Fabianski: A word of warning

by & filed under Uncategorized.

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 Responses to “Fabianski: A word of warning”

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  6. Supergunner07

    @ Pedro, if Wenger is being really fair then he has give JET is turn tomorrow after Vela’s recent performances. If doesn’t play him then he should go on loan, reserves is like cake walk for him season despite teams actually playing more 1st team players @ reserve level.

  8. A

    Supergunner JET was supposedly in talks to go on loan to QPR towards the end of last week, but decided to stay for league cup. I reckon he’ll go on loan in the end.

  11. SurferX

    Think you may have that spot on A. Though Im more than a little concerned about having Walcott and Vela on in a diffcult(ish) away cup tie.

    I’d rather he played Lansbury wide right, Theo on the left (where he can cut in) and Diaby in MC (assuming he’s fit?). His unannounced dissapearance from the squad I find interesting (unless Ive just missed the real reason?)

    Still, if we get a goal early- it could be a hiding either way.

  14. A

    concerned why Surfer?

    I’m concerned it could be a little bit too easy – if they rest players as they’re talking about we could walk it.

    With Diaby I assumed that he had a knock, otherwise he would’ve started ahead of Denilson against City.

    My only concern would be the lack of playmakers, with only Rosicky in there, but with the direct running of Theo and Vela we’d get in behind alot and Bendtner could link up with Rosicky, along with Lansbury’s running from midfield

  16. A

    maybe not as often specific attacks ddm, but he does slag off anyone who disagrees with him in a collective way a GREAT deal, retards etc.

    This morning it was “deluded people who are blindfolded by Wenger,and cant think of themselves”

  17. ZARgooner

    dennisdamenace says:
    October 26, 2010 at 15:48
    I really think that Jag is the ‘alter ego’ of Geoff…
    ——————————————————

    CLASSIC!

  21. SomeRandomGunner

    After Arsene’s update this looks like the lineup.
    —————————— Szczesny ———————————-
    —Eboue———Djourou——————-Koscielny—-Gibbs—
    —————————– Denilson————————————————
    ————Lansbury/Diaby—————————————————-
    ——————————————–Rosicky———————————-
    –Walcottt——————————————————–Vela—-
    —————————–Bendtner—————————————

  23. zeus

    Kid has an annoying knack of scoring unconventional goals.

    No other striker could kick the ball off his own face into the net.

  24. DaleDaGooner

    Top post Pedders….

    1. I’m not getting carried away with Fabianksi, he has done the basic well and should continue, still want to see what Szczesny has to offer compared to Fabianski, it’s between the 2 poles for sure. WE SHOULD NOT SPEND BIG ON A GOALIE1 till we see what these 2 have to offer long term.

    On Song, you have to see that he is asked to play a different role from last season, clearly he is pressing\defending further up and attacking as well, the tactics have shifted, all 3 CM are rotating around. And who says Song cannot pass well??? I seen him pass the ball sweetly in every match. It’s his tackles (which i think he needs to work on) and pace that fails him. But he still has time to grow into what you all want.

    On Vela, i think Arsene is loosing patience in him, from the passport debacle to a lot of other stuff, frankly, I’d like to see how he plans to take his place back, sadly he doesn’t get good number of chance.

  30. Pedro

    Dale, I sat next to Diaby for a half last Feb… he’s the most gentle placid bloke… he wouldn’t say boo to a goose!

  33. DaleDaGooner

    Seriously, I think Jaguar is Wenger’s love child, who he denied when they met, and Diaby might be stealling his dad’s love for him.

  34. SurferX

    Sorry A- had to dissapear.

    Concerned becuase without Cesc or LGW we lack the creativity in the middle of the park to get the most from Walcott (it’ll be back to running into blind-alleys). Concerned because Vela offers as much defensive resistance as AA (ie practically none). Thats why Id rather have a Lansbury type in there- so we dont end up getting overloaded down both flanks all night.

    Having said all that- would be really sad to see a team like Newcastle rest players. This is about the only Cup they have a realistic chance of winning. I can understand it obviously- its status is so low now it really is worthless.

    But, just as we need any piece of silverware we can get our hands on- when was Newcastle’s last? Was the old EUFA cup in the 60′s wasn’t it? Very sad indication of just how worthless the trophy is when a team like that cba to win it.

  38. DaleDaGooner

    SurferX, they have priorities, they have to Play Sunderland and they are scared of sliding back down, I assume they place low priority on the CC cause with us and Man Ure still in, most lower teams just roll over. Yes it has less value to most teams, but i reckon ambitious clubs still go for it to add to their trophy count. But really, what do we expect from 4 desirable cup? We need it more than they, and they know we will come at them 80% strong, that’s enough. They went hard to knock Chavski out, so i know they are preparing for Sunderland.

  39. DaleDaGooner

    Also, Surfer, they won a trophy last season by being the champs of the fizzy drink league, surely that counts as much as the CC…??

  40. Rohan

    Gambon just loves to exaggerate the fuck out of everything. He does make some valid points though and has great great analogies.

  42. DaleDaGooner

    First team VS Newcastle U

    W. Szczesny
    E. Eboué
    J. Djourou
    L. Koscielny
    K. Gibbs
    H. Lansbury
    T. Rosický
    A. Diaby
    C. Vela
    N. Bendtner
    T. Walcott

  43. zeus

    Who wouldn’t be exciting at the prospect of JET. I truley believe we may be in a similar position to Barca in regards to homegrown talent.

    Lansbury, not too sure, but Gibbs and Wilshere are shoe ins already, JEt is well on is way, Frimpong was starting to show something, Chucks Aneke is HIGHLY regarded as is the young goalscorer Afobe.

    There are others like Eastmond and Agogo but admittedly I know very little of them and suspect they won’t make it, but the future is ineed bright.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_JrojPG07I

  46. goonermichael

    ” I wouldn’t be betting against it being a five-horse race,” said Ferguson. “I think there is a lot of twists and turns in the race.

    “The result at Stoke has had a galvanising effect on the club but we have to motor on now. At the moment Chelsea have done very little wrong but if you look at our programme, we have had a much harder programme than the rest. We’ve been to Everton, Sunderland, Stoke, Bolton – all these difficult places where nobody enjoys going, but we’ve got them out of the road now.”

    We’ve been to chelsea and blackburn red nosed wanker

  49. Mayank

    Jaguar reloaded says:
    October 26, 2010 at 18:41
    It is certainly better than bleating ‘Wenger knows’ at the drop of a dime

    It certainly is, but I fail to understand your point. No one does that here or any other site, even ACLF. There are people as adamantly positive as some here are negative, but most of the regular posters on any site back their argument much in the same way as anyone, even if they are a bit deluded\apocalyptic.

    I don’t get the need to keep telling yourself you’re the better supporter.

  50. Mayank

    I think it’s wonderful all the pundits and managers ignore us when talking about PL contenders. It’ll be all the sweeter to shove it in their faces then.

  51. Kreshnik

    Can’t wait for JW to come back and run the mid with Cesc, they were starting to really look the part.

    goonermichael, actually I think we have brought more youngsters through and to a certain degree better quality (not even counting LJW and the other younger kids). The drawback of that so far has been that we’ve only stayed at the top and haven’t edged it yet.

    A great great task now is to keep the current crop together and learn from past mistakes, if we indeed do, we might rule (at least) England for a while.

  54. kneelbeforewenger

    Fcuk the octopus, it brought me heartbreak not once but twice, I wanted a Germany-Netherlands final, with the Dutch carrying the cup. I hope it finds a place where great chinese food is sold.

  56. choy

    Man Utd v Wolverhampton
    Man Utd: Amos, Brown, Smalling, Evans, Fabio Da Silva, Obertan, Carrick, Gibson, Park, Macheda, Bebe. Subs: Kuszczak, Neville, Hernandez, Rafael Da Silva, Brady, Eikrem, Morrison.

    Wolverhampton: Hennessey, Foley, Mouyokolo, Berra, Elokobi, Hunt, Mancienne, David Jones, Jarvis, Ebanks-Blake, Fletcher. Subs: Hahnemann, Van Damme, Edwards, Stearman, Bent, Milijas, Doyle.
    Referee: Michael Jones (Cheshire)

  59. Queen of suburbia

    Does anybody ever write Arsene knows? Except maybe chrisgooner on aclf??

    Racquels whole routine is just to piss one guy off who doesnt even post here??

  66. DaleDaGooner

    wow, the balls on old Red nose…i hope they loose, we are definitely not messing about, we want it mickey mouse or not, no shame in my game!

  67. Honest Bill

    Balls?

    Taggart knows that he has absolutely no room for any tiredness in the league games. He can’t afford to play his best players

  68. SFOGooner

    So the last great finisher that everybody talked up at arsenal plays in serie B.

    I hope it is not a bad omen for JET!

  76. zeus

    quick question. What was the team that Wilshere scored that Liam Brady-esque goal against?
    Where he curled with the outside of the boot.

  86. zeus

    Park drove United forward from midfield and played the ball into Macheda – it deflected inadvertently back off the Italian and Park was on hand to curl a left-foot shot into the corner from just inside the area.
    ************************

    Always so lucky.

  89. David

    seriously i cant watch this fuking game anymore.

    Whats the point…Wolves creating all the chances and missing every one of them.

    Its like Arsenal in 08/09

  99. zeus

    Outside left. It curled out then in, just inside the far post (from keeper’s view, the left post)

    Remember the commentator saying ‘it was the only way he could score.’

    Eduardo played in that game as well.

  116. DaleDaGooner

    I hope Vela is watching…i’m sure he’s watching…can he see what the Chicharito dude is doing in the Prem?

  122. DaleDaGooner

    Well, they are still in, the manc cunts. We must win tomorrow, i was hoping the Wolves would knock these cunts out.

  125. Queen of Suburbia

    Did anyone else catch Skys reporting of the Ballon D’Or nominations today?

    Inter MIlan had four players nominated, Barca a host of players, SPAIN’s Fabregas also got a nomination.

    Thats Spains Fabregas, not Arsenal’s.

    Bias is a very subtle often undetectable thing is it not?

  128. SUGA3

    you have got to be fucking kidding me – it wouldn’t have anything to do with Cesc being the only one bar Drogba EPL player nominated, would it?

    is Drogba ‘Ivorian’ or ‘Chelsea’ then?

  129. zeus

    QOS

    What a bunch of arseholes.

    Can anyone explain to me why they have it in for us though. There’s nothing more annoying than unexplained hatred.

    Surely its not cuz we have few Englishmen in the side.

  130. Kreshnik

    But some of here were saying the media is not biased at all ???

    Here’s the deal. To neglect the media bias IMO is a bit silly, because sure as hell there is media bias, how the fuck can there not be. Every one of us favors different things, teams, managers etc. So we always tend to be biased. BUT, usually bias evens out, different journalists and reporters even themselves out, and the ratio rarely passes the average limits in favor or disfavor of a specific team. The problem is that Arsenal is a bit in disfavor and comprehensively so, given the fact that for a few years now we have not had too many English kids coming through the ranks or playing for us. As soon as that changes, and it’s starting to, that might start to get a bit better.

  131. timao

    for every intelligent person who admires wenger there are 100 english yeomen who despise him. it’s not sky to blame. a lot of people hate arsenal, maybe because of envy? the murdoch media simply makes a point of giving people what they want.

  133. timao

    fabianski a long way off being a reliable keeper – got lucky on sunday.

    funny how i’m reading that wenger is not playing his kids in the CC any more… duh, it’s the same players, they just got older. wasn’t that the plan all along???

  137. LeProf

    Consider the goalie issue is provisional, the only missing puzzle is the left back position.

    yes, Gareth Bale it is. Surely our team is back top notch. Gibbs now can only learn much more tricks to become Cole 2.0

    Wenger should ask Aaron Ramsey to rub one or two over Bale…

  138. DaleDaGooner

    We will need to play really well vs Newcastle they blanked Chelsea @ Stamford, I hope we play up and defend well, I hope our attackers take their shots… Come on, up the Arse! We shall prevail.

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