Le Grove
1,552 FOLLOWERS
The site was set up in late 2007 by Geoff and Pedro. They set out to create a place where Arsenal fans could talk about whatever they liked football wise without the fear of aggressive recriminations. Four and a bit years on, the site has posted over 1600 times and has over 1,000,000 comments approved and published.
Le Grove
22h ago
This international break has gone from feeling like a breath of minty fresh air, to smelling like sitting next to a hangover on the London Underground.
We thought that Saka, Big Gabi, and Martinelli were all engaged in some dark arts preservation for this weekend. It turns out that might not be the case, and there seems to be a concern—it’s touch and go.
Now, what you have to remember here is this: Mikel uses uncertainty as a weapon. He doesn’t want Pep to know who is available and who is not. Pep will be doing the same. Is Kyle Walker fit? Did John Stones walk off the pitch inside 20 minutes ..read more
Le Grove
3d ago
The Premier League dropped the fixtures for some of the reworks needed before the end of the season… and they have not been kind to Arsenal or Aston Villa.
The big issue? The break Tottenham Hotspur has been given before meeting us.
Crazy as it might seem… they have been give 15 days.
Tottenham play Newcastle on April 13th.
Arsenal then play:
Aston Villa (h) Apr 14th
Bayern (a) Apr 17th
Wolves (a) Apr 20th
Chelsea (h) Apr 23rd
Culminating in the Spurs game Apr 28th (a)
For context, that Spurs break is the equivalent to the January break all Premier League clubs had. They could give the player ..read more
Le Grove
5d ago
TOMIYASU SIGNED A NEW DEAL.
We all love it.
Worth noting that Edu and Richard Garlick opted to give him a 2 yr extension (option for one yr), instead of the 3-5 everyone has been signing onto.
This reflects two things for me:
Lack of availability is a concern and has affected his long-term value
2 years means we have a get-out-of-jail-free card if he doesn’t get fitter
He’ll be a potential exit next summer
This feels a little like the Aaron Ramsdale deal. If we sign someone like Hato in the summer, our mix of defenders might see Tomi’s opportunities shrink.
We’ll see though. He might come b ..read more
Le Grove
1w ago
Arsenal finally moved towards earning their diploma in the dark arts by withdrawing the following players:
Gabriel Jesus
Big Gabriel
Martinelli
Thomas Partey
Tomiyasu
By withdraw, I mean, the players themselves have told their county they cannot play.
These moves are sensible and needed. The only injury-prone player we’re sending away is Zinchenko, and given the political context for him, that’s not a surprise. He also needs some good minutes under the belt to help him get back to full fitness. A sharp Zini might be needed for the City games.
Clubs like Liverpool have been playing these gam ..read more
Le Grove
1w ago
I’m so sorry I wasn’t there for you when you needed a hit of CHAMPIONS LEAGUE DRAW reaction. So here it is now:
I like it.
Bayern Munich is the perfect blend of super club at a lowish ebb that is very beatable. If you win, you’re really happy. If you lose, that’s just the level of the Champions League for you.
I’d give us a 40% chance of making it through to the next round. Bayern has nothing to play for, the away leg is going to be really tough, and I’m not sure how the boys are going to handle the bright lights away from home.
We’re better than Bayern over the stretch of a season, just not ..read more
Le Grove
1w ago
What are you doing Friday? That’s right. CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUARTER FINAL DRAW.
Feels sexy, right?
That is a very nice collection of top tier clubs. No Qarabag for us. Just pure heritage clubs that’ll have American gooners crying off sick for sure.
For me, the who do we want and who do we NOT want lists are very simple.
DO NOT WANT:
Manchester City: They are the strongest team in the world and we do not have a particularly great record against them over the last 10 years. Though cup games are not that bad – league games are bad. Very bad.
The counter-point to the fear here is that the one team ..read more
Le Grove
1w ago
Arsenal is through to the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the first time since 2010.
Wow.
14 years out in the cold. And here we are. What a feeling!
I’m a touch emotional about it because I wasn’t sure we’d ever get back the peak of European football. The club allowed itself to sag and bloat under a manager who had declined, they made a horrible mistake hiring a meek replacement paired with a horrendous football director… they finally saw the light and hired Arteta.
So few wanted to accept hiring someone with City and Pep ID was a good idea, no one wanted to accept he had the sauce ..read more
Le Grove
2w ago
Well good morning my darlings, how are we today? Good? Great? Incredible? Surely not a 3 out of 10? Don’t be like that, we have a Champions League game this evening.
There’s exciting injury news, Tomiyasu is back in contention after a very long stint out. He’ll make the bench this evening, there’s no doubt he’s going to be ready for the run in, he might get a few minutes if things are going well and we’re trying to lock-up the game.
Timber has also been in the training pictures, but don’t get your hopes up on that one. End of the month if things go really well. That’ll be City at the earliest ..read more
Le Grove
2w ago
That was my favourite victory of the year because it was exactly the sort of game the narrative gods thought they could control.
They couldn’t.
The injury-ravaged bully boys of Brentford came to our house to rough us up and put some perspective on our title run.
They took a wild swing, grazed our cheek, and fell over the pool table.
The footballing gods had the cheek to weigh in and stack the cast against us. They put a referee in charge from Liverpool and they had Paul Tierney in the VAR room after his shocking mistake for Liverpool against Forest. You couldn’t make it up, only divine interv ..read more
Le Grove
2w ago
The team sheet is in and Arsenal is looking very strong for the home game against Brentford.
Key news: Martinelli has a deep cut on his foot, so I suspect that’s the last we’ll see of him until after the international break. Just thank your lucky charms it’s a cut, not something worse.
Tomi is out, but he should be in the mixer for the game on Tuesday. No need to take a chance when you have a lot of coverage at full-back.
Zinchenko makes the bench, which means he’ll be warm for a dirty midblock in the Champions League. The haters need to pipe down with their shocking revisionist views of how ..read more