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So in this season where we have to start counting home growners, I started to cast my mind back to who were the greats, when I say home grown, I mean they had no other clubs before us and they joined as schoolboys.
I’ll start from my early days and the top of that list was none other than the great Charlie George, a real product of the North bank and a real ‘One of us’ Charlie of course still is, and a top, top bloke to this day, I know Charlie well, in fact Charlie was the subject of my ‘O level’ art GCE, so I have Charlie to thank for that, I passed! I painted him on the floor at Wembley with his arms outstretched when we done the scousers in the cup final of 1971, the year of our first league and cup double.
Many followed, with the next golden generation of Adams, Merson, Thomas and Rocky Rocastle, I loved Merse, but him being a self confessed Chav fan, set him back, Thomas, although he scored the greatest goal in the history of football, left us to join the enemy, Adams, a career player was up there, but he’s lost it a bit with his lack of judgment with the bottle and Rocky although very, very special, sadly didn’t make my all time number one.
So who have I missed out? For me the greatest of them all, Liam Brady. Liam is still at the Arsenal, he is a true gent, matter of fact he let me play through him at La manga club once when I was with Pedro, the same year we sold Petit and Overmars to Barca, we had a nice chat that day, not one he expected as I was a little peeved that our great manager sold our two best players, but he said, ‘you can’t keep unhappy players’ hmmm I thought, however, he had the sweetest left foot, his goal against Spurs was the finest I had seen and still sends a shiver down my spine, for those of you who never got to see him, I PITY YOU FOOLS! He was the real deal and gets my vote for the greatest ever Arsenal home grown talent, when he left us for Juventus, I was genuinely gutted, and didn’t feel good about the Arsenal until we signed Charlie Nick.
I remember going to Pat Jennings testimonial, and the biggest cheer of the night was reserved not for him, but for Liam Brady (at Sampdoria at the time I think), he wanted to re-join us and said so, but George Graham was having none of it, and he went to West ham instead.
Years later following spells with Celtic and Brighton, Liam returned home and become the new master of the next generation of young home grown talent, and that brings me on to the next best player I have ever seen come through our ranks, Jack Wilshere, and his goal against West ham at 16 reminded me of Liam’s against the spuds all those years before, so Arsene, why is he not starting in our team like you started Cesc, Denilson, Flamini and Eboue? He’s better than the lot of them and if given the chance, he will stay for life, and he’s English, which for me is the cherry on the cake.
That’s all I have for today, sign who you want, sign as many frees as you like, but please, please make a starting place available for one Jack Wilshere, the new Liam Brady, and Liam, thanks for what you did and for what you continue to do, you are my all time favourite product of youth.
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A final word for our Spanish youth product, Cesc Fabregas, the grass isn’t always greener, the preperation you got from the Spanish coach did your team no good yesterday, you didn’t play and that is a sign of things to come, don’t take my word for it, ask Hleb, Henry and YaYa, Barcelona are a team of spoilt brats, and you know what? THEY DON’T EVEN PAY THEIR BILLS!
The new fixture list is also here… away at Liverpool!
Have a great day Grovers, today we can have a huge snigger up at the Spanish national team, ha, ha, ha!
agree on gouffran and ciani, although gouffran failed to impress lately but now with chamackh out he will be given a chance no doubts. Wendel is brazilian.
Keyser
One of the Arsenal blogs posted them onnewsnow 1 or 2 days ago, im too drunk to find em, but i will tomorrow.
Fergie was saying about how to negate our attack, Mourinho was saying how his system was ‘guaranteed’ to beat a 4-4-2, in the season he got 95 pts.
Any game where 2 people/teams interact will eventually reach a point where there is an unbeatable strategy, football is 50 years away, but getting there.
yeah keyser, if they draw they will both go through,
but maybe they’ll think of avoiding argentina, mmm interesting situation :O
No to Gouffran, yes to Ciani.
Ciani & Rami will be the CB partnership for a fair time.
France need to win by 4 goals and hope Uruguay win.
Didnt know where Wendel was from. Just assumed it was france.
So tough guy Carlos Vela got injured
& the bloke who replaced him, just nine minutes after coming off the bench, & who will officially move to Old Trafford from Chivas in a £7million deal next month, scores.
WTF
I was thinking something like that could happen in Spain’s group to, England could actually have a real chance of winning it, it’s funny how people are starting to jump on Capello’s back, when everyone’s seen the same group of muppets mess it up for themselves over the past few years.
Hernandez goal against France..offside or not? I think he was of.
if uruguay win by 2/3 goals the french could still sneak through.
but i think they are done, this team is fucking shite and they deserve to go home as much as germany deserve the award of best entertaining team.
*off.
I think Capello has something in his bag of tricks. I wouldn’t be writing England off just yet.
Stu says:
June 18, 2010 at 00:14
Hernandez goal against France..offside or not? I think he was of.
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he was defo ON side, i saw the replay, and abidal’s leg was covering, the analysis was shocking but the french defenders were never on the same line and trying to play the offside traa, when you have such an experience bunch it tells a lot about quality
Capello is a top class manager but when the players you manage arent then it makes him look worse. How many clean sheets have they kept under Capello. I heard the other day that McLaren had a better record.
trap*
gambon – That’s if you can control enough of the other variables, teams in recent years that seem to stand out have simply grown to points in their own leagues where they can adjust to almost any given situation.
I think he was slightly off. The advantage was rightly given to the attacker but imo he was leaning offside. His feet and Abidals were in line but he was leaning towards the goal and Abildal was leaning away from it. Any part of the body than you can score a goal with counts as offside…or something like that. He was off imo,
capello isn’t helping himself though.
as hodgson was saying, it’s ridiculous for goalkeepers to go into a tournament like this not knowing who is number one.
in a position where confidence is so important, there needs to be a number one who knows the manager has faith in him. not naming the side until 2 hours before kick off is ridiculous
i saw it with the line drawing and on the french tv too, every part of the united cunt’s body was covered by abidal, the french themselves said he was on.
I dont think not naming the team until 2 hours before kick off is a problem. If the team was in a position where the players made it obvious who was starting then this wouldnt be an issue.
As it is though everyone is fucking things up for themselves. Heksey is shit in front of goal which is kind of important for a CF, none of the defenders are staying fit for long enough to make the spot their own, similar with the wide positions and i wont even comment on the keepers.
Hmm, the replays i saw werent right along the line. It was at an angle. They drew the line of where Abidals trailing leg was but from the angle i saw it at it was inconclusive.
Maybe Keyser,
I think the game has reached a point that may bebeyond our manager, who knows, maybe we’ll win the treble next year & Jaguar will show everyone his Diaby tattoo.
Just found them quotes, will post em when i get to work in the morn, too tired now.
Nite.
Stu
Id rather know 2 hrs before than 12.
for keepers it would be a massive issue, and some players as well. the earlier they know the better, so they can get the heads in order to start etc, get down and focus, as well as relax a bit, rather than be really tense waiting to find out if gonna play, lack of sleep the night before etc.
just makes no sense to me at all
England will stuff Algeria. they can’t possibly struggle, Algerians have serious lack of quality on every aspect of their game, they are naive, the tactics is shite, the forwards are shite and they always seem to lose the ball.
no danger whatsoever for England.
I know Gambon. I probably would too but it should be obvious, its just noone is good enough to keep their spot so Capello is probably trying to keep everyone on their toes and on top of their game so they will be picked.
Stu says:
June 18, 2010 at 00:24
Hmm, the replays i saw werent right along the line. It was at an angle. They drew the line of where Abidals trailing leg was but from the angle i saw it at it was inconclusive.
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anyway they clearly deserve to go home and question their abilities, the WC is for team who actually have a clue about playing football and the french can’t create a single goalscorring opportunity
gambon – I don’t think the game’s grown, it’s just slanted in favour of teams that are willing to stump up the most money, it’s beginning to mirror life in that way.
i am off, nite lads.
I mean to go in to the WC without an undisputed starting 11 is just disgraceful. Making Rio captain was one of the worst decisions Capello has ever made imo.
Yeah, wont disagree there Gooby. France were absolutely shit. Dare i even say Ireland would have done better than them.
http://www.newsnow.co.uk/A/427621430?-11203
..and on that bombshell im off to bed… Night all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkGhDHP093M
thats not a bomb shell , thats a fire work !
bomb shell = destruction
firework = celebration
Morning anyone.
Very impressed with Argentina yesterday. Maybe dodgy at the back, but very aggresssive in regaining the ball and going forward. Quite the opposite of France. Never did you see two Frenchies closing the man with the ball down. Definately something very wrong in that camp.
Tevez v Arshavin?
Last thought.
Q What could Wenger learn from Argies?
A Give up on the steamed vegetables fish, and start giving the boys raw Argentinian Beef.
Have a great day all.
Maybe better balance for England with Barry. Hopefully a bit of Joe Cole, and 4-0 The Boys!!
Tevez all the way, Mick
MDI89-
their coach is wrong is doesn’t have a clue about football at all
and*
Rohan: Tevez definately more end product, 100% full 90 mins, and that must rub off on players around him. When it comes to ALL our summer transfers, I really hope that on-field leadership and commitment are highest priorities. In itself, that will rub off on AA.
Gooby: very true. He looked so disinterested. Maradonna maybe a fruitcake, but the passion is there.
Really off now. Have a great day all.
Maradona is a fucking legend, the players love him and look up to him as the best football talent that argentina ever produced, he is regarded as a god.
i agree he doesn’t have much of a clue about defending but he must know few things about football, you can see it when the players get forward and when they fight like mad dogs for the ball.
Tevez along with olic and rooney(sometimes) fight for their life on the pitch and like that attitude, it is fucking amazing. Anelka isn’t fit to wear a national team shirt on the other hand, twat!
Evening all
My tip 3 months ago was Argentina to win WC.
Maradona is a cross between the late Gary Coleman, Danny DeVito & Mini Me.
MDI89
Light years ahead of us
Don’t they call you Werzels or sumit lark thut 
lol @gnarleygeorge9.
i can see them winning but they need to sort out the defensive errors, starting with replacing guitirez
For England to go all the way, the backline will need to work like Italy’s back 4, 4 years ago. But English footballers are slack & play too fairly so that may be what undoes you. If the defence can really work hard together, the goals will come. Maybe not like Spain or Argie, but what does it matter, winning is all that counts IMO.
LOL @ Gooby
Why change a winning formula just for the sake of it.
A WC usually has a stand out that goes down in history as that tournaments hero. SA2010 it will be Messi IMO
Holland for me, and the world cup is taking place where the Dutch have a lot of history, morning all.
New post!
Morning Geoff,
Holland for me too. I hope they can do it this time.