Are the signs pointing to us throwing United tie?

March 10, 2011

Listen, I hope I’m wrong but hearing Arsene talking about Cesc being out and his past behaviour points towards that.

I’d put your house on the line and say that I’m pretty certain Cesc will be available for West Brom the week after. If Wenger throws this match and we don’t win the league, what have we achieved this year? How can we keep taking solace from the tiniest improvements? How can we tolerate a manager who doesn’t have that killer instinct anymore?

My faith is paper thin, the only thing keeping me going is the fact that somehow, we’re still in with a massive shout in the league. Such a good shout, it feels almost impossible that we won’t pull something together until the end of the year.

Question is, if Wenger wins the league this year, will it satisfy the critics? It’s a bizarre situation to be in, but I’d hazard a guess it probably wouldn’t.

Has there ever been a more unsatisfied crowd considering our position? Have you ever taken such a ribbing from oppo fans about a title contending season?

I haven’t.

We’re in with a shout when we shouldn’t be. We’re contending the league and 75% of the fans think the team are a bunch of chokers…

So what is the answer?

It’s to sort out this shambolic mess and play the best team this weekend.

I don’t want to read about how dignified a 40k a week keeper has been. I really couldn’t care a crap about what Almunia has been through. The reason he’s been dignified is because he knows he won the lottery when he joined. Being dignified would have been leaving in January.

One other gripe from me Arsene…

‘We can take confidence and belief from the Barcelona tie’

… Have you ever heard such tripe?

Being trounced at the Camp Nou should give us no belief. If players are taking belief from losing games, they should be ashamed.

The difference between Barcelona and Arsenal is firstly, they are better technically. Secondly and for me, more importantly, everyone of their players has an incredible intensity to their game and a superb work ethic. Second best isn’t tolerated there, poor performances are not passed off as the folly of youth, if you don’t have it, you don’t play.

Arsene, you need to take a lesson from Pep. Stop flogging poor players to death. If a player isn’t good enough after 150 games, who cares a crap if they are after 200…we’ve just blown three seasons waiting for that moment.

Arsenal fans have waited long enough, if this team bottles it now, there should be a squad overhaul in the summer. This is top level sport, top level wages are being taken, but top performances are not being given in exchange.

Let’s get the culture right starting on Saturday. I want to see the spirit of Jack, Robin and Vermaelen out there. I want to see people playing like they mean it, I want to see blood, guts and thunder on the Old Trafford pitch.

This is the Arsenal, if you’re not proud to wear the shirt, f*ck off to another club whoever you are…we don’t need you.

I still believe we can do something this year, but my gut feeling says a lot of it rests on Saturday evening. Don’t mess it up Arsene… prove to us you ‘know’ because the growing consensus is you don’t anymore.

P.S. This post was brought to you in association with Blackberry…. honestly, your praise in the comments will be entirely welcome.

Don’t forget to follow us on twitter @LeGrove!

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Posted by Pedro

Injury update (Tommy V + Theo) | Time to move on…

March 10, 2011

What’s that? Yeah, post number two churned out on a Blackberry. Geoff has obviously taken the Barca result harder than most…he’s gone AWOL. If anyone sees him, tell him I’ve docked him two weeks wages for bringing the blog into disrepute.

Anyway, to save my thumbs, I’ll keep this shorter than Andrey.

Word on the street is that we’ll have a full squad to pick from for the WBA game. I was told that there were no reports of Cesc being injured during or after the Barca game. If he’s out for Saturday, I’d hazard a guess that it’s precautionary.

More importantly, Robin is still rockin and Theo will be back for the crunch tie away at the Hawthorns. Why is that result so important? It’s international week after. No negativity in the mind is a great thing going into a Blackburn game.

News isn’t so great on Tommy V, apparently he’s had a number of minor set backs and no one is sure on him. Write him off for the year barring maybe a cameo towards the end.

This weekend we’ll be facing a severely depleted United. My fear is we’ll also rest half the team. We shouldn’t, this side needs to start winning again and fast. Beating any United team could be enough to kick us out of this nasty rut we’re in.

Do I trust Wenger to go for it? Not really. Mutterings of Cesc being out already reek of not taking this tie seriously.

Anyway, we’ll all be cheering United on next week in the Champions League. We need them to make it to the semi’s, where they’ll be run ragged by Barcelona. Their fixture pile up is going to be very beneficial for us. If losing two nights ago has done anything, it’s given our squad breathing space and the chance to fully focus on becoming Champions.

Wenger, this is the best chance you’ll have. Next year Chelsea, City, United, Spurs and Liverpool will spend big. You won’t…and it’ll be tougher than ever. Win it this year, you’ll bind the squad together for another year.

In my opinion, our winning streak has to start Saturday.

Grover’s, the time for mopping is over, pick yourselves up, put that mug of Jack down and start getting excited for Saturday!

See you in the comments.

P.S. You’d have got the injury news yesterday if you’d followed out twitter @LeGrove . Get on it!

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Posted by Pedro

Barcelona spank us | Wenger responsible for early exit | Cesc shame…

March 9, 2011

After watching last night I’m not sure whether to be hugely embarrassed, disappointed, deflated, angry, proud in parts or totally robbed?

I guess the first thing that we have to hold our hands up to is the fact that Barcelona aren’t just good, they’re amazing. There is simply no other team out there that can play football at that intensity, with that skill and verve for that long with an end result.

Watching Barcelona is a tiring experience. There movement and deft passing is so quick, sometimes your eyes can’t keep up. Arsenal probably feel how Michelangelo felt when he was introduced to the spotty nerd on an Apple Mac churning out similar work in minutes rather than years.

For me though, there are a number of absolute sickeners that leave me with a nasty, did you garnish my burger with battery acid, taste in my mouth.

The first massive slice of bad luck came in the opening ten minutes. Chezzer saved a Dani Alves freekick, he dropped down to smother the ball and pulled up. We all hoped he’d stubbed his finger, but he signalled to the bench that he needed to come off. Apparently he may have ruptured a tendon in his hand. Fantastic, if true, he’s out for the season.

Almunia kitted up to 90% horror amongst the faithful. However, it must be noted that he was incredibly impressive in the first half.

Arsenal were not thought. We managed averagely 30 percent possession and I believe the official Opta stats have us down for making two touches in the opposition half. You can be excused for not dominating Barcelona, however, you cannot be excused for rudimentary mistakes like poor control and shocking passes. Pretty much the only way we could get the ball out of their half was to hoof it.

Still, we were keeping a clean sheet. Our full backs were having a bit of a nightmare, but the centre backs were mopping up very well against all the odds.

Jack Wilshere was keeping the fire going in the middle of the park with some driving runs and more heart and passion than should be legal for one so young. Robin Van Persie was putting himself about a bit. At times, especially when I saw the 30% possession stat go up, I felt like a Stoke fan. When we started with the indicipline, in the back of my mind, I thought the only way we’d be able to control this game was with violence.

Robin Van Persie summed this up when he ran for the ball and smacked Alves in the face. At the time I thought it was funny… how I’d later rue that joke of a booking.

Cesc Fabregas was having an appalling game. I read on twitter that he’d admitted to Spanish press he was injured as early as the 15th minute. I have my doubts about that, though at least that would give and excuse for his totally pedestrian performance. Where was our Captain when we needed him? Where was his leadership? At times he seemed like the good player on the school team who’d been ask to play with the special kids.

The fact that we’d managed to scramble our way into the 47th minute of the first half relatively unscathed was a miracle, the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach when Cesc had the arrogance to attempt a back heel 1-2 with Jack  Wilshere on the edge of the box was awful. You knew what was coming. Iniesta picked up the loose ball, slipped in Messi who chipped over Almunia and volleyed home.

I was gob smacked. You know, the same gob smacked I was when Cesc handled the ball against Spurs earlier in the season.

Still, the simple fact was, one goal and we were right back in it. That’s all I had in my mind at half time.

We came out for the second half, we managed to land ourselves a corner early on. Nasri slipped it into a dangerous area, Diaby did his classic run, jump, miss routine… luckily for him 3 Barca players were fooled by his slick move and Busquets dropped the ball into his own net.

We were back in this. Barcelona now needed two for the victory, one for the draw. This gave me a degree of comfort.

The next bad piece of luck was when Robin was played into the box, he was ruled offside, he hit his shot anyway in one movement, the referee deemed this dissent and gave him a second yellow card.

Off he went. A ridiculous decision. However, not one that went against the grain. This referee was totally under qualified to referee a game of such importance. I know I have been calling for foreign referees in the Premiership, but I’m talking about the best from the best leagues. Last nights game should have been officiated by a top Italian official. Someone used to world class players. How can anyone from Switzerland be qualified to manage that game? It’s an absolute disgrace and another pathetic attempt at equality from people who know nothing about the game.

It ruined the tie…

Arsenal now had to face the Barcelona onslaught with 10 men.

Almuina continued his heroics between the sticks making a number of incredible saves. However, it was only so long before the home side found a way through. Iniesta picking out Xavi who found the back of the net.

Still, it wasn’t over, they needed another to secure the win.

That didn’t take long. Pedro, a player who I can only describe as looking like a dodgy pool cleaner, broke into the  box, Kozzer threw out a leg, the Spaniard went down, Messi buried the penalty.

Still, all we needed was 1 more goal to secure the win.

This team didn’t have it in them though. Their legs were shot to pieces, as was their confidence. There was so little desire to get forward in the end, you wondered if the boys knew they only needed one goal to qualify? Arshavin and Bendtner came on. With Andrey it felt like too little too late, with Nik Bendtner, it felt like trying to win the Afghan Conflict by introducing the bow and arrow. Jack Wilshere made a super run, he slipped a perfect ball into Bendtner who controlled the ball with his wrong foot and lost out to Mascharano and Valdes.

That one moment summed up our striking outside of Robin Van Persie.

The referee blew up, Arsenal looked down the barrel off yet another Champions League failure and anyone who dared to look will have noticed we now have to head to Old Trafford with no keeper, possibly an injured captain and possibly and injured striker.

Is this a late Ground Hog day, or do these boys really have mental strength?

Which way is our season heading after that schooling because we have no time to feel sorry for ourselves and I really don’t think resting a whole team for the FA Cup is the way forward. If there is to be no Champions League, we need to make sure there is a cup double rescuing our season. Losing to our title rivals simply is not an option and I’ll be disgusted if that is a route we take 3 games away from a trophy.

The simple fact is, we can pin last night squarely at the feet of Arsene Wenger. Shaktar Donestk are sitting pretty in the quarter finals right now after defeating a poor Roma side. We won the first three games of our Champions League group then decided that we were good enough to field weakened teams for the Braga and Donestk game. We brought our early exit on ourselves, we knew the consequences of finishing second and as a result, our European dream is over again.

Still, I won’t leave you on a negative. I thought it only fair to say that the two outstanding players of last night were Jack Wilshere and Almunia. Big Al came on in one of the hardest games in football and performed heroics time and time again. He must have made at least 10 world class stops last night and for a keeper who has very little confidence at the moment I thought that was impressive.

Jack Wilshere is everything you dream of in a player, he has a great touch, great vision and he fights like a pit bull terrier on the pitch. Based on last nights performance, he is the only player who has the work ethic to play for the opposition. That was a magnificent performance from him in poor circumstances.

We’ve got a gem on our hands there, if we’re going to pull ourselves out of this hole now, we’ll need the rest of the squad to show the same spirit he does week in, week out.

See you in the comments.

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Posted by Pedro

Centre backs are out, Robin the Prince in with a shout… it’s ours for the taking!

March 8, 2011

The good news is that Barca have no Pique and no Puyol, big result for a striker that needs to prove himself, Nikki B. I also heard a rumour that Victor Valdes may also be missing, hmmm, that means in theory they have lost 60% of their defence.

For me our recent results have been poor, yes we are second in the league but we are being caught by the chasing pack, drawing with Sunderland was probably because some of the team were thinking about todays game, me I’ve never been a big fan of the Champions league, it’s like a cup, a lottery, it depends who turns up on the day, ask the team that played Birmingham.

It’s being called Champions every week on football focus that does it for me and the way I see it, that’s the best chance we have this season. The English Premier League.

If we win tonight fantastic, if we don’t I won’t lose sleep like I did after the Birmingham game, that hurt, it still does.

That’s it, that’s how I feel, however we have a big, big game on tonight so I will move on.

Can we win this? Yes, Will it be tight? Yes you bet, how will we win then? Well they are at home, the pressure will be on them and they will come out to play, that my friends is an Arsenal fantasy, forget we are playing an under strength Barca, pretend we are playing a team at the bottom of the EPL, like a Birmingham or a West Brom, just kidding!

We need to play them just like we did at the Grove with the exception of the respect bit, don’t allow them the time to pass it around, that gives them confidence and gets the crowd going, keep the ball and weave our own pretty patterns, if we have no Denilson and no Song we take out the players that give the ball away, yes I know we’ll have Diaby but if we play him further forward and ask him to make a 6 yard pass and on occasion a shot, then we could just do it, remember if they don’t get the ball, they can’t hurt us.

So who will play? This is my guess.

Chezzer

Sagna Koscielny Djourou Clichy

Wilshere Cesc Diaby

Nasri Bendtner Arshavin

Using Robin and Chamakh as impact subs. As you can see now, we don’t really have bench players that can change the game anymore, we have either too many players out on loan or we don’t have enough top players, you choose. This time however we have the world’s best striker, Robin Van Persie waiting!

How he came back from a minimum of 3 weeks off to this is beyond me, I’ll take it though, if only we got Vermaelen back for the run in.

The loss of Song for me is a good thing, he was hopeless against Orient at Brisbane Road, hopeless against Birmingham and a liability against Barca, he was so close to being sent off, why? Well because he’s okay against the average team but when he comes up against pace and tenacity, he goes missing. It’s not his fault, it’s just the way it is, so we have to deal with it.

Big game for Diaby, I have always rated him but he doesn’t do it enough, that’s maybe because he doesn’t play enough, who’s fault is that then Diaby? I hope he has an immense game tonight because against teams like Barca, you can have no passengers, everyone needs to be on fire or it will let the whole team down, Arsene don’t even put Denilson on the team bus.

Cesc made it clear he is only in Barca for the Arsenal and told the press to stop twisting his words, good on you skip, now in your first competitive game at the Camp Nou, yes the stadium with the dodgy name, it’s time to make your mark and show them just how good you are.

Jack, show Guardiola that you are better than his second team players and score a goal, and Arsene, strange that even Guardiola believes that whatever the result, you still have time and he doesn’t. So show him tonight, time is up!

So a  lot of people need to prove a point, time for us to show we are ready to win the Champions league and time to beat the mighty Barca in their own back yard.

Yes I know there’s a lot of time’s in there, but Pep Guardiola started it!

So no chest thumping post tonight, I’m all chest thumped out after the last one, time for you guys to show us you are good enough.

Good luck Arsenal, this is the perfect time to let the world know you are real men with top players and kids no longer.

Have a great day Grovers, it doesn’t get better than this, Barca at the Camp Nou in the Champions league, I can’t wait!

P.S. Don’t forget to follow us on twitter @LeGrove!

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Posted by Geoff

Major injury doubts | Season ticket price increase on the way? | United clanger!

March 7, 2011

So there was something more impressive than me writing a post from my blackberry this weekend. Yep, Liverpool announced themselves back on the scene with a terrific 3-1 win over Manchester United. Who’d have thunk it? Dirk Kuyt with a storming hattrick. Luis Suarez showing what happens when you buy top talent right now. King Kenny becoming a King again!

We’ve come out of the weekend having gained a point on United which is a huge relief. This season doesn’t stop giving does it?

1 Man Utd 29 33 60
2 Arsenal 28 30 57
3 Man City 29 20 53
4 Chelsea 27 25 48
5 Tottenham 28 7 48

The table is looking tighter than a pair of Jamie Redknapp trousers. Win our game in hand and we are joint top. You know what that means don’t you? Yes, it’s ours to lose.

If we win the rest of our games, we’ll win the league. That’s the best position we’ve been in for an absolute age. You know what’s better? If you’re English, our next 9 games are all on the telebox, so you’ll either get to watch the greatest run in of this decade or you’ll be able to watch the nastiest car crash since Peaches Geldof was given her own TV show.

Tomorrow night is the night we’ve all been fearing the most. It now holds special relevance to our season because it seems we’re incapable of bouncing back from set backs. We take our slightly depleted squad over to one of the scariest stadiums in the world to face the most scary attacking force in world football.

Barcelona rested most of their key players at the weekend against Zaragoza. They won 1-0 after a late winner from Ketia. Busquests, Villa and Abidal will all play and there might be an appearance from Puyol. He’ll be an important player for them as Pique is suspended.

The odds are horribly stacked against us especially considering we don’t have a fully fit Alex Song. The thought of Denilson getting yet another game against Barcelona fills me full of dread. I don’t understand why Arsene doesn’t adapt the team around our best players instead of constantly throwing in a player who NEVER performs. He’s far too slow to take on Barcelona and he’s far too negative.

I’d go with this team…

Chezzer

Sagna Kozzer JD Clichy

Cesc Jack Diaby

Nasri Chamakh Arshavin

I really see no advantage to playing Denilson. He’s a poor player and Barcelona will absolutely exploit his inclusion. Having Cesc there will be worth its weight in gold. Judging from Wenger’s comments, Nik B is facing the axe in favour of Chamakh with his improved fitness and hopefully work rate. The pitch is monstrous, we’ll have to be at our very best for the whole game if we’re going to pull anything off.

Like I mentioned earlier in the post, this isn’t just about proceeding to the next round, this is about getting some confidence back into the side. If we win this, I’ll be extremely confident we can win the league. Lose this and I’m not sure how it’ll go. It’ll be the 3rd disappointment in a row and an away game at Old Trafford in the cup next will look absolutely terrifying.

This could be a very bad week or extremely good one. I’m not making predictions…

In other news…

Club level season ticket renewals are set to fly out the Arsenal mailing room within the next two weeks. We’ve seen the effect of recession and high inflation on the crowds so far this year. It’s simply not an option for many people to travel to every game. I know there are many internet super fans who claim that they’d give their right arm for a ticket, however, I can confirm that the reality is, those people are never interested when I have season tickets to loan for the year. It’s all talk, if you read someone saying something like that online, tell them to speak to me and I’ll put them in touch with plenty of people who want to loan out tickets.

New flash. They won’t get in touch.

Football in its current state is a massive investment. If you’re club level, you’re looking at a minimum £2,500 outlay. That’s not where it ends though. Throw in that you’re probably averagly spending another £50 a game on travel, food and drink and suddenly, you’re looking at a further £1500 on top of that.

Arsenal have gone incredibly quiet on this front. They’re complaining that the wage bill has risen a further £10million this year and that’s before Nasri has signed up. There is also the additional 2.5% tax that has gone on a ticket. So basically, the club are refusing to rule out an increase in ticket price. Like I said a few weeks ago, the most obvious way of recouping extra revenue is to stick it to the home fans.

I for one would be disgusted if that happened. We’ve sat around bragging about how much debt we’ve paid off over the past few years whilst charging extortionate prices for everything Arsenal. The club never pays out a dividend to share holders but rest assured, everyone on that board is handsomely rewarded as are all the people who work at the club. I find it quite disgusting that players like Diaby are paid well above their grade, not delivering and the cost of these wages are going onto the fans…

I can’t predict what the increase is going to be or if there is going to be one at all. All I’m saying is that if there is one, it’ll be a f*cking liberty. Perhaps the club should take a chunk of the unspent transfer revenues of the past two windows and donate that to keeping the cost of our tickets down?

Anyway, keep your eyes peeled, whatever the club level increase is (if there is one), you can bet your bottom dollar standard tickets won’t be too far behind…

The AST have already urged the club not to do the obvious, you should too, let your thoughts be known through the Arsenal Website and tell them that you think ideas like this are detrimental to the already empty bank accounts of the battered Arsenal fans.

What do you think about the price increase? Inevitable? Not going to happen?

Let us know in the comments…

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Posted by Pedro

Arsenal blow it again. Forget the excuses. This was predictable.

March 6, 2011

This really will be a short post, hotel broadband systems are expert at letting you pay, not so expert at delivering when you need.

A little like Arsenal really.

We can sit here and lambast the referee for disallowing an offside goal and not giving us a bang on penalty, but that would be ignoring the overriding issue that once again, we came out with a flat, meek performance in a game we should have been hungry to win.

I was lambasted on Friday by most for pointing out that now was the time to do the talking on the pitch. I said the second string simply weren’t the best and that now the injuries were racking up, Wenger should be bold and make changes that were positive…not typically negative with a familiar outcome.

He didn’t.

He put Diaby and Denilson in the midfield and we were flatter than Ashley Cole’s book sales.

Nik Bendtner didn’t deliver in the middle. Chamakh hit the bar from 4 yards out and we were left to rue a lack of quality and winning mentality… It wasn’t a surprise though, was it?

Our reserves are a million miles away from Cesc, Theo, Robin and Vermaelen. When those boys aren’t there, there is no personality or drive to kick us on. It was said earlier in the year that the difference between first and second choice is attitude. I agree….

We can all sit here today and bemoan our bad luck, but that’s what we always do.

Arsenal fans are professional victims after results like these, we refuse to blame the obvious and we hide behind whatever we can to mask the obvious.

In football, you make your own luck through hard work. If we can’t show title winning urgency in March, we don’t deserve the league. United won’t keep giving us chances, so keep everything crossed they do today…

Yesterday was a familiar game, I pointed out it might happen on Friday, it did, now I fear the impact Barca might have on the next few weeks. It’s hard to be positive when you know our history.

Flaws in the squad can’t constantly be masked by the failure of those above us.

If we lose the league this year, the same old excuses can’t be accepted…this is ours for the taking, we can’t screw this up again.

Come on Arsene, shake some life into these boys, stop the excuses and get our season back on track.

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Posted by Pedro

Sunderland are owed some Arsenal payback + Hazard deal update

March 5, 2011

So, today the Blackcats come to town. We owe them a spanking after a few naughty results we’ve had against them over the past few seasons. This years result was one of the most painful I can remember. We missed a penalty and the referee allowed the game to roll on until the 96th minute when they scored.

Sunderland are one of the new breed of teams you always imagine to be a walkover, when in actual fact, they’re not. They are an established Premier League side now that we’re going to have to be on our toes against.

They have a manager who knows how to spot a good player, he’s close with Arsene Wenger and he’s rumoured to have an unhealthy relationship with most food types. The podger who used to play for United has a few players we need to be wary off, none more so than Gyan, the man from Ghana who reminds me a little of Nic Anelka. He’s fast, he’s innovative and he can finish. The defence has to have their wits about them tomorrow if they’re going to keep him quiet.

As for our team, well, we’ll probably be looking at a side with Denilson starting in the holding role. I’d guess Diaby and Wilshere will accompany him. At the back it should be the standard back 5 with Koscielny working his way back into the side after a brief hamstring / shame scare. Hopefully the Carling Cup hangover has received enough berroca and fried breakfast to be laid to rest…

Up top, I’m hoping Arshavin, Bendtner and Chamakh will play. I’d imagine Rosicky will probably start ahead of Chamakh, which is a shame. I reckon Chamakh would do quite well out wide. I watched him play there for Bordeaux in the Champions League last year and he caused all sorts of bother!

Another option that’ll be sitting on the bench tomorrow is Aaron Ramsey. Now, I know it’s been a while since I’ve salivated about the boy (A Glitter-esque turn of phrase), but my contacts at Arsenal have told me on numerous occasions he is going to be dynamite. His stats are some of the most impressive at Arsenal when it comes to work rate, tackles, shots and passes. He’s going to be an immense star, some even saying he’ll surpass Jack long-term. Now, I know we wont get that type of performance straight away, but what an exciting player to be welcoming back.

Remember, before he was injured he had 19 appearances, 42 shots and 4 assists. That’s about on par with what Chamakh has achieved this season so far and most are pleased with his contribution and he’s a 26 year old striker!

I think we’ll  turn them over but I think that could be dependent  on keeping a clean sheet. We need a big game from Chezzer. It’s easy to be a good keeper when things are going well. How you recover from a massive mistake is what defines you as a great keeper. Do I think he has greatness in him? Absolutely…

Arsenal need to make sure they don’t go into this game feeling sorry for themselves. Beating Orient 5-0 wouldn’t have registered with their confidence regardless of what Wenger says. You only had to see their demeanour to understand that Orient was embarrassing for most of them. Tiger Woods wouldn’t take confidence from beating a 15 handicapper after losing the Open to a poor player, why should the players take pride from beating a pub team?

Top class pros take confidence from beating good teams at their level.

At least Connor Henderson and the Karate kid enjoyed themselves, bless their cottons…

This is the real test of character and resolve.

If we can take 3 points off these lot, it really does take the pressure off against Barcelona game.

3 points today puts all the pressure onto United. They’ll be flat after losing a 1 goal lead against Chelsea and there is no doubt in my mind that Liverpool will want to restore some pride this season and they’ll be taking full advantage of a weak backline.

Andy Carroll is going to have announce himself to Liverpool faithful some how… for me, this result is far from certain for a creaking United side.

Anyway, today is a day for rejoicing and making our way back up the league.

Some other stuff.

Eden Hazard has extended his contract with Lille until 2015. Great news for them, sad news for us. That’ll mean they can demand more than £23.86 for his services which pretty much rules us out of the running.

I’d like to think we’d sign him, but all this talk of Spain and Italy has made me think he might not join. Mind you, I remember Samir giving it the big one about playing elsewhere before coming to us!

Wenger reckons there’s no problem with behaviour of footballers. I’m inclined to believe that. Considering the limited amount of intelligence they have, the money they earn and the free time they have each week… they do really well in the grand scheme!

‘I believe if you take 500 young bankers, 500 young journalists between 20 to 30 you will find as much, if not much more.’

It’s probably true. I don’t follow footballers tweets because they’re so boring. Jack Wilshere and Henri Lansbury are about as lively as my grandmas salsa class. Even that hooker Wayne Rooney was busted with said he was boring… and he’s the last bastion of hope for badboy footballers!

Still, it’s good for the kids. Yep, nothing like a boring role model to get you through those boring school days.

On that note, may I just say that Tony Adams and Paul Merson were my role models as a youth. My old man got me a poster signed by Merse after we won the cup double of 93′. I can confirm that I’m not an alcoholic, I’ve never gambled and I’ve only sh*t myself in a bar once.

Not bad going…

One final thought. We’re all getting excited about one day renaming the stadium and getting a good deal. Well, I was told that the reason United haven’t renamed their stadium is because it would have no value to a brand. You’d never call Old Trafford the Coca Cola arena. So… unless the Emirates want to double their sponsorship, we’ll have little or no chance of making a mega money deal on our stadium.

Anyway, enjoy your day and remember, if someone starts screaming and shouting at your in a dishevelled dialect you’re struggling to decipher, that’s not a fugitive mad man, or Charlie Sheen, that’s a Sunderland fan asking you where the nearest off licence is to buy a can of Super T.

Head down… walk on… avoid engaging in any sort of conversation.

Have a great day!

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Posted by Pedro

This Arsenal side has no spine

March 4, 2011

Each pound you donate, can sustain a Robin Van Persie for 0.2 seconds.

Injury List so far :-

Koscielny
Song
Robin
Cesc
Theo
Vermaelen

So the chickens appear to be coming home to roost… we’re in March and important players are dropping off the team sheet like nobodies business.

The spine of our team is disappearing faster than Charlie Sheen’s sanity.

Shockingly, Thomas Vermaelen is under no pressure to return from injury. Wenger is already playing the, ‘it’ll take him a while to become competitive’ card. Funny how the coach never highlights that when the transfer window is open?

I wouldn’t have minded that if the Wenger had had the decency to admit that Vermaelen was extremely unlikely to make an appearance this season when he pretty much knew the deal in January. Now we’re in a situation where Koscielny is hamstrung and we’re only ever one bad tackle away from Squillaci at centre back for all the major crunch ties we have coming up.

That for me is Wenger all over. He never gives the squad the tools it needs to succeed. He’d rather take a risk on 100% full fitness of his key players all season. Which using the methods of training he does is an impossibility.

The next major concern is Alex Song. He picked up a knee injury in the Carling Cup final and Wenger reckons he is out for Sunderland… major concern… and he reckons he is doubtful for Barcelona away. That is more than a huge concern, it’s an absolute disaster.

Imagine that, Denilson, the slowest player since Eric Cantona made a testimonial appearance aged 42, trying to boss the zippiest team in Europe in their own back yard. That is an embarrassing prospect and again, a prospect we all knew could become a reality when we were mulling over our options in the January transfer window.

Wenger also seems reluctant to give Cesc’s appearance in the Champions League game his full backing. So as you can see, the spine of our team is disintegrating with each game which greatly lowers our prospect of winning a trophy.

So what are the solutions?

Well, I guess it’s about Wenger being bold or returning to type and sticking in the players he knows are hopeless.

Losing Robin Van Persie is once again a prime example of why we need to buy a world class striker this summer. It is absolutely no good having a player of his calibre for 15 games a season, regardless of his goals to minute ratio. He is a crock, he’ll always be a crock and as long as he’s our main man up front we’re always going to struggle in the quest for trophies. We need a decent back up who is capable of top class football for at least 45 games a season.

Now, Nik Bendtner could come in and do us all proud. He reckons he is fit, he’s just banged in a hattrick and last season he popped up with 9 goals in 11 when we were struggling for options in the league. I’m really interested to see if he can turn in a similar goal tally this time around because we’ve got some top class teams coming up. Firstly, we’ll need him to bully Sunderland, then we’ll need him to be clinical against Barca, then we’ve got the big one at United away.

Notice I’m not including Chamakh in this equation? His head isn’t straight and I’ve gone off him since he complained he was tired. Save those comments for your team mates, not a Sky Sports News presenter.

Quotes like his encourage people to want English players in the squad. Has anyone heard the 18-year-old Jack Wilshere complain about tiredness this season?

Midfield really is going to be a tough decision. He could opt for Denilson to take over from Song, or he could be brave and ask Jack Wilshere to play the more defensive role, he could ask Diaby to play the second midfielder and he could slip Nasri into the main creative role. That would leave a front three of Arshavin, Bendtner and Chamakh / Rosicky.

If we can get through the next two games, I’m pretty sure Rambo will be back. However, I’m reticent to see him thrown in at the deepend as the saviour of Arsenal because regardless of how fit he is, he’ll not be ready to boss a midfield against United or Barcelona.

Yeah, it’s a bold selection, but for me, I’d rather take a punt on an unknown, than take a punt on a player or a line up we know we’re just feeding to the Wolves.

Wenger has done reasonably well with injuries so far this season. The only time he’s had to field a second string is when certain players kick off in the dressing room (Wigan). His hand hasn’t really been forced this year. Now we’re approaching crunch time, these players he’s been champing as his best squad ever are going to have to step up and prove Wenger right because if they don’t and we end up potless, the coach is going to look a very silly man…. again.

This Premier League title is ours for the taking, it’s in our hands and I think it’s time for the players to stop mouthing off in the media about how they are men and start to deliver the results on the pitch.

The fans are bored of the false dawns, bored of the future and bored of having a squad that isn’t equipped.

Time to prove us wrong Wenger, make sure there aren’t any slip ups tomorrow.

Keep em’ crossed Grovers…

P.S. I’ve written something about Foreign referees for the Football Rascal, take a read and like the Facebook Page if you could! Also, a big well done to Joppa from the Joppa Road blog for getting the 800,000th comment, you get a backlink to your site here… read on guys!

Also, I have two spares going for tomorrow, £70 each, club level.

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Posted by Pedro

Easy peasy lemon squeezy Arsenal, next up the Mancs.

March 3, 2011

So we had Ignasi Miquel again and we had newcomer Henderson on the left wing, not sure why as he’s a midfielder, but there you have it, the interesting way we pick a team.

I like Miquel and think he’ll make it, he looks like a proper centre back.

We scored early on when Rosicky went on a run down the left, accidently passed it through the legs of the Orient defender and Chamakh slid it in the left corner.

A goal is a goal and hopefully Chamakh can now push on.

The second came shortly after, Gibbs crossed and Bendtner headed high and it looped into the back of the net, great finish as the cross was more of a lob and he got a lot on it.

The third just before half time was a mistake seized upon by Bendtner and he turned inside and hit one, it bounced twice as it bent into the far right hand corner.

He celebrated like he’d scored two against a first division side at home as a third choice striker who’s leaving at the first opportunity, need I say more, one of the few players that can score a goal and not look like he cares a shite.

Why on earth Manuel Almunia is captain when Rosicky was on Sunday is a mystery, but Eboue and Denilson are truly crap, at least Almunia plucked a corner out of the air like we always hoped he would, better late than never Manuel!

Diaby made some good runs and it’s nice to see him before he has a thigh strain and goes missing for a few weeks, bless, he does look tired.

There were massive gaps all over the ground, it was good of the announcer tell the crowd there are 60,180 of them watching.

The second half began the same as the first, on top, Denilson showed his two sides early on, the first his shite side, the gormless no idea what to do side, then he had a shot, the other side, he can hit the ball and I don’t know why he doesn’t do that more often, oh it was easily saved by the way.

Soon after Diaby goes round three players and misses an open goal, ho hum!

Gibbs went around 2 players and landed a penalty as Nasri comes on for Rosicky, you never saw a player hit it so quick! He thought Nasri was going to have it! Well done Nikki B, first Arsenal hatrick since Ian Wright against Yeovil in 1993, 18 years ago, wow, the year we won the FA Cup! Omen??? Still at least it made the big Dane smile.

He sure as hell wasn’t when Chamakh scored the first! So Wilshere and Clichy on for Diaby and Bendtner, Diaby though made 69 passes that all found an Arsenal player.

Why does this ill educated bell end of a commentator keep calling Miquel Miguel?

Still can’t work out why he took Bendtner off and left Chamakh on, after all Bendtner got the hatrick didn’t he?

Well the 5th goal was scored by Gael Clichy, a rocket from 20 yards, was that his first goal? No, I’m just reminded his first was in 2008 against Stoke City.

We won and I’m delighted, but we ought to have won, it was Leyton Orient, had I had the choice I would have taken the Carling Cup on Sunday, as I said it was great, a big win and we are through, but winning tonight doesn’t feel as good as Sunday felt bad, and still does.

I don’t think they has a single shot in 90 minutes. Sorry, 90 minutes 40 seconds Almunia had his first shot and tipped it around the post.

Have a great day Grovers, next up in the cup, the Mancs away, easy peasy lemon squeezy!

P.S. Comment 519 will be our 800,000th comment! Thanks for your continued support!

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Posted by Geoff

Mancs open the door but will injuries to Arsenal prevent us walking through it?

March 2, 2011

The news that Robin Van Persie is injured again should come as no surprise, although he is super talented and fab to watch, he is a crock, probably up there with the most crocked in world football. No the surprise here is we have no one to step up and fill his boots, the early season promise of our free player Chamakh has gone down the toilet and Nikki B continues to be ordinary, Theo has stepped up but he is almost as much of a crock as Robin.

So that leaves only Nasri, I love that guy but I’m still not sure what his best position is, he’s not really a striker and like Arshavin although he scores goals, he’s not a leader of the line in the mould of Henry, Ade or Robin.

So big cup game tonight that Barry Hearn has revised his predicted score down from 27 nil to 11 nil, thanks Barry, but I would be happy with a win, at least 5, but a win. Even with our second string we should clean up, this will be the team I think provided they are all uninjured and available.

Almunia

Eboue Squillaci JD Gibbs

Diaby Wilshere Ramsey (not Denilson)

Bendtner Chamakh Arshavin

I didn’t say I liked it, I just figure that will be the team. If we can’t beat this lot, we may as well pack it in, 18-1 are this morning odds.

Anyway if we play the Mancs like we did Birmingham I would sooner go out tonight, it will be one less game and our tired athletes will get a rest.

I did watch the chavs last night and thought it was hilarious when all the cameras could do was pick out Luiz and his body check on Rooney, the fat ugly dirtbag cheat. They completely left out the dirty challenges he made, conveniently ignored the karma involved and forgot to mention the fact he was rolling around clutching his ugly mug when it was his body that was clippped.

The only thing that was funnier was watching red nose jumping up and down like Homer Simpson outside of the Springfield fair wanting his free beer. And when he said bad referreeing decisions change games, no one pointed out the irony of his stupid comment! Ha, ha, and then Luiz not getting carded made the night complete, well that and the non exsistent penalty awarded.

Someone on Sky news when talking about the Cole shooting incident said what would the headline and the reaction from Ancelotti be if the kid had shot Cole with an air rifle? Good point . Would Ancelotti be saying ‘it was just a mistake and only god doesn’t make mistakes’

He obviously forgot about our manager then!

So if we win our game in hand we go one point behind and if they draw at Anfield we could go top against West Brom away on the 19th, sweet.

Have we the squad to do it though? There is little point in banging on about signings we didn’t make, we always get injuries and we never learn so best leave that alone, we do have the players though so maybe we should bring back the loanees.

This is what the team could look like tonight if he did.

Chezzer

Eboue JD Miquel Gibbs

Lansbury Ramsey Diaby

JET Bendtner or Chamakh Arshavin

Thing is we can, they are our players, I would sooner see that line up than whatever we put out tonight. Then again I’m not the manager and I expect Denilson to figure along with Eboue and Song, you know, the Marmites.

We play barca next week without Robin and Theo, the two main tormenters in the first leg, but we do have Nasri back and maybe putting in a Bendtner or a Chamakh would allow us to sling in some crosses as they won’t have Pique or Krusty.

Why it takes 3 weeks to recover from a sprained ankle is beyond me, and what ever happened to Vermaelen and he’ll be back in 3 weeks, what was that 7 weeks ago I think.

In some ways I wouldn’t be fussed if we crashed out, Wenger now has the excuses, injuries, at least that way we can concentrate on the EPL whilst watching the spuds progress. (kidding)

Whatever happens I think we should bring back those players, what’s the point in having them if we can’t use them when we need them? Loan out Denilson if you want to, we don’t need him do we!

Enjoy the game tonight Grovers, no rallying cry from me, it was a waste of space on Sunday, and to think I wrote that on a plane and didn’t finish it until 2.30am on the day of the match.

I expect a resounding win tonight, but I won’t be going, I’ve done enough travelling this week. Anyway, they’ll be the usual 60,000 there, you’ll see and if your eyes don’t believe it, the stadium announcer will make your ears take note.

Enjoy the game Grovers and expect a resounding win.

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Posted by Geoff

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