Winning beautiful at an ugly time suits me just fine! Ratings + Review

September 30, 2009

Mannone

eboue Verm gallas clichy

Diaby Song Fab

Rosicky Robin Arshavin

Arsene Wenger celebrated his 13th year at the club and secured his place as the longest serving modern day manager of Arsenal football club.

Could he deliver a win on a unseasonably warm autumn evening? Well, he certainly delivered an exciting starting line up capable of one. Diaby retained his place alongside Song and Fab in the midfield. Rosicky took his place in a 3 prong attack that made me a bit damp…

Arshavin must have read the comments because he looked like a man with intent to destroy tongiht.

First time the Olympicos (<- Didn’t it used to be spelt with a ‘k’?) keeper was called into action was to deal with a cross. The former Greek Euro Cup winner looked like he’d come down with a bout of HIV since we last saw him.

The first decent shot came from Arshavin. Cesc played a superb cross field ball to Clichy, who controlled it… powered into the box, laid it off to Arsh who tested the keeper low to his right only to be denied.

Arsenal were playing some super football.

The next chance came after RvP played a simple ball to Arshavin on the edge of the box, the Russian played it first time to Cesc who controlled then half volleyed it onto the bar… the ball came back out to Rosicky who tested the keeper again… but Arsenal were denied!

Arshavin went close again when he found himself in the box with a defender in front of him, he took a touch, dragged it right and poked a shot low in one fail swoop, only for our afflicted keeper to save again.

The first freekick on the edge of the box had Cesc and Robin over it. Rosicky edged in like he wanted a piece, but Cesc took over and buried it into the wall. Very poor.

Fabregas looked like a different player this evening… the provider was being provided with all sorts of chances from RvP, Rosicky and Arshavin. It was a joy to watch… the only thing missing? A finish…

Song was playing very well, mopping up like a dinner lady on speed. He played some nice passes and kept things ticking over much better than he did against Fulham.

The Greeks did manage to fashion a chance when they looped a ball over Clichy’s head and one of their player nipped in at the back stick to head straight into the hands of the Don.

Mannone made a superb save early into the first half, clamouring back to fish out a well aimed header. Arsenal were in danger of being sucker punched if they didn’t score soon.

Robin went close up the other end with a fierce shot on goal… he followed through on the defender when attempting to be first to the rebound. He received a yellow for his troubles.

Eboue played well; his final ball acceptable for a right back… not acceptable for a right midfielder. He has a favoured position, play him there Arsene… he looks good enough to displace Sagna at the moment.

Arsenal were huffing and puffing… but could they blow down the Greek defence and nick a win? Well…

Fabregas lethargically ran forward, released Eduardo who cut it back superbly for Robin to bury home!

Fantastic!

We weren’t finished though… Fabregas slid a ball across the box, Arshavin latched on, possibly thinking he was offside, he flicked it in Kanu-esque (The one against Boro’ in his first season). No more than we deserved!

Happy days!

Mannone: Deputised like a little clean sheet dream boat. He pulled off a superb save from a corner and dealt with his kicking duties very well. Another clean sheet to add to his improving CV. 7

Clichy: A bit of a mixed bag for Clichy. He slipped over a few times and nearly let the Greeks in, but overall, he was in control today. 7

Vermaelen: Super performance from the Belgian. He got forward for our set plays and marshalled the back line very well. 7.5

Gallas: Again, some very good tackles and some good passing tonight. The defence had little to do, but they controlled the back line well. 7.5

Eboue: A very strong performance at right back. He linked up superbly with the attack and with a little bit more concentration with his final ball, he’d be displacing Sagna for sure. 8

Song: I thought Song had a very good game today. He sat back and let the big boys get on with the attacking play. He was goal side when teams broke tonight and his passing was pretty solid. He had a few hairy moments where he fell over or gave the ball away dangerously… but overall, a much better performance than the one I saw at Fulham. 7.5

Diaby: A better performance than he’s been giving us lately. He still doesn’t get the ball out from under his feet quick enough and he’s often guilty of sloppy simple passes… however, we take each game as it comes and we judge today’s game as an improvement. 6.5

Rosicky: A very good first half performance. What we’ve missed sometimes in midfield is a player who is diciplined enough to play the simple ball when nothing else is on. Rosicky held the ball up nicely and his turn of pace was very impressive for a player whose been out for so long. Fell away a touch in second half, but let’s be honest… he’s still adjusting to being able to stand up! 7

Arshavin: Does he care about becoming the best? Did the 10 or so blinding games he had last season go to his head? Well, tonight it looked like he’d taken stock of his play this year… maybe read Le Grove and the comments, and pulled his socks up to deliver a scintillating display! He was all over the park, at the centre of most of our play, chasing lost causes… demonstrating his amazing ball control and skill. The latter was epitomised with his cheeky back heeled goal! It may have been offside, but who cares… we were owed that goal! 9

Cesc: A battling performance from someone whose looked off his game. He still looks like he’s not enjoying his game, but he was a lot more involved today. Surround great players with great players and you get great performances. 2 assists finished off a night where my only complaint would be his finishing. He did hit the bar though and he hit the target a few times… so not that bad really! 8.5

Robin: People were complaining about RvP starting, saying he lacks the finishing ability etc… I wasn’t one of those people. He is top class. He was the most creative player in the Premiership last year and he banged in 20 goals in total. He is a very good player and I think he offers us more than Eduardo does at the moment as he is a more complete player. Robin played very well tonight, linking in nicely with the front player, going close on a few occasions. His just desserts arrived when he got his goal late on to give us the victory. 8

Conclusion:

So what did we learn tonight Grovers? Well, we learnt that great players feed off great players. Tonight it looked like our front 5 were competing with each other to see who could be the most skilful and ingenious (They should ask best finisher to that list!). That was great to see… and it’s how it should be at a club like Arsenal.

There are still big question marks over our ability to concentrate till the end and I still wonder if we have the personnel to keep clean sheets against the real quality teams in Europe… but tonight is a good start and I’m going to enjoy the victory and winning beautiful, but making it a little bit painful along the way!

I’m heading into Paris today, if anyone would like me to pick up some arrogance or rudeness for them, be sure to let me know in the comments!

Adios… sorry, I mean au revoir!

P.S. Sorry if I haven’t got back to you on the e-mails of late, I’ve been away from my PC a lot. I’ll catch up on Friday!

648 Comments | Match report | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Pedro

Tonight we face the Greeks, tonight we demand earth, water and 3 points!

September 29, 2009

So this is it, the first group game at home and this team are dangerous, this team have Matt Derbyshire in it, yes, you heard, Matt Derbyshire.

I expect to see our best starting 11 out there, I expect us to make it 5 games on the trot since we lost to the Northern chavs, tonight I expect to see the real Arsenal, we won ugly on Saturday, but we won, that for me is real progress, tonight I expect to see Arshavin set the Grove alight, I hope he starts with Arshavin, Eduardo and Robin up top, I hope to see Cesc, Ramsey and Rosicky in the middle, I hope we don’t see Diaby but I expect we will and by the law of averages, he is due his good game so I won’t be too upset if he plays.

Maybe this is the sort of game to take a few chances and give Wilshere a start but I doubt it.

We need to start getting some goals because our build up play has been very sweet, I know we have a ton of money and yesterday’s accounts showed that, they also showed that Arsene has had the money all along but chose not to spend it, so tonight we need to get behind whoever he puts out, because no matter how much we want him to buy, he won’t, and he can’t, we have to wait until January so I suggest we talk about what we do have, and not what we want.

He’ll probably start Diaby, Song and Eboue, Eboue has played well, my problem with him is there is no end product, maybe there will be tonight, two players who won’t feature though are Nikki B and Denilson, Nikki B pranged his Aston, I’ve done that, so please, a bit of support for the boy, doing that does make you feel sick. Really sick, and a little silly, in my case it was a birds fault, in his, a tree.

I hear on the Grapevine that Denilson won’t be back until the end of the year, shame for the boy, but it does allow Ramsey to show what he has, good luck that man.

Theo’s injury is as much of a mystery as Nasri’s, Theo has been busy making commercials so perhaps he’s being rested, but Nasri’s injury wasn’t bad, he’ll be six weeks, that was in July, so either Wenger can’t count or the injury was worse, I broke my arm in 7 places on August the first but this weekend I’m playing golf again, so god knows how bad his break was.

The up side of all this, is the young kids are growing together, losing to the Mancs when we were the better team shows how much stronger we are as a unit, but we need to start converting promise into points, and tonight I expect us to do just that.

I’ll be there, so stewards, back off, I’ll be standing and singing and there may even be a little bad language thrown in, so I apologise in advance, but leave me alone.

One of my favourite films involved Greeks, ’300′ but remember what happened to them? …they lost! – So 5 nil the Arsenal, and yes, that is a prediction.

I would have said 5-1 but Alminia has been dropped, go Vito, go!

Have a great night tonight Grovers, I have a funny feeling it could be one of our greatest ever European games, up there with Madrid and Milan.

967 Comments | New Review | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Geoff

Mannone may not be the one but he proves a point.

September 28, 2009

And that point is? Well that point is, it proves unequivocally that Almunia clearly isn’t good enough. I thought Vito was magnificent, I have to admit I didn’t think he could step up, but he did, so well done Vito.

Vito himself said he had the game of his life, but why? That should be what a keeper does week in, week out, other top keepers do, Given does for one, I think this shows us that we really are lacking a top keeper, don’t forget we are the Arsenal, we should have a top keeper.

We can have the greatest outfield players in the world, but if the keeper is bad, it matters not.

You are only as good as your weakest link, and we have a few I’m afraid, but to have one between the sticks is asking for trouble.

When Lehmann went south, Wenger was ruthless, Almunia got the nod and we applauded, now Almunia is good for a clanger in every game and frankly he should be replaced, we have 3 young kids, if they could step up, great, we then have a goalie for 10 years, if they aren’t ready, then we need to buy a Given, yes I know he’s gone but we need to buy someone of that ilk, maybe Robert Green, I don’t know who, but I do know that we need to do something.

Arsenal have always had great keepers, Wilson, Rimmer, Jennings, Lukic, Seaman and Lehmann and I even liked Stuart Taylor but he went. We can get away with mediocrity outfield but we can’t between the sticks.

Arsene you need to be ruthless, Almunia and his performances so far this season have been unacceptable, bring on a kid or buy a new keeper, he isn’t good enough for us to win a title.

Great result against Fulham, there are no pictures on a scorecard, and high time we learned to win ugly, mission accomplished there boss, however, the cracks were beginning to appear, let’s hope we can put that right and put in an Arsenalesque performance against the bubbles on Tuesday.

Have a great day Grovers, tomorrow we are back on the big stage and we need three points.

892 Comments | New Review | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Geoff

Playing badly but grinding out a result. How about playing well once in a while, eh?

September 27, 2009

Don Mannone

Don Mannone

Something I’ve said about Almunia for a while is that he is a very average keeper… he’ll make all the saves you expect him to… but he’ll rarely dig out  world class performance for you.

Mannone exposed big Al today… he shone. He pulled off 5-6 superb saves, he was brave coming for balls in the box and all the players went to him first when the final whistle blew after 96 minutes. Arsene Wenger sneeringly pointed out to ESPN that this was only one game (*Later reviewed)… Kevin Keegan also pointed out that he palmed quite a few into the path of oncoming players… but what the heck, he was man of the match and if Big Al had been between the sticks, we could have shipped 4.

The team performance in the first half was heavily criticised by the pundits, anyone would have thought Fulham had dominated us. Geoff and I didn’t see that game. Arsenal controlled the pace of the game without ever really troubling Fulham. It was all a bit lack lustre and certainly short of any ingenuity. Arshavin was the only one to really go close… and that was blazed over the bar. Fulham had some good chances, but Vito was equal to them.

The second half was a different kettle of fish, our game ranged from the sublime… to the downright awful. We defended very poorly and failed to take control of the game in the middle of the park. It was a real battle and certainly more nervy than it should have been.

What many people fail to take into account is that Fulham are no longer the whipping boys of the Premiership… they are a very well organised unit and if they had someone a touch more clinical up top, they’d be a real nightmare to play against.

It’s interesting to know that they had the least injuries in the league last year… they played 20 games with an unchanged team last year, pretty impressive, this article here highlights what I mentioned about Arsenal a few weeks ago. Clearly we’re not managing our players as well as we’d like to think… interesting that he speaks about keeping older players going for longer… we just ship them out because we can’t manage their fitness. Keeping players fit is a science, not good luck.

Back onto the game… Konchesky fires a poor ball forward, Song intercepts… quickly distributes it to Cesc, who powers forward… chips it into the path of RvP… who sublimely controls it… then drags his shot back across Schwarzer’s goal into the bottom corner. A superb goal, from a player struggling for goalscoring form lately.

Then began the battle… Arsenal had some chances to capitalise… Fulham had better chances to equalise. Diaby was running hot and cold, mostly cold… Song just doesn’t have the pace or will to be the long term solution to the holding role and telling me he’s amazing wont change my opinion on that (It’s the in thing to do this year, like Denilsons stat’s were flavour of the blog walk last year)… Bendtner worked hard, but his lapses of concentration are extremely frustrating… not as frustrating as Arsene Wenger taking off RvP and replacing him with Eboue. What’s with that? Is that honestly the best solution we have? Disregard the fact he went close a couple of times… if we’d lost a goal, what would that have mattered… he wasn’t clinical… anyone can come on and miss can’t they?

6 minutes of injury time played out… we had the victory. On a weekend when Chelsea dropped three hysterical points at Wigan,every other team in the top four had a piss easy game and we were playing a team that took 4 points off us last year… this was a good three points.

Player Ratings:

Mannone: Incredible performance for a keeper I really don’t rate. His kicking was spot on, he looked calmer and he made some fantastic Hollywood saves. Someone said we could make a youtube compilation of that performance and pass him off as a £10million wonder kid! I couldn’t disagree! I thought Wenger was a bit nonchalant when he passed the performance off as 1 game. We’re bastards for not appreciating Eboue as the pass master, or admiring Denilson’s invisible performances… but when a kid does a super job, it’s a one off? 9.5

Clichy: A few hairy moments, and a few too many crosses creeping in the box for my liking… but part of the clean sheet crew. 6.5

Vermaelen: Top performance from the best thing to come out of Belgium since Stella Artois (… just). It’s great to watch a defender who sees only the ball, puts his head on anything and genuinely loves defending. He is a very good player and his signing was a top bit of business. 8

Gallas: Oh bloody hell Willy… get up. No… that wasn’t a transcript of a sexual encounter I had last night, but it was a constant thought in my head every time I watch Gallas collapse in a heap… I think he was solely responsible for all 5 minutes that went on the board! He put in a good performance though… refusing to be overshadowed by the Verminator. Good to see him back to his best. 7.5

Sagna: A few good deliveries into the box from a full back notorious for bad crossing. He didn’t play out of his skin, but was adequate today. 6.5

Song: The problem with Songs game was summed up when Andy Johnson raced into the box and Song couldn’t catch up with him, briefly giving up. He doesn’t have the pace, he doesn’t have the will to sit back and defend and he doesn’t really do much else bar a few neat passes late in the game. He’ll do against Fulham, barely… but he can’t hack it against the top teams. When Robin talks about keeping his thoughts to himself on weak positions… and people want to know why Cesc looks sullen… I wonder if they are thinking about the player who rules the middle of the park?

Yes he’s improved… but don’t benchmark Song against the Song of 2 years ago… that’s like benchmarking your vocab against what it was when you were 4 years old (Probably an even match for Chris Waddle). Do what you should do, benchmark him against Petit, Gilberto or Yaya Toure… because that’s where he needs to be if we want the glory days back at Arsenal. 5

Cesc: A weak performance from a player who looks like he’s been asked to play for the ladies under 18 team. His passing was off, his shooting was woeful… but the thing with great players is they can still produce magic… which he did with a masterful chipped pass to Robin. One notable point is that his freekicks are diabolical. Cesc, if you can’t even hit the head of the defender on the front post, you know it’s time to hand over responsibility to someone else. Our club seems to be so conflict free that no one will step in… the same has to be said of Robin. How many more duff kicks do we have to witness before someone else takes responsibility? 6.5

Diaby: I picked up an amazing slab of organic beef that cost me a fortune a couple of weeks ago… I can’t cook, but my brother can. I said to him…

‘James, there is an amazing piece of beef in the fridge, you can share if you cook it’

What he presented me was as upsetting as a Diaby performance. He’d grilled it to a sinder, then tried to rescue it by moistening it with tobasco sauce. Kind of like putting out a fag burn on a friends carpet by urinating on it. Diaby’s performance was equally as disappointing as the beef. You see he has potential, but the product he is serving up is often over cooked and disappointing… give him the games Denilson gets and we might have something a bit more palatable on our hands but at the moment, he’s just a burnt lump of tobascoed leather. Here are his stats if you’re interested:

shots 0
passes 27 successful 1 unsuccessful
interceptions 5
tackles won 8 lost 6
clearances successful 3 unsuccessful 0
blocks 0
free kicks won 1 conceded 3

Source Guardian chalkboard

Shows you how useful stats are (Song completed 45 passes in a less advanced position), where is the one for losing the ball because you refuse to release in under 10 seconds? 4

Bendtner: Put Andre the giant on an ice rink and ask him to figure skate, don’t expect tens all round. Why put Bendtner out wide and expect him to devastate full backs and wow us with pace and trickery? It’s ridiculous and surely a hindrance on his game? He knows he’s doing a bad job out wide and he knows the fans think he is… great way to build a player up. Surely we have better options than Nik out wide? No wonder we struggle for ideas when we put the the wrong players into alien systems…

ROUND PEGS FOR ROUND HOLES ARSENE!

A good defensive performance… and considering he is a centre forward, he made the best of a unnatural position by causing a few problems and drawing a good save out of Schwarzer. I wonder how he feels when Eboue comes onto play in the middle up front instead of Wenger asking him to move over? 7

Arshavin: Mr Invisible again… he has a few bright sparks… literally about 3. He doesn’t fit our plan, or people don’t like giving him the ball. When you have a talent as explosive as this little rocket, why wouldn’t you try and base your game around him? Why sign the 5th best player in the world and play him in a position he doesn’t like? He’s 28… not 19… he’s too far gone to change him. 6

Robin: Before the goal I said to Geoff, ‘Doesn’t Robin fall down easily?’, Geoff replied, ‘He doesn’t fall down, he glides down’. It’s true, he tumbles in slow motion! I didn’t think it was his best game and I personally believe that he should be played out wide and asked to play the role he used to play for Holland. I’m glad he bagged a goal this week and proved his value is more than just an assister… he is a top player and he is Mr Arsenal for me… good to hear him say he might stay forever as well! 8.5

Conclusion:

A well ground out result (<– So, so cliché!) and a superb performance from the keeper… but it was a struggle. How many times do we talk about grinding out results… when does it become just getting lucky? When do the amazing performance come in to act as the counter balance for playing vastly short of our potential?

If we’re in this competition to win it this year, we need to start addressing player positions and we need to start defending with a bit more confidence because against top quality striker renowned for more than having the most shots without a goal… we’ll get exposed.

If Diaby isn’t cutting it… stick Rambo in there… if Cesc is playing poorly, give Arshavin a go in the middle… and if you have Wilshere \ Vela at your disposal and you think Nik B is the best option… make the right decision and go and see a doctor.

You see, if players like Rambo, Wilshere and Vela aren’t ready this year… our squad has false depth… because they aren’t really available are they? All this guff should have been addressed in the summer shouldn’t it?

3 points are in the bag, which is a good thing… however, just focusing on the outcome would be foolish.

We move swiftly onto the Champions League, then Blackburn shit kickers at home.

Joy.

Happy Sunday Grovers!

P.S. Glad to see our players exploited Hangeland’s rumoured lack of pace (I’m sooo being sarcastic).

449 Comments | Match report | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Pedro

To dream the impossible dream! 4 nil the Arsenal.

September 26, 2009

Ok away to Fulham today and we should expect nothing other than a win. I hope Theo will return and that should see Eboue off, I hope Rosicky returns and Arshavin will be back up top with either Robin, Eduardo or Bendtner.

Tough to guess what he’ll do today but a front line of Robin, Eduardo and Arshavin looks unlikely given the height of Hangeland, but it would be exciting wouldn’t it, the first time all season we have all of our preferred starters, available to start!

The back four picks itself, though I would like to see Wolf boy in goal, I though he looked good against West Brom and less edgy than Mannone.

In midfield I would go for Cesc, flanked by Rosicky and Theo and leave out Denilson (if fit) Diaby and Song, but I know he won’t!

And up front I would go Arshavin, Eduardo and Robin, in that order, if not then Arshavin, Bendtner and Robin, in that order.

I would like to see us keep the ball on the ground and take them apart with our beautiful football, dazzle them with our intricate patterns, then let Arshavin slam the door shut, I hope we go out there and pick a team of stars, and if we need to bring on the stoppers that lose possession in key areas, let’s wait until the pretty boys put us four up.

Well Grovers, that was the point I woke up this morning, but it was a sweet, sweet dream, I wanted to share that with you, you never know, it’s his team and he chose to buy them all, maybe, just maybe we’ll see that Arsenal of old that said if you score 4, then we’ll score five.

I think I’ve written a post than no-one can possible get upset about, I am choosing every one at some point. I even mention Eboue, who I thought had a great game against Wigan, but no end product, and please, don’t tell me he scored.

Get yourselves tuned into ESPN at 5.15 tonight or get yourselves to the Cottage, either way, have a great day.

PS, it’s wasn’t a prediction, dreams don’t count!

1,206 Comments | New Review | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Geoff

Highbury Square opens and is back on track, says Gazidas. So we say, told you so.

September 25, 2009

Well there’s a surprise, I think if you’ve been reading our posts you will have seen that we have always said the development will never hold us back, how could it? Here are a few plus points about Highbury Square, in case you didn’t already know!

1) 3 stops from Kings Cross and central London, the Eurostar and of course, the gateway to the North.

2) Highbury, one of London’s most fashionable addresses, similar to Primrose Hill

3) Luxury flats with their own gardens and Porterage

4) 30 seconds from the Piccadilly line

5) Next door to the new old Arsenal stadium

5) Formerly the Arsenal stadium

6) 2 miles from my office and flat.

We said that even in a property slump these flats would sell, indeed many already have, Wenger bought one with a weeks wages and many ex players did too.

If they didn’t sell, then they could rent them out and wait, by the time they do sell, we’ll get much, much more and be even richer. I think we have to be close to getting rid of the debt from various deals, but with Highbury Square now moving, at least we can see the end of it and stop saying we are skint. We can at last move on, and with the excuse the boss now has about home grown players, we can now go and buy a few that will be available, starting with Boltons Cahill at Christmas.

The Metro today claims that the League cup is back in fashion and that only Arsenal of the big 6 teams this season fielded a youth team, they said that even Liverpool had Torres on the bench and used Gerrard amongst other first teamers, and warned us if we didn’t add a bit of experience, our days would be numbered, …that was our yesterday’s story, I guess Metro read Le Grove as well!

The boss seems to have been accused of tapping up Numbchucks, he told the world he was looking at him before he spoke to their chairman, either way, rightly or wrongly, the player can’t stay now can he? Wenger has cleverly told the boy he still wants him, and their chairman has said he’s pissed off, so watch this space I think.

I agree with our manager that we do indeed have a fantastic squad, and on paper can beat anyone, trouble is Arsene, how many games in the season will you have them all to choose from? My guess is never, still, let’s see how we get on at the weekend, Hangeland with have a point to prove, but then so will Dennis Vermaelen, I know who I’m backing.

Finally I read that Mr Wenger used to run a pub when he was 8, sorry, he used to live in a pub, that would explain two of the players we have then! Just kidding!!!

Have a happy Friday Grovers, tomorrow we get to see our beloved Arsenal again!

383 Comments | New Review | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Geoff

Carling Cup and Arsenal, what’s the point? It’s like China invading Tibet.

September 24, 2009

Maybe a poor analogy but you just know Tibet will never win that one, why? Because they don’t have the experienced players and they aren’t big enough.

Okay, so now the euphoria of beating West Brom with our kids is over, I need to ask a few questions, this is not rubbishing their efforts because although they were down to 10 men early, I think we would have beaten them by more had they had 11 men, as the Mancs proved last night, having 10 is not always a hinderence, West Brom did pack their defence.

I LOVED THE GAME AND THOUGHT THE KIDS WERE ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC, I REALLY, REALLY DID!

Anyway, look at the teams that got through, Man Shitty, the spuds, the chavs, the scousers and the Mancs and even the Mancs played with a fair few first teamers in a young experienced side, Brown, Neville, Carrick, Evans and Nani.

You see these teams enter competitions to win them, we enter them to blood youngsters, thing is if they get smashed 4 nil by Shitty in the next round, what have they learned?

Arsene told us that many players in the Wigan game played Carling Cup football, so my question is, and what’s your point? Many played in the Carling Cup that are no longer at Arsenal. Not sure we need the Carling Cup to see that Bischoff wasn’t good enough. Ha we played the beast in it against the scousers away, he scores 4 and we still get rid of him.

What benefit did Nikki B get from crashing out of the semi’s to the spuds, save maybe a headbutt from the Togo twat? What benefit did Diaby get from losing in the final against the Chavs, save the pleasure of kicking John Terry in the head, some may even say he’s gone backwards since.

My whole point here is we know the kids could win this, but only if they miss all the above teams, apart from Ramsey, who in that West Brom team gets regular first team football?

If we go out in the next round, or the round after, what do we the fans get out of it? We get to see the inevitable that’s what, we get to see us lose at some point.

Maybe if the boss mixed it up a bit, like the Mancs do, maybe we don’t need to play a whole team of kids, maybe we can see that Senderos will never make it by now, and let him go, maybe we should be trying to field a team we believe can win instead of just trying to prove a point about youth and not spending.

Gazidas gave us all the bad news yesterday that buying new players was a last resort, great, we sure do have a lot to look forward to then, my goodness, what a way to run a football team.

I see talented players like Wilshere and Vela and cannot work out why we persist with Diaby, Bendtner and Eboue on the wings, even Gibbs or Traore have to be better options out wide.

Nikki B is a straight front man, I don’t blame him, RVP is a world class wide man for Holland, why does he never go out wide? I understand that we use the Carling Cup to bring on the youngsters, my question is, why then do we not play them when they do prove themselves?

I’m not saying kill the talent and don’t play the kids, I’m just saying mix it up a bit, he should be playing Diaby, Song and Eboue in the Carling Cup team.

last word goes to Ivan, Ivan get out there and renegotiate the shocking sponsorship deals Edelman did, we told Arsenal at the time how bad they were, that’s what you should be doing, not telling us buying great players is the wrong way to go. As for not buying in the best talent around, well financially that makes more sense thay paying average youngsters huge sums until they get better, if they get better, common sense should tell you that’s a false economy.

Like paying someone like Denilson the sums you have over a 4 year period, add it up, then ask yourself how he can change a game. Then put that against buying a ready made player, like Arshavin, work out what he costs to hit the ground running, then ask yourself how he can influence a result, then do the math.

Here are some examples, Pires, Bergkamp, Henry, Campbell, Wright and even Keown (yes I know we had him before he went to Villa) even Rosicky and Hleb to a certain extent. I really could go on.

Having a huge squad of kids on massive wages doesn’t make as much sense as having half a dozen world class players on the same, at least we could compete more often.

If you need help with that email me, I’ll explain, I’m in the real world of business where if I make a bad decision I’m on the rock and roll.

On that note, I’ll rest my case.

Have a great day grovers, it wasn’t a moan, it was more a question, all I want to see my team do is something they have a chance of success in.

499 Comments | New Review | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Geoff

Do Watt you mug? Watt: the shining light! Watt’s red, white and in the next round?

September 23, 2009

Sorry people, there are too many puns to get out there… you never know when you’ll get another chance when it’s the youth team. I can’t wait for Jet and Tom Cruise to get on the score sheet… the good times will truly roll when that happens!

So, I didn’t manage to find a stream, and due to work… I couldn’t get down to the ground with 56,000 other fans. It sounds like I missed a hard fought battle that we deservedly won in the end.

We all love to win Cups, and we’d all love to get our hands on the Carling Cup, but at the expense of the kids? Well… I’m not so sure… I reckon I’d only deviate from that position if it was the final. For most Gooners, Carling Cup day is one of the calender favourites… it’s like Academy open day… and today proved why we all love it. Sanchez Watt, Giles Sunu and Coquelin were all pretty new additions to the starting line up and all more than held there own against a very solid WBA.

Silvestre proved that he is still a rock in defence with a solid performance. Kerrea Gilbert proved he is more stubborn than mildew… we can’t give the bastard away! Oh, and Carlos Vela proved his worth once again, coming on to brighten things up in an attacking sense contributing to the 2-0 victory.

Chezney sounded like he put in a fabulous performance between the sticks with Wenger intimating that his performance was so good, he may consider him this weekend. Jerome Thomas proved why he now dons the colours of a team in the Championship with a bizarre slap on Jack Wilshere… what a plank. Wenger was asked in his press conference whether Wilshere had said anything to provoke Thomas to which he replied,

‘My eyes are bad, but my ears are even worse’

Pretty amusing stuff!

Sanchez Watt opened the scoring late on after Dean Kiely spilled a low Carlos Vela shot. It was good to see our all American rap superstar land himself on the score sheet… I think he has a lot of potential and he is certainly a more exciting English prospect than Jerome Thomas ever was.

Randall came on to much derision in the comments, only to make a mockery of them with a delightful chipped assist for Carlos (Via the cross bar of course). I don’t understand the anger towards him, is it because he is English and has a side parting… you dirty racists! Just kidding of course, who could not delight in that side parting…?

Even big Phil seemed to have a good game, going close for his first of the season on numerous occasions! Big Phil starts this season with a clean slate from me… I’m not a fan… he has potential, he teases us… then a big game arrives and it all goes to pot. However, for the sake of his confidence (if anyone reads the blogs it’s him), I am backing him for greatness!

So, through to the next round… where we might get some access to a feed. Carlos Vela for the first team anyone? For the love of God, what does the boy have to do to get a sniff!

Well, getting fit would be the first thing… Wenger said he isn’t ready for the Premiership yet… he also said that Theo is a wideman this year… so bad luck Theo!

Overall a very pleasing evening, good performances from all the kids and well ground out result. Keep them firmly crossed for a nice draw in the next round… because I think that team would struggle against a top ten team.

See you in the comments!

P.S. Wasn’t the commentary rubbish? I really don’t care if there isn’t an Arab version of the Arsenal website and I definitely don’t need to be told 50 times that the game will be shown in full, at 2200 (Because it wasn’t! See the goals here).

412 Comments | Match report | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Pedro

Is Arsene saying project youth needs a look see?

September 22, 2009

I was reading with interest our leaders’ comments regarding former youth team starlet Philipe Senderos.

Arsene says that 24 is very young for a centre back and the next 10 years ought to be the best of his career. Now that’s what I’ve been saying for years, that centre backs only come of age in their late twenties, rarely does a Tony Adams come along, look at the ages of Ferdinand, Terry and Carragher, look at our famous back four then there’s Keown and David O’Leary.

Project youth is a great idea if they are good enough to play in the team when they are young like Adams and Cesc, if you look at our team right now and put out our best 11 we have a fair few older players, Gallas, Almunia, Rosicky, Arshavin and even Robin Van Persie has turned 25, so he can hardly be classed as a youth player.

So maybe, just maybe, Arsene is saying he is having a little look at his project, I hope so because our best players are not necessarily the youngest ones.

In the next crop of kids we have we have some real stand out players, players that I think will make it, Ramsey, Wilshere, Gibbs, Vela, Coquelin and Watt, so maybe with Senderos in there as one of the veterans we will have a team that is both young and talented but with a older player in there that needs to prove himself.

Can’t see the point of Silvestre though, I can’t see why we need a player of his age when the idea is to blood young players, I see that as, I bought him so I’ll play him.

However, I am looking forward to the game tonight and believe that maybe this will be our route to glory this year, but don’t forget the top teams will not be fielding young boys, so if we can avoid them, we should do okay, we do though have to beat West Brom first and that should be easy enough, we are at home and the support should be noisy.

Boys we need you to show us why you are so rated by your boss and give us something to look forward to. So good luck the youth team.

Have a great day Grovers, tonight we begin the road to silverware!

857 Comments | New Review | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Geoff

Arsenal closing in on the top 4 and the Carling Cup.

September 21, 2009

Ok, so shame that the Mancs and chavs won but at least the spuds and Man shitty lost, so we are getting closer to the top 4.

Watching united play until they scored was really funny, Hughes has taken over from Maureen as the manager I hate most, so I did enjoy watching them lose, how the hell Eduardo gets singled out and Drogba doesn’t though is beyond me, perhaps diving is what they work on in the Ivory Coast, they are very good at it.

We played such pretty football against Wigan, let’s hope we see more of Ramsey and Rosicky this season, tomorrow we see the kids, given they won the youth cup last season they ought to win the Carling cup, I expect to see a much younger team than in previous years, so don’t be surprised if we win it, or conversely, if we go out to West Brom.

Let’s spend today deciding our Carling Cup team, I want to see Merida, Coquelin, Bartley and Watt feature because I think they are good enough to play in the first team, what do you think?

Sorry it’s a short post today, Pedro thought I was writing and I thought he was!

Silly billies! Have a great day Grovers and see you on the blog.

368 Comments | New Review | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Geoff

« Previous Entries
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 553 other followers