Le Grove – Arsenal blog featuring Arsenal news

All season, and in fact since the Invincibles, Wenger has been telling us he has belief in his young squad, tonight we will see if he was right, I believe we should have signed 2 more players plus Arshavin in the summer, does that mean we can’t win this thing? Does it hell! The players that have come in and stepped up have finally come of age, tactics lost the FA cup, I think he has learned from that, tactics and caution equals bollocks, tonight we should show them no respect, tonight they are at home and should show us respect.

I think the Gibbs injury is a smoke screen, the big question for me is who will partner Kolo at the back, some would say Silvestre because he’s going back to the theatre of day dreams, me , I would shove Djourou in there, he is one of Wengers kids and he won’t let us down.

Midfield is the area we need to dominate and that should be an attacking one with some steel in there, for this reason I would play Theo out wide with Cesc and Diaby in the middle, Nasri out wide and Song in the hole between them and the defence, Ade alone up top where Diaby can drop in the hole and play as a second striker, why him? Because I think we need some big boys against Ferdinand and Vidic, that would then pave the way for Eduardo and Bentner to come out in the second half and go 4-4-2 when they get tired.

My team yesterday was to start with Eduardo and Benndtner and use Ade as an impact sub, but he likes playing the Mancs and maybe 4-5-1 will contain their initial onslaught, if in fact there is one, if we keep the ball for the first 20 minutes they will start to leave gaps and then we can hurt them, but we must play like we know we are better than them and not like the preverbial rabbit in front of their horrible headlights.

Go at them like we did when we played Madrid, Milan and Juventus away and we will put them on the back foot, tell Diaby to release the ball or shoot and we take away his problem, tell Song to shut everything down and we will stop them playing, do all that and we’ll win, and win well.

No history today Grovers, this is the biggest match of our season and tonight we will write our own history, tonight we show the world that Arsene Wenger’s red and white experiment is working.

This game reminds me of 1989 when we were given two chances to beat Liverpool, slim and none, we beat the reigning champions Milan last year, we can top that and beat the reigning champions this year, destiny awaits and it’s ours to lose, we always said to be the best, we need to beat the best, tonight we have that chance, take it Arsenal and we can go on and win this thing and remember ‘Concordia something Crescit’ beat the living shit out of the Mancs.

Go forth and multiply, go and win us the European cup, you are the Arsenal and we love you, we do!

Have a great night Grovers, I have a feeling this is one we will remember our whole lives, tonight we come of age, tonight we go into the lions den and tonight we will re-write the history books.

2 nil the Arsenal, yes I mean it, 2 nil!

Arsenal versus Boro’… hardly the highlight of the football calender. Middlesborough replaced Wimbledon as the team I least like to go and see Arsenal play each year. There is something extremely boring about them… I am sure I watched an interview with Steve Gibson once where he complained profusely that his club finished around mid table most years, yet still received the minimum coverage for games in the league.

Steve, that is because your teams over the seasons have mostly been very dull. Your star player, who attracted a bid of £15million from Spurs (Says it all) is the most over hyped player in Premiership history… I had to check the team sheet twice to make sure he was actually playing yesterday… apparently he was… and apparently he is very, very average. He has all the flair of Tony Adams… actually, that is probably unfair on Tony!

I hope when you reflect on your season you look at Gareth Southgate and realise what a horriffic mistake you made. I must be honest, I am looking at a piece of toast that is more inspirational. How do club Chairman interview these peple and think…

‘This is the guy to take my club to the next level and beyond!’

Anyway, enough moaning about poor recruitment decisions… onto the game.

It really was a timid affair. Arsenal went into the game knowing the outcome, the fans arrived at the stadium knowing the outcome… Boro’ knew they were beaten when they arrived on the team bus to see Gareth reading a football for dummies manual whilst clutching a pink comfort blanket.

We knocked the ball around casually, maybe a little to casually. We were sloppy at times… clearly with one eye on the Manchester United game in the week. We set up with a 4-5-1… the boss rested key players that would play in the week… Song was ousted for Denilson, Adebayor was benched for Bendtner and Arshavin was given a run out because he wont play in the week.

It took a while for us to find out stride, Arshavin sneaked the ball throught to Nik, he laid the ball superbly back into the path of the Russian who ran through into the box, cut back and passed the ball across the box to Cesc… who buried it past Jones. 1-0 it stayed until half time. (See here).

The second half was even more lack lustre from a Boro’ point of view. I can imagine Southgate had a teary breakdown in the changing rooms, perhaps hysterically telling his team that they were doomed… because Boro’ came out with an even more negative attitude to the game in the second half. Arsenal really took over the possession. Aliadiere went close when he waltzed through our defence, latched onto the long ball, but finished with all the precision he used to when he played for Arsenal.

Then came the killer blow… Emmanuel Eboue, the visionary, the legend… laid on an inch perfect pass through to Cesc who pretty much walked through the Boro’ defence, walked round the keeper and slotted the ball home with embarrassing ease. The ball rolled into the net in slow motion (See here)… Game over… Arsenal were done, Boro’ were finally out of my life forever… I could go home and start to get nervous about playing a real team.

Almunia: Made a tasty save from Aliadiere in the second half. His handling was good, his calmness appreciated. Good to have him back. 7

Gibbs: I really like young Kieron. He is powerful for one so young he is a good defender and he looks a bit special in the final third. All he has to do is maintain his concentration the whole way through the game. 7.5

Toure: Mopped up pretty easily today. I am still concerned that even a team as poor as the one on show today can fire a ball through the middle of the park and get through on goal. I guess we’ve just got to keep our fingers crossed in the week. 7

Silvestre: Better than he was against Liverpool, but then again… how could he not be playing against a striker as blunt as Aliadiere? 7

Eboue: Had a much tidier game than he did against the Chav’s. His favoured position is right back, but I still don’t really rate him there against top opposition, clearly that is why the coach bought Sagna. His set up for Cesc was sublime… a real top pass. 7

Nasri: Starting to find his position, starting to impose his style on the team… and starting to look dangerous. I am excited about Nasri and I’m hoping he’s going to develop into the player we all hope he will. 8

Arshavin: I love watching a player who wants the ball at his feet every minute of the game. He is world class. Today wasn’t his greatest game in the red and white of Arsenal… he hit an air shot, dragged a shot so wide, it hit the corner flag… he even misplaced a 5 yard pass… but the quality in his final ball is amazing. Another assist, another entertaining day out watching one of the best players in the world. 8.5

Theo: I keep being told that he is going to become the best player in the world, but I’m really struggling to see how at the moment? He doesn’t seem to have the tricks to go round people… ask yourself this… what would he be without pace? Hopefully we’ll see a Song like development from our young winger… hopefully. 6.5

Cesc: I’m still not sure about playing him in the hole. I know he scored 2 goals, but I always feel he plays better in that deep lying role, picking out passes. He is great player though, so he will develop into whatever role he is asked to fulfill… and his two goals were great. It just doesn’t look like he is enjoying himself there. 8

Denilson: I could write the same thing about Denilson every time. He is tidy, compact and carbon efficient. He doesn’t waste many balls, but he rarely does anything exciting with them either. That is why when he makes a bad pass it’s highlighted… because he is so cautious in his play, you feel he shouldn’t make any bad passes. I didn’t think he had a good game today, but he didn’t have a bad one… the epitome of average. That’s not a complaint, I just can’t think of a better way to describe him? 7

Bendtner: I wasn’t really impressed with him. It’s his nonchalant attitude and his sloppy play that grates me. He set up the move for the first goal, but other than that, I thought he was very poor. He perked up a bit on the second half… but he needs to do better and he does need to start finding the back of the net more often. 6

So… next up Manchester United… whose excited?

P.S. Please feel free to check out our new Gallery section. If you like it, why not contribute? Finally… any spares, send them my way! I will do my best to get you a buyer!

So that’s it now, Everton losing and Villa drawing means we need 3 points to qualify, if we lost all our games and Everton won all their’s (or 5 points villa’s case) 3 points today would hear the fat lady clearing his enormous throat, sorry Sam, 2 days on the trot and I’ve mentioned your name!

It’s tragic that our main goal is not winning anything but qualifying for next years competition that we are in this years semis for.

Good to see Manc Howard Webb turn another game ManU’s way, they were heading for defeat when he awarded an outrageous penalty to the mancs, okay it was against the spuds but hell, why do the mancs keep getting Riley and Webb? That’s what the FA should have an enquiry over, not Cesc, and ask them how they managed to conjure up 6 minutes injury time for the Liverpool game, it wouldn’t be to keep the premier title alive and their ratings up would it? Or is that me being cynical?

Thank god we won’t get one of those cheating arseholes on Wednesday.

We had someone on 2 days ago who said something like…’You muppet, how can you say that, you must be a spud, etc’ they then went onto say ‘I thought this was the site where you can have an opinion not get one’ ‘you need to change that’

So I’m thinking to the great unwashed, perhaps I ought to spell it out, so this is what we are thinking of changing the tag line to next season.

Le Grove… the site where you can have an opinion, not get one, but by telling us we’re are wrong, why we are wrong, why you are right and adding we and our Grovers are muppets or worse, then you are by default giving us an opinion not having one, so therefore you’re not welcome, so sod off.

Pedro tells me it’s too long and isn’t as snappy, I said Pedro, I’m the one in advertising and marketing and I think it has something, he said lets ask the Grovers, so I said fine by me, so over to you. What do you think?

Okay so expect a second string out today with second half appearances from Eduardo and Adebayor, he’ll start with Bendtner and Arshavin up front and Vela and Eboue on the wings.

I think he’ll play Ramsey and Cesc in the middle because Cesc needs to play and he’s captain, Ferguson rested no one of note save Scholes and Giggs and we need to win this if we hope to catch the chavs, and we’ll have a back four of Sagna, Kolo, Silvestre and Gibbs.

I think we’ll be at them early doors and go for a big win. Confidence is a big factor in football and the mancs will now be brimming, we need to win big today for our run in, so I expect to see the cavalry coming on when we are at least 2 up.

Big score today, somewhere past 4 and they won’t score, Pedro and I are going early so have fun on the blog.

Have a great day all!

Whatever your thinking, and whoever you support there is no room in football for the disgraceful shenanigans that went on at the Emirates after the Hull game, don’t get upset now, but dressing like he did was bad for the image of football, coming onto the pitch with a pumped up face was embarrassing but gobbing! Now for me, that was the worse bit, for that there can be no excuse.

So quite rightly, the FA have finally charged him with ‘gobbing off’ saying our manager refused to shake his hand and the referee caved in to pressure from the home side. I think he also got charged with wearing an nerdy earpiece, a cheap syrup, a fake tan and an Arthur Daley 80′s style spiv suit.

It’s way past time the FA clamped down on these Northern monkey corrupt managers and their filthy lies, let’s hope Allardyce gets his next, the fat lying sack of rats shit.

It’s so funny the way the lying bastards all stick together, Ferguson, Allardyce and Brown,They’re like the ugly sisters in Cinderella, even Harry told the world he supported Arsenal as a kid one minute, then Tottenham the next, they just can’t help themselves!

I think mostly it’s because they just aren’t very bright.

Finally on that story I argued with someone that they would have cameras in the tunnel, they said they absolutely didn’t have cameras there, so how comes Gazidas and Wenger now have video footage of what took place in the tunnel then?

I watched Arsenal TV last night and had to laugh, it seems all you need to be an Arsenal fan on that channel is the ability to agree with everything and anything the Arsenal manager says, never come out and say a player had a shit game, in Fabianski’s case, substitute howler with ‘it wasn’t his best night’ – it’s like watching denial TV.

Don’t get me wrong I absolutely don’t blame Fabianski, he tried his best, that loss was down to selection and selection only. Only one person can put their hands up for that one.

His reason for not playing Arshavin was because he wouldn’t have been able to use his skills on such an appalling pitch and he was saving him for the Liverpool game.

When questioned on Alexandre Song he said ‘people were asking me why I was playing him at all at the start of the season’

Ok let’s tackle the Arshavin bit first, so the Wembley pitch wasn’t up to his usual standard of fine pitches one finds in Russia eh? Ok, I’m resting my case there. Drogba didn’t have a problem controlling the ball did he? But then again he only had to get past Silvestre.

And the Song bit next, we were complaining about him earlier in the season because he was one of our worst players that’s why, now he’s beginning to play like one of our best, you leave him out, at this point last night picture me shaking my head in puzzlement.

Anyway, all that aside, why did he take so long to change things when the whole world could see it was going wrong? But of course no one on sanitised TV asked him that question.

On a positive note the boss is very confident we can finish in third place and that would explain why he wasn’t bothered about the FA cup that we all paid so much to go and watch, not to mention all the earlier rounds.

So I hear we’ve never beaten a Gareth Southgate team, blimey, that’s not good is it??? Still Paddy Power and me are convinced that tomorrow will see an end to that statistic, I’m not predicting a score but I’ll have money our goal difference goes into the 30′s on Sunday afternoon, and if West Ham can do the business against the chavs, that will put us 3 points behind and don’t forget West Ham should have beaten them at Stamford Bridge earlier in the season plus Chelsea will field a weakened side because they have Barca to play on Tuesday.

It’s was great to see we extended our unbeaten run to 19, tomorrow should be 20 and if we can stay unbeaten until the end of the season, we’re half way to 50, which will beat our own unbeatable record, given that he may bring in that world class centre back and that world class defensive midfielder in the summer break, who knows eh?

Finally we have the confederations cup and the African cup of nations coming up, that would mean losing Cesc until September, then Kolo, Song, Ade and Eboue for up to 2 months next winter, so if there was ever a reason to cash in on Ade and get a world class centre back and defensive midfielder, this is it!  Throw Villa in with the change and you won’t hear a peep from me all summer!

It could be a great weekend Grovers, so make the most of it!

So after being told on numerous occasions this season and last that Tomas would be returning soon, we are now told he’s now not coming back this season, at all, period, I have to question our medical staff, can you imagine someone where you work having a year and a half off, then give you 400 different dates when they’re coming back to work? And not coming.

Whilst I do feel sorry for Tomas and his amazing injuries, I feel more sorry for the fans, we bought him knowing he was a crock and that has spectacularly backfired, he was sold to Dortmund for £18 million and we picked him up for £6.5m, there had to be a clue in there somewhere.

Our bargain basement buys has paid off in the past, Overmars and Kanu to name two, but the problem I have is when it’s to the detriment of the club, it can’t be right.

Let me explain, having Tomas back (at any minute now) has stopped Wenger buying an able replacement for 2 years now, I’m not saying let him go, but even if he comes back to his best he may get injured again, so at least replace him. It’s for this reason I would say give Gallas a one year extension or sell him.

I think he is our best defender, but he does get injured a lot, not his fault I know, but facts are facts, so we should have another world class defender in the squad, let selection be their problem and not ours, we have been plagued with injury problems since Wenger joined, all the way back to Adams and Seaman, so we should plan for them, giving Gallas an extension means we can at least sell him and recoup some cash.

However, sadly I think he’ll leave regardless.

So Tomas and Billy, I think you are both fantastic footballers and I want to keep you both, but as a luxury item, but we need to replace you because we can’t rely on you. We had the same problem with Seaman, we never had a quality keeper as number 2 and as he was out so often, it cost us, so this time we need to act, learn from the past.

I was appalled when Arshavin said he needed to learn French yesterday, I always thought the dressing room language was English, it should be, if it’s not, it’s easy to see how this clique culture is rife, at least if it were Spanish, I could understand it! Have a word Arsene!

We will have Adebayor, Almunia and Djourou back for the weekend in some capacity which means we will have them back for the ManU game, the important thing with that game is we don’t get trounced, we need to be in a position to be able to clean up at the Grove so a 2 nil win to the Arsenal should suffice.

We have the Boro game first though and they won’t be pushovers as they are fighting a relegation battle, so I would like to see Eduardo and Djourou get at least a half, that way they’ll be fit for united a few days later. Do you hear boss, a half, not 20 minutes.

Eduardo will be the key for me, use Ade as an impact sub, he won’t be around next season so get used to it, Benzema or Villa will suffice in his place but Villa at least speaks Spanish! So he would be my choice, I really like Gourcoff but I’m not sure if he’s a forward or a midfielder.

Have a great Friday Grovers, we’re running out of season fast, let’s enjoy what we have left.

P.S. Pedro still has tickets for this weekends game, e-mail in if you’re interested!

Hans von Aachen "St. George slaying the dragon"

Whatever country you are from, whatever religion you follow and whichever God you support today is our big day, today is our patron saint day, today is St George’s day. There are many stories written about our hero, the greatest of all the saints and the only one that did anything useful, but none of them are true, he rid the world of dragons and no one else did that, if you need proof, go and check out our currency, he’s on the sovereign and there’s no way he’d be on that if he didn’t exist.

If you’re still unsure, look out of your window, do you see Dragons? No you don’t and if that’s not proof, you need help, so go and see a doctor.

So today the English celebrate St George’s day, and it may get quiet on here as many have said they are out on the piss raising a glass or two to the man who made it safe to go for a walk on your own. Thank you George, we owe you.

Onto football, although it looks like the mancs will now win the league, with the chavs dropping points and still to come to the Grove we have a real chance to finish third or better and get the automatic spot in the Champions league, so it’s not over yet and if the boss doesn’t leave out all our best players for that crucial game we have a real chance of winning.

I do fear for us playing the Mancs with our depleted defence, but two things perk me up, one is we should have Clichy and Djourou back by then and secondly, don’t forget the team we smashed 4 past beat them at their gaff 4-1 so maybe they aren’t as good as we all think.

Down side is we won’t have Arshavin, but we should have Eduardo and Robin fit.

The youth team smashed Man City last night to reach the final of the FA Youth cup against Liverpool (probably) many people don’t realise that City were the reigning champions, so 6-2 on aggregate was hugely impressive, Sanchez Watt scored two, Kyle Bartley one and our favourite super boy Jacky Wilshere getting the other, why it wasn’t on live is a disgrace.

So with all these injury problems we have you would think we could do better than to keep rolling out fish head, if Wenger doesn’t think we have better in reserve, then what’s the point in having a reserve team? What’s the point in this production line of talent if it never gets there, Kolo came straight in the team and Djourou, although bought at the same time as Senderos is hardly a regular, and he’s injury prone, we have Nordveit, Bartley and Ayling so I’m wondering if one of those could step up, I don’t know, just a question, but I would sooner shove Wilshere in on the right than keep putting Eboue in there.

I feel that Ramsey and Wilshere are just wasting their time bench warming, Silvestre is a bench warmer, Wilshere and Ramsey should be playing in the reserves if they aren’t featuring in the first team, keep them match fit at least.

Bischoff turned out to be a disappointment didn’t he? I hope we don’t sign any more like him in the summer. At least with the team playing like we are (mostly) we will attract world class stars, let’s just hope he signs some eh?

We are still only 2 signings from being unbeatable in my opinion, we need a world class defender and a world class defensive midfielder, if Song continues to develop great, but history has shown us that we need two players in each position, I mean, look at our defence now!!! I rest my case.

Anyway enjoy today Grovers and blog stalkers alike, it’s St George’s day and had the EPL been about when George was saving his Princess, then he would have been a gooner, how do I know? Trust me, I just know!

P.S. I have tickets available for the Boro’ game, e-mail in if you are interested.

No sorry Grovers, he was talking about the state of the Wembley pitch and not his dreadful team selection, it was someone else’s fault.

Ok enough on that, it’s gone, our big chance of domestic silverware went with the Wembley pitch, poor team selection, oh and of course Chelsea, who didn’t disrespect their fans and played with a full strength side, what will he do tonight then? We can’t afford to lose this one, at the very least we need a draw, with Everton and Villa still breathing down our necks.

A win on the other hand will close the gap and send us into the ManU game brimming with confidence.

So tonight we have Ade and Robin out with injuries, I wonder how they picked those up? Being as they did sweet FA to get them, but it could be a blessing in disguise, we still need to play 4-4-2 though as Eduardo is too small to sit up there alone and Bendtner isn’t good enough to, but both of them together with Song and Cesc in midfield and Walcott and Arshavin on the flanks could do it.

We will have Sagna back and with Kolo, Silvestre and Gibbs along the back we have a chance, as I said before I don’t blame Fabianski so I’m not concerned about him, if he does it again though, I may be.

What I don’t want to see is a midfield that includes the hapless Eboue, Denilson or Diaby, if he leaves them out then I may believe he has learnt something and we have a chance, if I were Benitez I would be expecting 4-5-1 and a sub on 70 minutes, anything else may surprise them, they will be feeling confident, so we may just spring something on them.

They play better away from home and so do we, Cesc owes us a showing and they must know we cannot have another shocking performance if we are to salvage something out of this season.

If we have too many injuries, he could always try Ramsey, Wilshere or Thomas, now there’s a novel thought!

As I said the other day, our great run didn’t include playing anyone from the top 4 so this will show us whether we have enough for next season, I still think we can beat the Mancs because they are as strange as are this season, so they will also be concerned, but by beating the scousers, we will be sending out the right message.

I have said many times, it’s not the losing, it’s the manner in which we lose that hurts me.

So come on Arsenal, show us you’re good enough, show us your teeth and get this season back on the road, if you don’t I won’t be looking forward to the summer, because something tells me we won’t be killing Diaby, Denilson and Song.

I didn’t say that by the way, Wenger did, for the second time this season I hope he plays Song, after the semi on Saturday it would be like having Pele in the side. If I had to pick my dream team I would play Nasri next to Cesc and have Song on the bench, but I didn’t suggest it as I know he won’t do that, Liverpool are the one team we could play against and field a team like that.

Win this one and we can start believing again, no history today, no rallying call, just get the job done, Arsenal and in particular Wenger, you owe us.

Ok so how will I end this positively?

SPIRIT OF 89 ARSENAL, THIS IS OUR ANNIVERSARY TOO, REMEMBER THE ADVERTISEMENT? GO SHOW THEM WHAT OUR KIDS DID THEN, DEFY THE ODDS, WIN AT ANFIELD, HISTORY IS ON OUR SIDE.

Have a great day Grovers, it only gets harder from tonight, I’ll leave you with a little motivator (Cheers Gnarley).