Morning Grovers, it’s my first post in a while… and it’s a bleary eyed one… many beers were consumed last night and I wont lie… mainly because if I was going to sit and watch us grind out an unconvincing 1-0 win… I was going to do it off my face on cold, refreshing Peroni.
I rolled into the ground to hear the name I’d been waiting to hear for a year… Eduardooooooo! The roar that went out for him was passionate… it was great to see the Crozilian back in the team after such a horrific injury. It was also great to see a proper wide man playing in a wide position. Carlos Vela was treated to a rare start.
Fabianski
Sagna Toure Gallas Gibbs
Vela Song Denilson Nasri
Eduardo Nik B
As soon as the game kicked off, you knew Arsenal weren’t going to be beaten. There seemed to be renewed belief round the stadium last night, like maybe tonight could be the spring board for our season… and it didn’t take long for that belief to be rewarded. Eduardo played in Carlos Vela, turned out into the box… Carlos chipped a sublime cross onto the head of Eduardo who buried it high into the left corner of the net… Everyone went ballistic! Fantastic… Eddy was back, and that goal meant a lot to the striker who’d been out for 51 weeks.
The next goal didn’t take long either… Arsenal were carving out chances like attacking play was going out of fashion. Someone put something in the players water bottles and it wasn’t crab juice…
Our next goal came from a corner… Nik B rose like a jumping gazel (Why does it have to be a salmon?) to direct a glancing header past the hapless Cardiff keeper.
2-0 up and cruising… how many times have we been able to boast that this season?
Nik B was worked extremely hard for the team… but as usual, he had to do something silly. Vela powered a shot across the keeper who parried it… all Nik had to do was slot the ball in the empty net, but he somehow managed to hit the post and miss the rebound. When the replay went up, the gasps were almost as loud as the earlier Eduardo cheers! Read here to get the low down on Niks comments from yesterday…
The second half started… more beer had been consumed… and due to the emptiness of the stadium… I spotted a rarity… An Arsenal player sitting 4 rows up…
Beer + Excitement = embarrassing moment when grown man decides he would like to go and sit next to player.
So off I went… I asked Diaby how he was, he said
‘Fine’
Then I asked if he spoke English?
‘Yes my English is very good’
Then his agent asked me to stop talking to him, to which I replied…
‘No way, Diaby is my hero and I’ll give him a bad write up if you don’t let me talk to him…’
To which the agent said,
‘You sit next to him then.’
So I did… I asked him where he sees himself playing for the team… he said in France he loved to play in hole as a second striker. He wouldn’t budge on who he liked and disliked and he said he was definitely enjoying life in England and he’d be here next season. At this point I decided that my 10 minute interrogation of him was probably a bit annoying… so I left him alone… leaving a stray hand on his leg for reassurance.
Anyway… then I looked up, Eduardo had been cynically bought down in the box, the ref blew up and pointed to the spot… cue an Eduardo net buster of a penalty! Superb… what a way to make your comeback!
Eduardo went off to a standing ovation and was replaced by RvP… a man who I can honestly say looked hungrier than ever to get on the score sheet. Finally that opportunity came when Nik B rolled in a beautifully weighted pass which Robin slotted home convincingly. He fist pumped at the crowd and we were all pleased we could go home with a smile on our face.
I can confirm Diaby did leave with 7 minutes to spare… bloody club level plastics…
Ratings:
Fabianski: Solid game from our slightly hyperactive number 2. He didn’t really have much to do bar sweeping up any loose balls that landed in our half (Literally in our half… he’s like one of those jack russel’s that sees a ball and must chase it down). 7
Gibbs: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if Arsenal were a factory, we could boast the finest left back production line in the world. Once again Arsene has another potential gem on his hands. Gibbs is composed on the ball, a dream going forward and full of pace. His defending is sometimes a bit of… but he has many years on his side. 7
Toure: Funny game from Kolo… he was tearing about all over the place last night, and he dropped a few clangers… but he is Kolo, and I love him. 6
Gallas: Another assured performance from a man who, for the first time is looking like a £90k a week defender. 7
Sagna: Managed to play a nice cross into the box. Quiet night for the Frenchman. 7
Vela: What we’ve been waiting for… a creative pacey wide man who can spark a midfield into action. I thought he had a tidy game last night without being exceptional. I think he banished any presumptions about strength by putting in a few good tackles… for me, he needs to be given a fair crack at the whip… because he is miles better than the unproductive Ivorian I care not to mention. 8
Song: Another solid game from the Cameronian. Nothing spectacular… but improving. 6
Denilson: I thought he had a top game in the middle of the park. He was tenacious and had a renewed vigour about his game. I honestly think he’ll become a good player for the club and I think a lot of the criticism of him has been unfair this year. 7.5
Nasri: Another good performance from our floating Frenchman. He glides across the pitch wherever he senses he can cause problems. If he can add a decent final ball to his game, we’ll soon start getting a bit of value for money from him. 7.5
Eduardo: It’s nice having a striker with really terrific movement. Eduardo knows where to be to get on the score sheet… and he seems to live for the goals unlike some of our other strikers. I expect to see a more involved Eduardo this year (In the team effort) and I expect to see him starting more often than not. RvP and Eduardo could be a pretty special partnership… and it’s probably one of the few we haven’t really seen. 9
Nik B: You can’t fault the lad for effort. He works his socks off for the team and he is starting to throw his weight about up front. He knocked in a good header and he went close on a few other occasions. I really think he’ll come good this season in a Flamini-esque kind of way. One goal, one assist… who’s complaining? 8
Conclusion
A convincing win and two easy games to make it to the exciting rounds of the FA Cup! Our football seemed to click into gear last night, so lets kick on from this and make something happen this year!
Have a great day Grovers!
That thought has actually freaked me out dennis, in fact i may have done a little wee in my pants just then!!
DDM, i think you may have seriously lost the plot… lol
Little wee nothing dennis, i’ve just shat my load
bennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnno!
Sorry to ruin the run n all tho, very impressive tho, how many back to back hat tricks was it?
Thank the Lord benno, that nutter dennis was driving me fucking sir crazy……..
I dunno fella, i lost count, along with my marbles……
Not suprising at all, just up early or at work early?
I think i might need a lie down!
At work, being professional………..ha ha ha!
i think i made it 43, not that i was sad enough to go count…
very professional lol, just got in from work, need a bevvy but alas damn indoor semi final tonight meaning i can’t!
Not that im complaining about gettin to the semi’s tho….
a hat trick just doesn’t seem a gd effort after that Dennis
Getting to the semi, or getting a semi???
Where is everyone anyways? seems strange that there is no one about…
Getting to… altho i wouldn’t complain about the other either, the Netball birds play a couple of courts over
Nope, just like my school report card said, ‘should try harder’………fascists!
Mmmmmm, short skirts and sweaty thighs!
lol, very short skirts!! and not the tight one’s, the frilly ones that get blown up when they jump…
I think everyone’s recovering from yesterday’s debating over nuts ‘n’ cheese, what a crazy site this is, it’s right up my strasse!!!
Oooooerrrr missus!
Nuts ‘n’ Cheese? Musta been when i was in bed, stupid time zones
They should always have powerful fan assisted air con in those places to assist in the free flowing movement of those frilly little numbers!
Do you think the Deviant Police are monitoring us at the moment??
Oh, and Raddy and myself touched very briefly on cocktails too!
Anuzzer Hat Trick!
I wouldn’t call it being deviant..i’d call it being male…
Powerful air con would be good, not even for that reason, purely coz its Australia, it gets bloody warm inside, and especially when your playing footy, and the air con is crap. I wonder if they’d upgrade it for the other reason tho
Cocktails
expensive but stylish way to get wrecked
Time to crack out the white away kit for indoor, not the best away kit, but very handy being white
I’ll take that hat trick.
May i join in the conversation dear sirs?
Dennis, where’d ya go?
Guess not
Duke, u may certainly,
Well not i guess yes
The weekend is taking too long to come around
Oh by the by, here is something to cheer everyone up this morning:
The agent of Yaya Toure has sparked controversy over comments regarding his client’s Barcelona teammates.
Dimitry Seluk rapped: “They are waiting to renew the contract of (Samuel) Eto’o and Toure. All we are doing is that, waiting …
“If the team wins the Champions League, then what is going to happen? The players could leave the team, so what will happen? Who will play? Hleb?!!”
I wanna see us trounce Sunderland
Who would you recommend for fantasy captain? Eduardo or RVP? seeing as theyre both in my team
Fucking hell Dennis, way to go!
Duke, i like the fact that all his basically doing is ripping Hleb
Weekend will come shortly enough, we almost hit half time of the week already. Plus we get to watch some UEFA Cup today, you know get used to it for next season.
hahah benno i know, i think it was an undercover comment to just make fun of hleb coz Yaya’s agent is a Gonner
Also go for RvP, dudu might not start and RvP is on fire, he is my captain and i never regret it, just that 1 time he got sent off :$
Im still confident of the Champions league, Hiddink is proven with average players, but his last outing with superstars at Madrid didn’t end to well, lets hope it goes the same for Chelsea, and once Villa beat them on sat and we beat them we’re above them
yah benno it is taking hell of time…still two days to go and i’ll have to spend sat evening (match at 2000 in pak) as well to watch dudu and aa23….
Yeh RVP has been my captain since xmas, except this week, had to go for Rio as much as i feel like a traitor, double gameweek n all.
GP, its even later in Aus, Won’t be on till midnightish i think.
chelsea villa match can determine whose goin down
We’ll overtake them all including the scousers.
benno i thought u’re in land of holy football (refering to le grove)!!!
benno that’s a good idea to be honest, will go put Vidic, as its a double gameweek n all.
I still fancy Villa to finish top 2 tbh, they’ve come through injuries and suspension and are still going (Young, Laursen, Carew all sidelined). Think we may catch Pool if they self implode like usual ( or Gerrard is injured longer and Torres gets injured), but i think Chelsea are the team for the taking.
GP, used to be, not anymore though, i prefer the sun
Duke, the united Fulhma game was part of the last gameweek, next double gameweek is for Fulham in a couple of weeks.
great optimism geoff…benno i used to think abt fans in hong kong (it early morning and mid week for CL) difficult timing to manage…..but u have to wait till mownign right!!!!
I put forward the Caiparinha as the ball breaker of all cocktails……
GP, Nah i’m in Perth, meaning that we have the early kick off about 10ish, the 3pm gmt kick off at about midnight, and the late game at 2ish.
You wait until you all read todays post, you will believe it too!
DDM, wats in it??
So it’s a post to fire up the fans today then Geoff?
benno – RvP it is then
Geoff – Believe what?
Phew! That’s better, a little lie down, now where was i??
Regained your marbles then Dennis?
Duke, yeh i’m going for RVP as well, as much as the fans want Eduardo to start, they’res too much doubt to make him captain, i’m hoping im not gonna be made to regret finally putting an Arsenal defender in aswell (Gallas)
believe in CL qaulification calculation done by GEOFF!!!!!!
DDM, I like that turn of phrase… you are a Le Loner if you post 3 times without response! haha!
benno its 1am for CL match in PAk (but i can some how manage office) in aus it would be like 5am!!!!
leavin for lunch…will be back cant take be top three
Yeh over here it 5am for most CL matches, if it’s not he live gmae then its on replay at 7 though. I don’t mind getting up early for them anyways, usually have work or uni in the mornign anyways, or im just getting in from being on the lash if i don’t have work or uni, so it works out all good.
benno – Cachaca (Brazilian white caine rum), limes, sugar and ice……..
Doesn’t sound much, but let me tell you, that Brazlian caine rum is distilled by everyone in Brazil, and the locals not only drink ir, but run their fecking cars on it too!!
DDM, anything with rum in it and i’m there!! might have to give it a try
benno – three or four of those blightas, and even your own missus will look hot again!
NEW POST!
Can you only get Cachaca in brazil or do they do export?
The best rum i’ve had was dominican 151 white rum in Dominican Republic
when i watch edwardo performs like last game it could have been our title. we were edwardo away from the premirship.