We’re back up and running. Here is the article if you missed it.

http://le-grove.co.uk/2012/05/27/robin-van-persie-closes-door-on-arsenal-deal-what-the-numbers-say-about-his-value/

Good morning fans of Le Grove. It’s excellent to have you here this morning, it truly is.

Did you watch the England game last night? Wasn’t it a bit like watching an injury ravaged Bolton side from the mid 2000′s? That’s what it felt like to me. Sloppy, flat and lacking in ambition. I mean sure, a bulk of our best players weren’t there, but wow, when you’ve got a group of 11 English players together these days, it’s not a pretty site!

On the upswing of things we won. We also got to see appearances from Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Neither really did anything of note. The  commentators did their best to talk up the Ox like he was the second coming of Theo Walcott circa 2006. Which is a shame. But I’d rather commentators wax lyrical about our players than Spurs ones.

I had a bit of a debate around Theo Walcott last night. I’m not a massive fan of the young winger. He’s not a striker. Hodgson, Capello, Pearce and MacClaren all agree. He’s a winger / attacking mid. He’ll always be a wide man because he’s too one dimensional as a striker. Now, this season saw an improvement in his game. But when all is said and done, 10 assists and 8 goals isn’t an impressive return for a player with the pace he has in the type of set up we have. People highlight his age and the fact that those returns are good for someone who is 23… and again, I don’t agree.

He’s played nearly 200 games for Arsenal. He’s played at the very highest level since he was 17. He’s on £60k a week. He’s looking for £100k a week. He’s won nothing with us. Nani, who is arguably the best attacking wideman in the Premier League has won the lot numerous times. He’s on £60k a week. Danny Wellbeck, who is at a similar stage in his development to Theo was on £15k a week last year and has been bumped up to £45k a week. So we’re not talking about a football problem here, we’re talking about an Arsenal problem.

The going rate for Theo is not £100k a week this summer. He shouldn’t be getting higher wages just because he wants them. He should be paid the market rate. If someone can offer more… sell him. I don’t think he’ll find those wages. Eden Hazard is 21 years old, he just played 50 games, bagged 21 goals and 18 assists. Marco Reus who just moved to Dortmund scored 18 goals and landed 9 assists. In 23 games, Gotze managed 8 goals and 8 assists. Those are starts worth of a big contract.

You can say that money doesn’t matter. Well it does. It absolutely matters what he earns. If he’s earning 80% above market rate, that’s money we can’t channel elsewhere. Our wage bill has to reflect reality if we want to compete. At the moment, it doesn’t because we pay on potential. If Theo wants money like that… sell him on and channel it into two players. Hoilett could do the same job Theo is now for well under £60k and he’s free. That gives you another £20mill to play with for another player. Maybe a striker like Giroud you could bring in on a pretty low salary.

Anyway… continuing on. The Mirror are reporting the news we’ve all been dreading. He’s told the club he’s packing his bags and he’s moving where the stars go… Manchester City. Now, when I spoke to my girl at the club the others day, she said no one knew what the deal was. So, this must have happened while he was away on International duty. I’m not saying I don’t believe the story, I’m just saying it all seems a bit odd just before the Euro’s kick off that you’d want to make the whole tournament about where you’re going to go.

That said, Sagna coming out yesterday and saying something totally different is a bit weird. Mind you, he did get it wrong about Cesc and Nasri last year.

Now I know we don’t want to sell our best players. But you really do have to put your business hats on sometimes. Robin Van Persie is going to be 29 this August. This is what his last 5 seasons have looked like.

49 – 28 – 17 – 36 -21

Averagely, that gives us 30.2 games per season. Take out last seasons wonder year of health, what do you have? An average of 20.4. Replace last year with the season he gave us 6 seasons ago what do you have? 25.5 games per season.

His return on goals has been impressive-ish. He’s averaged 19.6 goals a season over the last few years. A healthy return when you average 30.2 games a year. A goal every 1.54 games.

The goals are nice. They surely are, but having a player who historically, whilst in his prime, couldn’t manage a full season of games is bad business. Take this season out, which is a fairer reflection of his fitness, how could you justify £130k a week and £5million in bonus? Sure he’s our best player, but he won’t be any use to us if he returns to type next year. I can’t see how that won’t happen. You can’t guarantee a player will be fit the length of their contract. I know this. What you can do is weigh up the probabilities. They don’t look good for Robin.

The biggest fear amongst Arsenal fans isn’t the loss of Robin Van Persie. It’s the fear the manager won’t replace him adequately. Herein lies the problem people. If we never replace our best players, we never restore our reputation in the eyes of the squad. That means each year, our other remaining players who have done well will decide to jump. You know how you amend this issue? You go out and you make a serious, serious splash in the market.

Players love signings as much as the fans. They get a psychological boost knowing they’re going into work with guys they saw ripping it up at the Euro’s. We need to make sure if we sell Robin we go out and land a player like Falcao, Cavani or Giroud. We then need to make sure we sign a really top notch back up. Let’s land M’Vila or Martinez in defensive midfield and let’s really push United to their limits by trying to tempt Kagawa over. I appreciate United are United, but there must be a draw for a Japanese player to know the coach understands both German and Japanese.

The only way we’ll get out of the self perpetuating rut is change our behaviour and the perception amongst Europe’s big clubs that we’re a weak selling club who do things on the cheap. The fans can’t keep going through this nonsense every summer. Let’s rectify the wrongs and build if Robin goes. We can’t go into another season on a hope and prayer.

Anyway, that’s my two pennies… what do you think?

P.S. You can get us on Google+ and Facebook if you so choose. You can also follow us on Instagram… we’re Le Grove.

Spurstard

Sometimes, as an average fan of football club, you wonder to yourself… what are the players thinking?

Whenever they come out in the press, they’re pretty quiet about their wants and needs when it comes to the squad. You rarely get a straight answer. It’s all rather boring. That’s why Sagna and his radio interview last night was absolutely fantastic to hear. He’s just like us. He wants new signings, he recognises the weaknesses and that gives me hope!

It sounds like after his interview with us, he’s been reading a bit of his favourite Arsenal blog (Le Grove, he told me).

“We want more players to come to the team. Lukas Podolski has arrived already and he is a German international and a quality player.”

“M’Vila can make a great impact. I’m not sure about his English but it took me time to learn. But I think he would suit us as well. Arsenal is a French-speaking team and it will help him settle.”

Now, you’d have to imagine that playing in the same national squad would mean they have a relationship of sorts. I can’t believe he’s saying these things without an inclination of what’s going on behind the scenes. But he’s right, a player of M’Vila’s quality is exactly what the team needs. Someone who actually wants to protect the back four. Someone with agression and pace.

He also touched on the nightmare scenario we have every season…

“If we had not had so many injuries then I think we would have gone closer to winning trophies this season.”

Now, I know there are plenty of people who every year cite a bout of injuries as the reason we haven’t won a trophy. Now, at the start of every season, I write something along the lines of…

‘It’s not injuries that kill your season, generally speaking, it’s not having a squad that can cope that is the problem’

Sure enough, that’s what happened again last  year. We had one striker all year. Luckily we dodged a bullet in the sense that he was on fire. That said, when he was clearly tired and we were chasing games, we had no alternative to bring on. Robin tailed off towards the end of last year. He was physically and mentally exhausted. Who wouldn’t be after the year he’s had. In defence, we didn’t really have any proper options with our full backs. Kieran Gibbs and Jenkinson are a long way off being the right standard for Arsenal and Santos seems to have fitness issues. So when the injuries start coming in, we really were in trouble.

This summer, we need firstly create space in the set-up. Players that should be easy to shift on are Carlos Vela, Nik Bendtner, Park (because I don’t believe he’s on a massive wage) and possibly Chamakh. I think the Moroccan is getting to the point where if he doesn’t play again next year, he’ll not be able to get a contract the year after. £75k a week looks nice now… not when you’ve got to take £15k the next time around. Nik B and Carlos V just want to play. Threaten them with reserve football next  year and they’ll go. Park is Korean, they have a tremendous work ethic, I can’t imagine his nation will be too proud of him if he opts for the bench again. Those 4 players should bring in at least £15mill and give the boss £250k a week in wages to work with.

The problem players are going to be Denilson because I can’t really see any team that would take him on. He’s not particularly talented in any position and his attitude is questionable. Squillaci is too old to leave a massive deal. I’d pay him off. Why wait? JD could be a problem as well. Given game time, he could easily slip into another top 8 team. Is he a wage collector or a professional footballer? I hope he has some love for the game if the club want to move him on. Fabianski is another one who might be trouble to move on. That said, at least he has potential.

If we can make an impact on that list. We can go out and sign 3-4 quality players. Giroud, M’Vila, Kagawa and a back up keeper. Throw in someone like Hoilett and a decent back up centre back. Well, we’re in a very strong position come the new year. We’re in a position where there’s competition all over the park. Jack will be coming back into the fold. Chamberlain will get more chance to show his talent off. We’ll have a fit Arteta, we’ll have a fit Mertesacker and hopefully we’ll have a returning Sagna. We’ll also have the right blend of youth and experience.

On the Robin Van Persie front. I don’t have any inside track, what I was told is pretty much what you all know on the situation. Everyone is in the dark at the club, I don’t even think the player has a clue what he wants to do. So there’s still hope. I personally can’t see who’d buy him. He’s a great player who has proved he can bang goals in over one season. How anyone could justify the fee and salary that is being talked about is lost on me. Stay Robin… sign on and become a legend!

Interesting that Jan Vertonghen reckons Spurs are his first choice. He’s their first choice because Arsenal’s interest in him is luke warm at best. He’s blaming the Ajax asking price for a hold up in the move, it’s salary though and I guess it’s linked. He wants a big salary which he won’t get if Ajax want a big fee. Catch 22…

Right, I’m off to give myself the almightyist of British sun tans. Have a great day, I’ll see you in the comments… from the mobile site obviously.

The devastating news today is that we’re not one of the clubs Eden Hazard wants to play for. The young Belgian winger has stated that he’s only interested in moving to Chelsea, City or United. Those are this weeks clubs of his dreams… so I’m guessing we’ll see him move there shortly. I can’t believe that anyone is going to pay an untested player £200k a week off the back of 3 good seasons in Ligue One… crazier things have happened though. Like Nandos inventing a breakfast roll… yes people, it’s true. A BREAKFAST ROLL. Check it out.

In news of a more tea lady like nature… I had an interesting call yesterday. I know lots of people were jumping on the back of Steve Bould after his comments in the press about the squad only needing minor tweaks. This to many felt like we’d be getting more of the same. Well, I think we firstly have to realise he’s coming into a new job. If you were in the real world taking over a department from someone who had been there 43 years… it’s doubtful you’d go in and tell the team half of them were useless and everything was in a right royal mess.

He’s fully aware that certain players aren’t cutting the mustard, he knows that certain processes aren’t being undertaken that could improve us and he knows there’s loads of work to do. He’s just easing his way in. The last thing he wants to do is slate players that he might have to call upon next season if he can’t move them on.

On the player front, we’re working on bringing players in but from the sounds of it, we’re working far harder on moving them out of the club. We have a ridiculous wage bill, we can’t bring in loads of players without thinking about what we’ll do with the ones we have to pay right now. Moving on Chamakh is going to be tough. If you look at the French league, Montpellier have just won it with a top earner on £15k a week. Chamakh is taking home £75k. What are the chances that he’d leave to take a pay cut of £60k? The only hope you have is a club in a better league taking an interest. It’s the same for a number of other players, who’d take Squillaci on £50k? He’s too old and too poor. Who’d take Denilson? He’s useless. We know that. I think the only way we’re going to get around the contract issues off a lot of these players is to do deals… realease them and take the hit. Give them an early bosman. What they lose in basic they can make up for in signing on fee.

These players are still capable on some level… just not at the top. Which unfortunately is where we’ve pitched their salaries. You have to hope and pray that we’re not going to make the same mistakes with players moving forward. Potential is not a good way to guage a contract.

Talking of future players, I’ve heard nothing on M’Vila. Though I’m sure we’re sniffing around. The hottest lead I can give you is that it does sound like we’re working hard on a deal to bring Kagawa over. The midfielder is super talented and he’s full of goals and assists. He’d be the perfect addition to our midfield and he’d be the perfect addition to our marketing portfolio. Isn’t is sweet how Arsenal fans always look at the business value of a player when we assess talent.

Jack Wilshere should be fine for the start of the season. His issue was around a recurring problem he’s had for years. That’s sorted now. The foot is strong like a bull. He’ll be fine for the start of the season. We’ll also have a fit Arteta and Mertesacker. There’s no hope for Diaby… but you all knew that anyway. We have the core of a strong squad. If we bring in 3-4 players and shift on 6 in the process, we’ll be a far better outfit come the new season.

I’m positive about this summer. You should be to. Things sound very different to this time last year. It does all come down to the will of the club to move on players who offer no value other than a big smile.

That’s the post out of the way.

Here’s for the sponsored bit.

Allianz Your Cover Insurance are giving two teenagers (14-16) a once in a lifetime opportunity to head over the Munich for a week long training camp with FC Bayern Munich.

All they’re asking from applicants is that they submit a picture to the Your Cover Facebook app of their favourite footballing moment, memory, experience plus a maximum of 100 words explaining why that moment was so special.

So I’m thinking beating Spurs earlier in the season, the Cup Winners Cup Final, Marc Overmars against United, Sylvain Wiltord against United… jeez… so many good memories! I’d easily win this competition if I was about half my age.

Click to head to the app

Anyway, if you have or know any super talented kids… let them know about the competition and get them entering. It’d be pretty amazing to have Gooner representing the UK for the week.

Also, we’re running a competition to win a brand spanking new Arsenal shirt. It’s a pretty simple entry mechanic. So follow it carefully.

Follow the brand and retweet the below…

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Also… if you want more details on that football comp… head to their blog here.

Look as good as Lukas. Enter the Twitter competition.

I know our manager has made some quite bizarre decisions in the seasons past with signings like Squillaci, Chamakh and Park and unless something happens with Gervinho soon, then add him to the list.

Signing Gervinho instead of Hazard may have seemed odd to most Arsenal fans but next season we’ll see why, eh! Signing Kalou though would be even dumber than not signing Hazard.

If we go into another ACN stocked full of players that would be in it, that would wreck any chances of winning any silverware, the reason I’m saying it now is to pre-empt any ACN excuses before he has signed any players and I’m accused in January of hindsight posts.

Good news that we moved a few players on, be better news if we now moved a few more on, a few more that will never make it. I’ve been banging on about Hoyte and Murphy for years, saying they would never feature so why keep them, I think I even used the word cruel. Well now they have gone, so what does that say, I’m a genius or just reasonable at stating the obvious.

So now get shot of Squillaci, Park, Chamakh, Lansbury, Fabianski, Djourou, Bendtner and Denilson. If you can’t shift them then sell them and part fund their silly wages, and why not do that out of your salary you gave it to them.

Getting rid of the overpaid, overrated and crap will free up enough to buy proper players. Not the cheepies, the proper ones, we need to buy M’Vila not Capoue, we need a decent front man or winger like Hazard, not Kalou, we need a decent back up keeper, we need 2 decent full back but one would do.

With the way the chavs and the northern chavs will be spending, we’ll get left behind if we don’t, getting shot of all the shite would fund it, would your ego allow that though Mr Wenger?

Still we must be grateful for finishing third, it at least allows us to enter a competition that  the chavs won, we never will, but at least we are in it.

I have a theory on why we lost Cesc so late, with three years left on his contract and 20% cheaper than he was worth. Remember when Fabregas reported that amazing conversation he has with the boss? Ok, here’s my take.

Wenger – Cesc you have to trust me, this team is about to come good and with Chamakh and Squillaci, we will win silverware this year, as well I feel it.

Fabregas – But boss, as your captain I believe we need world class signings, so I would prefer to return to Barca.

Wenger – You need to trust me, this team is the best I’ve ever had.

Fabregas – You have said that for years boss, I want to trust you but…

Wenger – Ok, here’s the deal, I will give you an upfront £8mil, and if we don’t do it this season, you can leave at the price Barca have offered next, deal?

Fabregas – Ok boss, but I want that in writing.

If the above didn’t happen then someone needs sacking for letting him go for the money he went for with three years left on his contract.

Now I have a feeling that is what he’s said to Robin, and that’s why Robin has said no. I think Robin is right too, it’s his last chance to win something it’s not the money it’s the glory. Trouble is Wenger still thinks this team will win. Remember my saying, even a blind Squirrel will occasionally get an acorn?

Well the law of averages say sooner rather than later, but will Robin take a chance? I would hold out for signings if I were him, he’s heard Wenger before.

A quick word on Joey Barton, he thinks he’s a tough guy, he isn’t he’s a plank, what he really needs is a good hiding, anger management my ring piece, if he wasn’t in the cosseted word of football, he would have had his head kicked in years ago. Same with Terry, another bully in a bubble. These twits should come into the real world to see what tough is.

Finally, if David Beckham gets in the Olympic squad it will show two things, first of all the authorities are celebrity struck, he may be a crowd puller, but I thought the Olympics were sold 10 times over? So we don’t need a crowd puller.

Secondly it would show what a totally selfish, up himself dandy he really is, someone much younger, more deserving and better will lose their place, their once in a lifetime opportunity, to satisfy the ego of a 37 year old that already has everything, wasn’t it enough to give him 25 cheap England caps?

Back to Arsenal, Arsene, make the right signings and we have a chance, dither again and you will blow your last chance of being seen as one of Arsenal’s greats.

We have a nucleus of top players and a few gems coming through, buy the right players i

A forehead Gervinho could only dream of...

A bloody great start to the morning… finally, after what seems like an age… Arsenal have shifted on the worst first team Arsenal keeper of all time. He leaves after taking every penny of his £50k a week contract. Good riddance.

He was poor from the start. Jen Lehmann called it right before he was ousted for mistakes against Blackburn. Big Al came in and did well for a few months. He was excellent at never excelling. He was incapable of the amazing. Which was ok until he started dropping the clangers. His confidence began to crumble, other teams spotted this and we started to find ourselves being targeted.

After much messing about two seasons ago… Finally we relegated him to the bench. Then he was relegated to 3rd choice. He fluked out getting a contract in the first place. He was a world class example Wenger trying to be too clever. Thinking about his price tag over the quality. I hope we never have to witness a keeping fail like that again.

We should immediately go out and sign Craig Gordon as back up. Shift on Lukas. He’s marginally better than Almunia, but he’s never going to make it at the very top. Craig Gordon could come in and give us two genuine choices. He would actually push Chezzer for a first team place and hopefully he would stamp out the complacency that has set into the green jersey. There’s no point in hanging onto players you can see are not cut out mentally for the game at the very top. Fabianski is one of those players. Be ruthless. This is sport, not charity.

• George Brislen-Hall,
• Gavin Hoyte,
• Sean McDermott,
• Rhys Murphy
• James Campbell
• Jeffrey Monakana

Some other classic names on the out-list are above. The most famous of them has to be Gavin Hoyte. One half of the Hoyte brothers. Again, another player who had promise at a young age, but failed to deliver.

Is Kerrea Gilbert still under contract?

In M’Vila news. There is none. Some recycled quotes ended up on the news feeds yesterday. Now the Times and the Sun are linking us with a player we scouted for you at least two summers ago. Etienne Capoue is the Toulouse centre midfielder who is an absolute beast. He’s fast, aggressive and quite the performer. For me, there seems to be nothing indicating we’re interested in him other than the fact we suggested him last week as an option.

Don’t get your hopes up.

On the Ryo Miyachi front. Owen Coyle wants him back at the Reebok next season for another year of learning. I think at his age, there’d be no harm taking a  year out in the Championship. It’s a fiercely competitive league. It’ll toughen him up. It’ll take his confidence up a level. It’s a great idea if no one in the Premier League is interested. I sense that Ryo is going to have to bulk up a bit if he wants to make it over here.

Stuart Pearce is hacking off Arsenal fans all over again. He’s refusing to rule out taking Jack to the Olympics despite him recently having an operation and taking a year out last season. It’s ridiculous, but a prime example of the selfishness that surrounds international football. I thought when it came to the Olympics you weren’t allowed to dictate to a club you wanted a player? What do I know…

There doesn’t seem to be too much else going on… I’ll slip in some season reviews next week… return to the Le Champ and Chump and we’ll start rolling out some high quality guest posts.

Some have mentioned we’re not on the Goonernews Feed. If you can’t get us there, fear not, you’ll always be able to on Newsnow.

This off season, though only about a week in, is the equivalent to squeezing the juice out of a sun dried tomato. All has gone silent in the world of transfers. Both on the outgoing and on the incoming. This doesn’t bode well for the sanity of a lot of Gooner’s. We’ve been here so many times before. All wanting a summer of action, being told that patience is the key, waiting until August 31st when we’re all slapped in the face with a big sun dried tomato of reality.

I understand the frustration. Believe me.

However, this whole sack the board, bring in Usmanov, hang Hill-wood from the rafters really is a pointless exercise in nonsense. Who do people really think the board consist of? Do people, in there heart of hearts, truly believe Hill-wood has any say in how the club is run? Absolutely not. The only two people on the board are Ivan and Stan Kroenke. Stan is the owner. He runs the show. To expect him to hand over his shareholding in the the club to Usmanov because we want signings is ridiculous. He’s in it for the long haul… and there’s nothing we can do to change that. He’s even gearing his son up for  the long term takeover!

There are two articles on the subject this morning. One from Goonertalk on Peter-Hill-wood and one from Angry of Islington which I this is far closer to the truth. Either way, this change fans are pushing for is only going to happen by way of change of mindset with the current set up. Stan isn’t going to give up his holding. The best we can hope for is an opposing voice on the board. Can you see one billionaire inviting another onto his board? I can’t…

In other news. Of which there is none. Let’s talk about Fernando Torres. He’s upset at the way Chelsea have handled him this season. He’s outraged he was dropped from the Champions League final starting line up. He’s likely gearing up for a move out of the club. Now, should the worst happen (You know… the R to the MC thing…), would it not be worth a punt on a player who was at one time, one of the most feared marksmen in the world? Does that talent disappear? Do you suddenly lose world class status? Not in my opinion. He still has a huge amount to offer the game. He’s Premiership proven and if anyone can get the most out of a player lacking in confidence… it’s Arsene Wenger (I’m thinking the Thierry days here… not the Rambo ones… forgive my insistence on using history as gauge for this point).

On the Robin Van Persie situation. Juventus have pulled out of the race to sign him. After seeing that, my Sunday League team Hornminster United also withdrew their bid. It felt like we had a chance if Juve were in for him, but now they’ve seen the light… so have we. What a bunch of jokers they are…

I read another interesting article by a Bolton fan about Ryo Miyachi. You can check the Marble Halls run down here.

‘He came here as a relative unknown but Bolton fans were hopeful that he could live up to the hype. Unfortunately, he didn’t.’

Not the best opening line to a player review. This is why we shouldn’t get too excited about young players. Ripping it up in Holland is totally different to ripping it up in the Premier League. Does that mean he’s a duffer? Of course not. What it means is that he isn’t good enough for our first team yet. He should be given another loan next season to build his game up. He has plenty of skill, he has plenty of pace… he just needs to rough it with a team like Swansea or Norwich for a year. Learn what hard work is all about. Learn what it’s like not to train at the finest facilities on the planet. Develop as a person outside the luxury of North London. We simply can’t afford a season banging our seats in frustration at a player who isn’t ready.

It’ll be interesting to see what the manager does with Joel Campbell. He’s been having fun over in Lorient. When I was in Paris a few months ago, the Lorient fan I met told me that they were more impressed with Giles Sunu. However, we’re talking about Campbell. Now, from what I’ve seen, he actually looks like the sort of player who can do something in the Premier League. He’ll be 20 by the time the season starts, he’s fast, he has skill through the middle and out wide and he’s performed at an international tournament. From an Arsenal point of view, he reminds me of Nik Anelka. However, his style on the ball reminds me a little of Eto’o when he was at Mallorca back in the day. I think he’s a genuine talent, so it’ll be interesting to see what he’s going to be able to do when brought back over. We’ve had a bit of a duff run with strikers… I’m hoping Afobe or Campbell can buck that trend.

Another story doing the rounds yesterday was a swap deal between Chamakh and Adem Ljajic. Now, if someone comes up to you in the pub and offers to swap your sun dried tomato for a far fresher one. What would you say? Does this guy have a thing for sun dried tomatoes I’ve had in my pocket? Or is there something hideously wrong with the fresh tomato he wants to exchange with me. I’m going with the latter. How bad does this Ljajic have to be that Fiorentina are willing to take Chamakh in exchange? I’m not into this deal. I don’t trust it. We hardly ever do swap deals anyway. So I’m guessing it’s probably nonsense.

So there we have it… plenty to chew over. Including my sundried tomato.

Have a good one!

Welcome to Monday. Did everyone have a super weekend? I hope so… I truly hope so.

Onto football.

First up. It’s two days on and I’m actually starting to think I’m enjoying Spurs being out of the Champions League more than the bother that Chelsea won it. Sure we’d like to have been the first London club to win it, but then again I’d like to have been the first guy to take Megan Fox out to the movies. Sometimes life’s a bitch. Much in the same way I don’t have much chance of courting A-list superstars, realistically, whilst we’re still trying to sell in the self-sustainable dream, we don’t have much chance of winning the worlds premier competition.

So that’s why I’m enjoying the Spurs demise. Reasons to enjoy the outcome…

• Spurs fans thought Arsenal would have to qualify. We don’t.
• Thursday’s can return to being Spursday’s
• Bale and Modric won’t sign new deals.
• Ade won’t take a 50% pay cut / City unlikely to loan them players again after Redknapp pushed for a Balottelli suspension last  year
• According to someone I spoke to, Harry isn’t happy at the Spuds
• Spurs need Champions League football to fund a stadium move
• Final point and this is the most pertinent one. THEY DIDN’T DESERVE TO MISS OUT!

Ahhhh… that made me feel a whole lot less hateful about today.

On the Champions League final. There were some points I’d like to make. Experience won them that game… but not just experience. Winning mentality. We simply don’t have that drive in our team. We don’t have enough players who absolutely live to win. Another point, Chelsea defend as a team. Drogba and Torres were both back helping out when they were trying to hold on. We’re lucky if we have 3 defenders back helping when we’re holding onto a lead or trying to see out a game.

I spoke to Geoff this morning, he told me of a couple of Arsenal news points. Firstly, we’re chasing a 14 year old. Normally the sort of statement that would have you horrified outside of the game of self-sustainability. Apparently we’re after Foday Nabay (n0 spelling mistake there). He plays for Birmingham. He’s done some stuff for the under 16′s when he was 13. Blah, blah, blah….

I understand you’ve got to snap up the best young talent. The shame of it with Arsenal is that it generally seeems to take a higher priority than signing the players who can help us now. I’m sure every football nerd under the sun will tell me this guy is the new Messi… simple fact is, the chances of that being true are incredibly slight.

Not content with that, Arsenal have submitted planning permission to expand The Armoury. Absolutely terriffic eh? They’re making the shop even bigger so they can hoover more money from us! Truly, this is magnificent news. A bigger shop. I wonder how much that’ll cost? Not that spending money on expanding money making opportunities ever comes with a ceiling. Remember the WM Club?

On the transfer front, there doesn’t seem to be too much bouncing about. Eden Hazard banged in a hatrick last night for Lille. He’s leaving them this summer, he has at least 4 clubs who are his first choice. So who knows where he’ll end up. One place you can guarantee it won’t be is Arsenal. It’s amazing that we won’t do battle for someone who is young and clearly extrememly talented. Arsene Wenger’s concept of value is still in 1998 but obviously not when it comes to selling. He’s the most modern of the lost when it comes for asking for inflated transfer fees that are ruining the game. Unless you’re selling Cesc.

Another piece of light entertainment on the news front was the story that Anzhi are willing to offer £45million for Robin to head over there this summer. They’re also gearing up a £300k a week contract. I’m pretty sure that he won’t be heading over there, but it’s sweet that they’ve put in a bid. A bit like the time Spurs stated an interest in Rivaldo.

No news on M’Vila. He said he’d announce his future after his team spanked Dijon 5-0. Did he do any such thing? No. Do we want a liar in the team? I don’t think so. Let’s promote internally for that defensive midfield position.

Finished… have a great day!

P.S. We’re on Google+ jump on the Le Grove page. It’s fantastic.

Firstly, Sam Allardyce has made a return to the Premiership with West Ham. They took out Blackpool in the play off final  yesterday. It wasn’t convincing, but it was to be expected. Blackpool defend like us… they lost despite being the better team. What can you do? I have a soft spot for West Ham. Most of my pals support them, so it’s a welcome derby.

The most horrible news of the evening related to Chelsea. They beat Bayern Munich on penalties. It was pretty upsetting I have to say. Regardless, the game was fun to watch from a neutral stand point.

The silver linings are as followed…

• Spurs now have to play tier two European football next year. Hilarious on every level.
• England rule europe. We make sure those top 4 places don’t reduce to three. Brilliant.

Chelsea winning that trophy is horrible. Watching their fans have a great day out is even worse. But we can but aspire to those sorts of days out in the future.

Outside that… I have nothing.

Have a good day!

Yann the man

It really is slim pickings today people! There’s very little going on in the world of Arsenal outside of the Robin saga. What we know is that talks have broken down. He’s not going to sign on for us. The best we can hope for is that he stays on for the final year of his deal.

We also know Arsenal have slapped a media ban on him. Seems a bit extreme if you ask me. Banning a 28 year man from speaking to the press seems a bit dictatorial. If he’s going… let’s hear what he has to say.

A couple of papers are reporting that he’s looking for £275k a week. Apparently this is making the big boys wince. Football really is losing touch with reality when those sorts of figures get bandied around. I still maintain that would be a terrible investment from anyone at those prices. He’s not the only person in the world who can score goals and in my mind, the only players that could even vaguely justify those sorts of figures are Ronaldo and Messi. They have both youth an tremendous fitness on their sides. Robin, whilst not over the hill is at an age where he’d be too old for a United transfer. How could you put £275k a week into someone who averaged 22 games a season before the last one?

It’ll be interesting to see where Robin does end up if he goes. Playing out your twilight in the blue half of City just doesn’t seem right. Surely you’d want something a bit more prestigious on your CV? We’ll see…. I know one thing is for sure… we’re all f*cking bored of this story already.

I hope that Arsenal can multitask this year. This is one issue… We can’t afford to let it cloud what we do elsewhere. Robin staying or going doesn’t affect anything other than buying a replacement striker. He’s not signing a new deal. That means we don’t have to worry about our wage structure changing. We still need another top striker and the rest of the team need sorting out.

Apparently Yann M’Vila is going to announce where he’s playing shortly.

‘I’ll make my decision after the game against Dijon [on Sunday]‘

It would be lovely it were us. I’m hoping the swiftness of the announcement is a sign it’s Arsenal. I’m not going to get my hopes up. However, he’s the new poster boy in the Nike advert… we have a Nike kit… you do he tenuous link maths.

I forgot to talk about the Jack Wilshere knee issue. He went in for surgery again. He’s either becoming a bit of a crock or Arsenal have gone to extreme lengths to ensure he’s not available for the Olympics. He’ll be back for the start of the summer… that’s good news. Let’s hope that we don’t have a broken season of injury interruptions. A year is a long time to have out of the game at such a long age. We need to treat him with the same kid gloves we treated Robin with this year.

This evening we have the Chelsea game. I can’t wait to be honest. I love to watch the free flowing football of Bayern. Champions League final nights are always spectacular. It’s just a shame it’s Chelsea there. I was totally confident Bayern would smash them… not so much after seeing them take a spanking in the German cup final last week.

Remember that poll we ran the other week about the final? Out of 3,700 votes, 41% of Arsenal fans would like to see Chelsea win the Champions League and knock Spurs out. 59% would like to see Bayern win tonight and not have to suffer the horror of season Roman Abramovich realise a dream.

That’s all I have today… back tomorrow for more!