Arsenal impress in an unimpressive performance | Match report & player ratings

October 31, 2010

Form seems to go out the window in these London Derby games regardless of who you are playing. West Ham have looked utterly hopeless over the last few weeks. In fact, the only game I’ve seen them play where they looked any good was against Chelsea where they were unlucky to finish up the losing team.

Yesterday, West Ham fully deserved to finish pointless, but they managed to put on a resolute defensive display for 86 minutes against and Arsenal side that’s been averaging 3 goals a game so far this season.

It took a while for us to create an opening chance, Song played Sagna in with a pass of great vision, the full back cut it back to Cesc who could only find the hand of Rob Green.

Song managed to get himself in the book again which was irritating as it was for his second reckless challenge. He doesn’t need to make them and someone should have a word because he’s no use to us suspended.

That was pretty much it for  tame first half.

Mark Noble capitalised on a Denilson cock-up near the half way line, powered through everyone but could only fire his shot straight at Fabianski. He did well to hold onto it.

Down the other end Song played a cheeky one two with Cesc and fired hard and low… too close, Rob Green saved again.

Squillaci rose highest from a corner, his looping header was tipped over by the keeper again. Was this going to be one of those days I thought to myself?

Nasri took time out to remind us why he should take the freekicks with an absolute rocket from possibly 35 yards out… a shame the cross bar wasn’t 3 inched higher!

West Ham were putting their foot in with some heavy challenges which we were riding pretty well. Well, until Arshavin was slipped in by Song and fell to a very light Da Costa brush. From where we were sitting it looked nailed on, replays indicated otherwise!

Walcott came on to great applause. It’s been a while since the home fans have held genuine excitement about his arrival. Cesc played him in almost straight away with  superb ball, Theo fired it past Green only to hit the inside of the post! What a joke… this goal was never going to come!

West Ham’s pathetic time wasting was also becoming a farcical, I think it’s disgusting players can walk off when they’re subbed and I think it’s outrageous goal keepers can pick the side they want to take their kicks from. Very unsportsmanlike.

Walcott went close again with a deflected shot that was saved well.

Alex Song picked the ball up in the middle of the park, sprayed it out wide to Clichy who cut inside his man and chipped a perfect right footed cross tantalisingly across goal where Song was on hand to head home! A superb goal and a super performance from Alex!

Interestingly Robert Green started sprinting for goal kicks after that, West Hams substitutes managed to leave the pitch in double quick time and there was a lot more urgency to their game for the last 6-7 minutes? Funny that?

That made our keep ball all the more entertaining! The final whistle blew, the fans roared and we’d just bagged 3 points and our 3rd clean sheet in a row!

Conclusion

This was my favourite performance of the season. Our dependence of Cesc last year has been well documented and today he was very off colour. He didn’t cover as much ground as usual and his first touch was nowhere near the usual standard. Arshavin was terrible for large parts of the game and Denilson might as well have not been there. I was surprised by his inclusion considering the team we were playing and the form he’s been in.

Anyway, that didn’t stop others in the team standing up and making an impact. I thought Alex Song had his best game of the season to date. His defensive performance was superb  and going forward he was direct and bold. His goal was more than deserved and he’s really starting to grow into his more marauding role. That was his 4th of the season so far!

Our backline didn’t have a lot to do, but what they did do was excellent. I thought Koscielny and Squillaci both had excellent games and I thought Fabianski built another layer of trust with an assured showing. His distribution is excellent.

What I enjoyed most about today was the patience we showed. There were many times we could have let our heads drop, Theo hitting the bar, Arshavin not winning the penalty, the 600th world class save by Rob Green! None of that halted our patient approach which for me shows a real maturity.

More exciting than any of that was our bench. Who in the league has the options we do attacking wise? To my mind, no one. Nik Bendtner no longer draws moans from the crowd when he’s warming up, Theo Walcott is a genuinely scary player these days and Eboue… well, I’m not going to take the compliments that far!

Anyway, the Arsenal title challenge train is picking up some pace now, we’ve got to take it game to game and we’ll have to improve on yesterday’s performance but regardless of the score line I’m taking more positives than negatives.

Player ratings (These are opinion, not calculated by a computer or a special formula)

Fabianski: He played well, he distributed cleanly, the only critique I’d have of him was his liking for the punched clearance. Regardless of how good your fist is, I’d always prefer a catch. 7

Sagna: He’s really turning into an attacking full back this year. He whipped in a couple of very dangerous crosses today and he’s always keen to get forward. 7

Clichy: He’s had a lot of criticism of late, but what can’t be denied is that he’s a trier! Bar one episode of confusion round by the half way line, I thought he was excellent. He’s getting an extra half point for his pin point delivery for the goal! Well played! 7.5

Squillaci: I really tried to watch him today. He’s slotted in so seamlessly that sometimes, I don’t notice him. Today he marshalled the back line, he put his head and body in the way of anything and he out thought the West Ham strikers. It seems to go unnoticed how often he gets his head on the end of attacking corners! 8

Kozzer: Another assured performance from a centre back who is growing in stature. He relishes the rough and tumble and his positional play is second to none. There was a one on one moment in the box in the first half that he did fantastically well to shield so Fabianski could pick up. Calm, collected and impressive. 7.5

Song: He had a faultless game bar the yellow card. His passing kept the play moving at speed, his directness opened up West Ham in numerous occasions and his goal won us the game. His form is finally starting to pick up and I think that might coincide with him learning this new position he’s being asked to play. 9

Cesc: A bad day for the best creative midfielder in the world. Important to note that he still created a shed load of chances, he just seemed off the pace and his first touch put him in trouble on more than a few occasions which is unusual for him. He made ten unsuccessful passes which is very high for him! 6

Denislon: Not his finest 90 minutes of football. He was sloppy in midfield and didn’t really add too much to our game. He seemed to get out muscled or caught out positionally. I thought Rosicky would have been a better option in the midfield. 5

Nasri: Some though he was poor today, I’m going to disagree, I thought he was good, his pace really shining at times and a few crunching tackles as well! He was knocking crosses into the box whenever he could and he hit the bar from a thunderbolt of a freekick. 7

Chamakh: Didn’t really happen for him today. The service wasn’t amazing and nor was his game. He still causes problems with his runs and strength up top. Nik Bendtner is knocking on Arsene Wenger’s door and the noise is getting louder! 6

Arshavin: A very disappointing game, he made 18 good passes and 12 shocking passes. That’s really poor for an Arsenal player regardless of the additional risk associated with attacking passing. He delivers, but like I’ve said before, we know he can do twice what he’s currently doing. Hopefully the penny will drop before he finds himself on the bench! 4.5

Subs:

Bends: Came on, caused a nuisance straight away, looking sharp. 6

Theo: Came on, hit the post and forced a good save! 6.5

Eboue: Came on, ran about a bit. 6

P.S. Someone took the time out to question why I didn’t support West Ham as I currenlty reside in Essex. Well, firstly, if we all supported clubs according to proximity of our home address why do clubs do preseason tours of Asia and North America? Surely the point of supporting a club is that it’s for everyone?

I’m surprised someone from the educated City of Cambridge would say something so stupid. I was actually born at the Portland Clinic, which is w1, which by google’s calculation is 3 miles from the Emirates, 10 miles from West Ham, 3.5 miles from Chelsea, 3.9 from QPR, 4.7 miles from Milwall, 6.2 miles from Leyton Orient and 9.6 miles from Milwall.

I think I’ve made my point on many levels.

Oh, did you hear Bob Wilson talk about the fantastic money we offered for Reina in the summer?

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Posted by Pedro

Who earned a whopping 70% bonus this year and who else might be? + West Ham preview!

October 30, 2010

So the big news this morning is Arsenal Cheif exec Ivan Gazidis took home a massive £1.7 million last year, equating to a bonus of nearly 70%! An incredible salary you have to say. It’d be fantastic to know how much of that is linked to club profits and whether that bonus structure is similar to the one Wenger receives?

It would make sense for their bonuses to be aligned in some way and that would explain an awful lot about the anxiety displayed when we’re asked to pay a million pounds extra for a player we need.

Having said that, it’s difficult to knock what he’s done off the pitch.He’s worked with the fans on all sorts of projects, he’s overseen the ATVO deal with that American company, we’ve got all the players tied down to new contracts and he’s worked hard to improve facilities around the ground. He’s also employed an impressive no expenses spared back room staff to take the clubs commercial revenues to the next level when the property party has died down.

However, there will be a few raised eyebrows looking at that type of bonusing. It’s kind of the opposite to City method. Arsenal have clearly weighted his bonus heavily in the direction of total risk aversion. It means that when you look at signing a £20million player who could win you the title, you’ll probably be looking at it from a personal perspective…

Crude sums here with made up figures

Difference in prize money between 4th and 1st – £3million

Cost of £20million player + Wages = £24million

Loss to clubs profits best case scenario = £21million

Loss to 1.2% of profit share = £276,300

If you stood to lose over £250k personally by purchasing a Pepe Reina, would you do it? Or would you pray to god Almunia could hold it together for a year until Chesney came good?

Now all of the above is complete speculation and guess-work, but I’m not sure how many businesses bonus you on losing money. So I reckon I’m not far off in my assumptions about how that pay is made up. The worry, like I mentioned earlier, is that Arsene Wenger is rewarded in a similar fashion.

Anyway, onto today’s match!

West Ham have been having a disaster this season. I think Gold and Sullivan have been detrimental to the West Ham cause. They’ve kept the team afloat which is admirable, but I think they’re incredibly unprofessional with their PR. They shouldn’t be slagging the players off, they shouldn’t be approaching David Beckham and I’m not sure they should be playing the ‘we’re doing this because we love the club’ stuff. They’re in it because of the property opportunity they have with the vacant Olympic Stadium.

Anyway, Avram Grant is having a nightmare at West Ham. They’ve never managed to shake off that party boy image as a club and I don’t think they’ve got enough quality or spirit to get themselves out of a hole this year. Even their kit smacks of Championship.

That doesn’t mean Arsenal can afford to be complacent, we’ve got to approach this in the same way as we did Manchester City. We have to be more organised at the back this time and we have to pressure them from the off. This is a good chance to get our goal difference up and it’s a good time to build on our clean sheet record. The team is going to be similar to the one we played against City, Diaby is out with an ankle knock and Vermaelen is still out the squad. No Jack for this one, but we should be able to cope. Cesc is in and I’d expect to see Denilson and Song partnering him in midfield. Up top, Arshavin, Chamakh and Theo are likely to start and in defence, the continued backline of Clichy, JD, Squillaci, Sagna and Fabianski.

It’ll be a good game regardless, as an Essex Arsenal fan, I’m massively up for this, bragging rights even against West Ham are as important as the Spurs ones! I’ll be reporting all todays action on our twitter feed @arsenal_legrove !

See you in the comments!

COME ON YOU REDS!

UPDATE:

It appears I’ve got a selection headache of my own by missing out Nasri! I’ll let you sort the line ups out…!

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Posted by Pedro

Big Phil versus JD \ Shift in defender styles \ Arsenal injury updates…

October 29, 2010

Good morning sports fans and welcome to an exciting episode of Le Grove.

One bit of nerdy good news this morning is that we’ve had a google success. We’ve never really been anywhere near the front page for the ‘Arsenal blogs’ search which was perplexing as we’re busier than most. However, after some succinct pointers from the Grovers, we’ve finally made it onto the front page! A small victory, but a deserved one.

All the more pleasing because we really didn’t consider how people would find us when we called the site Le Grove. We were underground, now we’re mixing it in the main stream with Justin Bieber and Kylie Minogue.

As it’s a slow news day, I’ll tell you how people have typically been finding us through secret non football related searches over the past few months…

  1. Megan Fox -1020
  2. Megan Fox Naked – 900
  3. Mario Ballotelli Girlfriend - 875
  4. Buddist Monk – 679
  5. Mandingo – 521

I hope you’re proud…

There were some moans in the comments yesterday that I pick on players. I don’t, I just write what I see. If I wrote about how great JD was yesterday, I’d be Arsenal.com. We all have a difference of opinion which makes for a healthy comments section.

One point that was raised was that regardless of JD’s performances, he is better than Silvestre and Senderos. Well, to be honest, I can think of many that are more dynamic than Silvestre…

 

Harsh on the dog if I'm honest...

 

However, the jury is out on whether he is better than Senderos. Let us not forget that Arsene Wenger considered making him captain way back when, he was superb during our Champions League run and many thought he’d go onto great things.

It wasn’t to be… I see many similarities between the two. I just hope JD has more mental strength than Big Phil. Two clean sheets in row are not to be sniffed at… however, you can’t deny the truth when it’s turning you inside out for the 4th time in a game. He has to read the game better if he doesn’t have the pace. He’s great in the air and he gives us a presence attacking wise from corners and he gives me assurance defending them. It’s that pace thing though…

Someone mentioned that more agile pacey defenders are taking over these days. Carvalho, Vidic, Chiellini, Ferdinand and Vermaelen seem to be a purposeful move away from the larger lumps of yesteryear. I remember reading a major ex-player say years ago that the Premiership was perplexing as it had the fastest strikers in the world, yet the slowest defenders… well, the positions are starting to catch up with each other now.

Talking of defenders, I’ve been greatly impressed by Koscielny on many fronts. Firstly his head doesn’t drop regardless of what happens on the pitch. He seems to be incredibly grateful for his chance and he’s taken it with both hands. He has fantastic pace and he’s adapted well to the rigours of the English game. Admittedly I wasn’t a fan of his signing, but I’m more than happy to step back an applaud the coach on his purchase. He has a lot of class about his game and I’ve enjoyed watching him deal with the pressure this year.

I think when you’ve got a back line of strong defenders who wont be bullied, it inspires the rest of the team. Newcastle have a few lumps in their side, they didn’t bully us at all yesterday. Our team has a nasty bite to it this year. Not even Chelsea bullied us. I’m looking forward to playing United because I think we’re the better side this year. Spurs have got them this weekend, apparently they haven’t beaten a top 4 club away in the Prem for 17 years (@darrenarsenal1)…

I’m still not sure whether we’ll mount a serious title challenge this year. Our biggest battle isn’t going to be squad depth in my opinion, though an injury to Song or a return to type by Fabianski will undoubtedly be problematic. It’s probably not going to be down to quality, technically these boys can mix it with the best. I think the challenge is going to be the mental side. How will we cope with a big defeat, how well can we bounce back from a shock in December, how well will we motivate ourselves against the horrible clubs in January when there are a few injury worries? How will we cope with a 5 game stretch if our game isn’t up to speed?

I mentioned before that we’re a finely tuned orchestra trying to play the 5th symphony. Playing it at home is no problem, but in the winter, we’re trying to play it in Brixton academy to a heavy metal crowd with a leaky roof. Can we demonstrate a bit of rock and roll robustness this season? We’ll have to wait and see…

Poor old Kieron Gibbs has notched up another serious injury busting his medial knee ligaments. He will be out for a few weeks. The only hope I can give him is that Clichy had a similarly disastrous start to his Arsenal career injury wise. Since he shook those early breaks and twists off, he’s been a regular fixture. Robin Van Persie and Vermaelen are close to returning to full training. You’d have to hope they’re a maximum of two weeks away now, which certainly in the case of Vermaelen is the shorter end of the feared lay off.

So a big weekend for Arsenal, we’ve got an absolutely terrible West Ham team to play. I wouldn’t normally knock a side before a game, but I’ve seen them many times this year and the ingredient they lack more than anything is team spirit. They are flat, out of ideas, out of confidence and hopefully facing up to us at totally the wrong time in the season. I expect a goal fest, as does Theoooo!

See you in the comments, it’s joke Friday!

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Posted by Pedro

Arsenal destroy plucky Newcastle with clinical excellence. Ratings and review

October 28, 2010

Szczesny
Eboue Djourou Koscielny Gibbs
Eastmond

Denilson Rosicky

Vela       Bendtner     Walcott

Arsene Wenger elected to put out a team that was about 80% exciting. Eastmond in the starting line up was a mystery to me, he’s a bit too similar to Denilson for my liking and a little too light weight.

That didn’t stop the game opening up like a classic cup match. Carlos Vela was played in almost immediately after Rosicky did well to dispossess his man, the young Mexican pulled the trigger a little too close to the keeper.

Down the other end, JD showcased his talent for getting the wrong side of his man again allowing Ranger to slip Vucic in who lashed at the side netting.

Eboue was in mazy run form, making mince meat of on-looking Newcastle players, failing to deliver a final ball or decent shot as always.

Nik B was hungry to impress. Clearly the having a tall Moroccan in the side who can finish and provide has sparked some sort of ‘I have a point to prove’ thing with our big Dane. He was shooting on site and making a nuisance of himself with his presence.

Ranger was slipped through again, JD’s pace and mobility were  grossly exposed, Chesney came out and missed wildly. The rolled out the area, Denilson didn’t arrive quick enough to block and Alan Smith fired a rasping shot that Chesney just managed to get his finger tips too which sent it bar-wards.

Vela’s back post corners were getting irritating. They were all hitting the back post, yet no one had the intelligence to stand there. It’s nice to see that set plays are awful whatever the level at Arsenal!

Our positive started to fall away as did our crisp passing. The midfield didn’t really have a creator without Cesc and Wilshere in the side, this left us looking a bit flat at times and our forward players lacking in support. Eastmond really was struggling in the middle, his build doesn’t suit the role at the moment.

Just before half time, Nik B jumped on a cross and headed it at the Newcastle goal, the keeper missed it, Taylor on the goal line nodded it back out against Krul’s back and the ball found its way in the back of the neck.

A Krul way to end a half you might say? Not even funny… I apologise.

The second half picked up where the first left off, Theo latched onto a route 1 defensive header from JD, he raced on and as he was bounding through, Nik B cut across the Newcastle defender, knocking him to the ground, Theo chipped past Krul and we scored our second. Pretty naughty by Nik but…

1) No one was catching Theo so it didn’t affect the outcome

2) Nik said in the post match prezzer that he was looking to get back into the box to help out

JD continued his woeful form with more dodgy play letting Carroll in for a shot.

Cesc came on for Vela to a mixed reaction from the risk assessors out there. I think it’s great we have a captain who doesn’t feel he’s too good for the Carling Cup. Jeez, at times, we’ve had kids who think they’re too good for it!

JD cut out a cross acrobatically towards the end. I thought I’d mention it.

Chesney still wanted to shine and Arsenal were keen on allowing it. The Polish upstart saved superbly, blocking twice from a corner, he really put himself in the firing line of Ryan Taylor.

Cesc picked up the ball the other end, cut the ball to Nik B who jinked inside his man and flew a thunder bolt into the top corner!

Up the other end Chesney kept out Taylor’s freekick out superbly, the parry landed in front of his goal. Theo cleared up I believe.

Andy Carroll was impressing up top. He’ll be some player if he can stop bottling clubbers, assaulting team mates and beating up women.

Walcott broke away again from a Cesc Fabregas pass and slotted home low and hard. A super show of pace and finishing and a great way to cap a first team return for Theo!

Chesney had one more chance to impress with a superb save from a one on one with Andy Carroll. From resulting corner he punched the ball 40 yards!

A superb win in a very strange match. We saw impressive performances from Chesney, Theo and Bendtner and a great cameo appearance from Cesc Fabregas.

I’m still a touch perplexed as to why Wenger went so far out of his way to praise Lansbury and JET, but decided against playing them? The coach doesn’t seem to have too much time for Vela and I’ve never been overly impressed with Eastmond? Maybe those two will get their chance in the next round.

Arsene Wenger keeps the Carling cup alive and the fans have a quarter final to look forward to again and hopefully, a well deserved trip to Wembley for Arsenal!

Ratings:

Chesney: When you announce yourself on the scene and champ yourself up, you’d better have a performance in the bag when you’re called upon. It didn’t start well, he came bounding out his area Lehmann-esque and narrowly avoided an embarrassing howler. From there on in, he was superb. He demonstrated his agility, he used his massive frame to full advantage and he commanded his area. A truly magnificent introduction to the season and a real worry for Fabianski who looks like he’s caught something terminal (get some Saint Tropez on your face son!) 9

Gibbs: Well, we only saw him on the pitch for about 20 minutes before he was clattered and limped off. The boy gets no luck, lets hope it’s not ligament damage. 6

Koscielny: He’s a class act and he did very well last night playing next to the more erratic JD. Some great headed interceptions and super tackles against rough opposition. 7.5

JD: Another shocker. He constantly gets the wrong side of his man and he’s always making risky tackles in places he shouldn’t be. He’s a disaster waiting the happen, which for the moment, I’ll put down to a lack of match fitness. 5

Eboue: I know he has this cult status amongst fans these days, he is pretty funny, however, I do wish he’d work on his final ball, his shooting and cutting out the drama. He played well for the most part yesterday, he defended well and he bombed forward, it’s just the end product that is lacking. 7

Denilson: He improved in the second half, but playing in the more advanced role doesn’t really suit his game. He’s not a creator and he takes all the directness out of our midfield when he plays there. 6.5

Eastmond: Not a very polished performance, his passing wasn’t particularly good and he was hussled off the ball on more than a few occasions. He needs to bulk up if he wants to make it with this team. I hope he doesn’t go the way of Randall because I like having English boys around the team, but the indecent exposure and average performance don’t ease my worries. 5

Rosicky: He’s a terrific worker and he speeds our passing with his quick one touch moves. He now needs to look at adding a few shots to his game he needs to be braver and more decisive sometimes. A great player, proving his fitness, now we need some product! 7

Vela: I feel sorry for the lad, he’s under even more pressure now Chicpearito is doing well at United. He caused trouble for Newcastle yesterday with his trickery, it’s just a shame his final ball is often misguided and his finishing is often tame. He’s a massive talent, but then again, so was Quincy. There are mumblings of focus problems and I fear this is his last chance to prove himself at Arsenal. 6

Bendtner: Here is a boy with something to prove. He worked tirelessly tonight, his positioning was superb, he looked technically sharper with the ball at his feet and his finish was fantastic. I’ve supported Nik since day dot on here and after 4 years, I’m hoping that support is finally paying dividends. A great game! 8.5

Theeeeeooooo!: Now here is a player I’ve given a lot of stick to over the past three years. Finally he’s learnt how to go round players, finally he’s become decisive and finally, he’s starting to harness his pace and power. A superb display of finishing last night and a taster of what he could possibly look like bombing down the centre. Things are finally starting to look good for the man the papers used to dub the future of English football! 9

Subs:

Sagna: Didn’t have the best game when he came on. 6

Cesc: Came on, bagged two assists, left to go home. All in a days work. 8

JET: Came on, had some nice touches. Not much you can do in 8 minutes! 6

See you in the comments, don’t forget to follow us on twitter @Arsenal_Legrove and on Facebook!

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Posted by Pedro

Wenger gushes over the kids \ Chezzer to start against Newcastle \ Vela or JET?

October 27, 2010

Arsene Wenger was in a good spirits yesterday,  I hear his wife bought him an ipad for his birthday which he didn’t think he was getting until Christmas. Did she think about what she’d get him for Christmas now? Of course she didn’t… she’ll regret that.

Anyway, he had a lot to say about JET on Arsenal.com…

“He works very hard to get his fitness right. When his fitness is right, Jay will be not only a good player, but a great player.

“This guy is an unbelievable finisher, inside and outside of the box. He has outstanding qualities, he has the build you dream to have.

“It is down to how far he wants to go because he has big potential.”

He also had a lot to say about Arsenal dream boat, Henri Lansbury…

“I like Henri very much, because of his quality, because of his attitude, his desire and determination.

“He is a Ray Parlour type, a guy who has a good team attitude, goes for the challenges, has an endless engine and has the timing to get into the box and finish, he has shown that at Spurs.

“He is one of the players I want to keep at the club.”

Wow, pretty compelling stuff!

I think this batch of England boys is the first we’ve had that don’t bitch and moan if they’re not in the first team week in week out. Possibly because they are the first batch to see precocious talent leave and do naff all at other clubs. David Bentley, Steven Sidwell and Fabrice Muamba have all tanked in average teams… whilst players like Song, Clichy and Bendtner who never moaned have excelled comparatively.

Perhaps the English boys now know the grass isn’t greener. Maybe they do have genuine love for the club? Maybe, just maybe, this next lot will form the foundation of the first technically gifted England team!

I get more excited by that thought than I do listening to Sophie Dahl talk about preparing a delicious eton mess.

Tonight is going to be an exciting game, I think the only amendment from yesterdays team is that Vela may start instead of JET. That wouldn’t disappoint me. Regardless of what Wenger thinks of him, I believe the guy has more talent than a copy of nuts magazine (and I mean on the pitch, not hidden away in his hotel room).

I don’t think there is a disappointing line up to be had this year. The squad looks like it has the right blend of experience and youth and I’m pretty confident we’ll take victory whoever lines up. A few of the big guns will be on the bench which will give us a bit of security. I’ve heard that Newcastle might rest players as well, which would be just grand!

It’s a big game for motor mouth Chesney. He’ll have to hold his nerve and show us he’s good enough to takeover should the worst happen over the next few months! Theo needs to make sure his head is in the right place, he needs to play with the same decisiveness he displayed earlier on in the season and he needs to play like the senior player his contract tells us he is. I’m  looking forward to seeing how JD and Kozzer deal with Carroll and I’m hoping Denilson can have another solid game.

Szczesny
Eboue Djourou Koscielny Gibbs
Denilson

Lansbury     Rosicky

Vela       Bendtner     Walcott

We need to hit Newcastle hard and fast tomorrow, we need to continue our habit of giving as good as we get and the players need to make sure they play for the team, not themselves as is the temptation when you’re trying to catch the eye.

It’s going to be a good game and a fine test for the kids and some of the fringe players… I can’t wait, I mentioned on our twitter (@arsenal_legrove) yesterday that I think I enjoy the Carling Cup more than the FA Cup these days…

…forgive me footballing gods, for I have sinned.

See you in the comments!

P.S. Congratulations to Cesc for making the Ballon D’or shortlist, maybe next year Abou?

 

Sad eyes...

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Posted by Pedro

Fabianski: A word of warning

October 26, 2010

Good morning Grovers!

The no sh*t Sherlock award goes to me today for telling you that Almunia isn’t injured.

If he were to be sacked right now, I doubt he’d even get incapacity benefit. My worry for him is who is going to buy him in January? He hasn’t exactly showered himself in glory over the past year has he?

So, shall we talk about Fabianski? Once called the worst keeper in Premiership history by err, me? Now being spoken of as a closet case. Yep, a closet world class keeper!

Steady on I say…

There have obviously been a lot of excited people in the comments section as there often is after a super victory against a rival. Many are talking up the Pole including Arsenal.com. Now, we told you here a few weeks ago that Fabianski is out of this world in training, he just doesn’t have the nerve when he’s on the pitch. Now, as fast as the confidence can rise, it can plummet. I’m pretty sure people were crowing on here about how great Almunia had been early on in the season, that didn’t last long did it?

I’d love him to shake off his howler demons. Like I’ve said many times before, Almunia has never made saves of the calibre we saw the other night. Fabianski has superb agility, fantastic kicking and he can pull off incredible saves. What he doesn’t have yet is the mental capacity to deal with pressure. I’m hoping that will develop over the next month and he can toughen up. If he does, we might not need to suffer the indignity of buying up a 38 year old keeper in January.

A lot of conversation has been had around our new crazy formation. Song is a mystery to many, not in the ability sense so much anymore but in the role he is being asked to play. Wenger sees him as a centre back, but he’s playing him in a more marauding role. Against City, Denilson played deeper and it could be argued that Jack has been taking up a deeper position when he plays with Song.

So is Alex being asked to play there to press the opposition in their own half? Is he being asked to play there to create confusion for the opposition who struggle to understand who to mark? Or does Wenger want to force Song into becoming more of a rounded player role he is playing?

Hard to know, but one thing is for sure, I think Rambo has that position earmarked upon his return… we’ll have options coming out of our ears pretty soon. When Robin comes back into the team it’ll be interesting to see what the coach does with Chamakh, who has been superb since his introduction to the team

Chamakh Factfile:

  • 12 games
  • 6 goals
  • 4 assists
  • 5 penalties won
  • 4 red cards given for fouls against him

Personally, I can’t see how we can leave him on the bench, regardless of his injuries. So it’s going to be fascinating to see how he’ll integrate so many good attacking players when the time comes.

As revealed at the AGM, we’re going for all competitions this season. We’ve got the slightly inconsistent Newcastle to contend with. They combine grit with a bit of class and they’ve much power throughout the squad. In fact, I hear there is an 18 year old girl who can testify to that. We’ll be mixing youth with experienced pros so although I don’t expect it to be a formality, I do expect we’ll turn them over. It’s an away game and hopefully the kids will put on a show in a hostile atmosphere.

We’ll get the chance to see Nik B start a game, we’ll hopefully see Theo Walcott demonstrate to us what we’ve been missing for two months and we’ll get to see Koscielny back in the team after a mini lay off.

My team:

Chesney
Eboue Djourou Kozzer Gibbs
Lansbury Denilson Rosicky
Walcott Bendtner JET

Finally, before I leave you, I was thinking about the NPO. You know, the New Prem Order that appears to be emerging this season. Liverpool have fallen away along with Villa / Everton and in my opinion, possibly United. We can’t rule the reds out totally this year, but the days of big spending are probably behind them and hopefully Rooney will kill them when he leaves.

So that leaves the New Prem Order of Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea and quite possibly Spurs. I personally think Arsenal are in great shape regardless of the fair play rules. I’d rather put my money into an off plan Spanish Villa than put £1.2billion into United. People can talk about how great they are as a club, but I’m doubtful any Sheikh is mad enough to give the Glazer’s £400million profit on top of the £150million they’ll need to replace key staff. Forget the propaganda you hear on SSN, United are on the slide and it’ll be a pleasure watching the slow and painful fall from grace.

What do you think?

Let your voice be heard in the comments!

P.S. Our resident stato Ray Gooner prepared a mini league of how we’ve faired against United and Chelsea since Wenger has been in charge.

Arsenal 84 31 23 30 109-117 117
Man Utd 83 28 28 27 104-102 112
Chelsea 83 26 29 28 115-109 107

Interesting stuff eh? Follow us on twitter @Arsenal_Legrove and on Facebook as well!

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

Arsenal punish 10-Man City with powerful display. Review and Ratings

October 25, 2010

Arsenal took full advantage of a Boyata’s early red card with a superb 3-0 win away from home at the Eastlands.

There are those who will say playing ten men is easy, I have to disagree. Firstly I think you face a different pressure and more often than not, you find it galvanises the opposition to give 10% extra.

Geoff called for Arsenal to win ugly and for the first 60 minutes, you’d have to say his wish was answered. We were dominated by City 55% – 45%. We made sloppy defensive errors all over the pitch and there was a serious lack of discipline considering the importance of a win against a top 4 team would represent.

As with all good match reports, lets take this from the start.

In the first minute JD allowed Tevez to get inside him on the touchline, the Argentinian slipped a ball across the box, Silva flicked across goal where Fabianski was on hand to make a superb one handed save.

Up the other end, Cesc stamped his mark on the game slipping Arshavin in, wrongly adjudged offside. Moments later he replicated the same pass feeding Chamakh who reached the ball first only to be chopped down when he touched inside towards goal. I’m not sure too many Arsenal fans were confident of a red card after 5 minutes,  but Clattenburg was in no doubt… OFF!

It didn’t take Denilson long to pick up a booking with a slightly reckless challenge on Tevez. To my mind he had to make that tackle, the last thing you want is that monster tearing away on a counter attack. Aggressive tackling was happening all over the park. De Jong muched Cesc, Cesc returned the favour, Song clipped a City player… I wasn’t expecting the game to finish with 11 Arsenal players on the pitch. This felt like Arsenal of old!

Sagna whipped in an inch perfect cross only for JD to head over unchallenged for our first chance.

Not long after, Nasri picked up the ball on the edge of the box, he stopped then made up his mind to play a one two with Arshavin, his run wasn’t tracked by Barry, the Frenchman curled it inside Joe Hart’s near post! A stunning goal by one of the Premierships star performers this year.

The first half didn’t all go our way, Johann Djourrou was having a torrid time in defence getting himself turned inside out by Micah Richards and Tevez. Luckily Arshavin was on hand for the Tevez slip to clear up, that boy loves defending…

Song’s passing was incredibly bad and it was saddening to see that his imaginary friend had returned and he keener than ever to get ball time. He picked up a yellow card along with Cesc.

As the half drew to a close, Cesc picked up the ball in the area, Kompany stuck out a leg and down went the Spaniard for the penalty. I don’t know why, but despite Cesc scoring  all of his last 5 penalties, I didn’t feel confident. He hit it hard at the perfect height for Joe Hart to smother. It was a great save, not an amazing penalty though.

The second half nearly opened with a goal  but neither Cesc or Nasri wanted to pull the trigger.

Down the other end, Silva made the most of a loose ball outwide striking a cross goal shot that Fabianski did superbly well to guide past the post.

What’s that? A goalkeeper making the saves you don’t expect them to make? This was novel!

Adebayor took his opportunity to show us what £24million buys you these days… He managed to find himself offside (shocking) when he shouldn’t and even then he couldn’t find the net with Fabianski denying him with an incredible save.

Arshavin picked out Nasri from outwide with a floated cross field ball, the Frenchman cut it back to Cesc who slipped Chamakh in, City managed to disrupt the ball into the path of Alex Song who toe poked it first time into the far top corner! A ripping strike and a superb finish from the man who is determined not to be remembered as a holding midfielder.

Arsenal had caught wind that City had better possession stats and after the second goal decided to play keep ball for the rest of the game. City began to tire and just as the game was petering out, Nasri did well to keep the ball in play, he laid the ball into the path of Nik Bendtner who announced himself back in the Arsenal team with a cheeky finish past Joe Hart.

The final whistle blew up and Arsenal had taken three deserved points from the most expensively assembled team in the world. We fought hard, found our discipline and took our chances in what could be dubbed the first ugly win of the year. Last time we down to ten men, we were playing a bottom 3 team (Liverpool) and could only manage a draw.

There were some areas for concern. Despite Song scoring a superb goal, his overall game was very slack. He made unnecessary fouls and his passing was a little too Hollywood for me. He needs to rediscover the basics and work his game up from there. Johann Djourou had a shocking game in my opinion. His finishing up top was bad but in defence he was turned inside out on at least 3 occasions. That’s not good enough at this level and on another day we could have been severely punished. Arshavin seemed off the pace for large parts of the game today, but once again, he popped up with an assist… and he even tracked back!

On the plus side I thought Denilson played well. His passing was in the main pretty crisp, he was aggressive and he stood his ground well. Fabianski was excellent, the confidence is slowly ebbing back and he made three game changing saves. Exactly what I expect from an Arsenal goalkeeper. Nasri is growing into the player we’d all hoped and he stamped his mark on another match with a MoM performance. Cesc played to his normal high standards and Nik B scored.

In other more statistical news, we’ve picked up 7 points in away games we didn’t pick any points up in last year and we’re sitting very pretty at the top of the joint second place crowd.

A great day for Arsenal… next up, Newcastle!

Player Ratings (Spreadsheet document):

Fabianski: Made two top class saves when called upon. His kicks are enormous and he marshalled his box without any jitters. 8

Clichy: I don’t have the utmost confidence in him this year, I thought he should have done better on a few occasions and it seems his confidence is so low he doesn’t really involve himself going forward. 6

Sagna: A top game from our right back. He defended well and put in a couple of top class crosses. 7

Squillaci: A quiet game from the Frenchman. Wenger talks him up as a leader, I don’t really see that, I hardly notice him on the pitch and our backline looks as nervous as ever. 6

JD: Not his best game, he’s not very mobile which City took full advantage of today. He was good aerially though and obviously he’s strong. 5

Song: His passing was wild in the first half and his silly tackles don’t show any sign of abating. Another yellow card as well. I’m unsure whether he lacks discipline or he’s being told to get forward, either way, I’m not comfortable with it. I don’t think he’s got the attacking instinct to merit a confusing formation. On the positive side, his game improved drastically in the second half and he banged in a peach of a goal. He made the most passes for us yesterday with 82! 6.5

Cesc: The master puppeteer pulled all the right strings today but missed a penalty. He is so dangerous on and off the ball and he has those tattoo’s which seem to have given him an nasty edge, even in the after match interviews! 8.5

Denilson: Put in a solid performance today with some classy passing, some crunching tackles and some intelligent play. I personally think there is a great footballer waiting to break out. If we can see more performances like yesterdays, I’d happily see him in the side. He made the 2nd most passes yesterday and certainly played a deeper role than Song. 7

Nasri: Really showed up today, wanted the ball, worked his socks off and scored a fantastic goal. He’s blossoming this season and I’m excited to see where we end up with him. He pops up all over the pitch if which makes him a hugely dangerous player. 9

Arshavin: Terrible in the first half, he looks unfit and like he’s clearly struggling with some aspects of his game. However, you pay £15million for a player and they produce for you. He managed another assist today which opened the game up. 15 starts, 5 goals, 7assists. 6.5

Chamakh: We really can’t complain that we’ve missed Robin this season. This guy has all the right ingredients to keep us competitive up top. He’s strong, deceptively fast and he has a knack for getting fouled in all the right places. 7.5

Subs:

Rosicky: Didn’t put a foot wrong really. Still fit and its nearly November! 6

Bendtner: Glad we have another feather in our attacking cap. One that can come on a slot home with his first chance. That’s 50 career goals at 22. 6.5

Theo: Didn’t really have too much of the ball. 6

Geoff is on a blog holiday this week, so you’ve got my ramblings all week!

See you in the comments and maybe on twitter @Arsenal_Legrove !

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Posted by Pedro

A win ratio against the top 4 of 18% is shocking, time to ram the stats where it hurts.

October 24, 2010

If we don’t, we can forget the title again for another season and thanks to rednose maybe several of our top players too.

First of all the new stats of the new top 4, it really is truly dreadful, you only need to see won 3, drawn 2 and lost 12 to realise that no matter how it’s spun, we just aren’t good enough and gone are the days when we can say, but we play good football, we can’t do can we? Unless good football is more important than winning, it isn’t for me, ever heard the saying winning ugly?

Take West Brom, we lost, and boy was that ugly, so I don’t buy the wonderful football stuff.

Thanks to rednose we will have some of our players demanding double their money next term, I find it incredulous, £800mil in debt and they are doubling the fat little turds salary, and according to the papers are about to make a £40mil bid for Wesley Sneijder from Milan.

Remember him boss? When we beat Ajax in the Amsterdam Cup, I said you should buy him? Go check the archives, he even had hair in those days, I think you signed Bischoff instead.

Anyway, the FA have to step in and say you are knowingly insolvent, it can’t be right that a club that is trading insolvently can de-stablise football in this way, they really are going to royally screw us over because our top players will feel they can earn double elsewhere, it’s wrong in so many ways and it wouldn’t be allowed in the real world.

Today is a massive game, today we need to win, Wenger has said he often plays two holding midfielders, that means Denilson and Song, but surprisingly it could also mean Diaby and Wilshere as the boss has finally admitted that Jack Wilshere can play as a defensive midfielder, and thats what I’ve been saying all season, Jack can be the defensive midfielder we’ve been looking for in a midfield that includes Cesc and Nasri.

Well today it can’t because he’s banned, so who will be the midfield? Will it be one or two holding midfielders?

Only Wenger will know the answer to that one and if we don’t win today then only Wenger can take the can, one thing is for sure, if we lose, then the order will change, if we don’t beat these guys, then we clearly aren’t good enough to do better than 3rd, and that will be a shame because a few players of the right calibre would have made the difference. Say no more.

Me I would go with a midfield of Nasri, Cesc and Diaby/Denilson and not go for two holding players, we will be too negative, allow the defenders we have to defend, and on that basis I would deploy Eboue and Gibbs, for me our best defenders and our best crossers, we have Chamakh now, feed him.

Arsene the time for sentiment has gone, the time for winning has arrived, beat this lot and you will have shown our team has arrived, lose and you would have shown than we just aren’t good enough, we are no longer kids, this is it, no more excuses.

Time for the gallant Gooners to ride into the Valley of death, time to show what you’re made of boys, time to show the tossers who wrote the big 4 stats, that they wrote them before we were ready, time to stand up and be counted, time to start winning.

We love you Arsenal, we do, we love you Arsenal we do, we love you Arsenal we do, Oooooh Arsenal we love you!

Have a great day grovers, and a safe journey to those of you going!

1,050 Comments | New Review | Permalink
Posted by Geoff

The chav game was a must not lose game, the City is now a must win one.

October 23, 2010

That’s it, we have to win this one, we got lucky that the chavs dropped points last week and we won, but City and spurs also won and it’s the ones behind that bother me more than those ahead, beating shitty is of paramount importance.

We are either better than them, or we aren’t, if we are, then good, point proven Arsenal.

If we aren’t, then why aren’t we? Arsene has had long enough to build a team, he has the funds, no excuses.

As for City, yes they have unlimited funds, yes they have spent gazillions, but they have bought two Arsenal rejects as well as a whole bunch of players that with the exception of Tevez and Silva, are all players not wanted by other teams.

YaYa wasn’t wanted by Barca, Barry by Liverpool, SWP by the Chavs, Kompany and De Jong were wanted by no one, Johnson was at Middlesbrough, Hart was at Brum last year, maybe I would have had Silva and Tevez, but that’s it.

So if we can’t beat a team of overpriced, overpaid rejects, then we need a re-think, me I believe we’ll do them, I think Cesc has been calling our team spirit all week and I think he’s right, he can’t play Wilshere, but he does have Nasri, so for me it’s one of Song, Denilson or Diaby to choose from to partner those two, Arsene don’t get tempted to play Nasri up top and drop Arshavin or Theo, we need him in the middle.

This would be my team.

Fabianski

Eboue Squillaci Djourou Clichy

Song

Nasri Cesc

Theo Arshavin

Chamakh

I wouldn’t be upset to see Gibbs in for Clichy, or Rosicky in for Arshavin, but I suspect he’ll put Diaby in for Nasri and push him up, then drop Arshavin.

We need the fight of the team that played the chavs with the finishing of the team that played on Tuesday.

Cesc I think will stay now, he feels the love he gets and he can see how crap Barca are, I think he feels he’s dodged a bullet, at least I hope he does.

So onto shrek, he now says he’s staying, bollocks, he would have been sold for £15mil in January, so ManU offer to pay him a million a month, well done Alex, you have just put another nail in the coffin of English football, crazy, now all the other players will want more and who ends up paying? The fans. CRAZY!

So the Mancs have said we’ll pay you £250k a week if you sign a 5 year deal, come the summer you’ll be £3mil better off, we’ll sell you for £80mil, you’ll get another £8mil instead of £1.5mil you would have got in January so we all win. Cynical and disgraceful, and you know what, you are over rated. Ferguson, where on earth is your pride, we know you have no principals. Beaten by a fat, bald scouser thug, how humiliating.

It costs ManU another £3mil but they’ll make some £55mil extra, good business but obvious and cynical, playing the fans for mugs, now where have I seen that before.

Anyway, big day tomorrow, so come on the Arsenal, show Cesc and us what you have, Theo, show Johnson why you are so much better that him and Chamakh show us why you replaced Ade (you already have in my book)

Have a great day Grovers, tomorrow we dine in heaven!

287 Comments | New Review | Permalink
Posted by Geoff

Arsenal AGM… all the goss from Wenger, Gazidis and PHW

October 22, 2010

I arrived at the AGM expecting a sanitised white wash and to be honest, my preconceived thoughts weren’t a million miles off. It was held just outside the new WM Club. The tea was handed out and the milk was balanced on a frisbee sized table. This cunning plan forced you to talk to whoever you were standing next to so a bit of Arsenal networking went off. I found myself chatting to an SSN roving reporter who seemed as shocked as anyone about the lack of funding on our backline. I listened to the Arsenal press officer tell him the rules about the AGM which was interesting.

I also heard and insight into the power of agents. There was a channel 4 documentary about Tiger wood and how his sports management company kept a whole bunch of things quiet for him because of the power his team wielded in the press. Put it this way, if the two reporters I spoke two know what they’re talking about, Rooney has been a naughty boy and Sir Alex has done him a favour leaking the story as he has…

Anyway, back onto the AGM… I took my seat next to @DarrenArsenal1 and began tweeting the news to  @Arsenal_Legrove

Arsenal had 45 members of the fanshare program in attendance. Every steward thought I was in with that rabble… cheeky buggers.

Net debt fell to £135million, the only payments we have to make now are debentures and out long term mortgage.

I thought there was a slight dig at Usmanov. Gazidis said that the shareholders not demanding a dividend had allowed Arsenal to pay back the debt quicker and function far better than its rivals.

Gazidis spoke about his now world-class commercial management team. Apparently they’re going to take our revenues to new levels over the next few years. Someone did ask how Arsenal would report such healthy profits once the property had all been sold, to which PHW said, ‘our new team of highly technical graduates from West Africa will take care of it’. He also said we can expect 2-3 years more worth revenues from property

Vic Akers had a shout out for putting together a world class ladies team and starching a football shirt with great care and ease. He also bagged himself and OBE. Arsenal Shorts will be pleased!

Someone asked why the cost of financing doubled, apparently it was because the Highbury Square loan was refinanced (I tend to switch off when I  hear numbers, apologies if I’ve got some of this wrong)

There were two pretty shameful questions, one was about the standard of the catering. Get a life sunshine, if you’re going to football for the food and you don’t like it, take a packed lunch. The second was about how loud the PA system was. The guy who asked that question was in his twenties, as punishment he should be put in an age machine and taken to 74, an age where that question would have been acceptable.

Some creep stood up and asked if Wenger would be offered a place on the board, because he clearly doesn’t wield enough power as it is! PHW said he wouldn’t have the time.

An interesting question was about whether Arsenal fans should be expected to pay for ATVO when they pay such extortionate prices for their tickets. Gazidis said his team had recognised this was pretty unfair and would look into it.

Maria stepped up and asked whether Arsenal would be able to play their reserve games at Underhill because they can’t watch them in Colney due to planning permission. Apparently Arsenal will play 4 games there, but Steve Bold and Liam Brady like playing on carpet like pitches in the winter, so unfortunately, no more reserve team football at Underhill.

Someone asked About Lady B’s shares and whether Stan was planning to buy them. Stan sat there sullen and silent. PHW bumbled through the question and said he didn’t know what she was going to do with her shares. The man asking the question said he thought Stan was one of the good guys… not sure why he’d think that, when someone takes the no comment approach on the Bill (Police soap), I normally think they’re guilty of something…

Arsenal appoint Mark Gonnella as Communications Director. He joins from previous role as Corporate Affairs Director at Barclaycard, something that wasn’t mentioned. Hopefully he’ll shake up our PR department!

A more mature gentleman stepped up and went on a mini tirade about the lack of defensive stability we have considering the funds available. He said the keepers were the worst since Jimmy Butterfingers… apparently a famous character from a Dick Tracy cartoon?

Something that angers me is the AKB groans you get when someone voices a question that might put the boss on the back foot. This happened a lot last year, but this year, the groans were quickly over powered by applause. It was a great question and a pertinent one at that. PHW took the question and pulled every AKB line in the book… Wenger knows more than us, there are only 3 players in the world with the technical proficiency to play for us, we don’t want to spend £80million on a player, think of the god damn CHILDREN!

At this point, Arsene took to the mic and freestyled his way through a rousing speech. He announced that he’d signed a new 3 year deal to rapturous applause (no trophy for 5 years and we’re still clapping like epileptic seals, that’s real class eh?). He said he took much ‘advices’ (<– I didn’t have the heart to pull him on a made up word) from Arsenal fans all over the country, but asked us to trust him. He admitted he’s made mistakes but he thinks this team can win this year becuase of team spirit and a maturing core.

He said he preferred to bring players through the ranks because they are educated here and the fit in quicker. I found this a bit of a contradiction. It took Song three years to fit in and it’s still being debated whether he has. It’s taken Chamakh a month! Interestingly he said that money hasn’t been a problem. He has assurances from the board that there are funds available in January if he wants to sign 1-2 players. PHW had earlier said Wenger has never been refused money, he just chooses not to spend it.

There were many questions around big games and why we couldn’t deal with them. Wenger said this wasn’t down to his kamikaze approach to defending, he said it was down to the fact we conceded first then chased the games and lost by more.

“At the top level the team that scores first will win 62 per cent of the time. 70 per cent of the time the first goal scored guarantees you a draw. That means 79 per cent of the time when you score first you will not lose in a ‘big’ game.”

It was a bit of a confusing curve ball. The Grovers (Gambon) got to work on those comments and came up with the following:

Barca 2010 (L)
Man Utd 2009 (L)
Spurs 2009 (W)
Chelsea FAC Semi (L)
Liverpool @ Anfield 2009 (D)
Liverpool @ Emirates 2008 (D)
Man Utd @ Emirates 2008 (W)
Liverpool in CL (L)
Liverpool in CL (D)
Old Trafford 2008 (L)
Stamford Bridge 2008 (L)

Won – 18%
Drew – 28%
Lost- 54%

I make it 15 times weve gone 1 down, and 1 time we’ve won…..so when we go down we tend to win 6.6% of the time, very embarrassing.

We have also kept 3 clean sheets in our last 26 big games (top 4 league games and bigcup games)

So, some strange comments indeed…

Wenger confirmed what I told you on Wednesday. Thomas Vermaelen is out indefinitely. I reported he could be out for the year, when I said that, I meant for the rest of 2010. Wenger blamed poor international pitches. It was the same for the Cesc injury as well. Just remember, LG is where you’ll get the best info!

Wenger said we’d go for ALL trophies this year and that he was confident Cesc loved the club enough to give us 3 additional season. I’m not so sure, Wenger used to be great at keeping players who wanted to leave, I’m unsure as to whether he’s persuasion powers are failing him these days… we’ll see!

He also said he criticises himself, possibly on LG, I couldnt’ get confirmation on that. Cesc will not play in the Carling Cup, but a strong team will be fielded. He will not entertain 2 holding midfielders.

Fair play to Arsene though, he took all the question and gave good answers. I doubt there are many managers in world football who’d do that. He asked us to be optimistic going forward and trust in him… what do you think?

Let us know in the comments!

Happy Birthday Arsene!

478 Comments | Editorial | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Pedro

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