As MI5 would say, there is an awful lot of chatter going on in blogland!

April 30, 2010

Before I begin, let me dash all the hopes of Gooners everywhere, after the ‘I am going to buy’ porkies told by Arsenal, well now we’ve renewed our season tickets, the truth comes out, this is what he just said. ‘I believe in the squad I have and if I can make an addition – two or three maximum – then we will do it’ he also said ‘we will announce one player (Chamakh) before the World Cup, but after that we will see’

Well after all the hope he filled us with at the beginning of the week, and saying he would do all his buying early so the squad can settle in, leading us to believe maybe he would finally get in the players we need, he’s now priming us not to expect many new signings.

He normally waits a few weeks before he contradicts himself, even by his standards this is quick. It’s groundhog day!

Why don’t we help him, hopefully someone at Arsenal will read this, listen to the fans, we pay your wages.

Let’s draw up a shortlist to make it easier for Mr Wenger, let’s not make the same mistakes of the last few years, let’s make a statement that Arsenal football club intend to win some trophies next season.

The number one thing for me is to get a side that has a future, or one that will help develop this team for the future, and also one that will finally deliver and now, in the present. Stop all this I believe in this team cobblers, and stop telling us they have great mental strength, they don’t Arsene, remember Wigan?

I would always try and get an anglo spine in there as the one thing I feel we are good at in Great britain is building from the back, Jack Wilshere says we have many technically gifted youngsters coming through so we are good in that department, some of the fancy dan foreign players for me go missing when it gets tough, so I would look at the following players to bring in. (and don’t quote Theo, he will come good)

Numero Uno, the keeper, forget the rest, go for Englands future number 1, Joe hart, we missed out on Given, so let’s go for the future, he has presence, size and ability. I like him a lot.

At the back I would look at Richards, he’s available, he’s a Gooner, he’s a great right back with pace and he could also make an awesome partnership with Vermaelen in the centre, if not him then Cahill or Subotic, or both.

In the middle we are Ok save the defensive side, I would love Rodwell, but I can’t see us getting him, he would cost too much, so maybe a Velosa, not Melo for me. The future could be Eastmond but he’s not ready yet. Song needs competition and as I have always said, we need two teams, Denilson though has to go.

Up front I think we need to get shot of Eduardo, he hasn’t got what he had, so let’s move on, it’s a shame because I love him, but we have to think about the future, so bring in Villa, or even a cheeky bid for Benzema.

With that little lot we would have experience and youth and the youngsters could come through in time, when they’re ready, bring Wilshere back and give him the chances that Eboue, Diaby, Denilson, Song and Flamini were afforded.

We have Chamakh coming and that is a good thing, but he needs service so maybe a winger, an out an out winger, not a forward or a midfielder. And I don’t have a clue who, perhaps you do?

That little lot would be within the budget if we used the City money, sold a few and spent the new money Wenger keeps banging on about having.

We do not need another lot of potential, we have that in spades, our defence leaks goals and that is down to the keeper and lack of confidence in the keeper, arch AKB Bob Wilson is even saying the duo we have, haven’t got what it takes, and he not only works for Arsenal, he works with those two as well.

I like all of our players, but like in business, you have to be honest with yourself and know when it’s time to move some of them on, we can’t keep throwing away the cups and the EPL, because the fans deserve better.

So in an ideal world I would sign Hart, Richards, Subotic, Rodwell and Villa. I would have said Hangeland but his stats this season are not so great and the boss believes in stats.

We only have two more games to go, but I can’t see us losing 3rd place even if we don’t win those games, because I don’t believe City and the spuds will win all of theirs.

Even if we win our last 2 games 7nil, it’s not good enough, we should have been doing that before, the chavs did didn’t they?

The final word must go to Gordon ‘the gaff’ Brown, this site is not political (unless of course Ghengis Khan came back and started up a party, then it would be!) but after a pensioner mentioned the dreaded word ‘immigration’ on Wednesday, Gordon was heard calling her a bigot, now I have been called that on occasion and it’s very hurtful, believe me, so someone dares to ask where all these immigrants are coming from and he calls her a spiteful name, now he’s sorry, ha, ha, he’s not sorry the chump, he’s just sorry he got caught, the prize plonker.

Have a nice day Grovers, we have much to look forward to this summer, that is of course if the boss finally spends the money the whole world now know he definitely has.

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Posted by Geoff

Transfer target list / Player purchase BS in the air? / LG advertising!

April 29, 2010

Firstly, I have to mention that I was informed by Arsenal Addict on twitter that the AST do give Arsenal representatives a roasting at the annual Q&A. Good to hear it! I hope someone asks Gazidis about the quality of entrants to the Emirates Cup this time around. Last year was pretty weak, but at least there were some players we were interested in seeing. This year, we’ve got an ageing Milan, a diabolical Celtic team and a floundering Lyon (League wise at least).

Don’t worry though… Wenger’s probably signed up the best pub teams in Austria and Hungary for our annual tour!

That’ll soften the blow.

The coach has exclusively revealed to the match day programme that he is talking to a number of players about joining before the world cup.

Call me a cynic… but this all seems a little choreographed. I’ve been informed by numerous people that club level tickets are not selling as quickly as hoped. Arsenal are actually calling people who have freshly registered for season tickets, so that tells me that their call centre has worked a majority of the  4billion long waiting list.

Just goes to show… a name on a list doesn’t mean anything. There have been countless occasions this season when I’ve had spare tickets. We get a fair few readers these days… and I couldn’t shift 4 half price Liverpool home tickets. Demand for the Emirates ain’t what it used to be. If Arsenal want to attract corporate money, they’ll have to act like a major football team.

I’m really hoping that message has been driven home by Gazidis. He is, after all, a marketing man at heart.

So who could the players be? Well, I guess the first place to look would be the reserves of Madrid and Barca.

Potential Cast offs:

  • Gago
  • Van Der Vaart
  • Benzema
  • Metzelder
  • M.Diarra
  • L.Diarra
  • Drenthe
  • Garay
  • Krkic
  • Yaya
  • Chigrynskiy

Then I’d take a look at previous season’s near misses and strong links:

  • Matuidi
  • Hazard
  • Di Rossi (Roma are strapped)
  • Carlton Cole
  • Di Maria (To replace Arshavin)
  • Melo
  • Chamakh (Still unconfirmed)
  • Sebastian Frey
  • Axel Witsel
  • Subotic (Dortmund are always skint these days)
  • Lloris

So, if Wenger is keen to sign fresh blood to the squad, there is an abundance of players out there available if Arsenal are keen to stretch their financial muscles.

I heard on the grapevine that despite protestations of cash richness, a certain team up North is in deep trouble financially and are taking an absolute age to pay creditors. Could free us up a bit if they’re out of the running.

Did anyone manage to catch the Barca v Inter game last night? Old Jose could suck the joy out of 3 BMW adverts! You can’t knock the man. He kept Messi quiet all game, he had his players use every trick in the book and over all, you’d have to say, Inter man for man are no where near the best… but they’re in the final. That’s what counts, right?

Tactics, experience and discipline cannot be underestimated. Jose proved once again that he is one of the best in the business. He also proved that Rome can be built in a very short time which gives me great hope that with the right signings, that could be us next year.

In other news, Le Grove has finally buckled… we’re about to accept outside advertising for the first time. Don’t worry though, it’s all for a good cause!

Yep, we’ve teamed up with Comic Relief who are backing a United Against Malaria campaign. As Le Grove has a big African following and the South African World Cup is fast approaching, we thought it’d be appropriate to agree to donate advertising space the them.

Here’s the spiel…

In the 90 minutes it takes to play a football match, 180 children in Africa die from malaria.

But malaria is a preventable disease. An insecticide-treated bed net costing £5 can protect a family for up to five years.

United Against Malaria is a partnership of footballers, charities, governments and companies backed by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation who have united ahead of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa to win the fight against malaria.

Footballers including Kolo Touré (Manchester City and Ivory Coast), Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy, Everton and USA) and Patrick Vieira (Manchester City and France) are backing the campaign.

Patrick Vieira said,

“The first World Cup in Africa is helping raise awareness of some of the issues that affect Africa such as malaria. I’m pleased to support the United Against Malaria campaign. If we work together, we can end deaths from malaria in countries like Senegal, where I was born.”

United we can beat malaria.

So please, click the link below, sign up and I won’t tell everyone you’re a bad person!

See you in the comments!

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Posted by Pedro

Arshavin, is it true?

April 28, 2010

Precious Wenger...

So I have been reading every site that mentions Andre Arshavin’s alleged comments, and in various newspapers, this is what he is supposed to have said. ‘If I could play for Barcelona for just a year, that would crown my career’

If he did indeed say that it would be treachery on Ade-the-whore’s level!

I decided before I reacted like a mad man, to go directly to Andre’s official website and have a look, you know all I could find was him talking about returning for the Blackburn game, so I reckon it’s the quote he came out with before he joined us, if it’s not though, he needs to be sold to the highest bidder and that’s the end of that.

Not because he rates 3 managers higher than Wenger, why wouldn’t he? Arsene hasn’t exactly set his world alight, no the bit I can’t handle is like Ade, he is looking at another bird whilst sitting next to his wife, if you get my meaning, as I said, I don’t believe it, if it is true though, he can just go as all I will see now, is a white Ade on the pitch, both with dodgy barnets.

So Andre make a statement and make it quickly.

We hear the usual guff coming from the kids that haven’t made it yet, like we can win the league next year, I love the boss, I will repay his faith Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, but come on, what else would we expect from Fabianski and Eastmond, no doubt now they have showered the boss with toadiness they will get a new and extended contract as a reward.

Not that I don’t rate Eastmond, I do, but Fabianski is running out of chances for me, since the Chav semi at Wembley last season, I can’t say I have seen any kind of gaff improvement, have you?

I also heard yesterday from a sister site, that one blog was saying that anyone who criticises the club and the way it’s run is anti-Arsenal, well that same blog this season wanted to have his picture taken with me to put on his post as the left and right wing of blogs, funny that eh? When it suits him! Anyway, I didn’t read it as I won’t give other blogs the oxygen they need to survive, I just thought it was ironic, have a pop at others whilst sucking up at the same time. A bit like Gollum in Lord of the Rings.

We have been linked with a number of players this week and many of them I would have, the two Belgians interest me as does Rodwell, but they are all very young, Hart has to be a given (pardon the pun) one of our Grovers saw a text from Hart saying he would love to come to the Arsenal, lets hope that’s true, Almunia has been given way too many chances and if Wenger could be ruthless with the captain of Brazil then I can’t see why he can’t be with a keeper would doesn’t even feature in the Spanish set up.

Now we know that Arsenal have broken their strict pay policy with both Thierry and Cesc, so maybe we can go after some real class and pay what they ask, or are bribery and pay policy two separate things?

I know we have a great squad when everyone is fit but when does that ever happen? WHEN HAVE WE EVER HAD A FIT TEAM? I think we need to have 2 great players in every position to compete in the four comps, other teams do, so it’s time we started.

I really believe it’s time to have a massive clear our, keep only those we know will feature in the future, take Gavin Hoyte, I really like the kid, but the Brighton fans are on his back already, so do we think he’ll ever become a first choice defender for the Arsenal?

That’s what I mean, as far as I know there isn’t a prize for the third highest wage bill, the biggest group of under 18′s or the most players in history out on loan, so Arsene, time for a clear out, then add that money to the £40 mil we got from City, the money we got from this season , and with all that you can probably buy whoever you want.

Unless I have my sums wrong, I know, do a Q&A and I’ll ask…      …just kidding, don’t have a cow Ivan.

Have a great day grovers, today is the last day of summer.


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Posted by Geoff

Why Joe Hart makes sense / Why has Wenger bottled it?

April 27, 2010

So Geoff has got the ball firmly rolling with the Joe Hart to Arsenal story. It makes sense for many reasons.

Firstly, he’s made 170 first team appearances at the grand old age of 23. He made his name at Shrewsbury Town making 60 appearances and after moving to City, he’s made a whopping 110 appearance! That is a huge amount of experience gained.

I think it would be safe to say, he’s cut he’s teeth elsewhere and he’ll have the mentality to slip straight into our team. He’s at the right age where we’ll get the best years from him. Gone are the days where a keeper has his best years post 30, we’re living in a era where great keepers give you fantastic service from 22 onwards. Casillas, Reina, Cech and Buffon all prove that point superbly.

The other reason it makes sense? Well, City have a relatively young Shay Given between the sticks. Widely regarded as one of the best in the Premiership. He’s not going anywhere fast. Chelsea are very unlikely to move Cech on. He’s regained his form and seems integral to Chelsea’s future plans. Manchester United might entertain the idea of Hart, but realistically, City would probably rather not sell to their greatest rivals and the young Englishman is unlikely to screw the team that gave him a chance.

That leaves Arsenal as the only Champions league team with a need. Remember, English people are naturally ignorant… Joe isn’t going to fancy learning a new language. So, while City may not want to sell, Joe will probably not fancy staying on for another season when there is a huge opportunity to be part of a great clubs set up for years to come.

For me, it would be stupid not to bid for him. Lloris is good, but you have to bed in foreign keepers and you’re still never guaranteed success. Other than that, there don’t seem to be too many good keepers around Europe to choose from. Unless of course we had the cash to prise Reina away from Champion’s Leagueless Liverpool…

Anyway, I’m demanding Joe Hart… If I don’t get him, I’ll throw a massive wobbly at the shareholders Q&A. I’ve got a nastier word I could share with Wenger about his current number one.

Talking of Wenger, the grapevine is suggesting he is going to dodge the Q&A with the AST. I’m not sure if I’ve read that correctly? I thought the shareholders had the QA? I’m sure the AST do a superb job… I’m not really sure what they do a great job of…  I’m just not sure they’d be the best people to ask questions of Gazidis? All they ever seem to do is tow the party line and agree with Arsenal.

Regardless of who gets the Q&A, Wenger has bottled it. Clearly not wanting to face horrendous accusations that his ex-Manc player is geriatric. A player who has more than justified his place in Man United’s hall of fame for infiltrating our camp for two seasons costing us plenty of points and trophies along the way. You don’t fool me Silvestre… even if you’ve hypnotised the rest of the team with talk that you read books…

Pertinent points aside. Wenger apparently wants to hold his Q&A in August. Could that be because he has a plan? Could Wenger be moving his grilling because in August he will have 3-4 world class players on board and we’ll all be double over joyed at his summer work?

I hope so. I don’t want to be celebrating the signing of a 6ft9 Bulgarian keeper famous for his spirit and mental spirit. I’d like some top quality in and some dead wood out. If that dead wood includes Denilson, Silvestre and Almunia, there wont be any tears or ‘thanks for the memories’ coming from this Arsenal Blog.

I’m hoping this summer will be a positive step in our history as a football club. The year the purse strings snapped. The year we announced ourselves as contenders, not tight pretenders.The year the fans were happy with our summer shopping!

There were plenty of unsubstantiated rumours about Wenger signing a new contract yesterday. I’m not sure how true they are but why wouldn’t he sign up again? He’s has no pressure to win trophies, he’s got more power than any other manager in world football and he earns a huge sum of money. Forget the criticism he gets… he probably doesn’t read it! Even if he did, could you imagine a man with youngish family packing in a job worth £6mill a year because of a bit of deserved flak?

I think it’s insulting to suggest such a thing.

Lets hope his new contract is geared towards trophy success if the financial hardships are over!

Before I go, did anyone enjoy the rumour about Dolphin head coming back to Arsenal for £10million? His agent must be struggling if the best leak he can muster is for a club his client severed all ties with after 3 months! Talking of rumours, how about the one about Cesc’s £3million bonus for staying with us? I think Geoff made the point… if we have a pay structure and we’ve kept Cesc in it… but paid him £3mill on top… that’s not really keeping to a pay structure is it?

It’s cheating… A bit like the celibate Catholic Priest’s eh?

So what happens when Robin and Denilson read about this bonus? They’re going to be knocking on Wenger’s door demanding the same!

Still, I’m glad we’re going out our way to keep him… However, it makes a mockery of a 52 year contract if you have to bribe him each year to keep him though!

Cesc’s agent is Darren Dein… David Dein’s evil anti-Arsenal spawn!

We need his Dad back… sorting this mess out!

See you in the comments!

P.S. Our official t-shirt supplier Tatty Nut Nut are running an end of season clearance deal. Any Gooner t-shirt for £10!

Discount code: LG2010

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Posted by Pedro

Vermaelen and Cesc make the EPL team of the year, guess who else does?

April 26, 2010

Joe Hart! He also kept Birmingham in the game until the unlucky penalty that was despatched by the other debutant in that team, James Milner, whom I would also have by the way.

A quick round up suggests that we are willing to let Rosicky and Gallas go, Denilson and Eduardo too, but that’s an inside rumour, we could be tempted to let Clichy go to Barca in a swap for Bojan and we will try and get Diarra back from Madrid, all of which I doubt, though I would be happy if we got Hart in as well as a defensive midfielder, a centreback and a winger, as we already seem to have Chamakh coming and there’s no way Wenger will splash out on a big name forward.

Now that little lot wouldn’t cost a fortune.

I’m amazed Cesc didn’t at least win young player of the year, but as the players are the ones that vote, you can’t argue. Maybe Cesc will get the writers award. If that hasn’t already happened, I don’t really follow awards as I always believe they are just blowing smoke up already smoke filled arses. A bit like the Oscars and the BBC sports personality of the year.

So it looks like we are going to secure 3rd, which means the players get a rest, the interesting thing is that by the start of next season, all of our players will be fit, including Ramsey, who we unfortunately didn’t win the league for. A fit Arsenal squad in August? Now that’s a first.

So that then leaves the dilemma, the boss has to buy before June as he says the price always goes up during a world cup, I hope he takes around 10 of our young players and gets shot of them, we have way too many kids that will never make it so whats the point in collecting them? We have at least two older players that we should also let go as they are both crocks and will never finish a season, Gallas and Silvestre is who I’m talking about and Almunia is one of those that Wenger should just admit he was wrong on and get rid of. Theo I think should go out on 6 months loan and play in his preferred position, that way we’ll see if he’s got it, and if he hasn’t, time again to admit you can’t always get it right.

I have always believed Theo will become a great, I still do, but maybe he needs to start playing where he wants to and not forced fed on the wing.

We ought to let Djourou take one of the 4 centre back roles and if he gets injured again, then let him go at Christmas, Lansbury and JET should feature and if they don’t show something by Christmas then let them go as well, Simpson and Randall won’t ever feature so sell them, it’s only fair, then we should take a good look at the Barazites of this world and make some tough decisions.

We are not in the business of collecting players, it’s costly and means, we need a clear out, then we need to buy.

Sort of like an end of term school report, fitting really as they are all kids.

Next year we need to be fighting on 4 fronts, that or the management of Arsenal football club will have to admit they have been jerking the fans around and fall on their swords.

Finally I read that Nina couldn’t get Usmanov or Kroenke to buy her shares, so she turned to an Eastern European who’s wealth is somewhere between the other two’s, interesting, why on earth would the Russian or the Yank, not buy her shares? If they want to own Arsenal, they’ll have to buy them eventually, and frankly, when you have what they have, buying at £8,500 a share of £10,500 a share makes no difference whatsoever.

Usmanov could own Arsenal at a stroke and Kroenke would have wasted 4 years, strange isn’t it??? For the record the only person I want running Arsenal is David Dein, and he isn’t in with either of them.

That’s about it for today Grovers, enjoy the sunshine whilst it lasts!

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Posted by Geoff

Well done for having your own minds, booing the whore was the highlight of the day.

April 25, 2010

At least we only need a point for third, the most entertaining thing that happened in 90 minutes yesterday was welcoming back Paddy and booing the Togo Twat, whilst watching his embarrassing grin.

Well no match report today, this is a Geoff post, Pedro is out having fun!

Well that was about as uninteresting as a game can get, one team comes to defend and hit on the break, the other shows no ambition, and has a side bet that it can get through 90 minutes and only have 3 shots, if there were more I must have missed them.

We are told that Bendtner is the reason we didn’t make a signing in the window and we leave him on the bench, go figure, I can’t! Him and Robin starting may have caused them problems early on, ho-hum. So what happened?

Crab, crab, crab, crab and Denilson wasn’t even playing.

Fabianski had nothing to do , so that was a relief, I thought Sol Campbell was again immense, Song, Nasri and Robin were okay, Theo and Silvestre may as well have not turned up and once again the crossing from the full backs was woeful.

Excitement happened when it got close to the predictable 67 minute substitutions, but this time Wenger threw everybody by making two substitutions at once, I’m sure Mancini thought this was an amazing tactic. An ‘I wasn’t expecting that’ moment.

The down side was Given looks screwed and that could have an impact on the signing we all hoped for in Joe Hart, it won’t because City will sign a Buffon or a Lloris, and anyway, if we are going to sign a keeper it will be a Rami Shaban type, or someone as clueless as Almunia or Fabianski.

So the spuds lost and we drew, with the spuds and the northern chavs having to play each other it guarantees us at least 4th, but all we now need is a point to get third and with Blackburn away and Fulham at home, one would have thought we can get that.

I would love it though if Villa could sneak up and pip them both, that would be sweet.

Still for all of you that may be disappointed with winning nothing this year don’t be, because we won the European balance sheet trophy, the youngest squad trophy, the highest paid average squad trophy and finally the Great mental strength trophy, it may not be what you wanted but take heart that at least our manager got even richer in a recession.

Hey, don’t forget we get a new kit this summer, so even if we sign no-one of note, and we will (sign no-one of note), we get to buy a new home kit and ensure the money continues to flow into the Royal Bank of Arsenal.

A word of caution though Ivan, the loudspeaker may have said 60,000 were there, but anyone with a decent set of minces could see that there weren’t.

You can fool some of the people, some of the time, you can even fool all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time, and if you continue to keep up the stingyness, then there is no doubt you will reap what you sow.

Have a great Domingo Grovers, only 2 more weeks to go, enjoy it whilst you can.

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Posted by Geoff

Lay off Adebayor? Are you having a laugh?

April 24, 2010

Let me tackle this issue first, big mouth liar Adebayor returns to the home of football today after whoring himself to Milan, caught on camera, having his salary trebled, having a crap season, leaving for money, bad mouthing the fans for booing him and blaming the press, stamping on the boy wonders face, scoring and running the length of the pitch to stick two fingers up to those same fans that made him, and the manager is saying don’t give him a hard time?

Are you having a laugh Arsene???

Well that shows you in one a part of the English game and it’s fans that our leader will never understand, I hope he gets everything that will no doubt come his way, Le Grove back any kind of shite that can be directed at him.

When Henry came back he got the respect his service deserved, no doubt the old Vieira song will ring around the Grove today and I’m sure that Kolo will get some affection, but that tosser, that tosser should feel the speen venting from every fan there today.

Heavy rumours around Joe Hart, god I hope so, he’s exactly what we need, English, passionate, shouts at his defence and a character, oh and a very, very good keeper. Sign him Arsene, he’ll be like signing a young Seaman, and he will be England’s no.1 one day, I said that when I first saw him at the under 21 Euros, and I’m saying it now.

Jack Rodwell is good, but he’ll be too expensive and we should shop around, though the thought of him, Ramsey, Wilshere and Cesc to choose from is mouth watering.

On that note we have to bring Wilshere back, he really could be like a new signing.

If City win today we need to worry, if the mancs beat the spuds and we beat City we can rest easy as we’ll have guaranteed 3rd, that will mean no qualifying and the players get a rest, it also means we will attract better players, that’s of course if we decide to buy any.

I like Gallas, but he is now a crock and although he is still a great centre back I think it’s time for a whole new back line. Cahill with Vermaelen anyone? We could then bring in a big bugger like Hangeland to play with Johan and we then have the 4 centre backs we’ll need next season.

Finally a note for people that get upset because they are held in moderation, any new blogger goes in automatically, and current blogger that changes their name goes in as well.

It protects the blog from stalkers when I’m not around to police.

If Pedro and I are not around, those in moderation have to wait until one of us look, so sorry, but please be patient, we don’t keep you there on purpose, unlike booing the whore today that will be on purpose.

Have a great day Grovers, we really need to win today, for 3rd, for pride and for the fans, four losses on the spin would be too much to bear.

P.S. The boys from Tatty will be selling Gooner t-shirts around the ground today, make sure you say hi if you see them… don’t ask them about football though… art nerds.

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Posted by Geoff

So could the unthinkable actually happen? Arsenal finish 5th.

April 23, 2010

LG Towers yesterday

Okay so I’m back, but I’m not happy, in my absence we’ve lost three on the trot and on Saturday we play the northern chavs.

So we have 3 games left, City, Blackburn and Fulham. All tough games, well after the shocking cowardly arrogant display against a crap side like Wigan, we could very easily lose all three games. I have said all season I’m more worried about the chasing pack than those ahead of us.

Even if we won one and lost two we could still in theory finish outside the top four, that that would be something wouldn’t it? Wenger’s only target this season was to finish in the top 4 and now even that may not happen. Maybe now the sycophants he has surrounded himself with at Arsenal may start to question his judgement.

We need to beat Man City to guarantee a top 4 spot, if the spuds lose at the same time then we get third, so it’s all still a game of ifs, buts and maybe’s but wouldn’t it be tragic if Arsene didn’t get his top 4 bonus, all that stinginess and gloating about how young this team is ,would have been in vain.

This team has great mental strength he tells us, over and over and over again, well in the last three games if what I’ve seen is great mental strength then my arse is a kipper.

I read a bit from our chums at the Online Gooner yesterday and how he was almost arrested for daring to ask our great leader a question, Arsene I hope you are ashamed of yourself, I also hope you manned up and told your team of gutless, headless chickens, how they let Arsenal football club and all it’s fans down, big time. I hope you fined them a weeks wages, save Rosicky who at least tried and Theo for applauding his own fans at the end.

I had to travel over 2,000 kilometres in a Ford Focus estate to get home this week, I did it in 2 days and got flashed by about 300 speed cameras in that dustbin known as France, blimey, no wonder they are all over here, all I was thinking about, apart from the crap food in the service stations was the Spurs and the Wigan games, how paid professionals played like 8 year olds and sadly didn’t give a toss, and afterwards listening to a manager who also didn’t give a toss and still tells us he will do it in another season. Sure you will, plus another £10million in wages

Yes we’ve had injuries, but we always have injuries, being a good manager is knowing when to get shot of crocks, average players and trouble makers, being a good manager is knowing when to admit your policy is not working and being a good manager is playing your best players, and Robin Van Persie is one of our best players, he proved that after he came on at 67 minutes and almost scored a hatrick against the spuds, so why then did Wenger wait until the 89 minute to use him against Wigan, that is crap management in my book, if you weren’t going to play him Arsene, why take him? What on earth is he going to do in one minute???

Now we have to sweat about finishing fourth and the only person we have to blame is our manager, but then although I rate him as a great coach, I have never rated him as a manager, he makes the same mistakes over and over and over, enough is enough.

Arsene, it’s time to act like a football manager and not like the worlds biggest know-it-all, you’ve got it wrong for 5 consecutive seasons now, time to get it right, spend some of our money on some world class players and kick the rest out.

I, just like the bloke at the Online Gooner, renewed my seasons, but a part of me knew all I was doing when I did that, was lining the staff at my clubs pockets. Again.

So what did the hierarchy at Arsenal learn from last season? They learn that we, the paying customers are all suckers. That’s what they learned. If they had any principals, then next years season tickets should be free of charge.

When Arsenal won the double in 1971 they used 16 players, played 64 games and did it on pitches that resembled cow pastures.

Don’t believe me Arsene, ask Pat Rice, he played in 41 of them. As Pedro said it’s not his fault if he can’t bitch at the players, and you’d have to be crazy to turn down a whopping salary for saying nothing and sitting on your butt in the second best seat in the stadium, week in, week out. Fair play to you Pat, you’ve earned it!

Team Arsenal, time to grow up and man up, you can’t all be injured, when Alex Song was crap he was never injured, but now he’s a regular, he gets injured all the time. What’s that all about? Could it be once they’ve made it they take it easy? Or is it the training methods, it can’t all be coincidence.

As for the City game is concerned, I think we’ll murder them, anything other that a win will seriously threaten our standing. With a bonus at stake you may see a little urgency and fight in them.

A rumour yesterday was Robin for Buffon and Melo, not sure about Melo but I rate Buffon. I would never let Robin go but his injury record is rubbish, so Robin for Buffon plus cash could open the door for a striker that could do a season uninjured, maybe…

Me, I’d sign Joe Hart, an English keeper barking at his defence, perfect.

Frank McLintock, Charlie Nicholas, Paul Merson, Perry Groves, Patrick Vieira, Dennis Bergkamp, Cesc Fabregas, Robin Van Persie and now Andre Arshavin. What do they all have in common? They have all been employed by Arsenal, and they all say we need some world class signings.

Peter Hill-Wood, Ivan Gazidas and Arsene Wenger say we don’t. Hmmm, you choose.

Have a great day Grovers, tomorrow could be a fruitful one.

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Posted by Geoff

In defence of Pat Rice / Crazy bid mooted / Project youth hasn’t started

April 22, 2010

I always read a lot of comments about the zero input of Pat Rice from the bench. Now, having not been around to witness him in his playing days, I feel it a bit cheeky to comment. However, I’m pretty sure he was a feisty player in his time and he certainly looks like a passionate guy. It’s not often you meet a meek Irishman, is it?

So, has anyone ever thought the reason Pat Rice never screams from the touch line is because he’s not allowed to? I’m sure Ian Wright said during the first games under Wenger, something went wrong during the first half, Rice came into the dressing room and went into one at one of the back 4, effing and blinding. Wenger walked in and told Pat Rice he was never to raise his voice in the dressing room again…

Well, that’s how I remember the story went! So what I’m saying is that it doesn’t matter who is the number two at Arsenal, the culture is one of calm and serenity… similar to the Le Grove comments section… and it’ll stay that way under Wenger. Give Pat a break!

In other more europeanish news, I had the pleasure / displeasure of the second round of the Champions League last night. I’m staggered that the commentators are still referring to Bayern as a weak team? Bar their centre backs they’ve got some quality! Ribery, Robben, Schweinsteiger, Lahm, Muller, Ollic (sometimes)…

Ribery went off for a ridiculous challenge. His week couldn’t get worse could it? Well, unless the hooker in question was doing a 2 for 1 with her younger sister! I feel he’s had a ‘Britney Spears shaved head’ moment!

Imagine how Bayern are feeling right now… their prized asset admitting that he’s shagged an underage hooker! Jeez, one minute you’ve got a £60million superstar on your hands, the next, you’ve got a pervert worth nothing commercially!

Dear oh dear! What is it with footballers? I thought picking up women was supposed to be as easy as Ulrika Johnson? In the UK the age of consent is 16… would it be crude to suggest that London is perhaps more suited to his social life? Maybe Gazidis could sell him into the Soho night scene?

Jokes aside… when you earn£150k a week, surely you should be doing something a little classier with your mates on a Saturday night? He’ll never shake that image now… who will want to purchase him now (Chelsea probably, not much will shock their shabby fans)?

Lloris looked very shaky nearly getting caught out with two crosses and Butt for Bayern was also more than a little dodgy! At 22, it could be argued that Lloris hasn’t proved his consistency at the top level. £20million might be a bit of a risk. There have been plenty of French flops in the keeping sense over the years. Maybe we could get someone like Buffon or Frey this summer? I’m sure there is someone solid and of the right age available this year.

Robben won the game with another superb goal. The guy is one of my favourite wingers. It’s a shame he can’t keep off the injury table, he’d have been one of the best in the world.

I do enjoy watching Louis Van Gaal’s teams. He plays a more direct attacking style to Arsenal and he also presses high up the pitch. The difference between his teams and our team is the Dutchman is a disciplinarian. His reaction to a petulant Robben after he tried to skulk off the pitch when subbed was brilliant. He grabbed him by the shoulder, made him look into his eyes and gave him a dressing down in front of the whole stadium. Top managing Louis! Loved it!

I’ve been reading a lot of things about project youth and it’s success or failure… then it got me thinking about a post Geoff wrote a while back which lead me to the question, has project youth even started?

If project youth is supposed to work like Barcelona, it has a flaw… nearly all of our players were bought in quite old and were trained elsewhere.

Who out of the first team is real project youth (Rough ages of purchase)?

  • Denilson (Purchased at 18 for 5mill)
  • Clichy (Purchased at 18)
  • Cesc (Stolen at 15)
  • Merida (Abducted at 15 and hidden in the mountains)
  • Bendtner (Purchased at 18)
  • Robin (Purchased at 19)
  • Rambo (Purchased at 17 for 5million)
  • Theo (Purchased for 12million at 16)
  • Song (Purchased at 18)
  • Vela (Purchased at 16)

Looking at that list, we’re just buying in rough diamonds at 18, then taking 4 years to develop them. Not really project youth is it? Pedro, Messi, Busquests and Pique were all playing for the club from 10 years old… that’s project youth. Ours is more like project barely legal. Out of those above, the only two who could be classed as close to youth who have made it would be Cesc. The others are young professionals.

So, when we talk about project youth, I feel we’re perhaps forgetting that the true project youth has yet to begin. Players like Jack, Kieron Gibbs and Lansbury are yet to make an impact. When they start breaking through and proving their worth, we can start talking about a true product.

My hope for Project Youth is that now we’ve created a solid base, we’ll build on it each summer with a couple of adult signings and compliment the first team with a couple of world class youth players. I’m hoping that the days of the 4 year development are behind us because that’s far too long. No one would begrudge watching Jack cut his teeth in a few more games this year because he is raw talent… would people be willing to wait 4 years to get a Song? I’m not so sure…

We’ve got a good platform to work from this summer, but Wenger has to be brutal in his assessment. I can’t believe he didn’t know at the start of this year that Jack, Fran and Vela weren’t going to play for us that much. So how about next pre-season, we play the players who will actually be starting in the squad in the Premiership next summer and not the players he is 1) Looking to sell 2) Looking to convince us are the future so he doesn’t have to buy!

Silly season has already started on the feeds. Arsenal have been linked with a £22million move for Agbonlohor. The first time I heard him speak, I assumed he was from some distant South American rainforest tribe. The guy is thick as two short planks and he plays in exactly the same manner. We need more than just speed and for £22million, I’d rather not!

Mr Nasri has been speaking to the Telegraph and he had this to say,

“It is annoying. The work we do is not getting the credit it deserves because we are not winning silverware,”

“It is unfair because I think we have more merit as a club than those who have built their teams with millions of pounds whereas Arsenal have brought in young footballers, who have come here to play a certain kind of football and who have developed.”

Samir needs to be told that football is a sport and winning is the name of the game. Arsenal have just copied Chelsea’s policy for adults and applied it to kids. I don’t think there’s anything ethical about nicking other teams young players just as they become good enough to get a run out in the first team. I don’t think there is anything ethical, or beneficial about paying kids huge sums of money to uproot and move to London. I don’t think having almost a guarantee at the first team before you’ve proved anything is a policy that drives competition and hunger.

We’ve moan about the mercenaries at City, well, we’ve got the same problem but they’re much younger.

Samir, our wage bill is £120million a season and I don’t think the fans get enough credit for funding that.

Arsenal are the 3rd most valuable club in the world, yep, more valuable than Barcelona. We should start acting like a club of that stature… starting this weekend against City!

I’ll be back with a preview tomorrow! Till then, enjoy the sun!

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Posted by Pedro

POSITIVE vibes / Wenger on the booze / Sign him… no way!

April 21, 2010

So we’ve all spent the last few days a little down in the dumps, so I thought this post could be mixed with a little bit more positivity… anyway, lots to cover, lets get cracking!

Happy noises!

Firstly, from the chat coming out the Emirates, it appears that everyone at Arsenal is singing off the same ‘we’ve got cash’ hymn sheet. Wenger has money and he’s not afraid to use it! According to Wenger, there are plenty of players in the market and they can’t all go to the Chelsea, Man U and Man City.

Remember that line just incase he tries to play the, ‘finding top players is hard’ line in August.

So we’ve got money and a manager who seems ready to spend. He made the following comment in this months Arsenal magazine,

‘”I might have to sign Real Madrid’s cast-offs this summer.’

You know what Arsene, that’s a great idea! You built 3 Premier League winning teams around a Milan cast off. I’d be sniffing around Madrid’s players for sure. If they want Cesc, we’ll have Kaka…  If they want to offload Higuain, Gago or any of their other superstars… why wouldn’t we bid if we’re able to financially?

Is Wenger on the booze?

I’m wasn’t quite sure if Wenger had been at Hill-Woods whiskey cabinet before he gave the interview but he claimed the Barcelona are a better team than us because they’ve tasted trophy success. He reckons we’ll see a different Arsenal when we win a trophy.

Arsene, here’s and idea that I believe every Arsenal fan will back me on.

TRY AND WIN ONE OF THE CUPS!

A win is a win is a win! Ferguson started his road to success with an FA Cup, Mourinho did the same with a Carling Cup, George Graham with a 1987 League Cup win. This team needs a kick start… beggars can’t be choosers and please understand Arsene, we’re beggars!

Do the right thing for the fans and treat the FA Cup and the Carling Cup with the respect they deserve.

Even if we did win a trophy, does anyone honestly believe we’d be anywhere near this current Barca team?

What about the players coming through?

This is always a game I’d rather avoid because it’s difficult to predict who Wenger will take under his wing.

My players to watch out for next year for me are as followed:

Eastmond:  A smooth operator in the middle of the park. Pacey, tenacious and hungry for success. Could land himself a few additional games in the middle of the park next year and I think I speak for most when I say I’d rather watch him develop over Denilson.

Wilshere: I’m putting him in this category because I think he’s been very good at Bolton and he has the type of attitude we need in our team. Creative, tough and English. I’d like him to get more field time for us next year. He’s a game changer and he’s had 6 months in the equivalent of football borstal.

Gibbs: Seems to get injured a little too often for my liking but a super talent regardless. He’s like Clichy with crossing skills. Hopefully he’ll challenge his French counterpart for a starting berth next season. Or, if rumours are to be believed, he could take over entirely if the interest from Barca and Real is real

Henderson: I’ve been given the low down on this player and I’ve heard he has a similar playing style to Darren Fletcher… he runs and runs and runs… could be our home grown Flamini. Next year is probably a little early for him but the more grit we can get in the squad, the better.

Chesney: The goalkeeping equivalent of Cesc Fabregas according to some. 19 is incredibly young for a keeper to break through into the first team, however, it has to be noted that Casillas was about 18 when he broke through. Can he take the pressure, or should he be loaned?

The dream…

Maintaining Sol Campbell will be like trying to get the best out of a 50 year old Alfa Romeo… if we can do it, it’ll be more than worth it. The guy still has the pace and his presence will be invaluable.

The Verminator has been a welcome addition to the team this year. His heart and passion has been welcome to the squad and his goals have been a pleasure. It’s like having Martin Keown back in the squad. If we can find a proper full time partner for him and teach him a little more positional discipline, we could have the best defender in the league on our hand by the end of next year. Geoff reckons he’d make a superb defensive midfielder… I’m inclined to agree.

Arshavin will be fully aware that a large percentage of the fan base have grown tiresome of his inadequate performances. He’ll want to prove Wenger wrong when he said 2 years ago he doubted the Russians engine. He’ll have the summer off to rest his foot then he’ll be back to rock our world next season.

Cesc Fabregas will have a blinding world cup and certainly resist the overtures of the Catalans. He’ll cite the fact that the vulgar wages on offer put him off and Lionel Messi’s resemblance to a hobbit would freak him out in the showers. The Spaniard will give us one final season of pure magic before handing over the centre midfield duties to Wilshere, Rambo and Nasri.

Finally, Arsenal will address the shocking injury situation at Arsenal. They’ll work out that training with 80kg back packs before every game tires players and reduce the weight by half. We’ll pick up less injuries next year giving us at least an additional ten points. Combine that with the new world class keeper, 2 centre backs, Chamakh and some steely competition for Song in the middle… Arsenal will mount a serious challenge on 4 fronts!

Next season, we’ll be a different beast… a winning machine if you will!

That is my dream… Arsene, go forth and make it happen!

What’s your Arsenal dream?

Let us know in the comments!

P.S. I caught the Barca – Inter game last night. Mourinho showed what you can do when you use tactics against a superior team. He successfully nullified Barca and came out a 3-1 winner. I was talking tactics on Sunday with a friend and pondered how you can defend in packs and not get exposed… well, Inter proved that you can expose a team playing that tactic with their first goal. Watching Barca last night was like watching Arsenal struggle at Bolton… but you know what, winning isn’t always about style and beauty, it’s about out thinking your opponent.

Just a word on Balotelli. He came on, did very little, fluffed a touch, was jeered… then he went off at the crowd. What a spoilt, petulant, lazy idiot that boy is. He has it all… bar a brain and the right attitude. He’ll never make it if he carries on like that and I certainly wouldn’t want a player at Arsenal who would makes Adebayor look like Theo Walcott attitude wise.

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Posted by Pedro

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