Le Grove – Arsenal blog featuring Arsenal news

I just read with horror that the way we treated Adebayor at the end of his Arsenal career has scarred him for life, and now he’s at City, they sing his name and he feels love again. Mad as a bag of snakes!

You bastards, what did you do in those games I wasn’t there? I personally hoped at times his fat head would explode and bits of grey matter would find there way to my seats, unfortunately there was no grey matter in his head, so nothing reached me. However, because I thought that someone who just had his wages trebled and flirted with Barca and Milan was an evil greedy disgusting excuse for a human being, and should no longer wear the Arsenal shirt, I will give myself up to the thought police and ask for a life long ban.

Arsene said that his prodigy wasn’t motivated by money, so it must be our fault he left, I’m sorry Ade, I’m also sorry for all those sad bastards that used your name on blogs, not sure wether they will now follow Man City or maybe they’ll change their names to Big Phil or something, however I wish them luck at their new clubs.

It was sad to see the girls go down last night, I think they had a poor keeper, but at least they got to a final eh! Never thought I’d be sad to see girls going down but life goes on.

I’m really up for this one tomorrow and hope that Cesc and Rosicky play, if they turned out for their countries they can turn out for us, and against an ‘up for it City’ we need to be at our best, let’s hope that Gallas and Bendtner settle a few old scores, I fancy them both to prove a big point.

I hope that if Song and Denilson both play, they go out and prove me wrong, I hope they shut everything that comes out of their midfield down quickly and hard, because their midfield done us at the Eastlands last season, that’s where the battle will be won I think.

At least City will come out to play and we all know what we can do when that happens, Ok so we don’t have Arshavin, but we have to move on, it was his choice, we can’t blame Hiddink for wanting him anymore than we can blame Arsene, he’s a great player, it’s up to Eduardo or Rosicky to step up.

I have a funny feeling Diaby may play in a more forward role, I wouldn’t be upset because he is an awkward sod like Ade was, but he knows the offside rule and he’ll want to pay us back for the ManU mistake. All we need to do to stop them ticking is stop them controlling the middle, and using their wingers, Robinho and SWP can damage any team, but then we aren’t just any team are we? We are the Arsenal and this game needs to be won.

Time to pay Wenger back boys, this game is a big, big benchmark. I think can win, I think we’ll have to win and I think the boys will prove how good they are tomorrow. Regardless of their average age being 23.9!

Finally a quick word on the flats that either have or haven’t been sold in the Highbury Square project. And the £350 million loan. Isn’t that why we have all these loans in place? All they have to do is pay off the interest each year, which they can do with ease, then sell them when the market picks up for even more than they planned, and as sure as eggs are eggs it will, and they will.

Anyway, Ivan told us this year the Highbury Square project was separate and ring fenced, or was that another porky to add to yesterdays list of Arsenal fibs.

They can’t have it both ways, or can they??? It seems to me that in the 4 years we’ve been at the Grove, we’ve spent nothing, earned loads, but still have the same amount of debt, now I’m no economist like Mr Wenger, but isn’t that impossible?

Have a great day today Grovers, one more day of boredom and the season really begins.

Hey when I was a kid, I was economical with the truth all the time, at least that’s what I called it, but I don’t expect it from the club I support and love.

Let me first explain that before I renewed my season tickets yet again, I wanted to be sure that the boss would be buying some much needed talent and that me like all the other season ticket holders would not be funding project youth again for yet another year, Arsene made all the right noises about how he needs to strengthen and that two or three players would be coming in. Great, at last!

People have often said why would Arsenal lie, the fact that we pay the most in world football for our tickets should at least guarantee us a few signings but no, every season we seem to sell more than we buy, but this season would be different, the boss said NO-ONE WOULD BE LEAVING and we would be buying, he said that not me.

Arsenal said there was a waiting list for tickets and that Club level was to be capped at a 1,000. So the inference is, hurry up boys or we’ll give them to someone else. In fact they said this…

…Be first in line for Club Level seats in Season 2009/2010
The Club Level Waiting List capped at 1,000 members to ensure that as many Waiting List members as possible are given the opportunity to purchase season tickets for the following season.

So you know what? With the promise of not selling, and the statement of buying in areas we need strengthening, I renewed, as did many others.

Hey, and guess what? This week I received a letter from Arsenal, from Russell Bodycomb, head of hospitality, that a small number of Club level tickets have been released and if I bought one or introduced a friend, they would give me a FREE meal in the buffet for each ticket sold. Wow, a FREE meal!

So what about the waiting list then? It would also explain the huge amount of empty seats I see at the ground, it’s not just club level, it’s all over, yet again another great example of Arsenal and the economy with the truth. Get us to sign up and then spend nothing.

Please don’t tell me we bought Vermaelen, he was out of the so called £13 million budget for transfers, Arshavin was out of last seasons Hleb money and since then we sold Kolo and Adebayor.

Arsene said he would only buy if the player he bought was better than what we have, so in that case, by definition, we must have the best players in the world then.

Enough said, I just wanted to share that latest little fib with you all.

Yes I know we have had a great start, but one swallow doesn’t make a summer, and yes 4-3-3 is proving a big hit, so why didn’t he think of that one last year, we had over 60 games to try it.

Anyway I move on, I mentioned Faye White yesterday and saying how she broke her jaw against Holland, my mistake, it was against Finland, however the final starts tonight against Germany at 5pm on BBC2, the Germans have already booked their winners party, I hope you all join me in watching and cheering the girls on to victory.

Cesc scored yesterday and Andre had a blinder, no one from Arsenal played for England so I have no idea what happened in that game, save Eduardo scored, but Robin had a nice little square up with manc thug Darren Fletcher, he was probably telling him he wasn’t going to South Africa, ha, ha! Justice for our little Croatian done in Scotland.

Tomas Rosicky joined us in 2006, since he joined he has played a massive 44 games for us, that’s 5 less than Denilson played last season, however you’ll be pleased to know Tomas managed to play an hour for the Czech national side last night in their game against San Marino, now I expect to see Tomas affording the club that have paid his wages for the last 3 years the same respect. I expect to see Tomas starting against Man City.

That’s about it today, not a bitch fest, but just another example of the fans being deceived by the club we all love, but we’ll keep paying because it’s our team, it’s just a shame they feel the need to keep having us over. Remember last season? We just asked for clarity and honesty, ho, hum.

Have a great day Grovers, I’m in and out and Pedro’s off to some concert, so if you’re new please be patient, I’ll get to you, I promise.

Ok I thought I’d start today with some great news for England, no I don’t mean the Croatia game tonight, I can’t be arsed to watch a team that brings Beckham on for 45 second cap cameos, I mean the women, on Thursday we play Germany in the final of the ladies Euro 09. After an unfortunate start against Italy when we were down to 10 ladies, the girls have fought back valiantly and by beating Holland in the semis, they play Germany in the final, imagine, the old enemy in the final.

Ladies captain Faye White had her jaw broken and dislocated in a clash against the said Dutch, ouch, I saw the game and it was a real wack, so what does she do? She has a mask made and says she is going to lead England out, what a star, did she make the headlines in the national press today, you know like David Beckham did in Japan when he unveiled his new haircut? No, okay then did she at least make Arsenal.com? Er, no, Robin got that for talking about his favourite children’s book.

Can you imagine if it had been one of our first team (Eduardo excluded) they would have had a year off, never mind play in the next game, so Faye, I salute you, I’ll be watching on Thursday at 4.30 on BBC2 and I’ll be cheering you on.

Personally I think you’re better than Fish head and would have you in the men’s team, but that’s not my call. Good luck to the girls.

Other news is Arshavin faces Wenger’s wrath by playing for Russia tonight. Why? Blimey, I think Wenger should be more pissed off with Cesc, who missed our last game injured, yet played for Spain and Rosicky, who’s missed the last 2 years and goes off with the Czech Republic before he plays for us, good luck tonight Andre, I hope you score.

Finally, someone posted a funny clip yesterday of honest granny shagger Rooney’s greatest dives, all Wenger needs to do is put that in his bag, add it to Pedro’s dive watch and take it to the UEFA hearing and ask for those players to also get retrospective bans. Conning the ref was the charge, not diving, that also goes for corners, fake injuries, throw ons and free kicks, I bet you could get 100 examples a week in the Premier league alone, and that my friends is how Gazidas should approach it, not with lawyers, go in with a compilation and ask how many players will you ban now please.

To make sure you get your point across, get rid of your silly fake American accent and use a Scottish one, that seems to work on Platini.

Finally, Hughes has made Arsenal reject Kolo Toure captain, sucker! I always loved Kolo so I hope the travelling fans give him a big round of applause, but I hope they boo Ade for the whole game.

Have a great day Grovers.

Morning Grovers! So a weekend where I managed to avoid the chore of international football… well, bar the Wayne Rooney incident. I find it amazing that so many people are surprised the English media don’t report heavily on diving incidents committed by our own players… well people, let me enlighten you…

Slagging your own off doesn’t sell papers

It’s not racism or xenophobia… it’s marketing.

Graham Poll makes a weak point about Rooney… ‘don’t label him a diver before a World Cup because refs might take that into account when making a decision’… is the jist of his article. Graham, you’ve got to nail the problem at the root cause… don’t dive and people wont label.

So more injury disasters for JD… he’s out for six months after complaining of a knee injury last month. I’m a bit shocked that we didn’t sign an emergency defender before the window closed becasue I’m sure our medical staff were aware of the ramifications if the Swiss centre back was lost to a cartilage operation. We’re now in a situation where if we lose one of our main men, we’re looking at pulling a player out of a position he’s doing well in, to play him in a position we have no idea how well he’ll do in. Or alternatively, sticking Senderos or Silvestre in as back up… not title contending options really.

In other news, Arsene Wenger has expressed his admiration for Ballotelli… the extremely talented Italian youngster. He has had attitude problems at Inter Milan and nearly went on loan to West Ham for the season… maybe there will be a bid launched at some time in the future if he doesn’t settle in under Jose. Arsene seems to specialise in calming players with a poor attitude to the game.

I was reading about Chavski’s failing youth set up yesterday on the train. They’ve spent something in the region of £62million in the last few season luring top talent from around the world in the hope they can produce a John Terry type player… can you believe that sum? Spending that much money defeats the object of a youth set up for me. I reckon if you spent that much money buying players from the championship you’d have more luck unearthing a gem. I do wonder why Arsenal never look down there for players… Shawcross, Turner and Lescott have all done pretty well in the Premiership and all cost minimal money in fees. Sometimes I think we miss a trick…

Before I go, a story which received minimal coverage last week was the one about Usmanov being very near a full take over of the club. Who takes over the club bothers me little… no one made a billion being a nice guy and no one takes over a club with a view to destroying it. The only way you make a return on £400million is by maximising revenue… the only way to do that in football is by making your club the most successful one… interesting times ahead I feel!

Anyway… have a great Monday, see you in the comments!

So Eduardo was banned by UEFA for deceiving the referee and winning a penalty, not for diving, which incidentally he didn’t do, he went down, however deceiving the ref means conning the ref and getting a penalty for something that clearly wasn’t.

We said it was a minefield, a bag of worms, a Pandoras box. Would they listen? Would they fuck.

So here we are one week on and up steps granny shagger and dim witted scouser turned manc, one Wayne Rooney. Into the box, loses the ball, kicks Cesar so hard that Cesar will miss the next game, goes down untouched, put his arms up in the air in appeal (Eduardo did not) and wins a penalty, then gets up and smiles at fat Frank who although looking sheepish, scores.

Agreed by the commentary team and the national press that it was never in a million years a penalty, so what now? Over to you Mr Platini, that was deceiving the referee if I ever saw it, he fouled the player, went down without being touched, appealed for and got awarded a penalty, clear cut, now lets see what happens.

A clean cut foreigner, who leads a wholesome life and is faithful to he wife or a fat, uncouth, granny shagging, ASBO owning, ugly, bald, inarticulate, scouse prick, mmm I wonder.

Did someone say Eduardo wasn’t English???

See where me and UEFA are going with that one? Ivan, get your pen out, take notes and go and see Platini with this post, earn your money.

Other news is this, Djourou is out injured for 6 months, so does this look like we have another Ledley King on our hands? he has been injured since he joined, is it Arsenals training methods? And why on earth did the manager not buy a replacement, we needed another centre back anyway, we need two now, Senderos won’t be it as Wenger has twice now tried to sell him, well let’s just hope we don’t have Gallas or Vermaelen get injured now, Kolo and Djourou out leaves only fish head as cover and that’s a worry.

Of course you can’t count Song as he appears to be the world class defensive midfielder you all wanted, so unless one of the kids step up, we are in deep shit.

Don’t forget, 6 months means next March, which means at least April until you see him play again, which is the whole season and by then Bartley and Nordveit will step up and save us money.

The Freddie story is complete bollocks, he was going down hill at West Ham, has been a crock for the last 4 years, so where that rumour came from is beyond me, the Paddy story got me a little damp, but that one, peeeerlease!

The impressive news is that Le Grove is 2 years old today, some say we are the anti-site, some swear by us, either way we are here to stay until you don’t want us any more, but with over 5,000,000 hits and 400,000 comments so far, we think we’ll be around for a bit longer.

40% growth in a recession is impressive by anyone’s standards, all down to you people, so thanks for blogging, this could be the year we finally land the Champions league, the Premiership, the FA Cup and yes, the Carling Cup and the one I personally want the most.

It seems all our boys came through the first round of internationals in good shape, let’s keep them crossed that the same thing happens on Wednesday, barely into September and we have this many injuries, still Arsene knows and I’m sure he has that covered, after all if he didn’t, he would have bought someone right?

Have a great Sunday Grovers, tomorrow is the beginning of the week where we show that greedy bastard Adebayor why we sold him, and he’ll show the City fans why we all laughed when we did!

So you all know how very, very disappointed I was that after selling two of our senior players to our nearest rivals we didn’t replace them, how anyone thinks that the players we have have improved that much from last year is beyond me, a little bit of ‘someone knows’ and ‘trust in someone’ I think springs to mind, but no matter, it’s too late now, and now is the time to get behind the team and start to believe.

We have 35 games left and the next one up is Man City, the team that helped pay off our loan, got Gazidas some new mates at senior level and gave our young boys a well deserved pay rise, look what they achieved last year, they deserved it.

Anyway to the point of this post, I have always maintained that this team is 2 or 3 players away from greatness, nay, domination, and by saying that I also mean we have 2 or 3 players in the squad that in my estimation are not good enough, yet. So if we are going to stick with what we have, let’s at least persevere with the best ones.

If anyone saw the Aaron Ramsey goal last night they would be licking their lips, this kid has it all, look at his interview on Arsenal online, he can play in the hole, attacking midfield or just in front of the back four, this kid is better than the three players that are getting regular playing time.

Then look at Wilshere, he is the little spark this team could do with bringing on, sitting on the bench week in week out won’t improve his game, that’s why we sold Hartson, because he was putting on weight on the bench, Arsene if you don’t want to play him, stick him back in the reserves, at least he can improve and build up.

So there you have it, I think we have the players alright, just not the players we seem to be playing.

I won’t name names, you all know what I mean, but Eboue in midfield is just a joke, he is a class act at right back, but midfield, please, don’t insult those on the bench.

I know that once we have Nasri, Rosicky, Cesc and Walcott back we will be a super, super team and could very easily win the jackpot, but the chances of keeping that lot fit are slim, so if you want to blood young players, blood the ones with talent, blood the ones that can make a difference, Ramsey would be in my starting line up over the other 3 all day long.

Diaby I think can be a great player, he has started well and apart from the own goal I wouldn’t fault him too much, why he didn’t leave it if Almunia called is a mystery, but how Almunia thought he could get to it was also a mystery.

Anyway, I’m not bitching (for those out there who think I am) I’m saying, we are stuck with what we have, so until we get the big guns back, let’s try out some of those young ones with vast amounts of talent.

Have a great weekend, if you like international friendlies you’ll be in heaven, still the ladies were starting to look good, I think they are in action, maybe I’ll have me a look.

Ok Let’s start with the ‘Eduardo dive’ – Well I have watched that 50 odd times and he simply didn’t dive, he went down with the momentum of his run, look again his body didn’t go up an inch, unlike Rooney’s last week and his face said it all, you clipped me and I went down, Okay, it wasn’t a penalty, but it wasn’t cheating either.

Now if that is what UEFA consider cheating and because of the Scottish influence on their committee, and anyone caught cheating will be retrospectively banned, tell me, where does that end? Because as far as I’m concerned if you kill one person, you are as much a murderer as if you kill 280.

If you cheat at golf you are a cheat, you can’t cheat a little bit, cheating is cheating, Eboue is a cheat, Eduardo played the game, get in the box and if you’re clipped, it’s a penalty, what are they going to do, give us the world cup we should have won in 1986? I spent a fortune going to Mexico and Maradona cheated England out of it and I ended up watching West Germany play the dirty Argies in the final, do I get my money back?

What pisses me off is when you see players getting throw ons that they knew weren’t theirs, do they care? Is that not cheating? Ban them then, what about when players get a throw on and nick 30 yards and take the throw on further up the pitch, isn’t that cheating? Ban them then, what about when players like Ronaldo go down clutching their leg in agony, rolling around in pain, getting straight up and scoring, like when he got that free kick against us in the ECL semi final and then scored, isn’t that cheating? Course it is. Ban him then.

See my point, you either cheat or you don’t, you can’t half cheat, ban one, ban them all.

As for the Wenger abuse at Old Trafford, I saw at least 50 Manc arseholes screaming abuse and pointing at him, the whole world did and those fuckwits were all in the posh seats, Gill sling everyone of those dirty bastards out now, you can see who they are.

I went to the first Emirates cup match, there was a big green flag with Libya written on it hanging over the stand above me, I complained and got kicked out, for what exactly? I said I objected to a terrorist flag and was told I can’t say that, so what are you saying Gill, Paedo chants are Ok at Old Trafford?

Finally onto the chavs, they seem to think they have been picked on and singled out, they are having a laugh surely! In Russia if you have money, you can do what you want, there are no rules, since Abromovich has been in town they have continually broken the tapping up rules, they started with Cashley, got their wrist slapped and then stuck two fingers up.

They felt they could do it whenever they wanted, that their bent money put them above the law, they even got pissed off when someone came along with more money and tried to buy Terry, well now they’ve been tumbled, now they can’t buy anymore titles, now they have been hoisted by their own petards.

Justice has been done.

Finally, now Wenger has spent our entire transfer budget on extra wages for the whole team instead of buying new players I hope to hell we win the league, because had we bought 2 world class players instead of improving the contracts of some pretty ordinary players, we sure as hell would have. That’s all I’m saying on that. And before anyone wants to remind me we almost beat the Mancs with a team that had an average age of 7, we didn’t, we lost again.

I really like Rosicky, I really do, but if he had a hair on his arse and any consideration to us the fans, who have stood by him through 2 years of injury, he would have declined joining up with the Czech team this week. Shame on you Tomas.

Have a great day Grovers only 8 days to go to find out if selling Ade and Kolo to improve Eboue and Denilson’s contracts was an inspired move.