger has no faith in him…

I hope no one says today was the right set up… our kids on their own were perfectly capably of smashing Wigan… who are arguably a much better team. oh well, I’ll continue to support the team, continue to not boo and I’ll continue to have my say when I think I’m being short changed.

Wenger said we’d ended a sad spell the other day… I just hope we’re not beginning one.

Just quickly, before I go… I wanted to give a big shout out to the Highbury Spy. He writes for the Gooner and his articles are top notch. I strongly recommend you purchase their magazine for a read next time you are at THOF… Read his article and then the article titled, ‘Arsene Really Does Know Best’ and the classic AKB line of, ‘Would you you make a better manager than Wenger, I suspect not’. Hilariously AKB and superbly complimentary that our acronym has made it into the number one Arsenal fanzine. If the Highbury Spy is reading… drop me an e-mail and we’ll sort you out a Peroni before the next game.

Oh… and finally for certain… I just wanted to thank all the Grovers who came out yesterday. Raddy, Peaches, Steve, Raif, Chary, Bud, Geoff, Gunner8 (Thanks for adding the term road beer to the glossary)… it was a pleasure sinking Peroni’s with you today… and a joy that none of you were weird!

Have a great Sunday Grovers and remember to treat your fellow blogger with the utmost respect… otherwise things could get violent…

If Shirty can, why can't you?

Well it’s like when two kids try and get their parents back together again after a particularly nasty split, they tell the two offending parents to meet in so and so restaurant but neither knows they’re are meeting the other, they meet and it all goes pear shaped.

It wasn’t the kids fault, they tried their best, it was the grown ups, they should have tried harder, and that my friends was what went down here on Le Grove yesterday, one backs down and the other has to leave with a comment, well that doesn’t solve Jack shit does it? So today, let’s all start again and no barbed comments, today we introduce the ‘sin bin’ like they do in rugby, no exceptions, we have to protect the majority and a few people having a dig makes it unpleasant for the others, so no favouritism, no exceptions, let’s all make an effort, I will begin by saying that I won’t talk politics. The rest is up to you.

Onto football, it seems that Eduardo has a slight hamstring problem but that’s to be expected as he’s been out for so long, so please don’t get bent out of shape, that’s what happens, he’ll be back soon.

Ashavin will be making his debut against the black Cats, I was going to say black bastards but as Roy keane has since left, I don’t hate them so much any more so black cats will do. I just hope that he doesn’t leave it until the last 20 minutes before we see him, we know what Eboue’s like, we’ve seen more than enough of him, so let’s see the player you have paid £15 million for boss, that’s why you bought him, give us a lift, you did that with Eduardo and it paid off, so let’s see him for 90 miinutes, he may well need it.

We are apparently after new French teen sensation Mamadou Sakho, he’s a 17 year old defender and we’ll be paying £4.5 million for him, well please Arsene, don’t.

He may well be the next Jack Charlton, but he might not and we have too many French players at Arsenal now and I think we’ll end up losing the backbone of the squad if we don’t watch it. Also how many of these starlets ever make it, and how much does buying them and paying their huge wages stop us signing the ready made stars, such as YaYa and co?

We already have Djourou, Nordveit and Bartlett all young hopefuls, Djourou’s good enough but he doesn’t get played, the other two are a few years off.

Look at those we’ve had and have failed, Grondin, Aliadiere, Traore, Senderos, Diawara and those we have in the stiffs such as Gilles Sunu and Coquelin, how many of these guys ever make it, I look at our academy and our reserves and see how many players we have and how many of them are nothing special and think blimey, we could get rid of half of them and it would do us no harm at all.

I mean we signed Senderos when all the top teams wanted him and even after waiting years to see him be ‘that’ centre back, he never made it, how disappointing.

We hardly ever play reserve games anyway, so it doesn’t really develop them, I reckon if we got shot of 8 of them we wouldn’t be any worse of in the squads, and maybe doing it would fund the world class centre back we need and the midfield monster we could do with.

If our kids were that good we would be dominating the FA Youth cups, but we don’t, I think the last time we won it was when Sidwell was captain (2002) and the only player that progressed from it was Cole, I could be wrong but is that worth all the money? And then the little scrote buggered off to Chelsea (no phone pun intended).

Okay we are in with a shout this year if we beat the spuds but how many of them will progress to the big boys team? when you think of all the support staff we need to run these teams and the money they cost I wonder what the point is.

Baptista even said that Arsenals weakness is it’s kids, he says we don’t blend it with the right amount of grown ups, so maybe there’s a point there somewhere.

A final comment goes to our Togo warrior, who on a you tube clip explained all of his tattoos, a few were about god and all that, but there were none that did anything to stop him getting offside or help him be a team player but the funniest one, sums him up, he said

‘I’m from Togo, in Africa so that’s why I have a Tiger’

Someone needs to explain to him you don’t actually have Tigers in Africa, that’s Asia and Siberia, they can explain that to you when they are explaining the offside rule, you still have two weeks before you come back, who knows eh! I know, I know, there’s more chance of finding Tigers in Togo than you staying onside!

So finally a big thanks to Gnarley for sending in a clip for ‘Shirty the slightly aggressive bear’, if he can change then so can you, you know who you are, there’s nothing wrong with you and I know you only get wound up because others bait you, so please, take a leaf out of Shirty’s book, if he can go a day without tearing bits off of people, then so can you, so no retorts, or it’s the sin bin, and please no competitions to see who can get in there first, we don’t want to lose any more of you fine folk.

And by the time you read this, I’ll be on the golf course so won’t be policing, that will be Pedro, and you know what he’s like, he isn’t as placid as me.

Poll Update (Pedro)

Will Alex Song make the grade at Arsenal?

Yes 47%

No 53%

Now, that result will please Geoff, but it also pleases me who now sits on the fence with regards to his development. I can’t imagine that split would have been so close 6 months ago… so it shows progression.

Happy Friday… let the jokes roll…

So we are being tipped to move in and get a cut price deal for Jan Klaas Huntelaar as he doesn’t want to stay at Madrid and Madrid don’t appear to rate him higher than Dolphin head, how funny is that?

I don’t think we need anymore strikers, 16 appears to be enough, think about it, we have Eduardo, Robin Van Persie, Nikki B, Adebayor, Arshavin, Carlos Vela, Theo Walcott, Homer Jay and that’s just the first team.

However if Barcelona persist with their spoilt brat way of doing football, that is to say, we want who Arsenal have every year, and Arsene continues to bend over which of course brings them back every year, we will sell him. I would prefer we swap him with Madrid, for say Huntelaar and Ramos, now that would do nicely.

I think Ade can do a good job, but I also think his head has been turned, it just remains to be seen if anyone rates him after such a shit season, we’ll see, but it’s a nice option if we have the balls, do you Gazidas? well do you?

Samir Nasri says, why do we need another midfielder? We have Arshavin, which is what I was saying yesterday, I know I have listed him as a forward (above) but I actually think he’s a midfielder, like Diaby is.

Theo apparently isn’t happy with £50k a week and like all players these days he doesn’t seem to understand that the world is in the shit, but giving an average player like Ade £85k a week kind of makes you understand why Theo wants more, I say pay it and move on, get rid of half a dozen kids we know will never make it and save some money, if you want help deciding who, I can name 4 in the first team we don’t need, one I’ve mentioned today, the other three I talked of yesterday, but I also said I wouldn’t go there again and Pedro has his poll to announce and as I don’t know that result, I’ll keep quiet.

Now I don’t know why, but last night we had some sillyness on the blog, I won’t name Ethan, Raddy or Rtist, as that makes me part of it and I wasn’t, but Pedro and I can’t police Le Grove all day and all night, so we rely on you Grovers to get on, and 99% of the time you all do, blimey you even meet up and some of you start your own blogs! But people, we need to keep it friendly, I will go back and look and the perpertrator will get sin binned for a day, if in fact there is one, we can’t call each other bad names, but sometimes the arguing gets a bit much, I hate to see regulars stomp off so I hope we can forget this and move on, the blog wouldn’t be the same without you all, but arguing stifles debate and turns people away.

My advertisers hate it and I lose money, and I need all the money I can get to buy Usmanov out.

Have a happy day todays Grovers, it will soon be Sunderland and our chance to see Arshavin!

Update:

Who is most likely to make the grade?

Denilson 83%

Eboue 1%

Song 15%

(Vote Count 1027)

Now, that result was kind of expected… the question that really needs answering is as followed:

Will Song make the grade at Arsenal?

Poll in the sidebar —>