Le Grove – Arsenal blog featuring Arsenal news

Goooood morning Grovers! I went to the AST Christmas party last night, so my body is in regretful mood. The event was hosted in the WM club. I remember going to the opening of that and powering through the complimentary booze with Geoff. Thems were the days…

Last night the booze wasn’t complimentary, but access to the commercial team was. Ivan Gazidis, Mark Gonnella and Charles Allen mingled with the fans, answered questions and showed off their break dancing moves.

There was also the football. Gael Clichy was feeling festive and gifted us another year of holding onto that unbeaten record. His two bookings contributed to City’s first defeat of the season. Have that money and wealth… The team with integrity and honesty showed the way.

Good news is they’re without a first choice left back for Sunday as well. We also have that issue. Wenger’s worst decision of the season so far was to take our only fit left back to Greece and play him in a meaningless match. The Brazilian might not be an incredible defender but what he’s brought to the team offensively should not be underestimated. A massive loss.

Back to the party. I spoke to Charles Allen for a large chunk of the evening. He said the Emirates Cup wasn’t taking place next summer so it was true that we’re looking to go to Lagos for our next tour. A great move and a real tipped hat to the superb and totally crazy support the club have in Africa.

We also spoke about the statues. There are more coming. The first three were chosen for universal appeal, but others will follow. I have a feeling Dennis is next. That’s a bit like having a hunch Robin will play on Sunday, but it will be interesting to know who else they have up their sleeve.

We had a chat about success measurements. One of them for Charles was stadium fill. Real stadium fill. They want it full every game and they’re aware of the gaping holes around the ground. Arsenal are working on ticketing solutions that will make it easier for fans to sell their seats back to the club and they’re working on improving reporting systems to communicate fill. Ultimately, the dream would be for fans who are not going to opt out online and that ticket find its way back into the system, even if it’s heavily discounted. I think tech has to catch up first, but it can’t be far off.

I was introduced to Ivan, we shot the breeze about my trip to the Playboy Club, he asked who my favourite waitress was… Just kidding, he opened with, ‘You hate me’… Come on… That’s not true. I don’t hate anyone, bar the people who pull the emergency ripcord on the tube in the morning because they have a headache (3 days in a row on the central line, give it a rest people).

I didn’t really get much from the CEO, he’s a slick operator on and off the record. He spoke about how they were trying to open up the club to the fans and do more Gooner type things over the next few years. I asked whether he was going to spend some money in Jan and said I had some great Youtube videos to share if he needed ideas. He said they had some plans but it was hard to do business in January. Ok… I’ll take that as a positive. He definitely gave me the, ‘trust me Pedro, I love spending cash’ look.

That said, rumour has it Gotze is crocked again. Hello Diaby MKII! He’s torn something and could be out for the season. Jan Vertoghen is also sparking interest again, he’s one of the players we need to buy so I don’t have to keep writing his name. We need a left back, he can play there. Let’s snap him up before someone else in England does!

The evening was great success and a huge credit to the club. Not many other clubs in the elite of world football would give their fans uncensored access to the people running the show. It’s a real sign of class and a testament to them understanding that transparency is the only way to function when you have the privilege of running such a great institution. They do care about what the fans think and they do monitor what people say online, so keep it up people, your voices do matter.

The evening spilled out into the Metro, I had the chance to meet some new faces and some old. Regardless of people’s opinions on the club, it’s nice that when everyone is sitting round a table having a beer, all that matters is Arsenal and what’s best for the club. If you haven’t joined the AST, you should seriously consider it. The value I’ve had out of that membership this year has been amazing… and at the very least, it’s a great excuse for a Monday night booze up!

Follow @LeGrove

Right, that’s me done! See you in the comments…

Stoke and Chris Foy were in the festive mood yesterday, both combined to rob our North London neighbours of three points in hilarious, controversial and unfair circumstances. What a great late gift! I happened to watch the game, hoping for a minor Christmas miracle and boy did we get one. Spurs gave Stoke two first half goals that both started from those nasty throw ins plus one which was helped along by a Petert Crouch handball.

In the second half, Spurs upped the tempo, they won a penalty, which Ade scored. From there on in, I thought there was no way Stoke would hold out, our North London neighbours were relentless. However, with a little bit of luck, an onside goal ruled offside, three nailed on Stoke handballs in the box, some fantastic Sorensen saves, a Kaboul sending off and god damn terrible refereeing, Stoke held out for a beautiful win!

Amazing. That still puts us 2 points away from them with Spurs having a game in hand, but we’re in touching distance of the top 4. We just have to keep playing the underdog, keep sneaking those wins and keep climbing the table. Regardless of the form we’re showing, top four would still be massive and it still looks like it’ll be really tough. My gut feeling this year is that Chelsea are going to have a struggle on their hands with Spurs and us for that final Champions League place. I might be totally wrong there, but they have big problems. Picking on Gary Neville for telling the truth shows just how much pressure Villa-Boas is under. Keep it up Neville, it makes a change to hear an actual opinion from a pundit.

I read in The Sunday Times that Manchester United are a team on the decline and the writer intimated that Wayne Roooney was right to question the clubs ambition last season. Unbelievable! It basically stated the in the mess they’re in (I know, United in a mess) because they don’t have the spending power of the clubs around them. Interesting how quick the knives sharpen, especially after the success they had last year and how over the topic lavish the praise for them was at the start of the year. ‘Team of a generation’ being replaced by ‘club that fails to attract top talent’ is very laughable.

Still, that’s not our concern. What we need to concentrate on is our match up against the blue half of City next Sunday. They’re not quite on a different planet at the moment. One man is, David Silva. They’re playing great football, but we saw Napoli teach them a lesson in the quick passing game twice. We’re in the right sort of form to play football against them, really, the game couldn’t have come at a better time. If we can stretch them up top and maintain a disciplined game at the back, we’ve got every chance of nicking some points there. My biggest concern is at right back. Mancini is a tactical master, he’ll know that JD isn’t very mobile and he’ll be keen to exploit that side of the pitch with pace and trickery. I’d imagine Adam Johnson will get the nod and I’d imagine they’ll focus plenty of energy in exploiting that side of the pitch.

Alex Song and Mikel Arteta will have a hugely important role to play. How do you contain David Silva? The player of no fixed abode. Well, if training with Cesc for 5 years doesn’t give you a bit of practice, then I’m not sure what will! Arteta is an experienced head and I’m sure he’ll be keen to boss a game against the leagues team of the moment. Ultimate concentration will be the theme of the day and making the correct decision about whether to maraud forward or sit will be the difference. You don’t want to fear City to the point of containing the teams game, but at the same time, City don’t need a second invite and they’ll kill you if you give them the chance.

It’s interesting in the assist chart that Songinho has popped up with 5 this season. That’s one less than Gervinho who was the assist machine we bought from Lille. People calling for Song to be promoted to chief creator are mad in my opinion. He’s a good defensive player. Having a good defensive midfielder who can help out with the creative side is a pretty powerful asset. When Jack comes back, we’ll have a potent midfield full of bite and aggression as well as pretty tasty attacking set up.

I have a good vibe about the game. I fear playing United more than I do City. Maybe that’s misplaced, I just don’t think the year can be that cut and shut for nouveau riche of Manchester.

In other news, Arsene Wenger has ruled out moves for Thierry Henry and Nic Anelka…

“As for Nicolas Anelka and Thierry Henry, I would say ‘No’.

“I am told Anelka has signed for a club in Shanghai and Henry goes to a training camp with New York Red Bulls on 15th January.

“We will lose players like Marouane Chamakh and Gervinho to the Africa Cup of Nations, but we have players like Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Andrey Arshavin and Ju Young Park to come in.’

I can see why he’d rule out Nic Anelka, the guy is a massive sulk and he’s hardly been putting in a shift at Chelsea, however, I can’t see why he wouldn’t take a punt on Henry? He still took us a part in preseason and he’s still ripping it up in training according to Keown and we know full well he’s a better player at 34 than Park or Chamakh will ever be. The Moroccan reckons he’ll weigh up his options at the end of the season. I do hope if the worst happens and Robin goes, that doesn’t persuade Wenger to hold in to him!

Madrid are causing us problems. According to the John Cross, Yann M’Villa is interesting them at £30million. They only have about 8 defensive midfielders, so obviously they need one interesting us. They’re also sniffing around Robin. Mourinho tried to sign the Dutchman when he was at Chelsea and he came back in for him when he was at Inter. Hopefully he won’t get him this time. If he does come in for him, I’d be very tempted to ask them for Higauin or Benezema in exchange. You can’t keep those three happy in the same squad.

The article was tempered by saying Robin might be tempted to stay if Wenger goes out and bolsters in the January and in the summer. Could the penny finally have dropped for Wenger?

1) If you don’t give top class players top class team mates they go.

2) Experienced players bring you an edge even the best kids can’t

3) Buying in top quality works

If Wenger has learnt and he goes out and brings in a top class striker, a defender and a creator like Gotze, we’re very close to having a seriously competitive mix of players. It’s a big if though… seeing is believing, not long to go before we’ll know!

It was interesting to read Wenger citing maturity for Robin’s ascendancy into world-class this season. I’d say it’s more down to staying fit, something he’s rarely managed during his sizable stay. Let’s hope he can continue his healthy run for the rest of the year!

That’s me done for Monday, have a ripping day and do let me know if you need my home address for Christmas donations.

Follow @LeGrove

P.S. It’s the AST Christmas do tonight, it’s in the WM Club, so I can afford a glass of tapwater and a bread roll before I m0ve on. I hope to see a few of you down there, I’ll report all the goss in the morning!

Errr sorry Arsenal, it was late and that's all they had...

Amid the fanfare and celebration a very important football game was being played yesterday. We were host to Everton which seemed to be forgotten after an hour an a half of legends wandering around the pitch. Having your birthday party before work probably isn’t the sharpist move!

We lined up as expected. Thomas Vermaelen slipped into left back and we lined up with 4 centre backs in our back 4 which was pretty special. It didn’t take long into the game for Vermaelen to show us he was going to be comfortable dealing with whatever position he was asked to play. He nipped and hustled whoever came into his area with the same tenacity he always does.

The first chance for us came when Aaron Ramsey was played in with a tasty cross from outwide, the Welshman missed and Gervinho showed a total lack of anticipation and bundled the ball wide.

Phil Neville was booked after 24minutes for lumping over Theo. I could swear he does things like that against us just for the pantomime effect. Odious little ferret that he is…

Aaron Ramsey, who is on a bit of a Gervinho type run in front of goal nearly broke the dead lock when he made space for himself in the box with a clever pirouette, his chipped shot only managed to graze the roof of the net. Gervinho, not one for being shown up at missing chances powered through into the box one on one and blasted his shot at the legs of Tim Howard. It was starting to feel like one of those afternoons. Chances were hard to come by and Everton were doing a good job of nullifying our threat.

The atmosphere was pretty flat as well. The same way it gets if you have a birthday party at work that you start at four o’clock. It was like the crowd were spent, waiting for their second wind.

Phil Neville reminded us that Everton could score when he smashed a shot that narrowly went over the bar. Things were getting so bad for us that Song had taken on the role of lead creative. He was making a bit of a hash of it if I’m honest, the guy in front yelled, ‘Song YOU ARE NOT CESC‘, moments later the man from Cameroon found space in midfield, looked up, floated a sublime ball into Robin who banged it across goal with a volley, the ball hit the post and went in!

WHAT. A. GOAL.

That my friends was worth the 6.5% right there. The crowd roared into party mode. Back slapping, high fiving and laddish headlocks with the old lady next to me were on the menu. What a relief!

The game still wasn’t won, Everton had a few good chances of their own, Saha breaking free of JD nearly scored when it was just him and the keeper. Lucky for us, his shooting boots were left back in Merseyside (I’m telling you Louis, they won’t be there when you get back!).

The referee took an absolute age to blow for the final whistle, when he did, it was like we’d scored a second. The goal was so good, many people in the crowd stayed on to see the goal again!

Three points on the board, up to fourth in the league, and the mighty reds March on. Happy Birthday Arsenal, I hope Robin’s gift made your day as much as it did the rest of us!

Conclusion

The performance was a flat scrappy one that was far from a pleasure to watch. The urgency didn’t feel like it was there today in a game that was really a bit of a midfield battle. Ramsey struggled to deal with Fellaini and I thought the front three of Arsenal had a very indifferent afternoon. Theo was far from being at the races. He was at his frustrating worst. His control was off the boil and his decision-making was shoddy. Gervinho had a bright opening twenty but he badly faded with the game. Even the mighty Robin was off colour, he was greedy at times and he didn’t play to the ridiculously high benchmark we’ve set for him as a standard for most of the game.

Credit to Everton, they are excellent battlers and they can play the game as well. I thought they gave as good as they got in midfield, the main thing lacking for them yesterday was an outlet and that bit of spark. They limited our chances well and on another day, may have come away with a point. Robin was the difference yesterday and I’m grateful for that!

Now all we have to hope for is that Spurs lose today against Stoke and that Chelsea and Manchester City draw. Actually, I’m ashamed to admit it, but I’d actually quite like to see City drop some points, even if it does mean a mini Chavski resurgence!

P.S. For further reading, check out Ivan Gazidis, Ken Friar, Liam Brady and land mine rats. Oh, and our Tumblr that has loads of Arsenal match day pictures for your consumption.

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Ratings

Chesney – Didn’t have a whole heap to do, but did do well with crosses into the box. Kissed to boot of Robin at the end. Steady on the man love there! 7

JD – Had a good first 70 minutes but after that, mistakes crept in. Not understandable mistakes, I’m talking fundamental basics like losing his man or misplacing 5 yard passes. 6.5

Koscielny – Another solid game for the Frenchman. He slotted into the middle next to Mertesacker without anyone noticing he’d been right back for a few weeks.  7.5

Mertesacker – Had a very good game. He read their crosses well and his anticipation levels were at their best. 7.5

Vermaelen – Moved over to an alien position and dealt with it perfectly. A consummate professional. 7.5

Song – Had a bit of a mixed bag in midfield yesterday. He felt had to force some creativity and did in the end with a superb pass to Robin for the winner. He who dares Rodney… 7

Arteta – Must have been tough playing at his old club, but he mixed it like he always does and kept things ticking over. 7

Ramsey – Not his best game. He worked hard but his passing wasn’t as penetrative as usual and quite a few of his runs ended in conceded possession. 6

Gervinho – Good opening twenty, went missing at the end. A bit disappointing. Couldn’t help wonder if he was tired? 6

Theo – Not his best game for us. His thinking was half a second behind where it has been and he didn’t create too much for Robin. 5.5

Robin – Greedy at times, but not given world-class service. The cross from Song was great, but lets not kid ourselves, it would not have been a scoring opportunity for any other striker in the league. A great finish and his march to Thierry and Shearer’s record goes on. 7.75

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY ARSENAL!

125 today (well, for celebrations purposes at least). You old fart. Jeez, I remember when you were 110. Seems like an age ago. My how you’ve grown up. Remember that tiny little stadium you had for your first home? My how you’ve grown up. There have been some good times. Yep, the Invincibles year was pretty amazing. That game against Liverpool, you remember, with Michael Thomas. The Cup Winners Cup… Your first Premiership title. It hasn’t all been plain sailing. It never is. We’ve had to watch some of the people you’re not too keen on do well. We’ve had a few nasty holidays, that one in Paris was a bit of a gut wrencher and the day trip to Wembley wasn’t the best… but we still love you the same.

Here’s to the next 125 years!

Yesterday saw the worst kept secret in football unveiled. 3 statues of Arsenal legends were unveiled. Herbert Chapman, Tony Adams and Thierry Henry have been immortalised in bronze for the rest of time. Tony Adams is striking the pose from that game against Everton. Truly one of my favourite moments as an Arsenal fan ever. It was pretty much the first title win I’d ever been absolutely engrossed in from start to finish. To win it like that was perfect. The celebration was legendary. Now it’s captured forever. He sadly wasn’t in attendance yesterday, but Alan Smith took time out to speak to the great man on the train to Romania here.

The Thierry Henry statue was maybe a slightly more contentious choice. No doubt the guy is the greatest goal scorer in our history, but it seems a bit strange to immortalise a 34 year who is still playing in the game. He’s a legend, I love him dearly, but like a few others, I can’t help but think Dennis Bergkamp is the guy who kick started this next-gen Arsenal thing. Everything turned on its head when he joined. He was the superstar signing we’d all craved. He was a technical genius on the ball and after he joined, we never put a season ticket on general sale again.

Anyway, Thierry is still one of my heroes. He was a genius on and off the ball. He took expectations so high that a half chance was deemed a great chance if he was involved. He made the impossible possible and he electrified the fans. A once in a generation player. A genius. It was very sweet to see how emotional he still gets about the club. Shedding tears of for girls though Thierry. Girls and John Terrys.

Herbert Chapman was also revealed. A manager of a generation and a true visionary. From floodlights to hooped socks to naming the station after the club… to personal branding. The guy had it all. Not to mention titles to boot. I think it’s always hard, particularly for the younger generation to tap into the history of the club. It’s well worth doing so to truly appreciate the intelligence and forward thinking of that man.

I think today will be a very emotional day for a lot of fans. It’s a massive land mark and to look at where we are now as a club compared to even ten years ago is quite amazing. We’re now established as an elite football team forever. We have amazing infrastructure, superb training facilities and a world class stadium. Teams like Spurs now have to risk their future to catch up with us. Things might not be perfect on the pitch, but we’re in amazing shape for the future regardless.

Team news…

‘The present is very important for us, we are in the middle of a season where every point is important now.’

Absolutely bang on the money there. Today needs to be about focus on the task ahead. Everton are a very good team with some very good players. We know they have a terrific work rate and that David Moyes is one of the best managers in the business. We can’t afford to go into the game in relaxed party mode. We need to continue our league form and we need to make sure we don’t lose ground on the teams ahead of us. I have a feeling there will be a wobble from City and United this month. If we can capitalise on that, we could be in a superb position come January.

We have major problems in defence still. Andre Santos looks set to be sidelined for longer than the initial 3 weeks put forward. That’s a bit of a gutter as he’d started to find his feet and he has often been key to starting attacking moves for us. The boss seems to think the back line will consist of 4 centre backs today. So that mans he’ll be putting Vermaelen in at left back and moving Koscielny and Mertesacker into the middle with JD at right back. Probably a better move than slipping Miquel or Yennaris into the side.

Our French centre back has to be super aware today. JD has a habit of forgetting which sport he’s playing, so the chances are he’ll be letting players slip in behind him all day, Baines in particular needs to be watched. Mertesacker doesn’t have the recovery pace to deal with those type of mistakes, so super vigilance and robust performance has to be on the cards for the in form Koscielny.

In midfield, it’ll be the rested trio of Alex Song, Ramsey and Arteta. It’ll be an emotional day for our Spaniard. He spent many a year in the Everton midfield where he built a fantastic reputation.

“Mikel has adjusted very well and he has the mental level to be at this Club. We watched him many times before he got his cruciate injury [a few years ago]. It took him a while to get back to his normal level. Now, he is back to normal.”

It took Mikel a few months to adjust to the Arsenal midfield as well. I don’t think any of us were sure what position he’d take up, but he seems to play a few yards in front of Alex Song and he dominates possession from there. I love his attitude, if he didn’t have the stereotypical Spanish looks, you’d mistake him for a British player out on the pitch. He has a fantastic range of passing (90% success rate) and he mucks in both ends.

Up top, I’d imagine it’s going to be G.R.W combination. We’ll be looking for Robin to contribute at least one goal to the game and hopefully the other two can continue their impressive form with at least a goal and an assist each. I think having two proper wide players this year has really benefitted us. Theo looks the most comfortable he has in his whole career on the wing and Gervinho, despite a few flaws with his control is a very exciting player. It’s such a shame he’ll be off to the ACN.

If you’re interested to know how Everton are going to play, may I recommend this excellent Everton blog for all the insight you’ll need.

Remember to head down early if you want to see what Arsenal are doing for the day. Sounds like legends and marching bands are the serving suggestion for the afternoon.

Follow @LeGrove

Right, I’m off to book Arsenal a pink limousine and stripper for later on this evening, have a ripping day everyone and enjoy the 125th celebrations!

The reason teams fire their managers is because they are not doing a good job. That’s why when the Chavs are having a bad run, their manager is questioned, just like an unsuccessful manager in any line of business would be, let alone one that gets paid so much when he gets fired, he doesn’t need to work again (any EPL manager) .

Steve Bruce gets fired and Wenger sticks up for him, oh there’s a surprise, a £7mil man sticking up for another highly paid flop.

Thing is for some reason we all think to be a great manager you have to be a successful ex top pro footballer.

Why is that? Most ex pros aren’t that bright and would be incapable of running a business, that’s why in the old days, most of them had a tax free testimonial and bought a pub with the proceeds, nowadays they either become pundits like that dipstick Neville, chat show hosts like the muppets on Talk Shite or managers like Steve Bruce of Phil Brown.

Alf Ramsey, Herbert Chapman and of late Mourinho are all examples of great managers that were not top football players, that will tell you something, yes they all played at some level but so did most of us.

So here we all are lapping up our recent run, I’m not, yes I’m happy we are winning and playing some great football again but I’m unhappy we lost two of the worlds best footballers and didn’t replace them, in fact I’m feeling conned.

And someone still needs to explain to me why we let Cesc go on the cheap when he still had 3 years left on his contract, how is that good business or good management? Please, someone explain that one away! Even Barca had a laugh at that deal.

I watched us against Man City and marvelled at Chamberlain trying his best to rip them a new one, then I watched in horror as Wenger took him off, the worst excuse for a player I have seen for years, Chamakh stays on, he did nothing and he repeated the feat on Tuesday, he like Squillaci is hopeless, but he still gets played, why?

It’s because the manager doesn’t want to admit he screwed up. That’s not stubborn, that’s childish.

We went through this with Denilson, Bendtner, Clichy and Senderos, now we have to endure it with those two, and don’t even get me on the merits of Park.

The reason I’m not celebrating is because if he went out and bought 2 decent replacements for the two we lost, a goal scorer to replace Ade which he never did, and world class centreback, yes Cahill would be perfect (forget Bolton, they are a shite team, even Henry would look crap if he were there as well) then we would be in with a chance of winning the lot, right now we look like the only chance we have of qualifying for next year’s ECL is to win it this season. And we all know that won’t happen.

In January he should sign Hazard, Goetze, Cahill and anyone that can score goals in abundance.

We already have injuries and the reason we are in trouble is because we have no decent back up, we never do, this is groundhog day.

So this panacea that is Champions League means what exactly? The main reason it seems we exist is to qualify in the top four, in order to play a team in a few games we will eventually end up out of because we don’t have enough top players.

That’s it, it seems that’s our only target, it’s all Wenger talks about, he never talks FA Cup, he fields a weakened side in the Carling and he admitted we were out of contention in the League last September.

And now the Mancs are out of Europe we will probably need to finish top three to qualify. Yes they have top players but if we did we’d be better because Wenger is a better coach, not a great manager, but a top, top coach.

Anyway so now we may find ourselves having to raise the bar because we need to be in the top three, and with this squad, we have no chance, the purse needs to come out this Christmas or we’ll end up with nothing and lose our best players, again.

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Have a nice day Grovers, this’ll give you something to muse over!

Geoff

Obama hears the news about City and United.

Some days are more glorious than others. Today my friends, is one the more glorious. The Blue and the red of Manchester bombed out of Europe’s elite competition in hilarious fashion.

City won but had done too little in previous games to qualify. Beautiful. Samir, I didn’t realise your lofty European ambitions were at a Europa level! United on the other hand were a whole different kettle of failure. All they had to do was win against little old Basel. Instead, they lost 2-1. Amazing stuff. Their £18million keeper put in another turgid performance. Chesney leapt to his defence much in the same way Wenger defended the sacking of Steve Bruce. The dreaded oppositions player vote of confidence.

However, it’s clear for all to see. If you’re going to make it at United you need to be imposing, you need to be confident from crosses and you can’t be gaff prone. Sure he’s a good shot stopper, but what professional keeper isn’t? I said at the start of the year I think they gaffed with De Gea… And I still do.

As for Spurs? Don’t fancy your chances of winning that trophy now. At least Spursday nights can now be called Mancday nights instead… depending on where you are of course!

So that leaves London as the dominant city this season. Magic. The opponents Arsenal can line up against consist of…

• Napoli
• Basel
• Lyon
• Cska Moscow
• Bayer Leverkusen
• Zenit
• AC Milan

I’d say the only two teams that worry me there are Leverkusen and Napoli. I’m not overly fussed about Milan, though given the choice of going to Russia, I’d probably decline. Anyway, the point is, we’ve made life so much easier by winning the group.

Much talk will be about pinching the players of the unsuccessful clubs this summer. Personally I think Vidic would make a great stop-gap for Vermaelen and I love to see us to buy Yaya as cover for Song. Failing that Hazard and the prolific Sow are available from Lille, Ajax and their creative Dane Eriksen might be of interest, and push comes to shove, when Basel drop out, Shaqiri looked pretty tasty ripping United a new one yesterday.

In Arsenal related news, we have a left back problem mounting up to challenge the one of 2006. Santos is out for 3 weeks which poses a bit of selection headache. Do you move your best centre back to the left or do you take a punt on a Swiss kid I didnt know existed until yesterday? I’m not sure Miquel has ever looked comfortable there. He looks like a Bendtner on the wing!

Some tough decisions lie ahead against Eveton. We need to hope for a Champions League hangover from one of the Manchester clubs this weekend. We have to pounce if that happens. We know Everton are tricky customers, so we must be on top of our game. They have some players who can cause problems and you generally know you’ll get 100% from them.

Benny reckons the fans have forgotten Samir and Cesc… he’s right. I have. Not because I don’t pine after them occasionally, but because in a perverse kind of way, I’m absolutely loving this season. Coming from so far behind to catch up is far more satisfying than what we were served up last year. I just pray to the footballing gods we can maintain this form as far as January. If we can, surely Wenger will splash some cash to ensure we take 4th spot? Right? Come on? Tell me he’ll do it?

Follow @LeGrove

Right, short post today, back in the morning for some more exciting Arsenal like stories. Remember, get your smug on today, especially if you’re in Essex or Hertfordshire!

P.S. If you’ve tried to contact me in the last few weeks and I haven’t responded it’s because my e-mail has been down. I’m available now. You can get me via the spanking new contact form you’ll see floating to the left of the screen. Coded by my own fair hands… not a plugin, honestly.

Geoff

JD's football demon. Vermaelen's dog.

Well if anything is going to bring your expectations down with a thud, it’s watching your 2nd string work together to put on a show Cirque De Soleis would be proud of. The usual suspects and some new ones led us to a 3-1 defeat away from home on a night that was further blighted by the hard to stomach sight of Andre Santos being taken off the pitch on a stretcher.

The game didn’t start brightly but Chamakh combined with Andrey for our first one on one, the Russian having his shot cut out by the keeper.

It didn’t take long for our first hash of the evening to occur. Squillaci and JD both challenged for a loose ball, comically it found its way into the path of Djebbour who easily took it round Fabianski and scored.

Bad defending is contagious. Moments after we conceded, Vermaelen shorted a back pass on the edge of the box, Fabianski shanked the clearance and the ball was returned with loft and just missed the post. Visions of Jens in Greece came flooding back!

Fabianski’s final calamity came when JD allowed himself to get roasted for the 3/4th time, the low cross came in, there was a keeper defender mix up, they both went for it, which led to an injury which saw Fabianski leave on a stretcher.

On came Mannone. I like the Italian. I remember his amazing game against Fulham (forgetting his countless disasters). How much worse could he be?

Holebas kicked Coquelin in the knee. The Frenchman rolled around like players used to in mid-nineties computer games, or much like Eboue used to as a standard response to being thrown a Lucozade bottle. Someone quipped on Twitter that challenge would have ended Diaby’s career. Lucky for us, the robust Coquelin survived.

Up the other end, AOC powered his way into the box, his cross looked nailed on for Andrey to bury it, Benny took it on instead and fluffed his shot wide. Why didn’t Arshavin scream for that ball?

Back down our end, Frimpong miscontrolled a Coquelin pass, the ball came back towards our box. Mannone cleared with his head as far as an Olympiacos player, same drill, ball looped back, excerpt there was no loop. Mannone could have used his hands to push the ball away but instead tried to kick it. He missed… The ball slinked into the net almost as embarrassed as Mannone.

Chamakh reminded us all he was alive, diving poorly, possibly anticipating the referee sympathised with wet look gel addicts. He really is a poor player. He has nothing about his game whatsoever.

The second half was no more impressive. Mannone was indecisive from crosses and looked visibly petrified. It’s been a long time since opposition teams fired 40 yard speculative shots at our goal. Well, last night it started happening again. We need to promote that Argentinean kid or buy an experienced back up sharpish.

Hope was restored for a moment when Miquel crossed to Chamakh who looked like he handled/dived at the ball, regardless,  it found its way to Benny who buried his shot spectacularly past the Greek keeper. A stunning strike.

Our rank defending continued. If it wasn’t JD it’d be Squillaci, if it wasn’t those two it’d be midfield ceding possession. It really was painful to watch.

The game was finally put in a black bin bag and thrown over a bridge when Mellberg got a header off practically on the 18 yard line, it hit the post and Olympiacos were quickest to rebound.

Conclusion…

Whilst there are a bunch of exciting kids coming through the ranks, one has to accept that when tempered with dross we’ve known about for years, it’s never going to work out.

Arshavin was hopeless. He’s off the pace both mentally and physically. I don’t know how he lives with his lack of effort. Why bother? Chamakh can’t even manage the basic 3 yard lay off these days. Something you’d have to say was his bread and butter last season. He was soooo good at 3 yard passes with his back to goal. Where has that exquisite asset gone?

Finally, Johann Djourrou. Now, I’m sure I remember him being a top player for the most part of last season. He was solid, calm on the ball and he put in some good performances. Now we’ve got a guy who seems to have forgotten how to play. He was roasted more times than a wannabe page 3 model at a footballers Christmas party. What has become of him? He’s lost his way with positioning, his passing is nervous and he doesn’t seem to communicate with anyone. It’s a real shame, he’s another Swiss player we all like as a person, but one who struggles with mental demons on the pitch.

The worry isn’t that our reserves aren’t as good as the first team, it’s the worry that at some point, you know we’ll be fielding a few of them against Manchester United in the FA Cup, or more likely, Real Madrid in the quarter finals of the Champions League. Our squad isn’t thin on numbers, it’s thin on quality. That’s what Wenger has to understand and address come January. He can’t go into the second half of the season hoping he’ll get away with Chamakh. That reminds me, if Chamakh is 2nd choice how bad must Park be? You can’t plead jet lag for 3 months!

The upshot of a game like yesterday is that Benny is off the mark. He scored a great goal. I also thought Coquelin impressed. He gets stuck in and he’s a defensive minded player with an eye for a space making pass. I really like his attitude. With a bit more game time and a little more focus in cutting out the silly mistakes, I’ve no doubt we’ve got a top player on our hands. Though Frimpong boasts more enthusiasm than a male intern at a Wonderbra shoot, he still lacks intelligence on the ball. He needs to concentrate on getting the basics right. Something I’m sure he’ll learn at Wolves. You make a hash of something up there, you’ll know about the hairdryer treatment.

AOC looked good in spells. I think he’s the sort of player who will shine in the first team. I don’t think his dynamic passing makes sense in a team with a striker less dynamic than Ade Akinbiyi.

The two messages of the night were loud and clear though.

1) We qualified early in first position. That is an improvement on last year. We did the job early, so if we want to field weak players and lose a game, that’s our decision.

2) By fielding weak players, the whole world has been reminded that a squad isn’t about numbers, it’s about talent. We don’t have talent in abundance outside about 15 players. We need a back up keeper, we need to seriously think about JD and Squillaci and we need, need, need a new striker to at least give Robin competition if Wenger’s utopic dream of keeping his star man fit all year comes to fruition.

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That’s my piece said, see you in the comments.

It was so cold this morning, my touch screen began failing recognise my fingers. I hate winter and all it stands for. The football keeps me going and tonight is no exception as we take on Olympiacos over in Greece.

The only two players starting from the weekend will be Santos and Vermaelen. Whether Vermaelen will play is debatable. This could be a game for Miquel and Squillaci at the back with Yennaris slotting in at right back.

Midfield will probably contain Coquelin and Frimmers anchoring with Benny pulling the strings. Wenger has been talking about the pros and cons of Frimpong. Possibly a gee up before he moves out on loan.

“I love his raw enthusiasm,” remarked the Frenchman. “The only problem is to keep him on the right track. Like every generous guy, you don’t want to see him lose that. He’s a real fighter. You would love to go to war [alongside] Frimpong.

“But he also has to use his energy in a positive way because sometimes too much energy can be a handicap.

Very true Mr Wenger. Still, every manager would prefer to have enthusiasm over a total lack of it… ala Denilson.

The Front three will most likely be made up of AOC, Park and Chamakh.

Now this is either a game will win at a canter or one of this that will remind us of the difference in attitude between the fringe and the first. Andrey will be key for us tonight. Not because we need him to be spectacular, more because his presence and attitude of late has left us looking like 10 men. He’ll likely be with us until at least June. He should start pulling his finger out. He’s the biggest waste of talent since Nik B’s ego left the building.

The star man tonight will be AOC. He scored in the first leg and put on an excellent attacking display, though he was guilty of failing in his defensive duties. He’ll be the man opening up the Greeks and I’d comfortably say he’ll be our most potent attacker. Big praise for one so young.

Chamakh is in the last chance saloon for me and I’d suspect with Arsene. His partying won’t have escaped the ear of the management team and his lack lustre displays won’t have impressed anyone at the ground. He’s got to play like he means it or take the easy route out to Paris.

Wenger made an off the cuff statement to the press indicating that if he could put all his money on one striker, it’d be the Brazilian Neymar. Though not claiming he’s better than Pele he did indicate the talent was there.

“If I had the money today, I’d put it on Neymar. You can’t say that Neymar is Pele as he had won the World Cup by the age of 17.

“He has the potential to be one of the future great strikers but at the moment there’s a big difference between the Brazilian league and a European league.”

The Brazilian has been doing incredible things domestically and he’s weighed in Internationally. In 135 appearances over 3 seasons, he’s scored 79 and bagged 18 assists. He’s one of those sure-fire bets to be a superstar. Like buying a house in Holland Park… the chances of losing value are low.

Wouldn’t it be amazing if Stan heard Wenger’s plea? He really would make a statement with a purchase like that and my god, wouldn’t the sponsors approve, like a crowd of happy seals.

Nike exec left - Emirates right

Also, as a fan, when I read that headline endorphins rushed to my head like I’d just been given a £40k payrise. Football is about excitement, we haven’t had much of that on the transfer front. This would make up for 5 years of Silvestre like surprises.

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Anyway… Enough from me, who would you start this evening? Drop a comment below!

Spotted outside the Emirates

Well hello Monday! Freezing cold but all the better for the weekends pummeling of Wigan.

Newsworthy stories today include the story that Wolves might be taking Frimpong on loan for the second half of the season. Had this been 3 years ago, I’ve no doubt that wouldn’t have happened. He’s a talented boy with passion by the bucket load, but he needs to learn to calm his temper and he needs to refine his passing. I’ve no doubt he’s capable of doing that, but the learning curve shouldn’t happen in our starting 11.

Read the rest of this entry »

If only all football games were as easy as the one served up by Wigan yesterday. Arsenal took the Latics to pieces in 2nd gear. Four different players scored our goals and we managed to keep a clean sheet. The only disappointment was Song limping off. Hopefully it’s not too serious. It took an age to bring him off it was.

The game didn’t start off with a bang. It took us quite a while to feel our way into the afternoon. Wigan didn’t look dangerous but they managed quite a lot of possession in the opening 15. Gomes was guilty of missing an open goal early on after Chesney parried a cross into his path.

We eventually found our passing rhythm and began to cause Wigan problems. The opening goal came unexpectedly from Arteta. He was given time and space about 30 yards out, he took full advantage blasting a shot across Al-Habsi into the net. Quite spectacular and a demonstration of what happens when you have a crack on goal every now and then..

Our second goal didn’t take long to arrive. This time from an even more unexpected avenue. A back post corner was fired in, Vermaelen managed to leap highest and managed to put enough power on the header to guide it into the net. Terrible keeping, but great technique from the Belgian.

We nearly finished the half three up, Gervinho cut Robin in but the Dutchman’s shot was saved well by Al-Habsi.

Ramsey looked to have had a nailed on penalty in the first half, he had his arm pulled behind him and he hit the deck, Clattenburg was unmoved.

Our third goal came from some individual brilliance from Robin. He worked his way into the box after a smart one two with Song, he cut the ball back with a sublime piece of skill, crafted a yard of space, shot at the goal, Al-Habsi parried and Gervinho bundled the ball home.

Our final goal of the afternoon came when Theo beat Caldwell in a sprint, he stayed on his feet despite being pulled back, he raced on, waited for Robin, picked him out and the Dutchman finished in typical clinical fashion.

The game finished on a slightly sour note. Alex Song hobbled off with an injury. Hopefully it’s nothing too serious.

Conclusion

We drilled out a solid performance and took three points at a ground we’ve had problems at before. The team showed no sign of a Carling Cup hangover and we’re back to winning ways after our Fulham blip last week. A great start to December. Hopefully we can build on the shared responsibility of scoring and the all too rare clean sheet. We’re 5th in the league now, above Newcastle on goal difference.

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Onwards and upwards!

P.S. Who told Santa Claus about yesterday’s post? I got everything I asked for!