So the news leaked yesterday that Arsene Wenger is set/has put pen to paper on a 3 year deal.
No surprise there. He earns great money, has unprecedented power and he has unfinished business.
I mentioned that the news would ‘maybe’ make people smile yesterday. Well, it’s been a real mixed reaction. I think if you ran approval ratings for Arsenal and Arsene at the moment, they’d be and an all time low.
News that Mark Schwarzer has put in a transfer request is encouraging. Whilst he’s no Pepe Reina, he certainly is a major improvement on what we currently have. It’s looking likely Almunia is going to be our number 1 on Sunday because there is absolutely no chance Wenger would put a keeper in our team who is so weak, even his home town team target him from corners. It’d be unsettling for the defence and it would make a mockery of Wenger.
I revealed yesterday via our twitter account (@arsenal_legrove) that Robin and Cesc would be involved in the squad. After this weekend, we’ll pretty much have a full squad to pick from. The injury JD picked up wasn’t serious as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. Diaby is travelling up so a midfield of Frimpong, Nasri and Wilshere is looking slightly less likely. Though I have no idea how fit for duty the Frenchman is.
What I’m worried about is the lack of ambition Arsenal have shown this transfer window. This is my own opinion here, but I have a feeling Wenger went into this buying period fully aware that their maybe a few bargains going towards the end of August. He’s the grand parent that buys Christmas presents in the January sales and that for me that is bad management. That in effect means that there has been no targeted effort to sign what we need. I find that disgusting.
I also find it hard to believe the stories that Giles Grimandi watch every game Schwarzer played last year. Is he our only scout?
Arsenal have rewarded Wenger for making the owners rich. I wonder when the fans stopped being a priority and bottom line figures became the number one? Like Geoff said yesterday, no one is asking for us to be bankrupted and the very fact Wenger has coached an army of fans to believe that spending £15million on a player will cause a Leeds type scenario is shocking. Some people who have posted on Le Grove have even put forward the idea that spending money equates to having no class?
That is a truly staggering example of modern day propaganda.
If Wenger pulls his finger out, signs Schwarzer and Vincent Kompany, we’ll compete this year. If we win against Liverpool and he decides he has enough… we’re in for 3rd or 4th this year. It would be a travesty to see a team with our attacking prowess not be given the platform to compete this year. I think it’s ridiculous it’s taken this long to sign the relevant playing staff but realistically, if we can get past Liverpool, it doesn’t matter if we don’t have a 4th centre back for a few weeks because the teams we’re playing are pretty average attack wise.
Yesterday we spent the morning reminiscing about players of old, Dennis Bergkamp, Robert Pires, Tony Adams… Arsene, help create a new generation of players like that by helping to cement our great young players in legend with a trophy!
Let’s hope that this year our open top bus parade can contain more than just a healthy balance sheet!
Match preview tomorrow… have a great day, enjoy the start of the season!
P.S. If you like reading about other stuff, I’ve written something for the boys over at Tatty Nut Nut. Plus, you must sign up to our fantasy league now… it’s a life or no ipad situation.
Instructions
1. Click: ‘Metro Fantasy Football’
2. Select your team and confirm
3. Register your details
4. Click join a mini league:
5. Enter the following details
League Name: Le Grove Premiership
PIN: 8001936
Also I’m sick of the deluded fuckers who think Liverpool are gonna smash us tomorrow. Why think that? Cause of Koscielny? Of Almunia? There’ll be 11 fellas out there. Some people just have so little faith.
600
First off the Cesc wouldn’t leave cause of Pep thing and now you’re saying he’s the best couch with the best football. You do know he inherited the team and it’s pretty football.
Which team did he inherit…and what were they winning when before he came?
Are you serious? He inherited Ibrahimovich, Henry, Kieta, did he?
Its not even up for debate…this Barca team is arguable the greatest in their history.
Pep being a defensive player in his days understands the defensive nature…and in addition to pretty football he’d definately move us forward..even if its from a defensive standpoint
I wouldn’t say that it’s arguable David, possibly the best club side in world history!
To be fair the crux of the side he did inherit, Messi the best player in the world by some distance, then Xavi and Iniesta, two of the best players in the world, but he had to get them all playing together, and got them working really hard for the team too
Ibra? Oh yeah he done great there didn’t he? He paid 60 million and Eto’o for a player they won’t rid of now. I’ll say he done well bringing back Pique and promoting Pedro and as far as I know he didn’t buy Henry or Keita. I think it was Rijkaard. But he inherited the rest. I’m not belittling his achievements he’d done an amazing job but they were successful before he arrived and they’ve always played pretty football so you points about him being the best are premature to say the least.
best club side in world history?
a bold claim!
ronaldinhos barce was better imo.
Most points ever and most goals ever in la liga. The way they won the league the season before last, and won every competition they entered was pretty special, although losing in the champs league to inter last season is a blot on their record
Yeah not a great argument though Dave. Harry Redknapp could manage Barcelona (to the poor house) and they’d still play pretty successful football. The argument is Cruyff is the reason they play football the way they do.
Rubbish Marko
You can have all the talent in the World and if you cant teach them to defend properly the way Pep does they will win fuk all.
Ibra is shyte is he?
Barca are playing Sevilla right now with no messi, no iniesta, no xavi, not even feking pedro…and guess who is on the scoresheet?
And Pep knows how to give youngsters a chance when they and make them hungry and up for it.
Wenger would rather play Eboue at CF than give the likes of Bazarite, Vela, Simpson, Watt a chance!
yeah but personal hatred means they are shit to me
ronaldinho was more exciting than messi as well.
I can go on and on and on and on…
David what are you going on about?!
Barazite, Simpson, and Watt are currently nowhere near good enough to play for us, and Vela was barely available last season. If Vela stays fit and available he could be big for us this season, but that’s a BIG if!
The big criticism of Wenger is that he banks on youth TOO much, not not playing youth!
Back to the Pep at Barca debate huh? He has done a fantastic job at revitalising a lot of the players but in his 2 seasons he has spent a ridiculous amount on very few players. And looking at their debt they couldnt really afford it so its a good thing they have the spanish govt looking the other way and uefa doing the same.
The team is full of cunts though..
ronaldinho is like Arsenal. Very flashy.
Messi is like Chelsea. Sometimes flashy but always effective
David what are barca playing in?
Alves 35m, Caceres 20m, Ibra 60m plus Eto, Keita 15m, Chygrynskiy 25m, Henry 16m, Hleb more than 10m. There are probably more but they are the major ones.
but Messi never puts me to bed like Chelsea
That game tonight though is basically the community shield David. And Rijkaard won the champions league with them and they were pretty good at defending too but I don’t see you licking his bum. You can even compare what they do to what we do, they’ve always had a big stadium while we’ve had a small one and had to build a bigger new one. Our record signing is what 15-17 million whereas there’s is what 60 million. “But they’ve players like Ibrahimovic while Wenger has bought Barazite and Watt and Simpson wah wah wah”
Hey I like Pep a lot and I think the only fella associated with Barcelona this season to come away still with my respect is Pep cause he’s the only one who hasn’t got involved with the whole Cesc shite. But for David to say or imply the way they play football is down to him is mad cause as far as I can remember Barcelona have always played like that. He’s actually made some bad signings too like Hleb, Henry and Chygrynskiy. Bad in the sense that they were never really wanted and never played enough. I would like him to coach Arsenal eventually though.
I guess David’s lost the desire to debate after Sevilla beat Barca 3-1.
hehe, Barca lost.
The Rijkaard Barca was a more flashy outfit than this one, and yes Pep did inherit his barca team. When he won in his 1st season it was Rijkaard’s team minus the dead weight injected with work rate and enthusiasm.
Where Pep falls down is that he is at a club that spends MILLIONS of euros per transfer window, and he has had very few success stories on that front. If he could combine Wenger’s nose for a transfer (when he does it, it normally turns out right) then he could be up there with Fergie by career’s end.
Wenger ball is better than Graham ball too. Whereas you couldn’t tell the difference between Pep ball, Rijkaard ball or Van Gaal ball. My balls
Balls
marko
peps barcelona are more drilled than rikyards
it might be because of the increased experience of cunti and cuntiesta but he did bring barce back to life.
Despite having one of the best clean sheet to games ratio in Arsenal’s history – 66 from 161 games – most Gooners don’t want to see him as the Gunners’ no.1 ‘keeper this season.
I fucking HATE chelsea!!
what did she do
HA!
She didn’t marry him I suppose. I think Chelsea has cancles. You know what it was incesc for a while the powers that be didn’t like Rijkaards attitude and then there was speculation of him being sacked for a while so the team suffered and when Pep came in he gave everyone a boost. He has done a good job and is the only fella at that club that I still like. The rest of them can fuck right off. And Messi too.
Great free kick by David Jones. Nice to see some creaticity with a set piece rather than just hitting it as hard as possible (VP).
*creativity.
reports say luke freeman looks like his leg maybe broken from a tackle from behind, if thats the case thats four players in four years that has suffered broken legs, it fucking disgusting!
Dave Jones via Matt Le Tiessier
Who was Freeman playing for?? I assume he’s out on loan.
Yeovil
Not really the same as when the other 3 had their left broken then ie injured when playing for arsenal.
This one is probably more a case of the neantherthol taking his frustration of being shit out on someone who has talent.
Creaticity. Ha ha ha
Isn’t that what happened to Eduardo and Ramsey?
Yeah Marko but teams often already have it in their mind that they will kick us before the match even starts. They start matches prepared to have a go at us. Freeman probably burnt some shit defender and thats why he got hacked down (im assuming, i havent seen the incident and dont really want to).
I don’t blame you the Eduardo incident got my blood boiling but the Ramsey one had the opposite effect I felt like nearly crying for the kid, he was playing so well at the time.
yeah Marko I bawled out my eyes when Shawcross broke Rambo’s leg
ramsey was awful as it was so clearly a tactic all these northern talentless cunts use. It was always going to happen and it will happen again this year.
alladyce is responsible
You make me sound like a pussy but the poor kid
especially when I saw Sol, Vermy, Cesc and Bendtner.
“you gotta question the ambition of arsenal?”
Cmon, Pedro, we all the ambition was never to win a trophy. It has been to come 4th. Sadly this time we may find it hard to stay 4th. Watch his press conference, he talked about 2 contenders – Man U and chelsea!
thing is shawcross is a fucking pussy, put him on the pitch with adams, keoww and vieira and he would shit himself.
you cant blame wenger for the awfull challenge but in retrospect he shoud put more experienced fighters and men in the team.
barce have a load of midgets but i doubt many people fuck with puyol in spanish football.
What a bloody idiot he is, so that’s it then.
Who ever starts on Sunday will be our number 1
also respect isnt only borne out of agressive players.
shawcross would never have broken lampards leg, he would have been to respectful.
we need a proper team of men
Where does that come from Big Dave?!
Big Dave – Apparently Pepe Reina will have an Arsenal shirt on underneath his Liverpool one when he takes the field, he’ll simply line-up on our side, and rip it off to shot it, how cool is that ?!
It’s all hush hush though, so keep it on the quiet.
Well there arent many Alardyce or Pulis types in spain. All the teams there at least try to play good football regardless of who they play.
Spanish football don’t really press like they do in England. Big Dave who’s an idiot?
If Hughes is telling the truth with regards to the bid in May, and nothing since, then I reckon we must be tapping up Schwarzer, and I hope we’re not and don’t get in trouble for it.
Would make no sense at all for a player to hand in a transfer request some two months after a bid, with no encouragement since!
A. Just come up on the website
How would Hughes even know about a bid in May? He was nowhere near the club at the time.
Marko.
Wenger
Oh yeah I’ve just seen that two.
I don’t read anything into it, still think schwarzer will come in before the window shuts, hopefully before blackburn
A I’d say it more the speculation in the papers and thus he’s thought I’ll put in a transfer request and wait for the deal to be done. And I wouldn’t believe a word out of Mark Hughes mouth. He’s a total prick after that whole Adebayor incident last year. And he was a cunt before that
Why Big Dave?
Stu – Exactly, I’m guessing that might have something to do with why they’re quite good Internationally to, just a guess though.
Stu.
The club obviously told him about the situation with the paying staff when he joined them, he is breifed about every player
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-sunday-s-keeper-will-be-our-no-1
Marko there’s no way he’d do that based on pure speculation. The players and their agents know what’s going on way more than tabloid journos, they wouldn’t do anything based on the gutter press….
Also – if the only contact was in May, how come he’s had many chats with Hughes, that doesn’t make any sense either.
I really think Schwarzer will be sorted out, hopefully sooner rather than later
Why Marko?
Because all us fans want to see a commanding keeper at the club, and by saying who ever starts on sunday will be the number 1 means will be stuck with 1 of those clowns for the season ahead.
grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Doesn’t mean that big dave, just wait and see!
Probably means no1 for Sunday. Mark Schwarzer hands in a transfer request after Arsenal have a bid turned turned down in May and the speculation in the newspaper keeps coming. Marks Hughes comments after todays game alone suggests he expects Arsenal to come back in for Schwarzer.
Myself and Mark have had conversations and I fully understand the reasoning behind the fact that he maybe wants to take up the opportunity (to join Arsenal).
“But I think he also understands that we have to protect our position as well, and that is what we are doing.
“We are not going to put Fulham’s position or reputation at risk by making promises we can’t fulfil, so at the moment it’s very much the status quo and nothing has moved on.”
Arsenal probably offered like 1 or 2 million and by Hughes saying “we have to protect our position as well” that to me implies he wants more money the git.
Am not so sure A. AW is a stubborn git
No smoke without fire big dave.
“Man United play with a goalkeeper who is 40 years old and Chelsea with a keeper with seven years in the Premier League. You need experience at the back.”
Im guessing No Fabianski
“I believe the team is better equipped,” he said. “Let’s not be fooled by the fact we are still short at the back and we still need to add. ”
I like that, no fucking about with it, we will DEFINITELY sign defensive player(s)
Some people sound like there more Chelsea fans than Arsenal, Chelsea loose loads in pre season and it means “fuck all” but they are talking about our collapse cause we conceeded goals in a match we won.
Arsène Wenger has revealed that the keeper who starts against Liverpool on Sunday will be Arsenal’s No 1.
At the start of pre-season the manager laid down the gauntlet to his four stoppers, stating that the place was up for grabs.
To me that is saying no keeper signing
They better be fucking good ones too A! But what we need and what we’ll get could be 2 massively different things.
It’s plain as day we are gonna A. Common sense will tell you need more defensive players and are working behind the scenes to get them, That still wont stop some people having a go and saying we’ve no chance of winning anything and this person and that person is a cunt. Players are coming.
Big Dave he said on Fri he wasn’t going to talk about who his number 1 is gonna be cause it was on the eve of our match. Imagine saying your bringing in a keeper and whoever starts tomorrow will leave before the window closes, it’d be almost suicide. So he says what he said today to give whoever starts tomorrow a confidence boost.
marko
in your opinion should these player already be here?
id schwarzer was always the guy how the hell have we failed to sign him?
we are arsenal, no offence to fulham but we sould have our pick of their players if we want them
A
we will Definately sign defensice players???
where are they for fucks sake?
we have had all fucking summer, apparently we have bundles of scouts, no one has any money bar city, why have we done fuck all??
at least we only have liverpool first game, 4-1 to the arsenal
Of the two, it has to be Almunia
Yeah of course but what are you gonna do. With the World Cup and holidays etc etc it takes time. Spurs have signed fuck all too, there’s other clubs too who would like their business done early but sometimes it doesn’t work that way. I personally think re the goalkeeping situation that he gave Fabianski and Almunia a chance in preseason to impress and they failed thus he’s bringing in Schwarzer. The reason another defender hasn’t come in is maybe not identifying the right one yet (cause it’s a massive decision he’ll be a starter) or maybe he’s been rebuffed in his approach for them i.e. Jagielka and Mertesacker.
of course it has to be almunia.
almunia is a solid keeper who cant deal with big occasions and fucks up every now and then.
fabianski is fucking awful in evey respect, he gets beaten near post, on corners, crap decision making, no mental strengh.
We have had all summer to sign a bloody keeper.
Be prepared that we may still sign a CB upto the end of the window, last thing knowing us
Do you know what I’m gonna say it but if I had to choose between a goalkeeper and a defender or us signing 2 defenders then I might be inclined to go with the 2 defenders. Thats just me. But it doesn’t matter The Schwars is coming.
marko you are living in a dreamland.
pre season to let almunia and fabianski impress?
he dropped almunia, and fabianski came in and proved to be worse. Its the worlds worst secret wenger doesnt like out keepers.
and how does it take 3 months to identify a good centre back, i could name 10 that would be great additions to perma injured djourou and are available for the right cash
News of the world running a story about AA23 being injured, and not sure about playing again.
Don’t know how acurate the story is tho
signing campbell propelled us to greatness, surely wenger remembers that
gotta say well done blackpool, shame the stadium was empty at wigan,
make a mockery of what city are doing, premier league is dying.
Who gives a shit what the spuds, or anyone else for that matter, has done in the transfer window. The spuds just had their greatest ever season by finishing 4th.
We have a fuck load of money and need too bring in quality defensive players.
Also, Fab and Al were not given pre season to impress. Al has had 4 years to do that and he has failed. And if this was the case then why did we bid for Schwarzer in May?
How do you know they’re available? It’s been reported that we’ve had bids or enquiries for Jagielka and or Mertsacker turned down. I believe he gave Fabianski the chance to impress in preseason and he failed miserably and so Schwarzer is on the way.
TH14 Lost to Beckham Galaxy 1-0
Blackpool turning wigan over like that makes our collapse all the harder to take..how did we lost to such a shambolically shite side?
Does anyone know the result of the seville vs barcelona match?
Incesc, Did u see Bolton away end? empty too
Bollocks Marko, as i already said, why did he bid for Schwarzer at the end of last season if he planned on seeing is Fabianski could be no.1?
Every player in the world aside from a handful of special players are available, you just have to pay what their club want…within reason of course.
3-1 tunde
twat.
3-1 i think, Tunde.
I’ve never believed for a second we’ve loads of money to spend on players. Sure our debt is fine but if we were to go out and spend 40 million on players then we’d be setting ourselfs back a bit. Anyway whats with the bitching for chrissake it’s clear Schwarzer is on his way and a defender will be coming before the window closes so give it a rest. In a perfect world we’d have all our players signed by July but as long as they’re signed thats what counts.
everyone is broke marko, we have money
money buys you players, we are in the champions league,
its not rocket science
Bid for him in May, had it rejected then gave Fabianski a chance to impress in preseason, he fails and then we go back in for Schwarzer. Any of that you don’t get Stu? It could be make believe or it could be true.
Arshavin injured ??? how the fuck can that be, didn’t he play 81 min with russia ?
Here’s another then. We bid say 10 million for Jagielka but Everton say they want 20 million. Now do we pay the 20 million adding to our debt and paying over the odds or do we stick to our guns cause we can’t really overpay for players. It just seems sometimes it’s easier to slag off the club than to get behind it.
Wenger said whoever starts on Sunday will be #1 and went on to say playing Szczesny would be a huge gamble. Fuck. I know he’s ready despite his age and not having played a single PL game. Its his character and attitude that is so reminiscent of his father(who had a mouth like Arshavin, if not worse, btw).
He is as good as Casillas when he was 18/19, make no mistake about it. 1 thing we fail to notice it that Casillas never experienced what keepers in this country do.
why on earth would anyone give fabianski the chance to prove himself in pre season
wenger himself said pre season results shouldnt be taken seriously.
fabianski is probably very talented, why else would he be at arsenal? hes problem is temperament. pre season wont change that
20 million for jagielka wouldnt add to our debt, we still have most of the 40 million from ade and toure on top of profits and the extra money from the property that is now making us money
and im well behind the club, i have been celebrating arsenes signing and telling everyone we will hammer liverpool.
i still think our transfer policy stinks and we have failed miserably again this summer in that department
Preseason results shouldn’t be taken seriously. Thats not what I was saying. People were asking why haven’t we signed a keeper yet and I said it’s because I think Wenger gave Fabianski a chance to impress and he didn’t so we’re moving for Schwarzer behind the scenes.
how can fabianski impress pre season?
his faults are all to do with pressure, theres no real pressure pre season.
a bad player doesnt become good after sitting on his arse all summer and playing some nothing matches
Jesus I’m always hearing about the money from the Sales of Ade and Kolo. That shit is gone. Hey I’m with you and I’d like our transfer dealings to be done already but I think they’ll be done before the window. And it’s unlikely we’ll be out the title race before the transfer window closes so let’s just chill baby. Anyway I’m off to bed to catch some z’s.
yawn
how is the ade and toure money gone?
its in the bank account, just because it happened a while ago, money doesnt evaporate mate.
It’s like the Bendtner debates of summers gone by, played out by different people.
Well I heard someone on the panel of SSN talk about Joe Hart’s loan giving him a run of games helping him become a better keeper, about how before his loan they couldn’t remember him being so good and how it’s tough to grow as a keeper when you’re playing here and there. Fabianski isn’t a bad keeper he just needs games to get some consistency going for him. Not at Arsenal though.
night marko
keyser you are so cool
It’s gone to pay off something you can believe that incesc. Anyway I’m off. I’m beating Chamakh to score and Arsenal to win tomorrow so come on you reds. 4-2 to the Arsenal
*betting. Christ I’m sleepy
4-1 is my prediction
cant wait
Nah I’m quite sad really, look at me, writing about how tedious I find the point of discussion on a blog about football this late at night.
Knowing that while tommorrow we’ll have an actual game to talk about and I’m excited, I’ll still be repeating what I’ve done so for the past few months.
do you think if we had a good summer in the transfer market this blog would be dead right now
Its simple Marko. We bid too little for Schwarzer, Fulham wouldnt let him go and we didnt up our offer so then Wenger decided to give Fabianski a go. Fabianski has played in pre season as first choice because imo Wenger has given up on Almunia and we have noone else.
incesc&marco go to bed
Definately Incesc. This place has surely had a record ammount of comments this summer because everyone is so frustrated. Its like when we win the next day doesnt get half as many comments it would if we had lost.
Sing when you’re winning? We only blog when we;re losing.
Yeah, pretty much, the late night bloggings usually full of a couple of people who abuse each other interspersed throughout the night.
i think le-grove is cathartic on some levels. It give people a chance to vent their frustrations.
I am positive about the new season but also realistic.
When people like Marko act like all is fine in arsenal land you just wanna argue with them as its not realistic but at the same time when people freak out when wenger signs on its fun to wind them up.
if we lose tomorrow we will have 1500 comments made of mostly of Geoff,Gambon,Jaguar,Dan/ANB/BBK. If we win you wont see Jaguar/BBK
Speaking of Jaguar, he hasnt been since this morning. I hope he hasnt done anything drastic after hearing about Wengers contract extension.
incesc – I don’t think he acts like it’s fine, he just tries to see reason behind it, who really wants to believe that people are just out there to cheat them ?!
Worse still who goes on like a fucking dick about it day in day out and then still goes to games ?!
I don’t think you can be a regular on here without being slightly twisted.
I miss the night shift with me and ethan and aa23 and mangoonian and sometimes sharkey. Bring back the old times
theres no reason behind our transfer policy it verges on being masochistic
wenger saying he will improve our defence and then letting go all experienced players and signing an unknown is cheating the fans on many levels
also you just described geoff:
“Worse still who goes on like a fucking dick about it day in day out and then still goes to games ?!”
who started the blog…
See, that’s exactly how David and Stu suck you into talking about Bendtner.
Just because Marko’s gone, don’t try it with me, see if isxx pac wants to talk about it.
ok thanks for the heads up keyser, see you later
you seem depressed, try valium
incesc – Nah, you just described Geoff, I made no connection.
Night mate.
we’ll celebrate tomorrow night after liverpool get ripped apart.
dont get down, tomorrow will be awesome
what the fuck. Spell my name right u AKB cunt
haha
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/3095345/Chelsea-players-are-at-war-with-owner-Roman-Abramovich.html
Sorry Sixx Pac.
Alot of pressure on tommorrow if we lose, it’s over for another, though we do still have the cup competitions to concentrate on.
*year
it’s too late going sleep now.. Night Xx
http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion/columnists/michael-calvin/Michael-Calvin-Column-Why-Arsene-Wenger-should-replace-embarrassing-Fabio-as-England-boss-article555035.html
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/3095345/Chelsea-players-are-at-war-with-owner-Roman-Abramovich.html
night keyser
thats gotta hurt. Keyser is essentially saying ” incesc ur boring. Go to bed”
haha
tell me about it
dont worry. I bet jay finds u interesting