Arsene Wenger has confirmed that Lukas Podolski and Theo Walcott will both miss Saturday’s game with West Bromwich Albion.
The duo missed the midweek defeat in Greece, although if you watched them against Swansea they were pretty much invisible last weekend as well.
Giving an update on their respective problems, while also confirming that defensive duo Bacary Sagna and Laurent Koscielny are out, the boss told Arsenal.com:
“Lukas Podolski and Theo Walcott (calf) are out. Bacary Sagna (foot) and Laurent Koscielny (thigh) are not back.
“From Tuesday night in Greece there are no new injuries so we have a selection from the combined squad of Tuesday and Saturday.”
Wenger did stress clear that Podolski’s hamstring problem was a short term problem, while confirming that Andre Santos is close to a return having been sidelined for a couple of weeks with an abdominal problem.
Presumably Olivier Giroud will lead the line with Gervinho and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain retaining their place from midweek. Or not.
FUCK
I think Sagna is too busy not signing the contract to play saturday.
Is it any truth in Arsenal only giving him a one year extension? If so I will go fucking mental on the club.
The extension would take him to summer 2014, which seems reasonable enough given his recent leg breaks.
Going by his public statements since the summer, I think he just fancies moving on. Fair enough.
Sorry, summer 2015.
“I think he just fancies moving on. Fair enough.”.
Fair enough?????…..fucking fair enough?? U mad?. This would be hell on earth for me. I say a three year contract till he’s 33, sagna can still perform at the highest level even at that age.
We could be taking a huge gamble (leg break record) but this is one player who is damn well worth it!. Sagna
“With his recent comments?”
He said everything that was on all gooners minds around the world!
The club is run in an atrocious manner the passed 5 years and everyone that questions it is smoothed out of the club!
They not injured… Wenger just needed an excuse to put The Undroppable (Ramsey) in the team!
Good. Don’t think I can take another 90 minutes of watching Walcott put in a shift like he did last week
Instead you’d rather have the forehead misfiring on all cylinders? .
based on the Swansea game, yes!
Gervinho is always involved and his bad games (ie his “games”) involve him messing up most of the time but once or twice things come off (like at Olympiakos). Walcott’s bad games (like Swansea) see him do absolutely nothing for 90 minutes. The only time he got the ball last week he hoofed it across field rather than run with it.
I’d always go with a tryer
Seriously guys, if you think Gervinho has been even 50% as effective as Walcott this season, then you’ve not been watching our games.
Please don’t let Theo’s contract situation affect your views on which player should actually be playing. I’d have him in the team over Gervinho any day at the moment.
what a joke someone is defending gervinhio over walcott….who is our top goal score and playing from the wing….unlike this gervinhio who been playing upfront.
gervinhio is a flop simple as that..doing one good think and 100 bad things in the game is not worth it….even if i played for 90 mins i would make 1 good thing in the game….gervinho would not even get in the spuds first eleven……we hgave to many waste players
@ A
well accprding to the most important stats gervinho has 5 goals in 16 apps whilst walcott has 10 from 17. gervinho also has 5 assists compared to theos 7 so in actual fact he has been better than 50% as effective as theo! im not sticking up for the slap just the facts. That said to see rosicky in between the ox and santi behing giroud and in front of arteta and jack will be just what the dr ordered.
“Please don’t let Theo’s contract situation affect your views…”
Why not? he let it effect the effort he put in last week.
If he doesn’t want to play for us he can fuck off as can everyone else who feels the same
Everyone knows Walcott is off and all he is doing is prancing about the field trying not to get injured for his big move. The fans see it & u can bet your bottom dollar the players do as well.
Would be great to say lets throw him to the reserves, let him play with Chamakh, Squill et. al. and lets build the team with commited players who wanna be at The Arsenal. However, knowing our penny pinching board, they will play Walcott to maximize his resale value.
Enjoy in winger Ramsey then…
Uuuuuuuuuuuuuugh god i hope not 🙁
Have to say this.
Ramsey has quite the tasty footwork. He seems comfortable but there’s a downside to this. As he does his thing he misses an easy/early pass that would have created something more for us……. Hence, slowing the game, getting dispossesed or the usual back/sideway passing.
I think Rosicky on the left would be an extremely viable option, provided he’s fit.
Rosicky, Santi and the Ox behind Giroud and ahead of Wilshere and Arteta, there’s plenty of creativity there.
cmon give the boy a rest. hes been trying for the past 18months.
Would like to see Chambo on the left this time, I like him better when he can cut inside. Also think Gervinho might play better on the right so he can cross from the byline.
Your avi makes me so happy.
Me too :). Even though I’m mystified as to how Arseblog News picked up this avatar. I’ve used it a lot.
The avatar is found by the email you put in. If you have a Gravatar with that email, then it will choose that as your avatar.
With Ox there is something bad happening. Is he out of form or its a pressure? Not playing like he did last season. I think that Arshavin should be given a start, hes at the club which pays him a lot of money, hes experienced and looked quite good when he came on recently. I dont have really an idea who can play on the other side because we are so much out of depth and our position in the league shows that I hope Arsene i GIVEN the money and can strengthen the team otherwise it will be very… Read more »
Im just wondering what is up with Diaby? is he out for this long after he took a shot on goal?
He’s Diaby! So unless you’ve got some spare unicorn tears in a jar you can rub on him he’ll be out for the usual “Diaby injury spell”
I guess so, such a shame tho. A cameo in Feb and late April is what we’ll get then.
He’s out for the proverbial “three weeks,” which in Arsenalese can mean everything from three months to a year. That’s what I like about Arsenal. We’re free and easy with our semantics. We’re like the Jamaica of PR language…and new contracts.
its diaby everyone knows that story……great player but cant stay fit he will come back in 2 months play 2-3 games and be off again for 10 months…..and ofc wenger will say in January when diaby gets back…we have a new signing in him.
wouldn’t mind seeing rosicky in cazorla’s role and santi play on the left with the ox on the right
good man percy. been saying this for ages!! our wings are seriously lacking in real class
With Rosicky in I agree that Cazorla can play on the wing or vice versa. But one of those two has to be in the middle or else they’d lose too much creativity in the midfield.
I’d like to see Poldi on the right cutting in with that left foot too
I would much prefer Cazorla on the left, Chambo on the right and Giroud up top.
Give’s Rosicky another run out playing just behind and running on any knock downs from that hansomcfrench bloke, he was class Tuesday.
Of course none of this will happen and we will see Gevinho and Ramsey start. God help us!
You have not managed even 1000 matches in your life..
Santi is Spanish like Cesc. Not playing him in the midfield is suicide in this league. Mental strengz is needed to compete at this level and the quality will hopefully be there. The con…. blah blah blah…
Oh no. Guess that means Rams back on the wing. Hope WBA brings their bad form
Sir Chesney
Jenkinson Mert Verm Gibbs
Arteta
Jack Rosicky
Ox Santi
Giroud
And if shit happens bring Arshavin ahead of Gervinho
Looks good enough to win next one! But I am also afraid that Wenger has some other “wingers” in mind….
Beat me to it mate! I was gonna say that!
Fucking hope that’s what we see at the weekend anyway, but have this horrible feeling we’ll get forehead and Ramsey in there somewhere…..
wTF?????……..just don‘t wanna see ramsey and forehead on the wings……shift cazorla to the left and chambo to the right……please arsene…..merçí
[…] 来源：[Arseblog News] […]
Carzola on the Wing, Chambo has gone lazy…Gervinho tries where is Eisfield and Gnabry.
Something is wrong with arsenal..wen ever we are in a mess thats wen major players gets injured..wats all this crap…so forehead and ramsey would start..and i assure we are in for another mess.
2 of those 3 won’t be with us next season anyway, so will give is a chance to see how we might cope.
Exactly, we may as well get used to playing without Walcott and sagna, and let’s be honest, we’ve been playing without podolski even when he’s been in the starting lineup.
Santi on the wing and Rosicky in the line up. Think this can work.
If we win arsene and co wil think all is well(a blip maybe) and lock up when the transfer window opens. 3 – 1 lost will tell them that we are ok finacially and in deep shit football-wise
I have to say that its starting to boggle my mind why there’s is no rotation i.e element of surprise in this squad whatsoever! Its always the same formation, with the same players. I know i know the squad aint that big, but switch Santi to the sides, move Arteta on forward role, play le coq, Arshavin/rosicky as AM, play with 2 strikers, whatever man whatever i dont care. Do something! Everybody knows how we play, who is playing where and how to (tactics!!) play us. We’re not fucking Barcelona, we should have at least 3 different formations. Maybe i’m… Read more »
Gervinho isn´t good enough to be a benchwarmer, hopefully wenger realises this and sell this ivorian…
Good luck selling him, falls into the dead wood category. Have u even seen someone chase there touch and run the ball out of play everytime he tries taking someone on giroud must be preying he is sold
Yep he’s another we are stuck with, but least he tries, which is more than can be said of some of the other dead wood.
Well, if I’m honest, the one player out of the 3 that really stings is Sagna. Jenks has proved he can cope, but not excel at this level. For me, he is still far too mechanical…just not as natural as you’d like. I am going to indulge in an off topic rant, if you dont mind. For me, being a rather young supporter (started in 98), I got used to seeing players with not only high technical levels, but also high intelligence levels. Arsene and the esteemed scouting network he employs seemed to select not only the talented, but also… Read more »
Great post mate, I think you have highlighted a huge problem, and that’s worrying as we go into January. Our problems run deeper than a just a couple of signings can solve. Why can we not get the best out of arshavin, who was and probably is a great player, why did we sign park and Gervinho, who scouted these players. There are others like squillaci,Chamakh etc etc We have spent fortunes on poor players or players for whatever reason were good when we signed them and we now fail to get them to perform. I have no idea what… Read more »
Best post in a while!!!
Looking at that and what else has been said here, there may be another problem this season. In the past with Arsenal, you’ve pretty much always been able to reel off the “starting XI” without thinking. Regardless of how anyone else plays, we’ve never really been a team for regular squad rotation. This season there isn’t really a cast in stone XI. Plenty of possible combinations but you can’t really say, given a fully fit squad, which of them would be the first choice starters. I’m wondering if the players are as confused as we are? I realise rotation is… Read more »
Surely anyone can see cazorla & rosicky on the right and left and coq and mikes with jack ahead of them is the best option. Gervinho,the Ox and Ramsey are woefully out of form and need to be taken out of the firing line. I know having maybe our best two players out of position isn’t ideal, but it would shake things up from the mundane,which has become wretched
Hopefully Wenger will spend some money on new players, he needs to spend them on proven good players and not cheap shit as Gervinho (expensive if you compare the price with his skills). If he don’t do that, we will not have the slightest of chances to finish top 4 i’am afraid. That would probably means that we will lose our best players, and our chances of getting new ones…
Oh it’s all just poo!
Has Arshavin slept with Wenger’s wife or something? What does the little Russian have to do to get near Arsene’s first XI these days? Barring Cazorla and Wilshere, I think Arshavin is the most creative player in our squad. Walcott only got ahead of Arshavin during 2010-2011 because Walcott showed some (and I use that very tentatively) desire to track back. Arshavin is an Arsenal player: low centre of gravity, creative, unpredictable, two footed, great combination play and a ferocious shot. The more we play players like Arshavin and Rosicky on the wing, and the less we play technically limited… Read more »
I’m with you on that team.
That team has my favorite players in it, but it lacks “balance” and I don’t think it helps out Giroud. I’d rather see one traditional winger (OX now, or Theo when healthy) to play in crosses for Giroud.
I feel you, mate…. Couldn’t agree more
It’s time for the 4-2-4
Szczesny
Jenkinson Mertesacker Vermaelen Gibbs
Arteta Wilshere
Oxlade-C Giroud Chamakh Cazorla
We just need to go for it now. Our defence is shocking and we all know this, so lets just try to outscore the other teams with a very attacking formation. You may laugh at the inclusion of Chamakh but I reckon 2 target men might actually work in our favour at the moment. They might even help each other….
Possible opponents for Chelsea in UCL round of
16:
Ohh wait…….
Aren’t they in the same pot as Citeh?
I heard rumors that Podolski has been injured for a few weeks now, is this why he has been playing bad?
lets kick greed out of football… Gazidis…..
Gervinho has for sure been disappointing, but he wasn’t a dumb signing. The season we picked him up off of Lille, he had more goals AND assists than Hazard on the same team. Sure, he hasnt really worked out, but to say that he was some kind of fool-hearty signing is somewhat short sighted.
Thank you
You speak the truth. Wiki says he had 18 goals and 11 assists, while Hazard had 12 and 10. And I think on paper he was a good. And on paper, his stats this season aren’t too bad. But watching the games, you can see how infuriating he is. And people knew even then Hazard was the better player. Still, price tag…
I never thought I would say this but we need Diaby. And needing someone as injury prone as him is helpless. If he did come back though, he’d instantly fix a couple of our problems.
I honestly think that with a run of games Gervinho can produce for us. Yes he does run the ball out of play and cock up easy passes, but he also always looks to play forward and at least attempts to take on his man. He was making things happen earlier in the season and I think he has it in him to do so again.
thing is even though gervinho is willing to beat his marker he hardly does. but if he can create space like he did for riosicky last game then im fine with that, afterall wingers are meant to create chances.
Rubbish,too sad to think again
Like many people have said after Little Mozart’s 45 minutes where he was the best player on the pitch, its time to throw something different into the team. Put him behind Giroud and shift Santi out wide to the role he played quite a lot for Malaga (And was also very good at) and have the Ox on the left, where I think he’s better than when he’s on the right. That I think would work, with Santi whipping crosses into Giroud with Rosicky feeding off the knockdowns. Most likely we’ll see them same old XI with Ramsey out on… Read more »
Good god you really can tell what state the club is in at the moment by reading all the comments. If only those fuckwits high above would read some of these comments to know how all of us really feel.
Instead, gazidis will probably get another bonus for securing premier league football next year. Did you know surviving the drop is basically like winning a trophy?
none of our wingers are playing upto the level, 1.me thinks chambo has let his success go to his head but I give benefit of doubt for being just a kid. 2. theo has scored but his mind is already way out of emirates. 3. Gervinho is low in confidence and his game actually makes me wonder… why???? 4. Poldi isnt a winger in true sense 5. and the only player who comes close as being a winger is Santos who is injured. 6. AA23 is already a pariah now so even if he dies scoring goals he wont be… Read more »
right…
x
gervinho:( x ramsey:(
arteta wilshere
gibbs jenks
verm mert
Lets hope the rest of the team fill the gaps and we get a win against a team that are playing well
I am sure we will be ok