Tales From The Grove

A Master Stroke?

2007-02-20T11:11:00.000Z

When it was announced that Man Utd had signed Henrik Larsson, there were plenty of comments on how it was a very strange decision. A player coming to the end of a great career coming to play at the highest level of English football. However after his first game back in which he scored Alex Ferguson was hailed as a genius pulling off a master stroke.

Today comes the news that Larsson will leave at the end of the loan period rather than extending it as Man Utd wanted him to. It seems however the press were a little too eager to merit Ferguson with genius.

I'll lay my cards on the table, while his record at Celtic was brilliant I always seriosuly doubted Larssons abillity at the top level, a very good player no doubt but Celtic and Scottish football fans always claimed he was by far the best striker in the world. How then do the figures stack up?

Larrson scored an impressive 242 goals in 300 games in Celtic colours, a lot by any standards, in fact it works out at 1.2 games per goal. His career total come in at 297 from 496 games, again impressive at 1.67 games per goal. But hold on for a second, remove those goals he scored for Celtic and we see a very different pattern, 55 goals in 196 at a ratio of 3.5 games per goal. At International level he has 35 from 92 games at 2.6 games per goal and his record at United is even worse, just 2 goals in 8 games*.

I never doubted that Larsson was a good player but simply that Scottish football is a lower level of standard that anybody half decent should be knocking in the goals. Take for example the Arsenal reserve player Anthony Stokes, he scored 16 goals in 18 games, that was in a short period but the fact remains the Scottish league really isn't all that good.

So the question on my mind is how does Larsson stack up to Henry the flat track bully who can't cut it on the international stage?

Henry has played exactly the same number of games at international level as Larsson, 92, but he has scored 5 more goals. As a total Henry has 255 goals from 501 games, less than Larsson but when compared without goals scored for Celtic Henry's average of is far better. Finally this season, one which Henry has had much criticism for he has scored 12 in 25 games, a much better return than Larssons 1 in 4.

Was it really such a master stroke?

* I must say he looked good against us at the Emirates without actually scoring, but why is he at United if he isn't scoring goals?

Big Week Number 4

2007-02-20T08:20:00.000Z

It seems that Arsenal's season has been defined by "Big Weeks", period where important games are grouped together in lumps.

The first was back in December, Spurs at home, an away tie at Porto in the Champions league which we needed a result to get out of the group stages and then possibly the most difficult game of the season away to Chelsea in the league. At that stage of the season we were still unbeaten at home and we hadn't set the world alight, there were still questions involving Spurs given there good season the year before and it looked a potentially difficult game. The general feeling was that three draws from these three games would be acceptable but we got off to a great start beating Spurs 3-0. The Porto game was odd and at the end of the day results elsewhere meant it didn't matter what happened in that game. We also got a draw at Chelsea which again was a good result, we rode our luck towards the end but there is no shame in drawing away at a team with a home record such as Chelsea's.

The second big week was in January, 2 cup games away to Liverpool. At the time Liverpool had a brilliant home record and while there was confidence we could get a result it seemed we would be up against it. But once again that slight fear we could be out of both competitions in one week was misplaced and we won both games comfortably. Liverpool were in the FA cup game and towards the end they put us under a lot of pressure but the danger when playing Arsenal is if you attack too much and leave space at the back they will punish you. The Carling Cup game was a little odd, one of those games where everything we shoot at goes in. Those cup games were sandwhiched between a good win against Charlton and a 10 man win up at Blackburn, so a great week for Arsenal.

The third big week (and a bit) came at the end of January when we played Man Utd, Spurs twice and Bolton in the FA Cup. The Man Utd game was fantastic, especially given Chelsea had been beaten by Liverpool the day before and it was a chance for them to go 9 points clear, the two Carling Cup games were also great, a game of two halves in the first game when Spurs were all over us in the first half, but we came back brilliantly. The second game was also good as played some great football and in the end the result was comfortable. The Bolton game was the one low light in that period but the net result was that we didn't lose and in the replay we did well.

So we now come to the fourth big week, we have already had the first game of a three game sequence, Blackburn at home in the FA Cup. I won't comment on that other than to say we are still in the competition, it certainly wasn't the best game I have ever seen but you have to expect that we will have the odd flat game from time to time.

Next up is PSV away in the Champions League, it looked a good draw for us when it happened but as the game draws near the more difficult it looks. I think Arsenal should be too strong over the two legs but we need to do well away from home.

The end of the week sees Arsenal in the Carling Cup final, it will be a difficult game but I certainly think Arsenal are capable of winning the game. Chelsea have had a difficult time with injuries this season and despite some decent results score lines recently I still think there are questions to be asked of them. It depends of course who plays on both sides but the only problem for Arsenal is that Chelsea will most likely play a full first team squad.

The Bloke in Seat 73, Row 9

2007-02-12T15:25:00.001Z

It seems as if when designing the Emirates the Arsenal board though of everything. New bigger seats, super fast beer delivery, a fantastic view from eveyr seat and our own personal commentator.

What do you mean you didn't get your own personal commentator? While he might not be official every section of the stadium has one, yeah that's right he's that bloke who feels compeled to talk for the whole game. However I have a complaint, it seems that these talk all match types are the most negative and often unknowledgeable fans in the stadium. My own personal one sits (rather conviniently or not) just behind me in Row 9 seat 73.

It's a common trait of the unoffical commentator that they are able to contradict themselves in a single breath, a great pass leaves the foot to become sloppy half a breath later as does,'what's he shooting from there for' becomes 'what a brilliant goal, he's always had a good shot on him'.

On the positive side we tend to score when they go to the toilet, as we did agasint wigan as mouth and trousers informed us all he was off for a slash and wouldn't return, you could hear the collective sigh as far away as row 12. But of course he was back no doubt with damp trousers as I'm sure he must have been half way through when the goal went in.

Still it seems the Arsenal board have come up trumps again, Arsene must have informed the squad that we need to be losing till as late as possible, then once the unoffical commentators have left the stadium we bang in two late goals sans commentory. It seems the only thing left to do is install a steward in the loo on the look out for chaps commentating on the piss he's taking just to delay that winning goal a few more minutes.

The late, late Arsenal Show

2007-02-12T15:25:00.000Z

And so it happens again, Arsenal conceed first, the opposition get 10 men behind the ball and Arsenal wake up.

However recently we have added 2 new ingredients to the show, time wasting fron the opposition and 2 goals from the Arsenal. I could be wrong but the old formula while it was frustrating to watch was played in a decent spirit, but recently Man Utd, Bolton and now Wigan didn't seem content with a solid defensive display they wanted to deny Arsenal the chance to get back into the game.

I'm a believer in Karma, not in the spiritual sense but simply that the more bad things that are done in the world them more likely it is we will all suffer as a result. The Man Utd game had a huge dose of Karma, the time wasted by Van Desar allowing Arsenal the time to score the winning goal, and again today it seemed to give the Arsenal players a sense of injustice which made it all the sweeter when we got the second.

To be honest Wigans goal was stunning, and apart from a Hesky shot of the upright was the only real chance they had. One thing I noticed was that when Hesky shot past lehman he turned his body away from goal ready to celebrate, had he continued his run forward he would have got to the ball before Lehman as it came straight back it to his original path.

The ref was frankly a joke, watching it live there seemed to me loads of serious penalty appeals waved away (at both ends to be fair) and we had a couple of shocking off side decisions given against us. A just knew Jens was going to be booked for his time wasting antics after the second goal but I think many would agree it was worth it.

I think it's time they introduced a goal kick rule that it should be taken on the side it went out or on a side of the keepers choosing, in other words if the first is taken on the left it's always on the left.

It will never happen but it would also be great if we could introduce points for more positive play, not sure how it would work, but something like a bonus point for 2 goals away from home (if not each game one for every three games played in that fashion). It's too radical for the likes of FIFA or UEFA but you only have to look at the later stages of the last world cup to see we need something to improve the attacking nature of football.

Still unbeaten at home, came back again and we are now closing the gap on Liverpool.

It's official

2007-02-01T11:49:00.000Z

Well Spurs emphatically answered Martin Jol's question, they are Average. Last week Martin said...

"They all want to play here in occasions like this. Are you potential winners or are you average? That is what we have to find out."

Last night we found out exactly were Spurs stand on that point. As usual I won't bother giving yet another match report but needless to say from an Arsenal perspective it was a great result. Tottenham once again proved that 10-15 minutes of good football out of 90 is never enough against the better teams and to be honest I don't think we even saw that much from them last night. It should really have been finished off in normal time but all the Tottenham goal did was give us some more time to show the gap in class. It was in many respects rather embarrassing to see a side who claim to be a big club lack any sort of ambition in extra time as they were pegged back and passed off the park.

In some respects we were lucky that yet another Spurs player fell ill at the first sign of actually doing something but even so I don't think many of the Tottenham players offered much going forward.

We should also take a few moments to glance around us, having got a small gap on the chasing pack recently it's good to see they haven't taken the chance to close it. Bolton could only manage a draw with Charlton in the same was Portsmouth could only manage a draw with Boro.

Spurs - The final judgment (part 2)

2007-01-31T09:38:00.000Z

Well it seems at the half way stage that Spurs are living up to their self proclaimed average tag. Good teams don't go 2-0 up looking dangerous and then end the game 2-2, good teams scored first and win the game.

To go through Spurs need to win the game, draw 3-3 or draw 2-2 and win on penalties. No team has scored more than 2 at the Emirates against Arsenal and of the two that did one went on to lose 6-2. Personally I think it will be decided in the 90 minutes one way or the other. Spurs are capable of winning but their record against us this season is one of conceeding goals and not winning and teams that come to attack Arsenal tend to fail.

The lose of Baptista to injury is a blow but there is no cause for serious concern as there are plenty of players capable of scoring for Arsenal. Gilberto is back and we have 4 stikers still available with 21 goals between them this season.

Spurs - The final judgment

2007-01-24T11:48:00.000Z

So tonight is the Carling Cup Semi final first leg. There is double incentive to win the two games firstly and most obviously the prize is a place in a cup final but second which is even better is that Spurs can be offically crowned an "Average" team.

Martin Jol has been saying in the press that this is the chance to find out if the team are winners or just average (his words). Therefore anything less than progress to the final for Spurs must be average and therefore that will become thier new offical title, Tottenham "Average" Hotspur.

Looking at the league table and Spurs currently sit 9th with 4 teams close enough that given one or two results could over take spurs in a couple of weeks, I'd say that's already proof of an average team but we can put the matter to bed.

The Arsenal squad looks similar to the game against Liverpool and I think there is plenty of quality in there to get the right result. An early goal from us would set the tone and we could open up Spurs on the counter attack. With Van Persie out for a number of weeks it's a second chance for Baptista and Aliadiere to push their case for a premier league start. What we need to do is score, a draw of any sort would be good but even a high scoring loss would do us well for the second game, 3-2 something like that.

United beaten again...

2007-01-22T12:19:00.000Z

Three fantastic facts to emerge from yesterdays game.

1. We came back from a goal down again
2. We beat Man Utd again (getting a double over them for the first time in a long time)
3. We are still unbeaten at the Emirates

Before the game I had convinced myself that while you never want to lose it would at least mean Man Utd would go 9 points clear of Chelsea. Not I want you to understand that I particuarly want Man Utd to win the league but I desperately don't want Chelsea to. However after 2-3 minutes of the match any notion that I wanted to do anybody any favours went right out the window, this was Arsenals biggest test at the Emirates and the second to last team, Spurs being the last, that I would want to lose our unbeaten record to.

It wasn't the greatest game ever played and while in the first half it looked like things could become heated it was played out in decent enough fashion. For all the hype Man Utd were good but not great, and for me they didn't create what you would call any real chances other than the goal and I think we contained both Rooney and Ronaldo well.

What they did do was waste time at every opportunity, it was clear there were going to be a fair few minutes added on as Man Utd seemed to lack any ambition going forward after their goal and wasted time at every opportunity. At the time I did think that all that would achieve would be to give Arsenal some extra time to chase for a goal and that's exactly what happened. While Van Persies introduction didn't turn the game he came up with the all important goal that at the time looked like it was going to maintain our unbeaten run. But it was better than that, in added time Henry headed the winner to turn the Emirates into a mad house.

As I mentioned in a previous post I was disappointed in the media's build up to the game, it seems while they are getting the odd mention Arsenal are not getting the credit for the great run the are currently on. Almost all the pundits asked before the game said Man Utd would win, which is fine, but there was never any mention of the danger Arsenal clearly pose. One particular instance was when asked about Arsenals chances both for the game and the rest of the season all Jamie Redknapp could mention was an away lose to Sheffield Utd, no mention of a 10 man win away 2 weeks later, no mention of 15 goals in the previous 4 matches and no mention of 2 wins away at Anfield, a ground Liverpool are, rightly, seen as almost unbeatable at.

Regardless of the result we won't win the title this year but we will be a lot closer than last year and I don't think 2nd is out of the question. If nothing else Spurs seem to have reverted to type and are sliding down the table, they have Man Utd, Sheffield Utd away and Bolton in their next three games and they are close to dropping into the bottom half of the table. At least St. Totteringham's Day should come a little earlier than last year.

Lauren Gone

2007-01-19T11:49:00.000Z

So Lauren has finally gone having not played a full game of football for over a year. Portsmouth is as good a club as any to go to I suppose but I always feel a little uneasy about players going to other Premiership clubs.

The general feeling among the blogs is that this is a bad move from Arsene. Personally I don't think it is especially as he hasn't played for over a year and there were a number of times during that period where there was serious talk of retirement. While I think loyalty is important we should also realise that it shouldn't get in the way of a decent decision.

A lot of people have commented that we should have kept various players for another year, the obvious one being Vieira. I have mentioned before that I think the real issue last year was losing both Vieira and Edu last year rather than just Vieira but what we need to ask is would we have won the Premiership last year had Vieira stayed? I very much doubt we would have but one thing that would have happened is the development of players like Faberagas and to some extend the improvement of Gilberto would have been delayed by another year, while this year hasn't been vintage stuff it's certainly an improvement on the start we had last term. One thing that Wenger and Ferguson have done is move their teams on, if you look at Chelsea this year it seems teams are starting to work them out and the squad isn't progressing.

People also comment on the young age of the Arsenal squad and often point to our failures as a sign of a lack of experience. Experience can only be gained by playing and keeping players for an extra year would only hinder that development.

Arsenal - Man Utd/Liverpool - Chelsea

2007-01-16T11:00:00.000Z

So this weekend is the one I have been looking forward to for some considerable time. Not only to we get to play Man Utd for the first time at the Emirates, the day before sees Liverpool take on Chelsea. We could see the top two break away, all four come closer together or as with last weekend no real change in the relative positions.

Personally I can see it going anyway with all the teams capable of winning their game, on recent form you would fancy Liverpool to beat Chelsea at home but the 2 results against Arsenal sow a little seed of doubt in that department but equally Chelseas poor form must surely count against them.

As for Man Utd and Arsenal both on top form at the moment. Listening to the Guardian's Football Weekly podcast they all agreed that Man Utd would have too much for Arsenal but when you look at recent form it would suggest something else.

In the last 6 home games Arsenals record is WWDWWD in the process building a goal difference of +14, but while it's agreed that Man Utd are on top form looking at their away record tells a different story. For their last 6 away games it's DWLWLW and a goal difference of only +5

Generally when we play Man Utd the form book goes out the window (as happened at Old Trafford earlier this season) but it does present a very different picture to the one I'm sure most people have of Uniteds current position.

Another win against Blackburn

2007-01-15T12:03:00.000Z

Another fantastic win against Blackburn, this time for different reason. I love goals but it's also great to win games that you're not expected to and so that proved on Saturday. I refuse to pay for PremPlus games given I give far too much money to Sky already, so it was another Saturday evening listening to Arsenal.com. However after 12 minutes of the game it seemed as if it was going to be the same old story. Gilberto off (more on that in a minute) down to ten men and still 70+ minutes left to play, in a game when somebody of Gilberto's quality was going to be vital.

But.... and here's the great thing, it actually played right into our hands. As soon as Gilberto went off the pressure was on Blackburn to go for the win, to do that they had to try and play a bit of football and that was their downfall (as it was at the Emirates). Often the worry in such situations is that the team can become distracted by such decisions, Van Persie in the Sheffield game for example, but I think it galvanised the team.

So what about the Gilberto incident, to be honest I think the ref could have given him the benefit of the doubt and given both of them a warning or both yellows but he didn't. If the ref feels it was a sending off then fine but as others have pointed out Gilberto will now miss 3 games. What annoys me is the FA's inaction in such cases, things either go totally unpunished if the ref didn't see it or players get 3 match bans for flicking a leg. In isolation I wouldn't be too bothered but then on Sunday we see Chimbonda for Spurs strike another player across the face and all he gets is a yellow. Let's hope the FA do something similar to what happened with Chris Morgans punch on Van Persie and punish retrospectively.

One thing I did see in the game was another fantastic moment from Fabregas, just after the tackle by Tugay, Neill and Fabregas had a little tussle, the ref came over to calm things down but as they were jogging back Neill had something to say, Cesc's response was to smile and hold 2 fingers up with one hand and none on the other. In my opinion that's exactly the way you should respond to such provocation, get your revenge on the football pitch, there is nothing better to say up yours to an opponent than to beat them and show than no amount of kicking or provocation can get to you. It's not the first time, he did the same thing against either Watford or Sheffield Utd at the Emirates, he was pushed off the ball just outside the area, the defender got up stood over Cesc and said something, he just got up held 3 fingers up smiled and went off to take the corner. It's something Fabregas should have a word with Van Persie about.

The Lauren situation

2007-01-11T17:05:00.000Z

There has been much speculation in the press and much comment on the blogs about Lauren's supposed move away from Arsenal. Lauren has been a great player for us and rightly people are worried about the long term future of Eboue and Hoyte in the right back position while letting go a player of Laurens experience and class.

However we need to look at the situation while taking in the facts.

1. In 8 days time Lauren will pass the magic 30 mark. It's well documented that Wenger only gives single season contracts to players who are over 30, that brings us on to point 2.

2. Lauren's contract ends at the end of this season. The talk of him leaving is not about Arsenal pushing him out but about a player dealing with his future.

3. He is coming back from an injury which has meant he has missed almost an entire year. I'm no Doctor but look at they way Diaby has come back from a dislocation and a fracture in half a season, he's young but Lauren (in football terms) is not. Wenger sees him in training or rehab every day and he will have some idea of the likelihood of a successful return to the team.

4. Arsene is not often wrong on these matters, consistently he has made the right decision on when to allow players to leave the club.

So the reality is Lauren is looking to sign a contract for his future, at Arsenal all he will get in a year (that's all that was is ever offered) and he must himself know that he might not fully recover from his injury. If he signs with Arsenal and fails to reach his previous high his career would be over in a year, by moving somewhere else he is likely to get a 2-3 deal.

In much the same way with Stokes I think any transfer talk is being lead by the player rather than the club.

A quick round up

2007-01-11T16:41:00.000Z

It's been a decent 2007 so far for Arsenal, first we scored 4 against Charlton (and it would have been a lot more had Carson not been playing) and then 2 great, but unexpected wins against Liverpool at Anfield.

I say unexpected not because I didn't have faith in Arsneal getting a result but simply that Liverpool have been so strong of late at home. Having said that I was saying to a Liverpool supporting friend on Friday that they haven't really played anybody really decent at Anfield so far this season and so that proved correct when Arsenal turned up.

In both games we did what we needed to do and that's get in front. Generally the story of the season so far has been a two headed beast, score first and win or score second and struggle. So when Rosicky scored against the run of play it played right into our hands, that meant Liverpool had to push forward for a goal and that lead to space for us to exploit, and so we did. When they got it back to 2-1 it was a pretty even game and were it not for a bit of Henry magic the last few minutes could have been very tricky. In isolation Liverpool did OK in that game and while 3-1 was deserved it could equally have been a draw.

But when taken in context with Tuesday night it highlighted some problems for Liverpool. Benitez made two mistakes by fielding a weaker side on Tuesday, firstly he underestimate Arsneal's younger players and secondly by doing so he would have given them a big boost in confidence. If he had named his strongest side he might have put a little doubt in the players minds but by not doing so he played right into their hands.

I won't go over the game but need less to say both Baptista and Aliadiere had great games but as with Saturday the early goals put all the pressure on Liverpool. In Aliadieres defence I think he looked half decent against Portsmouth without actually doing a great deal but his problem is now we have 4 players on form in front of him.

A moment I liked was in commentary when Liverpool scored their 3rd Any Gray questioned the Arsenal young players resolve, a few minutes later Baptista scored another and his question was answered in no uncertain terms. Dudek got a fair amount of stick but in reality, especially in the Carling Cup game, he didn't stand a chance with most of the goals.

All in all 2 great results but I don't think it changes much, we all know if Arsenal play a side wanting to go toe to toe with them on a football basis they will come out on top, Blackburn tried and got burned in a similar fashion to Liverpool. On that subject it's Blackburn again this weekend, if they try and play football again they could be in a bit of trouble but the good news from an Arsenal perspective is Bentley is suspended for that game. At the Emirates I think he was the source of most of the danger from Blackburn, with him out I think we might have a better chance.

You put the words in my mouth

2006-12-27T15:20:00.000Z

One thing I have noticed increasingly lately is the way that TV interviews put words in to managers and players mouths. The papers and internet are full of stories about how Arsene Wenger has compared Robin Van Persie to Dennis Bergkamp.

However having watched the Watford game I also watched the post match interviews, that presents a different picture. The first thing the interviewer said was something along the lines of "Did that goal remind you of anybody", Arsene being the gentleman he is answered the question but all the subsequent reports have reported it as if he was the one setting the agenda.

This isn't the first time this has happended, I remember recently Lehman getting stick for talking about Ashley Cole, but again it was an interview and he was asked for his views on the subject. He could of course have refused to answer or given a more flattering one but after the fact there were people on Talksport for example saying he shouldn't "come out and say things like that". The fact of the matter is he didn't come out and say these things, somebody went out to get him to say something which he did.

Wenger is experienced and clever enough to know when to avoid these sort of situations and I'm sure he can see no harm in saying what he did it just irks me that these things get reported in the way that they do. The Times for example said..

"The forward reminds Arsene Wenger of another Dutchman"

When in reality it reminded the interviewer and Arsene politely agreed.

Christmas Cheer

2006-12-26T21:54:00.000Z

It's been a while since I last updated this blog, work commitments and a general lack of time have meant I haven't had the opportunity to commit as much time to writing as I would like. This is in part due to my aim to write a little more than just a revamp of news available on news sites and other blogs.

So a bit of a catch up is in order, first up was our big week at the beginning of December 3 massive games in the space of a week, first up Spurs at home, a game which we all feared we could lose our first game at the Emirates to our biggest rivals. It wasn't to be and thankfully the Arsenal players (all be it ones who might not know what it really means to the fans) raised their game to gives us what was a comfortable win. Then on to Porto where despite it being one of the dullest games I can remember again it was job done.

Finally came Chelsea, the win at Man Utd and against Liverpool gave us some hope but I think most Arsenal fans wouldn't have given us much hope of a win. However a Flamini goal gave us belief that the impossible could happen. Having said that my first thought and comment when Flamini's goal went in was that we wouldn't be losing as Chelsea were really kicking in to gear, the post saved as a couple of times but given the amount of times we have hit the post this season I don't think we can feel too bad about that.

As with the Man Utd and Liverpool games I think we all hoped that the result against Chelsea would be a turning point for our season, but a hard fought (but poor performance) win against Wigan brought back the reality that there is still work to be done. However there are signs that things are starting to click, I'll ignore the fact we should never have gone 2 goals down to Portsmouth and focus on Adebayors performance to drag the team back to 2-2. It was great to see him come on an inject some effort into the team, I think the number of games we are playing is taking it's toll but it was good to see a player coming off the bench and turn the game.

The Blackburn game was odd, for a change I watched the game from the upper tier of the stadium, normally I see the game from almost eye level which is great but it's also difficult to see how open the game is (or isn't). It was clear Blackburn had come to have a go at us, but it was clear like every other team which has come to the grove to try and compete on a football level that it was a dangerous tactic. But it is true there was a period when Blackburn could have been level but as always it's if buts and maybes and it would be equally true had we taken our chances we would have been out of sight long before the second Blackburn goal. In the end their over attacking style was punished but I really don't think the 6-2 score line flattered Arsenal and it was good to see the reports in the couple of papers say the same.

I have just finished watching the Watford game, again it was a difficult game to watch as given our style on Saturday I think we had hoped that we could push on, but as with many of our games this season the opposition made it difficult. That’s not to say Watford didn't deserve to hold in at 1-1 but I think that style can only really be employed for 60-70 minutes as it takes too much out of the players. In our home draws this has been apparent in the fact we have in all cases been able to pull a goal back late on. In many ways I think on Saturday Blackburn scored too early and we were able to respond and equally even though Watford came from behind to level the game at 1-1 there was still time for us to build momentum. Despite Watford giving a good account of themselves they didn't really threaten seriously in the second half and we looked better as the game went on (but never comfortable, especially in defence).

A final thought is that we have 2 further games over the Christmas/New year period, Sheffield Utd will be difficult but I think we will see something similar to the game at the Emirates and the Watford game tonight, doing well for 70 minutes then fading, Arsenal need to take their time and take their chances when they come. It will be interesting to see how Charlton in the wake of Pardew taking over do but to be honest they are a different proposition to West Ham. West Ham were a good side going through a bad patch, Charlton are a poor side going through a bad patch. They have two games before they play us so there won't be the case of the team winning it's first game for a new manager. Also I don't think Pardew will have enough time with the players to have much of an effect. What I think we should hope for is Pardew taking a decision like Redknapp did last year, put out a young side in a game he thinks he has little chance of winning to save the better players for games they have more chance of winning.

The other interesting thing about this weekend is our chasing rivals all play each other.

Bolton vs Portsmouth
Tottenham vs Liverpool

Liverpool vs Bolton
Portsmouth vs Tottenham

I think the best results from this would be draws against Bolton vs Portsmouth and a win for Spurs, then draws in the other two. If (and it is if) we beat Sheff Utd and Charlton we can open up a 4 point gap on Bolton, 5 on Portsmouth and 7 on Liverpool and Spurs that would give us a bit of breathing space.

We can come from behind (again).

2006-11-22T09:07:00.000Z

In various areas of the media yesterday there were reports of Arsenals failure to come from behind once we have gone a goal down. This was evident with the words of the commentators on ITV4, something along the lines of "so Arsenal can come back from being a goal down" just after Eboue scored. They did correct their mistake later but it does demonstrate two things, firstly if people keep saying the same thing for long enough people believe it's true and secondly people in the media have short memories (or more specifically they tend to report what sounds good and is not necessarily accurate). For those that need reminding we came back from a goal down to beat Dinamo Zagreb 2-1 in our second game at the Emirates (two myths dispelled there we can't win at our new ground and we can't come from behind).

As for the game itself it wasn't the same old story, we went a goal down but we battled back without actually having the number of chances we have of late, there was a touch of fortune about the Eboue goal but for me luck (or rub of the green) has been something we have been missing of late. To be honest while Eboue was his energetic self once again, his final ball wasn't so great last night and I think he went for a goal come shot rather than see a defender head away once again.

As for the other two goals, they were brilliantly crafted the first consisting of two fabulous dummies, first Cesc's look left pass right combo and then a glance at the left hand of the goal from Van Persie only to slot it past the right of the keeper. The last goal was right up Arsenals street, fast attacking football which hasn't been possible with the 10 men behind the ball merchants we have been playing recently. A fabulous first touch (I think from Flamini) released Walcott who's pace took him 40 yards up field, that pace was matched by both Henry and Baptista and while Henry drew the defender and keeper away a wonderful cross found the head of Baptista to drill a very accurate and powerful header home. I'm really pleased to see Baptista on the score sheet as I think it will give him a bit of confidence and hopefully Wenger will use him a little more.

As for the Henry yellow card, to be honest it was a joke, if that's the level of contact needed for a yellow then we had a sure fire penalty in the first half when a similar challenge was made on Henry. However in some ways it's a blessing in disguise, twice in the last calendar year Henry has been rested before Champions league games, at the weekend against Newcastle and last year against Spurs. We all know what happened on Saturday but let me remind you of what happened against Spurs, the first half we rested Henry, Cesc and Hleb, Spurs were all over us and we were lucky not to be a goal down at half time. In the second half they scored and Henry had to come on and salvage a point.

This year the Spurs game is the weekend before the Porto game, with Henry on suspension there is no reason whatsoever for him to be rested and therefore no reason for him to be anywhere near the bench.

Gallas out, Arsenal rocked (apparently)

2006-11-20T17:08:00.000Z

News from Arsenal that William Gallas is out of the Hamburg game and "for a few weeks" according to the BBC. However they have given the story a rather bizarre title, "Gallas thigh injury rocks Arsenal"...

What's that supposed to mean, while Gallas has been great so far at the club I'm certainly not worried that he will be out, in fact in an odd way I'm rather pleased. Senderos was at the heart of an Arsenal defence that holds the record for clean sheets in the Champions league and when he has been used Djourou has been very impressive. If anything I think we have missed Senderos a little because we lack a bit of height defending set pieces when Gallas plays. Sure it's not ideal but the use of the term "rocked" is total rubbish once again from the press, I checked and the official word used by Wenger was in fact "blow" so not sure why the BBC felt compelled to change it to something more dramatic.

Still the good news is both RVP and Gilberto are back in the squad. Van Persie's injury wasn't at all serious despite him missing the second half against Newcastle and Gilberto is now back from Brazil. Strangely the BBC seem to totally ignore those two bit's of information still I suppose it doesn't fit in with their "Arsenal Rocked" theme.

Sign of the Times

2006-11-20T09:34:00.000Z

I'm not proud of the fact but I read the Times. Not everyday just on Mondays for their football supplement The Game. Last year during our Champions League run they couldn't say enough good things about Arsenal, in hindsight that might have had some thing to do with Arsenal being the only British club left in the competition and with column inches to fill on a slow Wednesday what else could they do. But this week in the game it seems they have run out of things to talk about.

First a short bit in the two Fanny's (sorry Danny's) section. Criticising Wengers comments on international football. It seems the lads don't understand the concept of metaphor, when Wenger likens international managers to car thieves he doesn't actually mean it literally. Still I suppose you can't expect high journalism form a Spurs fan (hasn't seen real football for 15 years plus) or a Millwall fan who's feelings on Arsenal are well known.

The match report was typically useless 4 words about Arsenal and then 400 on yet another team playing 11 behind the ball, no mention of the numerous Arsenal chances including a shot hitting the bar. It seems week in week out the best the Times can manage is a quarter of a page on an Arsenal game yet, Man utd and Spurs regularly get a full page spread.

However there were a couple of small facts later which were worth repeating. Again in a thinly disguised jab at Wenger the fact that Tony Adams played 21 times in Europe and Henry 89, but in the league cup it was 59 and 3 respectfully. Interesting, but as they say lies, damn lies and statistics. Firstly Adams played (in his early career) at a time when English clubs were banned from Europe, European games were straight knockout affairs and of course the League cup was 2 legs all the way to the final. Today football players play a massive amount of games, the league cup is simply lowest on the priority list and all power to Wenger to taking a stand against it, if it brings about a change in the League Cup (like getting rid of it) then all the better in my opinion.

Finally a little fact about our home recorded (still unbeaten), every games has finished either 1-1 or 3-0. Lets hope the next home game can be the latter.

Same old Arsenal always Drawing

2006-11-19T10:57:00.000Z

And so it happens again, the sucker punch followed by an Arsenal assault for 60 minutes which yields just a single goal. For various reasons I couldn't get to the game yesterday and could only listen to it on the internet. From what I heard it seemed to be the same old story, plenty of chances but no goals.

Personally I never thought the title was on and that didn't change with the results against Man Utd and Liverpool, but what I did hope for was progress on last year and to be at least in touch come the end of the season. Don't get me wrong I'm not one of these doom and gloom mongers but I think up and half way down form will mean 3rd is possibly the best we can expect this year. Come the end of the season I can see the number of games being a problem for most of the premiership out side of the top 4, they either don't have big enough squads or the distraction of the cup competitions will take their toll, I still say top 4 because I do expect Liverpool to come good, in rather an odd way because of Rafa’s rotation policy, they just need to make sure they don’t give themselves too much to do.

I always like to look at the positives, we are still creating chances, we are still in the top 4 with a game in hand which would take us to third and finally it seems the rest of the chasing pack are as good at dropping points as we are, the difference with them is it seems they are prone to the odd loss where as we tend to draw. If we did win that game in hand it would mean, with the exception of Portsmouth we would be pulling clear of that chasing pack, putting us 4+ points ahead which I think is important from a psychological point of view, meaning the odd loss along the way doesn't mean we yo yo up and down the table.

... Oh yeah I nearly forgot, we are still unbeaten at home, and despite the points situation that can never be bad.

FIFA - Shooting themseleves in the foot?

2006-11-17T17:17:00.000Z

Sorry for dragging up old news but it's the first time I have had a chance to comment on something I feel strongly about. As an Arsenal fan it really gets on my nerves when people go on about Arsenal only fielding foreign players, it happened again, as I'm sure it will do more often this season, against Liverpool when there wasn't an English playing for Arsenal.

As we all know by now FIFA have plans afoot to introduce a 6+5 ruling which limits the number of players in any side to 5 foreign, or more accurately 6 English or home grown players. Apart from the fact this is a total no starter from an EU perspective Arsenal are well set for this anyway given we have plenty of players in the current set up who would easily qualify as home grown, it's the likes of Chelsea and Spurs I worry about.

Anyway what I think is odd is that FIFA or more particularly Sepp Blatter has changed all manner of things in the game, most noticeably the format of World Cups to make it easy for the minnows to have a bite of the cake. Now I don't have a problem with this but if, as they want, teams will be restricted to 6 foreign players what’s going to happen to all the players from what you might call lesser nations? The bigger teams will simply keep the best players who are generally from the bigger footballing nations such as Spain, Italy, France, Holland, Brazil and Argentina. What about players like Hleb, Eboue, Toure even. Sure some of the bigger stars will stay but all I can see happening is nations like the Ivory Coast, Belarus having just one or two players at decent clubs and their national side suffers as a result.

The other thing that gets me is the idea that if we pack English clubs with English players they will suddenly become good, how does that work? Arsenal have in fact produced some top English talent over the last few years, Bentley, Upson, Pennant, Cole and Sidwell and have plenty coming through who look half decent. The simple fact of the matter is they have never been good enough or more specifically in some of the cases think the world owes them a living. Give me Flamini, a hard working player committed to the club and happy to fight for his place over a muppet like Cole who swerves off the road over £5,000 a week.

Value for money?

2006-11-17T09:49:00.000Z

Sky sports news are reporting that Lehman, Ljundberg and Baptista are back in the squad for tomorows game. With Rosicky still out it will be interesting to see which of the midfield players takes his place, Flamini did a good job last week filing in but despite the goal I think it's obvious he is down the pecking order behind both Freddy and Baptista.

I don't expect Baptista to start as before his injury it seemed as if Wenger was easing him in to the squad, but I do think we will see him on the pitch at some point, either to boost the midfield if things are not going well or as a replacement to give somebody a rest after the mid week internationals. It's also good to see that nobody came back from international duty injured, however Wenger still had something to say to the French manager as both Henry and Gallas played the full 90 minutes.

On the subject of internationals it was interesting to see a report in the Independent about how many players were away from each club this week. With the odd exception the list closely resembled the Premiership table with Chelsea, Man Utd and Arsenal in the top places with 13,12 and 11 respectively, at the bottom of the list were Reading, Sheffield and West Ham.

That would suggest to me (if it wasn't already obvious) that the more internationals you have the better you will do. However none of the 11 players from Arsenal played in the England side, with the departure of both Campbell and Cole in the summer we now don't have any obvious first team England players.

Personally I couldn't give a monkeys but it did make me think, one of the reason Wenger doesn't buy English players is the cost, so I though what would the comparision between the 2 sides be?

I used the two starting line ups from their last games which were.

Arsenal : Almunia, Eboue, Toure, Clichy, Gallas, Faberagas, Flamini, Gilberto, Hleb, Henry and Van Persie.

England : Robinson, Richards, Ferdinand, Terry, Cole, Gerrard, Carrick, Lampard, J Cole, Rooney, Johnson.

So what's the totals?

Arsenal : 31.5 Million
England : 100 Million

Given the quality of football, I know which was better value for money. It gets even worse when you compare player for player, 150,000 for Toure or 31m for Ferdinand, 200,000 for Faberagas or Lampard for 11m and so it goes on. Also worth pointing out that many of the England players are home grow, Gerrard and Terry for example, so they are not included in the total.

Arsenal Striker Crisis

2006-11-15T09:17:00.000Z

It seems we may have an impending striker crisis at Arsenal. Currently we have 4 strikers at the club, Henry, Adebayor, Van Persie and Aliadiere and also 2 backups in Walcott (whom Wenger sees developing as a winger for the time being) and Baptista who played up front for 2 seasons for Sevilla.

The crisis comes in that we currently have 3 strikers out on loan, Stokes at Falkirk, Bendtner at Birmingham and Lupoli at Derby. That in itself isn't a problem but the fact they are all banging them is. Both Stokes and Bendtner are top scorers for their clubs with 11 and 7 goals respectfully and Lupoli is only a goal off the pace with 6 at Derby. Before I get too carried away we do have to take into account the level of opposition, whichever way you look at it the Scottish Premiership is not the most difficult league in the world and there is a fair drop off in class from the English Premiership and the Championship, but it's also true that the level of service a striker receives is of a lower standard. Stokes is also not only the top scorer for Falkirk but the top scorer in the Scottish Premiership.

So where's the problem you ask, at some point these loan deals will come to an end, Bendtner in January, Lupoli and Stokes in the summer. Part of the problem with that is we don't have players waiting to leave, at least not for age reasons, Adebayor is 21, Van Persie 23 and Henry still has at least 3 years left. I'm pretty sure a couple of the players will go back out on loan next year and Steve Bruce is keen to extend Bendtners stay but how long can that go on, certainly not the 8-9 years until Van Persie retires. I think Aliadiere will be gone either in January or next summer as I simply don't see him getting a regular starting place, it's also true while he has suffered from various injuries he didn't set the world alight during his loan spells at Celtic, West Ham and Wolves.

The crisis is that opportunities at Arsenal for these players is limited, I can personally see room for one more full time striker at the club (especially if Aliadiere goes) and simply 3 into one won't go. We have seen it in the recent past with Bentley and Upson that if players don't get the chance to play regular first team football they get itchy feet and want to move on. For me it just seems like we are spending time and money developing talent only for it to move on before they get a decent chance in the team.

I think the only thing is that these players would qualify under the new home grow player rules and I think that might ultimately be their saving grace, however you can be pretty sure at least one of the three strikers out on loan won't be with the club in 2-3 years time.

The Great Arsenal Myths - Part One

2006-11-14T17:01:00.000Z

I mentioned in my first post about rubbish from the press, one of the things that keeps coming up and getting repeated almost everywhere when mention is made of Arsenal's next home game is how we are struggling in our new home. Sunday's result might have put pay to that (in some part) but it still seems odd people are still going on about it.

In the closed season any mention of a title challenge from Arsenal was questioned because we would be getting used to a new stadium, the old examples of Man City and Southampton were trotted with one important factor missing, that both Man City and Southampton hardly set the world alight at home before they moved.

I listen to the Guardian football podcast (and fantastic it is too) and almost as soon as they mentioned the Arsenal vs Liverpool game our iffy home form was mentioned. Yet before Sunday we found ourselves in a position of having played 9 games at the Emirates, not a single one of those resulting in a defeat. We have scored in all but one of those games (against CSKA Moscow whom we dominated like no other team I have ever seen without scoring). Despite the fact we have drawn 3 of those premiership games we have scored just 1 goal less than Man Utd, Chelsea and Liverpool (all on 13 goals at home, Arsenal on 12) and conceded just 3, the same as Chelsea and Liverpool and only 1 more than Man Utd on 2. As mentioned above we are unbeated, only 3 other teams can say that Liverpool, Chelsea and Villa.

The other thing we keep hearing is how great Liverpool's home record is and it's just their away form that's the problem, but who exactly have they played at home, Reading, West Ham, Newcastle, Spurs, Blackburn Rovers and Villa, all teams that anybody with half an eye on the league title should be knocking over without question. Now I know that we failed to beat Villa and Boro but the point isn't that Liverpool's home record is better than ours (it is) it's the fact people keep going on about how great Liverpool's home record is and how terribly bad ours is, how Arsenal are having problems adapting to their new home.

Let's hope we can go through the whole season having the problem of being undefeated at home.

Welcome

2006-11-14T14:38:00.000Z

Welcome to Tales from the Grove, a new blog all about Arsenal and football. However this won't be the usual sort of Arsenal blog, a regurgitation of news from other sources but will look a little bit deeper at what's going on. This will have special emphasis on stats and reaction to the general bollocks which the media trot out.

I'll also be commenting on general football related stories with particular attention to the failure of our local North London rivals.

Just for the record I'm a season ticket holder, so I get to see the team first hand. Any comment I make will be based on the evidence I see with my own eyes rather than second hand via the media which to be honest often totally perplexes me in the way it reports on games and incidents.

Oh yeah I almost forgot, this is a 2 way thing I want your comments on the things I will be talking about, for the moment it will be a free for all but knowing blogs as I do if the amount of spam and bollocks builds up I might have to turn on some small verification tools, nothing major, but for now we will see how it goes.