El Crappico / Eduardo on his way out? / Sol Campbell is a D&Ger… or a realist?

April 11, 2010

Well, El Classico was hardly the game we were all expecting. Interesting viewing is about as far as I can stretch when describing Barcelona’s 2-0 win. Madrid never really found top gear, Barca found it when they needed to. The game was won on finishing. Xavi somehow finding Messi with a sublime chip, the Argentine bringing it down with almost zero space, finding the bottom corner with his shot. Then Pedro finishing things off in the second half. Madrid used 2 holding midfielders and broke up Barca’s play well at times, but when all was said and done, even e200million couldn’t threaten Barcelona’s dominance.

That tells you something. When you get into the elite of world football, it comes down to how well you piece your jigsaw together. It comes down to how well the coach trains the team. It comes down to how much hunger the players have. Barcelona play like a team starved of success for a century, truly a pleasure to watch.

I’ve just been traipsing around newsnow to find something to write about. I’ve seen about 4 headlines with ‘Doom and Gloom’ in them. What is it with people and their insistence on telling Gooners how to think? Talking about the reality of what’s going on at Arsenal seems to be a cardinal sin in some peoples book of blogging. Sure there have been positives this season but ignoring the negatives is a bit like burying your head in the sand. It’s pointless because when you eventually raise your head… they’ll still be there, staring back at your menacingly.

Sol Campbell has it bang on in his latest interview.

Everyone has to look at himself after the Barcelona match and say, ‘This is the level you have to get to’.

You can’t think you’re OK when you’re not. This is the level you have to be at.

You have to say, ‘This is the level I want to get to and surpass’. You have to be honest with yourself and say, “I have to work harder, I have to understand the game better” and realise that it’s a big world out there and that there are a lot of good players at big clubs.

“Arsenal haven’t been in this situation for a few years with the league, and this is another area you can learn from and listen to people who have been there and be aware that every time you go out, every point is precious.

All the players who walked out on that pitch against Barca have to have a long hard look at their game and ask whether that was good enough. They have to find that extra bit of hunger in training to take their game to the next level. If they can’t do that, then it’s time to move on. I’m not comforted by that Barcelona game. I’m not proud that we played them at their own game and got thumped. What will make me proud is if we learn from that and make sure the same thing doesn’t happen next season.

We’ve made great improvements in the league this season, but things could be better again. We’ve cost ourselves many points with sloppy defending. If that can be addressed and our defence can match our attack for efficiency, we could be a terrifying outfit next year.

Justifying second best makes being second best seem acceptable. That attitude in itself isn’t an acceptable mindset in top class sport. You need a winning culture at a football club. Players like Sol have that.

Onto a slightly sad subject. The plight of Eduardo. After recovering from that horrific challenge at St Andrews, many of us, rightly or wrongly, presumed that Eduardo would come back to top class football and recover his form. Sadly, after almost 18months, he still hasn’t managed to. He seems to have lost what little pace he had and more importantly, that psychological edge he had when he was in the box. He fears a challenge and opposing defenders seem to pick up on that.

Wenger has used him sparingly this season and when he has gained minutes, Eduardo hasn’t looked half the player he once was. The troubling question is this. How long do you give a player before you cut your loses? We’re not a charity, he’s been paid the whole way through the recovery period… and he’s still not ready. We’re a team pushing for major honours on 2 fronts most seasons. When the annual injury crisis hits, we should be have better options than Arshavin in the middle.

Will Wenger cut his losses this summer? Was Eduardo the sad news Andy Abrahams was talking about? I’d say there was a 60% chance of that being the case…

Another interesting problem that seems to have arisen is the Carlos Vela one. Last season he lit up our screens with some dazzling displays of outrageous skill and clinical finishing. Many fans, myself included, thought this would be his break through year. Especially when Wenger told us at Christmas Carlos was the reason he didn’t recruit when he sold Ade… because our Mexican was the new Robbie Fowler. Well, that was either one big fat lie or Carlos Vela was caught taking a dump in the manager’s office.

He’s been given hardly any chances at all this season. I find it staggering that a player with undeniable talent doesn’t seem to get a look in? He really has fallen foul of Wenger for some reason? People point to his exploits with Mexico… well, we knew he was Mexican when we signed him didn’t we?

It came to a head last week when Carlos was omitted from the Nou Camp squad after forgetting his passport. A bit dim you have to say, probably the type of oversight you’d expect to signal the end of your Arsenal career. That’s a great shame… he’s a real talent, I’m sure he’ll do well in La Liga. Just like Merida will. Another player who has had minimum playing time compared to some of the Marmite compatriots.

Anyway, I’m off down south today. Enjoy watching the mighty Pompey take apart our most repugnant neighbours from down the road!

1-0 Pompey!

That’d make my weekend!

Happy blogging!

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Posted by Pedro

I 8 TOTTENHAM / Spanish exodus / Why I can’t stomach certain things…

April 10, 2010

I don’t think there’s anything more annoying than writing out a 1000 word post, saving it, then returning to find that only the title has saved. Actually, maybe someone correcting you on irony. That is also pretty annoying.

Ok, so here I go again!

We’ve got a to cope with a whole weekend with no Arsenal game. That saddens me. Knowing our snotty neighbours down the road are at Wembley makes the down time all the more difficult to deal with. If we were an Animal, this weekend would be like the first cold day in October. You know winter is approaching, pretty soon, it’ll be cold and bleak. As a fan, the cold bleakness is the summer. No football!

However, this year, I’m slightly buoyed by South Africa hosting it’s first World Cup. Despite all the negative coverage around the competition, I’m sure they’ll put on a good show.

I’m getting excited about seeing the greatest players in the world fight it out for the greatest prize in international football. I’m looking forward to watching a relative unknown burst onto the scene, then I’m looking forward to one of Europe’s elite buying that new superstar for a disgustingly inflated fee only to find that form is indeed temporary… and the reason that player was unknown is because normally, they’re hopeless. Yep, bring on a Schillaci, Kleberson or a Karel Poborsky!

I’m struggling though. I feel ashamed to admit it, but I can’t get excited for England. We generally go into every tournament with great hope, then for one reason or another we bomb out. Usually in spectacular fashion. Is it because our footballers aren’t good enough, or is it because our league is too competitive? I like to think the latter. Our players all play in the same division; generally because of a reluctance to learn another language. 90% of the year, they hate each other. Then, for 6 weeks a year, they’re supposed to join up in a hotel and be best friends? That seems like a big ask, especially knowing how the England players treat each other.

Everyone know’s that most of our players are not just deplorable on the pitch, they’re pretty disgusting off the pitch. How am I supposed to sit in the pub with my mates and cheer on John Terry whose taken cash for tours, slept with his best mates ex and generally been a bit of s*it? How can I cheer on players like Aaron Lennon, Ashley Cole and Steven Gerrard? It goes against everything I stand for! I just can’t get up for it. I love my country… that’s a fact. I’m a proud Englishman. That doesn’t mean I have to have a connection with our football players.

This World cup is going to be a struggle. How do other nationalities feel about their players? It’d be great to hear.

I’ve been reading around the papers and some of the blogs recently. It’s interesting how many stories are floating around about the potential demise of the English football because of the new 50% tax rate. Whilst I struggle to empathise with players who earn astronomical fee’s, I can understand that there is a frustration at giving away 50% of your salary to a government that has just identified £15billion worth of inefficiency within its framework.

This Micheal Caine comment is gold,

“You’re saying to poor people, ‘let’s tax those rich gits’ and I understand that. You slice up the cake, give everyone a chance, but don’t destroy the people that are making the bloody cake! I really believe about taking care of people, I don’t mind paying tax. It’s how the government spends my tax that I detest, really detest, because I see the waste. More money than all our income tax is spent on benefits. Now you tell me there is nothing wrong with that system.”

Now, I’m all for fairness and this new law doesn’t seem particularly fair. However, I’m not so sure it’s going to push footballers over to land of chorizo and latex driven fashion.

Ronaldo leaving United is often cited as an example of the potential pitfalls of our high taxation. Lets be fair here, Ronaldo didn’t leave for Spain because he was short of a few pennies. He went there because he is a lover of the sun, he is a lover of Madrid and his greasy complexion didn’t fit in with Manchester club scene. The extra money is a bonus but I doubt a man earning £130k a week spends too much time worrying about his bank balance.

If you are a foreigner in Spain, you pay a flat rate of 23% take on your earnings. This gives clubs like Madrid and Barca a competitive advantage over their Euro counter parts. However… this could all be about to change. Spain’s unemployment is at 20% at the moment which is a staggering figure considering the frenzied panic we’re having because of 9% in England. Spain are also still in deep recession and the people are not too happy that the Johnny foreigners are benefiting from the ‘Beckham law’.

Why should they be? Why should footballers pay less than everyone else considering their privileged position? The incumbent socialist party is taking a serious look at this law and will hopefully change it taking away La Liga’s competitive advantage.

Don’t worry about our poor little footballer though, where there’s a fat salary, there’s normally a fat cat tax lawyer working something out behind the scenes… loop holes are always left so the mega rich can exploit them (seriously, I wasn’t joking).

I was encouraged to read the positive words Kevin Davies had to say about Jack Wilshere. We may all loath the man, but he’s from the school of thug football and when he talks about a player you might have physical concerns about, you listen.

“I know Ade Stovell [Wanderers’ fitness conditioner] has been working really hard with him, making him stronger, because at first glance it hits you how young he is, and you’d think his size might let him down a bit.

“That hasn’t really happened, and he isn’t scared of putting a tackle in, even in training.”

I like the fact that Bolton have been trying to bulk him up. That’s something Arsenal seem to ignore with their young players, Wenger insisting technical ability comes over bulk. For me, there has to be a mixture of the two. Power is so important in the Premiership and we’ve lost our way with that side of things over the last 5 years. I’d be more than happy for Jack to go out on loan for another year to toughen up and get some more experience. I doubt he’ll be ready to make an impact in our midfield next year and a tutelage under Owen Coyle isn’t to be sniffed at.

What are you plans for this evening? Well, if you don’t have any, I’d suggest switching on the box and tuning into El Classico. The title race is still in full swing in Spain and Barca vs Madrid will be interesting viewing. How will they take on the mighty Barca? They’ve played two holding midfielders on numerous occasions this season and they do have a lot of pace in midfield. I can’t wait to see how their passing compares to Barca and to see whether they indulge in tactics tonight or go gung-ho like we did.

This Sunday, we’ll get the chance to watch Pompey attempt to take Spurs to cleaners at Wembley. It’s staggering that Harry Redknapp is about to benefit directly from his reckless management of the south coast club. Apparently, if Pompey players don’t waive their FA Cup bonuses, the administrator picks the team… giving the Spuds a free pass into the next round. Hopefully common sense will prevail.

My hopes for Sunday? Some soft tissue injuries, a few red cards and a Spurs own goal in the last ten minutes to deflate them!

We can but dream?

Next Wednesdays game is a cup final for us. If we win, I believe we’ll be go on a victory streak till the end of the season which could give us a chance of glory in the Premier League. If we lose, our season dies and we’re looking behind us at the light blue Mancs. That really is a horrible thought.

I’m confident we’ll smash the professional bottlers from down the road. They’ve got a side that I’d class as just above average. They’ve got loads of journey man players that would flop horrendously in the Champions league, so for me, their inclusion in the worlds elite competition would make the Premiership a laughing stock. We don’t need that, do we?

So get your positive hate vibes and telepathically send them to any one of the scum down the road!

I drove past their stadium the other day… my god… it’s third world round that way!

Enjoy the sun today, see you in the comments!

P.S. NBAS (Nik Bendtner Appreciation Society) is growing every day… click

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Posted by Pedro

LG get a response / Exciting rumours

April 9, 2010

There’s nothing like taking up an issue with the club and getting your very own response! So, after starting my mini campaign to get something done about injuries last year… finally, we got a response! I’m not sure it really satisfied my curiosity?

Basically, I think I’ve been proved right. Colin Lewin correctly points out we’ve had more than our fair share of bad luck when it comes to impact injuries… 7 fractures this year compared to others, but when he then went on to say our injury record compared to other clubs is comparable. I don’t think you even need to do the research to know that’s not true.

Colin went on to say that one of the reasons we have more injuries than other teams is because we run further than other teams… and here is the key…

‘”Because to get to that level it requires a high level of fitness. Therefore, everybody is in agreement that the training, as directed by the manager, has to reflect this high level of fitness.’

So there we have it, over training is the reason we get so many injuries. Like I’ve been saying since last year. If you get a competitive advantage by being fitter than everyone else, then lose that advantage because it gives you more injuries than any other team… it defeats the object of the competitive advantage.

We need to be more intelligent about the way we train. Arsenal can’t complain that we play more games than everyone else, because that’s simply not true. We roughly know how many games we’ll play every year and if we don’t build a squad capable of handling that, well, we can’t complain can we!

I lifted this little bit of research from ACLF:

‘Since August 2002, Arsenal has suffered 138 more injuries than Chelsea to first team squad members. In the same period, Arsenal has suffered 86 more injuries than Manchester United.’

2009/10 AFC 79; MUFC 55; CFC 52
2008/09 AFC 74; MUFC 62; CFC 46
2007/08 AFC 60; MUFC 53; CFC 42

A staggering 44% more injuries than our nearest rivals this season! If you’d like to read a little more detailed analysis, check out Martins post over at The Goon Blog. He’s written a pretty detailed account of why things don’t really add up, a good read indeed.

Still, it was heartening to read that we’re bringing in more expertise to the team and it was good to read that we’re indulging in a bit of sports science like Fulham and the rest of them do!

Enough already… it’s Friday afternoon, I’m writing this wearing a pair of shorts, surely it’s time for me to bust our some good time transfer rumours!

Well, the Guardian kicked of the summer rumour mill with a story about the where abouts of Jack Rodwell next season. For 20million pieces of gold, we can have one of the finest young talents in English football. He can play as a centre back but he is mostly deployed in an all action box to box midfield type role. I’ve seen him play a few times and the kid is impressive! At 19, he has 30 games under his belt, he has pace, he is 6ft 2 and he has the much needed versatility Wenger looks for in his players. £20million sounds steep… but so did £32million for Rooney. Sometimes you need to make these purchases because young English talent like that can drive a team for years to come.

Arsenal need to make an impact in the transfer market this year and we need to do it early. Other rumours have seen us linked to Brede Hangeland who is yet again having a superb year with Fulham. People say he lacks pace, I don’t really see that. He plays for a well organised team, he leads the back line and he is fantastic in the air at both ends. If we’re shipping out Gallas and Silvestre we need a bit of young and a bit of old. Hangeland and Rodwell would be perfect. Rodwell might even allow Song to move into the position Wenger favours him in!

One player we’re certain to see in the side next year is Chamakh. If you haven’t see him play yet, let me give you the low down. He is very tall and despite his slight frame, he knows how to mix it. He has bundles of pace and as a striker he likes to float out wide in Thierry-esque style. What Chamakh offers is proper width and superb link up play. He also has that ‘put you head on the line’ attitude whenever the ball flies into the box. His headed goals ratio is staggering. I think we’ve signed a real gem, just a shame we couldn’t have bought him a year earlier!

I can’t work out from interviews whether Wenger is being serious about buying players this summer? I’m more than happy to back a manager who will address our issues and despite him not heeding fan warnings this year, we’ve had a better than expected season. I don’t know how everyone else felt about seeing all the other British teams drop out of the Champions league, but I felt pretty special!

Lets pick our chins up off the floor, look forward to watching Spurs go out of the FA Cup this weekend and get the damn jokes rolling in!

Happy Friday Grovers, see you in the comments!

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Posted by Pedro

Spurs fan in shock takeover of Arsenal.com / Why we’re nothing like Barcelona…

April 8, 2010

The stunning revelation was confirmed by sources close to Le Grove late yesterday afternoon when it emerged that Spud fanatic, Chris ‘Top four for sure” Harris allegedly gained illegal access to the Arsenal mainframe to write an article about 4 players who had tormented us. He cited Drogba, Lee Sharpe, Messi, Soares and Don Rogers amongst the players who’ve humiliated us over the years…

How was this allowed to happen? Who sanctioned an article this out of touch after our mauling in Europe? Was Gazidis aware that his web team had been infiltrated by the personnel of a known oppressive footballing regime?

The web team at Arsenal.com have zero tact. If Chris Harris got caught cheating on his partner, you could imagine him sending over a montage of famous cheats to make his Mrs feel better…

An Artistic impression of a Chris Harris adultery apology

Frankly, the whole thing isn’t surprising… it’s just a bit sad that the people in charge at Arsenal are so desperately out of touch.

I’d like to know who the 32 fans were that clicked the ‘ilike’ button. Muppets… I think anyone with a facebook account should get on the Arsenal fanpage and complain about that article. If you don’t have facebook please e-mail, twitter, courier pigeon… do whatever to let Arsenal know that these articles aren’t acceptable.

That stopped me thinking about Tuesdays hard to swallow defeat for about an hour. There are plenty of people posting excuses on the web but for me, they’re all tired.

Big Game Aggregate Scores 09/10:

  • Arsenal 0 Chelsea 5
  • Arsenal 2 ManU 5
  • Arsenal 3 Barca 6
  • Arsenal 2 City 4 (Half time)

Whatever way you dress the above, it’s not impressive. Sure we we’re beating weaker teams, but so are United and Chelsea. If we want to dominate, we have to win the big games. If we want to win the Champions league, we have to beat the big teams. It’s that simple.

That leads me nicely onto my next topic. People were bombarding Le Grove from all angles with the ‘Barca didn’t win anything for 5 seasons’ comfort blanket. Like Arsenal are following the same blueprints or something?

Lets break this down.

Barca missed out on 5 La Liga’s from 99 onwards. In that time they went through 5 managerial changes, a Presidential axing and they invested a shed load on players in an attempt to get back to the top. That included £32million on our very own Petit and Overmars. Not only that, they were competing with the first wave of Galactico’s, something new to football at the time.

It’s also key to note that the Barca philosophy didn’t start with Rijkaard or Guardiola, it’s been in place since Cruyft managed. Comparing the two clubs is beyond ridiculous. Our policies aren’t similar at all. Barca spend lavishly and compliment their first team with world class youth. Arsenal spend frugally and flog average kids until they come good at the expense of trophies.

Dos Santos, once hailed by Thierry Henry as the best talent he’d seen… failed to cut the mustard after one season and was out on his arse the next… Does that sound like an Arsenal policy? Does managerial loyalty sound like a Barca philosophy? No way. Rijkaard was nearly sacked before he went onto great success.

We play pretty football. That is as close as the Barca set up gets to Arsenal… oh, and Cesc.

Also remember Barca had 5 seasons between league wins… we’re leaving our 5th season without even a cup.

Wenger has had 5 years on project youth and he hasn’t delivered. He’s had at least 4 years of ridiculous injuries and we’re still getting them. He had £40million to buy a better keeper than Almunia, a better back up centre back than Silvestre and a suitable holding midfielder to compete with Song. He didn’t do any of that… now he must.

I’m not after a £200million investment… just spend what you have on decent players that are ready to explode. Chamakh is a good start, Loic Remy could be interesting and Hugo Lloris wouldn’t be a bad bet for a keeper. Even if he does cost £20million, at 22, he’d be around for 14-16 years. If you get the chance to watch him, do, he is superb.

Oh, and before the band of bores get on here and start telling me about Championship manager and how it’s a cardinal sin to talk about transfers, don’t bother, get out of the blogosphere and onto Arsenal.com… you won’t get any speculation there. I’m more than happy listening to player suggestions, what better way to educate yourself on world football? We all know the journo’s get their stories from the blog comments sections anyway! That’s how they get hits on their sites with their imaginary sources.

Back to the aftermath.

As fans, we must accept that Arsenal are not good enough to win the Champions League at the moment. There are many other teams that are better equipped with players and experience and those ingredients will always play a massive factor in defining your season.

If Gazidis and Wenger want to continue down the path of accepted super club mediocrity, more fool them. The longer you leave between trophies, the greater the cost long term. You lose a generation of kids who wont support you, you lose a generation of young players who might opt for more successful clubs and you’ll struggle to hold onto your star players.

Wenger is back in the press, spewing out the usual lines about needing to add to the squad. Where have we heard that before? Arsene, why not just tell the truth. If you’re strapped for cash, tell us… we’ll back you. If you’re not, don’t tell us you’ll be signing super quality players, then renege in August because you can’t find any and realise that you’re actually happy with your squad. Honesty and hierarchical alignment is something Arsenal need to work on. If we’re skint, tell us. It saves a lot of fan stress and explains your weird squad decisions.

Arsenal are like that mate you’ve got who tells you he’ll be at the pub for twelve, you ring him at five past, he tells you he’ll be there in 5 minutes, 5 minutes pass and your mates still not there. In the end, he turns up 35 minutes late and you’re pi*sed off. If he’d told you he was going to be 30minutes late at 1205, you’d have been fine.

All Arsenal have to do is tell us early we wont be getting players. The fans can then make a decision on their season tickets based on facts, not on false promises. I’d Eden Hazard a guess that most would renew regardless as long as they felt they were being told the truth.

What I can’t understand is why Arsene would take flak for the board? He has no shares in the club and it affects his position with the fans. Why would you support that? It’s not like Stan and Usmanov are unaware of the financial state of play.

There seems no benefit in lying to the fans about what’s really going on?

Still, it’s not all doom and gloom. We might have a slim chance at Premier League glory… who know’s how United will react to getting dumped by an Robben wonder goal?

Ignoring that, we’ve got a great chance at something nearly as satisfying…

SPURS!

Yep, next week we get the opportunity to bury Spurs Champions league dreams. A heavy defeat inflicted by the good guys of North London will give me great satisfaction and it’ll help heal the wounds of the Champions League spanking.

Gloating about finishing above them is great, smuggly goading about doing them twice in a season is pretty satisfying, but knowing we killed their best opportunity to enter the elite of the top 4 would be epic.

I think it’s going to be a fiery game, but after the Barca collapse, this team have their futures to play for and nothing but a resounding win will do. This is the closest we’ll get to a cup final this year and a victory should pretty much assure us of at least 3rd place.

That’s progress, whatever way you look at it…

So, dust yourselves down, let’s get behind the team and see where this season can take us!

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Posted by Pedro

I take no heart from a spanking like that… not good enough. Ratings + Review

April 7, 2010

Almunia
Sagna – Silvestre – Vermaelen – Clichy
Nasri – Denilson – Diaby
Walcott – Bendtner – Rosicky

What did you think when you saw that line-up?

‘Oh no… not Silvestre’, was officially the line of every Gooner I know!

That said, the team was about as good as we could put out.

Our form was sketchy, but maybe, just maybe, we could put in a special performance.

At that point all I could do was crack open a beer and hope for a freak of History…

Early on in the game, Vermaelen missed a near post header allowing Xavi to back heel just wide. We then allowed Messi to get a rasping shot off, which Almunia was equal to.

Clichy bungled a clearance, Denilson didn’t get to Messi and the Argie fired just over. A warning you sensed.

Barca were using their ‘defending in packs tactic’ to great effect. We remained compact, sitting back and absorbing the pressure.

Diaby made what looked like a silly foul, won the ball, played Theo in who bombed down the line, slipped Nik in who has his first shot saved, but the rebound fell nicely for him to poke home! What a start!

Could we hold on to the lead?

Messi went up the other end two minutes later, collected a poor clearance from Silvestre and with a thunderous shot, he killed our lead, sailing the ball into the top corner.

Arsenal were struggling with the blatant Barca diving and a ref who’d clearly never watched La Liga…

The trouble playing Barca is you know that one mistake and they’ll kill you… our passing wasn’t sharp enough in the first half. If we were to win the tie… it’d have to improve.

Messi demonstrated his finishing skills when he picked up Pedro’s pass in the box when we failed to clear, looked up and chipped it past Almunia.

It wasn’t over though… Messi was played in by a Keita header… the only player left to chase was Denilson, Messi ran, chipped it over Almunia… game over? Well… it felt like it. We were watching a Messi masterclass. Without meaning to sound crude, shouldn’t someone have taken Messi out early on instead of allowing him to play like that?

The second half started, Barca fizzed a low cross into the box on account of no height in the box (Take note Arsene) but Almunia judged well.

Rosicky continued to look incredibly inadequate.

Theo had resorted to blind alley running. Souness made a good point… all Theo can do in a game is get into a race… if you decide to defend rather than sprint it out, he has nothing.

Bendtner took a poor touch from a great Diaby ball, allowing Milito to tackle him. At this level, half a second makes all the difference. Nik needs to improve there.

Barca were more hungry than us, things went flat and Wenger seemed to take an age to bring on a sub.

He eventually did… bringing off Silvestre and putting Eboue on. I felt we needed a bolder move though… sadly, there weren’t too many options from the bench. No Vela, deemed bad enough to leave at home.

Diaby duffed a ball to the back post finding an unmarked Rosicky who fired it miles over the bar. So weak, it made me want to cry.

Wenger looked clueless on the touchline, deciding that he didn’t need to make any further changes.

We nearly got done by the quick free kick again… Denilson had his back turned to the ball, Pedro got played in and just chipped wide.

Nik B hit the post up the other end, regardless, he was offside.

Rosicky was eventually subbed off for the paceless Eduardo… that’s the best we could muster. Geoff was right, we should have had a Watt, Wilshere or a Sanchez on the bench. What use is Eduardo against Barca? His finishing has gone and he lost the little pace he had at St Andrews. When will we own up to that?

Barca are a cheating bunch of scum bags, but they defend as a unit, take responsibility and fight for every ball. More than could be said of Arsenal last night…

Barcelona killed off the night when Messi walked through our defence, beat Eboue, beat Vermaelen and Clichy, shot then slotted the rebound through Almunia’s legs.

The way the game played out was embarrassing. The desire was typical of a Sunday league team who’ve been out on the p*ss the night before a game and rolled on half cut.

I accept that we lost to the best team in the world, for me, the best club team I’ve ever seen in living memory (My living memory doesn’t stretch that far, but Souness backed my claim). I can accept that Messi is the greatest player on the planet. However, I can’t accept that we give the best player on the planet the freedom of the Nou Camp pitch. I can’t accept that to combat the pace of Barca and the wizardry of Messi, we have players like Silvestre and Denilson lining up who make him look far better than he is. I can’t accept that the stand in captain of our team isn’t a very good keeper not to mention how meek and mild mannered he is.

Wenger said the goals were cheap, like they were some sort of anomaly! Jeez Arsene, cheap goals have been our staple diet all year long! If we didn’t concede cheap goals, we’d be storming the league and we’d have put up a better fight last night.

We were missing some important players but lets not down play the importance of Iniesta, Ibramhomvic, Pique and Puyol to the Spaniards. See Gallas, Vermaelen, RvP and Cesc for us…

How much would our full team have done to prevent yesterday evenings issues? We’ve stuttered in all the big games this year… tonight was no different. We’re only in the league by proxy of how poor Chelsea and United have been by usual standards. If we want to improve, we need to buy… and buy well. We can’t afford to let players cut their teeth for 5 years…

If we want to improve we can’t go into the season where our best back up defender can only play one game a week. We can’t then have our 4th back up as our best defensive midfielder. We can’t have our 5th as a player who wasn’t good enough for Man United. We can’t prioritise trophies we’re not equipped to win. Even if we had beat Barca, could we have out strategised Mourinho? Were we going to beat United? Not on past form…

Arsenal need to be more tactically aware at this level. If plan A doesn’t work it’s plan A, then some more plan A… then some more plan A. When you’ve got the best players in the world, you can play like that. When you’ve got players like Denilson in your team, you can’t. It’s a shame that Wenger trusts all these kids pre-season when he’s justifying his lack of spending… but when it comes to the crunch, he doesn’t play them.

Barca weren’t just better than us on the ball, they were better off the ball as well. There is no reason why we can’t defend in packs, there is no reason why we can’t have players with that hunger and desire. Wenger has built this season on ‘over achievement’. No wonder his players don’t fight like animals… to do that, you need a winning mentality, proper competition and the right mix of players.

We lacked that tonight… and I’m gutted.

Wenger says he’ll assess whether his team can win trophies at the end of the season, then decide if he’ll stay. On that performance, he’ll be packing his bags… very disappointing.

6-3 wasn’t being toppled by a great team… it was a humiliation of our own making.

Player Ratings:

Almunia: Made some top saves but his distribution was woeful. He sprayed the ball like he’d been asked to hit Barca players. Not Arsenal quality for me. Too meek, too average. At least he seemed gutted after the game… shame he seemed gutted during the game though, could have done with a Captain out there. 6

Sagna: Didn’t put a foot wrong for me. He needed to start at right back because Barca have good winger and Eboue isn’t a good right back (As demoed on the final goal). 7.5

Clichy: Superb tonight… seemed like one of the few who had fight in him. His pace and defending were evident. Should have been the captain with drive like that. 8

Vermaelen: A good performance, let down by playing next to Silvestre. Imagine being asked to run a 400m relay against the Jamaicans with three quadriplegics… that’s probably how Tommy V felt tonight. Players like him need to play with great players. Simple really. 7

Silvestre: When I heard his name announced, I felt like I did when I realised I was accidentally filling up my car with BP Ultimate (£1.26 per litre) yesterday… gutted. He gave away the first goal with a poor clearance, the rest of his game was a joke. His signing was made purely because he was cheap… you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. Silvestre summed up that little turn of phrase this evening. 3

Denilson: Not good enough for me. Would Messi have got away from Flamini? Not so easily, that’s for sure. Denilson is to speed what Rick Waller is to pole vaulting. If you’ve got a holding midfielder with no pace in a team like Arsenal, you’re opening yourself up for problems. He makes great interceptions and passes nicely but at the highest level, he doesn’t cut it because what he lacks in pace, he doesn’t make up in fight. 5

Nasri: Not a good game from a player who has little experience in the middle of the park. He held onto the ball for too long and unsettled our quick passing game. He gave the ball away far too cheaply and he didn’t impose himself as Cesc would have. Given time, he could develop a nice style in the middle. 4

Diaby: He did well in the first half starting the move for the first goal with a great tackle. For me though, he was clumsy, his passing was poor and he didn’t produce. Very disappointing, but he did show good strength on a number of occassions, a shame he couldn’t find a man. I still have high hopes, but he’s got to arrive in the big games and improve on that decision making. 6

Theo: Did very well to set up the first goal, even though you’d put that more down to Nik dealing with his poor pass than a great assist. After that, it all went down hill. Trouble is, no one gives you goals for running 100m in 10.3 seconds. All you get for that is a monster contract. Not good enough for me… I don’t care how old he is. I’ve always thought Carlos Vela had far more to offer. Why doesn’t he get the chances? He does it on the international scene and has far more trickery and intelligence than Theo. Seems odd that we’d leave him at home. 6

Rosicky: Has the ink dried on that contract? Can we get one of those eraser pens on it? He was diabolical tonight and should be ashamed of himself. When you’re looking for a bit of experience / quality, the last thing you expect is a player of his caliber to turn in a performance as poor as that. He barely strung a pass together, his finishing was terrible and he looked out of place. He’s not Freddy and he’s no Bobby… a player whose never fulfilled his potential in a red and white shirt. 2

Bendtner: Did superbly with the first goal but after that, he put in a typical 21 year old back up striker performance. His touch needs to be more intelligent and he needs to develop more instinct for first time finishing. Still, he does work hard for the team and he acts well as a target man. However, at this level, you need more than that. 6.5

1,381 Comments | Match report | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Pedro

What an omen, the 4-5 caning of the spuds.

April 6, 2010

The Battle of Rorke's drift

So I dreamt all last night about glory in the Camp Nou, the days of being bridesmaids had come to an end, we were through and with only Inter and Bayern to beat the cup was ours, then of course I woke up!

To my astonishment I went downstairs at 5.45 this morning to Sky TV and they weren’t doing a manc or chav love in, they were showing the shitehartlane crushing that we handed out to fat boy Jol, remember it?

We had Lehmann in goal, Cygan, Lauren and Cole, we had Freddie, Vieira, Henry, Dennis, Pires, Reyes and a very young Cesc playing, my how I wished they were playing tonight, how did we not win in Europe that year?

Still we won, it was an omen, tonight we don’t have Van Persie, Cesc, Arshavin, Song or Gallas, but do we need them? I think not, some of those weren’t playing last week and some that were didn’t play great, so this would be my team tonight.

Almunia

Sagna, Campbell, Vermaelen, Clichy

Diaby, Nasri, Denilson

Eboue, Bendtner, Rosicky

And use Walcott as our secret weapon when they get tired legs, you could say put him on at the start and bring Eboue on as the one to terrorise them, you could ask me why the hell I’m playing Denilson at all, well he did well against Barca and Wolves, so maybe the criticism did him some good and put a much needed toe up his rectum, either way that would be my starting line up and the message would be to go at them from the off.

If there was one lesson to take from Wednesday, it was to chase and close down every lose ball, if we lose it, win it back, at least let them know we are going to try, that will stop them showboating, that will make them nervous from the start, they have no centre backs, save Marques coming in and maybe the new guy from eastern Europe and Ya Ya, they will be in front of their home crowd so we will be the underdogs, that will make them cagey.

Maybe even put Theo on from the start with Eboue on the other flank, I would also use Vela, he’s used to playing in Spain, who knows, this could be his night?

I would not use a kid in this one, I may even try Diaby up front or in the hole and drop Eboue back, but I would pick my team from that nucleus, oh, I forgot, we have no choice on account I named the whole squad that’s fit! I would also put Thomas on the bench if he wasn’t on loan at Doncaster, maybe even Watt if he wasn’t at Leeds, but I wouldn’t start them (well I couldn’t could I?) and I wouldn’t have Silvestre in there anywhere.

This is our last throw of the dice and we have been here before, twice in Milan and once in Madrid, and you know what, no one gave us a chance then either, I remember Rodney Marsh said we would do well only to lose 4-0 when we played Madrid, I had the chance that summer to meet with him and laugh at his prediction, he said ‘hands up, Arsenal dug deep that night’ and tonight they need to dig deep again.

Whatever happens Arsenal, I want you to do us proud and fight, that first half at the Grove wasn’t them being awesome, it was us being rubbish, we showed in the second half that we were fighters and as good as them, do that in the first half and we will show them how good we really are.

This reminds me of the battle of Rorke’s Drift in Transvaal, we were away from home when we played them in the Camp Nou of South Africa, we were out numbered 4000 to 123 against the then current world champions Zulu-land FC, we held them in the first half and let them have it in the second, we showed them that the favourites don’t always win and sent them packing, we won every match after that and became Champions, that’s what we need tonight, the spirit of Rorke’s Drift, come on Arsenal, if we want to win this thing we need to beat the best, tonight we play the second best, you know why?

BECAUSE WE ARE THE BEST, THAT’S WHY

Have a great day Grovers, but have a ripper of a night, they don’t come better than this! Eat your heart out Chelsea!

1,701 Comments | Match Preview | Permalink
Posted by Geoff

We were all drooling for an hour or so until Arsenal got back into it. Richard Keys, 6.32 Sunday night.

April 5, 2010

Until Arsene got back in it? Until Arsenal got back in it, is he English? What a nasty little cockcroach he is!

That is what the Manc owned Sky Sports think, that was last night, what an odious little turd that Richard hairy hands Keys is, he knows nothing about football and he toadies up to anyone on the programme, how did he get the job in the first place? His dad must have known someone, or he was friendly with someone in power (get my drift) there is no other reason a dipstick like him could possibly get a job being an impartial programme host.

So another day and we play Barcelona, another day to see if this team has what it takes after 13 years of Arsene Wenger’s patient management.

I think we can win, but to do that we need to shut them down from the off, get in their faces and let them know we can pass the ball better than they can, can we? Well we had flashes of it last Wednesday, the schoolboy finishing against Wolves should have ended up with them losing their wages for the week, week had more shots than any other club in the Premiership and ended up taking until the 94th minute to score, not good enough against a poor team like them.

All I think about when watching us play like that is what a difference a world class striker and a decent goalie would have made, Arsene, it’s too late for that so at least show your team a video of Wednesday night and speak a few home truths. It may may the difference.

The Premiership is not in our hands anymore, the Champions League is, some of our best nights have been against the best in Europe, AC Milan, Madrid and Inter all away spring to mind, Barca are good, but they aren’t unbeatable, if they were, how comes we came back from 2 down, and two down playing like Rochdale, we were truly awful, and if we want to progress then Arsene you need to say a few harsh words, defending from ten yards off is stupid, get in their faces, hit them hard and take the piss out of them like they did to us, unleash Theo and get behind them, I would even consider Eboue as the other wide man, those two will rattle them, put Theo on the left and Eboue on the right, they will want to win, so they will attack, that will leave space at the back and we can exploit it.

Have a nice day Grovers, we may only have one left before we go out, but we may have our greatest ever night and stuff the worlds be team, in sky Sports narrow little minds!

717 Comments | Uncategorized | Permalink
Posted by Geoff

Stuttering Arsenal keep hopes alive… just!

April 4, 2010

Nasri plays a short pass to Rosicky, he looks up and plays it out wide to Theo who lays it back to Sagna to whip a perfect near post cross where Bendtner was on hand to head past the American keeper!

Another late show, another win… we’re into third!

I said in the morning post I didn’t care how we got the points as long as we got them.

We got them, I’m not going to complain… Too much!

Nik Bendtner has shown himself to be an important striker for the club once again with a decisive header. Arsenal showed the stuff of champions with a never say die performance. Wolves have been a tough team to play this season, so today was always going to be tough. We’ve never been the best at beating ‘park the bus’ sides, so today was a very important result.

Theo Walcott showed his best and worst sides today. He’s got a long way to go before he’s hitting the heights and he must do something about his weak decision making. Let’s hope he was saving himself for Tues!

What is more worrying is our how unconvincing our form has been. Whilst I’ll take any win, we’ve not exactly played teams of immense caliber recently. We need to be beating the weak teams convincingly because we’ve got a few tough games coming up. If anyone thinks the inform City or the top four dreamers down the road will roll over for us, well, they’ve got another thing coming.

We need to be more clinical in front of goal and we need to start building on our goal difference. As it stands, the only way we take the league is if Chelsea drop points in two games. That’s a shame because we’ve scored plenty of goals this season but conceded too many.

We’re still 3rd in the league but the formula remains simple… win the rest of our games and pray to the footballing gods. It’s going to be a very big ask, but we can do it. Whether the newly focused Chlesea will slip is another question. Still, we’re competing and it’s April… keep em’ crossed and we might be winning something in May!

Keep the faith!

P.S. Ibrahimovic is out of the tie next week. A bit like being on put on death row and finding out one of the 8 riflemen is ill! It’ll make a minor difference, but I wouldn’t get carried away! There’s plenty more sharp shooters where that on came from… Some guy called Terry may step in?

626 Comments | Uncategorized | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Pedro

Injuries – Bad luck or bad management?

April 3, 2010

Well, we’re at that stage of the season again when the size of your squad and the intelligence of your forward planning comes to fruition.

Problem is, it seem we’re back where we always are, in an injury nightmare. So, it’s time to ask the question. Is it bad luck or is it bad management?

Lets investigate…

  • RvP: Impact injury whilst away on international duty.
  • Rambo: Impact injury against a scum bag thug.
  • Cesc: Impact injury against a 70′s porn star.
  • Nasri: Break (Last season)

So straight off you could say that is an outrageous amount of bad luck. 3 breaks in a year is definitely not the norm.

However, with the bad luck, I feel there has also been some poor management. I don’t believe in coincidence. If you have one bad year, you could let it go. If you have two, you’re pushing it… but if your staple excuse is injuries, you’ve got to address what’s happening.

  • Denilson: Stress fracture to the lower back caused by over training.
  • Gallas: Notorious for missing large chunks of the season, rushed back from injury. Collapsed before half time.
  • JD: Always injured. We’re aware, yet still count him as one of our 4 centre backs.
  • Arshavin: Rumoured to be semi fit going into the Barca game, out of the game within 25 minutes. To be fair, I don’t think he’s got it in him to be anything other than half fit.
  • Diaby: Rarely strings more than 4 games together.
  • Rosicky: Brittle body syndrome.
  • Eduardo: Hasn’t recovered his fitness in a year.
  • Theo: Injured more often than not.

So if a fan who has a full time job doing something else can spot the flaws in our system, why can’t Arsenal? Why are we now struggling to field a team capable of competing with Barcelona? Why didn’t we buy  a decent back up centre back in the summer when we knew JD was out for a year?

Why doesn’t Arsene just equip the squad with an amount of players that could cover a crisis? It makes no sense. Wenger is intent on making it hard on himself which for me makes him look like a bad planner and opens him up to criticism. If he’d addressed this problem years ago, he’d probably have more trophies under the belt. Generally when we win a title, we’ve had a lucky season with the sick list…

Onto today, Sol Campbell is dropping to the back to partner Vermaelen. We don’t have many other options! Hopefully Wolves wont be too much of an exertion for him and he’ll be able to play against Barca on Tuesday. Rosicky will probably cover Nasri’s wide slot with the Frenchman taking the steering wheel in the middle. I’d hope there is a place for Theo and Eboue this week. They certainly deserve one!

I’m not sure I’m too fussed what happens today as long as 3 points is returned! I think we’ll destroy them and lets be fair, we need to do something with our decidedly weak goal difference. I’m hoping for a walloping! If you’re there today, make sure you sing loud  and proud… we’ve got to win the next 6 and the 12th man will help pull us through!

Have a great day Grovers!

See you in the comments!

1,182 Comments | Editorial, Match Preview | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Pedro

Wrighty or Henry… who is the bigger legend?

April 2, 2010

Geoff has had his blog holiday form signed off… so you’ll have the pleasure of a Pedro lock down for a few days!

First thing to touch on is our joint devastation that Cesc is out for the season. He’s broken his fibula and will miss all our games and maybe the World Cup. I’m gutted because he has been our player of the season, but not too concerned because I have a lot of enthusiasm for the more pacey  Samir Nasri in the centre of the park. His ability to dribble and his desire to prove himself as a centre midfielder could be what we need to drive us through the next few weeks.

Not to be outdone, William Gallas and Andrey Arshavin have also added themselves to our ever growing sick list. Both out for three weeks. That really does put us up that well known creek without any form of paddle. I said at the start of the season, the biggest problem we’ll have is if Vermaelen or Gallas pick up an injury. We’ve got Sol as back up, but he can’t play more than two in a week and Barca’s pace could be too much for him. So, now, because of bad planning we’ll have to drop Song into defence. Yep, drop one of your most consistent performers into a position that is alien to him (70% of people put the two Barca goals on him).

I’m not too fussed about Andrey. He’s a superb player, but Theo looked great the other night and if push comes to shove, we could always do something crazy… you know… play Carlos Vela!

Ok, so yesterday I touched on my disappointment that we all gave Thierry a rapturous standing ovation mid-way through one of the most important games of our post-Highbury history.

That didn’t mean my love for him had waned. Would anyone else in our previous history get such a welcome? I very much doubt it.

The Mirror had an article about the lack of love Ian Wright gets nowadays.

Where do supporters stand?

Ian Wright was one of the most explosive strikers in his prime. He was fast, he could score long range efforts, he could knock them in with his head and he could sniff out a chance from anywhere. Not just that, he was a massive, massive character for the club and until recently, he was our all time record goal scorer. He won plenty of trophies as well, even bagging himself a Premiership late on in his career. He left the club in a bit of a sulk, unhappy Wenger decided not to field him in the 98′ cup final and went on to score goals for Celtic, West Ham and Burnley. He eventually retired citing injury.

That my friends is where it all went wrong. At first, I could stomach Wrighty as the fun figure in the match of the day studio. He was vibrant, honest and a laugh. Then he decided there were bigger fish to fry. He upped sticks and took a job that you only succeed in if you’re outrageous and inflammatory… yep, he took up a spot next to Adrian Durham on the drive time Talksport show along with a position as a writer (Talker with a ghost writer) with the Sun.

He was now paid for spouting controversy. His Sun articles could only go one way… anti-Arsenal. He was constantly telling the media Arsenal weren’t good enough, he thought Spurs would beat us to a top 4 place… he was pretty much ready to say anything to shift papers. No way to treat a club that loved you and supported you. Minor celebrity when you’re already minted is an excess in my opinion and although I’ll love him forever for his contribution to the club, I can’t forgive him for how he’s treated us after.

You can say he’s only giving his opinion but I listened to his Talksport show and read some of his articles in the Sun. He wasn’t being honest, he was towing the company line and putting opinions out there to rile the public. Paul Merson, Ray Parlour, Tony Adams, Lee Dixon, Alan Smith and Martin Keown have all carved out a reasonable media careers without falling foul of the Arsenal fans. If they say something negative about Arsenal, you know they’re at pains to say it.Wrighty sold his Arsenal soul for a chat show on Channel 5.

Still, if you want to get to the top in media, you don’t do it through balance and perspective. You have to be as unreasonable as possible. It’s done wonders for Stan Collymore, Jason Cundy and Alan Brazil.

Then we move onto Thierry Henry. He arrived for a club record fee way back in 2000. He was a direct replacement for Anelka and he came with much promise. France’s top scorer in 98′, a player that destroyed United as an 18 year old, we had high hopes. When he started playing he had the pace, the tricks but no finishing.

According to a friend who used to play for Arsenal, Adam’s and co used to rip him to pieces during shooting practice because he was so, so bad. Undeterred Thierry worked on his game after training and the dividends soon paid… and boy did they pay! In only a few season he transformed himself from iffy winger to world class front man.

He was the best player on the planet by a mile and his goals helped us land two Premierships and plenty of cups. He left us as the top goal scorer after a messy divorce. He went to Barcelona and has never stopped heaping praise on us since. He even did the unthinkable, came to watch Arsenal and rolled out onto the pitch to an ovation… whilst contracted to another club!

Just to cement his legend further, he even said he didn’t want to play against us this week. Then when he came on, he didn’t play with any real drive! The guy has got it bad for Arsenal and he always will do.

If you were to be cynical, you could say it’s all a bit transparent. If he loved the club so badly, why didn’t he stay and help us through the tough years? Why was he so keen to take 10mill off a struggling club for one seasons work? Why, when he was here, did he not encourage more? His sulky behaviour and his death stares on the pitch were a major hindrance. If he’d stayed on one more season and we’d had his experience in the squad. Could we perhaps have one more Premiership under our belts?

It’s all well talking about your love once you’ve left, but isn’t the sign of a truly special relationship in the act of support when one party is in trouble, you go to them to help?

So, the question I put to you is this morning is…

Who is the bigger legend in your eyes and why?

It’ll be great to read people’s thoughts from all nationalities and all age groups!

See you in the comments!

P.S. If you haven’t had a look at the Le Grove range of t-shirts, check out the designs at Tatty and purchase yourself one! Follow us on twitter: @legrove and join our facebook fanpage at this address – facebook.com/legrove

525 Comments | New Review | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Pedro

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