Use the money to buy Ozil and replace Campbell.

June 30, 2010

This is my final suggestion on the Cesc situation Arsene, you need to read and act on it, as I think it’s a good one.

Go and spend £20mil on Ozil, or whatever it takes, he’ll only get better and for me he is as good as I’ve seen in that playmmaker attacking type role, he won’t extend his Bremen contract, so he wants out, he hasn’t gone so far as to ask to leave, like Cesc has, so he has some loyalty but he wants out, no one has enquired, so get in quick and spend what it takes.

Yes I know his dream is to play for Barca, but they can’t have everyone, and tell me a player outside of Ray Parlour and Benik Afobe who doesn’t want to play for Barcelona.

If Cesc then wants to stay as he won’t get past Iniesta or Xabi, then great, if not, put him on the transfer list, I know he only wants Barca, but if Madird come in with a bag of cash, then Barca will up their bid, if not, he’ll know how we feel about him,  he’ll take the money and sod off to Madrid.

I really do wish Arsenal would start acting like a big club and not Barca’s bitch, if they stood up for themselves then indirectly they would be standing up for their players and ultimately their fans. Is that too much to ask?

I watched the first half of the Spain game last night and didn’t see Cesc on, I suspect he got on in the second half, but he should take a long hard look into the future there, because he will need to take a cushion with him if he went to Barca, as he would spend most of his career on their bench.

Barca are also after Ozil, that’s if they can’t get Cesc, so let’s help them, we have much more money than they do, they can’t have them both and frankly, for his age, and Cesc’s show of loyalty, I would sooner have Ozil.

I really don’t want Madjid Bougherra, I know he did a job on England, but that wasn’t hard was it, they’re a shite team, but don’t forget before he played for Rangers, he played for Charlton, I’m sure we could do better than him, maybe now Hodgson has gone, we should go back in for Hangeland.

Either way we should wave goodbye to Campbell, I don’t want a player that flirts with other clubs, pure and simple, I like Sol, but he’s not got another two years in him, maybe one and then use him as a defensive coach, but not as a player. You would have thought he would have learned from his experience with Notts County wouldn’t you?

Anyway Arsene, you have a solution there for Cesc, move now before Real Madrid, City or Chelsea come in, I bet Ozil would jump at the chance, if not him, then get Gourcuff, or both if Cesc goes.

I would also go back for Melo, the thought of watching Denilson all over again fills me, and cesc with dread, at least someone bid for Song, it seems no one wants Denilson or Almunia, I wonder why?

Anyway, have a great day grovers, the world cup will soon be at an end and pre season can begin!

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Posted by Geoff

Firing Capello and losing £8mil is as stupid as extending his contract before the world cup, but…

June 29, 2010

For the FA to suggesting that David beckham is the answer is the dumbest thing I have heard in my entire blogging life, nay, my entire life, it’s as far fetched as suggesting that Saddam Hussain had weapons of mass destruction.

Before Beckham got involved with the England team, they were in the main, men, and men that died for the cause, remember Terry Butcher and his bleeding bandaged head against Sweden?

Then Beckham came along, got sent off in his first world cup for petulance, jumped out of a tackle in his second against Brazil, and we were winning at the time, but he was more concerned about his haircut, and he played like shite in his last one and cost us any chance of winning by refusing to run the line, I know, I was there.

When people tell me he did his all for England, I laugh, he did his all for himself, and his last 25 caps were the FA, trying to give him the record.

Beckham started the rich boy wag culture and we have suffered ever since, bring in a manager that plays form players, not ones that rely on reputations, bring in a manager that puts the fans first, bring in a manager that laughs at reputations and bring in a manager that has managed at the coal face in England.

For me, give it to Harry, he’s already said he would jump at the chance, how would you feel today if you were a spud, at least our manager turned down the chance to manage France for his club. Harry has already said he’d have it!

However, don’t sack Capello, the FA gave him an extended contract and if we do, it will cost us £8mil, if you’re going to sack anyone, sack the FA that gave it to him.

I had to laugh at Brooking’s comments, he said we were struggling from 11 years old as kids aren’t being taught ball skills, well a mate of mine has offered to start an England academy, where kids go in at 11, they board there, are taught by football professionals (from EPL Academies) as well as being educated, if they don’t turn out to be the next Messi, they will at least turn out well balanced, educated kids that would add to the economy instead of the feral kind we currently turn out, they would trawl from all walks of life, privilage doesn’t come into it, talent does.

I suggested writing to Brooking, they needed £15mil over an 8 year period, you know what Brooking said? He said the FA couldn’t afford to fund it! They could however afford to give Capello an extended contract, pay for Beckham to sit in the dug out showing off his tattoos and send their entourage out to South Africa, first class, go figure, that’s the FA for you.

Okay, that’s enough about England, we have a global audience of Gooners to address, so I will now talk Arsenal.

With YaYa seemingly on his way to Man City, it seems now, that finally the transfer merry go round will begin, De Jong anyone?

It also appears we have finally landed Laurent Kosienlny for Gallas and there were rumours that Kjaer and Balotelli are next up, now that I would have, Joe Cole only wants centre midfield so if that’s the case I would prefer to sign Ozil or Gourcuff if I had to choose. Or both if Cesc goes.

We still need a keeper, but that looks like Schwarzer, frankly a Neuer would do me, but I’m sure he’s too close to Chezza’s age for Wenger to do that, so maybe Schwarzer is the answer, either is better than what we currently have.

If we keep Campbell or sign Kjaer, I think we have enough at the back, but DM is an area we need to strengthen as I don’t think Eastmond is yet ready.

I saw a glimpse of the new kit on a website yesterday and if it’s true, then I like it, I just hope we have hooped socks, white with a red top, or red with a white top.

So with all that little lot am I being greedy? It’s my wish list and if he dips in there, and the kit is right, then I for one will be in happy bunny land.

I so hope that Kosienlny is as good as Wenger seems to think because if we can shore up the back, we can win the lot, if we replace some of the kids we let go with real quality, then we’ll also have the squad we need to compete on all fronts.

Let’s hope so eh? It’s long overdue. have a great day Grovers.

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Posted by Geoff

How embarrassing, thank god that lot’s over, do we still want Cole?

June 28, 2010

I would still take him, he was given no time to show what he could do, but then being Arsenal fans, we already knew what he could do, thank goodness we didn’t want Upson or Terry eh!

We are now being linked to another 18 year old starlet Christian Eriksen from Ajax, are Ajax to Arsenal what we are to Barca? Another thing the world cup has shown us is we don’t need Robert Green, but I would have some of those Gerries, especially Ozil, I would buy him and Gourcuff and sell Cesc, I think if we did that and fast, we may have the answer to our Fabregas problems.

One can never tell too much from a world cup about how bad players are, often top players look crap at world cups, look at the teams on their way home, France, USA, England, Nigeria and Italy, they can’t all be bad can they,  what you can take from a world cup though is the good ones will generally get better.

Germany showed us how a team of youngsters can impress, they all fought for everything, but then they blended it with older and wiser players, look at Klose, 32 and he would’ve be out of our door two years ago, but he shredded us, maybe we should take something from the game and implement it ourselves, I thought they were fab, forget the goal that wasn’t, they would have won regardless, they did to England what the mancs and chavs do to us on a regular basis, they scrapped, overpowered and stuffed us.

Maybe now Wenger will return home and get on with the serious business called Arsenal, you know, what he’s really paid for. It’s only 3 weeks before pre season starts and we should have our new team in place raring to go by then, if they aren’t then that would be a mistake for the 6th summer running, I am backing Arsene to put that right this term.

I don’t want Cesc for ‘one more season’ all that will do is make him richer, what we need is players in place that see their long term futures at our great club, if Barca won’t stump up the money, whack him on the transfer list, someone will pay and he will know there is no way back for him, strip him of the captaincy as well, he’ll go then.

If on the other hand he wants to stay, then say that and stay for a few more years. I don’t think that’s too much to ask do you? What’s the point in signing a 15 year old only to see him leaving at 23, when he’s come good? Other players that may join the leaving list are Vela, Eduardo, Eboue and Diaby. Diaby has such talent but as you’ve seen at the world cup, he can’t do it consistently, so sometimes you have to admit you need to think of the team and not your experiment Arsene, let’s have a team in place that wants to play for the club, can play for the club, and has a chance to compete on all fronts.

YES BOSS, COMPETE ON ALL FRONTS, THAT MEANS THE EPL, THE FA CUP, THE ECL AND THE CARLING CUP, AND THAT ALSO MEANS TO WIN.

We have waited for Gilbert and Simpson to come good, they clearly are on their way out now, so we need to take a long hard look at the others and be honest, if they aren’t going to make it then get shot of them, we have Randall, Barazite, Fabianski, Hoyte that have all flattered to deceive, we have Wilshere, JET and Lansbury that look like they’ll be great players, so stop messing around with all these 16 year old starlets and play those we have, if not, save the money and bring in a few Joe Cole’s, or dare I say it an Ozil and a Gourcuff.

Have a fun filled week grovers, at least the world cup is out of the way and we can get back to our favourite team, the Arsenal, well them and Holland anyway!

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Posted by Geoff

Richards is a Gooner, is 22 and has EPL experience, have him Arsene.

June 27, 2010

We have been linked with many, we always come up short, the Arsenal apologists always tell us we did better than the season before, Arsene always blames injuries, we always blame lack of quality players and not spending, so who’s right?

Kids aside, it seems to me that every season, we lose more players than we sign, every season, then we get injuries, then we curse our luck, look at last season, we were short at the start, yet we sold Ade and Kolo and brought in Vermaelen.

This year we have signed Chamakh on a free, but look like losing Campbell, Silvestre, Gallas, Simpson (gone), Gilbert (gone), Merida (gone) and possibly Cesc.

Wenger has already said he would never buy more than 3, well we’ve already lost two, so if we only bring in 3, we’ve not moved, and last season we were short, so this season we’ll be shorter. We know he’s after Koscienlny and Schwarzer, so it doesn’t bode well if 3 is his limit.

We do however need another defender and for me Richards, who is a gooner could step in and fill the breach. At least he’s English and used to the vigours of the EPL, yes I hear he’s a party boy with an attitude but what, Bendtner isn’t?

Anyway, England against the old enemy up tonight, strangely enough, I fancy us to win, 4-2! Then maybe we can start to believe, shame about the USA, they did entertain, I liked the way they played, maybe we would do well to shoot a bit more, like they did.

If England lose, then the silver lining could be Joe Cole being announced next week, who knows eh!

I just so want us to start signing players that will make an impact from the start, we have the money, Wenger has the knowledge, let’s not have another season as the rank outsider, let’s start as we mean to go on.

Come on Arsenal! Have a great day Grovers, this is what weekends in the summer should be about!

Finally the web is full of Eduardo to leave stories, well if true, I can’t say I’m surprised, I just wish we had had the chance to say goodbye properly, that guy was brave and loyal and a little unlucky, so if true, good luck Eduardo, and thanks.

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Posted by Geoff

Promises Broken? / Strip him of the Captaincy / Defender deal?

June 26, 2010

Around this time last year I remember walking down Pennard Hill at Glastonbury when a girl flew out of a tent off her face on everything and told us all that MJ was dead, this was a moment of great hilarity as the guy I was walking with had recently lashed out about a grand for tickets to his o2 gig in the hope the hope of flogging them to pay of some unsightly credit card bills.

Oh and we laughed!

Something that weighed more heavily on my mind than the pop music tragedy was whether Arsenal would sign the right amount of players to compete. Actually, come to think of it, I think I’ve been wondering the same thing for the last 5 summers?

I also wondered how awkward it would have been had MJ been a Hammers fan… Imagine him having to sing ‘ I’m forever blowing bubbles’… the last thing Jacko would have needed was more allegations about his private life.

So the reason I bring the question up is that Felipe Melo has now hit the main stream in a big way. He binned us off last year for the Old Lady, it all went terribly wrong for him there and plenty of blog geeks came running over to Le Grove to tell us how stupid we were for suggesting Melo was a good idea. Well, people of no Brazilian faith, guess who has come good? Felipe Melo is receiving rave reviews as the tough tackling enforcer for Brazil and even worse for my disposition, Gooner legend Gilberto is also playing really well!

‘Oh but his legs were gone’

Were they gone? Or is that just something Arsenal fans tell themselves to make players like Denilson (Who is so painfully slow at 21) seem like an acceptable choice. Gilberto loved Arsenal and he clearly could have still been doing a fantastic job for us. That’s part of our problem, once a player gets past 30, we have no time for them whatsoever.

Why hasn’t this Sol Campbell deal been sorted out yet? Surely one of our best players of the past 6 months should have put pen to paper by now? Why is there no update from Arsenal on that subject?

Where is our new Polish defender Kolossus (We’ve got to start figuring out nick names)? I thought we were promised a signing by Friday? What could possibly be holding up the deal. It’s not like we’re trying to buy from a European powerhouse here.

Everything with Arsenal takes an age to agree. What happened to the days when Freddie Ljungberg would have a fantastic game against England, the next week, he’d be ours? All this farting about is so frustrating.

It’s interesting that this time last year, we were talking about making the type of signings that would make Cesc want to stay with the club. Well, now we’re a year on and we’ve not made those signings and guess what? Our captain no longer wants to be at our club.

You can get all lawyerish on me and point to the fact that there are no quotes, but by doing that, you’re only lying to yourself… like the bloke who says his girlfriend would never cheat because she is special.

The Spaniard isn’t stupid. He doesn’t go out to Spainish band camp and tell all his mates about how amazing the Arsenal squad are. I also don’t think too many of the other Spanish players ask where Almunia is when Cesc checks in, or try to confirm if Eboue really does have super powers, or if he has met Songs imaginary friend in the flesh.

He’s watched a lack of investment year after year and he knows he’s probably going to get more of the same this summer. If you needed confirmation about his desire to leave, check back through the archives to see how rapidly he has denied stories about his departure over the past 3  years… then overlay those time scales onto this summer.

So that begs the question…

Do we want Cesc as our Captain next year if he’s prepared to treat the fans in this way? Are you happy to know that the man representing our club as the on pitch leader has been thinking about other clubs in a quite perverse way this summer? I don’t think I am… why am I thinking along these lines?

Well the club captain should be Mr Arsenal, 100% commitment to the cause and the other players should want to follow his lead. What have the youngsters seen from Cesc? Well, when you get good enough at 22, you try and engineer a move away from the club.

That’s not good enough.

Who could takeover? How about a real on pitch leader like Thomas Vermaelen? How about someone who has never spoken about returning to his boyhood club like Robin Van Persie? At a push, if he’d shown good enough form over the last year, I’d even go as far as saying Gael Clichy. I think those three already have a passion and love for the club to rival Cesc’s, especially this summer.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’d hate to see him go… but this is Arsenal, the greatest club on the planet with the greatest fans and no one is bigger than that, not Thierry, not Paddy, not Bobby, not Adams and certainly not a captain who has lifted the grand total of zero silverware for us… always remember that.

See you in the comments Grovers!

P.S. I was disgusted to see Torres diving to get a man sent off last night. I’m not surprised though, the Spanish have less moral fibre than the nonce wing at Broadmoor. I felt sorry for Chile until they realised they were going through and struck a non-verbal agreement with Spain not to play the last 20 minutes of the game. Disgusting to watch and worthy of a FIFA investigation in my eyes…

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Posted by Pedro

Song going for a Song, Babel on the radar and Nikki B get’s the boot, just not the one he wanted!

June 25, 2010

Well, well, well, at last an offer for Alex Song, Galatasaray have come in with a £4million bid, I have always maintained that you can always see what a player is worth with who out there wants him, and what they want him for.

Now Barca coming in for Cesc at £29million is as silly a bid as I have ever seen, but for Galatasaray to bid £4million for Alex Song is that as silly? And if it is, that shows quite a gulf between the worth of those two players in the silly bid transfer market.

There’s no chance of Wenger selling Song Frank, but then there was no way I saw Wenger selling Cesc, so watch this space.

Babel wants out of Liverpool and we need a winger, is he good enough? I know a number of you think he’s rubbish, but so was Henry when he was at Juve, maybe Wenger could turn him into a player, I wouldn’t be upset, but I also wouldn’t be thrilled, but based on recent Wenger signings, he would almost be considered a Galactico.

So he won’t be coming!

I would also have Phil Jagielka from Everton, he is premiership quality and he would slot in nicely alongside Djourou or Vermaelen, regardless of what foot he kicks with, we seem to be obsessed with having too many left footed players, what difference does that make anyway, when most of our team has always been right footed.

Jagielka can also play as a defensive midfielder but is only 5’11″ and I would like a big player in there for crosses, but if he’s all that’s on offer, I would prefer him to someone I haven’t seen, and maybe Wenger sees him as a DM.

Finally Nikki B didn’t get the golden boot, he and his mates got the ordinary boot, as a result he comes home early and should be fit for pre season training, Italy out as well, it would make my day if Spain got beaten by Chile, then the Cesc issue can finally be sorted.

Enjoy the games today Grovers, it will soon all be over and we’ll get our lives back. I know, abit BP’ish but it is the way I feel!

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Posted by Geoff

Schwarzer to shore us up at the back agreed, but who is Kosienlny?

June 24, 2010

I’ve been without an internet connection for a few days Grovers, Spain is such a third world country, one provider for broadband internet, so they do what they want. And they think they can afford our captain, this country is more in the shit that Greece.

Anyway I have been keeping track and reading all Pedro’s posts, so well done for holding the fort!

It looks like Wenger finally has his man in Mark Schwarzer, so I’m also guessing that means the end of Almunia, I really can’t see the point in keeping him, it would be too awkward and absolutely pointless, then he’ll let Fabianski and Chezza fight it out as to who succeeds the 37 year old. That’s good business, if it happens.

I still think we need a big stopper at the back, I would prefer one with EPL experience but I am struggling to get my head round Laurent Kosienlny, I have never seen him, he’s had one good year in a lower league in a team that finished 7th, has this got Pascal Cygan written all over it?

Let’s not kid ourselves the manager has been tracking him for years, he hasn’t, and please don’t say Vermaelen was an unknown, he wasn’t, he was captain of Ajax and he was an international, so he was known, in fact a few people have been coming onto Le Grove claiming we were slagging of the signing of Vermaelen last year. Blog geeks love to make stuff up, I’m waiting for someone to come on and say that we never supported Nik B…or Theo, anyway, here are some snippets about what we said about our Tommy last year.

‘Vermaelen looks good, but he’s not the Sol Campbell type we need’

June 25th

‘Signing Melo and Vermaelen is a shrewd move as they are older and better than what we currently have, but don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater, we need to keep either Gallas or Kolo’

June 23rd

‘Everything I have seen of Thomas Vermaelen reminds me of Martin Keown and if he turns out to be half the man Keown was then we have done a great bit of business.’

June 20th

Okay, well on that note I’m mostly resting my case on him, but my point about the Lorient defender isn’t whether he’s a great player, it’s that he is a massive risk considering the relative inexperience of Vermaelen in the EPL. I think we should be playing the Belgian next to a battle hardened centre back he can learn from. And a big bugger like Campbell that will knock people over and win the ball in the air, getting the nod from a Grimandi special doesn’t seem enough for me.

I also think we have too many French players.

Just my opinion of course and I’ll happily eat humble pie if he forms the centre back pairing of the century next season!

Well we won last night but Rooney was still rubbish, he really is so over rated, missed a sitter and doesn’t run after the ball. Good finish by Defoe though, and yes I cheered! Don’t forget though, it was only Slovenia, which only has a third of the population of London, the USA won the group (how embarrassing) and next up are the Krauts, so don’t get too carried away.

It won’t be long before the world cup is over and we can get back to being a football team blog again, I think Cesc will stay, but I really don’t want him to stay for one more year with a bumper pay rise, that would be a massive piss take, we did that with Henry and we did it with Ade, all it made us do with Ade was to hate him, don’t do that with Cesc Arsene, sell him for a shed load or keep him, no compromise, that would be weak.

Have a great day Grovers, the sun is shining and we have no injuries!

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Posted by Geoff

England star to the Arse… + How are you feeling about things?

June 23, 2010

So after a baseless Joe Cole to Manchester United story in the Sun yesterday, the Guardian have kindly cleared up that the skint ones from up North have no interest in signing him.

I believe we’re back in the game.

Funny how many people came here yesterday to gloat he wasn’t coming to Arsenal? Why would you gloat about losing out on a good player? Very odd…

Just as a side note, I’m still hearing very positive things about the move… it’s a done deal providing Madrid or someone of that ilk don’t gazump us.

Yesterdays World Cup games ended in a bit of a horror show for Arsenal players old, new and linked. Diaby was partly responsible for the first goal after Hugo Lloris comically flapped at a cross… our man was beaten in the air at the back post which was particularly shoddy. Later on, he failed to track and Clichy couldn’t do anything to stop South Africa bundling the ball into the net. Diaby was particularly awful for France, which was disappointing, but not surprising. He can pop up with a good game every now and then, but showing any sort of consistency seems to be an impossible hurdle for my ex-best friend to jump.

Still… watching France go out was fun. I hope Platini was watching.

Later in the evening, we were served up Bolton like performance from Greece. They were man handling Messi in very rough and ready fashion and I personally thought Argentina were shown up defensively. I’m rarely impressed by Aguerro. I know he is a youtube god, but whenever I’ve watched him live it’s always been a bit deflating. The Argies eventually found a way round the Greeks and took the win.

Nigerian striker Yakubu was guilty of a miss that would have made Ade blush against South Korea… and as a result, they’re out!

The World Cup continues to disappoint, my imagination is still waiting to be captured, however, England are playing tonight… I’m sure Slovenia can turn it on and inject a bit of excitement!

Jokes aside, listening to the press on the radio this morning was comical. They’re now talking about Roy Hodgson like he’s the answer! Why not give Capello a chance before you start talking about the next manager you want to build up and demolish? I’m staggered that some writers can condone Terry’s behaviour as acceptable because he was right… when is it ever right to stage a power grab during a world cup that alienates half the team? Capello has managed superior players, won more trophies and has more intelligence than all our boys combined. The players should let him get on with and concentrate on playing like a team instead of bitching like a group of girls.

I think we’ll do alright in this world cup, despite the mess we’re in.

Arsenal still haven’t confirmed the Franco/Pole deal yet, if we do and our summer transfers looked like this, how would you feel?

In

  • Chamakh
  • J.Cole
  • Koscielny
  • Rob Green

Out

  • Merida
  • Silvestre
  • Sol Campbell
  • Almunia (Assume he’ll be on his way if we’ve already bid for Schwarzer)

Yep… we’d be back where we started again. I don’t want to start complaining before pre-season has started, but I can see the above outcome happening.

Would the above scenario be enough to over turn Chelsea, Man U and Barca? Would those players send shockwaves round europe and signal our intent? Would they make 33,000 gooners feel good about handing over £66million of their hard earned to watch Arsenal compete in 2 trophies again… because if we don’t increase the depth of our squad, I’m pretty sure that’s all we’ll be competing for again.

I just don’t feel like there’s any intent from Wenger to sort out the squad this summer. I’m not denying the quality of Cole and Chamakh… but is that what we need? Or do we need to buy a proper keeper and a world class defender who will be ready from the off?

A better question… would we have signed Joe Cole and Chamakh if they were up for full price? If you were a top class football manager, would you be signing an unknown quantity to plug your defensive ills when you’re supposed to be under pressure?

Like I said… I don’t want to start the moaning early, but it’s not like Wenger doesn’t have previous when it comes to broken transfer promises. I thought we were 3 players short last season, that’d mean we’d need to sign 7 to get back on track.

I’d say that scenario is about as likely as my girlfriend believing me when I tell her I only use the in-private browser function when I’m shopping for her ‘birthday gifts’ online.

Call me old fashioned, but when your team has had a shocking end of season like our one has, perhaps you should be spending a little less time commentating in South Africa and a little more time doing some deals. You know… in the same way that if you’ve made a few mistakes at work, you cut down on the lunch time boozing for a few weeks…

Our season finished on the 9th May, Wenger had 25 days off (standard in the UK) before the World Cup started. Now he’s in South Africa on a paid up shin dig when for me, he should be sorting our club out.

Does it matter that other clubs haven’t done much business yet? Can’t we set our own rules? What happened to getting our business done early?

Maybe there are some other major club European managers doing the same thing and I’m not aware of them… and hey, I wouldn’t mind if I had any faith he’d come back and hit the ground running… but by then it’ll be all about the pre-season, then it’ll be about the new signings we already have, then it’ll be about the growth of the players, then world cup inflation will have scuppered at least 3 moves he’ll tell us fell through in 5 years time… then he’ll be satisfied with his squad and he’ll tell us God came to him in a dream and told him Denilson was the man to lead the title charge… then we’ll be fu*ked.

The joys of being a Gooner eh?!

Come on Ennnnngerrrrrland!

P.S. Heard on the grapevine that we should expect Aaron Ramsey firing on all cylinders by October… it’s lovely getting a new signing when the window is shut!

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Posted by Pedro

John Terry has no friends / Russian linked / JC no go? / Rob Green to Arsenal…

June 22, 2010

I didn’t have all the info to hand before yesterday’s post, so I’m going to briefly touch on the John Terry saga, because that man is everything I hate in a footballer and everything I hate in a person.

Who gave him the right to firstly set up some sort of coup to undermine the manager and secondly, nominate himself as the spokesman? You lost that right when you knocked up your best mates ex-girlfriend and sold tours for cash.

John Terry isn’t looking out for the best interests of England, he’s looking out for himself… like he always does.

Now I’m not sitting here defending some of the odd selections Capello’s made during this world cup, but John Terry using under hand deceitful tactics to pull off some sort of Machiavellian one one-upmanship over a manager who, in JT’s mind, dissed him. Trying to screw over one of the most successful manager of all time because the players want to deflect blame from themselves is disgusting.

The Barking born scumbag saw his position as invincible and decided he’d use his sway amongst the dressing room to try and takeover. He’s so out of touch he thought the country would back that stance but more embarrassingly, he thought he’s mates would back him. Thankfully, he was wrong on both counts!

Capello is now talking about his ex-captains ‘big mistake’… that’s fighting talk Fabio… I hope you’re going to do the right thing and drop him. I don’t care about how desperate we are at the back there should be no room for a scum bag like Terry in our set up.

Do I even need to mention how pathetic it is to hear that he is bored and the players are upset they have to go three weeks without a beer?

Hopefully JT’s legacy will, in footballing terms, be remembered with all the fondness Tony Blairs stint in government was.

Onto the Arsenal news…

We’re all now aware why Arsenal have gone after Kocielny with such vigour… there’s a youth deal tied to it! Marvellous.

I like the look of him, can’t comment on his ability, but he’s tall, which is good. Hopefully he’ll have a bit of Eastern European grit mixed with a some French flair. If he turns out to be a great signing, Wenger will be the King maker again… if he flops, you’d have to say, the risk was pretty huge.

That’s what I don’t understand about Arsene Wenger. He’s about to put £8million on the line for an unknown quantity, yet he wouldn’t weigh out £14million for Alonso. Which represents the greater risk? The Spanish international, or a player that if you get it wrong, you’ll probably look at getting 10% of his value back (Or zero if you look at Phil Senderos).

Still, the Grimster wouldn’t recommend a flop would he?

Onto Spain… No Cesc… again.

Do I care much for his plight? No. He can rot on the bench for all I care, if he has half a brain, he’ll realise that’s where he’ll be sitting for Barca next season. Have a think about it Cesc… do you believe Iniesta and Xavi would be welcoming your move if they saw you as a threat?

One of the our Eastern Bloc Grovers told us about this left back Arsenal are tracking yesterday. Renat Yanbaev of Lokomotiv Moscow is interesting Arsenal probably because he is looking for a new club. Word on the street is that Clichy could be off and this man could step in despite not satisfying work permit rules.

26? What are they putting in the water in Russia these days?

The Joe Cole stories have been few and far between over the last few days so the Metro thought it fitting to predict he was now going to United this summer. Like I said before, if Arsenal can’t persuade a London boy to join them when he’s just started a new family… there is something seriously wrong with our seduction tactics. Maybe we don’t give them a shirt like we used to?

Murmurings in the comments section are once again pointing to Rob Green joining us after the world cup. You don’t become a bad keeper after one shocking mistake… David Seaman made plenty of errors through his career… the question is, can he take the pressure of playing for a world class club like Arsenal?

Finally, before I leave you, I have to comment on that James Corden ITV show… is it not one of the least funny things you’ve ever seen on TV? I cringe every time I watch him suck up to the players. Can’t we have someone on the box who’ll tell it like it is instead of pandering to the England players like they are messiah’s? What is a WAG sitting on the panel? Who cares what her opinion on football is? Who cares what Peter Crouch ate for breakfast?

TV in this country really is pitiful at times and very boring…

See you in the comments!

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

Arsenal linked to a defender who ticks all the boxes…

June 21, 2010

Another quick post from me as I’m visiting a company who sell wholesale electrical fittings… yep, trust those b*stards to be located in Wrexham…!

On with the post…

We’ve been tenuously linked with Algerian superstar, Madjid Bougherra, for about £5 million. He managed to keep England at bay the other night with ease and to be fair, he did have a blinder. Can you buy a player based on one game? Of course not, unless they are Freddie Ljungberg! Is his agent using Arsenal to push the value of his player up… highly likely. So probably not the best story to report on. However, it’s a more interesting story than the Cesc one doing the rounds and if we bought him, turned him into a success and Madrid came knocking, I could bust out this headline.

Madjid to Madrid

Wouldn’t that be a cool headline?

One player whose name has been bandied about for two years is Subotic. Apparently he could be on the way out of Dortmund for a massive fee this summer. That massive fee should be enough to cancel his transfer to us, however, if Manchester United can afford to be in the running, I see no reason why we shouldn’t be. The guy is a bit of  a beast and young enough to represent value for money, I don’t think the giant defender will have too many issues in the air either and he has a good grasp of the English language. We’ll wait and see on that one…

Arsene Wenger has been cracking more jokes than Emmanuel Eboue at an open mic this week… he’s been joking about England fans falling asleep and Peter Crouch being very tall… however, he was in no mood to joke when it came to questions about his captain!

This annoys me a little touch… why isn’t Wenger backing Cesc to stay 100%? Is he thinking about the bigger picture… about what he could do to his squad with £40million? Or has he run out of material when it comes to his own players? Who knows… but I’d prefer him to retort to that type of question with witty one liners about us signing Messi for £5 million.

So, it’s my birthday today and I thought I’d take some time out to thank you guys!

Another year has passed and according to the statistics, our daily following has grown another 30%. Is that down to the superior writing Geoff and I put together on a daily basis… or is it because the community created over here is so superior to any other site?

I’m going with the latter (Although if you’d like to disagree, please feel free)!

Le Grove is the place to thrash out all things Arsenal in a respectful manner and I can’t thank you all enough for allowing that to happen… the comments section here is the exception, not the rule. Over the last year we’ve seen sites pop up off the back of Le Grove and we’ve seen sites try to capture traffic by stalking us in a very public way… both are extremely complimentary and what I find really fascinating when I tell people I write for Le Grove is that they all have their favourite characters from the comments section.

So basically, this is a big fat thank you for continuing to accept that the best way to talk about football is the way you’d talk about it with your friends down the pub and for continuing to come by everyday!

Long may all that nonsense continue and long may our love for the club supercede the powers that be!

It’s been a great crack and if I was feeling emotional, I might have left you with a joke and a cyber voucher for a crate of Peroni. Sadly, we still haven’t set up that sort of advertising deal with Peroni and my jokes make people sad.

Anyway, have a great day, see you in the comments!

P.S. Couldn’t resist:

My granddad has just been told he has arthritis in both his wrists, so we’ve nicknamed him Anelka.

Useless w*nker.

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

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