Sign it Robin... no wait?

Well, well. Failure from the Arsenal Directors. A day after the contract talks have taken place, I’ve seen no evidence of a signed deal.

What’s up with that?

What are we paying you for Ivan?

There are various rumours flying around the web about how the talks went. I believe none of them. It looks like this is going to drag on. Like a dog, caught under the wheels of a bus. A bus that’s traveling at about 2mph. Through soft mud. On the never ending bus route.

This summer is probably going to be painful. As painful as every summer for the last 15 years. But we can deal with it right? I mean, seriously, is there a group of supporters in the world more adept at seeing their top players leave every year than us? I doubt it. How do Liverpool do it? Oh yeah… they tend not to have top players. Oh… and now they don’t have a top manager. King Kenny has left. With that, so has Theo’s only option of a £190k a week deal. Bad luck Theo, best reconsider the offer Arsenal have put to you.

I honestly don’t think there is a manager in the game I like less than King Kenny. He came back to Liverpool like God himself, blew £100million on a set of players that everyone could see were absolutely garbage, had an absolutely rank season, backed a racist… then got his just desserts. Bad luck Kenny.

Back to Robin, the rumours seem to point to his future being based around this summers recruitment drive. I like that. That makes Robin a fan of the club. If he leaves because the extent of Arsene’s summer is 2 signings. Good for him. Why should he hang around and fight for a trophies in a squad that is wildly under resourced to even challenge for the Carling Cup? He shouldn’t. Arsene should give him the tools to win the Premier League. We have the money to make a go of it… there’s just a question mark over whether we have the manager with the balls to do what’s right.

There are plenty of players available this year who could help us kick on to the next level. Belhanda, Javi Martinez and Kagawa all look awesome players going forward. All will be available. In defensive midfield M’Vila is available, Yanga-Mbiwa just had a stormer at Montpellier and Etienne Capoue at Toulouse has the raw ingredients to make it big.

In defence, Vertonghen is still up for grabs and in the last year of his contract at Ajax. He’ll no doubt secure a move away from his club this summer. Then there is Giroud. The guy looks incredible. We’ve been watching him. If we don’t move now, we’ll lose out. There’s also Cavani who bangs goals in for fun in Italy, he terrorises defences and he has that nasty South American edge about him that would do our front line wonders should the worst happen with Robin.

Then there’s Eden Hazard… how long have we been banging on about that guy on here for? Now it looks like he’ll end up going to United or City. He’ll be a big miss. We’ve been talking about him for 3 years. If you want insight into the best players in Europe… there’s no where better to get it than the Le Grove comments section. The best scouting network going.

Roy Hodgson picked his first England squad of his career. He went bold. He went for Oxlade-Chamberlain. This worries me slightly. Though the Chamber-maid is obviously talented. I can’t help but think he’s being geared up for a fall by going to the Euro’s. He managed 6 starts last season. He played a stormer against Milan. Bar that, he was very hit and miss. Why wouldn’t he be? He’s a kid. The press over here won’t be that kind if he goes out there and bombs amongst mainly, pure mediocrity.

That said… the England squad needs someone explosive and unpredictable out there. It was hard for Roy not to pick him. I just hope we come back with a player that is the hype… not a broken player everyone casts off as a failure. He’s more than capable of surprising people. It’ll be a more interesting tournament for his inclusion… no doubt. It’ll also be interesting to see if Theo can raise his game. He’s played well in spurts this year, but he doesn’t often turn up in the games you need him to. He’ll have to for England.

There’s some pictures of Lukas on the Arsenal site for you to look at. Other than that, have a super day.

It's all they had in Trophy World.

Welcome to Wednesday. Turns out Robin is having his meeting today. Whoops. My theory about his contract came a day early. The problem with that is now I don’t really have anything to talk about today. Which is irritating to say the least.

Well, as it’s the end of the season, in traditional Le Grove fashion, it’s time to start testing the water for Le Champ and Le Chump of the season. Our annual awards celebrating the best and worst of the season that has just past.

Today, we’ll be talking about Le Champ because the weather is sunny and I want you to think about all the good things that went on last season. It’s important that you realise this is just the nomination stages. I’ll be taking your thoughts to a panel of experts before deciding on the final line up. So your suggestions for Le Champ need to come in today…

Here are some ideas. Remember, it doesn’t have to be a player of Arsenal, it doesn’t have to be a player at all.

Robin Van Persie

I thought I’d get the ball rolling with a real curve ball of a suggestion. I’m just thinking he scored quite a few goals this season. He was the captain. He was pretty much 80% of the reason we qualified in the third place this year.

Mikel Arteta

Signed on deadline day at the last minute, the Spaniard came with high hopes. He didn’t replace Cesc, but added a steely discipline to our midfield. He sacrificed a bit of his game going forward to ensure that our midfield was stable (and sadly, not exactly spectacular). Our win ratio without him speaks volumes for the impact he has as a player and a personality in the starting 11. He single handedly demonstrated what we’ve been saying on here for years… experience is often more important than talent.

The Medical Team

It’s a miracle that the staff kept Robin healthy all season. That’s the first time he’s ever managed that. A lot of praise has to be given to the way they’ve managed his fitness. The fitness of the squad overall has been pretty good in comparison to seasons past. Alex Song was fit all year, Vermaelen was fine once he returned, Koscielny played most of the games and Ramsey was fit most of the time. It was also impressive that Yossi and Arteta in the main stayed fit… two players who have struggled with injury most of their careers. Most of the full back issues we had around January were of our own making… Kieran Gibbs is a fitness disaster, Santos was taken to Greece for a worthless game and Sagna had a broken bone.

Martin Fulop

We play golf together. He’s not very good but the man loves to gamble. He owed me a pretty serious backlog of unpaid bets. I didn’t directly approach him, but I hinted.

‘Martin, you know I do this blog thing on the side about Arsenal right?’

‘Yes boss’

‘Well, let’s just say my readers would be pretty over the moon if we beat you on Saturday. If they’re pleased, I’m pleased… and forgetful. You know what I’m saying Martin?’

‘Yes boss’

‘Martin… do you know what I f*cking mean?’

‘Yes boss’

Job done.

I wish it hadn’t been quite so obvious he was doing me a favour, but what can you do? The lad isn’t the sharpest tool in the box…

Fabio Capello

Spurs were flying… they were having the greatest half season of all time. Winning games, pulling away from Arsenal, talking about taking the title. Then Fabio Capello gave himself his marching orders after the FA took JT’s captaincy away without consulting him. Harry was the media’s choice for the role. He couldn’t contain his excitment, he refused to deny he wanted the job… the Spurs players showed that they weren’t fazed by the speculation by destroying Newcastle… then going on an incredible run of loses and dropped points… culminating in conceding a 10 point lead to their nearest and dearest rivals… namely, us.

Hilarious. Fabio, your stubborn disregard to the ramifications of having a racist pig of a man as your captain have worked wonders for Arsenal. For that, all I can do is salute you in a totally inappropriate way… a way that you’d like.

So there we have it… that isn’t the list… that’s the suggested list. You can add yours through the day and I’ll have a rummage through later tonight and work out which suggestions I can add into the mixer.

Have a great day Grovers. If you see Robin at a Petrol station, give him a hug and tell him you love him. Buy him a whisper gold as well… it’s off season now… treat him.

P.S. We’ll be taking on guest posts on in the summer. If you’ve got something to say, it’s well written and interesting. We’d be happy to take a look at it. Anything on the finances, potential transfer targets that are a little bit curve ball… or something on the history of the club will be welcome.

SEG International, the home of Kees Vos, and non-capitalised names

Good morning Grovers. Today is a very important day in our summer. Robin Van Persie sits down with Ivan, Big Dick Law (perhaps we can’t do football naming conventions for our directors) and his agent. Darren Dein will obviously be there… like a shark detects blood in the sea, Darren Dein can sniff out a massive pay day from 32,301 miles away. He’ll be there, hiding in the bushes or the briefcase of Ivan Gazidis.

One thing that warms me about this meeting today is that Kees Vos also represents Thomas Vermaelen. He signed up to a new deal with us without any hassle. I guess the main difference there is firstly Thomas was coming back from a rotten injury and secondly, he’s relatively young in comparison to Robin Van Persie. The way I see it is there are three options today…

1. Robin agrees that he’ll not sign on this summer, instead taking a free transfer next summer

Pros: He’ll get a monster pay deal next summer. The pros for us is that players in the last year of their deal tend to have better fitness records. Well, according to someone who told me that in the pub. Nigel Phillips from the AST  I think? Apparently they ran a study for this in America. If I could be arsed to dig it out, I promise you I would.

Cons: He’s lost out on £4million this year if you think his value is £160k a week. £7.1mill if you think he’s worth what Carlos Tevez is worth. If he takes a free next year, he’ll have lost out on £14.2mill. Is he going to get that in a signing on fee? I doubt it. What about if he gets injured next year? He’ll have lost out on the biggest pay deal of his career.

2. Robin agrees a massive deal with us and signs on for the next 4 years of his career.

Pros: He earns less than he’s get at City but he’d go down as a legend of this club forever.

Cons: He might not win a trophy for his whole career. His talent surely merits a trophy.

3. Robin agrees an extension based on a few things. 1) We sign players that make us competitive 2) He’s paid a staggered loyalty bonus that goes up every year 3) He can leave if we’re not matching his ambition

Pros: He gets paid what he’s worth. He can leave when he wants. He gives himself a great chance of winning a trophy if we match his ambition.

Cons: He might not get the mega pay deal he would at City. But if it’s not all about money. That shouldn’t be a problem.

The meeting takes place at 10:30 at his house. Let’s see how persuasive Ivan and Richard are. I’m neither confident nor despondent about this situation. Robin’s comments don’t really fuss me…

 ’You never know but Arsenal is a massive club. Whatever happens, I’ll always love this club.’

He’s hardly going to come out and say he’ll definitely stay. He’d know Ivan would be round with his Tesco Value contract if he did… he’s playing it cool. Anyway, enough on that… onto other news, which is obviously in abundance now the season is over!

Podolski has been making positive noises in the press. He’s been talking about where he’s going to play next season…

‘In Cologne, I played as a centre forward and also as a playmaker’

‘In the national team I play wide on the left. I honestly don’t mind where I play, as long as it’s in a forward position.’

Sounds like he doesn’t really care too much for which side he plays. I think he’ll play wide left. If he’s playing centre forward next season, you’ll know it’s because we failed in our negotiations with Robin. If we do keep the Dutchman, it does leave us with quite a bit of competition in the wide areas. We’ll have Ryo, Theo, Gervinho, Chamberlain and Podolski… I like competition. We certainly need it at the club after some very complacent end of season performances.

Finally, The Daily Mail reckon Junior Hoilett is attracting interest from Arsenal, Spurs and Bayern Munich. I’m not really sure you can ever take anything too serioulsy that paper publishes because they will publish anything to maintain their record of being the biggest online newspaper site in the world. However, I was told way back in January that he’d not taken a move to Spurs during the winter window to get one to Arsenal this summer. We’ll see. Things change by the minute in the world of transfers, so you’d imagine those plans could be quite wildly different right now.

I suppose a lot depends on what Theo does with his contract. It’s been another average season from the man who promised so much. He still doesn’t have the pitch presence or consistency to merit anywhere near £100k a week. Still, you can’t expect him to sign on for anything less than a payrise… the folly of Arsene and his monster contracts.

There’s loads of web talk about the great tackle Gibbs made last minute against West Brom. It’s a bit OTT to call it the £30mill tackle. Like West Brom are incredible finishers. The thing that makes me laugh about it all is that the reason he had to make a last ditch tackle like that was because he was out of position. Gallas made a career out of that! As did Kolo Toure come to think of it…

Anyway, let’s just be pleased he made it and we finished third.

There are a lot of rumours going around about Vertonghen agreeing a deal with Arsenal then being shot down on personal terms. That’s not what happened. We’ve not bid for him. His wage demands would not sit well in our dressing room apparently and we’ll have known what they were before we went to the effort of sending a fax to Ajax. Surprising that a player of his calibre is considering Spurs when a club like United are looking for centre backs.

Finally, I’ve knocked together a poll for you. Enjoy.

2011-12 season... see you later.

There it is people. One of the most painful season I can remember in a long time. Over. Finished. See you later. Consigned to forgettable history.

There are positives though. We finished in third place. That has been our goal since February. We also over turned Spurs. Which again, was a massive achievement considering how far ahead of us they were and how well they were playing. Sure it took a huge collapse from them. So what though? It took an equally huge collapse from United for Manchester City to win the league. Do any of their support base care? Of course not…

Anyway… onto the game. I’m not going to go into too much detail because I can’t be bothered today. What’s the point. The season is done. We can all see what needs to be done… if the coach and Steve Bould can’t… well, it’d just be like every other summer for the past few years.

The main changes to the line up were Andre Santos and Coquelin coming into the line up. Sitting the game out were Kieran Gibbs and Aaron Ramsey. Those changes both made sense. Gibbs has been in pretty poor form and Ramsey hasn’t been in good form all season.

The game got off to an absolute flyer, much in the same way it did against Norwich the week prior. Yossi chased an over hit Robin through ball, Fulop came rushing out of the area to clear it, last minute he changed his mind about levelling the ball, let it roll into the area, mistimed his pick up, Yossi nipped in and passed into an empty net! A superb start!

Well, like last week, it didn’t last very long to lose the advantage. WBA went on the attack straight away down the other end and forced a good near post save from Fortune. Coquelin lost posession about 3 times in the space of 5 minutes and the whole defence looked nervy. Then it came, a ball straight through the middle, our defence was all over the place, Long was offside by about a yard… Chezzer came out for him, then dropped back into no mans land… Long slipped home. Hapless defending regardless of whether Long was on or offside.

It didn’t take long to find ourselves a goal down. This time from a speculative long ball that was pretty poor. Dorrans managed to win the header, pick up the second ball and bang it past Chesney. Shocking positioning from everyone. Pitiful that we’d conceded our 49th goal of the season against a team who have been hopless in front of goal this year.

The team were incredibly nervous, but worse than that, in the main, mostly uinterested. This was Pat Rice’s last game in charge and they players had no urgency about them. The passing was off, no one was making runs and WBA were giving us problems. Luckily for us, they were just as shaky at the back. Our chance came when Alex Song broke up play in the final third, Santos was on hand to pick up the ball, make an advance run and smash home past the weak wrist of Fulop. A great finish, but it’s not hard to see why our defence is such a shambles when our left back is standing in an attacking midfielders position.

Gervinho was typcially hopeless all of the first half. He’s world class at getting into great positions, he’s even better at fluffing his end product. Much like Glen Helder was back in the day.

The second half supposedly saw a positive change. Rosicky went off for Theo Walcott. The game certainly needed an injection of something. Shame he gave us nothing.

Santos had a rasping shot that went narrowly over. Down the other end, Jenkinson continued to show that he’s not cut out for top flight football at Arsenal when he was turned inside out by the very average Fortune. My heart was in my mouth everytime someone went near Jenkinson… he’s a penalty waiting to happen.

Our moment came though. It came from one of the worst pieces of keeping I’ve seen in a long time. A poor cross was whipped into the box from a Robin corner. The keeper rushed out to punch it clear, he was nudged by Greening, slipped and punched it backwards, Koscielny was on hand to clip the ball into the net. What a relief… could we keep a second half clean sheet though?

We could, but my god, we didn’t make it easy. Robin Van Persie ended up clearing a header off the line. Moments later, Andrews was given the freedom of the edge of our area and rifled a shot at our goal that was well turned away by our keeper. There was another ridiculous moment when the ball headed down the left and the only player covering was Yossi. Another example of the total disregard our team have for defending.

The decisive piece of defending in the game came when the ball slipped into our area, West Brom were in on goal and Gibbs flew in with a supreme sliding tackle to block the shot! Absolutely amazing last ditch defending.

I think the irony of the second half of the WBA game was that we’re the greatest team in posession when we’re chasing a game. If we’re defending a lead, we can’t hold onto the ball for love nor Champions League football. If you’re winning and you need the points. Slow it down. Chezzer comes out and claims a cross, then throws it to the other keeper. Instead of playing posession football in the final third, we’re whipping aimless crosses into the box. It really is awful to watch.

Still, we held on. We finished above Spurs by a point and we took that automatic space for the Champions League. Considering how shocking our start, middle and end was… I’ll take that.

Conclusion

There were some nice moments yesterday. it was good to say  goodbye to Pat Rice on a contextual high. He’s been a great servant to the club and he deserved to go out like he did yesterday. There was a moment in the game when Arsene hugged into him when we’d missed a chance. Whatever people think about his performance as an assistant over the last few season, the guy bleeds red and white and he’s done many great things for us.

Overall though, yesterday was exactly how we wanted the season to end. We took third place in stuttery fashion. We haven’t convinced at all over the last 6 games and we’re only where we are because the teams below us were equally bad. Does that matter? No. But it matters that we couldn’t take further advantage of their poor form as stretch out a substantial lead over Spurs, Newcastle and Chelsea.

It’s perfect. Wenger has to have seen that the squad is about 6 players away from competing for the big trophy next year. He has to see that some of our players are no where near Arsenal standard at the moment and he has to act. He has 2 more seasons at the club in my opinion (on his terms). I don’t think he’ll stay longer than his contract. He’ll want to go out on a high. We are not an injured players return and 2 signings away from making up a disgraceful 19 points.

What was worse this  year is our defensive record. 49 goals conceded is so far beyond a joke it makes me want to cry.

31 -37 - 41 - 43 - 49

Those numbers aren’t this weeks lottery winners. That’s our defensive record over the last 5 years. Each summer Wenger has promised to address how we defend, each of the following seasons we’ve found ourselves worse off. This year has to be the last time our system and team discipline is ignored. We need to learn how to defend as a unit. We need to have defenders who love keeping clean sheets and we need far more communication at the back. Steve Bould has a mighty job on his hand, but he needs to be strong. No one wins the league conceding such a huge amount of goals.

In the player department yesterday, it was amazing that our best player was once again Yossi Benayoun. We need players like him around our squad. We need players who give a crap every game. He was inventive, he chased down every ball and he was a threat all game. We need workers like him who are gifted technically. Our best player this year outside Robin was Arteta. Again, not world class, but an incredibly hard worker with a technical gift. I think Podolski fits that mould as well. Some serious consideration needs to be given to the whole of our squad.

We can’t go into next year with the excuse of not being able to move players on. We need to force them out if they won’t go. Players who are young won’t want to rot in our reserves next year. What would be the point. If you’re not playing, you’re killing your chance of getting the best possible contract when you hit your mid-twenties.

Anyway, his comments after the game about 3rd making buying and keeping players easier was positive. Robin’s comments didn’t look too great… but we’ll see. If he goes, he goes. It’ll be upsetting, but watching Giroud over the past few games gives me hope that there are other strikers out there who can do a job. Look at Falcao and Cavani… and all the others ripping it up in Europe.

Anyway, that’s it for today… we can go into the summer with bragging rights over Spurs in tact. Let’s pray for a good summer!

P.S. I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has read the site, followed our Twitter account and got involved in the comments. It’s been a rocky old season, but you guys have made it so much more bearable than it would have been. It’s a pleasure writing for you and humbling that you still come here to read what we churn out everyday.

We salute you!

Not sure whether my brother is correct, but he informed me last night that Chezzer was fit for today. He’s not an insider, but he can work the Internet like the best of them. Great news if he is. He may have had an inconsistent season, but he’s sure as hell been a massive improvement on our keeping options this season. He’ll get better. If he has competition and advice from a seasoned pro next year, he could be 27.8% better. Which is pretty damn good.

We have a pretty weak defence going into the game. Gibbs was very poor against Norwich last week. We’re missing the best right back in Europe and Vermaelen’s form has been anything bar encouraging this year. We need a clean sheet today. We need to stay disciplined and we need that back four to work as a unit. No constant bombing forward with a total disregard to whether you can get back. If we go two goals up, there is no need to do anything other than defend.

In midfield I’m not sure what Wenger has planned. I’m going to throw a guess out there and say he’ll go for Rosicky, Rambo and Song. That’s fine. A few pointers for Aaron if he reads the blog… release the ball before you run into someone. If you get that ball out of your feet as quick as you should, your stats would be 27.8% better. That’d alleviate the fan negativity around your game by almost 37.6% which is a pretty big drop when you consider how many of the support base don’t see the potential I see in you.

Aaron. I believe in you. You could be the best. Better than Paolo Vernazza was at Dagenham and Redbridge.

Up top we have an interesting conundrum. Do we opt for Gervinho based on the fact he looked like a half decent footballer in the second half last week, or do we give Chamberlain a go and temper that by bringing Yossi in on the other side? Young and exciting on one side, crafty and clever on the other? It’s a tough decision. I’m guessing Wenger will opt for his £15million boy. In the middle, it’s clearly going to be Park Chu-Noo. He’s hit the target three times in training this week and I hear on the grapevine that Wenger is ready to unleash him on the league.

If those stories are untrue, I guess we’ll just have to deal with Robin Van Persie. It’s sad. It could be his last game for us. I hope he puts in a blinder whatever happens. I hope he motivates the players to destroy WBA. I hope he leaves this season on a high.

Regardless of how this season has panned out; third place and Champions League after the start we had is an achievement. We can bitch and moan about it being the fault of others that we are where we are…. but that’s inconsequential. We could finish third this year. If we do, that’s not a terrible return. We’re not screwed as a club. We’re back in the Premier European competition. We’re keeping our heads above water. For me, you’re not much of a supporter if you wish anything other than third on the team today. If you think us finishing 5th will do anything other than destroy our next 3 years, again, you’re deluded and not much of a fan.

Also, if we finish third, that’d make me right. You remember, I said on February the 15th we’d finish third and you all laughed at me? Here is the reminder…

‘Wenger also thinks 3rd is within our reach. He’s right, it is. I can’t believe how defeatist people are about a team who have no history of seeing things out. For all the wonderment of Harry’s lily white army, and all the disappointment of our pithy season… they’ve only managed one more goal than us. Ten more points is a bother, but if we beat them on the 26th, it’s down to 7 and they still have to play Stoke, United plus Chelsea, Everton and Sunderland away.’

Look how right I’d be. Right and smug. Smug and obnoxious. So obnoxious you’d have wished we’d finished fourth second. Plus, I’ll have won £50 from two Spurs muppets at work.

If we lose. Geoff is doing the post tomorrow.

Enjoy the game today. Pray the lads turn up and pray that Wenger thinks by saying he’ll only sign one or two that means the market rate of players won’t rise too high. He’s being smart right? If you don’t talk about houses in public, you get a better deal. That’s a fact my friends.

Have a marvellous day! Catch you tomorrow for a blog party.

P.S. The only down side of this whole 3rd thing is I said I tattoo my arse with #OneArseneWenger if we finished third (Bet with @10Akhil on Twitter). I jinxed it on purpose. You know, taking one for the team. I’ll have to think about designs if this comes to fruition. Anyway, I’ll deal with that on Monday. It’ll be a tattoo worth having. I’d do anything to finish third… anything.

Happy Saturday everyone. It’s a bit of quiet day on the newsfeeds so not an awful lot to report on.

Key issues to deal with are that the back page headline in The Sun yesterday which said something like…

‘The moment we lost belief in the manager’

… From Laurent Koscielny. Well, it was kind of detached from the content of the interview. It almost felt like The Sun had written a irrelevant headline to shift more papers. Very naughty. Anyway, Arsenal went to the unusual lengths to publish the original Phillipe Auclair version on the homepage yesterday… which as it goes was a pretty stellar read. This bit was interesting.

‘Here at Arsenal, we’ve got one session per day, which lasts one hour and a half; and during this hour and a half, you don’t stop. Everything’s done so that you’re at your maximum, from the warm-up to the end of the session. So, at the beginning, it was tough for me, I could feel I was really stretching my engine… all the more so that, at Lorient, [manager] Christian Gourcuff tended not to call on me for the first two days of the week’

Just fuelling what I’ve told you for years about the way we train. We’re quite unique in the sense that we max out our players every session. Other clubs tend to do what Gourcuff did… tailor training around the players. That’s not Arsene’s way and that’s why we’ve tended to suffer with injuries. GPS seems to have helped calm that urge to blast players (or at least flag when they’re red zoning) and reduce some of those injuries, but I doubt it’s changed the way Wenger does things wholesale.

In other news, Arsene is up to his usual tricks again…

‘Our job will be focused on inside [matters] now we have Podolski. That means to get Jack Wilshere and Abou Diaby back in a healthy situation and then I believe we have quite a big squad. It will be [our intention] to trim a little bit and if possible add one or two players.’

Trim a little? Bring in one or two? Get Abou Diaby back to fitness?

Arsene, if that’s truly what you think needs to happen to turn us into a title winning team, you really are deluded. We’ve made 3rd this year because everyone else has messed up. The only thing we’ve had to smile about in the last 6 weeks was the City game which was dampened by losing dropping points either side of the game. We’ve spluttered over the finish line (if we make third that is), the players have been complacent and arrogant.. and the manager is saying we need minimal changes over the summer?

I just hope he’s saying those things to get a reaction from the players on Sunday. I mean, to be pulling the Diaby fitness card for the 5th season running is a sure sign you’re not learning your lessons.How many points exactly do we need to finish behind the winners of the league before he looks at the team and say…

‘Fu*k me, this is poor’

I mean 19 points off the lead is pretty bad. It’s the formula one equivalent of being lapped. That is not a two change issue. City will bolster this summer, United will do the same…  yet Arsene will be the only manager in the league who would consider going at it again with the same group of players who let us down this year? That really would be amazing. I’d challenge anyone on either side of the Wenger fence to condone a two player in summer.

Thierry Henry had a goal nicked off him by the dubious goals panel. That knocks him down to 228, a bit of a shame… perhaps we get him back again next season to avenge that Blackburn goal? Isn’t it amazing that the dubious goals panel are soooo busy it takes them until now to make a decision. What a joke. How long does it take to see who landed the goal? What, 12 minutes? Inefficiency at every level in football is painful to watch.

Team news for tomorrow looks slightly worrying. The keeper has messed up his shoulder so might be a doubt. This happened last year. We had to play Almunia. He had a disaster when he came out and shoved Squillaci in a horrendous error. Fabianski is not a good keeper. Him playing tomorrow would worry me. We also have no Sagna. Another big loss but at least the man coming in is pretty good. Coquelin can’t defend as well as Sagna but he’s better going forward. The rest of the team will look pretty standard. It’s all about which attitude turns up… hopefully they all know I have some bets on for 3rd place… and the good attitude shows up for the full 90 minutes.

Time will tell. Enjoy your Saturday and the sun that goes with it! (Not the paper)

First up. Steve Bould is our new assistant coach. Well I never…

Arsene Wenger is pleased to have nabbed his man and had this to say on the appointment.

“His qualities are that he has experience of the top-level game, he has managed here, he knows our football philosophy and therefore there will be a continuity,” he said.

“He has also chosen after his playing career to coach here at the Club and we always want to give an advantage to people who know how we work, how we want to coach.

“A very good coach is the most important thing, no matter where you played.”

Very promising stuff.

There was more though…

“He was one who always gave me his honest feelings, and when I made different decisions he was completely behind me. That is a privilege when you are in my position. I am convinced it will not be a complete separation. I am convinced until the last day of his life he will be at the Emirates.”

Am I sensing a bit of grooming for the big job going on here? That method worked with Liverpool for all those years. Why not Arsenal? I’m looking forward to seeing how a more modern approach to preparation will affect the side. I’m looking forward to seeing how a more motivated man affects the defence.

I mean really, this job is absolutely made for Bould to succeed in. It’s not like he’s taking over a steady ship. Pat Rice undoubtedly went stale in the last few years. Bould will be taking over a defence that has declined steadily over the last 7 years each season. I mean honestly, how can he not improve on a goals conceded tally of possibly plus 47? He basically has a blank slate to work with. I’m excited about this move and I think Arsene is as well.

On the player front, rumour has it that we’re looking at Kagawa for £7million. He’d be a snip at that price. He’s not the player I’ve heard we’re looking at, but he certainly feels far more realistic. He’s managed 35 games this year with 16 goals and 9 assists. He’s banging them in for fun. He’s technically gifted and I’m sure he’d suit our side and the pace of the Premier League. I’d be surprised if we were the only ones in for him at that price… we’ll see!

Wenger said he’s not talking to M’Vila at the moment and we’re not close to signings anyone. That might be true, but believe me, we’re active in the transfer market. I guess Wenger wants to ensure there are no mistakes at the weekend because players heads are fearing for their futures. He is interested in the Frenchman, whether we’ll get him is a totally different question though! I’m sure we’ll watch this one drag out over the summer in slow and painful fashion.

The West Brom game is our last game of the season, I’ll give you a preview tomorrow. Needless to say, I think we’re going to beat them. The sun is going to be out, the players will hopefully be motivated and we’ll take that third spot.

Have a great day!

So I put up this seasons transfer exits list and it sparked much debate in the comments and on the wider web. People seem to be transfixed by this issue of salary and price. Now, in some instances I agree. We do pay our drossy players too much. Diaby earns £60k a week. Really though, he’s not a drossy player… he’s an injury prone one. He’s a French international, he’s got quite a lot of ability and he looks like Vieira. If he wasn’t injury prone, he’d get a deal.

Other players on my list people gasped at…

Nik B:

• Has goal scoring pedigree in the Premiership
• Danish player of the year most years
• International footballer / Goal scorer at that level as well
• Champions League experience
• Suited to the Premiership
• Married a Princess

Please don’t tell me £6mill and £52k a week is unattainable elsewhere in the league.

Carlos Vela:

• Scorer of classy chipped goals
• Has bundles of pace
• Has superb technique
• Mexican international
• Has bagged 12 goals and 7 assists in a very poor side in Spain
• World class party arranger

Again, please don’t tell me £8million for this sort of player is beyond the realms of belief.

Chamakh:

• Previous top scorer of headers in the worlds premier club competition
• League winner with Bordeaux and one of their best players at the time
• Great build for Premier League
• Supreme 3 yard passing ability
• Previously rated at £15million

You’re telling me he couldn’t fetch £5million on the open market?

As for Alex Song for £25million. Please. How are you even questioning his proposed price at £25million. He’s been floating in all those Youtube friendly assists to Robin all year, he never gets injured and Madrid are interesting him. Do I even need to run you through their purchases? £20million for Lassana Diarra who managed 17 games this year. So good, Chelsea had him as a right back and sold him to us for a pittance. £30million for Mahamadou Diarra who came from a poorer league and now plays for Fulham. We should be looking for no less than that if we’re looking to sell. 12 assists people… that’s more than Luca Modric has managed in 2 season. Precisely 3x the amount his managed this year. He’s being touted for £35million+.

Wages could be a stumbling block for some mid range clubs, but so is playing for young players. If Everton can afford a player like Drenthe, then why can’t they afford someone like Bendtner? I think the whole wages thing is an issue, but for me, the prices we look for are more the problem. We’re looking for Adebayor type inflation with our poor players. People will take them, just for lower prices. At the end of the day, young, technically gifted players are sought after. We have them in abundance… just not at the level they need to be.

Other clubs seem to be able to shift on their poor players on high wages. Newcastle are a prime example of a club that took the hit on the fee to get rid of big earners. Joey Barton and Kevin Nolan all went to very poor clubs on wages similar to the above mentioned players.

Back to the Arsenal. The Yann M’Vila story is already beginning to bore me. Journalists, bloggers and students on Twitter with inside information from the top are arguing amongst themselves over whether there is a deal going on. Some say it’s being negotiated, others are saying it’s agent speak to get a better deal at Inter… I’m saying we’ve proabably been scared off by another club entering the battle.

We never negotiate if there is a second party involved.

If we don’t sign him, there will be someone else we have in mind. I’d be very surprised if Arsene is looking at our goals conceded this season thinking his back 4 have been superbly protected. 47 goals is quite a lot… even for Arsenal. We’ve also been tracking M’Vila for a long time. That’s a lot of wasted scouting if we give up at the first sign of a bidding war. If this guy is good enough, what’s £22million? He’s 21, he can do the job and he’ll have resale value. If he’s not good enough at £22million… why would he be good enough at £17million? He’s either going to be world class or he’s not. How much would you have paid for Gilberto back in the day?

The Arsenal team had an end of season party yesterday. Am I the only one who thinks that having an end of season party before the end of the season is a bit strange? Shouldn’t we finish the job then throw the farewells? You know… to avoid that feeling that the season is over when we’re playing WBA in a hugely important match?

Maybe I’m being a stick in the mud.

The players said goodbye to Pat Rice. They ate jelly and ice cream and some of the older boys went and played in the woods. No hangovers I hope. No office flings. I know how these events get… Pam I’m looking at you.

On the player exits list. Robin Van Persie has had the dreaded Peter Hill-Wood vote of confidence.

‘We haven’t talked to Robin yet, but I spoke to Arsene (Wenger) recently. He is very confident he will stay and I very much hope he will’

‘He has had a wonderful season with us. We have had no official approaches from any other club, as far as I am aware.’

Translated…

‘Robin won’t speak to us, Arsene is confident because that’s his default emotion when it comes to Arsenal players and their futures and though we’ve had no official approaches, we’re pretty sure Darren Dein has had about nine unofficial contacts.’

There is also no movement on the Theo Walcott situation. To be honest, if we replaced him with Hoilett we’d probably be upgrading anyway. Theo has managed 9 goals and 11 assists playing at a team in 3rd place with the hottest striker on the planet. Hoilett, in 10 less games for one of the worst sides in the league has managed 6 assists and 7 goals. If we land him on a free and sell Theo for £18million, we’d be doing a grand bit of player switchery.

That’s as much as I can give today. Fear not though, for tomorrow is another day.

See you in the comments!

P.S.

Sorry pal, I don't care if you beg, it's military service for you...

So the big, fat, exciting news that had us all glued to whatever social network was talking about it was the story of Yann M’Vila. The journalists finally caught up with the story and suggested the deal was going to be struck at £17million. Julien Laurens, who apparently has a a direct line into M’Vila said the deal was going ahead. Matt Spiro (who told us all how average Park was against the grain last year) also confirmed he was coming. Then the Telegraph, then the Mail (haha! I know, I did reference them). Then Phillipe Auclair waded in and said that no offer had been made and he was unsure one would as he’s too expensive, violent and in poor form (what a reference). Where this story goes today is anyone’s guess.

Sadly, I have no steer on this one. All I know is that we’ve been in talks about a big name Ligue One star since February. I’d be quite surprised if we didn’t land him. He ticks all the Wenger boxes bar the price. It’s also interesting that we have a defensive midfielder who has performed quite well this year… yet we’re replacing him with someone else. I wonder why?

The Daily Mail (sorry) are saying that he is set to hold talks with the club about his future, he’ll be seeking assurances over his place in the team with the imminent purchase, perhaps, of someone 4 year younger. Now, some are suggesting that Song is going to move into a more advanced position next season. That won’t have come from anywhere within the club. Probably people picking it up from me communicating it as my biggest fear for the last 4 months.

Anyway… from what I’ve been hearing, that’s unlikely to be the case as we’ll be looking to fill that creative void left by Cesc this summer with, errr, a creative player. Not a free creative player either. A top notch one.

It’s clear to me that Jack Wilshere isn’t a Cesc Fabregas. He can be creative, but he loves to be in the thick of it. He’s like a half breed between Makelele and Cesc. I’m just not sure he’s the type who’ll grab us 20 assists a season. I might be wrong, but for me, he sits smack bang in the middle of the park. Not in a more advance role. Alex Song is not better in the middle of the park than Jack Wilshere. He’s certainly not good enough to be our creative force all season, so I wonder what the coach has in  store for him if he’s looking elsewhere for the creative spark next  year?

Again… Darren Dein is his agent, Real Madrid stories emanting in the press, clear the air talks are in the Mail… M’Vila is nearly in. It all looks very interesting doesn’t it?

Our forward line is going to be interesting next season. One thing we haven’t had for a while is proper experience. I’m sure Wenger noted how a 34  year old veteran of the Premier League came into the side and scored some important goals for us last season. If he keeps hold of Robin Van Persie, I think the vibe is quite strong for Clint Dempsey. He’s 29, he works incredbily hard and he’s got to that age where he’s found his shooting boots.

The key to having a good strike force is to have a mix of skillsets. Clint Dempsey will put his head on anything, he’ll hussle in the same way Adebayor used to and he’s more than happy to let fly from distance. He has that last twenty work ethic that can lift a team. Very similar to Rooney in that sense. Outside him, I’m not sure what we’ll do. Giroud looks like one of the hottest strikers in Europe at the moment, but with all these other big dollar moves we’re looking at I wonder if he’d be in budget? Joel Campbell could be a nice third option, but is he too raw like Afobe?

Like I said the other day… for all the Chamberlain hype, it’s clear he wasn’t ready this year. Let’s not make a similar mistake with Campbell and Afobe.

I think if we know Robin is off the year after (a very big if that he’s not off this year), we need to be signing our 2013 man now. We can’t buy in someone next summer and just hope they’ll come good straight away. There’s a fine balancing act to this summers dealings. I just hope we get it right for once. We haven’t managed to in well over 7 years now.

We also need to show the same desire to bring players in as we will to boot them out. Let’s not haggle up all summer and screw our plans. Get rid of them early doors.

• Vela £8million
• Denilson £3million
• Bendtner £6million
• Almunia £freeeeeeeeee
• Fabainski £3million
• Mannone £500,000
• Squillaci £500,000
• JD £4,000,000
• Diaby £4,000,000
• Song £25,000,000
• Chamakh £5million
• Park £2million
• Andrey £5mill (Update, not considered in the sums)

That’s £61,000,000 you could recoup at bottom of the barrel prices (bar Song, but he’s had a good season), plus another £595,000 a week you free up in wages. Factor in the £50million you have from the summer… well, you can work it out. That’s a great summers rebuilding you could manage with plenty of freed up squad places.

I know people will say that these players won’t leave on the salaries they’re on. Well, that’s only true if we’re charging too much to let them go. If wages and transfer fee are counted as one with football clubs… we might have to budge on our valuation. There’s no financial sense in not moving on a £12million Bendtner fee if you’re going to have to pay half his salary over the year. Move them on.

As for the Vertonghen story. Here is the issue as I see it. He’s in the last year of his deal. He thinks he should go for a pittance. If he goes for half his price, he’ll want double his salary. That’s not going to work at Spurs as they have a strict structure in place. That’s unlikely to happen at Arsenal. However, he’ll get what he wants at City or United. I also don’t believe it’s his dream to play for Spurs. Didn’t Hazard say something equally as bizarre a few months ago?

Anyway, as you can see, I’ve once again solved all of Arsenal’s problems this summer in under 1000 words. How would you make it happen for us next  year?

People keep saying he won’t have an influence, but I couldn’t disagree more. He has it all to prove. Whilst I don’t think he’ll be disruptive or a dissenter, I think he’ll be more enthusiastic about addressing the basic issues.   As I’ve said on here for years, we need to utilise the tools Championship clubs are doing a better job with. Let’s get Bould sitting the defence down and telling Vermaelen shouldn’t be bombing forward when we’re 3-2 up with 15 to go. Let’s have a better squad rotation system built around GPS so we don’t look dead in January. Let’s force players to run through the video analysis so they know what’s coming each game.

Let’s build next seasons success around preparation.

I also think he’ll force more accountability. Could Pat Rice, at his age, really demand 100% commitment in the same way a much bigger, stronger man 25 years his youth could? I don’t think so. Steve Bould is a living memory player for all Arsenal players. I’m 27, though I have huge respect for what Pat Rice did in the game, it wouldn’t come close to the respect I’d have for Steve Bould. He’s living memory for me, Pat Rice isn’t. Personally, I think it’s a great move, he has an amazing chance to take us to the next level. Wenger has an amazing chance to freshen his ways up. It’ll be mutually beneficial.

On the transfer front, things are also hotting up. Yann M’Vila, the defensive midfielder from France we bid for last August seems to be the major signing from Ligue One we’ve been talking about since February. I was told back then we were out there working on a deal, it’s great if that’s coming to fruition now. He’s a top player who has superb discipline unless you’re a 17 year old who has messed with his Facebook profile. He’s exactly what we need.

I’ve questioned the signing of M’Vila for a while. If he comes in for £20million. What does that mean for Alex Song… who you know I’ve had question marks over for a while? Well, that might mean he is shipped off to Madrid. Like Flamini, I think he’ll get found out if he goes elsewhere. The fact these stories are cropping up now plays right into what I’ve suspected for a while… that he’s looking for the next big move. Having Darren Dein as your rep is a pretty big statement these days. For me, as good as some of his passes have been this year, we could be doing better. He’s too slow, he still totally lacks discipline, he seems to have very little passion and he’s never going to be the Gilberto or Emmanuel Petit we need.

God help me if Arsene Wenger decides he’ll be our creative force next season!

An interesting thing I’ve noted is how many of the pro-Arsene types seem to hate the fact we’re signing big. They’ve generally been the people saying we’re wasting £20mill on M’Vila and that Podolski is average. Jeez… lighten up. The same people said that about Arteta and Yossi in the summer.

There’s still an interest in Jan Vertonghen of Ajax. There’s also interest from Spurs. As I understand it, he’s probably not going to end up with the chaps down the road. I think the appeal of playing with Vermaelen will sway things if we do go for him (which is far from certain), plus the fact we have a long term future as a club. That said, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him at a club like City or United.

We’ll also be looking to move on the deadwood / wage collectors this summer. Bendtner, Vela, Chamakh, Park, Denilson, Almunia, Djourrou and Squillaci are all likely to be on the exit list… that said, I was told the exact same thing last year but we struggled to find buyers. This year already feels different though. We’re doing our business now because we know Robin won’t stay otherwise. That’s the type of player power I can deal with. The club seem to be responding, but truth be told, we were responding from February. We haven’t just suddenly become swift negotiators…

We’re still not finished for the season. We have a tricky game to deal with at West Brom. We conceded two goals early on there last year… a shocker of a game from Almunia from what I remember. We went on to batter them from there. This year, we need to go up there and play them off the park from the off. We need to go at them like we went at Norwich in the second half of the game. If we play 90minutes like that… we’ll win. Spurs don’t have an easy game against Fulham, so their 3 points are in no way guaranteed… but we need to make sure. Another draw will be hugely disappointing. I want to enjoy the Champions League final this year, not bit my nails in a juddering wreck for 90minutes.

Anyway… that’s your lot. Let us know your thoughts on the rumours and the new assistant.