Up For Grabs Now

Some areas of the media have spent the last fortnight suggesting that Arsenal are a a bunch of overrated, too-young flimsies with a tendency to self-destruct and massive issues with commitment, talent and self-belief band of maverick gypsy-footballing geniuses who only needed an occasion and a bit of luck to prove themselves potential world-beaters. Those areas have just been proved correct.

What a !

It wasn’t easy; it was never going to be, but our team delivered the goods this afternoon and we continue our 100% record against the big sides. 

Lots of people were sceptical about the optimism going into this match, but the team showed once again the talent they have, and offered a glimpse of the team they could be if they applied themselves like this all the time. 

Robin stepped up when he had to, and Cesc showed that he’s got the stones to be the captain in the games that really matter – Djourou was very unlucky with the own goal, I felt. It was a challenge he had to make, and the test of a player (and his teammates, more to the point) is how they respond when these things happen.

It wasn’t perfect – there are still lots of questions to be asked of the defence and midfield, but as against United we made the most of our luck. Better to be a lucky team than a good one, to paraphrase Napoleon.

More on the match tomorrow, and also more on those blogs who’ve seen fit to start criticising our greatest postwar manager for myopia after a few dodgy games…

But for now let’s enjoy the victory. Have between twenty five and a million beers.

So. After the furious chaos of the last week it almost feels like we’re into something of a fallow patch with all things Arsenal before the big game at Stanford Bridge tomorrow.

I say big game but I suppose in some ways it’s not really. It’s a big game in so far as if we win, we’ll be a few fewer points behind and there’ll be a raft more ‘Don’t write off Arsenal’ stories in the media but any other result and we’re in the same position as we are today. I guess a good performance might help, but the problem is consistency, not whether the can team can rouse themselves for Chelea.

Still, Nasri, Adebayor and Sagna are all back and it will be nice to see them, particularly with stories like this floating around to make all Gooners want to believe in Santa and the inferiorities of the Italian game.

I wonder what our formation will be. You’ve got to think with Chelsea’s midfield, and a fit Adebayor, the boss’ll be tempted to go with five across the middle, and hope that we can snuff them out and hit them on the break, perhaps with a characteristic Adebayor hanging header. That would be fine for me. You certainly wouldn’t think we’ll be aiming to dominate them man for man.

There’ll probably be a bit more as they get into the psychological warfare – I’m expecting some people to say some stuff about Gallas through the day, none of it very interesting. The barometer of opinion seems to be swinging back in his favour, though a lot will rest on how he can perform tomorrow.

There are also a lot of people saying they’d settle for a draw tomorrow. Psychologically perhaps, but mathematically no. A draw tomorrow does nothing for me, like Harriet Harman eating ryvita in clown shoes.

Laters, grabbees.

Pre-match Arsene was absolutely bubbling with confidence this afternoon as he faced the press ahead of the crunch match at Chelsea on Sunday. His bullishness reached new levels as he claimed:

We can play, and win, everywhere in the world, and we don’t have to consider too much who we play against. We know that Chelsea is a great side, with a great team and great players. But at the end of the day you beat them if you play at your best.

Hasn’t that always been true of Wenger’s Arsenal? Is it still true? I think it is. Even at its frailest moments this team has the potential to play football which is simply unanswerable, regardless of the quality of the opposition.

Of course, the trouble is that they never play like this as much as we’d like, and this season they’ve hardly played like this at all. Other times you see it for parts of a game and then all the good work is thrown away – it is phenomenally difficult to sustain for 90 minutes, still less 90+4. But you still get the sense that if they really clicked, as they did in patches against United, this team can still play Wengerball, the invincible style which nobody can match.

That’s why there’s always so much media fuss about Arsenal compared to other clubs. People want to see footballing perfection and the failure of the only team to attempt it will always be a big story. It’s also why a club like Real Madrid have coveted Wenger so much for so long. He offers something no other manager does, regardless of pure trophy-winning ability.

He is obviously capable of turning this lot around. Let’s just hope he does.

So it’s Chelsea at the Bridge on Sunday. Another crucial game. It really isn’t good to be having so many crucial games before December has even got going. Most Gooners seem to have a strange confidence about our chances going into what ought to be one of our most fiendishly difficult games all season.

I reckon this feeling comes primarily from the fact that Arsenal under Wenger always seem to overperform in games where nobody gives them a chance. We lose to a string of diddy teams and appear to have entirely lost the plot. We then play gorgeous football and beat Man U, before reverting to former plot-losing. Go figure. I think much of this is down to the mental dynamics of the current dressing room, with players visibly raising their commitment levels for so-called “big” games and tending to see games against lesser opposition as somehow less worthy of their effort.

This always seems most obvious to me in midfield. Against Stoke Denilson went through the game at a jog, lightly pressing the opposition but never getting stuck in. The attitude seems to be – “we’re better than you and so we’ll just wait for you to give us the ball then we’ll score” which of course, isn’t really how football works, especially where quite a lot of that “being better” comes from aggression and ball-winning. Switch to the United game where he’s up against Carrick and Anderson and Denilson thinks “these guys are worth playing against” and is transformed into a snarling terrier, the kind that, were he to turn up week on week, might win you a league.

Chelsea’s midfield is ludicrously good, so we expect a similarly alarming improvement from our boys on Sunday. Perhaps this is one reason why optimists still feel we have a chance in the Champions League. One such is Peter Hill-Wood, who has promised Arsene cash to burn and also said:

I certainly want to finish in the top four in the league, and perhaps (win) the Champions League. We’ve played pretty well in Europe on the whole so far, and that would be very nice.

Yes it would, wouldn’t it Pete. Except you make it sound “very nice” in the way that jammy dodgers and walks on crisp autumn mornings are very nice, whereas I would see it as “very nice” in a rather more running around Seven Sisters inexplicably stark bollock naked howling “YEEEEAAH! GET IT UP YOU! WE’RE BY FAR THE GREATEST TEAM THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN!” kind of way. But I’m sure we mean the same thing, really.

The thing about having a team of raw kids is that it makes you the underdog in Europe. Admittedly this can sometimes lead to being pulverised by a team who is not an underdog, but often the 2-legged format sees the weaker side come out on top. Liverpool always do this, and you just feel that Arsenal might do something similar with their underdoggery. Let’s hope so.

Watching Portsmouth vs AC Milan, you couldn’t help noticing the vast number of Gooners or former Gooners on show: Traore, Campbell, Kanu, Flamini, Senderos and, of course, Tony Adams himself for whom I think we all felt gutted at the end. If we could have all of these former players back for Sunday that would really help, especially Kanu (I still love him) who might fancy doing this again. Barry Davies: THAT IS AMAZING! Quite.

Transfer goss has kicked off in the last few days. Names in the tabloid hat range from Podolski to Xavi to Giovinco to Huntelaar, all pretty predictable and unlikely in my view. It’s strange isn’t it that Arsenal’s main failings seem so obviously defensive and yet no tabloid journalist has the originality to identify genuine options in defence or defensive midfield. Perhaps this is because, as always, they actually know nothing whatsoever about who we might sign and can’t really be arsed to find out and so just trot out the same old names over and over again.

That said, I cannot really begin to describe how fantastic a signing Clarence Seedorf would be. He is almost exactly what we need.

Thoughts?

We hired a new CEO yesterday, Ivan Gazidis, whose experience of football is mostly from America. This suggests two things to me: firstly he’s probably good with cash, and secondly that he probably knows nothing whatsoever about football. Both of these are helpful traits; I was very alarmed at some of the names being touted previously, who were men with serious experience working in football in serious footballing places, places that aren’t America, for instance. That’s the last thing you want.

What you want is somebody very good at not giving agents any money, and not giving in to people like Emmanuel Adebayor when they tell you that they’re the most valuable men in the world, even more valuable than the entire defence, say. Anyway it’s not a decision they came to slowly. You imagine the Arsenal boardroom at times to be a bit like a convergence of the ents in Lord of the Rings. They never discuss anything quickly, and they never speak about anything unless it is worth taking a long time to say.

Anyway. It’s another bit of stability in what has been a good stabilising week so far for the club. Hopefully the nous and the extra revenue he can drive will act as a barrier against evil Boss Nass look-alikes who want to use our football club as a place to rape and intimidate people.

Gael Clichy has slightly come out of my good books for his attack on Gallas. I thought he’d done so well the other day, and then he goes and is mean to poor William just when the chips are down.

Clichy out! Gallas in!

Etc.

Seriously it does seem a bit silly to suggest that Gallas ‘shattered’ moral with his comments. I imagine that losing to Fulham, Hull, Stoke, Villa and Manchester City, and drawing with Tottenham, is what damaged morale. But perhaps I’m old fashioned. To my mind the bigger issue was Gallas’ impropriety in the role of captain. Maybe that’s what Clichy means.

From now till Sunday it’s going to be build up to Chelsea. Anybody got any good ideas? I have to say, just as against Utd, I feel quite optimistic – Chelsea didn’t look convincing last night, and our lot have little to lose at the moment. I daresay we’ll start to get injury news quite soon.

I’d like to start Vela, please. And I’d like Wilshere on the bench, please, and for him to come on for at least fifteen minutes. And for Song either not to play at all or to transform into a six foot four Senegalese called Patrick in 2001.That can be a very small part of my early Christmas present. How about you?

Ivan “Gazza” Gazidis that is! It’s the signing Gooners everywhere have been dreaming of. He’s a big, bald, seasoned veteran with experience at the top level. Just what we need in our midfield boardroom.

Seriously though, this not having a Chief Executive lark had gone on way too long. It might explain why Arsene hasn’t signed anyone recently. He just couldn’t be arsed with all the paperwork – sorting out their blooming visas, fiddling around with multiple passport photos and such. 

Now we’ve got Gazza I expect us to immediately sign all sorts of good expensive players such as Sergio Ramos, Sergio Aguero and the appropriately named Spanish goalkeeper Sergio Arsenjo. Not really sure why we’ll only sign players called Sergio with Gazza at the helm it’s just my gut instinct. A spate of Sergios is ahead. A shower of sheer Sergiosity to save the season!

Seriously, I just hope he gets on with Arsene and gives him lots of money in January to spend on ridiculously talented but as yet unheard of players like Eduardo and Sagna.

Any thoughts?

So the first game under Captain Cesc and the first step on the road to recovery for this team. Let’s hope that road is about 12 metres long, paved with gold, and we’re allowed to drive a turbo-charged eleven-seater Ferrari. We need to get there fast so that when we next have a really difficult fixture we are at our best. What’s that? Chelsea away? On Sunday? Oh dear.

Back to last night, and Kiev. We shouldn’t allow the current problems to obscure the significance of ickle Jack Wilshere’s plucky European debut. He looked tidy and inventive as always, and supremely comfortable on the ball. Perhaps he’s been taking lessons from Alex Song.

For some reason I never noticed it in the Carling Cup games but playing for a bigger Arsenal side against a lumping Kiev team, Jack looked a bit like what happens on SuperMario when your guy gets shrunk. He was TINY! Seeing him marking one enormous bald bloke at a free-kick I half expected him to be crushed underfoot in a shower of lost gold coins, or else to leap ridiculously high and kill the bald bloke by stamping on his head shouting “Yippee! Wahey! Wazoo!”

It’s probably good in the long run that he didn’t do any of these things. Instead he gave a cameo performance which has had some fans calling for him to have a bigger role on a more regular basis. My view is that I’d like to see him get a few games this season and then really push for a place next year a la Walcott. Ramsey is still ahead of Jack for his sheer beefiness, and while last night wasn’t Aaron’s best performance, it’s much easier to look good for 15 minutes than for a whole match, as we saw with Carlos Vela who Wenger withdrew due to fatigue after an hour. The good thing is that Jack plays centrally and on the left, Aaron plays centrally and on the right and so they should both be providing healthy competition for more senior players.

Other observations: Gael pulled off some sick tricks to get himself out of trouble when he was in really tight spots. He’s been doing these more and more this season. I can’t think of another full-back in the world to match his sheer audacity (think the casual overhead lobbing of Ronaldo the other week). This can also land him in big boo-boo (think Totts) but it’s certainly exciting to watch.

I was concerned by Van Persie’s performance last night. He looked pretty lazy for most of the first half and I lost count of the number of times I was screaming at him to get in the box and he seemed to dash off in the other direction, making space for… wait… nobody, because he was the main striker. I know it’s very early to judge, but the Van Persie-Vela left footed combo didn’t really look too promising.

Typically for a club of such class, Gallas received a pretty reasonable reception. He had a night of near misses at both ends as he had a good finish disallowed, was then lucky that an error of Bramble-esque proportions went unpunished by their grubby looking striker, and then put a goal-saving block on a Van Persie which looked destined for the net. The early signs were promising that he will be able to stop girning and get back to being the pretty excellent defender he once was.

Cesc chose exactly the right words on Gallas, words that should unite the team and the supporters: 

“I have a great respect for William. A lot of people from the outside have been very unfair with him because he is a great guy, a great professional and he always tries to do everything to help this club. You can never doubt his commitment to the club. It has been spot on since the first day and he has been a big, big player for us.”

This is quite hard to take as fans still angry at last week’s apparent betrayal, but coming from a player as adored as Cesc is, it’s kind of hard not to just accept this. Cesc knows Gallas and has trained with him for two and a half years. We don’t and we haven’t. He’s been in the dressing room and heard what has gone on. We haven’t. Cesc knows?

Finally, a word on injuries. Nine is a lot of first teamers (ok, eight if you don’t count Eboue) to have sitting on the sidelines, and seeing them all cosied up in dark grey parkas and silly hats I fear that unless our wounded players either get better and start wearing red shirts and white shorts again or else change their casual dress-sense pretty soon, people are going to start mistaking them for low quality rap collaboration The Blazin’ Squad and they’ll have to do gigs and such. But then Adebayor would probably quite enjoy that, wouldn’t he.

Arsene says that Sagna, Nasri and Ade are all “50:50″ to make the Chelsea game. He does love his percentages, doesn’t he? I wonder whether he keeps them all in his head and how often they change, e.g. when Eduardo first got injured his percentage must have been 0:100, when he had it plastered up it was probably around 2:98 and it’s been ticking up ever since. I wonder where he’s got to now, it will be VERY good to have him back.

(Final) finally, don’t miss this. Proof (which was obviously very needed) that Rooney is a cheating git. Purple Nose said he “didn’t mean to do it”. What exactly did he mean to do then? Execute some kind of unlikely diving header with the ball at his feet? Take flight up into the chilly Spanish sky? Most tastelessly of all, Ferguff-on goes on to attack Rob Pires for not apologising after his dives, which, lets face it, have probably happened once or twice. Proof (which was obviously very needed) that Purple Nose is a total git.

Arsenal 1 Dynamo Kiev 0

Well thank heavens for that. One nil to the Arsenal, and have you ever been more relieved to hear those words? Unconvincing, certainly, and I suspect there were a few hearts in mouths during the second half. With Porto winning we’ve cemented our position in the last sixteen of the Champions League, and also secured ourselves a semi-dead rubber in Portugal.

Thoughts?

Positives: The win. Cesc’s first match as captain a victory, and a strong performance from him. Gallas getting his head down and doing a job, though he looked shaky at times. Almunia’s save in the second half. Vela’s brightness in the first half, a bit of breathing space before business resumes in earnest on Sunday. Young Jack Wilshere looking as promising as usual. Comedy opposition sending off – ‘headless chicken kiev’?

Negatives: The shakiness we’ve seen in recent games, particularly in the back half of midfield and defence, was still there. Chelsea, not to mention the other big European teams, will hardly be quaking in their boots at the thought of playing our team. Still, we’ve got players to come back, and morale will pick up. Denilson is not a winger.

So. Things to correct. A good night for the Arsenal. What do you reckon? 

In the wake of the gamut of guff being spun about Cesc’s appointment, Up For Grabs Now would like to single out for special attention Arsenal’s erstwhile left-back, Gael Clichy,

In this player’s loveable heart, head and legs lies the beating essence of Arsene Wenger’s philosophy as a football manager. He is as quick as the wind, skilful, attack-minded and young. So far, so erratic Arsenal. But what separates Gael from the rest, and what’s been clear since he joined, is that he will give his all every time he steps onto the pitch. When all around him players are dropping or giving up, Clichy will be there chasing, harassing and driving forward. How many times have we seen him, having run all game, collect the ball in the 80^th minute only to go stampeding up the wing, surprising his own teammates as much as the helpless, exhausted opposing right midfielder? It doesn’t seem to matter whether we are winning or losing – as long as he is on the pitch in an Arsenal shirt he will keep fighting.

This is not to say he never makes mistakes: he had a bad game against Man City at the weekend, and he was responsible for Tottenham’s crucial third goal. Last season it was the penalty he conceded against Birmingham that marked the beginning of the end of our season. Unlike William Gallas he got up, shook himself down and went back to the fight. All players are going to make mistakes, particularly at the start of their careers. This is particularly going to be the case in an attacking team like Arsenal, where movement and speed are prioritised. The difference with Gael is that he always looks willing to learn from his errors, and to atone for them.

As I have written, he was my pick for captain. In hindsight it’s easy to see it was always going to be Fabregas, and I’ve no doubt Cesc will be a great leader of the club. One wonders what Clichy would have made of the talk he would be made captain. No doubt he would be too modest ever to accept the possibility, or at least to say so.

His response to the captaincy announcement was typical of what we’ve come to expect. He addressed some of the expected criticism about Cesc’s age and experience, and made the comparison with Tony Adams which will warm the hearts of gooners everywhere. But more than that he dealt with the Gallas situation, and restated the support he feels from the whole squad. True or not, it is exactly the message of unity the club needs to project at the moment. Even if we suggest cynically that the words were put into his mouth, a PR department could not wish for a finer spokesperson. Gael Clichy, this blog salutes you.

On to other matters, and this evening we face Dynamo Kiev, a game which could cement our place in the next round of the Champions League. With our league form as it is, the European competition is crucial, and a cup run can build a head of steam which carries over into the league. If Gallas, by the end of last week, had become a dividing force in the dressing, here’s to hoping Cesc can launch the new-look squad afresh and let them unleash their baby-faced potential on the world. We’re still missing key players, but I’ve no doubt the importance of the game won’t be lost on the side. One wonders sometimes if the European game holds, for the foreign imports, the magic which the FA Cup holds for English players. It certainly might explain our recent superior form on the continent.

It will also be interesting to see how Gallas responds. Who doesn’t want him to unleash his full defensive majesty on the game and respond to the abuse he’s endured with his feet? I know I do. If he can accept his role in the team and calm down, there’s no reason he can’t play a part for many more games to come, but he needs to knuckle down and get on with it.

Time to silence the critics, Arsenal.

P.S. We wish to apologise to Le Grove and its many, many readers for any offence we may have caused yesterday. We may have the given the completely true utterly false impression that he was mad. We now realise the error of our ways, as he has conclusively proven himself to be a visionary  genius with his revolutionary 2-4-4 formation for Arsenal’s future. What’s more, his 2-4-4 formation includes Bacary Sagna, hitherto understood to be quite injured. I daresay an explanation will be on its way. Perhaps he knows a guy who knows a guy. 

Here is the link: www.le-grove.co.uk

It couldn’t really have been much messier, but today Arsenal have a new captain and it’s the one most people wanted: it’s Fabregas. Because of the circumstances, he’s not really being allowed much fanfare – Wenger’s grouchy “I don’t have to explain why” and Arsenal.com’s silence on the subject are a bit moody and not particularly Arsenal, normally a club which is aware of its more momentous announcements and makes them with appropriate pomp and circumstance.

Despite the lack of official fanfare, we the fans should congratulate Cesc on a truly awesome achievement. He’s only just older than Tony Adams was when he became captain. This guy is a real bona fide 100% Arsenal legend – let’s enjoy having him in our team.

Initial thoughts? Probably the right choice and surely one that ought to have been made in the summer. Cesc has spoken before of his desire to captain the club and now he’s got it. There will be more pressure, for sure, but has that ever affected Cesc? People always said captaincy affected Henry’s form but I never really bought that, to be honest. His form was always really good but he suffered debilitating injuries at crucial times. 

More worrying is the recent trait of Arsenal captains becoming embroiled in lengthy and emotionally draining “I love dis club/I’m leaving” sagas – see Henry, Vieira. Don’t worry though, this is only really likely to become a factor with a guy as loyal as Cesc if the team starts to seriously underperform. Erm, oops.

Wenger also defended Gallas, saying “He was working as captain in a very difficult media environment“. Fair enough? Well, no. Not fair enough, actually. The media environment was difficult but it got a whole lot more fucking difficult when you had to open your big fat gob and start publicising dressing room rivalries and openly criticising younger players, didn’t it? That made the whole thing considerably more fucking difficult.

Good luck, Cesc.