Arsene Wenger has revealed that the injury sustained by Andre Santos in Tuesday night’s Champions League game is more serious than first thought.
An initial diagnosis of 2-3 weeks has now been upgraded to ‘several’ as Wenger spoke to the press this afternoon.”The bad news we have is that we lost Santos for a while”, he said. “The ankle injury is more severe than expected. More than three weeks.
“He will see a specialist in the coming days.”
Many have questioned the wisdom of playing our only fit full back in a game which didn’t matter and it is, I suppose, a gamble which didn’t pay off in hindsight. However, hindsight is all powerful and if you could have hindsight before the fact you’d be a psychic in which case you’d be labelled a fraud and a charlatan. Because that’s what you’d be.
However, it is bad news for the Gunners and Wenger must now choose between Thomas Vermaelen and Ignasi Miquel for tomorrow’s game against Everton as Kieran Gibbs is still some way from fitness.
Sigh.
Yep, just what I was thinking, Ace.
Makes you wonder why AW risked his only fit full back in a game that meant nothing.
Ho Hum. The Arsenal roll on.
There was suggestion that the 17 year old Angha was set to play, instead of Santos, against Olympiacos. Problem being he was not named in the Champions League squad, so Pat Rice turned set him home after he got to H’row Airport! (One of the daily rags reported this a couple days ago). I guess this is why Santos ended up starting in a relatively nothing game (although, as we saw MIquel could have likely done a job, but maybe Arsene wanted an actual full back to start to provide a little stability for the side which already had 3… Read more »
Injuries cant detract us! COYG
What kind of poor luck does a team have to have ALL FOUR full backs injured?
the same kind of bad luck that was responsible last season for having all central strikers injured at the same time. or every CB. or every GK (except wszny). when the injuries strike us, they usually do it to all the players of one position.
This is true, 4 full backs and 2 (inept) GKs out injured.
This is now 3 seasons in a row that we’ve had 2 or more GKs injured at any one time. Thank god our number 1 GK is fit.
Back to the full back situation and i’m afraid Gibbs career has to be over for us. We cannot rely on him. Santos was bought as a backup and now he’s injured we are finding ourselves playing 4 CBs across the back
Actually at one point last season EVERY GK was injured which is why JENS played that one game and nearly got himself sent off.
We’ve a good enough back 5 to see us through and the games that are highest risk would be with the first choice defence in any event.
and defence featuring scszsz, tv, kos etc is no pushover, either
come on you rip roaring glorious golden gunners
whatever did happen to rip roar? anyone know?
it got torn!
YES YES FLAVOUR
…I apologise.
Although Vermalen can play left back I think it may be better in the long run to play Miquel there give him some good game time and that experience could give us another option if anything like this ever happens again.
Absolutely. We should get him in now. Vermaelen needs to play in his proper position if Santos will be out for an extended time. Though bad luck for Santos this could be the making of Miquel as long as the rest of the back four remain stable while he beds in.
I’d rather see Vermalen play there. But I know what you’re saying and it does make sense. If we have any other injuries I would definitely choose Miquel over Squillaci.
Totally agree. If he’s deemed ready, play him. He’s got TV5 playing inside and helping him along, and that in itself will also help his development in the ways of the centre back.
Agreed. He looks like he could be a useful player, so give him the opportunity to grab this chance. We will need to rotate players, so having another defender that can play across the back and that we don’t lose sleep over, will stand us in good stead for the coming seasons.
It’s not bad luck just rank stupidity for playing him in first place
Don’t dwell on the negatives. It may turn out to be a blessing in disguise. In a month from now you could be telling the world what a brilliant player Miquel is, and wondering how we managed without him for this long.
Getbukkit, Exactly! It’s opportunities like this which give our up and coming players a chace to prove themselves. Although he’s made the odd rookie mistake here and there, I think Miguel has done very well for himself, especially as an 18 year old whose been thrown in at the deep end. He looks keen and solid.
Voldemort… Avada Kedavra!!!!!!!
He was injured kicking a ball out for a throw in, it was bad luck. Miquel should play there, Djourou is the weak link and we’ve drawn and lost when he plays.
Kos – Mert- Verm -Miquel
sod’s law. I’f like to see Miquel given a go. I know he’s actually a centreback (who isn’t these days?) but I think he can do a job there. Would be better to keep one of the other centrebacks on the bench in case they get fucked up, otherwise we’d potentially have problems back there too.
At least we don’t have Sylvestre any more.
Why not play squillaci at left back and alumina in goal and chamakh at cf?
Nice try Everton fan.
Wow. Everton fan? You could have at least called me a spud. Wanker.
We’re saving Chamakh for the ANC. If he plays a blinder there he could come back a decent backup again.
Wanker!
Can you imagine the mess a frog would make in the microwave oven?
That’s terrible news for Santos; he loves to play and he loves the club… and JOEY BARTON REMAINS ALIVE. Who can believe in “god,” now?!
The squad is going to have to play some concerted team defense and protect each other. It’s going to be an interesting remainder of the year. COYG!
Hey, not so fast with that “Where is God when you need him” stuff. If somebody wasn’t up there looking out for us then Barton could very well have become an Arsenal player. Count your blessings, man.
Amen!
I hope that atleast GIBBS comes back in 3 weeks or less .
hahaha….like that will happen.
Easy to call it stupid now, but balancing the youthful side with some experience was actually a much sounder tactic. Fielding a team purely composed of youngsters could have seen them get the kind of real pasting that is more detrimental to their development. Having said that, it was the senior players who didn’t exactly shower themselves in glory in Greece. But again, mmm delicious hindsight.
I better not make a comment here or I’ll be slagged off and thumbed down to China. I’ll just refer you all to a post that I made after the (pointless) CL game on Tuesday.
It wasn’t pointless. If we hadn’t sent a team we’d have been disqualified.
LOL. I think you’ll get thumbed down anyway.
Reason being that every sensible person knows Santos played because we were short at left and because he still could have benefitted from getting in the odd meaningless match.
ffs. fuckety fuck fuck. Miquel defo.
Time for the back 3 of Djourou, Verm and Kos to take the reigns!
Alright, claiming to be a psychic is fraudulent. But common sense tells you that shit happens, and you should know better than to risk possible injury when it’s not necessary!
Why do people keep saying this? Haven’t you all seen what happens to a team that loses it’s belief in itself by being hammered? Didn’t we just go through that?
You don’t send a team of kids into a bear pit like the Karaiskakis Stadium without a few experienced players to hold them together. Just because the plan didn’t work as well as we might have hoped doesn’t make it any less valid or sensible a plan.
the best piece of advice i ever received: “hindsight is for arseholes”
Then you must have perfect hindsight.
Haha! Genius reply.
FUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCKKKKKKK!!!! Why did you play him in that meaningless stupid game Wenger? Oh well…
Would rather see Verminator / Kos continue to develop a decent partnership than Mertesacker in there. Miguel can do it. have faith.
Its shame. He has adopted to the EPL well. He is the best leftback we had for a while and I don’t know why Arsene chose to play him in the least important game after friendlies and the Emirates Cup.
Anyway, I think its between Thomas and Ignasi untill Gibbs gets back.
Miguel to start for me. Don’t move TV5 !!
I thought miguel was one of the better players in Greece. I would love to see him start at LB, if it gets too much for him he can rotate with Verm
“for a while” can’t possibly mean the season now can it? get well soon Santos i’ll miss your strangely effective ‘stabbing’ tackles in the meanwhile
Moving vermaelen would be a bad idea, considering he’s one of the best centre-backs in the country. Miquel looks good on the ball, can pick a pass, forays forward pretty well for a centre-back and isn’t a slouch either. I’ve yet to see him have a bad game. No point having him if were reluctant to play him. Isnt this exactly what our much lauded youth system is meant for?
Its bad luck BUT HEY! the VERMINATOR! KOS! MERT! we got options! this could be Miquel’s chance to show some more of the goodness we’ve seen. I think our team is looking strong at the back. Of course, now, an injured verminator or kocielny would give me a slight headache. Just imagine when Santos, Gibbs, Sagna and Jenkinson are all back, + a JW. That will add the necesary badassness we need come spring. Looking at the Manchester clubs i think we have a good chance of catching up, might not be all the way but this team, with RVP… Read more »
I think Miquel can start as LB in the next few games.He’s not bad,and Verminator should lead the defense as a center back
in addition,I’m a little confused why not let Santos have some rest and perclude him for the Olympiacos game in the first place
Sometimes AW has a part to play in these injuries; His careless with his players given the high injury index we are having. Crazy,we are in problems.
Get well soon Andre Santos.
I wouldn’t exactly call it a gamble… when gambling the positive outcome (in this case santos remaining healthy and single handedly wining the game in greece) is understood to produce a reward, no matter how slim the odds are. In this case, the best case scenario was a tired santos and a meaningless win… still a disadvantage. baffling. Now our other defenders will have to play more and risk injury themselves. As much as I fully support wenger and as much as talking about this now helps us very little after the fact, I would still like to know what… Read more »
I woulld’t mind Song at CB, and Coq in Song’s role.
Another champs lge final in sight? The last time arsenal lost all full back to injury at the same time, we played in the final. Remember 2006, injury to Clichy, Cole and Lauren and make up FB got us to final. Eboue-MF in RB and Flamini MF in LB.
We can’t afford to lose tv at cb while he’s fit and djourou is a risk at right back. Kos has proven he’s strong there and miquel hasnt let us down yet. Its obvious in my mind anyway. It’s both odd and satisfying that we have some great options / compromises across then back even with our first four fulls out 🙂
U guys are hilarious!
Players get injured, it’s part & parcel of the game esp at Arsenal!
I thought it was strange decision to play him in a meaningless game but shit happens!
He could have got injured in training or in the 1st min vs Everton, would that have made us feel any better? Nope
It could be the making of Miguel, only time will tell! COYG
Shit indeed does happen. It happens less often when players are responsibly managed though. I agree whole heatedly about miquel though. Crisis breeds opportunity.
*heartedly
Miquel. Not Miguel.
A possible – though unlikely – benifit from the loss of Santos might be, that it convinces AW that Vertonghen is an essential addition to the squad, Not only is he a commanding DMF, he is also at 6` 4″ odd, an experienced internat ional CB. He could play there, allowing TV to play LB. He could also cover TV`s forays upfield. Plus no more panics, at every defensive injury.
Get well Samba Beats.
This injury is down to foolishness rather than luck. Arsene screwed big time.
Yes screwed up at the top of our group avoiding Barca and RM.
I heard a rumour, on Twitter I think, that AW had planned to play one of the youngsters at RB (Martin Angha?) against Olympiacos, and only found out at the last moment that he wasn’t eligible, so Santos had to play instead. Anyone confirm that? If so, it was still a culpable mistake, but not bad judgement. Was AW given the wrong advice or information by someone else? Should he have known? Whatever, it’s water under the bridge now. If Santos had turned out to be a winner that night, we’d have been praising the boss, not castigating him. As… Read more »