Take it from me, it’s the older generation!

August 31, 2009

As it’s a quiet day, I thought I’d touch on a new subject… Moaning.

Quite often I read about how the new ‘I want it now’ generation are responsible for the pessimism in the ground… this new breed of sports fan who demand the best and nothing but the best, have no time for a little ‘youth project’ in their lives… and vocally make their points known within the stadium. Spoilt brat kids who don’t know they were born… you know the type… kids who didn’t know what it was like to watch football in the eighties… kids who are more interested in their iphones than what’s happening on the football pitch…

Possible nouveau ticket holder after a Nik B miss?

Possible nouveau ticket holder after a Nik B miss?

Well today people… I’m here to battle the young’uns corner!

I’ve sat all over the post in my short 15 year career as an Arsenal regular. West lower, West Upper, North Bank, Corporate Boxes, Orange Quadrant, Club Level… East stand… so on and so forth…

One thing I’ve always noticed is that if there is anyone who is going to moan at a football match, it is quite often someone who was possibly in the stands as a regular in the sixties… it’s quite often a group of long term season ticket holders who’ve always sat together and are never happy with anything… Now this isn’t meant as a disrespectful piece here… all I am pointing out is that the obvious people to blame for groaning and moaning in the stadium are the kids… I put it to you, the season ticket holder to tell me otherwise, but I usually find it’s elder statesmen of stadium doing the moaning!

Like I say, this piece isn’t meant to offend… it’s merely there to ask a question… am I the only one who notices this?!

See you in the comments!

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Posted by Pedro

Calamitous Almunia fluffs AGAIN… Arsenal fall to pieces… Rooney DIVES!

August 30, 2009

What a disappointing result… we played so well in the first half… we dominated in midfield, created chances and played very well. Arshavin put us one up after firing a 25 yard screamer into the top left corner of the goal… I really didn’t feel like ManU were going to be able to rescue the game… they had nothing.

The second half starts up… Rooney gets played in… Almunia rushes out needlessly and the trap was set… Rooney started falling before he was touched, then he hit Almunia… penalty. Is that not deception? Is that not fooling the ref? Regardless of the contact, he conned the ref… he played for the foul… which is the same mindset Eduardo had the other night.

He stepped up, buried the penalty… 1-1.

The second incident came from a Giggs freekick. He fired the ball into the area, about 8 yards out… Diaby, unchallenged… headed it into our net.

1) What the hell was Diaby thinking about on any defensive level. Was he trying to head it back to Almunia… was he trying to head it out wide… did someone from the Old Trafford mind control department fire a brain jam at him? It was a ridiculous mistake and one that at this moment in time, feels unforgivable…. I thought we were best friends Abou?

2) What was Almunia doing? Is there a keeper in the Premiership who wouldn’t have come for that? Is there a keeper in the youth team that wouldn’t have come for that? What has happened to Almunia this season? He fucked up in Hungary, he fucked up at Pompey and today… he fucked up twice. These type of incidents should not be happening to a keeper supposedly in his prime. He cost us today… and now we have to wait two weeks to make amends.

What I want to know is this… is Arsene Wenger a man of precedent? 2 years ago he dropped Lehamann after his two clangers at Fulham and Blackburn. Two years on, Almunia has opened the season with 3 clangers, plus a fourth if you include his horror show in Hungary. Does Wenger have the guts to drop his Spaniard for the often erratic… but talented Fabianski? Well… it’s no more a risk than dropping a very good German international for an inexperienced Spaniard… who could have also been described as erratic.

As for the team… well, it’s all very well playing good solid football when you’re winning… but jeez… did we fall apart after we lost our goals. We could hardly string a pass together, I think I counted one shot… we were a complete shambles.

Another gripe I have…and I mean no disrespect to Bendtner here… but when you’re playing ManU… you may only get one chance… so why stick Bendtner on? Why not Eduardo… the Crozillian is skilful, creative and clinical. Why did it take until 80 minutes to get him on the pitch? Crazy if you ask me…

I’m not happy with Arshavin and his limited contributions today… I’m not happy with Diaby and how chronically useless he was and I wasn’t particularly enamoured with Denilson and his very sloppy game in the second half. Football is about how you react when the chips are down… and today, I felt we collapsed. As for ability… I think we are sorted. We dominated ManU for a majority of the game with Nasri, Cesc, Walcott and Rosicky out… my only problem was the lack of character we showed after we conceded. Where was the urgency, where was the drive…?

I was pleased with Song today, he performed admirably in the middle of the park. I thought his first half was very solid… but his passing dropped with the rest of the team after we started losing. Eboue played pretty well, his work rate was right up there with the best and he was at the heart of some tidy moves in the first half. The back 4 can’t really be faulted bar the full backs poor crossing.

In conclusion, the defeat hurts because we handed it to United. We pretty much dominated without Rosicky, Nasri and Cesc… which is very encouraging. Lady luck had clearly been taking Brown paper bags from the Glazers today… and it’s not often I will put games going against us down to luck. Still, lets not beat ourselves up over this… we’ve just dominated possession against Premier League winners / European Cup finalists. Next up will be Man City… another very important game. Hopefully by then we’ll have everyone to choose from bar Nasri… that really is exciting don’t you think?

Chin up Grovers, we’ll smash them at home!

Ratings

Almunia: Having a shocking opener to the season. If he were a pupil at school and I was his headmaster, I’d be on my second parent meeting of the term. I think it’s gone beyond the last chance saloon and he should be dropped. 4

Clichy: I thought he played well defensively, making some nice interceptions, keeping Valencia pretty quiet. His crossing was very weak though, you might as well not get in the box if you’re a striker. 6.5

Sagna: Did a very good job keeping the impressive Evra quiet… lost his rag a bit late on, but who wouldn’t if Mike Dean was reffing their game? A solid performance defensively, but when it comes to crossing it’s all a bit Sunday league. 7

Gallas: Continued to play well with the Verminator… but struggled towards the end when the midfield started to lose its shape and dicipline. He was also the man who was offside in the build up to RvP’s late disallowed goal. 6.5

Vermaelen: Everyone was looking to see how he would cope against top opposition and he didn’t disappoint. I thought he kept Rooney pretty quiet and did a good job over all in the middle with Gallas. 7

Denilson: I thought he had a reasonable first half, his passing was ok, he made some pretty good interceptions and helped Arsenal control the midfield. However, I was less than impressed with his second half contribution and his lack of pace really does get shown up against stronger opposition. His passing was very poor and his game went down hill very quickly. Watching Denilson under pressure is tough viewing… 6

Song: I thought he had a much stronger first half. Although he doesn’t always come out of a tackle with the ball like Vieira used to, he does enough to get in the way and make a nuisance of himself. He’s also started to read the game a lot better. However, he started making some rash mistakes when the pressure started to build… and asking him to be creative when you’re chasing a lead is like asking an accountant to write a bit of stand up… it’s just not going to happen. 7

Diaby: What a shocker this man had? The header was beyond a joke… you couldn’t put that down to anything other than being a retard. You wouldn’t expect that in a Sunday league…

‘Well, he is young and he probably didn’t realise that heading into his own goal was a silly thing to do…’

I’m sure we’ll be reading that on some websites today… but after trying to fathom what he was doing with my football team, we all decided that mistake was one of the most shocking own goals we’d ever seen. As for the rest of his game… inept isn’t the word. He was truly diabolical today… his touch was off, his speed of thought was that of a man who’d just come out of a 17 year coma and his threat to United was minimal. 4

Eboue: I actually thought he had another very solid game for us… he involved himself in a lot of the play offensively in the first half and he covered a lot of ground, burning up plenty of energy in the process. His dive was pathetic… if you’re going to make a cunt of yourself diving, at least get a penalty and at least dive well… what he did was embarrassing and led to fits of laughter where I was watching the game. 6.75

Arshavin: Plenty of people are saying that the Russians game is to do nothing then pop up with the goods… well, I have to disagree… he was a lot busier last season and had a lot more of the ball. He looked pretty disinterested, and bar the goal and a couple of half chances, he was anonymous. He did very well to dummy Fletcher, and the challenge was a stone wall penalty… but if we’d got the penalty… you have to cast doubts on whether Arsh would have been motivated enough to get his second. He’s got to pull his finger out and start imposing himself on games for longer than 5 minutes. 7

Robin: Not his best game for the club. His finishing was pretty poor today and due to his lack of confidence, he seems to playing with caution. Robin… start doing what you built your reputation on… banging it when the goal is in site. He takes an age to get a shot off and when he does, invariably it’s not on target or its a tame effort. He went close with a free kick that was tipped onto the bar, and Foster pulled off a fantastic save at point blank range in the second half to deny him… a goal is in order and pretty sharpish… he had one disallowed in the 95th minute which was unlucky. 6.75

Arsene Wenger: I don’t think there was too much I’d disagree with regarding the starting line up. If Eduardo was a fitness risk, I’ll accept that… and maybe Rambo is a year off starting against United. However, why Wenger chose to bring Bendtner on when we were chasing a game is beyond me? Surely you bring on your most clinical creative striker? Or perhaps you bring on your 18 year old super star in waiting who can create something out of nothing? It was a silly decision and had everyone baffled. If Eduardo wasn’t capable of more than ten minutes, then frankly… what was he doing on the bench? Wenger took far too long to make his subs… and when he did, they were the wrong ones. Fair play to his behaviour at the end of the game, he did a good job of mocking Mike Dean when he refused to go to the stands after being sent off for kicking and empty bottle at no one (go figure)… instead deciding to stand above the tunnel with the fans. That was pretty funny. 6.75

Mike Dean: What a piss poor performance from the referee. The most inept display I’ve seen in a long time… dishing out yellow cards for fun, missing handballs and tackles in the box that would make Vinnie Jones wince… it was a truly horrible day for the ref. 3

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Posted by Pedro

The first ‘real’ test is upon us…

August 29, 2009

So Grovers, the big one has arrived before August is out. We’re missing our captain…plus Ro-sicky… But bar that, we’re full strength.

We go to Old Trafford for the first time in goodness knows how long with a defence who can handle themselves… We go a key player down with the ability to replace with quality… And we go there with form.

If we can take three points here… City will be a doddle… This game could define the next 3 months of our season and could be the crucial early psychological blow in the title race (as if Burnley wasn’t bad enough!).

I’m going for a standard back 5… A midfield of Song – Arshavin – Eboue and a strike force of Eddie – Bends – RVP. It won’t work out like that as I’m sure we’ll see Denilson and Diaby in there, but on performances I’d go with my choice.

I’m predicting a win for us… But if we do taste defeat, let’s not lose our heads… Manu lost to us at away to us last year and still romped it.

As for this Eduardo debacle… Let’s look at today like a wedding… Don’t let the slutty bridesmaid in the red playboy (Eduardo story) outfit distract you from who our attention should really be on today! The sexy bride (the match)!

Let’s all get ready for our date with destiny! Come on you reds!

*This post was brought to you in association with blackberry… Apologies for any spelling or grammar errors.

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Posted by Pedro

Easy peasy in Europe, new contract for Eboue but no one wants Phil.

August 28, 2009

So there you have it, we have got the easiest draw in Europe for once so we can take it easy and rest key players, in short we won’t or shouldn’t get post Champions league blues as we have had in the past, very little travel and no one of note to play, in fact they are even easier than Celtic.

The down side of that means we will buy no one of note, if anyone, I was convinced that Wenger would buy Numbchucks but as he still hasn’t left I expect a behind the scenes deal has been struck to get him for little at Christmas or nothing next year, bargain basement Arsenal continues it’s policy.

We will spend money on bolstering Gazidas’s team, and improving squad players contracts, so expect a big pay rise for Eboue, Denilson and Song, unless of course they already received them.

However, players that Wenger has had huge faith in over the last 7 years like Senderos, we can’t give away. We tried to offload him out to Milan, then we tried to sell him to Everton, no one seems to want him, well that will tell you something about project youth and persevering with players we all think will never make it at Arsenal.

So I suggest we have a clear out of players now that we know will never make it, players like Senderos, Randall, Fish head and unfortunately Simpson, and bring in some quality like Sneijder, Van der Vaart, Diarra(M) and Sakho and at least have a squad big enough and talented enough to go to places like Old Trafford and expect to get a result.

Those sort of players will make us a better team, we have enough talent not to even need a defensive midfielder but that I know goes against the grain of people that think we do.

We will never have a better chance to win the EPL and the ECL let’s not blow it Arsene, we looked vulnerable and boring on Wednesday, well until you changed it around we did and that was the Arsenal of last season, and that sends a shiver down my spine.

Arsene mentioned the average age of our team this week was 23.9 and in 6 months they will be even better, so what? I don’t care how old they are, are they good enough? Last season they weren’t. He is obsessed with age.

Anyone out there that thinks Eduardo should be banned should firstly look at a few clips of Rooney, Gerrard and Ronaldo, they made Eduardo look like he was hacked down and beaten with a stick, as for Scottish morality, didn’t they just let a terrorist out after only 8 years for killing 270 people? I’ll leave that there then.

Finally I think that Rosicky going off with the Czech squad is a unbelievable cheek, I hope he plays for us for once and that we see him at Old Trafford, well at least before he plays an International and gets injured all over again.

Have a great day Grovers, Arsene please get your cheque book out, you only have 4 days left.

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Posted by Geoff

11 broken ribs, a shattered wrist and a recovering punctured lung.

August 27, 2009

So Geoff proved his commitment to the cause by heading up to Arsenal with 11 broken ribs, a wrist broken in 4 places and a punctured lung on the repair… pretty silly in my opinion… but commitment none the less. Just thought I’d drop that in to all you ‘real fans’ out there who question his support.

I bet he wished he hadn’t bothered when he saw the line up… Wenger claimed in the pre-match interview that this was a more important match than the ManU game at the weekend… then dropped RvP and Arshavin. Very odd… even more irritating was the inclusion of Eboue in the midfield.

Still, I had no doubt the team would do the job… but why risk not playing your best players?

Celtic started on the front foot… the crowd were dead… probably shocked by the line up… the Celts were probably encouraged by the lack of star names.

The first real chance fell to us… Diaby won the ball by the corner flag, cut it into Nik at the front post, he flicked the ball over Boruc who parried it across his goal… Eduardo slid in narrowly grazing it right of the post… what a miss! He’ll have nightmares over that one!

The lack of pace in this starting 11 was glaring… there was no spark, the ball wasn’t holding up in midfield or up front. I couldn’t help but procrastinate over the fact that it didn’t need to be like this…

Denilson went close before the breakthrough, not managing to get his shot across the keeper. Then Eduardo sparked into action… he played a lovely one-two with Eboue… Nipped it round the sliding Boruc… and fell to ground. Replays are inconclusive… there looks to have been the slightest of contact… regardless, the penalty was played for and it wasn’t very fair. Still, shit happens… right gang?

Eddie stepped up to take the penalty… waited for the fat Polish Keeper to dive and slotted it down the middle of the goal. 3-0 (agg)… you’d have to say Celtic were now dead and buried.

It didn’t take us long to improve on our lead after the second half started. Sagna started the move by weighting a lovely ball down the wing, Nik B flick the ball into the path of Diaby who waltzed into the penalty box and passed to Eboue, who created a bit of space for himself and buried it low and hard past Boruc. A very nice goal indeed… Eboue really was having one of his best games in an Arsenal shirt.

Celtic were beaten and Arsenal’s class started to show. We brought on Ramsey, Wilshere and Arshavin and the pretty, creative football began to flow. Arsenals final goal of the night started when Denilson went for a run through the middle of the park, fell over… Arshavin picked up the pieces and powered into the box… passed to Rambo, who returned the ball to Arshavin, who pirouetted… and slotted it low past Boruc.

I was explaining to my football colleagues that Arsenal always seem to concede a sloppy goal… well, we were certainly doing our best to switch off towards the end… Brown looped a high ball right to the back post… Donati angled the ball back a across goal past Almunia. I’ve watched the goal about ten times now… and I can’t help but think Almunia should have been more alert and got across to it. Donati didn’t hit it very hard… and this is my point about Big Al… he is very standard. If he were a car, he’d be a Volkswagen Golf, he wouldn’t have colour coded bumpers, he wouldn’t have Air con… he’d be your bog standard, hub capped Golf. He’ll rarely surprise you by keeping out the impossible like Reina or Cech might… and so far, you’d have to say his start has been less than impressive.

Ratings:

Almunia: I thought he could have done more to keep the Donati shot out. He’s had a problematic start to the campaign this year… he needs to pull his socks up. 6

Sagna: I don’t think he should have allowed the ball drop in the box for Donati to get a shot off. You can say that a shot like that isn’t expected… but this is the Champions league… expect the unexpected. Other than the slight mishap at the end, I thought he had a very positive game. 6.5

Clichy: Alert and looking very sharp so far this season. I thought our dynamic Frenchman was very impressive today, bombing up and down the wings looking much happier. 7

Commodus: Our man from Belgium just looks better and better every time I watch him. He is the first defender since Sol Campbell who attacks the ball in the air… he has pace, power and that grit to his game we’ve so needed. It’s a real pleasure watching a defender who has a passion for his art. 8

Vermaelen showing us his serious face.

Vermaelen showing us his serious face.

Gallas: The man has been reborn, he has fire in his belly and boy does he look like he’s enjoying his game again. I’ve heard through the grape vine that he and Thomas click in a big way off the pitch. It’s like the new signing has reinvigorated Gallas and we’re certainly reaping the rewards. Another towering performance from our ex-captain. 8

Eboue: As you’ll have noticed, I am more than happy to admit I really don’t like seeing his name on the team sheet if he’s in midfield. Ok, he’s much improved… but I’d prefer Rambo out there. Still, I can’t knock his performance. He tracked back, he bombed forward… he assisted… and he scored a very good goal. I was super impressed with his display tonight and as much as it irks me to say it… I’d be sad to see him go. Tonight guys, I’m doing the unthinkable… I’m giving him MoM. 9

Denilson: I thought he started off very poorly, his passing was sloppy and he seemed to be running around like a headless chicken. However, after the first goal dropped he regained his composure and started passing well, getting up and down the pitch with a bit more ease and he even managed to get another couple of shots off. His main weakness as I see it is his lack of mobility. He’s not very fast and in a slow midfield… this really shows. His interceptions and ability to read the game were quite impressive towards the end of the game. If he were a car, he’d be a Ford Focus Zetec… it’s ok, and it might impress some people… but it has it’s limitations when it’s on the same forecourt as the Ferrari’s and Maserati’s. 7

Song: A very quiet game from Song. He potters around just in front of the defence, breaking up play where he sees fit and distributing it to the closest player he can find. He made a few vital interceptions and for me… he carried on where he left off after the Everton game. 7

Diaby: I don’t know where to start with this man. He was pretty woeful today… his passing was off, his decision making was poor and his head seemed to drop. He had a hand in the Eboue goal, but I think I’d put that goal more down to the vision of Sagna and Nik. If Diaby were a car, he’d be an Alfa Romeo. You know what you’re driving is something a bit special, and at a glance, it looks amazing… the problem is… you just never know whether it’s going to perform… or when it’s going to breakdown. A big thumbs down from me today… comparisons to Paddy were a touch premature. 5

Eduardo: My favourite player at the moment. Cheating aside… the guy is a dream to watch. His intelligence is second to none as a striker, he holds the line, moves into the right spaces… involves everyone in the build up play and has the confidence to try anything. He was a joy to watch today and I think it’s pretty clear he is going to be very important to our campaign this year. Oh, and I’m being serious when I say this… I would have him over David Villa. 7.5

Nik B: Now here is a player who frustrates the hell out of me. He has the talent to be a top striker… there is a 20 goal player waiting to break out… but he just doesn’t concentrate enough sometimes. His touch was off today, and when his head drops… it normally stays dropped. He needs a bit of that hardwork Adebayor used to put in when he was playing for a new contract… if at first you don’t succeed, try and try again. He played a nice flick into Diaby for the Eboue goal, had a nice chip saved by Boruc… but we need more than that this season. We need product and we need it in abundance. I’ve still got confidence in him… he just needs to keep his chin up! 6

Subs:

Rambo: I thought he came on and sparked the game back into life with his clever passing and his driving runs. I’m a huge fan of the Welshman and I do wonder why he doesn’t start ahead of Eboue? He staked a claim for more inclusions with an assist and did his C.V no harm. 6.5

Arshavin: After a very lazy performance at the weekend, our pint sized Russian came on to open his account for the year. He is a massive talent… I hope he lives up to the hype this year with great performances, matched by a great work ethic. 6

Jack: I didn’t really see too much of him to comment. 6

Arsene Wenger: I was disappointed with the starting line up. I thought it reeked of tinkerman tinkering… but I knew it would do the job. I hope team selections like that aren’t going to be the norm this year, because at some point… we’ll come unstuck pissing around like that. His subs were nice and early and we saw the players we like to see coming from the bench. 7.5

Conclusion:

Professional efficiency seems to be our hallmark so far this year. Eboue put in a man of the match performance and the defence, bar one silly lapse, showed us why we have every right to be excited about competing this year. The Champions league money is now in the bank… so lets see what he does now. I’m hoping for at least one more signing, maybe two. Next up is Manchester United at Old Trafford… a real early doors acid test. I’m the most confident I’ve been in years going up north… mainly because for the first time in a while, I feel there is a very good chance we could keep a clean sheet!

So, in answer to Geoff’s question he posed yesterday… are we ruthless enough? Emphatically yes.

See you in the comments!

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Posted by Pedro

Tonight’s the night we find out if we are ruthless enough.

August 26, 2009

How many times last season did we say we should have finished them off in the first half, but we gave up or went to sleep, well tonight we are playing one of those sides that caused us trouble in dropping points last season, so we need to put them away in style tonight.

We can’t go the whole season with them thinking we got two lucky goals, just like that twat Hart said on Saturday,

‘If Gallas had got sent off (for a foul he didn’t commit) then he wouldn’t have scored at the other end, so therefore we would not have lost’

Wanker.

Why can’t teams just say ‘blimey, we got stuffed, Arsenal are such a good side’ we always seem to have controversy hanging over us, even when we drew 4-4 with Liverpool, no one said they were lucky to equalise, they all said we had four shots and scored 4 goals.

Which brings me nicely onto our little Russian playmaker, he seems to be a little quiet so far, I think it’s because he’s being played out of position, tonight perhaps he should be played in the middle where Cesc normally goes, that should free him up and maybe we can stick bendtner in the middle with Robin one side and Eduardo the other. That way maybe we’ll see Arshavin open his account in the Champions league, I hope so.

Imagine a midfield of Rosicky, Arshavin and Diaby, now that makes my lips water and with a back up of Ramsey, Denilson and Song we have plenty of strength in depth.

I say Rosicky because he’s back in training and should be as fit as a butchers dog, and a fit Rosicky is as good as it gets, so stick him in, if he gets injured again then it has to be time to think of replacing him, Cesc too seems to be picking up a fair few injuries as did Nasri (before the leg break) so maybe we need a few extra faces because we always seem to have these problems.

I expect nothing other than a romp tonight and that will set us up nicely for our next two romps up north somewhere near Scotland, the Manc twins.

Enjoy tonight Grovers, we won’t get too many nailed on games this season, let’s make the most of it and show the Celtic fans what a full ground to the end is.

4 nil the Arsenal if I was a gambling man, but as you know I’m not, as gambling is a sin.

P.S. A big congrats to Mark Groves who answered Miroslav Klose (5 goals) to our competition question. He’s now the luck owner of Sony Ericsson W995!

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Posted by Geoff

Will Matuidi happen and do we need more?

August 25, 2009

Well according to Arshavin we do, according to me we do, I’m not sure Wenger will buy though, the great start to the season has strengthened project youth even more in my book.

I don’t know enough about Matuidi to make a judgement call, save to see the wonder goal he scored on the you tube clip, I am still not convinced that with Song and Denilson we have enough, Diaby has impressed me though and has done since he arrived, if he can stay un injured, I think he’ll be the one, but will he be played there as the first choice or will that just give Wenger 2 out of 3 to choose from?

I suspect that will be it, I hope he signs Matuidi and Sackho though, because I am convinced he’ll sign Numbchucks before the window closes.

Nice to see Thomas scoring for Blackpool at the weekend, let’s hope he continues to do well and we see him back at Christmas, perhaps he could convert to DM.

Great to see Liverpool doing so badly, let’s hope that continues for a while, I think tomorrow will just be a warm up game for the big one at Old Trafford this weekend, I have to smile at this new 4-3-3 system though, you would think Wenger had invented something, 4-5-1 was the most boring, unimaginative line up we have ever deployed, any system would make that look good.

Keep it up though, because what we lacked last season was the shutting the opposition down, if we can do that at the weekend, we can win.

So Arsene, so far, so good, but add to the squad whilst we can, because injuries will happen, if history has shown us anything, that is it, get in Blaise Matuidi, he’s young enough not to lose money on, oh and give Eboue another crack at right back, I think he’s played better than Sagna, and that’s what we need out there, players fighting for their position.

Have a great day today Grovers, tomorrow it’s football again.

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Posted by Geoff

Andre demands – Ticket networking – Road beer Update

August 24, 2009

Good morning Grovers! What a weekend eh? The weather was stunning, the football was vintage and our goal difference ended up 2 better than anyone else despite us having played one less game than most.

My key thoughts from the Pompey game were based around Diaby, Eduardo and the 4-3-3.

I was looking for a strong performance from Diaby because this is pretty much his make or break season… if he can shift the injuries, he has to make a stake for the first team. I’ve read a lot of negative talk about his this summer… some say he’s clueless, others say he isn’t intelligent enough…etc… for me, he has always been one of the most talented players in our team… his problem looked to be not to dissimilar to Eboue’s… his lack of application could have sent that talent to waste.

However, he’s worked on his strength over the summer and he’s arrived back in a formation that suits him. His finishing was top draw at the weekend… he covered plenty of ground and he made some very good tackles. His skill levels are still outrageous… which lead to the PV04 comparisons. If Diaby can make a flump (Flamini jump) this year… we could be in for a treat.

Eduardo was again, utterly superb. His intelligence on the ball and off the ball are unrivalled up front. He has bags of skill and hidden pace that I’ve been telling everyone about all summer! His positional awareness is fantastic… and for that reason, I am fine with us not having purchased a striker this summer.

Finally… the much maligned 4-3-3. I think Wenger may have pulled a master stroke here. Firstly, because it’s working. Say what you want about the teams we’re playing… but we’ve bagged 12 goals in 3 games… if ManU had done so, we’d all be scared. Our movement is almost impossible to track if you’re the opposition, we’re using the wings to greater effect and we’re defending as a team. I saw Eduardo slot in as left back, I saw Denilson in at centre back and I’m pretty sure I saw Nik B as a right back. Somthing else that impressed… we pretty much destroyed our squad from the last game, and though we were a touch shaky at the back… we still dominated… that’s good depth there! So far, I can’t knock its introduction…

In changing the formation, Wenger has improved the squad depth. 3 strikers can be a mixture of strikers and half strikers (Diaby, Nasri, Arshavin). Three midfielders can be a mixture of defensive midfielders and attacking midfielders… there seem to be so many more options. As someone pointed out to me at the weekend… when you put 3 in midfield… everyone knows there role because it’s a lot more defined… a five man midfield can lead to a ‘it’s ok, someone else will deal with that’ type attitude.

Arshavin says we need to sign some players and it’s hard to disagree with him. I think it’s easy for everyone to get carried away with our game when the sun is shining and the Rosick list is bare… but when it’s November and the games are piling up, I’m still not sure whether our squad could deal with a Gallas hamstring injury… or a Cesc 4 weeker.

In other news… operation road beer went down a dream. Peachesgooner, Franchise and Raif enjoyed a cold Peroni all the way down Gillespie road without and bother. Viva la Road beer!

Le Exchange has been getting pretty busy recently… so I thought I’d see if I could make things easier by starting a facebook group dedicated to the exchange of tickets. Remember, this is not a touting scheme… but if you can’t shift a spare, log onto the group and post the info there… then you guys can sort it out between yourselves. If you don’t have FB… I will still happily advertise your tickets on the site. I still have some going for the Celtic game by the way, so e-mail in if you’re interested.

Lastly… continuing on from Geoff’s point about the scarves… I have to agree with him. The scarves were indeed of improved quality, but I can’t help but see the PR stunt as a touch pointless.

1) You gave us a scarf a few weeks ago in our welcome pack, why would we need another one?

2) It was 25 degrees… hardly weather conducive to wearing a scarf.

3) Scarves on seats completely covers up the fact that despite all the complaints about the atmosphere last season, the board did nothing to address it in the summer. Ok, the ‘Arsenalisation’ of the stadium is pretty… you’ve covered the concrete with nice bits of white sheet metal… but you’ve yet again missed a great opportunity get some noise going in ground… Saturdays atmosphere was flatter than usual, I hope that’s not a sign of things to come.

Have a great day Grovers, two days till our next run out, 5 days till we play the champions and 7 days till T-day… it’s going to be a very interesting week!

P.S. Nice to see there was no shame in our kids losing to Burnley… they’re taking scalps for fun at the moment… well played Mr Coyle!

1,068 Comments | New Review | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Pedro

Impressive Arsenal don’t break sweat and FREE sweeties from uncle Fester.

August 23, 2009

The match was pretty easy with a number of rotations taking place, in came Diaby, Eduardo, Gibbs and Eboue, later we saw Bendtner, Ramsey and Merida and to be honest I thought they all did well.

Diaby does impress me with his finishing, he got two early doors and that set the tone, Almunia contrived to screw up royally by not managing to out jump a Pompey forward even though he himself can use his hands and his 6′ 4″ frame, Almunia continues to be an enigma for me, but heck we won 4-1 so I’m not complaining.

A special mention to young Aaron Ramsey, a pin point through ball from the boy wonder allowed us to see a cracking piece of composed finishing around England’s number one, David James, well done that man, sensational. A joy to watch.

I won’t give player ratings as I thought they all played well, so I’ll give the whole team 10. I would say we had a comfortable day at the office, we did what was needed, what we should do against teams like Pompey, don’t get me wrong, I think they will give many teams problems, but last season we lost to Stoke and Fulham but today we showed we have learned from that. I hope.

The Gallas incident was fine, the Portsmouth forward fell over his own leg. Hart, you need to get a pair of glasses.

The management contrived to give everyone at the ground a free scarf, well done Arsenal, if you want my advice, drop a pound off the price of a pint, that would be more use, oh and did you not think we all had our own scarves? Condescending and embarrassing I call it. Yes it looked pretty, but why?

I’m not whining, but since Gazidas and Kroenke got here we do seem to be turning into some kind of American sports franchise, what’s next, foam fingers, cheerleaders and nachos? We already have Elvis for Christ’s sake!

Why do Americans just assume the whole world loves their tat? Stan pick the phone up and ask an Arsenal fan what we like, don’t ask uncle Fester, he may well be Richie Cunningham and his new mates Potsie, Ralph and the Fonz, but this is Islington, London, not Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

We want good value snacks, reasonably priced beverages, and lower admission charges, we’d also like to be able to stand up occasionally and sing.

I quite liked the free flags at the Champions league game, which we waved for 7 and a half minutes but if you want to do something useful, give us cheaper beer and proper burgers, that’s the way to win friends and influence fans.

Well me anyway, they gave us all a free scarf with our season ticket renewals, it was the cheapest, nastiest scarf I have ever seen I wouldn’t wear it if you paid me, I’m guessing the ones they gave out yesterday were run ons from the season ticket give-aways.

Anyway back to the team, we do look slick going forward and if it wasn’t for David James we could have been 6 or 7 up at half time, Vermaelen continues to impress and at one stage he had a rasping shot that I thought was Robin’s, he even had the shot that Gallas followed up on to score, this kid was a shrewd signing so well done Arsene.

I thought Eboue looked solid and I have to say he crosses so much better than Sagna, I think that once the forwards start to click we will begin to stuff teams, and I don’t think it will be long before that happens, I hope it starts this week against Celtic and continues against the Mancs next weekend.

Three out of three and we can’t complain, I know that only two are in the league but that still makes for a great start and we are still top of the league. Numero uno, the number one, fantastic.

So I’m not complaining, I just hope that Diaby’s knock doesn’t put him out for 10 weeks. Him in the team makes us more of an attacking unit.

Eduardo looked sharp though and it’s still only August, we have Rosicky, Nasri, Theo and Djourou to return so the future looks bright, it would look even brighter if he signed a couple more though, what about Sackho and Matuidi? Anyone?

Have a great Sunday Grovers, next week is going to be huge, I wonder what they’ll leave on the seat on Tuesday???

576 Comments | New Review | Permalink
Posted by Geoff

So today we put Pompey to the sword + exclusive stadium shot of cannon.

August 22, 2009

I can’t remember the last time Portsmouth gave us any real problems, maybe it was in 2004 when we went unbeaten, I seem to remember them giving us a close call at Fratton Park that year.

I fully expect us to start the new season at the Grove with a good old fashioned beating, I expect to see the young kids play, I hope to see Vela, Ramsey, Wilshere and Gibbs and a mixture of Arshavin, Bendtner and Eduardo up front.

It’s a shame about Theo, but if the England stories are true, then Wenger needs to remind the boy who pays his wages. I’ll give you a clue Theo, it’s not Capello.

The atmosphere should be great today with the crowd turning up for the first game of the season full of anticipation and expecting to win the league for the first time in years.

Yes I know a few weeks ago it was gloom and doom… but it’s not often we win our opening game 6-1 away and with the Celtic win, I feel like the England cricket team must feel right now, if we lose this we only have ourselves to blame.

Wenger has a squad and it’s games like this he should use it, maybe he’ll slot Djourou in alongside Vermaelen to give Gallas a breather, I would seriously consider buying Sakho or Taylor and blooding them this season, for those of you that took exception to the boy elbowing Eduardo last season, don’t, that’s just the sort of bloke this team needs, remember the Grimster?

I still think he’ll sign Numbchucks in the next 7 days but I hope upon hope he buys a defensive midfielder, and if that player is Matuidi or Diarra from Madrid then so be it, we need back up and if Song does come on, then he’ll be away in January, so we need options.

Enjoy today because next week it gets considerably tougher.

No silly predictions from me today, but I wouldn’t be surprised is one of the teams at the Grove today gets 5.

Have a great day Grovers!

P.S. Here is a picture of the new Cannon at the stadium if you haven’t seen it already (Cheers Drum4it)… apparently it was going to be Gold until they changed their mind at the last minute. Also, if you haven’t got a ticket for the game yet, I still have spare tickets going in the Exchange.

Looking good.

Looking good.

In other news, it might be worth mentioning that if you find us daily by clicking the link from Goonernew.com, you won’tt be able to do that shortly. They’ve asked us to pay to be aggregated on their site which totally goes against my beliefs regarding the world wide web. Nearly everyone they are hoping to charge creates content for free… so in my eyes, it should be distributed for free… so if you still want a daily does of Le Grove, check out affiliates in the side bar for news aggregation… or sign up to our RSS feed or mailing list.

889 Comments | New Review | Permalink
Posted by Geoff

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