I’m not convinced by Fabianski | The best Arsenal weekend of the season | Ratings + match review

November 15, 2010

The story on everyone’s lips before kick-off was about the absence of Nik Bendtner. The coach said he’d picked up a Man-United pre-international groin strain, so he wasn’t dropped.

We lined up as I correctly predicted yesterday. The team took a bit of time to find our stride. The first real chance came after a stretched pass by Alex Song which put Nasri through on goal only for the Frenchman to be thwarted by a Distin block.

The ball went down the other end where Coleman roasted Fabregas, floated a back post pass in for Cahill who uncharacteristically headed over and wide.

Arshavin and Jack both went close within a short space of each other, the game failed to find a flow. Heitinga and Cesc were both guilty of rash challenges. It was nice to see that Everton had come out to rough us up and they were getting no joy! Alex Song dropped a needless body check in the middle of the park and his passing was well off.

Our opener came after a Nasri 25 yard ripper was tipped wide by Howard, Arshavin picked up the loose ball, cut it back to the free Sagna who had a think, moved a few yards forward and ripped it inside Howard’s near post! A screamer of a goal from an impossibly tight angle!

Everton went close late on in the half when Fabianski came for a corner, flapped… luckily the headed rebound hit him on the back. A timely reminder that a bit of David James lurks beneath.

Half time arrived and it was clear that we were losing the midfield battle and we had to perk up in the second half. Unusually for Wenger he decided to change the team straight away bringing on Denilson for Wilshere. Was this the move of a madman or was this inspired?

Incredibly it was inspired. Within minutes Denilson was giving us more steel in the middle, his passing was far crisper than Jack’s and perhaps the competition for places had given him the boot up the Arsenal he needed. He started the move for the goal with a well timed interception, passing to Cesc, who played a one two with Chamakh and buried it low and hard past Tim Howard. A great start to the half!

Squillaci was lucky not to see red after taking Saha down when he was the last man. Luckily for us Webb was in tip-top inconsistent form and only reached for the yellow card.

Pienaar cut an inviting ball back to Rodwell who fired over from 8 yards, that was a warning shot.

Samir Nasri went on a surging run down the other end speeding past the whole Everton team only to have his shot smartly saved by Howard.

Cesc managed to land himself in the book after having his ankle stamped on by Sylvain Distin. Clearly Howard Webb booked him for last week’s challenge at Wolves.

Nasri and Cesc joined forces to play slip Chamakh in, the Moroccan fired over from 3 yards. One he’ll hope to forget you’d imagine!

Song decided to help out down the other end when he perfectly positioned himself in front of a Saha shot to block acrobatically with his shoulder. Geoff and I both agreed that was an exquisite moment of defensive genius.

Beckford joined the field of play and was immediately played in with a long ball over the top, he cut it back, threw in a pirouette and struck it at the far post where Fabianski was on hand to tip it wide at a stretch. A superb save!

The Polish international went on to deny Pienaar then moments later he flew across his goal to keep out Saha’s curling shot… he was certainly earning his zloty’s today!

His good form couldn’t keep out Everton. A corner was looped to the back post, Saha cut back a header and Cahill was on hand to bury it. We don’t do things the easy way do we?

The game fizzled out and Arsenal took the three points.

Did we play well?

Not particularly. Cesc again seemed well off the pace and his new found love for a rash challenge appears to be catching the eye of referees up and down the country. I thought as a team we became really sloppy towards to end of the half, more down to nerves than anything.

We gave the ball away far too much in the middle of the park, Alex Song being a particular culprit of this. Many people disagreed with me on this front… well, even the beloved Guardian Chalkboards weren’t kind to him today… he made 6 passes unsuccessful passes our of 32, he only won 50% of his tackles, only one of his 4 clearances was successful and sadly there wasn’t a stat for losing the ball when in control. He did make one or two superb interception and his incredible agility and quick thinking was there for all to see with his late block.

We’re winning ugly and I love it.

How did we handle the rough stuff?

Once again we didn’t allow a team from the North West to put it up us. That’s not to say they didn’t try. Watching Cesc stroke the back man mountain Distin after their altercation was quite funny. The equivalent of Manny Pacquiao consoling David Haye after hitting him too hard in a sparring match.

We’ve injected a bit more grit into the team with players like Squillaci and some of the kids are stepping up to the challenge of ‘manning up’. Perhaps Wenger has been putting Yorkie bars in their packed lunches?

How did we defend?

In the main, we defended really well until 70 minutes passed. Then it all became a bit hectic but it was more of a team issue than a back 4 problem. I thought JD was excellent again. I can’t recall anyone getting inside him and thought Squillaci wasn’t at the races today, his experience certainly helps reassure whoever he is playing next to.

How was the keeper?

In the end, he was our star performer. He pulled of 3 or 4 crucial saves and he ultimately saved those three points for us. The main difference between him and Almunia is that when he’s on form, he’s up there with the best in the world. He actually wins you games. Something you could rarely say of the Spaniard.

However, for all the good in his game, I still fear the bad. Alex Manninger was a super shot stopper, however, he was hugely erratic dealing with those aerial balls into the box. Crosses are a weak point of the team in general, the last thing you need is a keeper who is poor at collecting them as well.

It’s like jumping into an dodgy old taxi after a night out, then hearing the driver say he only has sight in one eye… not exactly reassuring!

There’s a bit of David James in his game, is that good enough for Arsenal long-term? We’ll wait and see…  United and Barcelona will exploit glaring weaknesses.

Any other thoughts?

Though not vintage Arshavin, I thought he found his game a little today. He was a bit more adventurous in front of goal and he only made one bad pass. I think he’s going to feel right at home when the winter kicks in and hopefully we’ll see that player of two seasons ago! Another assist might I add?

I also thought Denilson’s introduction was a interesting as he was a bit of a star in the second half. He brought composure and added a bit of calmness to the middle of the park. Jack had one of those game young players do. He’s not going to find consistency for at least another couple of season so we just have to support him. Nasri was also very impressive yesterday, I thought his pace and power really shone through, the hard work he puts into training is clearly paying off.

Finally, you have to love how the weekend panned out. We played the best team out of anyone in the top 4 and won away.

  1. United drew and should have lost after a dismal performance.
  2. Manchester City drew again… it’s all imploding over there!
  3. Liverpool lost and failed to continue their blip of wins…
  4. Chelsea lost 3-0 at home to Sunderland and Cashley set up Wellbeck for the winner!

A great weekend for the Arse, next up, Harry Redknapp brings God and the rest of the Spurs team to the Emirates.

It’s going to be a continuation of our great form and a slap down to our pikey next door neighbours!

Ratings

Fabianski – 9

Clichy – 7

Sagna – 7

Squillaci – 7

JD – 7.5

Song – 6.5

Cesc – 6

Wilshere – 5.5

Arshavin – 6.5

Nasri – 7.5

Chamakh – 6

Subs

Denilson – 8

Rosicky – 7

Eboue – 10

Don’t forget to follow us on twitter @arsenal_legrove , you’ll read all the goss as we hear it! You could also show your liking for the site in our exciting facebook page!

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Posted by Pedro

Arsenal taking over England | The truth about Cesc | Don’t listen JACK!

November 14, 2010

I’ve gotta say that I’m not a massive fan of our lack of 3 o’clock kick offs during the season. I appreciate Sky and the other digital channels like to see us on the box, but it’s half a ball ache to get to game that has an odd kick off time. What happened to a good old-fashioned 1500 kick off?

Fabio Capello announced a very strange England squad yesterday. It was the first name call in a while that actually included more Arsenal players than our West London rivals. That was a big plus point! It also contained ex-Arsenal brat, Jay Bothroyd and West Ham super keeper Rob Green.

I listened to Fabio Capello talk about the poor off field behaviour of Andy Carroll. His suggestion? That the young player comes into the England fold and learns off the senior players! Yep, back of a cab Crouch, anyone’s wife Terry, hairdresser shagger Cole, group sex video supremo Rio Ferdinand… all superb role models for the players of tomorrow!

My advice Jack? Don’t pay any attention to their advice, do your own thing!

I saw half a Ballague story on his site that linked into a pay wall with the times. He’s claiming to have the inside line on the Cesc story and what was said didn’t really add up with what I heard and hopefully you now know we hear some good stuff.

  1. Barca launched a campaign to unsettle Cesc
  2. Cesc spoke to Wenger in that meeting and said he’d like to go.
  3. Barca came in with a pathetic offer.
  4. Wenger told Barca they wouldn’t get him under any circumstances, he wouldn’t even come to the table to negotiate.
  5. Cesc came back and Wenger told him that Barca had made a mockery of him by signing a 29 year old striker ahead of him and completely undervaluing him.
  6. End of story, Cesc is still here and we all know the truth… Barca completely disrespected Cesc by undervaluing his talent and Arsenal’s resolve to keep him.
  7. Oh, did I mention they are 470million euro’s in debt? Doubtful they’ll be able to afford him this summer as well.

Yesterdays games threw up a great result in the United-Villa game. Somehow United managed to escape with a draw despite Villa hammering them for large parts of the game. Liverpool’s resurgence ended with a diabolical 2-0 loss against Stoke!

Oh, I forgot to mention that Manchester City could only manage a draw again! Ooops!

That means 2nd place is up for grabs again, which is pretty exciting!

Fabianski

Sagna Squillaci JD Clichy

Wilshere Song Cesc

Nasri Chamakh Arshavin

That’s how I see the team lining up today. Hopefully we can control the game possession wise and avoid any shaky backline shenanigans. We’ve got to impose out game on Everton and take control earlier. We’ve got to be ruthless in front of goal and head into the international mini break on a high note. I don’t think Everton have enough to trouble us, but they’ll no doubt be hustling the keeper all day and with our defensive record, it wouldn’t surprise me if we conceded!

Not long to go now, come on you GOONERS!

Don’t forget to follow us on twitter @arsenal_legrove , you’ll read all the goss as we hear it! You could also show your liking for the site in our exciting facebook page!


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Posted by Pedro

The Premiership is like the Championship | Oh do shut up Nik… | Arsenal preview

November 13, 2010

This post was written yesterday when life was far less hungover, so apologies if something has happened in the mean time that I’m unaware of!

First off, Nikki Big Bo*locks has well and truly landed again. He’s piped up in the media about his lack of playing time and how he might leave if his chances don’t improve. Now Nik, I’m pleased you think you’re good enough to merit a start, but lets get a bit of perspective here, you haven’t exactly set the world alight with the limited time you’ve had so far this season. If you’re going to whine and moan everytime you’re benched, maybe you shouldn’t get injured so much and maybe you should concentrated a little more when you’re on the pitch?

You’ve got no more or no less right to the first team than anyone else. Wind your neck in and concentrate on improving because you’re a long way off where you think you are as a footballer.

Everton is the game tomorrow, all the way up in the North West at a cold, wet and very scouse Goodison Park. The game is going to be a tough one. I watched Everton play against the Spuds and they’ve definitely got a solid team and a few players in there who can damage us. The main one to watch out for is going to be Tim Cahill, he’s incredible in the air for one so small and he’s got a good finish. Felliani isn’t playing, great news indeed!

There is no new injury news. Gibbs returns to the squad, hopefully to put a bit of pressure on Clichy. We let you know first via @Arsenal_Legrove that there was still no movement on the Vermaelen mystery. I think it’s a real shame he’s picked up this problem, he clearly loves being on the pitch more than most and now he’s stuck with a problem that has ruled him out indefinitely.

I’d imagine the team will line up in the same way it did against Wolves. Now, I didn’t catch the whole of that game, but here are a few observations…

1) Our defence looked incredibly weak considering the relatively meek attacking prowess Wolves have. We need to do better against Everton becuase they are far more likely to punish us especially if Saha lands a start.

2) Arshavin looked as though he found a bit of spark again. We need him making a nuisance of himself and we need him having a pop every now and then. He’s lethal when he has his head on the game and it’s about time he delivered a blistering 90minute performance. Football can be a bit like golf. Sometimes you’re out on the course and you forget how to play, but a couple of good shots later, you remember what a good swing feels like. I’m hoping that can happen to Arshavin can pump some feel back into his game.

3) Chamakh needs to get the right type of service… in the air. There’s no point signing a heading maestro and feeding him duff crosses. The Song ball against Wolves was early and pinpoint the other night and Chamakh nodded home. Our Morrocan is a top player in my opininon and he’s only going to improve. I’d like to see him show a bit more ambition with his goals tally… we’ve got too many selfless players in the team at the moment and that can sometimes lead to us firing blanks. It’s like being at the Christmas table when there’s one roast potato left and no one wants to take it… someone just needs to introduce some greed and wolf that bad boy down!

I’m confident that we can kick on from our disappointments so far this season. I’m confident because that’s what we do right? Sure Fabianski could cock up again, Clichy could slip over and JD could lose his man inside… but I’m not going to think about that. The Premier League has become like the Championship, no one it seems can guarantee a result against anyone and everyone seems to be dropping points. Did anyone notice relegation fodder Liverpool are now on the same points as Spurs in 6th?

As quick as you’re down, you’re straight back up in this league which is why beating the top 4 teams this year will probably have a massive impact in the final resting place for the 2010-11 Premiership trophy.

Let’s have a big game tomorrow boys, I’m predicting a 2-0 victory to the boys in red and white, with red socks of course.

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Posted by Geoff

Transfer rumours at the Arsenal, true or false? JET, is he worth it? You bet he is!

November 12, 2010

There’s a whole bunch of rumours out there at the moment and whilst I like them, the question is, do I believe them?

Let’s look at the first one, Andy Carroll, the 6’4″ striker is a big lump alright, in fact he’s not a bad player, but is he much different to Bendtner or Chamakh? Yes he scored against us, but that was more a goal keeping howler than a well worked goal, so for me this rumour is a rumour and it’s not going to happen.
He’s also about to go to prison, if there is still a law against beating women up that is.

Now the other bit of gossip is the bit about Gary Cahill, big strong centreback with pace and presence, yes is the answer, I’d have him. Do we need him? Yes, you bet we do, I know we have Squillaci, Koscielny and Djourou but they aren’t the real deal like Vermaelen, and he may be out for the whole season.

So as far as I’m concerned, Koscielny isn’t good enough, Squillaci is okay and maybe Djourou will come good, but none of them are solid enough and we are still very suspect at the back, so yes, in a heartbeat.

Good news is Gibbs is back in training and possibly back in the squad for the Everton game, Diaby has responded well in tests but you have to ask the manager, why are we persevering with him, he’s always broken, he’s certainly not intelligent (as Wenger likes to say) and he’ll be forever standing in the way of buying a player that would make a difference, like a Shweinsteiger.

I’d now like to move onto JET, who is scoring amazing goals for fun in the rub-a-dubs, when Flamini, Song and Denilson arrived they went straight into the team and got game after game, often to the annoyance of us the fans, we’ve started to play Wilshere on a regular basis so why not start giving JET playing time? He’s already better than Bendtner, maybe he could play in the hole, like Diaby would if he was fit.

What would we have to lose eh? I’d give him a go, shove him on against Everton, we could do with a bit of height in there.
That’s it for today, that’s about as positive as I can be right now, a win against Everton would be amazing, maybe this is the time to try plan B.

Have a great day Grovers, tomorrow is the weekend and the love will return.

 

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Posted by Geoff

Arsenal back on track with hard fought win against a tough, tough team. Well done Arsenal!

November 11, 2010

Ok a win is a win and to be honest I didn’t expect a win at Wolves any more than I expected a loss against the barcodes. We are still behind the chavs, have closed the gap on the mancs and have stretched our lead over the spuds to 7 points, so the smart-dim balance has been restored! And I am delighted.

It wasn’t a win that suggested 2 nil, but I’ll take it, Fabianski pulled off two blinding saves to deny them and he now seems to be Wengers number one, there is no chance we’ll see Almunia back in between the sticks and I suspect he’ll be gone in the window, he’ll then officially give the number two spot to Chezzer, who signed a new deal yesterday because he was told he’ll get his chance the minute Fabianski is injured or commits a howler, I expect one of the those to happen at some point, but not a new keeper, and to be honest, I’m Ok with that.

Don’t forget we told you yesterday that Chezzer signed a new deal, you heard it hear first on Le grove, the site for exclusives!

Great to see Cesc battling for the ball again and good to see when one of our players gashes someones leg with a late miss-timed, dirty tackle, that the boss sees it as accidental, well done Arsene! And well done to their manager for accepting Wenger’s apology with good grace. I had dinner with Mick once, he’s a good bloke.

I’ve been reading with aghast that we were going to loan Ramsey out to Fulham, I thought WHAT? To the same tosser that wouldn’t sell us his ageing keeper, the same miserable sod that we sold Adebayor and Toure to and wouldn’t do us the same courtesy back, why would we do that? And why would we loan our best defensive midfielder out and not play him in our team, was I smelling an Eduardo all over again?

Thankfully the boss has come out and said absofuckinglutely not, thank goodness for that. I see Ramsey in my line up with Cesc, Nasri and Wilshere, now there’s a mouth watering prospect! I really can’t wait for that to happen, skill combined with aggression, what a line up, and it’s coming our way this season!

Ok so next up is Everton away this Sunday on Sky Sports, that will be a tough one but the last time we went there we won 6-1 so happy memories indeed, that’s followed by the spuds at home and the chance to go 10 points clear and that should end their chances before the end of the month of finishing above us this season!

So that win last night was important, they will take points of off the top teams this season, in fact they already have, so that was a massive, massive win, we are back on track, the mancs and the chavs are far from convincing and we are doing all this without Ramsey, RVP, Ramsey and a world class defence, so maybe the boss will start concentrating on buying players in the window, at least once he’s sorted his personal life out anyway.

Not a lot more to say save that if we score early, it makes for less tension for the fans and the team, and with a shot stopper like Fabianski in the side, they were never going to get back in it, PHEW!

Have a great day Grovers, great win! great attitude and back on track!

554 Comments | New Review | Permalink
Posted by Geoff

Player signs deal, phew! / Arsenal injury news / Wolves Preview

November 10, 2010

The Vermaelen story shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, I told you his recovery was far from certain a few weeks ago. Wenger confirmed as much yesterday, saying that the pain has come back and they’re clueless. A big loss for the team in general, even worse as Kozzer lost his appeal against his 2nd red card of the season.

A contract has been signed by a young Arsenal player that’ll please Gooner’s around the world. I’ll let Arsenal.com share the news first, it’s only fair.

On the Cesc front, from what I understand, it’s nothing to do with a lack of fitness, more to do with the mental side of returning from an injury. If Arsene was describe the problem, he’d say the Spaniard was playing with the handbrake on. If he wasn’t fit, he wouldn’t be risked, hopefully he’ll shake off those mental cob webs tonight.

I’ve also heard that the talk of Arsenal being after Croatian centre back Sime Vrasljko might not be fantasy talk, not surprising really, being 18 years old and all that!

Onto the game…

We’ve teamed up with The Offside blog to give you a flavour of what to expect from the opposition. Why pretend I’ve got a deep understanding of the way Wolves play when I can get the detail straight from the bloggers mouth?

DJ from the Wolves Offside blog has kindly given us the low down… enjoy and let me know what you think of the format!

What do we think of Arsenal?

Everyone admires the football Arsenal play and they will always be likely to qualify for the Champions League without having the toughness and cutting edge to be champions. Seems like it has been like that for quite a while under Wenger. Maybe if they could keep Van Persie fit more of that cutting edge would be there but they always seem keener to walk the ball into the net than have a go at goal. And it’s encouraging that you don’t have a keeper. While there is plenty of respect for Wenger as a coach, a lot of that respect disappears when he opens his mouth. For an intelligent guy it’s surprising how often he talks without engaging his brain. His recent criticism of Wolves style of play seems a bit rich from the manager of a club bottom of the disciplinary league.

What you should know about Wolves

The memories of Wolves as one of the country’s top teams is very distant now as we try to re-establish ourselves in the top flight after spending most of the last 25 years on the outside looking in. At least we got a 2nd season this time and there is confidence that we will at least match last season’s 15th place despite currently being in the bottom three. It looked dodgy for a while last season too but in January McCarthy ditched his favoured 4-4-2 for a more conservative 4-5-1.

The result was a comfortable survival despite being the lowest scorers in the division. In the summer we invested in a new striker, Fletcher, and a new winger, Hunt to give us more firepower. But they were both unavailable through injury for the opening months and are only now fit to play. Fletcher though is out of the team as we again adopt 4-5-1 through a run of games that has seen honourable defeats against Chelsea, and Man Utd twice, and a win over Man City. After Wednesday’s game Wolves have a run of 7 games that may define their season with Bolton, Sunderland, Albion and Wigan at home, and Blackpool, Blackburn and Birmingham away.

The Wolves Manager

Not everyone’s cup of tea and most people find his interviews either entertaining or highly annoying. When he joined Wolves there was a real danger things would go pear shaped on a Leeds United scale. Most of the good players had left the club and we looked real candidates for relegation from the Championship. McCarthy bought in a host of young players from Gillingham, Scunthorpe, Colchester, Luton, Plymouth, Bohemians, Grays etc – and we all feared the worst.

The young team played refreshingly well and just missed out on the play offs. The following year was less progressive and the image we feared of McCarthy playing negative football and being a poor man manager were all surfacing. But in 2009/10 he regained the faith by winning the Championship scoring 80 goals and getting 90 points. And then last season he became the first Wolves manager in a generation to keep Wolves in the top flight. Can he take them further? Who knows but he has met his targets in the last two seasons so he deserves the chance to carry on.

The Wolves Team

We have not kept a clean sheet all season. That is partly through playing a more open game but also puts a question mark over the back line. Hahnemann has been a star since joining the club but doesn’t seem quite so solid this year and the late winner at Old Trafford was not the first time he has been beaten on the near post. Foley is an excellent right back and Berra a solid centre back, With Craddock injured Stearman has come in and done well in the last two games. Left Back Ward is generally regarded as a weaklink.

In central midfield Henry is an excellent defensive midfield player who has attracted plenty of unjust criticism for being a dirty player – although nobody will try to defend his daft sending off at Wigan recently. Milijas is a talented Serbian midfield player who helps us keep possession, delivers accurate dead balls and scores the occasional cracker.

Hunt has not yet found his form but gives the team balance, while the excellent  Jarvis has emerged this season as one of the best wingers in the Premier League and is linked with an England call up. The other midfield spot has recently been occupied by Welsh international Edwards who has phenomenal energy but not too much skill. Doyle is a star as a lone striker and is vital to the way Wolves play. He doesn’t score too many but his all round play makes him a handful for any defence. Ebanks Blake and Fletcher are currently being used from the bench when we need a goal and despite not being in the first 11 are joint top scorers.

What will happen on Wednesday?

Arsenal will be favourites and anything Wolves get from the game will be a bonus. But we are playing well at the moment and it would be both a disappointment and a surprise if Arsenal won the game easily. If Wolves maintain the standards of recent weeks I can see it being 1-1.

Gooner thoughts…

Wolverhampton, a real delight of a city. I went there on business once and they wouldn’t let me fill up my petrol tank unless I prepaid. I wasn’t filling up at night either, it was 0930 in the morning, I was wearing a suit and I was driving a car that wasn’t exactly a banger. The club, is a bit like the place… a little nasty.

We’ve got that nasty little turd Karl Henry in the middle of the park to worry about. He’ll clearly want to uphold his panto villain character tonight, so watch out for the horror challenges I’m sure will be on show.

Arsenal  need to pull their act together this evening. Wolves are no pushovers and we can’t afford to head up there with any form of complacency. We also can’t fear their physicality. This game has bad result written all over it. I’m hoping to see a reaction, I’m just not convinced after the dross that was served up this weekend.

Chesney

Sagna Squillaci JD Clichy

Wilshere Song Cesc

Nasri Chamakh Arshavin

Lets not muck about on the keeping front. Fabianski has cost us three points too many times to merit a place anymore. We all know if he plays, Wolves will target him all game and it’s just not a risk worth taking. Cesc needs to impose himself on the ball and Song needs to sit back and do his primary job. Chamakh will have to be bolder today and whoever is feeding balls into the box best make sure they’re top drawer.

Arsenal need to show character tonight, they need to realise that football is about winning every week, not just when the sun is out. I think we’ll nick it tonight and hopefully build from there… come on Arsenal, everyone is expecting you to cock this one up so they can say ‘I told you so’… don’t let it happen!

See you in the comments!

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Posted by Pedro

Shocking story of the carvery that wasn’t to be / Why Gazidis doesn’t want you singing

November 9, 2010

My boss asked me to book him a meal in the Royal Oak on Sunday, to which I replied, ‘I hope nothing goes wrong with this booking, because it’d be real embarrassing for me to have to tell the Grovers I was acting like your secretary’, he replied, ‘Don’t worry Pedro, Arsenal have world-class facilities, things only go wrong in Dr Pepper adverts.’

Well, I picked up the phone, rang in to hear,

‘WELCOME to Arsenal football club, you have made a GREAT choice in choosing Arsenal hospitality for your match day experience’

I’m only on the phone to Arsene himself!

Turns out it’s just a pre-record that feels like it lasts for ever. Anyway, I get through and it goes to voicemail so I leave a message, imagining Arsenal will call me back 2 minutes later. An hour passes, no response. I call back again, leave another message. 3 hours later, I’ve forgotten about it! My boss calls, tells me to sort it in the morning.

I call again in the morning, leave a pretty arsey message and I get my call back sharpish from a lovely sounding lady (Nice on the phone, 29 stone. Let me tell you, I’ve learnt that rule the hard and fast way before!). She takes my booking for two for a carvery, dining opens at 1100, she even asks if I’d like to pre-order a bottle of wine. By wine, I asked if she meant Peroni, to which she didn’t respond.

Anyway, I pre-paid the £50.

On Sunday, my boss turns up at about 1130, the carvery turns out to be a hotel style breakfast buffet. He’d just forked out £50 for an 1130 breakfast. What sort of businessman goes to a football ground at 1130 for breakfast? Why didn’t the lady tell me on the phone that was the deal and who would order a bottle of red wine to eat with steamed hash browns!

Dear oh dear… what a complete rip off!

That my friends, is corporate hospitality at the Arse on a Sunday.

This leads me nicely onto the match day experience. Everyone is whining and moaning about the lack of atmosphere.

How can it be so quiet?

We have the worst fans in the world!

Gazidis Arsenalised the stadium… how can we not be singing from the rafters!

Well, for me, there is a direct conflict of interest going on. When I spoke to Gazidis last year (no joke), he told me the fundamental problem is getting people to their seats early enough. If you’re not at your seat a good 20-30 mins before the game, it’s very difficult to create an atmosphere.

That is the problem from a singing perspective.

The trouble with marshalling people to their seats early from a commercial perspective is that if you’re sitting in your name plaqued seat (£40), you’re not spending money. So really, it’s in Arsenal’s interests to have you pottering around the club shop, loading yourself up with a delicious £5 non-de-script meat pie or drinking yourself silly with some fine tasting instant coffee or a delicious imitation of Peroni.

That my friends is the dilemma. If you don’t believe Arsenal are that cynical, just take a look at the advertising boards flashing up during the game…

‘Support your club, buy direct’

Arsenal need you to spend your money in the shops and in the snack bars. You might say the caterers take all the profit from the food, well, I’m not so sure. I know for a fact the tills will be Arsenal tills and they’ll have all the data… which will help them negotiate a better deal next time.

This isn’t a specifically an Arsenal trend. Don’t get lulled into believing the atmosphere at other grounds is amazing. Liverpool are having problems raising their fans, Manchester United are suffering with a lack of noise and enthusiasm for their tickets, Everton is quiet, Chelsea is quiet… Football execs want to make the sport a family experience. Singing isn’t part of that. Most associate noise with thuggish behaviour. Notting Hills Henrietta certainly doesn’t want her privately educated 8 year old son Tarkwin hearing a naughty word that might corrupt his mind for ever.

Be informed that the first time I heard the word w*nker I was at a football ground and it was directed at a referee… I haven’t been the same since. It’s tourettes at 9 o’clock if anyone comes into work in a black shirt… absolute nightmare I tells ya!

I digress, if our execs wanted a ripping atmosphere, they’d do what they do in Germany. Subsidise a standing area, charge £400 for the year and pack it out with 3 times as many people and demand that they sing as part of the deal. Simple, effective and highly unlikely you’d lose any money.

That’s my theory anyhow… Do you have any ideas on how to make the atmosphere better at Arsenal? Have you ever tried a beer that isn’t Peroni? How would you feel about a standing section at Arsenal?

Let us know in the comments!

Tomorrow, I’ve got a pre-match preview from a Wolves fan… could be a spicy post!

Remember, follow Le Grove on twitter @Arsenal_legrove … I promise I don’t kiss up to footballers or journalists. Also click the iLike button on our facebook page because it makes perfect sense.

I want to be in all your lives, all the time…

See you in the comments!

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

Fabianski shames keeping again | Arsene’s off the pitch interferes with the on?

November 8, 2010

I received a text from my mate yesterday…

‘Same sh*t, different season’

He’s right.

Once again, we’re all scratching our heads wondering how a team so talented can put on a display of football so ineffective the home fans boo them… 3 months into a season!

I don’t condone vocal displeasure normally but that performance was so terrible it deserved it. Dropping points to one newly promoted team is bad, dropping 6 points to two newly promoted teams at home is verging on footballing criminality. We can’t blame injuries, we can’t blame jet lag as half the team on show yesterday weren’t playing against Shaktar.

What we can blame is a lack of character. A fundamental flaw in the way our players approach games. It’s misplaced complacency from a team who have no right 11 games into the season to think they’re too good to turn up against Newcastle.

We’re second in a league only one of our squad has a winners medal for, we’re young, keen to prove a point and all we could muster in an important home game was 2 shots on target. Pathetic really…

Sure one of the shots drew a fantastic save from Krul. Sure we hit the bar with a deflected Cesc free-kick and a Theo strike… but we’re Arsenal, we had 60% of the possession, 2 shots on target is not acceptable against Newcastle at home.

As for the goal, well, I’ve no shame in telling you I told you so. When people were saying ‘Arsene knows’ about the Polish number two, I asked for them to bide their time. When people said he was turning into a world class keeper after making a few decent saves, I knew it was going to end in an egg on face scenario. I said,

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?

Ok, it came a little quicker than expected, but it came all the same. A standard freekick was flown into the box, he came 10 yards off his line, dithered, allowing Andy Carroll to nod the ball into the empty net. Wenger says it wasn’t a technical mistake. I’m not sure how timing your run isn’t part of the technique?

People can blame the defenders for not tracking Andy Carroll, but if you’ve ever played football, you know that if the keeper is coming for it, you let him take it. Why would the defence challenge for the same ball? Utter nonsense…

A factor no one seems to consider after a keeper makes a howler is the effect it has on morale. When your keeper does something like that, it deflates the rest of the squad. We never really kicked on from that error and once again, we’re cursing a keeper f*ck up and we’ve kissed away 3 extremely important points.

The icing on the cake was reading Joey Barton saying Newcastle targeted him because they knew he couldn’t catch.

Wenger threw on the subs early, he switched to 4-2-4 and we still couldn’t pick up our game. It didn’t help that our captain had the worst game I’ve seen him play in about 3 years. It didn’t help that Newcastle were intelligent enough not to get into a race with Theo Walcott. Chamakh didn’t help with his refusal to control, hold up or shoot all game.

There were positives from the game and we have to acknowledge them no matter how down we feel. Jack Wilshere was superb, he wanted the ball all the time, he took up positions in space and he really tried to force the game. What impressed me the most was how much defensive work he took on.

Alex Song played well in the first half, but his insistence on being more advanced than Jack for most of the second half was  beginning to great. People nick naming him Songinho is pathetic as well. We’ve got specialists going forward, Song rotating occasionally is fine, but not for the whole game and not at the expense of someone who can really make a difference.

I thought Koscielny and Squillaci were superb. They’ve have all the aggression and speed of thought Vermaelen has and they were lumping into Newcastle players all afternoon. Those two didn’t deserve to be on a team without a clean sheet. Kozzer mis-timed a two headers and the sending off was lacking in intelligence but what was he to do? I’m not going to slate players for getting red cards. I associate indiscipline with us winning things.

It was a disappointing performance, but a familiar one. Wenger can grow talent but he fails sprinkle hunger into his fertiliser and maybe, just maybe he over cashes them too early in the growing phase…

Our midfield needs a Bastian Schweinsteiger or someone of that ilk. Our defence needs a keeper like Pepe Reina. Our attack needs a better option than an unfit Robin Van Persie who is clearly a million miles off the pace.

This squad has been found wanting. We’re 11 games in and we’ve failed to win 45% and we’ve lost 27%. Does that feel like title winning form?

This has been a shambolic week for the club. Geoff and I were in disagreement over Wenger’s off the field shenanigans. I said it wouldn’t have affected the team, however, the effects are there for all to see. Two losses in a week. I think it’s important to point out that Arsenal fans are always the first to sneer in the direction of any other club who suffers at the hands of off the field indiscretions. What ever Wenger has been up to, it’s certainly detracted from the class values we pride our football club for having.

Even more worrying is that coach doesn’t seem to have his old knack for getting player to die for him on the pitch anymore. Mourinho and Ferguson never seem to have this problem? Then again, those two will drop under performing players if they play badly and they’ll buy someone if a player is clearly not up to it.

Wenger fosters a culture of celebrated failure. Don’t believe me? Take a look at our number one at the moment… the most error prone keeper in the Premiership, playing for the 3rd richest club in the world. There are obviously other cases of under performing players never facing the chop, but I wont go into that now.

This season is teetering on the edge of Premiership failure already. Can Arsene turn it around? Can he create a team spirit that goes beyond having a squad that doesn’t argue when they play cards? Can he create a winning machine in the next month… because that’s what needs to happen, otherwise we’re ending the season trophyless again… and no one wants that.

I want desperately to think Arsenal FC has moved on from last year. I want to believe that ‘Arsene knows’ and the rest of the footballing world is wrong about his squads capabilities, but the more I look at the results, the more I analyse some of the performances, the closer I come to the conclusion that this is Ground Hog Day 2010/11.

He's out his nest early...

Ratings:

Fabianski: Someone said that he’d played 6 games, surely one mistake is ok? Sorry, that doesn’t rub. Arsenal need a proper keeper, one that can handle pressure, one that doesn’t look like he’s been injected with adrenaline every time he catches the ball. Not good enough. 4

Clichy: Pretty average game again. His crossing was very poor. 6

Sagna: Good defending, not too effective going forward. 6

Koscielny: Sad to see him pick up another read card, but overall, I thought he was very solid at the back. 7

Squillaci: Solid in the tackle, held his ground all game and made some great interceptions. 7

Jack Wilshere: Took on far too much defensive work which detracted from his strengths. A good game though, shame he couldn’t find a break through. 7.5

Cesc: A truly shocking performance from our captain. People were blaming his lack of fitness, I’m not sure it’s that. His control was terrible, his positioning was very weak and he created very little. Winter blues have set in early from the want away Spaniard. 4.5

Song: I thought he had a strong first half but he fell away with the rest of the squad in the second. You can’t have a rotating defensive midfielder who now believes he’s an attacker. He’s a solid passer of the ball, but we have specialists who are far better than him. Once again our formation struggled against a weak team. 6

Nasri: I thought he was strong in the first half, but as the game wore on he was part of the long ball brigade and his insistence on playing those irritating floated chipped crosses is infuriating. 6

Walcott: Back to type. He hit the bar with a rasping shot and then did very little bar run into players and win corners we’re not good enough to score from. He can score goals very much in the same way Agbonlohor can. Trouble is, he’s never going to play in a long ball Arsenal side and he’s never going to play centre forward. Theo is luxury player. We need more guile out wide and he’s not the man to deliver it. 4.5

Chamakh: A very poor game from the Moroccan. He went missing in a big way yesterday and it hasn’t taken long for his confidence to erode. His touch was bad and his lack of appetite for having a punt is worrying. 5

Subs:

RvP: Let Holland have him, he needs game time. A waste of a substitute. Off the pace and woefully unfit. 5

Bendtner: Came on too late to make an impact, received very little service. 6

Arshavin: Made some telling runs and nearly unlocked Newcaslte. He looks a second off his best form. Someone bring the little man back to life, it hurts me to see such a great player in such weak form. 6

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Posted by Pedro

Robin’s back today, and what separates Wenger from Wayne Rooney?

November 7, 2010

The answer of course is although we know that Wenger tells lies (he said so) and he shags around, we look at morons like shrek and go tut, tut, so what the difference between the two of them? Well the difference is, Arsene didn’t pay for it. So he has the moral high ground, let’s leave it there.

Robin Van Persie is set for a shock early return, is this because he’s suddenly and mysteriously fit, or is this because he’s been fit for sometime and our manager has been his usual overly cautious self? I think because Robin has declared himself fit for Holland, Wenger has decided to play him ahead of his own overly cautious schedule. That’s my take anyway, otherwise why would he be suddenly playing with no notice.

We’ll find out today no doubt, either way it promises to be a fun day, we need to win to keep up with the lucky Mancs, so we can’t be doing anything other than going for the jugular from the off, we’ve seen what they can do if they get their noses in front, we should attack from the off.

I said yesterday I fully expect a big win, if Robin comes on I hope he scores a blinder, gets a slight knock and misses the Nederlands game, that would be poetic, by a knock, I mean gets a leg graze from his sock. That’ll be 2 weeks out for our super cautious manager.

Arsene it’s a shame you weren’t so cautious in Paris Arsene! You might be enjoying your kippers a bit more this morning if you were!

Fabianski

Sagna Djourou Squillaci Koscielny

Wilshere Cesc Nasri

Theo Chamakh Arshavin

Go on Arsene, try that midfield and drop Clichy. Have a great day Grovers, I think we’ll get a little closer to the chavs today and go back into second, at least we are putting daylight between us, the Northern chavs and the spuds.

935 Comments | New Review | Permalink
Posted by Geoff

Diaby isn’t the Arsenal player he was, so why play him then? Transfer budget bombshell

November 6, 2010

The obvious answer to that question is why keep playing him then? I have always liked Diaby and believe there is a player in there waiting to burst out, but how long do we wait? He’s always injured yet the minute he’s available, he’s back in the team, sorry but that makes no sense to me, you should be in the team on merit not reputation, always play your best team Arsene.

Well tomorrow sees the return of the barcodes, for some reason every neutral’s favourite underdog team, well we stuffed them with our youth team at their gaff, so I expect nothing other than a big win, the team need to get back on track and I expect they are desperate to get back to winning ways after the criticism of the Champions league game in midweek.

Theo is talking the big one, let’s hope he has a blinder tomorrow I have high hopes for Walcott and all this Gareth Bale shite all week has been so over the top so I hope Theo goes out to show the media world who the real daddy is. Though I do wonder with our great scouting network why we didn’t buy Bale at the same time we bought Theo, they were both in the same team and Bale was a lot cheaper. Hmmmm!

Let’s hope tomorrow we take this team apart, let’s give them a real thumping, we need the confidence boost, we have the mancs coming up soon so it would be nice to get a run going again. Hopefully we’ll have Robin back for this one, he really does need to tell Holland he won’t be coming to play, to make his return for them before he does for us will be an absolute joke, I hope he sees it the same way.

Talking of fireworks, last evening was Guy Fawkes night, also known as Bonfire night or Fireworks day. In this world of political correctness, where you can’t smoke in pubs, Conker trees need warning signs pinned on them, bottles of bleach have to have don’t drink warning labels on them, and criminals get the vote I wonder how many people know why and what they are celebrating. Well I do!

Don’t get me wrong, he was a bad guy, he was the historical equivalent of a terrorist as he tried to killed 300 people in a cowardly way, but he was tortured on the rack, then hung, drawn and quartered with his bits burnt in a brazier, it just seems odd that we still celebrate it with our children each year. In fact Fireworks day is a big thing in the calendar for kids and only finishes second to Christmas and birthdays!

I used to have a stuffed dummy and stand on street corners in the East end collecting a penny for the Guy, my mother called it begging and forbade me to do it, I still did it and used her clothes on the dummy so I got her back! At the end of the evening of the 5th, the Guy would always be tossed on the bonfire and ceremoniously burned.

Let’s burn the barcodes tomorrow, let’s give them the roasting of their lives, let’s give them a real welcome to the premiership, let’s toss them on the bonfire! 5 nil the Arsenal.

Apparently there is a big story on our leader in the papers today, I hope we aren’t going to find out he has been spending the transfer budget after all!

Have a great day Grover, tomorrow we avenge Sunderland.

P.S. I have 3 spare club levels, e-mail or get me on twitter @arsenal_legrove

267 Comments | New Review | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Geoff

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