So, I don’t have it confirmed yet, but according to Arsenal.com, Tommy V is still pencilled in for a January return. There seems to be a groundswell of people who are desperate to tell us that he’s out for the season at every opportunity. I haven’t heard anything to suggest he’s out and I’ve been speaking the Pam the Arsenal tea lady on and off for the past 3 weeks.
So what are we going to talk about today?
Well, yesterday saw the arrival of David Beckham at Spurs. Fantastic to see that his arrival coincided nicely with the announcement that his wife is up the duff again. You’ve got to admire him, he takes attention seeking to new levels, even my needy cat looks embarrassed when he sees Beckham on tele. I bet Becks is chuffed he’s finally in a country that will massage his PR driven ego.
Anyway, a bit of debate was sparked in the comments yesterday. Thierry Henry has been at most of our home games during the break, he was spotted in the tunnel chatting to Yaya and Kolo at the Man City game… so I was thinking, why not bring him back for training? We had Beckham over here last time he was promoting a hair cut and the players spoke glowingly about training with such an icon.
So why not invite Thierry back to at least train with us for the next couple of months? He’s incredibly experienced, he’s been very humble since he left and I’m sure a genuine talent like him can be nothing but a boost for team morale. My guess is he’s waiting for an invite. My suggestion, Wenger should send one out!
Should have checked Arsenal.com
Welcome back Thierry!
In other news, Arsene Wenger won manager of the decade. A superb achievement. As much as we give him a hard time over here, we certainly appreciate the consistency he’s bought to the club and our superb brand of football. My argument would be that Wenger shouldn’t just have won it, he should have smashed it. His decision making has been off kilter in the past few years. Hopefully we’ll see a return to the early noughties form for the next half of this decade.
Lionel Messi stormed the Ballon D’or, he said he didn’t expect to win it, which was a bit like Qatar saying they didn’t expect to win the 2022 world cup after emptying the oil coffers into the pockets of the chosen few. He’s a super talent, one of the best players I’ve had the pleasure to watch live and the most amazing part about him is that he’s only 23. Could Jack Wilshere ever achieve the high standards set by Messi, Xavi and Iniesta? I certainly hope so. We might even land ourselves a Messi of our own in the young Belgian who goes by the name of Eden Hazard. Could he be our first ever £20million player?
We’ll wait and see, but the vibe is strong.
It’s Carling Cup semi final eve. If you’re unlucky enough to have the displeasure of travelling to Ipswich, a few words of warning. Don’t get into a tractor unless you know the farmer in question, don’t look the locals directly in the eye and for god sake stay out of their Liquid and Envy. It makes the hills have eyes look like a beauty pageant.
I’m not going to do team previews today, though I will say I’d like to see Bendtner and Arshavin given a run out. Those two need to find their form and there will be no better game to find it in than against Ipswich away. The defence is down to its bare bones, so it looks like there might be a debut of Miquel. That or we’ll see Song slipping back with Denilson allowed to roam free. I wouldn’t be too against that if he could repeat his first half performance of the weekend.
Our reserve team was absolutely spanked 10-1 by Aston Villa. A pretty disgraceful score line at any level, I’ll leave Young Guns to explain away that result. John Jensen is set to make a shock return to English football as Steve Kean’s assistant over at Blackburn, good luck to the man who scored less times than Rick Waller. I’m also pleased to announce that ITV1 are going to play the Leeds game live for our viewing. That makes up for all the times they don’t put us on the main channel for Champions League games.
I’ve heard that Carlos Vela will definitely be moving out on loan. He has a whole host of clubs interested in his services including Bolton, Wigan (I’m there today in a corn flake factory, I f*cking love my life) and a few overseas clubs. You’d have to worry about his future if he went abroad, wouldn’t you?
Transfer conspiracy of the day? Gary Cahill to Arsenal, David Wheater to Bolton… sounds plausible especially considering that we know Bolton are open to offers, Cahill was on our hit list last year and he has a close relationship with Arsene.
Why is no one talking about Hangeland?
I thought it might be worth telling you that long time Grover Kreshnik has kindly offered to build the site its very own iphone app. I don’t have an iphone, but I’m still very excited about being able to watch other people enjoy the exciting functionality he’s hoping to bring to the app. I’ll keep you posted on the progress!
Finally, picture the scene. It’s a cold grubby football cafeteria, the camera pans out away from two cold bowls of porridge to reveal David Bentley and Alex Hleb sitting at the table miserable, reminiscing fondly about the days when they used to have a future. Good luck Dave, I’m glad leaving Arsenal worked out so well for you. You have the money, but you’ll never have the prestige of a great career.
Happy Tuesday Grovers, see you in the comments!
Altinop won goal of the year last night, I’ll leave you with the top ten… a morning feast for the eyes!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbMBCWnQvXU&fs=1&hl=en_GB]
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*UPDATE
Unless Vermaelen injured himself over the weekend, he’s in training and working towards full fitness. There is no conspiracy of silence. Also, had confirmation that Squillaci didn’t pull his almunia, he’s genuinely crocked for 3 weeks or so. Also, just so you know, Wigan is quite nice!
What a fucking shit fest that was…
Evening, anyone else think that 2 of the top 10 goal shhouldnt have been there? Robbens against..schalke i think and Neymars goal. Oh yeah and the womans goal. As well as Parks goal against Wolves…that was proper shite.
The shot over the keeper shouldnt have been there either because lets face it, if a man was in goal it wouldnt have went in.
Any transfer news?
Hope whu name not on the cup.
beating man u, keeper error, grant lucky run
thats the point. Tight Wenger needs to pay the price which is required not to miss out on top players. Unfortunately he has his own definition what a player is worth. 12 mill € for Kos? Do me a favour monsieur and admit you paid over the odds for him. Dont get me wrong I still think Kos will be great but we paid 12 mill on Vermaelen who is much better. Hope our relationship with Bolton and Coyle plus loan deal for Vela will lower the price tag for Cahill.
http://www.talksport.co.uk/sports-news/football/premier-league/transfer-rumours/4411/4/bolton-chasing-argentine-defender-amid-doubts-over-cahills-future
I know it is talkshit but hopefully this means we are pushing for Cahill. We need to prevent the chavs for getting him!!
Yeah I’d say Arshavin’s off in the summer with Hazard replacing him seemingly. Which wouldn’t be a bad swap
it depends on his definition of quickly, of course it might be next summer
No smoke without fire so it is conceivable Bolton looking to sign Wheater or whoever could mean they think Cahill is off. As long as someone comes in I don’t mind at this stage.
Hazard will take at least 2 years to make any sort of impact.
kev says:
January 11, 2011 at 21:50
gooby maybe its psychological?
—
not a chance that the specialist don’t know what he’s suffering from, achilles injuries are pretty basic stuff, they know exactly the type of injury he has but he may have got something new on top of that
i don’t think cahill is a top defender but i’d take him now, as we need him. he can’t be that bad and we still ahve kozzer and djourou. who knows maybe he’ll improve with us
choy I say 6 month cause this guy has a natural gift. Just needs to build more muscles and used to play in PL. If Nasri wasnt injured last year he would have been already at his best.
Probably similar impact to Nasri Choy as in decent and then all of a sudden super performances. Or maybe he’ll have an Arshavin impact who knows. He should do well with the way we play.
choy says:
January 11, 2011 at 22:01
Hazard will take at least 2 years to make any sort of impact.
—
hazazrd is the kind of player that will tear defences to pieces form day one.
i’ve seen him many time, they boy is something else
Cahil is also wanted by the chavs
times*
hazard is better than nasri was at that age. try to watch 2 or 3 lille games in the coming week he’s impressive
that was my point – that the problem itself has been identified but none of the treatment is working. cesc had a similar problem didnt he in that his injury cleared up but according to wenger he still had a kind of mental block.
I think that was more at Cesc’s form and not the injury as in he was playing with the hand break on.
he’s certainly treated Kev.
thx god. this shows me has not lost all his senses!!
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-i-ve-made-no-move-for-campbell
Is he really that good?
Lets see, I think he will start about 10-15 games in all comps.
for all doubters. It wont be Spahic!!!
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-the-centre-back-i-am-searching-for
but this is just typical as its best again:
“If we find somebody at the right level we will do it, if not we will continue like this.”
“We have solutions internally with Ignasi Miquel, with Alex Song who can play centre back and with Squillaci, who should come back very quickly.
“If we find somebody at the right level we will do it, if not we will continue like this.”
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-the-centre-back-i-am-searching-for
LOL Squillaci will be like a new signing! But seriously Miquel is nowhere near ready
“It is more a restriction he has when he comes on because it [the hamstring injury] is in his head. So we have to move the hamstring out of his head and that comes with practising every day.
Physically I think he is ready. At the moment in winter one of the disadvantages, when it is so cold, for the guy who comes on with 25 minutes to go is that it is not easy to get into the flow of the game.
He had as well a little bit the mental problem, but now it looks to have gone.”
thats what arsene said about fabregas
choy Hazard is the nearest in talent to Messi!!! And he is just 19 years old. Brillant shot, unbelieveable ball control and technique, passing is great aswell and last but not least a very very intelligent player and person. would fit perfectly in.
i think people have to put the likes of cahill mertesacker and sakho out of their heads. arsene isnt gonna spend jack shit in january in my opinion. IF we bring in a defender itll be a cheap as chips stop gap no more no less. hes said it himself that the likes of song can drop back or if worst comes to the worst sagna could fill in as an emergency solution. i could be wrong – i hope im wrong!
Wenger loves his frenchies so it wouldn’t surprise me if we signed Mexes, Rami or Sakho.
That said they’re pretty good, wenger prefers poor CBs these days.
Ah whatever Hazard is ready, it didn’t take CR7 that long to light the prem up, it didn’t take our own Nasri that long to put 2 past Manure…Hazard will fit in nicely. He’ll be in in the summer. I think they already did the deal and now just seems like a nice time to come out an say, he may be on loan at Lille for all we know..
I think Wenger will be slick and use Miquel instead of buying, the boy was on the bench for the last game. Cahill is not all that, his price better not be 20 million. Vertonghen is a left sided defender, Wenger won’t be interested and he is cup tied anyway, Ajax played CL.
Samba ticks all the boxes, makes more sense….but i doubt it. It’ll be a surprise whatever Wenger does.
gambo, Rami signed for Seville….I think Sakho talk is dead, he’ll cost too much for Wenger, plus his left sided, that’ll kill Miquels chances.
Mexes is not on Arsene’s radar..He already ststed he wants to stay at Roma.
Kev,
He MUST find someone. Even in this league!
We ca’t play Song here for many matches. Denilson is crap. We adds nothing, he can’t be played as our cdm.
We need a strong cd and cdm.
Samba or Cahill and Verthogen who can play as a lb, cb and cdm.
If we fails once again and we go to the Nou Camp with Koscielny and Song as our central defenders he should be sacked the day after.
Take care.
Is Sakho even that good? He’s always looked like a slower JD whenever I’ve seen him.
gambon he is looking for an pl proven ones. Wouldnt mind Sakho or Rami. Mexes to error prone imo. Jags or Cahill pls for me. Samba like Pedro said would also be fukking cool.
i’d take rami he’s solid, sakho is even better but they won’t sell him
Imagine Eden Hazard on the left, Nasri on the right or in the hole and Wlcott on the right? Wow…i’d be scared if i was John Terry….LOL
didnt rami sign for valencia? isnt he the lad that played for lille
JD = Sakho, i’d look somewhere else, perhaps an English or Irish man at the back an in the squad
Wenger – “We have solutions internally with Ignasi Miquel, with Alex Song who can play centre back and with Squillaci, who should come back very quickly.”
Wenger is “quickly” becoming a joke. What’s next? Denilson to replace Song? Just shoot me now.
Agger maybe?
The sad thing is he’ll leave it till Feb 1st instead of integrating the sucker now and get the sqaud flowing without interruption. But i think he is trying to con us into Miquel..i can feel it, he won’t sign and Miquel would be sitting on the bench next to him, while he is crossing his fingers hoping Squillaci comes back and JD is fit for every game…the way he does it, he’ll run Koscielny into the ground and fuck JD up. That’s what always happens towards the end of the season. You’ll be left watching Silvestre at CB.
I mentioned Agger, and people didn’t like that idea
JJ,
You know Wenger. Always on the cheap. Always.
Clown of the decade rather than the manager.
Samba?….I thought everyone was talking about the guy who made Man City shit in their collective pants this weekend on every set piece.
La Bamba!
Plus, he’d probably only cost some chocolates and a box of tracksuits.
I kid.. I kid, in case anyone takes that seriously.
i could do a job at centre half – shite at playing the offside trap though!
He won’t sign anyone.
if you cast all your minds back to last January we were in desperate need of a striker and we were all sure Wenger would sign one but………
Zak…Ignasi Miquel is our signing
Pedro
sakho is a beast and very young.
miquel is like a new signing.
i won’t mind agger, can easily do a job at LB too. we have cruise back though
Aggers a crock
Spot on Zak!
I’ve read in one of the sites that Galata want to sell us Cetin in exchange( they want Almunia).
Probably a hoax.
Mexes. No crap
Agger. No. Left footed like TV
Sakho. No off to milan in summer
ho old is cetin 30?
And if the spuds sign Suarez, we are in trouble
Anyone read Wenger’s bumbling about buying players?
He’s talking internal solutions… Miquel and Song!
Oh dear…
I think he’s bluffing… though he’s mental enough not to be.
Sakho is left footed too.
we only have one left footed defender
Pedro, he isn’t bluffing.
Now, when he has won “manager of the decade” trophy he will be even more stubborn.
He won’t change. You know that.
fuck the spuds they are still shit.
bale is surely off in the summer, they’ll be left with a bunch of clueless idiots like defoe, hudleston, ekoto, lennon and over rated mugs like modric, dawson
But you can’t play 2 left footed CB together.
Wenger statement does not make good reading, unless he’s bluffing
Year after year everyone shouts- we need 2 quality players more and he does f**g nothing.
“And if the spuds sign Suarez, we are in trouble”
Could very well happen in the summer
Modric > Denilson
Did you see on sky, Man cityy have 6 strikers !!
value £137 mill. Their squad seems bigger then the 25 you are meant to have
Nope watched the full interview on ATVO, he said he thinks Miquel is ready to play in the Prem!
maciek
denilson is our backup modric is their first choice midfielder. it’s like comparing cesc to daren gibson.
Big Dave
vermy is fucked for now and it doesn’t hurt having two so we can rest one of them and still play a left footed player on the left side
“We have solutions internally with Ignasi Miquel, with Alex Song who can play centre back and with Squillaci, who should come back very quickly.
“If we find somebody at the right level we will do it, if not we will continue like this.”
here we go again…
jo, santa and ade will prob be off
Sakho is not good enough for the Arsenal.
JD is 10times better than he is.
i can’t understand wenger
one day he wants to get a CB quickly and the other day trying to find internal solution.
1. miquel is too young to be relied on.
2. we need song in midfield as we seem to struggle when he’s not here, denilson isn’t god enough
David says:
January 11, 2011 at 23:21
Sakho is not good enough for the Arsenal.
JD is 10times better than he is.
—
i think you never saw him playing
I think youve never seen JD play.
I think those comments are so that other teams don’t inflate prices. We really are desperate for a defender. I honestly hope he doesn’t fuck this up.
i am serious sakho is good enough
Have you seen him play for france before?
If Sakho’s good enough then so is Ignasi.
Only options from Prem are:
Cahill – most say overrated, Bolton want around 20M
Hangeland – solid, don’t see Hughes selling him, nearly 30 and max Wenger would offer is around 5M
Samba – could be available, not sure if Wenger would go for him though
also:
Mertesacker won’t quit Bremen
“We are in a difficult moment with Werder and we should not be talking about me at this time,” Mertesacker told Kreiszeitung. “I am needed here for our day-to-day work and it is my duty to concentrate on that. I cannot deal with anything else.
“Like I say, most of it does not even get through to me and I have told my agent that he should leave me in peace. In certain situations, players should protect themselves by not losing track of the most important things in their job.”
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/_/id/864081/arsenal-target-per-mertesacker-won%27t-quit-werder-bremen?cc=5739
Maciek he needs to but is tight lipped not to up the prices!!!
Pedro Wenger is thight lipped. John Cross said he doesnt say much cause prices could go up for our targets. If he doesnt buy after admitting he needs to Wenger has really lost the plot.
Sakho is one time capped for france , he’s 20.
has been playing with the first team since he was 17, played 85 games in the french ligue 1, and 10 European games. won the french cup and french league cup, captain his side on many occasion, first time when he was only 18. He’s said to be a natural leader.
not to mention he’s 6ft2 built like a mountain, quick, can tackle, can head the ball
miquel, well i suppose you know the player.
on the other hand the “England international” cahill came once as a substitute , like sakho for the national team
We will se arsenal4ever. Hope you are right.
I’m off to bed.
Take care, guys!
nite maciek
David
what do you think about that?
*see
he wont win with Song and Miquel as cover.
http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Arsenal-manager-Arsene-Wenger-has-admitted-ahead-of-the-Carling-Cup-semi-final-against-Ipswich-that-he-is-feeling-the-pressure-of-having-to-win-a-trophy-after-six-years-without-silverware-article670917.html
as best manager of the decade he should know that.
but cant he just stop looking for excuses?
“Of course, I want to end it [the barren run]. But being professional is not to look at the trophies but to focus on the quality of your performance.
The quality of performances are trophies at the end you mug!!!
I really hate his interviews. Doesnt make sense at all and always looking for excusses. Trophies are that what counts not good performances. What does he makes of yesterdays performance from the reserves? Was there any quality? If he doesnt buy it is simple. Wenger out!!!
Every time I start to put my faith back in Wenger he follows up with more lies.
First he says he is definitely not buying anyone.
Then he says he is definitely not buying an attacker but maybe a CB if Vermy is not fit.
Now that Vermy AND Squirrel are not fit we are looking internally???
I would rather he keep his cake hole shut instead of this contradicory rhetoric.
I think hes not good enough.
He’s capped the same game France vs England and he came in as a late sub.
Gerrald almost equalized scored
@johncrossmirror reporting Wellington will be loaned to Levante
gn folks
http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Transfer-news-Arsenal-wonderkid-Wellington-Silva-is-a-loan-target-for-Spanish-club-Levante-in-a-deal-that-could-help-the-teenage-Brazilian-striker-land-a-UK-work-permit-article670879.html
looks very cumbersome and his passing is shyte.
http://www.metro.co.uk/sport/football/852442-gary-cahill-to-be-cleared-for-arsenal-move-if-wheaters-bolton-deal-completes
We are in a good position this year (like last year) but Wenger has not learned from his striker gamble last year.
Unfortunately, stubborn Wenger will probably gamble this year (not buying quality) and we will self-destruct in all comp’s quick-time…
well there you have it folks,
Developing Ignasi Miquel’s career is more important than winning the PL.
Davis you just compared him with miquel, witch was a bit strange.
you saw him for 10 minutes
David*
nite anyway
David – Saving a few bucks is more important than winning trophies.
Remember “being professional is not to look at the trophies but to focus on the quality of your performance.”
By that definition, as long as we play well it doesn’t matter whether we win or lose. Wenger would be a great Under 6 “soccer” coach in America.
In the next League Assoc Manager’s conference I fully expect Wenger to suggest that we should not decide match winners based on goals, instead we should use a more compelling statistic like possession or touches.
naa ive seen Sakho play against Lens last year to an incredibly boring draw around the time we were looking to sign a defender last year and Arsene opted for Sol Campbell.
Suffice to say i wasnt impressed and im still not.
Did he really say that JJ?
I have to ask this time, so no confusions
incesc says:
January 11, 2011 at 23:18
“We have solutions internally with Ignasi Miquel, with Alex Song who can play centre back and with Squillaci, who should come back very quickly.
“If we find somebody at the right level we will do it, if not we will continue like this.”
here we go again…
*****************
Nothing the boss does surprises me. Anything to prove denilson is class.
David – Yes… Well, if you believe the Mirror.
http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Arsenal-manager-Arsene-Wenger-has-admitted-ahead-of-the-Carling-Cup-semi-final-against-Ipswich-that-he-is-feeling-the-pressure-of-having-to-win-a-trophy-after-six-years-without-silverware-article670917.html
David – Yes, well if you believe MirrorFootball.co.uk
here we go again for cheap solutions.
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/transfers/wenger-could-turn-to-upson-to-fill-the-void-in-his-defence-2182007.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1346307/Arsenals-Thomas-Vermaelen-needs-operation-achilles-weeks.html
Where is the fukking money gone? Corrupt assh…. he is!!! Not satisfied with Uspson. Was shit at the WC!!!
lol Upson, good one.
Samba’s gotta be the most likely
oh A I really hope you are right. But know I am really off, lol. Also the story about new surgery for Vermy seems absolutely bollocks.
good night all
A journalist once said to Guardiola Xavi will make you jobless he answered Iniesta will make everybody jobless…
1) Messi
2)Iniesta
3) Xavi
4)Sneijder/Cesc/…
5)Nasri/Modric/VDV….
Ferguson was rite Wenger does go off the tangent sometimes
I just hope its smokescreen…
Did anybody hear the latest comments from Wenger?
“At the moment we are having a bit of a crisis with injuries to our defenders. We are now absolutely desperate to buy someone and will have to pay any price to get a player, even if the player isn’t all that good, as long as he has experience in this league we will pay whatever the club demands for him, enough to make the purchase of Kolo Toure look like a total bargain.
After all we are extremely rich and have enough money so that we can pay over the fair price for a player”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1346242/MARTIN-SAMUEL-Will-witless-twits-learn.html
good points..
as i write this from Thailand, the Bear is in the air on the way back to blighty (with a thick head i think)…..unfortunately for me the reserve trouncing came just a few hours too late for me to see his face…was one of those rare moments when the villa actually get a win !!
There’s massive flooding in the town of Ipswich, Queensland. Looks like all towns named Ipswich world-wide are gonna go through hell.
Wow…great job on TV. Way to go medical team, spahic or samba, unless some other out of work defender with no where to go rocks up at the training ground.
Adil Rami Plays for Valencia now, Sakho is crap, Samba is crap, Upson = SMH.
You have to love his quotes, if we find someone at the right level we will do something, I give up with him sometimes, he tries the patience of a saint.
Morning guys, the post will auto post at 0900.
See you in a bit!
Blimey. Some silly reaction to wengers comments last night. He of course is Norfolk g to come out and say we are desperate for a CB now.
1. The price goes up if the supplier thinks you’re desperate.
2. It undermines the players who have got to do a job in the short term.
3. It just isn’t his style.
Relax.
Fucking AKBs
Fuckin doomers
Anyone know the squad that travelled there today?
Welcome to Le Grove
MONG
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irX7MpeMeig
Pathetic.
There is no point in the trolls answering my posts because they are blog dead to me. The sooner people ignore them, the sooner they’ll fuck off to their own teams blogs.
I don’t even read them anymore.
Translation
I clearly do read these “realists” posts, hence why im commenting on their insightful musings. Infact I am making myself look a bit silly by writing this comment saying people that I cant stop talking about are “blog dead” to me.
DFTT!!
WAC!!
DFTT.