Arsenal player of the year… the candidates | Rocastle tribute | 0800-WENGER

March 31, 2011

Morning Grovers, we have a split post between Pedro and Geoff today… enjoy!

I’ve been thinking about Arsenal’s player of the year so far and there are a number of obvious candidates.

Samir Nasri would be most people’s based on his goals and assists this season. He’s stepped his game up a notch and he’s finally adapted to the rigours of the Premiership. Earlier on in the season he was virtually unplayable. His mixture of skill and pace was hard to track and the development of goal facing instincts helped push him into the public consciousness.

What has to be said is that his form has seriously dipped in the second half of the season, he’s gone into his shell a little and he really hasn’t taken charge in the absence of Cesc. I’ve been pretty disappointed about that. My main gripe with him over the past 2 seasons has been his mental strength and where it goes when the chips are down.

Still, 15 goals and 4 assists can’t be sniffed at… I’d like to see a return to form before he gets my vote.

Another player we’ve all been pretty excited about this season is the emergence of Jack Wilshere. Last year he was a reserve for the first 5 months of the season, then he moved over to Bolton where it took a while for him to break into Coyle’s starting 11… then he blossomed with some top performances.

This year, he killed the career of Joe Cole and his mooted move to Arsenal. On this site, we said it was fine not to sign the England star providing Jack was given a decent shot at the first team in his place. Well, Arsene didn’t disappoint and nor did Jack. Arsenal have developed a young player who has all the silky passing of a continental player yet all the aggression and fight of a traditional tough tackling English defender. Jack’s ability to defend hasn’t gone unnoticed either. Fabio Capello sees him as a Claude Makelele type player in the future and Wenger has also dabbled with him in the holding role. This was something Geoff called at the very start of the season, something I couldn’t see happening.

Jack has been one of the few players at Arsenal this year who has never hidden on the pitch, who has always given his all and has Arsenal blood coursing through his veins. He has 2 goals, 8 assists and 40+ appearances to his name, not bad for your first full season. I’m not sure Alex Hleb managed productivity stats like that in his whole Arsenal career.

I heard he’s got a bird up the duff. I’d say congratulations, but let’s be honest, no one plans for that type of news when they’re a 19 year old footballer at the start of their career. Jack, for future reference,

‘Don’t be a fool, wrap your tool’

My final suggestion for player of the season is a bit of a curve ball. It’s none other than Bacary Sagna, the greatest braided defender since Taribo West. He’s put in a solid 35 performances this year off the back of a very indifferent season last  year. He’s returned to the form that saw him installed in the team of 2008 and he’s absolutely impressed me all year.

First and foremost, Sagna is a defender. That is a rarity for an Arsenal full back. He’s incredibly quick, he’s committed and he’s a fearsome opponent not many get the better of on the pitch. This year he’s clearly worked on his attacking senses, after scoring a total of zero goals over the past two season he’s popped up with a few memorable goals this year, particularly the one against Everton where he ripped one past Tim Howard. He’s also popped up with 3 assists which can be credited to his much improved crossing ability.

I’ve always said it’s harsh to label a full back inept if he can’t cross, they’re defenders first and foremost and that’s why I was always fine with Sagna. This year he’s worked hard, he’s remained fit and he’s now a regular with the French team. He’s a real asset and he’s another player who I can honestly say I’ve never questioned when it comes to attitude. That’s why I’m putting him in the mix for the player of the year.

Let me know your thoughts for player of the year in the comments and we’ll knock together a poll for the end of the season.

In Other news…

It’s ten years since Rocky Rocastle passed away. I was a touch too young to truly remember anything poignant enough to put in a post so I’ll pass this over to Geoff who is one of the few that watched him come through.

My first memory of David Rocastle was when I was at Highbury, where they sometimes trained with George Graham, I was producing an Ad for JVC featuring the Arsenal team and some video equipment. The previous year I was with Don Howe and I featured Charlie Nicholas and about 5 players, amongst them were Tony Woodcock, Steve Williams and Paul Mariner, well when I was with George, they were gone and the ad out was out of date.

So I said George, I don’t want to pick your team (I did) and I don’t want any secrets (of course I did) but can you give me a few players that will still be here next season so I don’t waste JVC’s money on yet another ad (I wasn’t bothered in the slightest) He said sure, that I understand, he called over Adams, Merson, O’Leary, Thomas and one Rocky Rocastle. I remember looking and thinking where is Charlie, my hero? It was then I knew he wasn’t the future and saw the new breed.

Rocastle always played like his life depended on it, I was at White hart lane when he scored in the League Cup semi final and remember his face exploding, I also remember the day Graham told him he was going to Leeds and the poor kid burst into tears, much the same as a lot of us did, David I was there at the start and sadly there at the end, no one likes to outlive their stars, if we had a few of him in this team we would rip the league and the other three trophy’s, sadly under Wenger that will never happen.

Bless you Rocky, you were the spirit of Arsenal and you are sorely missed!

Finally…

I called Arsenal yesterday for spare tickets for a customer, I went through the Platinum member’s line and would you Adam and Eve it? Wenger was answering the phone with the worst auto system message I have ever heard in my life, now if that’s not the antipathy of control freakishness I have ever seen, I don’t know what is, here have a listen! 0845 262 0001

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Posted by Pedro

Snobby Arsenal fans | Player review and potential transfer round up!

March 30, 2011

Good morning Knights of the Grove table… last night was international night and I actually put myself through a very entertaining England game.

I’m quite excited about the future of English football. It feels like possibly the most vulgar, disconnected England side of the past 50 years is finally on its way out and there seems to be a number of exciting players are making their way to the first team. There is a real danger I might actually start finding myself interested in International competition!

I thought Ghana made a good account of themselves last night, they’re incredibly aggressive off the ball and they can string a few passes together. I thought they were slightly cumbersome on the ball and a touch wasteful in the final third but their energy and passion was fantastic to watch. I really like Muntari, he’s the sort of player we should be looking at. He’s been outed by Inter Milan, he’s looking for an opportunity on the big stage again and he’d be welcome competition for Alex ‘I don’t fancy it’ Song. Imagine his height shielding the back four next year?

I’m also a huge fan of Gyan. He’s like Thierry Henry lite… he’s pacey, inventive and he’s not too shabby in front of goal. He’s also a work horse to boot. I think he could do a job out wide and he’s creative enough in the middle to take on players… something you can’t say of Chamakh. Ayew looked a handful as well… I think United are sniffing around him, so that’ll be an interesting transfer story this summer.

For England, I thought there were some strong performances. Jack Wilshere zipped the ball around with ease. He really suits that number 8 shirt and it’s exciting to see the future of English football is a player who wears the red and white of Arsenal. Ashley Young was also impressive out wide, if we ever needed a classic English winger, he’d be our man. He’s more in the mould of Marc Overmars than a Bobby P, but dangerous all the same.

I was also very pleased to see Cahill introducing himself back onto the International scene with a very solid display. I find it cringe worthy how snobby Arsenal fans are about English players. Unless they’ve been snared from a sleepy village in France for an astronomical fee, many don’t want to know. It’s like the fans now get off on Arsene taking massive risks with unknowns. I mentioned last night via twitter that I liked Cahill and someone said,

‘Not for £20million.’

Jeez, some people need to get over themselves! He’s worth whatever the market dictates, which last time I checked was not £20million, or the £30million some people have been touting just to dirty the proposition of signing him.

The fact is, he’s Premiership ready, he’s the right age,  he attacks the ball in the box and he has great positional awareness. Not to mention the pace he has… my gosh is he quick! I think he’s a class act and I think there is a very high chance we’ll nick him in the summer. In a defence like ours, 4 top defenders is perfect and like Geoff alluded to the other day, throw in Miquel and Bartley as back up and we’ve got more than enough cover for a typical Arsenal year!

In other international news, Robin Van Persie went off injured. Apparently he took a knock to the knee but in the professional opinion of Burt Van Mareaknvrenvajfd, he should be ok for the Arsenal game this Saturday.

So bloody good news there! He also scored I believe. Even more bloody good news!

The rest of the International review can be completed by you lot in the comments, I hear our Aussie Grover’s have something to sh0ut about this morning and it’s not a double episode of Neighbours…

Catch you in the comments!

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Posted by Pedro

Maarten Stekelenburg admits he quite fancies us | Clichy on way out?

March 29, 2011

Hot on the lips of many Gooners at the moment is the topic of the keeper. Many fans the world over seem to be keen on us adding an experienced goalkeeper to our ranks for next season. Not just an experienced player… a player who would command the number 1 jersey straight away if not through experience, through the fact we’d have to pay a massive fee as well.

The latest number 1 on our radar is Maarten Stekelenburg of Ajax. I’ve seen him on numerous occasions and I’ve never been particularly impressed. Personally, I thought he was the weak link during the Dutch World Cup campaign. I watched him drop a couple of clangers from long-range shots that made me think he was a touch over hyped. Though when you cross-reference his domestic record, he’s actually been quite impressive. Last season he only conceded 20 goals over a 34 game season, this year, he’s conceded 26. Not bad… though how much of that is down to playing in an uncompetitive league for a top team is down to your own interpretation.

For me, I’m not sure why we’re all talking about a new number one. If there is any position on the pitch I’m certain about, it’s the keeper. He’s got all the ingredients. He’s tall, has a safe pair of hands, he gives the defence confidence, he’s an excellent shot stopper and he’s extremely vocal. He has all the ingredients to be a world-class stopper and he’s only 19 years old. The one concern I have about him is that he’s a little too cocky when it comes to some of his twitter comments. Still, if Jens Lehmann had an account, what do you reckon he’d have been tweeting about back in the day… ?

Bear fighting and dreams of Spaniard slaying no doubt…

In other news, it appears Mr Clichy is stalling on signing a new deal with us. This is a story that might just have legs, not because I’ve heard anything juicy but because he’s been touted away from these shores for the past 3 seasons. There is never smoke without fire unless you’re near a disco smoke machine and I’ve got to say, I don’t think this is one of those moments.

His performances have been under scrutiny ever since he dropped his Birmingham clanger way back in 2008. It’d be hard for anyone to defend some of his shoddy displays… I know for a cold hard Pam fact that he himself admits he’s been below par… I just wonder if a fresh start could be on his mind?

A £13million offer would certainly suit me but this would most definitely be one of those occasions when a ready-made left back would need to be bought in because Kieron Gibbs is nowhere near ready to fill anyone’s boots at the minute. We can’t afford to start next year with a weak link at full back. In my book, if you’re not good enough, go and practice somewhere else until you are. Gone are the days when Wenger was allowed to offer players a 3 year apprenticeship at the cost of trophies… Arsenal fans don’t have the patience, especially if the money is there.

Geoff sent me a shareholders e-mail that informed us that Danny Fiszman had signed over 500 shares to Stan keeping him at 29.9%… pretty exciting news. It’s sad that Danny is so ill at the moment. I’d imagine that he’ll have to make a decision on his holding at some point, that’s when things will really get interesting.

I read that Jack Wilshere is being called up to the under-21 squad. How this is allowed isn’t beyond me, this is UEFA we’re talking about. I can understand international call ups, but something is seriously wrong when it is acceptable to risk the fitness of young man making his way in the game. It’s incredibly frustrating that as fans, we pays huge sums to follow our team and UEFA/FIFA can take away our chance to see our best players playing for their club because two levels of team want to play one player.

I find it outrageous that a manager with such vast experience of managing club players can allow this to happen as well. I guess it shows the selfish nature of people in the game… only out for number one.

We had enough problems last year when Pearce called up Theo, he absolutely tanked at the Under 21 Championships then picked up an injury that ruled him out most of the year. This should not be allowed to happen and Arsenal should be allowed to excuse himself with some sort of sick note… you know, the type of note fat kids always had prepared for school PE lessons way back when… I always wondered what the excuse was?

Nice to see Arsenal.com allowing Aliadiere to pimp himself out ebay style. I remember how excited we all where when he was the Wellington Silva of his day. The guy who ran Clairefontaine said that the 3 best prospects to leave the French academy were Trezeguet, Henry and Aliadiere. Aside from having an appalling name to pronounce and spell, he was more of a crock than Robin Van Persie and so bad in front of goal, he made Juilio Baptista look like Batistuta.

He really was one of the first of many over hyped youth players of Arsene Wenger’s reign. Think of some of the names over the years that didn’t make it? Moritz Volz, Sebastian Svard and Arturo Lupoli spring to mind… who was your favourite over hyped youth player? Let us know his name in the comments… the best name won’t win a prize, so instead, I thought I’d show you a funny picture for your efforts.

Tree Goats

See you in the comments… not long to go before international week is over and we can get back to talking about proper football!

Tree goats… what a laugh!

P.S. I’m looking for 2 or 3 tickets to the Blackburn game… I’m more desperate than Aliadiere, so please do get in touch if you know of some.

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Posted by Pedro

Never mind about the potential, sign the players that will make a difference now, we have the money Arsenal.

March 28, 2011

I watched Neymar tear Scotland a new bottom, I’ve watched Hazard do likewise in France and I saw what the German midfielder Shweinsteiger did in the world cup, add Sakho or Mertesacker to that and we will take the league by storm, that’s 4 in, what would we need to sell, well Denilson, Bendtner, Rosicky, Squillaci and Almunia would go some way toward it, add what we have and we could land them, why wait, their price will just go up, add Cesc to that list and we could pay off some of our debt.

Not even mentioning the 10 or so kids we could let go that will never make it.

I would like to sign a few players that can make a difference now, not another 17 year old that has potential and may well end up disappointing us in 4 years like Carlos Vela, Fran Merida and so on.

I think with Coquelin, Lansbury and Frimpong we have enough to make Alex Song stay uninjured so if we brought in the above I couldn’t see anyone stopping us.

ManU are after my old target Schneider, the Chavs have spent all they are going to spend, Man City have too many, Madrid ditto, Barca have no money and what they do have is earmarked for Cesc, so for me we should get busy before the spuds go and spoil our party, because a few choice signings from them and our spot is under threat.

If we signed them next season and offloaded the rubbish, I may even renew, trouble is we won’t do that before the end of the season and by then it will be too late to renew, chicken and egg, but I won’t be suckered for 6 years on the trot.

Neymar and Hazard will only get better and would fit nicely into our ball playing team, Arsene, get your scouts making noises now before we lose the chance to make a difference and dominate, with them we really could.

Imagine this team out there next season.

Chezzer

Sagna Mertesacker Vermaelen Gibbs

Wilshere Ramsey/Cesc Shweinsteiger

Walcott Neymar Hazard

Nasri, RVP, Arshavin, Sakho, Song, Djourou, Kozzer, Chamakh, Clichy, Lansbury and Frimpong as the alternative players because injuries and games will play a part. I would be beside myself if that happened.

Sorry if I missed anyone out but hopefully you get my drift, that lot is only four (I said Sakho or Mertesacker) new players, what a difference that would make!

Ok I know it won’t happen, but it’s affordable, possible as they would all come and we’d get rid of the players that are holding us back!

Dream on Grovers and have a nice day!

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Posted by Geoff

I love Cesc but I can’t understand how it works, and he’s becoming a Van Persie, Arsenal to make tough decisions.

March 27, 2011

My Sunday story is about Cesc, Wenger is determined to keep him even though it looks tough, he won’t exchange him for Afelly plus cash, he doesn’t want the money, upwards of £50mil and will continue to build his side around his wonderboy, my question is why?

Before you lose your cornflakes out of your nostrils please think about the following. I love Cesc, he for me is the engine, the creator and the glue that binds this team together, but he is also becoming a Van Persie (massive crock) and we can’t afford to keep losing his services for such huge periods of time and not having him fit for such important games like Barca and ManU.

It reminds me of the few seasons we didn’t replace Seaman or Adams and it cost us, because what we drafted in wasn’t good enough..

Also if your girlfriend decided to shag your best mate and you found out, would you take her back? Would you be able to look at her again knowing she really didn’t want to be with you and that you were in fact second choice? I sure as hell wouldn’t!

Well that all happened to us, I’m not sure if Wenger is hanging on to him makes sense, is he keeping him because he has a long contract? Or he is keeping him because project youth crashes if he leaves, and he loses face?

If it’s because of his contract then why did he let Vieira, Henry, Hleb and Reyes go? They all had years left.

And don’t say to maximise their worth because that’s all cobblers, when we sold Petit and Overmars I met Liam Brady on a golf course, he let me play through as he was so slow, I asked him why we just sold two of our best players, he said you can’t keep unhappy players, enough said.

I love Cesc like he was my own, but for me he asked to leave and since then he has been in and out of the team, I would cash in on him and replace him with Schweinsteiger or similar, not another boy, a ready made, then I would bring in Meretsacker, Cahill or Sakho plus a keeper and a decent DM and that way we may be able to hold onto Nasri.

I would also put Vermaelen on notice, I really rate him but we have been here before with Rosicky, and we all know how that ended up, don’t we?

Still Djourou worked out after a year off so who knows.

I hope that’s enough controversy for today, the day the clocks went forward and I forgot!

Have a great Domingo Grovers.

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Posted by Geoff

We get to see the future of Arsenal on display today, enjoy!

March 26, 2011

England play Wales today in what looks to be Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere versus Wales captain Aaron Ramsey!

I’m actually looking forward to watching a game that I don’t care who wins, as long as Arsenal do, it’s win, win for me! I wonder if we’ll see future Arsenal talents on display with the likes of Scott Parker, Phil Jagielka and maybe even Cahill, at least it doesn’t matter what the outcome is, we can at least expect some favourable comments in the Sunday papers!

I can’t wait to see a regular Arsenal line up with those two gems in it, I won’t have to watch Denilson, Squillaci, Diaby, Bendtner or Almunia screwing up today, this is about the Arsenal and we can’t blow the title race either way.

I wonder what the new kits will be like next season, I really like the home kit right now and will be a little upset if we mess with that one, the away kit I never liked so I shan’t be sorry to see that one go.

So there you have it, I mentioned todays international and talked about kits, even in the off season we can at least debate who we won’t be signing! It a slow day isn’t it?

Wenger finally came out and told us what we all knew, Almunia cost us the game, how many times has that happened and how long do we have to suffer it, last season our centrebacks cost us and we bought 89 year old Sol Campbell in to help, this season we got a 40 year old keeper, nice one Arsene, though I will say Sol helped us no end and I have no doubt Jens will this time, but let’s not forget that he made a whole bunch of howlers we he was here in his last season and we were screaming for Almunia in the first place, we all were, go on, admit it!

At least Lehmann was right when he said Almunia wasn’t a proper keeper.

I’m guessing we’ll have to wait until the summer to see if the manager has learned from his errors but I’m not holding my breath. Today I’ll be watching our two stars of the future hoping they will show enough to terrify defences that we have yet to play.

I think these two are the nuts, I really do, the way they play should be an inspiration to the hapless players that we have that don’t ever try.

Have a great day you two and for goodness sake stay un-injured, you football club needs you!

Have a great day grovers, England to beat Sri Lanka, Lewis to qualify on the front row and our two top, top stars to have a blinder and stay injury free!

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Posted by Geoff

Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink! Arsenal’s on pitch dilemma.

March 25, 2011

That was a piece stolen from a book written by Paul Mariner, ex Gooner.

Let’s all count the international captains we have, Cesc Fabregas, Robin Van Persie are our captain and vice captains, we know that, but who are our international captains?

Rosicky, Vermaelen and Ramsey are captains of their countries (or have been), Manuel Almunia has often captained Arsenal and nearly all our players are internationals, so why have we no real leader on the pitch?

Jack will be, but he’s way too young, Vermaelen would have been perfect but he’s been injured all season and may never come back. I personally like Cesc but he’s too Barca bound so who should be our captain?

Gilberto would have been ideal but we got rid of him for a youth player or two that still aren’t fit to lace his boots but someone like him or Tony Adams would be ideal.

Maybe we should buy a captain in the summer, maybe a tough defender or a cavalier midfielder would do it, you know an Adams or a Vieira type, either way we need to find someone that isn’t injured all the time. Sorry Robin, that rules you out!

Someone said to me the other day what Arsenal lack apart from a top centreback and a keeper is a Vieira/Petit combo, I have to agree there because since we lost Paddy, we have never had a decent captain.

And we all know a decent captain will drag a team over the line, Anfield 89 springs to mind, remember the Vieira Keane tunnel showdown, oh how I miss that, all this cuddling at matches is vomit making, this is a football club, not a day care centre, time to man up, time to bring in some tougher players, time to get a Paddy or Petit back, a Keown or an Adams.

We can start that by bringing Keown back as assistant manager, Wenger is going nowhere so maybe someone to tell him he has no clothes on would be a start.

We never won the league when Ian Wright was a feature, he was a cup player, fantastic as he was, the same goes for Cesc, as much as I love him we won’t win a title with him as captain, he’s already said he wants to go, like Ade before him it’s too late to stay, we need to rethink, buy in some tougher players and stop trying to pass other teams of the park, it hasn’t worked.

Maybe try the passing with a bit of filth in there and a shot at the end of it, shame we didn’t buy Anelka back, he’s the sort of striker we need, him or Thierry, even Ade would work now, he’s at the age we need for a striker, when they come good.

To sum up Arsenal need to get a bit of steel in there, Lansbury could be it, Frimpong could as well, but we need a top centreback too and I’m not sure what we have in the bag, I would like to think Bartley would work but I haven’t seen enough of him, I like his attitude though, maybe he’s a potential captain?

We won’t be going to Japan this year, I wonder where else we’ll go, China? America? Austria?

Have a great day Grovers, next up England vs Wales!

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Posted by Geoff

Jack, Aaron and who? | Gazidis, help Arsenal bring back safe standing for the masses!

March 24, 2011

Interesting that we still have the title in our own hands this season, shock horror we can win this, maybe our boys are planning on peaking at the right time or have we a midfield so bare we are going to struggle? Here is my take.

We can do nothing about what we have left, Djourou won’t be fit for 4 weeks so Wenger will go for a Squillaci – Kozzer duo or will he try out Miquel and Kozzer, for me we know how much Squillaci offers so i would be tempted to persevere with Miquel and see if he has what it takes, we can do no worse at the back, I like this kid, at least he looks like he has what it takes and he is keen.

The midfield is the real challenge though, Jack is a nailed on, Ramsey for me is too, will Cesc return and if he does will it be his swan song? Talking of Song, does anybody know if he’ll be back? He seems to get a lot of injuries these days, Diaby? Forget him, he’s way too inconsistent and always has a strain of some sort, don’t even consider him, he’s let us down more than any player and doesn’t deserve any more chances. Nasri? Is he a forward, a winger or a midfield player. Me? I would put him in the midfield with Jack and Aaron, in the middle, Barca have proved size isn’t everything as has Jack Wilshere, if Cesc and Song return to their best then there are 5 that we can mix it up with.

Up front we have Robin and then the choice of Chamakh, Bendtner, Arshavin and maybe Rosicky, I would recall some of our kids or promote what we have in the reserves, so I would go for Robin, Chamakh and Arshavin, maybe JET can step up, so we should get him back.

We are pretty threadbare and what we have doesn’t excite me, it wasn’t that long ago when we had the likes of Freddie, Reyes, Pires, Dennis and Thierry to fetch on, oh how I miss those days.

Still we have just over a month to win this, I really think we can, but I also believe we have to stop kidding ourselves with players like Eboue, Bedntner, Diaby, Denilson and Almunia, it’s time to go with our best team and if they get injured then they get injured, playing teams with players that are simply not good enough must stop as we’ll win nothing if we don’t.

I’m fed up with reading how we must get behind the team, we always get behind the team, it’s the team that don’t seem interested, not us.

Maybe we should pack out the lower North bank with terracing next year, it would increase our crowd, encourage singing and may make an atmosphere again. Gazidas doesn’t even have to work for that one, the government has asked us, imagine 80,000 of us every week, imagine all those real fans (or so they tell us!) singing and getting in for 4s6d to watch Arsene’s heroes, now that would be interesting.

Blimey if we increased our crowd by 20,000 (oh and the stadium was built to accommodate those extra fans) then maybe, just maybe , we could afford to buy what we need. We sure as hell don’t need 18 players out on loan that’s a fact, and if we do loan them out, then isn’t now the time to bring them back? To help us over the line, because if they aren’t good enough now, they never will be.

Back a petition that matter and sign up to push the Government to back safe standing.

PETITION HERE

I still believe we can win the league, the others are all playing each other and will drop points, in the old days Arsenal would have won a bunch of titles if the league was played in the second half of the season, we are traditionally strong finishers, come on Arsenal, now’s the time!

Have a great day grovers, only a week and a half to go!

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Posted by Geoff

Sack the club: LIKE | Samir social problems | Defender on the way?

March 23, 2011

Good morning Grovers! Geoff is in Slough today, so you’ve got me again. A big fat ‘gutted’ to Geoff, Slough is about as pleasant as a DIY root canal.

Anyway, plenty to crack on with this morning I tells ya!

Firstly, the very exciting news that Alisher Usmanov has taken his stake to ‘over 27%’… yep, Usmanov and Kroenke are part of the slowest race since Eric the Eel jumped back in the pool with a hangover to compete with a floating brick.

I’ve said before on Le Grove many times, ideally I’d love to see the club kept independent of a sugar daddy. Obviously I’d like to see more investment in the first team squad, but quite frankly, from what I understand, that’s all down to the coach which is a separate matter no Sugar Daddy will change.

If you were to put the two moguls together in a business fight, Usmanov would hammer Kroenke. He’s far more visionary in his investments, he has enough money to manoeuvre if things went wrong and he’ll be keen to upstage Abramovich. I’m not sure I’d want an American with similar wealth levels to the departed Liverpool duo guiding the club for the next ten years. If we want to compete at the highest level, we’re probably going to need some help. The current board are coming to the end of their careers so some new and fresh ideas on how to market, brand and expand the club would be welcome.

Regardless of his murky past, Usmanov has the team that could take us to the next level.

If you were wondering how Stan and Usmanov would square off in a real fight, here’s how I see it panning out.

The rip-roaring news that JD could be back in 4 weeks filtered down to us mere mortals. Now, I’m not sure how this works because Arsenal haven’t got a standardised injury press release. Does 4 weeks mean back and playing… or does that mean 4 weeks + 2 weeks to regain fitness + 1 week for a minor set back? If it’s the former, brilliant, he’ll be here for our last 5 games, if it’s the latter… well, there’s not much point is there?

In other news, apparently Samir Nasri wants his ‘friend’ Mehdi Benatia at the club next season. Now, this could be because he’s a good centre back of French/Moroccan descent, or it could be because Samir Nasri has no friends at Arsenal. You know, first of all it was Thierry, then it was Gallas… now it’s probably Cesc.

Surely there comes a point when you have to hold you hands up Samir and admit you’re a bit annoying? Recruiting your friends isn’t going to stem the issue here… just hold your hands up, buy a Tony Robbins self-help tape and get cracking on your social skills.

Finally, I wanted to touch on the topic of social media. Lately, I’ve been receiving e-mails and tweets asking me to give my opinion on Facebook groups, petitions and fan movements. Well, my opinion is that everyone is entitled to do as they please in the world of online (providing it doesn’t involve two girls and one cup or a horny donkey). If I don’t like something, I simply don’t read it or partake in whatever they’re up to.

That said, I really am against this Facebook generation of online revolution. For me, clicking a like button is one of the laziest forms of action you can take. What exactly does a ‘like’ entail? What does it mean? What effort or thought has gone into setting up a 60 second page and asking a few of your mates to click a ‘like’ button?

I totally understand that people are upset about how our season has panned out. Arsene Wenger should have purchased the players we needed at the start of the season, he should have made better decisions in the Champions League and perhaps the fitness of certain players should have been managed better. However, we’re second in the league, we’re a shoo-in for Champions league qualification and if we win all our games from now until the end of the season, we’ll win the league.

Like Geoff said yesterday, there will still be major questions asked of the manager even if he does win the league at the end of the year, however, setting up destabilising groups/sites when we’re still competing really rankles with me. Things like this only count if there is credibility behind them. Setting up a webpage takes hardly anytime at all, creating 6 negative posts in a year does not constitute effort and merchandising off the back of whatever you’re doing reeks of profiteering.

We’re known as a dissenting voice in the online world but we’ve always had fan interest at heart. If we didn’t, the simple fact is most of you probably wouldn’t be reading today. We’ve put in the hours though, we’ve written 1350 back to back post over the past 4 years, we’ve shared in the joy and in the pain and we’ve never taken a penny for our efforts. Hopefully that gives the our readers some sort of comfort that whatever we’re writing is for the right reasons and that sentiment goes for a number of other top sites in the Arsenal blogosphere.

Le Grove will always defend the right of anyone to have an opinion, however, I can’t condone this new wave of thoughtless action group that pop up at the merest hint of a bad run. For me, there are some really awful things going on all around the world that are far more worthy of protest, petition and social media attention. Look no further than the 38 Degrees group for stuff like that. Personally, I think trying to bring the club down via your laptop is a little rich considering the plight of other clubs.

However, that’s just my opinion, if you have a different take on the matter, set up a Facebook group and let me know how many people liked what you had to say!

See you in the comments… be sure to click the like button, we get a pound everytime you do that.

P.S. Wenger finally got his hands on 15 year old Siemann. You know, the 15 year old defender from Hertha Berlin? Mucky buggers…

Also, off the back of some heavy Le Grove campaigning, it seems the Government is prepared to listen to the case about standing areas in football. Read more here… For me, blaming standing areas for previous disasters is a bit like blaming planes for 9-11.

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Posted by Pedro

Arsenal, it’s not over yet but time for a clear out, this is how I’d roll!

March 22, 2011

Ok so apart from the Wilshere peeing bit the rest rings true, Jack is young but immense and the real Arsenal improvement this season. Last week Mr Wenger was asked if he would be here next season, this is what he said…

‘You ask about my commitment? When I sign a contract I respect it. (If) you look at what we did this season, it deserves a lot of credit. Would anybody have predicted that we are where we are, in front of Chelsea and Man City and fighting for the championship? Nobody’

So he’s turned the attention off him getting sacked by coming out with all this I respect a contract rubbish (notice how quickly he signed the last one?), nice swerve Arsene, but this time there are many who don’t want you to respect your contract, try respecting the club and the fans, admit you’re wrong and put it right, either that or leave.

Let’s tackle what you said about ‘who would have predicted that we are in front of Chelsea and Man City’ bit.

What a daft statement that is, of course no one would have predicted that, because you failed to strengthen areas of the team that have needed strengthening for years, they still need strengthining and that’s why we are out of the cups we are out of.

We are in front of Chelsea because they are an aging team, look at my posts in August, I said that, as for Man City, they have so many stars, they are falling over each other, watch them next season, oh and we haven’t finished above them yet, and playing a team like you did against WBA, we may not even finish in the top 4. Despite you telling the world it’s a 2 horse race. Chelsea are on the way back, and when Torres starts firing, they will challenge for the title.

So go onto the away game and those stoic fans that follow our hapless team around singing there’s only one Arsene Wenger.

Well the loudest cheer I heard from them at The Hawthorns was when Denilson didn’t re-appear for the second half, and we haven’t seen that since Eboue got booed.

I would like to think that Wenger would take that on board as we all think he is a completely useless and irritating footballer, but I doubt it as we have seen that for a couple of years now but Wenger plays him like he’s a top player.

Even early in the season when Lansbury scored at Shite Hart Lane Wenger could see he was a better bet, but loaned out the wrong player, so injuries can’t be blamed, poor management can though, or maybe bad judgment that comes with age, I mean how many 61 year olds would get a job in the real world if they were out of a job? Few, I can tell you.

So what should we do in the summer? Have a clear out and save some money.

Get rid of

Almunia

Fabianski

Eboue

Squillaci

Denilson

Rosicky

Bendtner

Diaby

Players that need competition

Clichy

Song

Players in the last chance saloon

Chamakh

Players that will only be there for a third of a season

RVP

Djourou

Cesc

Kids to keep and bring into the squad

Lansbury

JET

Coquelin

Frimpong

Bartley

Miquel

Vela (possibly)

Kids to let go

Randall

Hoyte

Sunu

Watt

Eastmond

And finally players that will be allowed to leave.

Cesc (he’s becoming a crock and he is fed up with project youth)

So I make 13 players can go and wouldn’t be missed in the slightest, but would save massively on salaries and bring in some cash. That’s 13 people! 14 if you include Cesc, think of the money saved and what we could do we that, it would mean someone was wrong though and I can’t see that happening.

I would buy a world class keeper like a Reina or Stekelenburg, Given is becoming a crock now so I would leave him. Chezzer will be a future number one, but if we don’t buy, then keep him as our number one.

I would buy at least one world class centreback and bring Bartley and Ignasi in to the mix, so in effect we would have 6 centrebacks, and don’t forget this season 5 weren’t enough.

I would buy a world class DM and use Coquelin, Frimpong and Song as back up, that’s fine as we have 4 comps and plenty of injuries.

I would buy a goal scorer, a worldclass one, maybe even rescue Benzema.

In hindsight had I said during the world cup we should sign Suarez as he was a goalscorer, I may have been right, guess what people, I did! Some shouted me down and said he was a cheating bastard who bit people.

If anyone wants to wonder what difference a world class centreback would have made to our team look no further than Luiz, he’s turned the chavs around, what did we do, we signed Koscielny and Squillaci in the summer and no one in the window, think what we may have won had we had him and not what we got.

The Carling cup for one!

As an Arsenal fan I still think we can win the league this time, we should have all our crocks back after the international break and would have played one game less, it’s still in our hands, but even if we do win it and we all start crowing, it doesn’t take away the problem players we have and the world class ones we don’t.

A few people have said ‘won’t I have egg on my face’ if we win the league, don’t be silly, I love Arsenal and would be delighted if we can pull it off, but had we signed those players we need we may have won the lot, and that’s what is so wrong, we fail to spot the obvious, it’s not just me, many blogs say the same, all the journos do as well as does every football pundit, Arsene doesn’t know better than all of them does he!

We need to keep Nasri, let Cesc go, he wants to, he’s becoming a crock and we could spend that money re-investing, you know, a bit like Ferguson does, it works for him doesn’t it. Stam, Keane, Beckham, RVN and Ronaldo to name but a few.

Finally for all those experts that say we shouldn’t buy because we don’t want to do a Leeds, don’t be daft, read the above, paying out these massive salaries will be doing a Leeds, get shot of them and buy quality, it doesn’t need to be on £50mil players, Van Der Vaart was only £8mil and don’t forget we have 18 players out on loan, 18! how crazy is that!

I read somewhere that all but 2 of Wenger’s trophies were with David Seaman between the sticks, the other two were with Lehmann, that should tell you something, build from the back, but with decent players, and get an Henry, because with all the build up play in the world, it matters not a jot unless you have a finisher.

Have a great day grovers, and ponder my thoughts

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Posted by Geoff

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