Le Grove – Arsenal blog featuring Arsenal news

Boy if we ever needed a win since Wenger has been here, today is the day. All around but the Chavs winning means having to beat the scum away just to stay in the mix, let me reflect on a few stories of yesterday that need addressing, let’s start with serial victim numero uno ’Emmanuel Eboue’.

He said he was so upset after the Wigan game, that he got home, he had his dinner and went to bed, taking the phone off the hook in the process, the next day all his great mates, Song, Kolo and Adebayor came to his house on their way to training, to him to cheer him up and tell him not to worry, he was still a good player. And since then he has received many emails from the fans apologising for their actions.

Well the three players that went to your house to cheer you up haven’t excactly covered themselves in glory either mate! Did anyone stop to think about being honest with you and telling you why the fans turned on you? 

I’m guessing not, let me help you out, it was because you were shit that game, as was Song. I left the ground and was so upset I couldn’t eat my dinner, so I drank instead and wrote a very nasty post, you may remember it.

You were treated badly because you played a dreadful game that almost cost us, and since then you really haven’t improved much, so stop feeling sorry for yourself and sit down with the other three and work out how you can all start improving, rather than blowing smoke up each others arses, that way we will start singing your names from the terraces, as we used to.

Your mate Ade gets paid £80k a week and compared to last year he has been worse than you and the other two.

There that’s the bollocking over, now for the encouragement, Ade has scored 8 times against the scum, 8 times in 8 games, he seems to like doing them, Ade it’s payback time, get in there son, today we need you today as never before.

Alex, you need to show us all why you keep getting chances, I can’t see why, but you did great in the West Ham (away) and Liverpool games so please do that again if you play today, I will be the first to sing your praises, I don’t – not rate you on purpose, I want to love you, believe me.

Kolo you’re forgiven, you have given us years of loyal and great service, I’m putting your form down to malaria and not getting the captaincy when Henry left, go show the spuds why we all still love you.

Now if those four can get their act together we can get a cricket score today because the rest of the team are on fire, Robin and Nasri will rip them to shreds, they are not good enough to beat us and with Eduardo, Wilshere, Bendtner and Arshavin on the bench we are blessed with talent the like of which I cannot remember.

Not since the days of the invincibles anyway!

I read with amusement that Barca offered us Hleb plus cash for RVP, ha, ha how must Hleb feel now the wanker.

The worry is that our stars want away if we don’t qualify for ECL football, well perhaps they should tell their boss because although he still believes in his young squad. The stars want Wenger to sign a centre back and a midfielder that can defend, so they see it, we see it but unfortunnately the boss doesn’t, oh well, perhaps today’s the day his faith in his young team is repaid.

But please let’s make a bid for Messi just to stop the Barca bullying if nothing else, they have now said they see us as a selling team, great!

So Gazidas, get Theo and Robin tied down to long term contracts, try reminding Robin how long he’s been injured and his prison ordeal and if you need to then promise them a centre back and a defensive midfielder in the summer.

Finally I remember Robbie Keane saying it was his boyhood dream to play for Liverpool, well it was my boyhood dream to score the winning goal at Shite Hart Lane, well that and something to do with big tits, anyway, perhaps that’s an omen.

You work it out! Have a great day today Grovers, I’ll be switched on for most of it.

4-2 the Arsenal and the faith to be repaid.

Watching the fans forum last night is always entertaining when Perry Groves is on, I love that guy, he makes sense and he really believes as we do that Arshavin’s presence will give the team a lift, he said from a player point of view they will be stepping up for fear of losing their place and wanting to prove themselves to the new boy, good combination in my book.

They also said that Keane has his moments but drifts out of games all too often and if we can get past the first 15 minutes we should win at a canter.

Also they will come at us and that suits our quick passing game and our ability to counter attack, so we should see some goals, Ade has been well out of sorts and will relish the chance to get the fans going by scoring against the spuds and I think he has a better record against them than Keane does against us. I think we will be out to prove something tomorrow and I was doubly heartened by the news that Wenger said Rosicky is ahead of schedule and will be back in six or seven weeks, f-cking hell Arsene, that’s April, ahead of schedule? he was supposed to be back in September!

Still at least we’ll have Eduardo and Arshavin knocking on the door, personally with 7 subs allowed I would put them both on the bench tomorrow, if for nothing else other than to lift the fans.

I fancy Robin to rip them up but something tells me Denilson will also get on the score sheet, don’t know why, but I just have this feeling. I would like to see Ramsey as the defensive midfielder but I suspect it will be Song, but if not I would play Vela out left with Nasri and Denilson in the middle and Wilshere out wide, but I know he won’t do that either, so expect a midfield of Nasri, Song, Denilson and Eboue.

I can’t wait for the game, today will pass slower than Alexandre Song tracking back but at least it’s a midday kick off so we won’t have to wait all day tomorrow for the fun to start.

Sorry for the Gordon Brown rant earlier but I am sick of what’s happening here these days, it’s like being run by the students union.

No offense meant to students.

Have a great day Grovers, Blackburn may do us a favour today, well them and Hull anyway!

P.S. Le Grove have setup their own twitter page… seems to be all the rage these days… so click here to join in the fun (I think?)!

This blog is non policital, this post is a quick one and it’s an anti PC gone mad post, it had to be done. We have many fine Scottish Grovers so apologies for the use of the word Scottish, but this man is Scottish and that’s a fact and I’m sorry to one eyed people but this man is in fact one eyed, the real issue is, is he an idiot? You decide.

This will be followed shortly by a proper football post.

So in a week of Political correctness gone mad I see a newspaper headline that says ‘uproar over Jeremy Clarkson’s comments’ he says ‘we are run by a one eyed Scottish idiot’

I’m thinking blimey, Clarkson’s a manc, but to my surprise I read he was talking to an Australian audience about Gordon Brown the prime minister and not Alex ‘red nose’ Ferguson.

What on earth is happening to Great Britain? Anything anyone says these days is offensive, last week a nurse got suspended for offering to say a prayer to a sick patient, why? It offended other religions. Jesus! – Pardon the pun.

The last time I looked we were a Christian country, the queen is the head of our church, which is the church of England, we have many people living here of all faiths and we all get on, but when our fundamental principals are being attacked, it’s time to say fu-k right off.

The people of Great Britain have a humour that is unique, our antipodean cousins have that too, we laugh at each other and we take the piss out of everyone, that’s our way, we are British, if Gordon Brown finds that offensive he should try this for size, because he won’t like what I have to say.

Hey Gordon, you and Blair have got us into two wars that we didn’t want, you are still getting our young men killed in Iraq and Afghanistan and the actions of your government has killed many of our people in terrorist outrages since (not to mention a Brazilian) and you have screwed up international  travelling, big time.

But Tony Blair’s children aren’t at risk are they? They will always be safe, they won’t be on the front line of terror will they? We all know the only time we’ll get out is when Obama gives you permission, you bring huge shame on this nation. We are like lap dogs to the Americans, but that’s ok because you will get rich off them when you get kicked out, just like Blair is.

Don’t get me wrong, I like Americans, have many friends there and have made a reasonable amount of money from my relationships with them, but again, they aren’t in the front line of terror, they made sure we are, thanks to you and that shameless twit Blair.

You personal actions have plunged us into debt and you have created a nation of lazy underclasses that prefer to sponge than work, we have record unemployment and you have consistently got your sums wrong, we live in a country where sqatters and Pikeys have more rights that people who work hard and pay taxes, in short your ineptness, your sucking up to America, the EU and every limp wristed left wing organisation that complains about peoples rights has ruined the country and caused record number of proper Brits to leave and you take offense to being called a one eyed Scottish idiot?

You have ruined the National health service and the education system and you care more about criminals and their rights than the victims of their crimes, we have no deterrents so crime is rife, but you’re okay, your family are safe, you’ll always have protection.

You have single handedly destroyed our currency, you have rewarded people in debt and paralised savers and pensioners, in short you reward the people who pay the least in, always have and always will, you are surrounded by pompous little twits who suck up to you in their desperate bid to cling onto power, you give yourself pay rises but don’t put in receipts for your expenses like the rest of us have to, you are a disgusting parasite Brown and you have ruined my country, and for ever, we can’t turn the clock back.

You dish out honours to celebrities and by those actions have encouraged this ‘celeb’ loving society that has been created, you have taken away competitiveness in childrens sport, changed the words of nursery rhymes and swept our Great British history under the PC carpet.

We don’t feel like this is our own country anymore, everyone has rights except the British, we let terrorists come in with their families, we give them houses, cars and money and they stick two fingers up. We don’t look after our own people that fall on hard times though do we?

It’s a bigger crime to call someone nasty names than to preach terrorism, what the f-ck have you done Brown? We are a worldwide laughing stock.

I would say you need to go back to school and learn about life but then you never left did you, you went from student to PM and missed out working for a living so you’ve had your snout in the trough your whole life haven’t you? You allegedly wrote a paper on how to claim benefits without working you odious little creep.

You are a pompous, fat, twat Brown, the best thing you could do for Great Britain is to take your entire government along with the corrupt Blair’s, fuck off to that volcano in Japan that’s erupting and jump in it, because we the British tax payers have had enough.

Feel offended now? Email me then, you have been offending me for years, there’s nothing in this post that’s not true.

Ok before you all spit your cornflakes out, let me tell you what happened to me yesterday, I was at my uncles funeral and he was a great uncle so it was very sad day, but as at all family gatherings we soon got into football, some of my relatives are spuds (sorry for that, don’t ask) but many more were purists and of course support the Arsenal, then we got chatting about the big match on Sunday and I went off on one when it got to Song and Eboue.

Well to say I was met with a wall of stunned silence was an understatement, they actually thought they were both top players, I said why I thought they weren’t and they said why they thought they were, it was interesting talking to people that weren’t from either the Cameroon or the Ivory coast defending this pair, well I decided to leave it there as it wasn’t the time to rant.

I got home and of course started to watch Arsenal TV and they replayed the West Ham game at Upton park, it was then that I saw Song play a game I had never seen before, he won tackles and passed to his own players (really) in fact he looked quite good, so I thought, one mans meat is in fact another mans poison, if he could play like that he would be worth having in the side against the spuds, we know he’ll start and it will be a tough hard game as was the West Ham one, so I am willing to give him another chance, Eboue though… not so sure.

However I have a feeling both will feature and both are Arsenal players so I will get behind them no matter what. This is a game made for Robin, but I may be tempted to start with a 5 man midfield putting Bendtner out wide and keeping Ade on the bench like we did against West Ham, the difference then was we had Cesc in the middle and Theo out on the right so it will be interesting to see who he picks and where.

I suspect they will hit us with pace and play the long ball to Lennon and Keane, we just have to be ready for that and defend well, Sunday they will have the Keane factor but we will have the Arshavin factor and so I hope Eduardo and Andrey are on the bench with Ade. I also watched the academy beat Sunderland in the youth cup and Homer Jay Thomas impressed me, so maybe he will feature in the midfield, but don’t hold your breath.

I feel this is a must win game and if we can make up points on Villa, Liverpool or Chelsea, we may well see some wobbles taking place, lose this one at our peril.

I made the boast that we can win the league from behind, but whilst that may be optimistic, second is as much of a possibility as 5th, so the boys must believe and go once more into the breach with confidence and great finishing.

‘We love you Andrey cos you got blond hair, we love you Andrey cos your everywhere, we love you Andrey just because your you’ or something like that anyway.

I am going for a 2-1 or 3-1 to the good guys, the snow could be an omen and of course not forgetting the spuds are complete shit, those two factors should see us with the bragging rights until they get back into the premiership in 3 or four years time.

Go Arsenal go.

Those were the words spoken by the Messiah last night, the man that aims to put the ‘S’ in silverware, he said ‘I’m a gooner’ he is already a legend and he hasn’t yet kicked a ball, what a start, this guy has lifted the spirits of every Arsenal fan I know, I can’t wait to play the spuds on Sunday.

On that note I started to think about that Scouser reject Keane, just six months ago he was saying that Liverpool, the team he had supported since he was a baby was his dream move, he even said he had a poster of a Liverpool player on his bedroom wall, well I wonder if that player was naked, I really do because as far as I can make out he well and truly f-ckd the spuds over with that move, it didn’t work out, Harry the hamster brings him back and rewards him with the captaincy, what must his team mates be thinking? Anyway enough talk of them save to say when Arshavin the gooner was asked about the Russian at shite hart lane, he said he wasn’t a friend of his, that’s double legend status already, Dennis didn’t even get that so early, we are in for some years of glory, I can feel it.

Ok so we’ll have to wait until the summer before we get in the defensive midfield man we want as well as Chelleini as our Gallas replacement but at least we now know we have plenty of money to spend on players.

How so? You may well ask. Well new CEO Ivan Gazidas said yesterday that we are not financially dependent on Champions league football, so if that is the case, it must now surely banish the nonsense that we are skint, and we also heard that from old Etonian stalwart Peter Hill-Wood and I’ve always believed him, why on earth would a member of the board lie?

So if you can imagine Arsenal with all our injured players back and our youngsters a year older (with two noticeable exceptions) we are fast becoming a dream team, yes I know we were moaning not so long ago, but now he made the signing we all knew we needed, the whole team will be lifted, we always said bringing in a star like Arshavin will lift the team so I believe we will see a new invigorated Arsenal from here on in.

Next season we will see more of Vela, Wilshere, Coquelin and Ramsey – Coquelin could well be the defensive midfielder we need, I kid you not this boy excites me, I can see in all these young’uns vast talent, I’ll leave it there with the young player thing as there are 2 maybe 3 of them that are not only not good enough, they are not really young anymore either.

So who will it be on Sunday eh? Who will play in the midfield? Well it has to be Arshavin out wide, if he plays him, if not then Vela, in the middle I would go for Nasri and Diaby and throw Jackie boy out wide as I think this game will fire him up just like it did with Liam Brady in his day.

What was interesting though was on arsenal.com they say his is a right sided midfielder who has recently been playing the role of second striker.

We know what Keane is capable of and I expect one of Lennon or Bentley on as well, if Pav is fit we’ll see him too, we know what they are capable of as it’s happened to us in two games already this season, once with the spuds and once with the scousers, so if we can sort out the defence we can let Ade and Robin rip them a new orifice, I say Ade, because I really believe he will be thinking he’s going to lose his place and will want to prove himself, no better place to do it either, he got goal of the season there last year.

I was so desperate for news and views this past few days I took a little tour around some other sites and was heartened to see we are still the focal point on many of them, so I would just like to thank them for still reading Le Grove, as they must do to comment on what we’ve written, we find it kind of flattering, no doubt you’ll be talking about us again today because you have little else of interest to amuse yourselves, but remember we never once gave up on Arshavin.

I am still so excited I may just go down to the Armoury today and get me an Arshavin 23 shirt, so I can smirk all the way to Sunday.

You all know that I was waiting to see if Arsenal banned me for my little spat with the stewards at the Liverpool game, you remember I made the mistake of standing up and singing, all laced with a bit of colourful language, well common sense has prevailed and I’m okay, but the point of over zealous stewarding got home, so hopefully we may see a little less aggression from the few who try and take away our match day experience, El Tel and Angela you are the exception, if you’re reading keep up what you’re doing because we know you do a great job, there are some jerks out there on our side too.

Have a great day today Grovers because we finally got our man and he’s wearing an Arsenal shirt, bliss, pure bliss!

The Superstar has landed!

So it took forever but it has finally happened, just the delayed paperwork to go and it will be official this morning.

Well a day of rollercoaster emotions, he’s signed, no he hasn’t, yes he has, no, wait a minute he hasn’t, Jesus, how tight are we, we could have blown it for a couple of £mil, in stark contrast to the muppets up the road who spent another £43 million just like that.

Well they got someone that had rejected them plus two hopeless players and a crock, well for once and the first time since Dennis Bergkamp we have signed the real deal, the new Zidane, the new Bergkamp, the one and only ‘Andrei Arshavin’ I am so, so happy, at last something to look forward to that doesn’t have promise, he has class, skill and pace, he will be the one that knits this team together, dare I say it, ‘the messiah’ yes folks, I think he is that good!

If this didn’t happen I feel many of us would have not renewed their season tickets, me I have to say, included, it’s about time Arsenal spent our money, I wish we had signed Flamini back or any worthwhile defensive midfielder and a centre back, but hey! I’m thankful for small mercies, I can’t wait for the Tottenham game and I hope he plays.

Wenger will know doubt be crowing and this time I’ll join him because this is where our season begins.

Looking at the full picture, we could have this as our team before too long.

Fabianski

Sagna Kolo Gallas Clichy

Theo Cesc Arshavin Nasri

Robin Eduardo

With a bench of Alumunia, Gibbs, Ramsey, Wilshere, Rosicky, Djourou, Adebayor.

Now that’s a team that can challenge on all fronts, you notice I left out Eboue , Song, Denilson and Diaby, well I would keep the last two and that’s it.

I know I also didn’t mention Bendtner but I didn’t have room.

People may think Arshavin will take time to settle but I don’t think so, I think first of all he’s from northern climes, he’s mega pissed off and he is a great, great player, he’ll slot straight in, I’ve not been this excited since we bought Charlie Nicholas, I am euphoric, yes that’s right euphoric, way to go Arsenal!

Maybe we can try Djourou as the defensive midfielder, but I still think he’ll try and get the Flamster in on loan, I would, that’s for sure, don’t forget we can get loanies at any time, if you are reading this Arsene, and I know the board do, pat yourself on the back and go out and bring Matty home.

Well done Arsene, well done the board and well done to the fans who brought this pressure on by letting them know how we feel at home games and by not turning up occasionally, it was the only way they would take notice.

Imagine, we got him cheaper than those twats from shite hart lane paid for Palacios, Keane or Defoe, what a bunch of no hopers, let’s show them how good they are by spanking them sideways on Sunday.

Arsenal, Arsenal, Arsenal!!! (that’s a Song)

Have a great day Grovers, today you’ll see the best looking Russian in history wearing an Arsenal shirt, how can this day get any better? …Well maybe the return of the Flamster!!!

One of our regulars has very kindly donated his tickets to Le Grove for the Cardiff game!

So… competition time!

You’ve got until 12:00 to get your answers in!

When George Graham postponed the game after the Hillsborough tragedy, who was the team when we finally played it and what was the score?

You need to send me your name and address and you need to have photographic ID. You can’t sell these on if you win… so make sure you can attend before entering. Also, make sure you are sitting by your computer, because if you win and you don’t reply to my e-mail… I may have to do a redraw.

E-mail your answers into the below e-mail address.

tickets(at)le-grove.co.uk

Now head back to the original post and get involved in the comments, as comments on this post are closed:

Click for Original post.

COMPETITION CLOSED

London or the Alps?

Terracing was banned from Britain as a result of the Taylor report following the Hillsborough tragedy in 1989 when 96 Liverpool fans died.

I watched that happen live on TV and it was truly horrific, many reasons have been put forward, firstly terracing as the blame, the Sun newspaper blamed drunk Liverpool fans (and since that day the Sun doesn’t sell in the Liverpool area) others blame the Police for opening the gates and letting the Liverpool fans in on mass, but I believe what caused the disaster was the cages that stopped the fans spilling onto the pitch.

And that was down to the FA, the same people who have allowed the ban to be enforced.

I remember that year, George Graham refused to play Wimbledon in midweek after the game as a mark of respect and the FA threatened to dock Arsenal 2 points, and boy we needed them, fortunately we ended up winning the league that year anyway and that was why our team took flowers onto the pitch, to say how sorry we all were.

So as a result the knee jerk reaction from the government was to ban terracing, not to sort out the real problem, ironically one of the few places where they still ignore the seating rule is the Kop at Liverpool and at Goodison park, where they all stand, what could be more dangeros than standing eh? Ask the stewards at Arsenal, it’s a heinous crime.

They still have terracing in Germany, they still have terracing in the lower leagues and they still have terracing at Rugby games, so why aren’t we allowed it in the Premier league??? If Arsenal allowed it in the North and South stands we could have a 90,000 capacity and a real atmosphere, we could have a section where you could buy tickets on the day and it would be safe, there is no evidence anywhere in world spectator sports that terracing is dangerous, so why on earth don’t the premier league clubs tell the government we want it re introduced?

I grew up on the terraces and never once saw anyone hurt on them, I’ve seen plenty of accidents in the seating sections though.

Maybe it’s because the stewards would all be unemployed as they would have nothing to do, save politely showing you to your standing area. It would cost nothing to convert and the benefits would be immense, I can’t see how legally you can have one law for the premier league, another rule for the Germans and another one for the lower leagues, it’s discrimination.

So let’s bring back terracing, at this time of the year at least we could all stay nice and warm.

Still no news on Arshavin but we have a few hours left and I still think it will happen, it’s no use saying we have no money as even if you take out the prize money and the transfer budget we had, we still got enough from the sell ons of Bentley, Diarra and Muamba, plus the transfers of Gilberto and Hoyte, and that doesn’t include the saved salaries of Hleb and Lehmann.

So please stop saying we are skint, if we can’t afford it from that little lot then we should never have moved in the first place, it was a disaster if we still have no money.

I watched the West Ham game again last night on Arsenal TV and there are positives we can take from the match, well two anyway, the first is we still have time to get rid of Eboue and the second is we still have time to buy the man of the match, Mathew Upson, and they were the only things we can take from that game.

5 points behind the Chavs and Villa and plenty of games left but we need to buy three players, a defender, a defensive midfielder and a creator, so for me we need Upson, Arshavin and we need to bring back the Flamster, all are affordable and all are acheivable, so stop telling us how much you believe in this team, because we don’t and you still have time. It’s time to say you believe in us and get your cheque book out.

There, no moans, just advice, we can still qualify and win some trophies, if we don’t buy, we will do none of the above and we’ll be going into the summer with Wenger saying his team are older and wiser and spend nothing in the summer as it’s too expensive.

We need PHW to stop saying it won’t be a disaster if we don’t qualify for ECL football, because it will, a horrible disaster, and DD needs to stop crowing about why he left Arsenal, because he didn’t quit, he was quitted, tin tacked and lobbed out.

Please, please buy now Arsene, this team are not good enough. Yes I believe that we can overtake Villa and the Chavs but we can’t rely on that.

Today is last chance saloon, don’t blow it.

Tomorrow I talk about Cardiff, if of course that game is not cancelled, if we sign no one today, I’ll bet he blames the snow!

Have a great day Grovers, I’m in my office and I’m the only one that made it, true grit!