ARSENAL ROUND-UP

by .

Well hello, I’ve been back in the UK, so the blog has taken a bit of a backseat. In fact, I would say this is the first time in many years Arsenal has not been top of mind, and I’ve been out the mix 3 days and I have ZERO idea what is going on.

So let’s just start on a ramble and see where we go.

Tomi, our new centre back that is a right-back stole the show on international break with a dominant aerial performance. Weird to have two fullbacks at the club that boast 6ft+ frames. I don’t know what the galaxy brain notion is here, but I do remember Olivier Giroud being very important for Arsenal defending set plays back in the day.

‘Tall people are good for high balls’

Maybe this one isn’t so hard to work out. Weird thing with Tomi is he seems to be the player that is most intriguing Arsenal fans. No one has a clue if we’ve signed Kagawa levels of Japanese talent or we’ve unearthed another Inamoto. I’m excited for him, he seems to have a very Premier League athletic profile and he’s young enough to grow. Doubt he’s going to start at the weekend, but I’m looking forward to seeing him regardless.

Emile Smith Rowe stepped out of the England U21 game with some of that ‘unwellness’ which is a bit concerning. It’s not the ‘rona, which is pleasing, so hopefully he’ll be good for the weekend.

Kido Taylor-Hart signed a pro deal with Arsenal. That’s superb news. He’s highly rated and we LOVE the Hale-Enders. Again, say what you like about some of the embarrassing stuff that has gone on at Arsenal, one thing you can’t avoid… the kids are signing up for whatever Mikel is offering. That means good coaching and chances for the first team. We’ve not had that in many years. Can’t wait to see what the future holds there.

Martin Odegaard proved that there is no one better to rip apart a very weak team. He banged out a massive 12 key passes against… Gibraltar. Listen, you can only beat what is in front of you, so let’s just be pleased for him and hope he can dish out that sort of lesson to Norwich this weekend.

Arsenal rejected a bid for Mo Elneny. No one dodges a transfer window like this man. He’s Keanu in the Matrix. Each bullet he’s ducking is a Besiktas, Fenerbache, or Gala. It’s wild that we persist with him. But here we are, he has a nice smile and you KNOW he’ll be getting leaned on after a February injury crisis. I just hope we don’t offer him a new contract or extend him.

Just some passing conversation I’ve been having with Arsenal fans in England. Quite interesting that picking up a season ticket is now a piece of pie. Red members are being offered them. That’s quite a dip for Arsenal who boasted 60,000 on the old waiting list. If you can’t shift season tickets, then moving club level tickets is even harder… gawd knows what they’re doing at corporate level. Part of the splurge this summer was about apologizing to fans for the wrongs of the Super League, but I guess if you really dug deep, it was probably about arresting the decline in matchday going fans. Stan once said that it didn’t matter what price you put the tickets at, the fans would come… seems that might not be the case.

FINALLY. Le Grove was 14 the other day and I missed it. Thanks to everyone that has read, commented and followed the blog. It’s been a wild ride and I love you all for being so kind along the way. Now we have a podcast, we do Youtube, and we’re Pog Daddy’s (look it up). Here’s to 14 more years!

Right, that’s me done for today, I’ll see you in the comments. x

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grooveydaddy

Yo

Jonnygunner

Somewhere???

Jonnygunner

Everyone is still in bed…..

WinOrDie

Tro4phy!

Davey

Rock on Tomi

Dat guy Pepe

Happy 14th birthday LeGrove/Pedro. Not easy keeping a blog aline for that long. Keep on keeping on

Captain Tierney

https://twitter.com/AFCWilliam__/status/1435347105581838340?s=19

Charlie Patino- reportedly one of the best ever to come out of Hale End.

Must watch, we have a gem in our hands

Le Sauce

Arteta

Guembusy

Been reading Le Grove since 2008 although you rarely see me interfering. Wish you happy birthday Pedro, and to continue for many more years. And, a big thank you. What a blogger!!!

redbro14

Trophy?

redbro14

Congrats Pedro on quality and longevity of your effort here! Much appreciated!!

Ustyno

Happy birthday legrove and legrovers

May Arsenal do well so this blog can also blog well

Gommit

Time flies.. I think I might have spent to many months reading Arsenal blogs over the years.. Got hooked on Myles (ANR) back in the day (must be 20+ years now..). Then found Arseblog in Andrews first week and am still following him.. I can’t remember when I started following le-grove but it was just under 14 years ago and it has been my first browser visit each day for years now. Thanks for all the hard work and keep on going. Congrats 😊

Valentin

Bizarre that you are now acknowledging that Arsenal FC is struggling to sell Arsenal Club season tickets, because a month ago you were pretty adamant that was not the case. Arsenal contacted me about 2 club level season tickets and I declined. I know numerous people who did the same for various reasons. Like I wrote at the time Arsenal is facing three big hurdles: + Financial impact of Corona / Brexit: people who have lost their jobs or are in threat of losing theirs are not going to commit to a unnecessary big expenditure. With furlow over, the real… Read more »

englandsbest

One thing that can be said with certainty about the signings – Tami and all – is that they were no accident, no last-minute panic buys. Some may question their merits and roles – a mystery to all of us – but for sure Arteta and Edu knew what they were after, know what they have in mind.

A lean mean machine.

Bleeding Guns

Happy Birthday to Le-Grove! Always been a pleasure even on days when it wasn’t! Grats Pedro, you’ve done a swell job.

Jdawg

I have to pay some respect and say thank you for the brilliant content and congrats on the 14 years . That’s brilliant, also with no ads all over the place. Can’t say the same for justarseanal which I used to read but their content has gone massively down hill.

You’ve got me hooked I will continue to be a consistent reader.

COYG Arsenal Arsenal Arsenal! I’m looking forward to the home game this Saturday, hoping for some joy!

Wengaball

Arsenal, specifically Josh Kroenke, blew up the opportunity to build on the Wenger era, opting to dismantle the culture, values, systems that built the club for two decades and made it a globally loved brand. The club could have chosen to evolve – fix the weaknesses, while defending all that was good with their life. Instead, it has chosen to blow up and start afresh. If it loses fans, it will be of its own making. Also, starting afresh is always going to be a long haul. So dig in. Will be good to have a the chief blogger’s view… Read more »

Wengaball

On that note, here is an interesting trivia:

In the old days, baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men,
then the women, and finally the children. Last of all the babies.

By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it. Hence the saying, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water!”

Wengaball

And a big cheer to Peter to keep the blog going for 14 long years. Well done mate.

Samesong

Happy Birthday Le grove.

Wengaball

When Wenger came, he built on the Graham era of donor die defence. He not only continued with the ageing back line, he game them new life with diet and fitness regimen. He recognised their importance, not just for the football, but for the values. Then he added the attack, creativity and football flair to the mix. It was additive and evolutionary. Once he left, the first thing that got dismantled at the club was the creative flair. It was bizarre- because that’s what Arsenal was most about, whether win or lose. And it was a massive strength of the… Read more »

Wengaball

donor = do or die

Sid

The jump out cake is ready! where do i have it delivered, to le groves supreme leader, to show appreciation for your effort.

Valentin

Wengaball, Wenger also rebuild the defense: Sol Campbell, Toure, Lauren, Ashley Cole were a great defensive unit. The issue in the later Wenger years was not the defense per se, it was the midfield. We had no proper defensive midfielder. Coquelin, Cazorla was a great pairing, but injuries meant that we never saw it for a complete season just a calendar year. Once Cazorla got injured, we never recovered. Coquelin never had a proper creative partner with defensive awareness (Özil, …), discipline (Ramsey, …), technical ability to be press resistant (Xhaka, …), and vision to make splitting forward passes (Elneny,… Read more »

Wengaball

Other ‘good’ things that have been blown up: 1) the club was known to conduct its business in a largely ethical way. It was perhaps a bit too rigid and a dose of pragmatism was needed. Instead of adjustments, they swung the other way and brought a wheeler dealer in Raul to helm the affairs. And then the club got into bed with a super agent. 2) good scouting was another strength – at least in the hey days, and even lately. Finding gems was never an issue – exemplified by Wenger’s presence in M’bape’s living room before he had… Read more »

Biggles

The kids aren’t signing up because of what Mikel is offering. They are signing up for a mixture of what Per is offering and, for the lazy ones, the chance of lifetime employment sitting on a bench somewhere. What they all know is that Mikel won’t play them unless there’s *absolutely* nobody left and that he won’t be around when they are realistically looking at making a move towards the first team.

Wengaball

Valentin – I agree. By defence I don’t mean just the back line. I mean the defensive performance of the team.

Mind you, it is much much harder to coach a good defence in an attacking team, than putting ten behind the ball and claim defence has improved.

Cazorla’s injury was another of the bad lucks that plagued Wenger throughout. Eduardo and Diaby earlier – two players that were crucial pieces in their respective. I am of firm belief that but for the injury, Diaby would have been one of the greatest ever players in the premier league.

Wengaball

And if Eduardo’s leg had not been broken, we would have been champions in 2008.

Biggles

@Wengaball I see what you are saying and it’s pretty accurate. I think the problem was that there was no process or method other than “do what Arsene says” in every regard. That started with David Dein leaving. It’s a clear line from which all the things that went wrong for Wenger started going wrong. Sure, we were struggling to keep up with Chelsea’s spending at that point, but we were still challengers. Over the next few years we got gradually worse and I think if we’d had a proper technical director at that point and proper contracts people in… Read more »

englandsbest

Stop complaining about the past, start looking into the future….

Sky

Keep it up Pedro, hopefully this weekend gets better with a convincing win for the boys, they need it for their sanity.But I don’t fancy Arteta to take us through the entire season,Arsenal should get back to its high standards.

Valentin

Wengaball, I agree. Two Arsenal players Eduardo and Diaby who got their career curtailed by assaults that were barely punished by the FA. In other countries, fouls of such force ALWAYS lead to extra longer bans and instructions to referees to punish such fouls even if nobody is injured. In France some players got 8 games ban for reckless and violent behaviour. Here unless you spit and then everybody is up in arm, you can break legs with near impunity. He is not that type of trop is then uttered by the Neanderthal apologists. I am sorry, but you break… Read more »

Elmo

Re Tomiyasu: rather than the Kagawa / Inamoto comparison, it will be interesting to find out whether he turns out better than Maya Yoshida, another tall Japanese CB that also plays RB. He was a PL stalwart at Southampton, but we’re looking for a higher standard than that. Re the season tickets: yes, the same experience as what you’ve heard, Pedro. I have access to a silver, which is enough for me as there’s no way I could get to most matches nowadays (and wouldn’t want to pay in any case!). However, I’ve been on the ST waiting list since… Read more »

Kroenkephobe

Wengaball
I’m an enthusiastic but amateur etymologist. I was fascinated to find out the background to the ‘throwing the baby out…’ idiom.

‘robbing the living daylight’ and ‘knowing your onions’ are two others that have fascinating historical connections.

I agree wholeheartedly with your points about how the club has diminished. Some fool would call them modern realities but we are joining certain other London rivals in a race to the bottom of utter spivness. It’s sad.

Gonsterous

Congrats on 14 years of blogging pedro. My congratulations to Geoff too, my favourite site for arsenal lovers.

Next year will be the big one I suppose.

Gonsterous

The other 6foot+ full back the pedro references in the post, is that chambers?

Also, no xhaka means easy 3 points in the bag. International footie really kills the vibe of PL lovers

James wood.

14 years you get less for Murder.
Good to see you have a good hide on your back.
Well done.

Ovia

Been reading this blog since 2013. I have to say your consistency and quality is top notch. 🍻 To 14 years more.

Pierre

Wengaball
“Once he left, the first thing that got dismantled at the club was the creative flair. It was bizarre- because that’s what Arsenal was most about, whether win or lose. And it was a massive strength of the brand.”

Absolutely..

I think many Arsenal fans(the obsessives)thought it was easy to play open attacking entertaining football…

It has become increasingly obvious that losing players like Ozil , Mhkitarayan, Ramsey and Wilshere without replacing them has had a damaging effect on on our creativity..

Pierre

Kronkephobe
“I agree wholeheartedly with your points about how the club has diminished. Some fool would call them modern realities but we are joining certain other London rivals in a race to the bottom of utter spivness. It’s sad.”

And yet you are the one (of many) who continue to deride Ozil’s achievements at the club , and of course will refuse to recognise how our creativity has slumped to an all time low (as well as our league position) without ozil.

Pierre

Tierney
Agree …Charlie Patino certainly looks the business..

Sid

In season 2016/17 we went from 2nd position to 5th, Ozil was in the team
Im telling you for free!

Vintage Gun

Happy 14th Birthday Pedro for creating and maintaining a BEAST of a blog over the years. And although I’ve disagreed with many posts of yours over this summer iv’e always respected the time and effort you have put in to provide this platform and Arsenal online community.

Lets hope we get a belated birthday present this weekend and kick the shit out of Norwich to start our climb back up the mountain.

Guns of Hackney

The new utilitarian right back, centre half hybrid might be okay. He was peanuts and has to be better than the shite we have. I don’t have a beef with him. As for season tickets, who is surprised? We aren’t a draw anymore and being a fan is normally passed down or, you support the club doing well. Back when I was a lad in London during the early 80’s, everyone supported Liverpool or Arsenal. My school was in Highbury and it was 50/50. Heading into the 90’s, every fucker was a United fan. Now, I’d say the Chelsea, Scouse,… Read more »

Vintage Gun

“The other 6foot+ full back the pedro references in the post, is that chambers?”

I’m guessing Nuno Taveres. Saw him close up at West Brom. Looked tall

Habesha Gooner

Oh Le-Grove is 14. Happy 14th birthday.

This international break went so fast. May be it’s due to the fear of watching Arsenal play. Thanks Arteta. Anyway, I hope we beat Norwich. Players are coming back and we need to see something better now.

raptora

Happy 14th Birthday!

I’m blessed to have this place to rant after a shit result.

May the shit results be less frequent than recently in the near and distant future.

Useroz

Some reports cite high salary demand by Elneny as reason for the collapse of the deal not Arsenal rejected it. So we’d believe what we’d like to believe though a player like Elneny shouldn’t have been allowed to remain here however one looks at it.

raptora

Omari Hutchinson is the one to watch. I’d bet he’ll become what we thought Reiss will.

cheffy

Congrats Pedro and Le Grove, rarely comment but have read this blog for a long time and one of my mainstays from earlier days (together with ACLF, RIP).

NJ Gooner

Bravo Pedro! Congratulations

14? You baby Le Grove is officially a pimply, moody teenager!

Lacaqualidie

The club sold its soul when we moved to the new stadium. The plastic badge being the epitome of that. Wenger ‘Wengerised’ Arsenal, which gave us some great times and the PL great football, but it also set in store a worse future, especially since David Dein left. Once the big shareholders started selling to outsiders then the Arsenal ethos was always going to transmogrify to one of a corporate entity/sporting franchise. ‘Play the Arsenal way’ and ‘Arsenal values’ have been thrown out the window. It’s a shame Wenger didn’t realise he was losing it and help the club look… Read more »

Tony 2

Happy 14th + 1. LG. Brilliant work Pedro you are a star. Re what WB said about Diaby. I concur 100%. I was there that fatal day v Sunderland and 2 things stuck out (we won 3 0 btw) 1st as there wasn’t a full house when the Sunderland prick crunched AD you could hear the crack from the stands. A horrendous career threatening injury. (Still makes me wince just thinking about it. 2) TH played for around 85 mins and received a standing ovation from the home fans. Nice gesture. If you don’t believe how good AD was Google/YouTube… Read more »

cheffy

I wouldn’t be too quick to surmise that there might be something there cos the kids are signing up. Too many factors at play plus a number of the young players are not doing being treated too well or often languishing.

CG

Hardly a surprise , season tickets are available and the executive boxes are empty. They will remain so, until either KSE sell up or erase the current imbeciles in charge and appoint proven professionals in the right positions and start acting like a serious club again. Why would anyone want to pay cash to watch Arteta and Round ball and their Everton dirge anyway? (They oversaw the team scoring 4 (FOUR ) goals at home in x 14 home fixtures last season and they have not scored in 270 minutes of the season thus far. A. Wenger’s Arsenal alone scored… Read more »

InsideRight

I’ve just watched the two-minute compliation of Charlie Patino over on Arseblog. Absolutely outstanding performance against Swindon. I’ve not seen Patino play before but I can see why they are raving about him at Hale End. Cultured left foot even at his young age, fantastic awareness and brilliant touches to get himself out of trouble. Looks to make forward runs and picks out some really intelligent passes into the channels and out wide. He’s like an English Santi. He’s better than Xhaka and Elneny already. It can’t be long before he gets on the bench. With his talent he is… Read more »

Spudnik

happy 14th Pedro

TR7

I know Patino was playing against kids but his style is very similar to Pedri of Barcelona. Touch, control, awareness of space and players around him – delightful stuff !! Looks more of a La Masia product. We are producing good talents in our academy.

TheLegendaryDB10

Happy 14th Birthday Le Grove!!!

Despite differing perspectives re MA Pedro, I’ve always followed your blog (read it daily), alongside Arseblog, as you are a great writer!!

One also has to thank the many posters here for making this blog what it is!! Without them (and their madness 😉) this blog would not have the personality that it has.

Keep it going Pedro!!!

Words on a blog

Happy birthday, Boutrous/Pedro.

Wow – keeping Grovers informed/entertained/outraged for 14 years!

Respect.

Words on a blog

On the season ticket thing, I took a “holiday” from my 2 season tickets this year.

The combination of COVID concern, the exorbitant cost and the execrable football was too much for me to take.

Dennis+the+Menace

We’ll done Pedro for keeping this blog going for all these years. I think it’s become quite influential (which is why I am giving you a hard time over Arteta 😉). Look forward to hearing from you on who Arteta’s successor should be and how to expedite it.

raptora

Just watched a compilation of Ode vs Gibraltar. Some good moves, won a few balls, good fight and desire, nice change of the dynamics. Not going to lie – couple of times he had the easiest passes to make that would have lead to almost certain goals but instead he overhit it. He ended with 0 goals or assists in a game Norway scored 5 times. Time is on his side to improve. Interesting that he is used on the right side of a midfield 3. When you are playing vs Gibraltar, go in the box, try to score goals,… Read more »

raptora
Chris

Big thanks to all that you do with Le Grove Pedro, always an engaging read and great pods.

Also a big what up to the posters here, for their views on Arsenal, all football, literally any other subject and also the comedy! It all keeps me coming back day after day.

Valentin

WOAB,

Exactly the 3 reasons I cited earlier. 😁

I think that the Kroenkes will not see how abysmal the renewal season tickets and the general sales of tickets are until end of November, beginning of November.
By then it will have a direct impact on Arsenal treasury.

A accountant friend of mine used to work for a company who did the book for Fulham, QPR and Millwall. He said that bar Theo Paphitis (who was on it every week) most executives did not have a clue about the financial situation until 3 months into the season.

Ollie

Raptora

That’s an incredibly harsh assessment of Odegaards highlight reel there. He put his team mates through on goal multiple times, hardly his fault if they have taken a bad first touch or shot straight at the keeper.

OCGooner

Happy Birthday Le Grove! Reading since 2009 although don’t comment all that much. Thanks Pedro for your diligence all these years. Not easy to keep one of these up for that long (with a day job to boot).

Valentin

Ollie, It was against Gibraltar, so if his teammates have to reach to control the ball and still miss against them, I doubt they will have the same freedom against premiership defenders. We can only hope that it was due to his teammates still being rusty or not good/sharp enough. However as Raptora wrote, I would also want to see more runs and shots from him. It was cannon fodder Gibraltar! Any attacking players should want to score against them. Great players have that ruthlessness in them. He does not even try to bully minnows. The only thing worse than… Read more »

The BigBen

Been a fan of this blog since 2009 though I hardly do comments. Happy 14 Le Groove!

raptora

Ollie, I agree I’m being harsh. But am I wrong with the notion that an offensive player, who wants to be world class one day, should go into the game vs Gibraltar with the full and obvious intention to pad their stats, try some shots, gain some momentum, score? We got an AM that is allergic to going inside the box and is also allergic to making late runs ala Ramsey. He will score 5 goals at best in a full EPL season. And he it doesn’t look like he’s trying to develop his game. It looks like he is… Read more »

raptora

Someone like Eriksen has 36 goals in 109 NT apps.
Odegaard has 1 goal in 33 games.

I’d expect him to have the ambition to score vs Gibraltar.

1 goal in 33 games is some shocking stuff.

Havyn

Our league just began. At Brentford, we should have had a penalty when Fora was brought down. Their second goal was a clear foul but that doesn’t matter because in the middle was a Manchester United supporter official called Oliver.

We had lost key players through injury and illness and that affected our game with the Chavs and City.

Unfortunately Oliver will be in the middle against Norwich. We need to pray.

Samesong

Ode is not going to be that ruthless, selfish player. He’s too tidy a player. I watched him in the previous game against Latvia and he rarely went into the box. I don’t recall him taking any shots either.

What he is good at is moving into spaces to receive the ball. And 1-2 touch passes. Can play with his back to goal. But can easily be dispossed if you bully him enough.

Not saying I don’t like him, but I think ESR has more about his game.

Tony

Happy birthday Pedro and Grovers.

Let’s hope Le Grove gets Conte as a present.

Samesong

Re

Ode has an excellent range of long and cross-field passes.

CG

Raptora “””1 goal in 33 games is some shocking stuff””” Its probably why he never made it a Real Madrid. Good technician, consummate pro but simply no output. I also did note a stat, that in Saka last 17 premier games he has scored 0 goals and created 1 assist. So where the goals are coming from for season 21/22 , your guess , is as good as mine. I wish Arteta would put the documentary on about Ferguson. How Fergie contantly reminded his players at Aberdeen and Man United , thats all his players must take responsiblity and score.… Read more »

Sid

Odegaard cannot make late runs, he lacks speed and acceleration

MD-Gunner

From the Athletic article “Which Premier League team has the best goalkeeper?” just read and weep. “Emiliano Martinez is the best goalkeeper in the Premier League, right? Surely I’m not alone in thinking this? Not only is he brilliant at the basics — shot-stopping, collecting crosses, commanding his area — but he’s also a handy weapon to start off attacks with his pinpoint kicking and vision to pick a pass between the lines. Without knocking Arsenal too much — the league table is doing a sufficient job — this has to be said: letting Martinez join Aston Villa was one… Read more »

Sid

Odegaard would be great in the Firminho role instead of Laca, with two of ESR/Saka/Pepe in the flanks.

TR7

Ode is a poor man’s Ozil and I didn’t like Ozil that much.

ESR is the guy, reminds me of Rosicky and Nasri in some ways. Let’s hope he and Saka don’t regress under Arteta, already seeing some signs of regression.

Samesong

Odegaard cannot make late runs, he lacks speed and acceleration

He don’t need to but when he has a chance just shoot outside the box.

Dissenter

My concern about Odegard is that he’s a static op-center, a bit similar to Xhaka on the lack of athleticism.
You won’t get much dynamism even though he can pass the ball. He needs movement around him to thrive. He’s not a ball carrying midfielder that can drive forward or dribble past players.
You can clearly see why Madrid said no thanks to Ode.

CG

TR7

“”””Ode is a poor man’s Ozil and I didn’t like Ozil that much.””””

Ozil ‘s Arsenal career.

254 games
44 goals
77 assists

Thats serious output, compared to our current pea shooters.

A proper manager would say to all our midfielders, if you dont score me x 10 goals each this season- you won’ t be here next season.

That normally does the trick.

bacaryisgod

This is why Bacary is God.

Football London Interviewer: “Of course, you are someone who knows what it’s like to be an Arsenal right-back very well. Takehiro Tomiyasu was the deadline day signing. Arsenal brought him in. What do you make of that deal? Do you think it’s a smart piece of business from Arsenal?”

Bacary Sagna: “To be honest, I don’t know him”.

No nonsense, just like his defending.

Samesong

Ode is a poor man’s Ozil and I didn’t like Ozil that much.

Even Ozil still made late runs in the box.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVFeCCUtbWo

Dissenter

Samesong
That last post about Ozil is an aphrodisiac for Pierre

TR7

CG

Ozil was a good player but wasn’t the type of midfielder I like. I like midfielders who can run with the ball. Iniesta, Zidane, Santi, Rosicky, Cesc, Hleb etc.

TheLegendaryDB10

CG

You are absolutely right. Fergie instilled ruthlessness in his teams.

The number of times you would see Manure winning 3/4 – 0 (for example) and yet you would still see the players trying to score another goal. They never stopped until the final whistle blew.

Samesong

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jK1ONH5u7I

This was my type of midfielder.

CG

TR7

”””’Ozil was a good player but wasn’t the type of midfielder I like. I like midfielders who can run with the ball. Iniesta, Zidane, Santi, Rosicky, Cesc, Hleb etc.”””

They are all crackers.

Ozil, Santi, Rosicky, Hleb and Cesc. All touched, mentored and coached by the peerless A.Wenger

Crikey, if Arteta got his hands on that lot, what different careers they would have had and what memories we would not have to cherish.

No one put out more exciting teams and players than Wenger. Two decades of highs and lows.

What fun that was.

Sid

For Ode to succeed in midfield he would need Xavi levels of passing which IS NOT hasppening

Sid

Diet Pep would ask Hleb to play a LB and Rosiky as false #9

TR7

Diaby was sensational too, a huge talent ruined by injuries. Arsenal could have had a midfield of Diaby, Cesc, Rosicky and Hleb with RVP as striker. Jack Wilshere too was a baller. Arsenal.and Wenger should/could have ruled the world if not for injuries, bad luck and Wenger’s apathy towards goalkeeping and central defense position.

CG

The LegendDb

”””’CG You are absolutely right. Fergie instilled ruthlessness in his teams.””’

Conte is cut from the same cloth.
In fact he looks even more ruthless than Fergie

Conte believes in goals and goalscorers. Because you aint winning x 3 league titles with x3 different clubs without either of them.

Duzie

We deserve to win the Premier League for the sake of Pedro and Geoff. That’s the least we deserve for all the content you’ve been putting out here. I’ve been here since late 2008, since LG had its first UI 😃. I was an AKB until April 2009, when we choked hard against Manutd in the CL semis – I never looked back as I joined the dark side.

Congrats Pedro. This blog is among my top 2 most visited sites. Thanks for entertaining us !

TR7

Garry Cahill in place of Squillachi and Mark Schwarger in place of Aluminia/Fabianski and we would have won a couple of league titles in the period 2007-2010.

The Bard

Valentin a good post. A half empty stadium is a bad look, especially abroad. I gave up my season ticket 2 years before Wenger left. I pick and chose my games these days. Precarious times for the club. Your post is exactly why developing a long game strategy is useless.

Duzie

Sid,

The right manager could coach it into Odegaard. When Diet Pep leaves, and Conte hopefully joins, our prospects will up their ante.