Arsenal stun Porto / Injury worries / Great Dane delivers! Ratings + Review

March 10, 2010

Almunia

Sagna Sol Vermaelen Clichy

Diaby Song Nasri

Rosicky Bendtner Arshavin

The pre-match commentary was spent mainly slagging Arsenal off. Almunia was too nice to be a captain, nice enough to date the daughter of Graham Souness.

Wenger was mainly concerned about counter attacking, hence the inclusion of Song. Adams interestingly said the players had asked Wenger to do a little more research on the opposition, something I have called for him to do for years. The hope was Wenger had got it right tonight. Ruud said the media criticise because they want us to win. He hopes his suggestions are taken on board.

Cheers Ruud.

Bendtner mis-timed his first chance of the match, failing to get on the end of a superb Clichy cross.

Not to be outdone, Sagna crossed excellently to Arshavin at the back post, the quick reflexes of Helton denying him.

The atmosphere was electric.

Arshavin won a header from a long ball against a defender twice his height, he cushioned it back to Nasri who set him loose, the keeper saved his shot but Bends was there to tap in the open goal!

Up the other end, Arsenal allowed a corner to bounce dangerously in the box. An early warning.

Arsenal continued to knock it around nicely.

Just as I spied Nasri collapsing in a heap, Arshavin intercepted a poor Porto pass, he beat three men on the edge of the box, broke free, cut back to Nik who held his line in a way Ade could never and buried the cross. Amazing turnaround from the big Dane.

Song made a vital interception on the edge of the box. Nasri continued to pull the strings in a very Cesc like manner.

Clichy had his customary howler when he handled a high ball keeping it in play allowing the Hulk to waltz into the box and nearly threaten us.

Bendtner forced a good helton save late in the half with a fizzing low shot. The keeper made a super save from the header Diaby powered off from the corner.

A great first half, but a lot of sloppy play mixed in. We would have to settle down in the second half if we wanted to make sure this night fizzled out without any drama. Arshavin, Clichy and Campbell particularly needed to straighten out their howler Tourette’s.

Almost the first thing that happened in the second half was an edge of the box cock up… Rosicky played a weak pass, Song missed it, the Hulk fluffed his chance (A common theme from a man whose name gets people more excited than Denilson’s stats).

Rodriguez beat Sagna to head a corner to the far post where Nasri was on hand the clear.

Arsenal were looking very dodgy, the nervousness was spreading through the ground as well.

The game needed some magic.

Nasri had the ball outwide, outside the box. He took on three defenders, cut in, turned out, broke free of his players and banged it across the far post and scored one of the best goals the Emirates has seen. That’s the Nasri we signed, that’s the Nasri we’ve been hoping to see for the last two years.

Clichy cleared a corner, Arshavin picked it up, rans 40 yards… Eboue sprinted past him, the through ball was sublime, Eboue took it round the keeper and slotted into the empty net! 19 seconds end to end… magic.

Song continued to play sloppy passes, but Arsenal calmed down and started imposing their game again. Diaby was controlling the midfield with Nasri and it was a joy to watch.

A Chorus of ‘Tottenham are watching eastenders’ rang round the ground, superb!

Just as the game was ebbing away,  Eboue went down in the box, Penalty! Nik stepped up, the worlds eyes on him, he banged it low and hard into the bottom corner. The clown prince turned in a Great Dane performance!

A message was sent out to Europe, Hull and the Premiership. We’re in this to win it and with a little luck, you never know!

Conclusion:

Whilst a 5-0 victory is something to cherish and savour, it would be irresponsible of me to ignore some extremely sloppy play and some poor defending. On another day, we could have been punished. If we want to win the Champions League, we have to concentrate for the full 90 minutes. Chelsea, Bayern, Madrid and Barca wont be so kind with our mistakes. Song, Clichy, Campbell and Arshavin were guilty tonight.

Now onto the good…

Arsenal turned over their first Euro deficit since the seventies, they proved they could handle the pressure and everyone delivered. We were clinical tonight, we worked hard for our win and we weren’t afraid to play. The belief the team showed was special to watch, the crowd finally sound like they are truly connecting with this team, you feel like heroes are developing in front of our eyes… I can’t wait for the next game! Being a Gooner feels pretty amazing right now!

Ratings:

Almunia: Some dodgy kicking and a few spilled shots, but overall, he did his job. 7

Sagna: Say what you like about his crossing, as a defender, he’s top notch. Tonight, he was very good. 7

Vermaelen: Superb. A rock. A legend in the making. He had a blinder tonight, shame about the yellow card.8

Campbell: A very sloppy first half from a very experienced player. He’ll sort that out though and he’ll be more critical of his game than anyone else. What can’t be denied is how he inspires the team. His encouragement of the youngsters and his team huddles are going down a dream! 6.5

Clichy: He played pretty well bar a crazy moment out wide where he let the Hulk in. 6.5

Song: I thought he had a good first half but he let himself down in the second half with some poor passing and bad decision making. He still did a top job closing down angles and breaking up play. He needed to be there tonight and the 5-0 score line proves that. Interestingly, Souness and co said Song was close to being the complete player, the only thing he lacked was the discipline to stay back (Like Gilberto did). 6.5

Nasri: His chance to shine, his chance to showcase his talent… and what a performance. I’ve been questioning him recently because he clearly has an abundance of talent that’s been going to waste… tonight he announced himself on the European scene with the performance we’ve all been waiting for. He was at the heart of everything; showed guts to play through an injury and showed incredible skill to get his goal. A world class performance. 9

Diaby: Honestly, that has to be the most professional performance I’ve seen from the young Frenchman. He passed fantastically, he was disciplined and he allowed Nasri to play the game he did. Don’t underestimate how important he was for us tonight. 7.5

Rosicky: Top game for our favourite Czech player. He plays so much better when he has a target man to play off. His tricky runs and unpredictable play cause alsorts of bother. I hope he’s not injured. 7

Arshavin: We saw the best and the worst of Arsh. His worst was the terribly shoddy passing and his extremely casual play. He needs to stop being so wasteful when he’s not attacking. His best was an inspirational performance up top. He set up the first two goals, bagged an additional assist and played a blinder for us. 8

Bendtner: I backed him 100% at the weekend and I was paid back treble! Nik scored 3 extremely important goals in a game that was worth £18million to the club. He had a terrible time in front of goal last weekend and tonight, he made amends. It wasn’t just the goals for me, it was having a striker who can nod on the long balls, hold up the ball and play with his back to goal. Not to mention how well he held the line for his second goal. He could be the proper centre forward we were looking for in January. He’s an intelligent footballer and he’ll be a top player for us. I hope the world noted how humble he was in the interview afterwards… he didn’t even know he was meant to keep the ball!

Thanks to Gambon for this comment:

Since returning from Birmingham, he has started 56 games for us. He has come on as a sub 57 times, so lets assume he averages 15 minutes when subbed on, this is 855 minutes.

Lets round that upp to 900 minutes, which is 10 games.

So that means 33 goals in 66 games, many of which he has played wide left & right.

1 in 2 Baby!

8

Subs:

Eboue: You know I’ve always loved Eboue so I was pleased as punch to see him come on and score a goal. On a serious note, he’s had a great season so far and it was fantastic to see him come on, roll about when we needed him to, stay on his feet when he had to and score when we demanded it! He got the penalty as well! 7

Denilson: Pretty solid cameo appearance. I want to see him do well and get the fans back on side! 6

Theo: Was trying very hard to replicate his goal from the weekend to no avail! His pace was a menace though. 6

Lets keep em’ crossed Diaby, Nasri and Rosicky are all ok for Hull this weekend!

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Posted by Pedro

Theo, Bends and Nasri steal show! Jack Wilshere sickens me…

March 7, 2010

Friday night turned into Saturday morning, so excuse me if this post is a little hazy…

I wont give you the normal blow by blow account of the action, but I’ll give you the jist of the match and let you lot dissect the rest like you normally do!

The opening goal came from a magical piece of Samir Nasri ingenuity and a superb piece of finishing from our main man. Nasri was about 10 yards from the edge of the area surveying the blockade of Burnley players for an opening, he ended up playing one of those chipped passes I normally despise, up and over the Burnley back line where Cesc was on hand to half volley between Jensen’s legs… absolutely magical.

The next goal came from an Arsenal defensive brain freeze. The ball was cleared, our defense bombed forward, Burnley headed straight back, the ball managed to sail past the whole defence, Nugent chipped into the top corner. Completely against the run of play, yet typical of our defending this year.

Arsenal proceeded to batter the Jensen’s goal, the Dane continued his long run of excellent form against us. He hadn’t banked on Theo finding his shooting boots… he ran at the Burnley goal, cut inside and slotted the ball into the far corner with his left foot! Superb play and well deserved. Not sure what the celebration was all about… I’m sure the match of the dayers will be able to tell me!

The game felt like it was on tenterhooks despite Burnley rarely threatening our supremacy. Our fears were eased when Arshavin took it upon himself to beat a couple of men and bury the ball neatly inside the beasts near post.

Arsenal took the three points everyone expected them to and the quest for the title was kept alive.

There will be a lot of talk about Nik’s finishing today… it was appalling, but a few things need to be taken into account. His scoring record has been pretty good recently, he hit the target plenty of times today and he worked really hard. Today was one of those days, I’m pleased he’s making more intelligent runs, I’m pleased the crowd backed him the whole way and I’m pleased he’s playing for us. He’ll be a player and a half, mark my words.

Theo Walcott displayed the best parts of his game and the worst. He scored a great goal and far more of a goal threat today… he used his pace and played with far more decisiveness than usual, but there were still plenty of shocking decisions and very poor passes. If Theo is to become a legend, he has to work far harder than someone like Thierry, because he’s not naturally as gifted. Still, if Lennon can become a player, so can Theo. Hopefully he’ll make the world cup squad. Loved watching him kick off with the Burnley player who slid in rashley… more of the same Theo!

Samir Nasri looked the business today, he was all over the park and really stepped up after Cesc went off. Diaby also played superbly, he really is starting to deliver on his massive potential. Denilson didn’t have much to do, what he did do was sloppy and poorly executed. I don’t like to pick on players, but his form has been very poor in the second half of this season.

Manchester United wobbled against Wolves and were out of sorts. Unheard of in seasons past. They never normally stutter, so great news for us. We continued to beat weak opposition which is arguably the key ingredient to winning the league. It’s also worth noting that potential banana skin, Birmingham City slumped to a loss against Pompey. If we can take Spurs and City, we could make this one of the most memorable Championships ever.

Keep em’ crossed for Cesc’s hammy!

Overall, a great day out. Bring on the next game. I believe, I hope you do to!

P.S. A big well done to Jack Wilshere on scoring his first goal for the Trotters. I can’t tell you how pleased I am you have contributed to Bolton’s Premiership survival (Do I have to put some sort of wink there to indicate jest?). Oh, and a big thanks to all those I met before the game, a pleasure as always!

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Posted by Pedro

Finally… our very own kit launch + something special for Rambo!

March 4, 2010

So, after a calamitous morning of launch day madness, I bring to you… the Le Grove range.

I’ve been working closely with a t-shirt design company called TattyNutNut and they’ve pulled out all the stops to bring you some pretty special looking t-shirts.

CLICK THE IMAGE OF THE SHIRT YOU LIKE TO TAKE YOU TO THE TATTY SITE FOR PURCHASE

Do it for Rambo!

We thought the above design would be a nice touch an hopefully a memento of our first league title in 6 years.

Le Grove

This is our basic design. We wanted to create something subtle that was stylish and combined your love for the club and your affiliation to the site.

Marmite

After sifting through the sites comments, it was clear the most talked about topic on Le Grove and the blogosphere were the merits of the 4 players above. The term ‘Marmites’ was coined by the site and entered into the Gooner Glossary. I asked Tatty to mock up a shirt in celebration of the players! I think, like your kids, they may irritate you, but at the end of the day, they’re all gooners and deep down, you know you love them!

The Verminator

This shirt doesn’t need much explaining. I asked for a design to represent the character of Vermaelen and I think I’ve got it! A leader, blood, guts and thunder… a power house of a man… future Gunners legend!

So, now to the boring stuff. All the shirts will be printed up on American Apparel cotton t-shirts. If you’ve never heard of the brand, trust me, they are the best on the market. Their fit is quite standard, but figure hugging, so err on the side of caution if you like your T’s to hang a bit!

The printing company that we’re using are tried and tested, so the shirts have lastability. The shirts will out wear most high street brands you’d buy and will certainly dwarf the quality of other Arsenal t-shirt on the market.

All cost £15.99 and the postage varies depending on where you are in the world, but it shouldn’t be more than a fiver! I will have the stock in by next week, so we will have the first orders out by next Thursday.

Anyway, that’s me done. I hope you like them and I hope you purchase one!

Your support will be appreciated!

So, where were we? Ah, Theo…

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Posted by Pedro

Body Armour / England Musings / Theo Theo Theo… / Targets

March 4, 2010

Now the dust has began to settle on the the tragic Aaron Ramsey tackle, it’s time to see if there is anything out there on the market that could help protect out players against further assaults. My first thoughts were a more protective kit, perhaps like the one below.

Tim kindly sent me in a Nike prototype, the problem with this? Well, two fold really. Firstly it’s not going to be very easy to put an eighties slant on a medieval number, secondly, it’s not going to allow the players to move freely.

So, I decided to get out there and do a little research myself and I’ve come across a new product called D30. This product is lightweight liquid body armour that is liquid until impact, then it turns rock hard and protects it’s sports star. Thus providing a level of confidence to the player, without inhibiting their play. Sounds pretty good to me. It seems crazy that we’re in the 21st century and the best protection we can offer our players is a lump of plastic strapped to their shin with a bit of velcro securing it. If D30 are working with lacrosse, I’m sure they can team up with Addidas or Nike and help design something a little more suited to defending the body against the Stokes of this world.

In other news, I had the pleasure of watching the England game last night. It was apparent from my twitter account that most people weren’t interested in the game, so I feel it my duty as an Englander to give you low down.

John Terry was rightly booed for his disgusting behaviour. I found it amazing that the press had the cheek to suggest we weren’t helping the team by doing that. Does somebody want to tell me how the press helped John Terry by firstly uncovering the story, then running it everyday for 2 weeks as a front page story? The UK main stream take hypocrisy to new levels.

The game was a drag. Egypt were by far the superior team for the first 60 minutes. They knocked the ball around neatly and with intelligence. England resorted to parking the bus like a Stoke or Bolton side. It was sad to see so many players of quality resorting to long ball tactics. It shocked me because on paper, we have many world class players.

I think the problem is, English world class is a combinations of power and workhorse capabilities. For all Rooney’s qualities, he’s no Lionel Messi. When you put 1 quality English player in team of classier foreign players, you give that team grit and passion. When you put 11 English players in the team, you don’t have the creativity to balance out our main strengths.

Theo was awful. He shouldn’t have been picked in the first place. He was still dining out from that hat trick and last night, he failed to deliver in a big way. People can point to his injuries, but lets clear that myth up right now. Theo has been pretty much solidly available since mid-November. If he can’t cobble some form together in 3 months, there is something seriously wrong.

I listened to a reporter on Talk*hite the other day telling the nation Theo was a natural player and a superb winger. How wrong can one person be? Theo Walcott started football at 13 years old. When I was 13 years old Ryan Garry had just been snatch from my German class at school to join the rest of the Arsenal players at another school. That for me is why Theo doesn’t look natural, because he only been playing the game 7 years, compared to most 20 year old pro’s who’ve been playing the game for 14 years.

Anyway, back to the England game. Zidan looked a top player. He’s the Dortmund Striker who put the Egyptians one up. England only came back into the game when they brought Crouch on who took his two goals very well. 20 goals in 37 games for England. Superb.

Looking at that team, I’d say the only way we’ll win the world cup is through solid tactics, hard work and a large dollop of good luck! If Greece can win the Euro’s using those tactics, then England can win the world cup!

In other news, I’ve been watching a lot of football over the past few weeks. Here are some players who I think are quite good.

Veloso: Long time Geoff favourite, Mr Veloso of Sporting Lisbon. He plays in the holding role and has many similarities to Flamini, except, well, he’s a bit classier. He has the physical attributes needed for the premiership and an eye for getting into the box. He’s only young and a real possibility if we wanted him.

Moutinho: Again, of Sporting Lisbon, this tricky midfielder is like a Portuguese version of Arahvin. He’s fast, skilful and ambitious with his play. Probably not for us.

Akinfeev: Arshavin’s answer to the next best keeper in the world. Sorry Andrey, I wasn’t feeling his keeping. He looked all over the place in their last 16 game against Sevilla and spilled too many balls for me. Especially for a £30mill keeper!

Perrotta: Lionel Messi’s understudy for Argentina. A real handful for CSKA with his creativity, ability to create space and his blistering pace. Could be a handy signing for us, reminded me of a young Rosicky.

Balotelli: Looks the real deal. He lost the ball against Chelsea a few times but his power and ability to read the game really impressed me. A shame he’s such a lunatic!

I was supposed to be showcasing some new Le Grove t-shirt designs, but it appears I’ve had my very own Bill Gates/Blue screen moment.

Fear not though… I’ll be back later with the goods!

Stay tuned, see you in the comments!

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Posted by Pedro

Guess where Shawcross is next week? Ratings + Review

February 28, 2010

Before I start the post, I just want to say the thoughts of everyone at Le Grove are with Aaron Ramsey. Get well soon…

I had a pre-match post dedicated to explaining my finance post the other day. I don’t feel it necessary to post now, all I want to say is that I apologise for the regrettable Gazidis headline. It was a heat of the moment opinion that upon reflection was unfair, irresponsible and clouded the point I was trying to make. I’ll explain my concerns another day…

Saturday kicked off in spectacular fashion. Chelsea dropped 3 points at home to Manchester City and lost ground with their superior goal difference. The Chav’s attacked with little intent and defended shambolically. I’ve been saying all week that I think we can win the league and I’ve been saying all week that Hilario is a keeper of questionable ability. If Arsenal could capitalise on Chelsea’s slip, there would be 3 points between the top 3. This is the closest we’ve been at the end of February since we last won the league.

What a mad season eh?

Almunia

Sagna Campbell Vermaelen Clichy

Fabregas Song Ramsey

Eboue Bendtner Nasri

The notable Absentee from the starting line up was Theo Walcott. Preferred in his place was our answer to Lionel Messi, Emmanuel Eboue. The team looked strong, the results earlier were encouraging, the only missing ingredient was a rampant Arsenal victory. Stoke had become something of a bogey team for us, Arsenal Addict made the point to me on twitter… we couldn’t let the Potters become the new trotters!

Clichy started the game with a mistake, running past the ball allowing stoke to create a move which saw fuller fizz a ball across the goal. Song lost the ball sloppily shortly after, the through ball was marshalled by Sagna, Almunia took and age to come, then crunched Sagna. A worrying start from Arsenal.

It didn’t take long  for Stoke to take the lead. 7 minutes to be precise. A Delap throw, nodded on for Pugh to head in. It’s just so depressing that firstly, Song preferred to play it out for a throw instead of leaving it for the corner or dealing with it more effectively and secondly that we are getting beaten to second balls in our box, what was the greatest right back in Europe doing at the back stick (What he does best, switching off)? Shocking defending.

Individual errors were stopping Arsenal getting into any kind of rhythm, we hadn’t turned up for the biggest game of our season.

Clichy’s tiny throw made me laugh after he took the ball off Delap. The stoke players throw in prep was starting to grate.

Song continued to have a shocker after failing to push up with the defence allowing Shawcross to tee up Fuller.

After 30 minutes we began to find our feet.

Cesc picked the ball up out wide, whipped in a cross, Bendtner squeezed between two defenders and buried a header back across Sorensons goal into the top corner. Superb header, finally, Nik had delivered his first bit of true class this year.

Eboue wasn’t imposing himself on the same way as he was the week before but he was playing for freekicks and winning them, which can be a touch irritating. He has the skill to skin people, he should have the confidence to use it when his chips are down.

Only two question needed answering in the second half. Were Stoke too tired to make an impact? Were Arsenal hungry enough to dig out a result?

Eboue launched a rasping shot that was tipped over by Sorenson.

Then came the saddest moment of 2010, Shawcross flew into a high challenge and snapped Rambo’s leg. Yep, once again, a disgusting high challenge from a so called physical team has ruined 18 months of a young mans life. How many times do we have to see this happen to our boys? Diaby against Sunderland, Eduardo against Birmingham and now Rambo at Stoke. It’s a disgrace… I don’t care what Shawcross  intentions were… he tackled half way up a fellow professionals leg, disgraceful. More disgraceful than the challenge? Stoke fans chanting, ‘your f**ked and you know you are’ and ‘he’s only got one leg’ to a 19 year old boy verged on criminal. Words can’t describe how sickened I was by that. It sums up the attitude of certain clubs though… the fans knew what their player had done, but didn’t care… it was part of their make up and Arsenal needed to be man enough to accept that.

The game kicked off again but the players were shell shocked. I was praying this wouldn’t become another Birmingham 2008 moment. Cesc fired a freekick into the box, Sol Campbell failed to get on the end it and the ball flashed narrowly wide.

Shortly afterwards, Eduardo found himself through on goal after Song played him in, he hooked the ball just past the near post.

Then our moment came, Nik B was searching for an opening on the edge of the box, his flick through was handled, the penalty given. Cesc stepped up against a keeper who had saved his last 3 penalties. He glanced at the goal, ran towards the goal and buried the ball just past Sorenson’s hand. His celebration was a dedication to Rambo. Touching.

We were playing for the third goal, Nik Bendtner was denied a clear penalty after being shoved over blatantly in the box. Ref’s find it tough to give two penalties in ten minutes though. The Rosicky controlled the ball on the edge of the box and low and powerfully, Cesc anticipated the spill, intelligently cut it back to Vemaelen, bang! 3-1… dead and buried!

The team huddle called by Sol Campbell after the game reminded me of the unity and spirit after Bobby Pires busted his knee incident a few years back. Lets hope that spirit brings us a trophy we can dedicate to Rambo… he deserves as much.

Cesc was fiery after the game, he pointed out that he appreciates the English game is rough, but it goes too far sometimes. Today it went to far. It was disappointing to listen to the sky interviewer trying to get Wenger to look like he was a whinger after the game, his message was the same as Cescs, the jist was -

1) There are no coincidences in football

2) The treatment meted out to Arsenal is unacceptable

Andy Gray can talk about players not wanting to injure fellow pros, but that’s b*llocks. Most of us know what people are like in Sunday league, so to think Pro’s have a different mind set is fantasy talk. He might not have intended to break his leg, but the intention was there to hurt.

However, talk that Shawcross is the only person to blame here is unfair. He made a hideous mistake, but be fair, he’s playing in a country where that type of challenge is lauded and he’s at a club where ‘physicality’ even brutality is demanded. When you’re raised in a culture of vindicated thuggery, things like this will happen.

Though it must be noted he has previous and I’m pretty sure he was let go by United because of his disciplinary record in the reserves… I’m open to correction there. I’m pretty certain he smashed Adebayor in the sidelines last year. It’s interesting to note that this type of thing only happens in away games. Even more interesting is the whereabouts of Shawcross tomorrow… According to a Diamond Club member he’ll be at Arsenal’s training ground reporting in for England this week (*I was told last night before I just saw it in the NoTW). I’d like to a be a fly on a wall there…

This is an issue that must be addressed with balance and intelligence. I want to see all players protected, but I don’t want to see the league lose it’s edge. Maybe the introduction of foreign refs would do the trick, perhaps we need proper retrospective punishments for challenges that are blatantly reckless or perhaps fairer analysis of thuggery in the main stream media. I don’t care what happens… something needs to be put forward now because at the moment, Premier League football seems to throw up more nasty injuries than motor sport or rugby.

Just a thought, how would the press react if Rooney was in hospital with a snapped leg?

Back to the team, I couldn’t be prouder to say I support Arsenal right now. Screw the balance sheet, this is what supporting your football team is all about… watching your team battle against the odds to turn in a fantastic result, give the fans the opportunity to connect with them. We showed grit, professionalism and maturity to win that match today. They’ve delivered an inspirational come back which could go down in folklore if we can deliver the league.

We’re in a title race, we’ve got more motivation than ever and as fans, we should all unite… this feels like its about more than just football now. Lets all put our differences behind us and all get behind the team… in ten games time, we could witness the most unlikely of trophy lifts… wouldn’t that be glorious?

Have a great day Grovers!

Ratings

Almunia: I thought he played well today. He made a couple of decent saves and there wasn’t much he could do for the goal. 7

Clichy: Still looking a liability to me. He was better going forward as the game wore on, defensively a little worrying. 6

Vermaelen: Top scoring defender in the league this year, played like a warrior, looked an emotional wreck after the goal. He brushed himself down and popped up as our fox in the box in the second half. 8

Sol: Again, took the challenge to heart and looked the most frustrated. Performed with gusto and helped lead the team through a painful incident. Probably one of those days where you’d prefer Sol in there to Gallas. Good defensive performance from our rock in reserve. 8

Sagna: I thought he played well bar some suspect attacking play 7

Cesc: It didn’t click for him in the first half but he still whipped an amazing cross to loan striker Nik B. He scored a penalty and set up the third. There is no denying Cesc is one of the best midfielders on the planet at the moment, today he delivered on the big stage in an important game. 9

Song: A very up and down game from him. He gave the ball away a lot in the first half and was part responsible for the first goal because he went out of his way to concede a throw. He grew in the second half and put himself about a bit more. 6

Rambo: Was having a blinder. He was winning balls in the air, driving forward with intent and he was doing his bit in the middle to mix it with the rough boys. I’m angry just writing about the challenge, but it was sickening to see the best talent in British football lose a year of his career. 8

Nik B: He was sloppy with his control in the first half, but he was a physical presence. His header was nothing short of world class in a big game where perhaps you wouldn’t expect many strikers to score a header. That set the ball rolling and in the second half he played very well. His deft flick led to the handball and the second goal. 8

Nasri: He tried really hard today but not much fell for him. 7

Eboue: Not his best game and more typical of the type of performance I’d associate with him up top. He did let off a rasping shot and his runs occasionally caused bother. Preferable to Theo. 6.5


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Posted by Pedro

Gazidis exposed as financials reveal disgusting plan…

February 26, 2010

Arsenal just released their latest financials so Geoff and I have put a few comments together about our initial thoughts on what we’ve been presented.

Key points and questions:

  • We’re £200million in debt. £130million less than last year.
  • What happened to the sponsorship money we received up front? £100million from the Emirates + whatever Nike provided.
  • How come the property sales haven’t covered off more of the debt? £95mill to develop, we’ve recouped £200+ million so far with a further 130 odd flats to go.
  • What happened to our television money? We earn £50million+  from the EPL and the Champions league.
  • What has happened to the transfer budget we never spend? We’re in the black for the last 5 years.
  • Pleading poverty when you can comfortably increase the wage bill by £17million seems a little outrageous. This is before Cesc has signed a new deal, so expect it to increase further despite no additional achievement (You know, trophies). This increase is despite losing Adebayor (80k p/w) and Kolo Toure (50k p/w).
  • The player sales of Adebayor and Kolo appear to be key to keeping us in profit, despite the fact we lumped £130million off the debt. Will are use this as a stick to beat the fans who want us to spend money?
  • Arsenal make £3million a game of of you, the fan but don’t want to give anything back for your investment.

Conclusion:

The club are being frugal to pay off the debt quicker, but why? We have a 17 year mortgage don’t we?

Is it to be able to invest in the world class player that are currently out of our reach or is it to make the club more attractive to sell to an investor who will immediately plunge the club into debt and put us in a Manchester United/Liverpool situation.

If it’s the latter, like Geoff and I have predicted for a while… are you still happy?

More to the point,  what is the MO of Gazidis? Is it to make us a world class club or is it to clear the debt for the owner in waiting, Stan Kroenke. I wonder what the bonus scheme looks like for our master of marketing and man of the people?

Is he the trojan horse, has he been employed to use our money to fatten the wallet of a billionaire? Is this the reason Stan hasn’t taken his holding to 30% becuase he doesn’t want to buy the club till it is debt free? No wonder he doesn’t answer questions at the AGM…

Will the fan base wake up and smell the coffee now? Are the debt buster brigade still pleased to see fan money go towards making a hideously wealthy cowboy even richer?

We’re being conned and it makes me sick to the pit of my stomach.

Pedro

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Exclusive CESC/DIABY snapped in NEW HOME/AWAY SHIRTS!

February 23, 2010

CLICK HERE

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CESC/DIABY snapped in NEW HOME/AWAY SHIRTS! Illegal Ref rules ruining Arsenal

February 23, 2010

Here with the exclusives, as always, Le Grove can reveal the first official shots of the news kits.

Don’t ask how I got them, but it turns out the American kit makers aren’t too launch bothered about launching through unofficial channels. Why give Arsenal.com the exclusive when you can give it to a blog who’ll give you a fraction of the exposure!

As you can see, Arsenal are back to white sleeves… mainly because we normally have white sleeves. We’re sticking with the Arsenal logo and the sponsor… because we have to. We’re also going to go with a 1971 style shirt to celebrate our 125th year anniversary because I can’t find a colour picture of an older shirt to photoshop.

The away kit runs along similar lines to last years with the addition of some snazzy lightning bolts, a classy spread collar with double stitched buttons for playing those pesky shirt tugging Mancs.

Enjoy the pics… keep em’ crossed that Eboue isn’t too peeved at me for breaching his confidence!

Oops, did I just give away my source?

Anyone caught palming this off as their own exclusive will be sued.

No use trying to hide your face Diaby... busted!

Onto the serious stuff…

After reading the bile spouted by one of the most ridiculous, self promoting, calamitous referee of the last twenty years, plus the revelations long time Grover Chary uncovered over at ArsenalArsenal,  I started wondering… why do referees hate us?

Well, an obvious, yet controversial conclusion would be to point out the fact that all referees are English. Yep, it’s in the rules. We don’t allow foreigners to ref our games.

So, the simple solution for Arsenal getting back in the refs good books would be to remove our foreign players and get some good old British stalwarts in. Alternatively, we could send our players on a  ‘How to win friends and influence people’ course in the hope they can socialise their way into refs phonebooks. You know, like the United and Chelsea players have done.

Or, we could take a step back and review an earlier line in this post.

‘Yep, it’s in the rules. We don’t allow foreigners to ref our games.’

Yes, you read that correctly, your eyes were not deceiving you.

NO FOREIGNERS ALLOWED

Sorry Mr Rossetti, despite being the best at what you do in the world, despite Italy being a member state of the European Union, you can’t referee today’s game, because you son, are a Johnny Foreigner.

Now excuse me for being ignorant but I thought one of the main benefits of being part of the EU was the freedom to work where you like within the member states?

I thought I’d check the EU website and this is what it says,

‘Firstly, the EU Treaty has always provided for some basic freedoms, such as freedom to work and travel around the EU’

So if that was true, then there is no way I’d find any press releases on the Official Referees website (PGMOL) that contradict EU Law?

Wrong.

“There are no discussions regarding the use of foreign officials in the English game and the Professional Game Match Officials Ltd (PGMOL) has no plans to do so.”

Cast your minds back to last year when UEFA were told by the EU they can’t discriminate on grounds of nationality with players.

“The parliament calls on the member states and sports associations not to introduce new rules that create direct discrimination based on nationality, such as FIFA’s 6+5.”

If the EU won’t allow clubs to discriminate based on nationality, why do they allow the referees association? That stinks of hypocrisy to me.

You’ve got ex-referees talking in the national press about Arsenal’s lack of British players plus the obvious lack of decisions we get in games. Every time Arsene Wenger makes a comment about a bad refereeing decision, there is an article from Graham Poll slamming him. Where are the Graham Poll articles hammering Steven Gerrard after he dives? Where are Graham Poll’s two pennies when Alex Ferguson takes a pop at refereeing fraternity EVERY WEEK!

Seems Mr Poll (and Jeff Winter) is only interested in slating Arsenal players or foreigners… that has to filter down to the referees still in the game. I feel we’re getting a sneaky peak into the mindset/culture amongst British refs when it comes to foreign teams/players/managers.

Arsene Wenger alluded to the close relationship refs seem to have with the Brit pack a few months ago after watching Alan Wiley refer to Rooney as ‘Wazza’.

‘‘I believe for them [referees] to do their job to do their job in an objective way they have to keep their distance as much as possible. From the players, from the English national players and from the managers.’

That statement couldn’t be truer and it couldn’t be any more evident.

Teams with a British core have an unfair advantage over teams that choose to look abroad in their quest for Premiership dominance. This is unfair and by the looks of it, against the law.

How long before someone picks up on this and puts an end to this injustice?

* The Times nicked our Sorenson story a few weeks back, so hopefully, not too long!

P.S. Join our facebook group, follow us on twitter and sign up to our new instant e-mail subscription in the side bar —>

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Messi lands at the Emirates / Arsenal beat the Crap Cats. Ratings and Review

February 21, 2010

I don’t know whether it was the abundance of beer, or just the reality. I’m hoping I’ll get some clarity. But I’m sure I just witnessed the greatest right back performance of the season and it came from a player I dislike with full blooded passion.

Yesterday was all about Emmanuel Eboue. He showed the skill he probably demonstrates in training every day and put on a master class in attacking full backery. His mazy runs and tireless work rate were a wonder for the home crowd to watch. If he could do that every week, not only would he start as our right back, he’d be the best one in the country!

Sunderland lacked everything a Steve Bruce side normally has. They played like a team who believed in their own hype after a nice 10 game streak at the start of the year. A real lack of effort on their part combined with a sparky and resilient performance from Arsenal… well, the result was only going one way this afternoon.

The first goal came when Eboue burst into the box with a penetrative run, he jinked in and out turning three Sunderland defenders inside out, he shot across goal allowing Nik to nip in at the back post to tap into the empty net.

Nik Bendtner had a great chance to prove his value to the team today and I’m afraid he didn’t give us his best performance. His control isn’t crisp, the ball usually ends up off the ground disrupting his ability to do anything thing with pace. His lack of instinct for the goal is also worrying. We can talk about work rate till we’re blue in the face but banging them away has to come into the picture at some point. 2 occasions today sparked cause for concern. The first was when Nasri crossed into the box, Ferdinand mistimed the header, Nik didn’t even bother to anticipate this and missed out on a simple header. The second was when he was cut in with a pass from out on the left, he controlled the ball with his left foot instead of his right, then duffed his chance onto the bar. Chances like that should be creeping in and in big games, you’re only going to get one… worrying from the Dane.

There were the usual lapses in concentration at the back. Almunia had to make a tidy save when Bent got through one on one, then Kenwyne Jones beat the offside trap, surged into the box and luckily hooked his shot wide. Bruce said his star striker was worth £30mill. Seriously, it’s that type of talk that gets Premiership clubs into trouble!

The second half was all Arsenal in the main. Sunderland did scare the Arsenal back 4 a few times but Almunia was out to impress today and he wasn’t going to allow the ball the chance to get cosy with his net today!

Arsenal huffed and puffed, but Craig Gordon was in an equally defiant mood and pulled out some classy saves to keep his players team in it. He looks very similar to Ian Curtis of Joy Division… errily so!

Our reward came late in the half, Cesc was bundled over in the box, the ref pointed to the spot! Up stepped Cesc to bury a pin point penalty into the bottom right corner. He ran over to the faithful and did some impressive air punching.

The ref blew up and Arsenal had taken an important 3 points. 2 points behind United, 6 behind Chelsea… and we’re really back in the mixing pot again!

Ratings:

Almunia: A top performance from our keeper. It seems silly that I have to praise our keeper for making 3 or 4 good saves in a game, but I will, because normally one sneaks in. 7

Clichy: I still don’t think he’s playing very well. He’s developed Howler Syndrome and I heard he caught it after sharing a towel with Senderos. I hope he can shake it off because if he doesn’t, Gibbs will surely step in next season. 6

Vermaelen: Had a powerful day at the office. He was quicker to every ball than the Sunderland pair were and he led the back line with much aggression. 8

Silvestre: He didn’t have a Sol Campbell type performance, but he did ok. He dropped a clanger when he set a poor offside trap that Jones took advantage of… but that is the Frenchman for you. 6

Eboue: If he could cut out the theatrics, I’d really like him as a player. Today he let his football do the talking with a superbly constructive afternoon of free flowing attacking full back play. The Sunderland boys didn’t know how to handle him because he was literally unplayable. Superb assist, deserved a goal. 9

Cesc: Not his best game of the season. His passing was sloppy at times and he got caught in possession on occasions. Still… he won a penalty and buried it. 7

Song: I thought he had a very solid game today, breaking up play where he could, distributing with efficiency. 7.5

Aaron Ramsey: Showed straight away why he should always get the nod over Denilson. He made surging runs, crunching tackles and had a few shots. He’s what you call real young talent. Shame he’s Welsh… 7.5

Nasri: I felt we got more for our money today. He covered his full back today, he put himself about and he made some telling attacking contributions. I just wish he’d do it more consistently. 8

Bendtner: He scored the tap in for the goal, which has to be credited. Bar that, it was a pretty cart horse like game for the Danish hitman. He needs to start scoring goals more regularly and he needs to work in his touch and alround play. He also needs to give up his penchant for hitting the wing… he’s not Thierry. His performances seem to have dropped from last season, he’s only got a few games left to prove us wrong. 6

Theo: £60k a week to watch him run up blind alleys, cross to Song’s imaginary friend and generally do very little. Today he did look like scoring twice, something I haven’t seen him threaten to do for a while. However, for the hype surrounding him, he’s really not delivering. If he can fuse that pace with any sort of productivity, we’ll have a top player on our hands… at the moment, it doesn’t feel like we’re anywhere near that. 6

So all in all, an expected win and a solid performance. Roll on Stoke City!

P.S. If you have any spares to the Burnley game coming up, I have plenty of Grovers looking! Drop me an e-mail! Oh, and I’ve noticed it getting a little narkey in the comments section, lets keep it friendly… we’re all gooners and a multitude of opinion helps the blog go round.

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ACCIDENTAL BACK PASS! / My beef with Cesc / Wenger fails to deliver again

February 18, 2010

Pretty much the first thing Denilson did was generously play Falcao in behind Sol Campbell, however, using his experience the giant defender managed to make a world class challenge.

Seconds later, the Hulk found himself in front of goal again and somehow managed not to miss. We were looking a shambles! Where were Denilson and co?

Diaby lost the ball in the middle of the park, retrieved it well… ran up the pitch and set Nasri up for a toe poke at the keeper.

Then the first key moment arrived. Varela crossed badly after skinning Clichy… Fabianski looked like he had it covered, but let slip into the back of the net. One of the worst goals we’ve conceded this season. And to be fair, we’ve seen a few!

If there is one position you can’t afford a learning curve with… it’s goalkeeper.

Rosicky did well to cut Bends in, his ricocheted shot was unlucky not to go in!

The following corner hits Vermaelen, then Rosicky played it back across goal and who else was there to finish? Big Sol Campbell!

Rosicky was playing really well, he was creating space and running at players the way you’d have hoped.

Watching Denilson potter about the pitch was grating to say the least. He doesn’t have the hunger to be an Arsenal player. I watched Ferguson spit blood at Evans during the game yesterday, would Wenger do the same to Denilson at half time? Time would tell.

Bendtner got on the end of a Cesc cross, his header forcing a great save.

The rest of the half played out with a number of dirty challenges, cynical you could say.

Rosicky had a great shout for a penalty turned down. Stone wall in fact.

The ball headed down the other end. Campbell marshalled the ball, got a touch on it, Fabianski picked it up! The ref blew for the freekick. Arsenal switch off, Porto take the kick quickly, Falcao slots home. A fair goal, another embarrassing piece of defending. Ok, I’ll say it… THE worst piece of defending this year.

Those two goals were so poor, they’ll be in the advert for Danny Bakers footballing gaffs.

Arsenal didn’t have an outlet, Nik was getting pulled outwide and we didn’t have the pace over the top. Walcott came on with the aim of rectifying that. He didn’t.

Cesc did well to smash his 90th minute corner 20 yards past the back post.

I usually welcome Eboue as much as I do another Pfizer special offer e-mail, but I have to give it to the lad, he did fantastically well when he game on. With 92 minutes on the clock he beat his man with a superb dummy, he cut it back to Cesc but  Portos centre back got in the way, the ball fell for Diaby who didn’t have the confidence to hit it first time. Failure to shoot… the story of the last 5 years!

So, we lose the easiest tie of the last 16 in the champions league last 16. What does that tell us?

Well, firstly that Arsene Wenger likes to suffer in the name of his art. If someone tells you you’ll get problems with your car if you don’t get it looked at, but you insist it’ll be ok, then it breaks down on the QE2 bridge. Well, don’t come crying to me when your cam belt snaps and you’ve got 2000 people driving past you bibbing their horns calling you an idiot.

Here are some of the problems under the bonnet of project youth.

Denilson doesn’t have the athletic capabilities to be a top class footballer but worse than that, he doesn’t have the attitude to be a top class footballer. Watching him fluff challenge after challenge, miscue passes and saunter back to defend at his own pace made me feel a little bit ill.

If Wenger watches Fabianski in training everyday and he does things like that, why is he our back up keeper? If he is amazing in training and he does things like that in matches… that just goes to show, judging a player by what they do in training and banking on them replicating that in a champions league last 16 is suicidal and tantamount to negligence. Trouble is, could you have bet against Almunia doing any better?

Gael Clichy was absolutely woeful again, he was roasted time and time again by a second rate winger. However, like the keeping issue, who do you put in his place? We have a squad lacking in good back up. Where are our Wes Browns or Alex type reserves? Ours are either pulling their pension or sitting their GCSE’s.

How about overall team attitude?

Cesc hit the nail on the head. His voice trembling with anger when he pointed to the ’school boy error goals’. He said maybe our team is a bit soft. When we lose goals, Cesc says we’re not good enough to pick ourselves up.

A defeatist attitude at this level? Are you kidding me? That is a diabolical thing to hear from the captain of Arsenal.

As much as I love him, HE should be lifting the team. Would Tony Adams let heads drop? Would Patrick Vieira let Denilson get away with jogging. Not in a million years. Who is leading this team? What have you got to lose when you know you can get overtaken by a ref in a game against Man United and still have a place in the team inside a month? That’s two weeks docked wages in my eyes… or a proper day working with underprivileged kids to realise how good you’ve got it.

Theo Walcott? Why bother bringing him on. His pace is his asset, he’ll run for 20 yards, have a brain freeze, then cut it back. My pals jack russel Barry has more instinct for the game… at least he’ll run with the ball at full pace until he hits a boot bag. Shame he doesn’t earn £60k a week…

Finally onto Wenger. We’ve got a great player in Ramsey sitting on the bench. A player we know can either do an amazing job, or the same type of standard job we get from Denilson week in week out. The Wenger of old would have taken the risk on Rambo… the new Wenger… well, he’s to interested proving to the world he was right with Denilson. A demise of gutting proportions.

Wenger can moan all he likes about the freekick, but it was within the rules and we’ve seen Thierry Henry do the same before. Instead of venting your anger at the officials, why not vent some at your inept squad of highly paid flops? It was funny to listen to his post match reaction, he didn’t know where to go with it, when the commentator asked him if Cesc’s appraisal was correct, he gave that ‘I’ve just spat my cornflakes out’ look. Sometimes, it’s ok to call a cock up a cock up.

The fact is, you can’t win games when 2-3 players aren’t up to the job. It’s unfair on the rest of squad. All these problems are rectifiable, but Wenger seems incapable of making the tough decisions. We knew we needed a keeper, we knew Gael was playing poorly/unfit and we knew Denilson was a liability. We know Theo isn’t a game changer. That’s enough to lose at this level.

Still, despite my rant, it’s important to not get too wrapped up in misery, we’re not out of this by a long shot and I’m sure we’ll qualify at home. However, we want to win this trophy, not brag that we’ve made it to the quarters 22 years in a row.

With with an attitude like the one on show tonight, I struggle to see that culminating.

Ratings:

Fabianski: Two of the most ridiculous pieces of keeping I’ve seen. The first was inexcusable, the second was inconceivable. He scares the defence as much as Big Al. 1

Clichy: Roasted time and time again. His crossing was poor and you always felt nervy with him in the box. Love him as a gooner, but he hasn’t been cutting it for a while now. Needs a rest or some proper competition. 3

Campbell: I thought he had a very good game. There was no accounting for Fabianski picking up that back pass. The goal was superb and some of his defending was world class. You have to do double the job when you have a midfield as disciplined as ours in front of you. 8

Vermaelen: Some real sloppy challenges out there today. He looked annoyed and a bit aloof. Not his best game, but adequate. 6.5

Sagna: I thought he played ok. Nothing too scary from him bar his crosses. He needs more cover like Clichy, he is too often exposed alone. 6

Diaby: Attacking wise I thought he had a very good game. The second half saw the sloppy indecisive Diaby come out to play and no one in midfield can say the did a good defensive job. 5

Cesc: Not good enough for me. You’re supposed to be motivating everyone around you, you’re supposed to stick corners in the dangerzone. I love you, but I’m not going to start justifying a Barcelona move to you like so many fans keep on doing. You’ve signed to us, you get paid handsomely, you need to deliver. You wont get away with performances like that in Catalonia. 5

Denilson: Look, if you let a monkey drive your car and he crashes it, would you get angry at the monkey? Of course not. That monkey doesn’t know how to drive. Same with Denilson, why get angry at a weak footballer? Everyone knows he is poor bar Wenger and it’s not his fault he gets picked every week. The worst performance I’ve seen from him all season… and that’s saying something! 2

Bendtner: We saw the best and worst from him. He won a lot of headers, his passing was good at times. However, he was pulled out wide too often and his reticence to pull the trigger is infuriating considering he is a striker. 6.5

Rosicky: In the main he played pretty well. He claimed a great assist for the goal and forced a couple of handy saves from the keeper. Went missing in the second half. 7

Nasri: First half was pretty average, the second half was pretty anonymous. Same old, same old. He doesn’t have the personality to do great things for me. There is no edge to him. 5

P.S. Any spares to the game this weekend will be welcomed!

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