So William Gallas is out tonight with an ankle injury a great shame because he arguably has been one of our better players, but young Johan Djourou is an able deputy and I’m comfortable that he will play well with Kolo and who knows, maybe it will work out and be next years starting line up, good luck Johan.
It emerged that after the Fulham game Arsene Wenger was so angry he let his team know by saying nothing, well that could be brilliant or it could be stupid and I’m not sure which yet. It’s like when you made an arse of yourself at a dinner party and the next day the wife ignores you, out of disgust, now sometimes you feel so bad, the silence is deafening but sometimes you feel you got away with it and keep your head down.
So I’m not sure which is right for the team, but I know I prefer it when my wife doesn’t talk to me!
Still showing no emotion, shows he has emotion, I’m sure he doesn’t like to see his team booed and I’m sure he is doing his best, you couldn’t fault the team selection, it was spot on, the team owe him a performance and I hope tonight is the night.
I would be feeling far worse if I were a Villa fan today, I know, it happened to us against Villa at Villa park in injury time so Bjork had it coming and hopefully they will begin to wobble now, the perfect time for us to go to the Hawthorns and paralyse them, Hawthorns and Baggies, blimey, sounds like wedgies! At least we have a tough name, the ‘Gunners’ and tonight I back the Arsenal to blow the wedgies away.
Tony Mowbray in his spare time.
If we resist the urge to eat their black pudding, tripe and dripping sandwiches at half time we should win this one, I don’t think we’ll be seeing Homer tonight which is a relief and as a courtesy to you fine Grovers I won’t predict a score, if I was going to I would say 2 nil Arsenal, but I promised I wouldn’t, so I won’t.
I know I say this a lot, but tonight we really, really need all 3 points, a draw is no good so we should take a few chances, it’s too soon to see Theo back but I may use him as an impact sub, I also would rest the full backs and put Eboue and Gibbs in there, I think both are better crossers of the ball and I think their pace and aggression will be perfect for a night out like this, we are in the black country (it really is, so no comments please) and it won’t be easy, so hold your nerve boys and stick with the talent Arsene, they weren’t far away against Fulham, let them loose again, I think it will pay dividends.
Arsenal, you owe us a performance, go out there and repay the fans whilst I apologise to the wife without saying I’m sorry. You can do it, you have to do it, we are all behind you.
Have a great day Grovers, it could be a great day and a brilliant evening.
yeah it was good. for me the only real downside to the whole game was how bad djourou was. Overall though was a decent performance, and scoring goals was very important to break the hoodoo, though it should have been more and they were very poor.
bendtner was fantastic, arshavin is gonna be one hell of a player, and denilson was exceptional. Other than that everyone was ok nothing special but we just did what was needed.
I put a tenner on before the game that we’d win 7-1, after the free kick went in, and then at 3-1 half time i really thought was on for a winner!
also put £20 on to score at any time, odds were the same for kolo and eboue and was umming and ahhing for a bit but had a good feeling about eboue scoring today so went for him rather than kolo, pretty annoying!!
a
how was song in central defence
good actually leon! had a pretty poor first half centre mid then was very impressive when moved back to defence!
a
thats what i thought huge difference between dm and centre half.you can see he is not a midfielder much better in defence cover, we can keep there but was of silvester
A… pretty much what I thought.
I wouldn’t have bet on 7-1… we rarely go for the humiliation do we!
Reggie, I reckon you’ve nailed 70% of the problem there!
Anyway, I am off to bed.
The post is set to publish automatically at 0900… enjoy if I’m not there to tell you all!
ha yeah i know pedro – but i felt because of what’s gone previously rather than ease off after we got a couple of early goals we’d really go for it, and had spare money in my paddy power account so thought why not!
nite pedro
wouldn’t say he’s not a midfielder leon, he’s just decent cover as a centre back or defensive mid, but not a first choice in either. His strongest attributes are defensive so if he’s asked to do anything attacking in midfield he’s a bit dodgy but he’s fine when just sitting back cleaning up.
I think Song is definitely better at Centre back.
Remember last year he did a great job there at Old Trafford. Thats one of the biggest stages of all.
Anyway….since the CBs may be injured..we might see
this for Sunday against Burnley.
…………….Fab………………..
Sagna……..Song……Djouoru……Gibbs
Arshavin…….Diaby….Ramsey……Vela
…………RVP……..Ade…………..
…………….Fab
* that second Fab was an error lol
I feel Sagna needs a rest though, so we may see Eboue in for him.
i agree with the first 8 ja, but think it could well be bendtner and vela up front and theo left mid.
be shocked if ade started when there’s only a slight chance of him being ok to be involved at all. Eduardo is meant to be back before ade so if either of them started i’d expect it to be him
It would be pointless and a step backwards to drop Bendtner now so i think he should keep going and start against Burnley. I’d go for much the same with Eboue out and Diaby in for the Kolo if he and Gallas are both out. Song obviously moving into defence.
I would go for something like this:
Fabianski
Eboue – Kolo – Gallas – Gibbs
Nasri – Denilson – Diaby – Merida/Vela
Bendtner – Eduardo(if fit)
Either that or JD and Song but then i wouldnt have Gibbs and Eboue because they are suspect defensively.
Oh i meant to have Arshavin in there somewhere tho.
Stu I think Denilson will finally get a rest against Burnley…because Arsene will want him fresh and ready for Roma on Wednesday…..
Denilson has played the most games….so I think he will rest him against Burnley.
I think djourou will probably play ahead of one of the two centre backs even if gallas and toure are fit.
Also expect that with roma weds denilson will get a rest, and probably nasri too, arshavin to start seeing as he’s gonna be getting a rest midweek anyways.
Not too fussed about the defence, but midfield i think
Theo–Ramsey–Diaby–Arshavin
——Bendtner–Vela——-
eduardo as only a maybe be a bit dodgy starting like last time, might be better to make a sub appearance
Good point. I hadnt thought of that. I doubt he has missed more than a handful of games this season.
yeah i agree about denilson ja, can’t remember the last time nasri got a rest either
If Theo is indeed back then I like that midfield and attack A.
……………Fab……………..
Sagna……SOng…..Djouoru…..Gibbs
Theo…….Diaby….Ramsey……Arshavin
………….Bendter…Vela…………
If Ade is ready he will come on for Nick second half.
If we are comfortably ahead I would take Sagna off at 55-60 mins.
He also needs to be ready for Roma. I put Song and Djouor in there because I dont know if Arsene will want to risk either Kolo or Toure b4 Roma.
Kolo or Gallas*
theo was back in full contact training from yesterday ja so he must be ok to play on sunday?
Burnley
…………….Fab…………….
Eboue…….Djouoru…..Gallas…..Gibbs
Arshavin….Diaby…..Song…….Vela
…………RVP……Bendt………..
Ja, i like that but i don’t think either of Gallas or Toure will play, if there both struggling ewith niggles he’ll save them for Roma, would expect to the back 4 to be either of these 2:
Sagna Song Djourou Gibbs
or
Eboue Sagna Djourou Gibbs
..and so it seems we owe bendtner an apology after all our doubts…but is this not what the reserve league/team is about?
while i applaud his efforts tonight i cant help but remember the numerous efforts that have been wasted over the season.
here i dont blame nicklas himself as he could only try his best…but wenger himself. i love the man but to fully blood the likes of denilson/song/diaby/nicklas/johan so early is purely ridiculous and i think he knew it.
As big-paying supporters we should expect and deserve a strong first team with young players backing the project up-not taking a major part at a time when they are not ready-it leads to enormous pressure on players that should be learning from more experienced souls….souls that do not exist at arsenal at this time-if Man U had Denilson as a prospect they would be jizzing over their tracksuit bottoms, but as a guaranteed starter he does not fit the grade.
I think if he and the other so called ‘future’ of Arsenal can guide us to 4th then we really should stand up and applause their efforts-regardless of silverware or not
gioals atlast!!!! and quite a few of them….villa to lose today for sure
GP, I would hope so
NPB for Le Champ??
nik – ade – RVP
all on there night can score .. nik and rvp have some class about them and ade is more a poacher and not very arsenal like ..
However none are enough quality in my billing to
front arsenal , have been saying it for a long long time .. a club like us needs a talisman ,
a gem who is dependable and a GOTO man when goals are needed (yes you guessed it , like TH14 )
dudu is the best we have i think however , with his injury prone past thru no fault of his own
we really need to assess next season who will step up .. Because i thought last season compared with the chances we had we converted little , so for me class strikers have been the key ingredient missing for a LONG TIME !!!
whilst i find last nights victory a WELCOME 3 points , if you were a gambler you would have liked the odds ! i liked the odds Vs sunderland too !
But to say we are out of the woods would be foolish .. WBA is a glorified championship team and was dispatched in a manner they deserved .
with villa failing to capitalize on the weekends results we are still in with a shot for 4th … we have tough games ahead however and this battle will go down to the wire .
watch this space
Villa could draw tonight.
Hopefully this was the mental block that AW was referring to the other day.
If we can follow up the cup game with a similar scoreline confidence will surely be restored.
Villains make way for what’s rightly ours!!!
Chamonnnneee!!!!!!
Its good to see people on here spelling chamone the way its supposed to be spelt, with an “e”
Evening/morning all. Wow!! what a difference a win makes.
Arswaxin gets better each game; unlucky not to score. At least he has an assist now though.
…..& his shorts. Either he’s wearing a pair of Joe Bugners boxing shorts or he has short nobby legs.
I’ve been reading the Song lover comments, I’ve been saying for ever he’s shit, last night he was moved to centre back and the Song lovers now admit he was poor in midfield but immense at centre back.
What is it with Wenger, he knows he’s shit, it’s like he knows his mum and has promised her he will play.
It’s fucking embarrassing Arsene, get shot of him, he’s useless.
Think it’s the legs Gnarley
Morning mate………..So i can’t wait for the weekend….more of the same please………
Geoff
Song should play left back, in the changerooms
He is diabolical in the middle.
morning Iceman & Geoff
Morning Gnarley, he is not even a footballer in my book, he’s useless, I can’t stand to watch him.
geoff did ya went to watch match at stadium
SONG IS SHIT, SONG IS SHIT, SONG IS SHIT!!!!!
Oh, morning all……
http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/04032009/4/wenger-eyes-fourth-spot.html
Anyone else agree that, had Song not have the reaction speed of a newborn child, he would have been able to stop that free kick flying through the wall??
Can we make him ballboy?
Iceman – That would be harsh on the ball boys that do it well…..I’m sure Song would struggle to find an Arsenal player when he has the ball to give back…..
Taig, surely it was Eboue not stood on the end of the wall that caused the goal.
song might be benjuman button – slow in a age when he was supposed to be sharp
I know Eboue pulled away from the wall but the ball didnt travel between that gap. It went right under Song’s feet.
I am more than happy t say that Song and Eboue are both fucking shite and should be sold to Barcelona immediately!!
chozzer
is your avatar Paul Gascoigne
well-spotted, gnarley!
I watched the last 10 minutes of the game on Fox Sports, just finished. Arswaxin wears those white bike leg support things under his shorts so thats why from a distance on the tele he looks like hes got boxer Aussie Joe Bugner sized shorts.
….if anyone was actually wondering
The replay of the game still suggests, Song is terrible.
…….I thought Big Johan was pretty good. I know he gave away the free kick that led to the goal but he provides height as an option, & backs himself.
GG9
shit i thought it was Kylie Minogue!
Pedro
Are you there, I don’t get to see you much, has Miss Pedro put her foot down, re: Le Grove.
& where is Bud & Odub
ethan thought what was the singing budgie
LOL.
Fair enough. I’d say water boy but guess that’s as important.
Uhm….steward?
Iceman – well he does already have the key attribute of being a complete cock and pissing every body off so he could fill that role quite well!
PERFECT!!!!
We got a job for him that he would actually excel at.(He’d probably screw that up to but that’s for another day.)
So can we sign a petition please?
Pedro is having to work for a living! Song is shit and I just edited Pedro’s post, so if it’s wrong blame me.
Morning, you all know i hate Song with all my heart, but i am the 1st to admit that he had a half decent preformance at CB last night against the worst team in the league.
I thought Toure was MoM before being taken off.
iceman
It would be of some relief if Le Prof actually came out & said what he sees in Song, coz its got me fucked to be honest.
That’s the point, he’s supposed to be a midfielder, you were just happy he was moved.
It should be a new post in 30 seconds!
Geoff i know, but i just got to give him that little credit, he did one good tackle i liked
When our injured players are back he WON’T start games.
That’s something. Hopefully in the summer Barca tap him up to give Hleb company warming benches.
Geoff, perhaps you editing it has effed up the automatic post