There are certain snobberies I can’t abide by in the world of internet fandom. I have mentioned them many times before, my least favourite being people that openly admit they don’t like transfer gossip. You’re an out and out threat to society if that’s your stance.
I read a great story about The Athletic; the fancy af premium sports app every journo in the world is joining. One of their snippets was the not-so-shocking insight that player trading gossip drives the most clicks.
I absolutely LOVED this quote.
Feedback loops aren’t always kind to journalists, who want to believe that readers care about finely tuned phrases, hard-won insights, and nuanced portraits. But traffic data show that what many want are rumors about where free agents are going to sign, reminders about what time the Super Bowl starts, and opinions about whether, if LeBron James had a time machine, he could beat Michael Jordan one-on-one.
THIS THIS THIS
If you have read this site regularly, you’ll know my fave thing to write about is football infrastructure. It’s my thing. Nothing gets me to 2000 words quicker. I spend a HUGE amount of time extracting insights from people at Arsenal and around the world to land a fairly sharp narrative about what’s going on and what’s needed to succeed…
I’ll post it out with a standard headline… traffic is meh. Only the nerds care (love you guys).
If I post a shite story titled ‘GERMAN WUNDERKIND TRACKED’, the numbers go through the roof.
People who say they don’t like gossip are a bit like vegans that say they don’t secretly eat bacon butties when they’re alone. It’s a straight-up lie. I know it because I am the Eye of Sauron for the meat industry.
People that moan about clickbait are of a similar ilk. Like, honestly mate, is your life so uneventful you’re noisily going to complain about being cyber-hoodwinked by a 17-year-old intern that fooled you with a subversive ‘Messi to Arsenal’ headline?
The real-life equivalent of venting that fun-size chocolate bars are actually not that fun. Or reading a 600 word self-penned Facebook post about Brexit, aloud, at a social gathering because you had an above-average engagement rate on it. Telling your mates you made a deep and meaningful connection with a stripper in Magaluf, and she’s told you the £1,500 you handed over will be used to visit you in March.
Where was I going with this? Oh, I think I just wanted to moan about an article I read that was headlined ‘FAN REACTION TO CEBALLOS GOAL.’ The worst sort of journalism. I didn’t even click it. It’s like pointing out a window and shrieking there’s a pretty normal cloud there. Except the cloud has more substance than the article. Gathering tweets for such articles must be the 2019 version of writing listicles for Buzzfeed.
You know what else I find super boring? Away fans moaning about fixtures like they are doing the world a serious favour. Ok, ok, you bought an away ticket. We get it. Calm down babe. You are going for a piss-up in Portugal with your mates, you’re not saving mountain goats in Syria.
While we’re here, a few people have asked me to define what sauce is when I reference it regarding the manager.
Sauce. Aura. X factor. That special something. Presence.
Elite leadership is not simply about knowing things. There are literally thousands of examples throughout history in sports, business, acting, singing and countless other endeavours where special sauce or whatever you want to call it has stood people out beyond the basics of good technique.
A simple example.
Steve Wozniak was the brains behind the early Apple products.
Steve Jobs was the special sauce.
If Woz was left to his own devices, he would have lived within the confines of his perceived limits and never pushed the startup to greater things.
Steve Job bent reality to his will. He pushed people to levels they didn’t know existed. He changed the world as we know it.
The whole idea of special sauce is intangible, but you know it when you see it.
Arsene Wenger, despite what you may think about him, has it. His presence in a room was electric. Truly special. That’s coming from me. I felt it like an unwanted hand on the thigh.
Mourinho in his early days WAS the special one. He was a translator that dominated football for 15 years. He STILL commands a Sky Sports studio rammed full of alphas.
Allegri. Klopp. Pep. Zidane. Simeone. Nagelsmann.
Elba. Bowie. Moss. Liam G. Iggy. Warhol. Elvis. Lennon. Allardyce.
Certain people have an effortless ability to create electricity. It cannot be learned. It cannot be copied. It is just there, the perfect storm of knowledge, presence and control.
Why is it important to football?
… because you have to command 25 powerful men, that are badly educated, and incredibly rich. You have to push people who have already succeeded to go to war for you.
At the bottom of the game, even the middle, knowledge is enough. The manager is a kingmaker at a smaller club because their ideas are making more out of less and players futures are less guaranteed. At the top, you are guiding greatness, which is a different ball game. It’s more nuanced. It’s fragile. It requires something beyond what you can read in a Robert Greene book.
That my friends, is special sauce.
Finally, it’s Le Grove’s 12th birthday today. A huge thanks to all of you that continue to join the word Arsenal infused word vomit party every day. This year has been the busiest ever, more visits, comments and listens than ever before. It is still mad that it exists, so THANK YOU!
Right, that’s me done. See you in the comments. xxx
Re okocha yeah he was absolutely mint. Miles too good to be playing for Bolton. He should’ve been at arsenal or a club of our ilk I really can’t accept Bolton’s endless rotational fouling tho. They’d commit 50 fouls a game and only get 5 bookings because most of the fouls were positionally innocuous, borderline etc and they’d take turns on whoever our best players were on the day Imo there should be a rule to stop this when it’s blatant. Like if 5 different players foul the same opposition guy it should be an immediate penalty or some shit.… Read more »
Michael Owen (way worse) much like Paul Merson has been established long ago as a bit of a meme of a human really a complete and obvious dumbshit who shouldn’t be taken that seriously. Even if he may share a dislike for someone you don’t like he is a bit of a joke.
“Sam Allardyce was competent for a mid-level team. However he was completely deluded on his level of competence. He genuinely believe that he could manage Real Madrid.”
Then you call him deluded not incompetent …….it’s not hard. He had trust in his own abilities, good on him.
Entire websites are dedicated to how dumb owen’s insight is https://sabotagetimes.com/football/22-stupid-michael-owen-quotes-to-make-liverpool-and-man-utd-fans-laugh
Arsenal have conceded 29 goals from errors in the past 2 and a half seasons . The most by any PL team.
China1,
Sam Allardyce greatest contribution to football rotational fouling. When a team set to take turn to deliberately foul the opposition best players.
Every fans knew what was going on, but Mike Riley and his Referees henchmen pretended not be aware of the tactics. So never give the team a yellow card.
Until Mark Hughes took too far with his Blackeye Rover team. He graduated to rotational kicking. That was so blatant, that even MOTD mentioned it.
However Stoke under Tony Pulis tried their best to continue the legacy.
Michael Owen
‘It’s hit the facial part of his head’ HAHJAAHAHA
Big Bob Mugabe was once a liberation hero turned into a ruthless stubborn dictator,
no wonder many arsenal fans saw the association with AW tenure! lol
There’s just too many dumb things said by that man it’s hard to choose a favourite.
9. “I love these players with two feet.”
8. “You need people who score goals. That’s how you win games.”
7. “It’s hit the facial part of his head.”
6. “Alderweireld played really well last year for Tottenham, let’s hope he can transfer that form to Spurs this season.”
Receding, There is belief in your own ability and there is being deluded. On UK TV there is a show called The Great British Bake Off. It is a seasonal show that last about 10 weeks. Every week the candidates have 3 tests and the worst baker is eliminated from the show. Every season the first two candidates getting eliminated are so out of their depth, you have to wonder why did they even bother applying. Yet if you listen to them they are fabulous baker. I like cooking, I am a good amateur cook, but there is no way… Read more »
Every season the first two candidates getting eliminated are so out of their depth, you have to wonder why did they even bother applying.
Lol it’s a tv show, they have people like that on so people like you will talk about why they did that. Looks like it worked.
Pedro: Congrats on 12 years
Interesting read today, Thanks
Great post and happy birthday Pedro
Luteo, We all know that reality TV is staged. Candidates are selected to make viewers react: empathy, repulsion incredulity. However what amazes me is the fact they still find applicants who are so out of their depth. At least One friends or one family member must realise that and tries to dissuade them. It’s not like there is a benefit like in other show in making yourself the object of ridicule. In the GBBO there is no fame and fortune for those who failed. If you want to see a clear description of how such show work Mitchell and Webb… Read more »
Happy B day LG
Val
Some people just want to be on tv regardless of anything, there’s a ton of these people.
Valentin
That’s the point of these shows.
I only watch the early bits of X factor to see the really terrible singers and have a good laugh at anyone even worse than me
Not interested in the vaguely talented and may after the shit has been evicted , only keep a passing interest in the supremely talented
Well done Pedro you have sauce !
Happy birthday Le Grove and congrats Pedro for keeping this going 12 years even though you lost your mate Geoff from the process (what happened to him?)
In and out of the site and drifted in the final Wenger years when apathy hit me hard
Luteo, You are right. There is always idiot wanting to be on TV. Last year my parents came from France to visit. It was late and my mom and her husband switched the TV on while my wife and I went to prepare coffee. When we came back the show was Naked Attraction. I had seen the advert but not the show itself. As neither speak English, I had to explain to them what the show was about. They could not understand why anybody would subject themselves to such humiliation. My mom was “What about your colleague, your friend or… Read more »
Happy 12th Birthday Le Grove!!! Pedro keep ’em posts coming, we never get bored of reading them!! To Alex I am really sorry as I should have posted this earlier; Wishing you all the best in standing up to that bastard of a disease. Always loved your caustic posts. You say that you’re an asshole, but most of us are aswell (I do include myself in this). Finally, if you do set up a go fund me to travel over here to watch an Arsenal game, let us know and we will all chip in ( I most certainly will).… Read more »
Nice read..
But I thought he was a centre
https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/9870417/arsenal-joel-lopez-europa-league/
RSPC
No when we signed him they deffo said he was a LB
Did wonder about him as we sold Nacho but thought he must be a couple of years away
This is a really exciting Develpment
Happy birthday to LE GROVE, started following back then in 2012 might not be commenting much but hardly miss a day,thanks Pedro it’s not easy churning out stories about a particular team for this long🎂🎂🎉👍
Le-grove is only 12 years? Feels like I ‘ve been coming here for 15. My first days here I used to think the blog was owned by a guy called Geoff. Really loved the contrast in his writing and Pedro’s.
Congratulations Sir Pedro.
Those comments by Micheal Owen are so dumb I m having trouble believing he actually said them.
“It’s hit the facial part of his head” Hahahahaha.
Great Work getting to 12 years.. Pedro.. Happy Le Grove B-day!!!!
Huge accomplishment. My Le Grove readership and commenting has lasted longer then most of my relationships.. So not sure what that means other then I am entertained. Been some pretty good times on the best Arsenal Blog around hands down. Also, have had some of the most ridiculous arguments ever that made me laugh, angry, perplexed, sad, you name it.. on here.. Long may that continue.
Enjoy the Pod casts too… just sayin.
You are going for a piss-up in Portugal with your mates, you’re not saving mountain goats in Syria.
_________
Also,… this made me laugh.. Good one.. Then I was like wait … what?: Mountain goats in Syria need saved… where do I donate? I love mountain goats.
I think we need to bring back the baby goat pictures is what I am saying.
Germany v Holland should be a good game
“CC, interesting piece. What do you make of it?“
Thought it served to illustrate our beta approach honestly. Sat back and springing a counter with fast verticality vs ball control, patient build up. Matter of preference but I think the latter is a greater skill, and the former more of a plan b.
The benchmarkers (City and Liverpool) show such excellent all around game, with City’s dominance just unbelievable in terms of control and possession. Jealous of the twats.
Pedro
Didn’t understand the post if I’m talking honest…
Possibly the blandest and most ordinary Dutch starting 11 in decades
Holland started very well but Gnabry gets the opener
His 8 th in 9 caps !
“My Le Grove readership and commenting has lasted longer then most of my relationships…”
MidwestGun – not so long ago my mother asked me what did it say about me that I’ve longer relationships with Toronto Maple Leafs and Arsenal than ive had with my former girlfriends.
Gnabry through the middle with a goal. Big miss
Nketiah scores again for the u21s….
The Dutch keep getting rejected by the German wall and then the latter are eager to hit them on the counter.
MidwestGun – not so long ago my mother asked me what did it say about me that I’ve longer relationships with Toronto Maple Leafs and Arsenal than ive had with my former girlfriends.
_________
JWL- yep… well it’s like I always say… I’m good looking and funny… It’s both a blessing and a curse. I’m humble too… very humble. Put it all together and I’m not so easy to live with. 😀
Keep the updates coming Karim… on the mobile today … not anywhere near a tv.
https://apple.news/AXbWqAtBCRjyKf3xS6wRfpA
I’d like to see a breakout of Xhaka vs Mustafi incorporated with this article. LMAO.
Nketiah 2, Nelson 1……
Mid
Cillessen saving Holland’s bacon, Reus should have scored seconds ago.
Northern Ireland have 4 wins in this group and the Dutch are on the verge of losing their 2nd game with only 1 win so not looking brilliant for them so far.
Happy birthday Le Grove, blog with the sauce.
I believe that the two players who are the most directly responsible for the 13 mistakes leading goals in the article are Leno and Xhaka.
Somebody wrote that it was Leno 6, Xhaka 4, Mustafi 2 and Guendouzi 1.
Here is exactly why I don’t believe in assist but in key passes.
Spain goal is created by Ceballos pass, the cross is just standard quality.
https://twitter.com/Akpommed/status/1169700899343785984?s=19
De Jong 1/1 !
Quality goal by De Jong. Malen on. Another youngster let go under Arsene. Between him and Gnabry you’d assume it was because we had some quality young players ahead of them at the time or actual wingers and not Iwobi and a raft of wank number 10’s
No sir. If Alba (?) didn’t connect the ball to the scorer, they wouldn’t have been a goal. The assister created the goal. The key pass always comes before the shot too, that’s why it’s key.
Kolasinac was in a position like that on derby Day but fluffed his line. Safe to say we won’t remember who gave him the ball
Happy birthday Pete and Geoff and LG.
1-2 Holland. Low sauce by the Germans.
Holland takes the lead
Worse handball given I’ve ever seen
Ref has helped Germany all game long tbh
Kroos with the pk 2/2
Thanks Karim… I decided screw it.. I need to find a place with a tv on the way home. Just saw the so called handball. PK Goal.
Defenders are going to start amputating limbs.. only way to defend.
MysticLeaves,
I did not say that the pass was not important, just that it was a standard cross and that most of the work had already been done.
Ceballos pass in space beyond the reach of the defender is the main destabilisation act of the movement.
The fact that Kolasinac fluffed his line is just an indictment of Kolasinac’s quality. At international level or premiership level you expect a professional player to be able to cross the ball without the ball bouncing off him.
Brilliant 3rd goal for Holland, Malen brilliantly assisted by Depay
That’s a lot of brilliance
Wow… didn’t see much of the match but Wijnaldum was balling out..
Yes Mr Val. We expect a lot of things but few happen.
Cracking game by Germany and Netherlands
What a goal Wijnaldum
Another great Memphis assist
This german team got outclassed!
Pretty bad miss by Gnabry… they needed that..
Excellent performance from the Dutch who resisted well before scoring 4 in the last 30 minutes.
Never seen a german team got dominated at home.
Oh well.. what I saw was fun… Mehico…. US later tonight. Gold Cup revenge match.
Good turnaround by the Dutch there. If Germany have any sense they get rid of the sniffer tonight. Should have been sacked after that world cup performance
Nketiah and Reiss Nelson combined to scre three goals for England U21
Germany needs ozil!
Lol
Really refreshing seeing the Netherlands having a top team again. Thoroughly outplayed ze Germans tonight. Went through a really bad spell there post World Cup 2014.
Would be worried if I were a German tbh, Kroos aside they don’t have much quality in midfield and they’re very suspect defensively.
Happy birthday LG. Thank you for always getting us busy.
Android is much better than Apple
Happy birthday Le Grove
“Never seen a german team got dominated at home.”
I have, Germany 1 England 5 September 2001.
They had their Arse handed to them on a plate.
Happy 12th anniversary to Le Grove.
First started reading this blog around 2009 (or 2010). My first visit was through newsnow during a summer transfer window.
So many rumours in those days. And so few signings.
Although I don’t write so many comments, I read most of the posts.
Some names have disappeared over the years (Keyser, Kwikfit) & I’ve always seen some names (N5, Gambon, Redtruth, jwl).
Thanks for keeping this place together all these years Pedro. Great job.
Olu! Great to hear from you! Hope you’re well.
Karim, Depay has been pretty great for Lyon. Scored at the weekend. Reckon he’d make it back to the EPL?
Thanks for all the birthday messages everyone, BIG LOVE TO YOU ALL x
Pedro, I really wanted Depay at Arsenal this summer. He’s morphed into a sort of half CF now so I don’t know if he will be as willing to play wide left again. Maybe a roamer. But yea, I reckon he’s ready to come back and make more of an impact atleast
Nketiah has had one hell of a start to the season
He’s doing everything right. If he can keep this form up for most of the season he’ll be a fabulous option for next season. If he still isn’t expected to get chances next season then he could be loaned out again and either brought back the following season or sold for a probably very tasty fee
I’d love for him to make it at arsenal mind
Happy birthday LG and Pedro.
N5
Your brown sauce post made me chuckle.
The most successful PL manager, Fergie, imo didn’t have sauce, his hairdryer maybe but not the man.
Ze Deutsch need an injection of new blood from foreign soil like Khedira, Ozil, Boateng, miroslav
Whatever happened to christoph Kramer? He was saucy over here some time back
Shout to Pedro 12 years is great achievement. Been coming to this site for so long now.
Happy bday le grove. Been effecting my life since 2012. Don’t understand all this sauce talk. I think it’s just another term for pedigree. I will say though, given the choice between emery and poch, I would take emery. Give me a manager that takes up challenges over one who sits in a comfy job any day. Poch has over achieved at spurs, ill give him that but he’s still not at the level of taking over a big team. Just like pedders wrote above, a manager is a big fry at small club’s. Ala poch. Won’t do much at… Read more »
Happy Birthday Legrove! Heres to many more. The only footy blog I visit daily for the last 6 years.
Happy birthday legrove!!
I stumbled across this site in July 2011 through NewsNow looking for transfer news and even since then, I’ve never left.
I visited this site every day but I never posted until 2014 to join Pedro in screaming Wenger out.
I posted scarcely until this summer when I began posting more frequently.
This is the best arsenal blog out there. My mates supporting other club usually wish that their clubs had a site such as this.
Cheers Pedro.
LeftSide
You can say that again.
Steve Jobs was a fraud
Pedro
Happy birthday mate, thanks a lot for all these years of dedication !
I’m with Mystic, Memphis is looking more like a professional these days. He’s more mature, hardly argues anymore and is focused on his football.
Has received a lot of praise with his NT for the last 2 seasons and is consistent with Lyon.
Yeah, I reckon he could make a pl comeback.
Happy birthday Le Groove and Le Groovers.
That article has a lot of sauce, Pedro. Hope you find enough sauce to continue the great job you do here.
Many happy returns of the sauces!
Happy belated birthday for the great job 💖 in you do Pedro.
Xhaka should of been a quarterback in the nfl and Sok
If Xhaka plays quarterback in the NFL, he’ll be a sitting duck.
Happy birthday Pedro!
Been reading pretty much daily since late 2007 so you’ve provided me with many, many hours of entertainment, for that I salute you. Hands down the best comment section of any blog.
We need you back on the Peroni though, that oatmilk stuff is rotting your brain if you think Pierre offers some kind of analysis above ” man not play Ozil – man bad”;)
Keep up the good work
Martinelli needs to explode this season. I don’t want arsenal going big for a left forward. Let’s go big for a CM and CB instead.
Silver hawk
Agreed we need a CB top level to give proper competition to Holding and Saliba when they both become available
Don’t need a left side forward as we have Martinelli Saka and possibly ESR who will all push for that role
We only need a CM if we don’t sign Ceballos permanently and then it would only be someone creative
We do however need a GK who is better than Leno even though Leno is much better than we’ve had recently. I would like to see us go for Oblak again
@silverhawk I agree with you on going big on CM and DF that should be the area of concentration now. Again Happy 12th Anniversary @Pedro Let me just mention this, in a discussion i had with a friend back home couple of years back, he said Le grove won’t have anything to post after wenger has left. I laughed and said “you must be joking right, that guy is a quite resourceful there are numerous things to talk about than just wengerout. Moreover it seems you missed some of his posts on other important stuff”. Personally I don’t always agree… Read more »
“We only need a CM if we don’t sign Ceballos permanently and then it would only be someone creative” Don’t agree with this at all, first priority, preferably in January has to be a tall, athletic CM that can permanently banish Xhaka from the team, without that we’re going nowhere fast. If Holding steps up and Saliba continues to develop it’s possible we won’t need another CB next year but we have no one in the middle of the park that will stop us getting bullied by more physical teams. Torreira, Guen and Willock are all ok but it doesn’t… Read more »
Jeneral
I think Leno is gooe enough. And he’s still pretty young for a GK.
Even if Holding comes good this year, we still need a top CB.
And like Freddie said, we still need a tall athletic CM who’s on his way to being elite. (Sangare?)