Today's post is sponsored by Marriott Hotel Lasagne
Arsene dropped one of the most important comments of his career yesterday, yes, he admitted that losing your strikers to injury results in less points.
“It is difficult to say what would have happened had they not been injured. But I am confident we would have a few more points.”
I know there were those of you out there who couldn’t work this out, but rest assured, that little issue has been laid to rest by the ever so sharp Mr Wenger.
I’ve even put together a mathematical equation just to break it down.
Theory of goalativity: Football team + Strikers = goals
You see, if you put zero strikers into the equation… you end up with very few goals. Genius. Glad it took all of 13 years to clear that conundrum up! A shame he didn’t realise that in January when we were all screaming for him to add someone to the squad. That’s negligence. Plain and simple.
Comments like that certainly don’t do him any favours with the fans. I wonder what will be on Arsenal.com tomorrow?
‘A good goalkeeper can save you points. If we’d had one, we’d probably be 10 clear.’
Still, with the bad inevitably comes some good. On Cesc’s future came this…
‘We don’t work for four or five years with young players, stand up for them, let them come through and, when they are ready to perform, sell them. That would be irresponsible. But I cannot stop them from talking in Spain.’
Amen to that Wenger. Trouble is, do you mean it? It’s about this time of year we get all the conflicting messages. I’m sure that goes directly against the usual,
‘If a player wants to leave, it’s very hard to make him stay.’
Still, if the new Arsene has grown a pair, I’m all for it.
So, onto the game… I’m pretty fired up.
Robin Van Persie is now fit as a fiddle and ready to play if called upon. I said the other day I wouldn’t play him as Nik has done enough to merit his place in the starting line up. Then I started thinking… why does it matter? If he comes on with 20 minutes to go and breaks down whose problem is that? Holland’s. I care more about the state of Ashley Cole’s marriage than I do about the Dutch world cup challenge.
Playing without Robin is hardly something we’d have to get used to in the remaining games. If the worst does happen and he breaks down again, maybe that’ll force Wenger’s hand to go and buy another striker this summer… because we can’t be relying on a player who has only given us more than 30 starts once in 6 seasons. I’m not saying sell him, I’m saying get a proper striker in to replace the games you know he’ll miss, ala Arshavin for Rosicky (Chamakh isn’t nearly prolific enough).
So our defence lines up as usual with the inclusion of Sol Campbell. You’d expect him to be mega fired up for tonight I always feel better about our chances when he’s on the pitch. Not just because he’s a top defender but because he has an aura about him… the type that makes the young players put that extra bit of effort in. Wenger said he’s undecided on Sol’s new contract, whatever Arsene, I bet you’ve got the contract in your brief case already.
In midfield I’m expecting to see Denilson, Diaby and Samir Nasri. From where I’m typing, that looks like more than enough to take apart a Spurs midfield that doesn’t contain Palacios, Lennon or Kranky. There is no Song, which I revealed via twitter two days ago.
Up front it’s got to be Theo Walcott, Nik Bendtner and Rosicky… who owes us a big, big game tomorrow.
Personally, I’d prefer to see Eboue in front of Walcott. However, with his England place up for grabs, I’m hoping for a ripping performance if he does get the nod!
Arsenal need to impose themselves on the game early. We need to press like we did at the start of the season and we need to have a dig at goal because I’m still not convinced by Comical Gomes. We also need a big game from Almunia. Spurs will be whipping balls into the box for Crouch to nod in. The erratic Spaniard needs to be commanding and make sure he lets the defence know what he’s going to do either way. A Bentley cross for a Crouch goal is not an image I want to become a reality. That dirty little scrot’s smiling face is making me angry just thinking about it.
The whole squad is going to be buoyed by the return of ‘new signing‘, Robin Van Persie. That’s massive boost for the team and it’ll be a toe up the Arse-nal for Nik B who’ll want to prove he can compete. Expect and excellent game from him this evening!
We need to win. You see, I have a lot invested in tonight’s game… after Pompey put them out of the cup, I foolishly went on a gloat text spree of epic proportions. In the delirium caused by Spurs embarrassing themselves, I forgot we were playing them. I can’t have them turning us over… my life won’t be worth living. I’ll have to take the sack on the chin, because I won’t turn my work phone on for a week. No one needs a sacking off the back of a defeat to Spurs…!
Anyway, I’m feeling confident. Cliff Bastin came to me in a dream last night and told me we were going to win 3-1.
I hope you’re right Cliff, I hope your right!
Have a great day Grovers!
P.S. Apparently Asperger’s syndrome is where your brain randomly chooses a thing for you to devote your entire existence to. I’m not sure if mines loving Arsenal or hating Spurs? What makes you despise Spurs more than any other team in the World?
Sadly, my first memory is that freekick Gazza whistled past Seaman in the FA Cup semi Final in 91. Need I say more? Seeing his fat, slightly retarded looking face celebrating that goal scarred my young mind… the hate I feel inside hasn’t dampened since.
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So the fat lady is singing her song. Crazy season it was. Condolonces to all my Gooner brethren all over the world. We’ll be back, we are the Arsenal, there will be Victory Through Harmony!!!
I love you all.
(btw…crazy fact but for some odd reason I did not watch a single game that we were lost in save for Barca…something always came up work or other garbage wise for a game we lost…when I knew I couldn’t watch this one..the writing was on the wall)
So for future…if your mate LAzer isn’t watching a game expect the worst.
those player do not put the effort???
yeah sure, because they are not used to win titles.
Wow, slept better than ever. Its like a great weight has been lifted. The realization that you don’t need to lie to yourself anymore. I knew it, but refused to admit it. We really are not good enough.
Going to leave you fellas to it, as I’m taking myself out for the day. So a couple of thoughts.
1. RVP proved a massive point about the importance of genuine quality.
2. Injuries should be no excuse. Squad is way too thin. Look at the stats, we ALWAYS have massive injury problems. So either change the system/players or plan for it.
3. Chavs had two quality strikers all season. We had RVP, lost him. Utd had Rooney, then lost him and everything went tits up. Chamakh is not enough.
4. AFC need to decide what kind of club we are. This summer, the fans will know for sure.
5. Utd will strengthen big time, and we know what is about to happen at City. If we tinker in the transfer market, it is playing for fourth, and that’s it. AGAIN.
6. There will be many empty seats for the last home games, and any potential club buyers will take note. These men are not stupid. Many at Corporate will not renew, and only top quality players will change that.
7. Personally, and I will be in a massive minority, believe AW could stay, but ONLY if he spends big on three quality players.
Note to PEDRO:
Many here felt understandably sick last night, so PLEASE never leave a picture of turd like lasagna at the top of post. Every fucking refresh was horrible.
Something nice, perhaps. I am sure I can leave that to your creative, and fertile, immagination.
This is new low…….if I was a Spud I would’ve cried.
Somebody should tell wenger the point is not injuries….the point is we dont have backups who are anywhere near similar quality.
Man even when we went 2 down…… even with 5 minutes left, I still thought we were gonna win. I mean we always beat the spuds.
That was a shock.
hey MrB
any joke today?
That was the hardest defeat to take of the season!!
i am gutted!!
We should stop playing eboue in midfield.Eboue is never going to score a goal or create a chance playing there.He has played around 60-70 games in that position nad has scored about 2 goals and has got some 3 assists.He is no ray parlour!!!
Tottenham wanted it more and were more up for it!! They deserved the win!! We lack leaders and winners!! Sol and RVP were the best players!! The players should be ashamed of themselves!! 1999 was the last time they beat us on the league!!
Wenger out!!
Sorry Gooby but shocked right now. I was actually bindipping(a skill I learned from pedro) a lot of Spurs jokes, to tell after the win.
Fuck me the spuds are loving this.
Agree Rob Green, ManU, Chavske, Barca, U expected, but never in my wildest dreams did I imagine loosing to the Scum.
I honestly don’t think we have moved forward this season!!
Like
Q: Whats the difference between a triangle and Spurs?
A: The triangle has three points.
What am I going to do with that shit now.
Song is out for 1 more week and vermaelen is out for 3 weeks.Now we will have silvestre,Denilson clown and diaby all playing.Briliant end to the season!!
We bottled it at the Perrenials Bottlers Lane. WTF????
If we had a better keeper than almunia we might have won the league.I never thought 1 player could have such a negative impact on the team.He is capable of gettig a mid-table team relegated
The defeat is alot worse when hungover!!!
Oh my head…
Squad for next season-
Gk-Anyone except the clowns we already have.Even lehmann will do.
Defenders-CB-Vermaelen,New dominant CB,Campbell,Djourou and Gallas
RB-Sagna,Van der wiel
LB-Clichy,Gibbs,Traore
Midfield-Fabregas,Nasri,Rosicky,Ramsey,Wilshere,Song,Van bommel or Parker,Arshavin,A new winger,Diaby(Last chance but i don’t mind if we sell him and get someone new),Promote eastmond,also a utility player
other then sol and rvp from last night everyone else should be ashamed of themselves
a mdifield of diaby denilson and nasri got outworked by huddlestone, rose, kabul and modric
players just done care enough and yes bendtner scored again but he is not upto the task of leading the line for a top team
i hate silvestre with a passion, almunia aint far behind, that cunt was at fault yet again for their 1st goal, clichy and sagna cannot and will not ever be able to cross a ball, so why fucking bother, i feel sick
NEW POST!
‘We are not mature enough’. Does this mean that AW is sort of admitting that we are too youny, and do NOT have the necessary quality to win important games. We have a few too many players who go missing when the pressure is on. No way this team has what it takes to win a competition as that takes grit, determinaton and most of all a lot of bottle when the odds are against you. We’ve seen far too often against the big sides, we are devoid of ideas and any real belief we can win. Last night our team played like they thought they couldn’t win, and only when RvP came on did they buck their idea up. Its like this when Cesc doesn’t play. If they don’t think they are good enough, they shouldnt be playing, its that simple. We need a team of winners with a winning mentality. Thats what the top few teams across Europe have in spades.
silvestre,Denilson and Clownmonia, we are royally fucked for City match