Friday, October 4, 2024

Vermaelen happy as comeback looms

Thomas Vermaelen thinks he could be fit for first team action by the end of the month although he’s still cautious about pinpointing a specific date for his return.

The Belgian international, who has not played since the Gunners beat Wigan 4-1 at the tail end of last term, has stepped up his recovery from a chronic back problem and hinted that he could play some part in Arsenal’s Capital One Cup game at West Bromwich Albion on 25 September.

Speaking optimistically about his rehabilitation, the club captain told the Daily Star:

“The West Brom game is a few weeks away yet and hopefully I will be closer to a return. I can’t put a date on my comeback. But I am really happy with how things are going so far.

“It looks like a tough game but a nice game, too. It’s one we will take seriously.”

Having played no part in pre-season it wouldn’t be surprising if Arsenal organise a couple of behind-closed-doors fixtures to help Vermaelen get up to speed.

As things stand he’s down the pecking order at the Emirates but that doesn’t hide the fact we’re only one injury away from a full defensive reshuffle with Bacary Sagna the only other option for a central role. Fingers crossed he can come back fit and find the form that earned him a long-term deal and the captaincy.

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VERMSTER

I wonder what would be the cente back pairing vs WBA if Vermaelen does/does not play?

Harsh

i think he will be brought on as a sub for koscielny around the fifty-fifth minute

Harsh

if u disagree, please give the reason, or how else i am gonna know where i was wrong??

Clownshoes

Center halves normally do not get taken off unless they’re injured. If Vermaelen is playing CB, he’ll start and go 90.

Tom J

That’s a good question Vermster given the fact that we normally use a mix of regulars, fringe and young players for the early rounds of the league cup

Harsh

currently the only fringe player in our squad are diaby,frimpong,bendtner and park.
diaby and bendtner are injured and i don’t think park has come from his korean camp yet.
the only youth players currently who have a chance of being handed first team action are gnabry, zelalem, Kristoffer Olsson, Hector Bellerin, Thomas Eisfeld and Damian Martinez.
none of these players can play at centre-half, so even if vermaelen is handed a start in the game, mertesacker, koscielny or sagna have to play.

Tom J

Martinez has no chance of playing after signing a new keeper and fabianski not playing

Zelalem#58

Hayden, maybe?

Kai

Isaac Hayden played pre-season. Daniel Boateng featured in last season’s Carling cup. One of them could feature.

Merlin's Panini

Akpom could possibly get a start, surely?

good old jens

boateng will probably be given a chance, looked good in the u21 game tonight

golden syrup

“You are my Ozil, My Metsul Ozil! You make me happy when skies are grey! We went for Higuain, but he’s a wanker! Please don’t take my Ozil away!!”

Edu's fake passport

Higuain did nothing wrong, we had personal terms agreed with him.

It was Real Madrid who upped their asking price by £10m once the Cavani deal went through.

Americangooner11

Replace higuain with suarez

daniel

I don’t think I will ever quite understand this mentality of hating a player because he didn’t join our club. Especially when it was due to a combination of factors but ultimately our decision to not increase our bid..

Martin

I hope when he’s back Wenger doesn’t tinker with the Mertesacker/Koscielny. I like Vermaelen but he’s not in the same class as them two.

Harsh

you are wrong. vermaelen has been as good as shit lately, but don’t allow the performances of the past season to influence how you view him as a player. i think last season vermaelen was vey bad, and the mertescielny partnership has clicked so well, that people have just forgotten vermaelen. but vermaelen has the same class as mertesacker and koscielny. he is a great tackler, is intelligent, has got good passing for a centre-back and helps very well with the buiold up play, shows good agression, and is overa-all an excellent centre-half. but again, as i said he has… Read more »

WengersNoseHair

As people always say, form is temporary, class is permanent, and Vermaelen is definitely class.

Henry's Almighty Tallywacker

Sorry mate but it’s no coincidence our dive bombing season INSTANTLY U-turned when Wenger benched Vermaelen and replaced with Koscielny. We always concede a lot but in the Vermaelen years we conceded an absolute shit-ton of goals. The only time we didn’t was last year with Kos and Met, and back in the day with Campbell and Toure.

Andy Mack

And you don’t think that he could have been carrying an injury that effected his form last season?
He was by far our best CB before last season.

DG Gooner

We’ve all seen the best and worst of Vermalen, but if he can regain his form he will be L.A.N.S as fuck.

Redondante

Vermaelen has very similar physical and technical attributes to Koscielny, and the same world-class potential, but at the moment he doesn’t have Koscielny’s calmness and judgement. He can be a bit gung-ho with his pressing and attacking. The irony is, if Thomas weren’t captain, Mertesacker could probably organise him into a great defender.

Tom J

Also Martin,you can hardly expect Kos and Mert to play 60 or 70 games this season’

Mooo

Deeepthhh. It’s new to us, Arsenal fans.

Harsh

is it just me, or vermaelen’s neck looks overly big in the picture??

Merlin's Panini

That’s nothing compared with CRonaldo’s disgusting throbbing cock of a neck.

TITI Eltom

Tomas “formalin” we are not so excited about your come back specially when i remember SPUDS 2 goals last season at the lane when he couldnt even do the basics of defending and offside trap which led to 2 easy goals for the SPUDS & that bayern game at the emirates when he was a disaster all over the place!!!! , i wish if le prof arsene signed a proven CB to cover for kocinly and per…. oh and a striker too if it wasn’t for the Portuguese scum JOSE, BA would have joined us

Diaby

People often forget the good deeds!

oh robin

I understand your anguish diaby… it’s alright mate

UndercoverMancGooner

I’d find your vitriolic dislike for Vermaelen a bit easier to understand if I weren’t so sure that 2 years ago you were probably telling everyone how he was the best defender in the league. I could be wrong, but that’s the impression I get since you allow the form of six months or so affect your view so dramatically.

Lolcat

In his defence, his use of “formalin” suggests that he, in fact, did respect the show stopping performances the Verminator used to put in. Jussayin’

TITI Eltom

my man i used to chant his name TV5 the verminator and everything but in several occasions he let the team down and cost us important points in an amateurs way i remember the old trafford gift to RVP and the bayern game the spu*s game all these mistakes shouldn’t come from the club captain who instead should be on fire in “a cold tuesday night at the Britannia stadium against stoke and everyone else” but he failed to put in half of that form which made him the club captain and the vermenator and as an arsenal fan i… Read more »

penfield

Just when i started to bemoan the obvious lack of full-stops you gave us three, right at the end.

Almost like our transfer window

DG Gooner

Well that went down like a fire in an orphanage.

ckmma

I don’t think people realise 2 very important things happened last year, Rvp left who was his best friend and he was made captain, just being made captain is a lot, but to not have your best mate around who was your leader to guide you doesn’t help, he must have felt abandoned. Then to top it off he missed the deciding pen against Bradford, got skinned at left back against the best team in Europe and got humiliated by a lucky shot against blackburn. Because he was captain he could not hide, everything fell on him, thats bound to… Read more »

Duddy

Not to mention the mistake at Old Trafford, which must have dented his confidence right from the start!

Duddy

Not to mention the mistake at Old Trafford, which must have dented his confidence right from the start!

Bonjour

Transfers out: Almunia Vela Eboue Senderos Bischoff Silvestre Merida
Hurray we’ve sold our deadwood! Now let’s make a new list.

Transfers out: Squillaci Arshavin Santos Djourou Denilson Chamakh
Hurray we’ve sold our deadwood! Now let’s make a new list.

Vermaelen Diaby Sanogo etc…

Throw away culture

That’s a fair warning.

Redondante

No – who doesn’t want to see a full season from Diaby? He has to have one eventually. The guy is supremely talented and still only 27, he deserves as many chances as possible. I find it ironic that everyone complains about the club being business-orientated, then wants to get rid of a great player simply because he’s costing money. It wasn’t so long ago that Rosicky was ‘dead wood’.

Andy Mack

Plus RVP was referred to as ‘chocolate legs’ and many wanted rid of him.
But luckily AW could see the world class talent in RVP (but didn’t see the judas gene in him), and he sees it in Diaby as well.

Bonjour

Yeah of course I’m writing off Diaby, Vermaelen and Sanogo. Everyone who has one bad game in an Arsenal shirt should be fired. WENGER OUT!!

Fucking sarcasm!

Merlin's Panini

The Dutch skunk called his “wrong” foot his chocolate leg. It has nothing to do with injuries:
http://arseblog.com/2008/12/robin-van-persie-has-a-chocolate-leg/

What he was referred to by others for years, though, was “Glass ankles”.

Andy Mack

Merlin’s Panini, people on here used that term for his injury record.
If the archive goes back far enough, have a look.

Kai

Very unfair to write off Sanogo before he’s given a chance.

Bonjour

Sanogo out! Wenger out! Ozil out! Usmanov in!

Fucking sarcasm!

Kai

Very unfair to write off Sanogo before he’s given a chance.

Bonjour

………..everybody missed the sarcasm……

Next to the right shift key is a lil button with a dot on it that may or may not be of help, looks like this: >>>.<<<

MoNk

Per and Verma obviously..

MoNk

I should probably mention it’s for the west brom ,not the league

Harsh

yeah, but i still think he will be brought on as a sub before being handed a start.

Irate

And that right there lies the problem that has led us to 8 trophyless seasons. You think we should use unfit players for cup matches knowing well we stand more chance of winning them than the league. If arsenal can win capital one and the fa this season I cant ask for more

raron aamsey

watched an old game recently, from before koscielny replaced him in the starting XI (Liverpool at home)

he was really, really bad. Probably the only player in our squad who I’ll worry about when i see his name on the teamsheet. Happy to be proved wrong, obviously.

Matt

Short sighted kunt

Heroldgoon

Agreed. from the many errors he made he looked short of confidence like a toddler on his first day at school. looking back at the oldtrafford game I couldn’t believe that was verm, then again vs sp*rs. he was terrible tbh. he needs a run of games to prove his worth but with the form of per and kos (1st choice) it won’t be easy.

I look at it this way though to have verm on the bench isn’t that abit of good strength in depth?, get back soon.

Afc_Dotun

vermaelen please just come back in better form,we all know you are better than what u showed last season.

WengersNoseHair

In better vorm.

Zelalem#58

meh

WengersNoseHair

Don’t vorry, there’s plenty more vhere dat came from 😀

DatArse

I am really hoping he does have a return to from. Three in form center halves would be amazing. My biggest worry will be when Mertesacker needs or rest or, God forbid picks up an injury. Koscielny and Vermaelen’s play styles are too similair and we are left open at times. Mertesacker is by far the most important CB we have.

Drew

Get him back and fit and playing like he did in his first season. The guy was a monster and scored some amazing goals. Why does everyone only remember the bad form? All players have dips in form, especially if they are not fully fit and in and out of the team. Just ask Ramsey.

I can’t remember a debut as impressive as TV5 at Everton! Welcome back skipper!

Wa

Yo titi you shut your whore mouth. Vermatator will indeed be back!

TITI Eltom

why dont you defend park and bedtner then and one more thing no need for the bad mouth “french” you idiot we are discussing about arsenal football club and we are all supporters of this team so if you like vermaleen and i don’t every one has the right to express their own opinions!!! !

MoNk

Bendtner got more than his fair share of chances,he always played like a lazy cunt.Park, i have no idea why he was bought and why he was never played..

Tom J

I can remember Bendter coming off the bench and bursting a gut to follow up a rebound to s core a last minute winner against Wolves a few seasons ago, and if you check the stats its not his only one. He is most definitively a stupid c*nt, but to say he always played like a lazy one is just wrong

muchadoaboutnot

I can remember a few exceptional goals as well from Verm. One would think after the Ozil signing, it would be p et proper to get behind the team and not have a divided house.. until the January transfer window 🙂

Strevs

The goals of that “monster” season hid his faults as a center back. I think there’s a top class player in there but he seems to lack the confidence he showed when first at the club. Remember, This is a defender who Henry said had him in his pocket when we played Ajax all those years ago. Also, for me, Arteta or per should be club captain.

Gutbukkit Deffrolla

Flamini did the classic Captain job last week. Organising the back line and shouting at people til they did what they were told. Wenger may one day name him the Captain puely because it wouldn’t have any effect on the way he played. Being made Captain adds responsibilities that can take a player’s mind off his own game and lead to a loss of form (Vermaelen, Gallas, even Fabregas maybe, etc etc). That wouldn’t be likely with Flamini. Oh, and remember that whatever objections you might have to this on the basis that he left us before, well, Arsene Wenger… Read more »

True captains love being captain.

PL7Gunner

Can’t wait to have him back. Got a really good feeling he might have something to say about the Mertesacker-Koscielny partnership and if he fights his way back in on quality performances, then who complaining? Welcome back skipper.

Caliban

I think it’a no surprise that Verm’s poor form coincided with his taking over as captain. I think he probably had too much pressure on him – too many distractions from his principle job on the pitch. And perhaps he stayed in the team for longer than he should have done because he was wearing the armband. Sometimes players need to be taken out of the firing line for a while when they’re playing badly, and are probably relieved on some level when they’re given a rest and can focus on getting their game together on the training pitch. I… Read more »

Higuanot

I love me some Jack but to be honest, and I have thought this for a while, I think Aaron deserves a shot at it too. For some reason I see him as a great captain. He’s already done it for his country and will do so again for Wales I’m sure.

Higuanot

I should point out captain for the future. For now both Jack and Aaron should focus on their games and truly realizing the scary ridiculous talent they both posses.

LANS

Can he really remain captain if he becomes settled as third choice center back.
Being stripped of the armband would be a little strange no?

It’s unsurprising we didn’t sign a CD though, as there are very few top, top quality players who’d be able to compete with Kos, Per, Verm and Sagna.

Can’t wait to have Tommy back and firing on all cylinders.

Goonercpb

Blogs, get a man in to do your mirror FFS. We can do without any bad luck now things have taken a brighter turn!!

Merlin's Panini

Blogs, I’ll do it for free… if you pay for me to get to Dublin…

Coyg forever ;)

Try him as defensive midfield, i am sure we ll be surprised 😉

Gutbukkit Deffrolla

He’d keep charging up the pitch. Moving him further forward won’t cure him of that. If we made him goalie he’d be constantly charging out of his area, and going up for corners.

WengersNoseHair

Yeah, the only thing is, would it be a pleasant surprise or not?

Kai

I kind of agree. Wenger changed Petit from a defender to defensive midfielder. It would allow Vermaelen to put use his aggressive tackles without worrying about being last man or the offside trap. Only thing is we have a lot of midfielders and not many central defenders so now may not be the time to experiment.

Kai

I kind of agree. Wenger changed Petit from a defender to defensive midfielder. It would allow Vermaelen to put use his aggressive tackles without worrying about being last man or the offside trap. Only thing is we have a lot of midfielders and not many central defenders so now may not be the time to experiment.

Boogiegooner

Had a dream that he played as a DM against Barca in a champions league final and didn’t give Xavi or Fab any time on the ball.

It’s a weird dream but we won that game 1-0 through a goal by Walcott.

Welcome back TV5!!

Luke

Oh hey, I like the new ‘next fixture’ graphic.

deano

Can’t wait for him to come back. It will be the old no nonsense powerful goal scoring TV5 that we will see.

Marty

The verminator was easily my favourite player at the start of last season like all true fans it was so hard to watch one of our leaders and captain hit such poor form. Can’t wait until he gets some solid preformances under his belt and we gooners can benefit from having a worldclass c.b hungrier than ever fighting for his spot….C.O.Y.G

MoNk

I aM boreD,teLL mE somEthinG interesTinG..

code

gO aNd SEe youR dOctOr.

shabab

we are trying to reunite arsenal fans from all over the world. So like our page : https://www.facebook.com/happinessisbeinggooner

shabab

we are trying to reunite arsenal fans from all over the world.So like our page : https://www.facebook.com/happinessisbeinggooner

Dial square

@MoNk Your fat fingers keep hitting the “caps lock” button!!

Fatgooner

Subject change: I see on the back of today’s Sun that the club are apparently negotiating with Wenger for a new two-year deal. Please God, let this not be true. At the end of this season I just want Arsene to walk away for good so that we can bring in somebody who can take us in the right direction.

Casual Gooner

Did you not hear Fatgooner?

Arsene signed Özil.

Fatgooner

A manager is judged on what he wins, not who he signs.

As I said on transfer deadline day: we have not addressed the glaring problems that the squad has. You can’t defy the laws of football: the lack of a quality striker, defensive midfielder and goalkeeper, and the lack of depth in the squad will hurt us.

Just watch.

Bunburyist

Err…it looks like you just judged the manager based on signings.

The truth is, we all judge managers based on their signings, and it looks like Wenger turned a major corner this summer by spending £42m on one player. The quality of Ozil is unquestionable. He is truly world class, and it was Wenger who persuaded him to join.

If you don’t think that’s moving in the “right direction,” then you’re a very misguided person.

The Alsacien

Fatgooner is exactly the kind of fan that the papers write these articles for.

Just when we were all feeling a bit giddy and the mood was starting to turn, comes a nice little wind up piece for Fatgooner, who we all know, has been agonizing ever since we signed Ozil.

Don’t worry Fats, I’m sure there’s a story about how Wenger will refuse to spend in the January window just around the corner.

Tanpa Kepala

In case everybody has forgotten, during the 2003-2004 season, we short on CBs. Then Wenger the genius converted Kolo Toure an attacking midfielder into the best CB in the land, and the rest was …. well, you know.

Dr Baptiste

” we have not addressed the glaring problems that the squad has” – other than a lack of depth, our main problem in the second half of last season was creating chances. We have addressed that problem by signing one of, if not the best playmaker in the football right now. We had the second best defensive record in the league and our poor showing was generally down to lack of goals.

I don’t mind your rants but you really must think before you type sometimes.

FarAwayLad

This sums it up fairly well I think

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjPVZwhddG4

Dr Baptiste

“bring in somebody who can take us in the right direction” – which direction is this? The same one Moyes has United going in at the moment? Or a Pardew direction? Maybe the Spurs direction of always choking….

DatArse

You have to be the most pessimistic M*ther F*cker on this whole site!

TV5 4 DM

Vermaelen for DEFENSIVE MIDFIELD!

Marty

Arsene is the right man to take us in the right direction. We’ve just witnessed our first transfer since our stadium debt has not held us back and we got OZIL. He kept us in the top four on funds available to a team mid table team, surely the man deserve a couple years to create a team with full backing of the board which clearly wasn’t always present.

Wengerish

The lad has bags of talent, and he is still only 25 with his best years ahead.. AND who better than uncle Wenger and Auncle Bouldie to coach TV5 back to the top??

Edu's fake passport

He is actually 27 & will be 28 in 2 months.

Trying to do a Falcao on us.

le potato

yes, but we’ve got Mesut fucking ozil!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
and the flamster….
yipeeeeeee

Jon Chilton

We shouldn’t try and second guess why his form was poor last season. He’s a good player and I think he’ll play an important part for us this year if he can just stay fit which is a bigger challenge than him finding his form.

Henry's Right Foot

I have been absolutely giddy for the past week. Everything I read related to football is just so funny.

gooner1886

There’s 2 things everyone should learn from the Ozil transfer: 1) Wenger really does know, how many other managers in his position (manager of the current Arsenal) would of been able to convince Ozil to sign for us? Not many of course. For that we should be both optimistic about the future and grateful we have signed a truly world class player, and Wenger should be given to the end of the season at least before anyone questions his future. 2) Ozil was happy to escape the circus of RM to sign for us, yet here are Gooners saying don’t… Read more »

Danny

Could Daniel Boateng be a viable option as a 4th choice center back for us? What do you lot think?

Merlin's Panini

No. Not this year at least. He needs a good loan move first.

Jamie

I’ll always love him for scoring a 95th minute winner against Newcastle at my very first Emirates game last season.

Bunburyist

Looks like Vermaelen is taking over PHW’s role as club informant for the Daily Star.

I’m glad he’ll be back soon. Quite possibly the best third-choice CB in the league. We’re lucky to have him.

Edu's fake passport

I would say it’s between him & David Luiz.

Dial square

After being hamstrung for cash for the last few years, Arsene deserves a new contract, and the chance to take us forward and compete with the other top four clubs ( who, lest we forget, have ten times the spending power we have) some people would do well to remember that before they start shouting for Arsene to be sacked.

4evaGooner

I dont understand why he wasnt given a shot at defensive midfielder instead of being dropped. We stuck with ramsey when he was playing terrible and I thought he may of done well just in front protecting the defense… but I guess ramsey may have not found the form he is at now if that was the situation…

Andy Mack

Doesn’t the article refer to a long term back problem.
So was he dropped or was he injured.
If he was injured, was he carrying it from the start of last season?
Who can answer these questions??????????

Tanpa Kepala

I thought the same thing myself. He might not have the intelligence and awareness to play CB, but with his aggression and pace he could be a destroyer in the middle of the park, and would be close enough to shoot for goal.

Bendtner's ego

I think with Thomas, it was a situation of him trying a bit too hard – especially in the Tottenham game.

With the CB position, you really have to read and react, versus trying to make things happen by yourself. It just won’t work.

I think he’ll come good, but he needs a calmer partner for a pairing. Might be interesting to see him and Bacary together.

gooner1886

I think you’re right, you could see after the first couple of mistakes he was really trying to do well, make tackles and win the ball etc. Maybe too hard, as you said.

He’ll come good though, he is class and will at the very least keep Per/Kosc on their toes. Competition is a great thing.

Tanpa Kepala

I hope Vermaelen finds his best form again. I have very happy memories of the beginning of the 2009 season — the season where we began by scoring 7 past Everton on the opening day. I remember Vermaelen scoring goals for fun. He has not shown the best form in the past two seasons, but I really do hope he comes back to his best. If he does, then with a new striker come January as back up to Giroud, I really think we can push for the title.

Gooneropolis

I just want to have the term ‘Verminator’ back in my vocabulary again for the campaign. It’s almost like getting a ‘top, top, top’ signing that I already know.

westcoastgooner

I don’t see any reason why Vermaelen should still be the captain. The third choice CB should not be captain.

Gooner95

Who’s third choice? Per? That’s nonsense. Vermaelen will have to fight back for the captaincy and it will not be handed back to him on a royal pillow.

westcoastgooner

I meant, Vermaelen, who most consider the 3rd choice CB, should not be captain. So i think we are saying the same thing.

Gavin

Vermaelen on from is as good or dare i say better than koscienly, granted he had a dip in form and was dropped, but he then subsequently injured his back….what part of that means he needs stripping of his captaincy? Arteta is vice captain, but he won’t be first choice much longer, should he be stripped too because of that? They been picked for their roles for a number of reason, obvioulsy playing and leading on the pitch is key in that, but i think there is a host of player who lead on the pitch such as Mertesacker, Rosicky,… Read more »

markion

hahah funny foto Mourinho hahah in xDball.com
hahaha ahah xDball.com

Gavin

I think Flamini might get a try out at CB or even RB, if he plays RB then Sagna could move in to CB with Vermalean enabling Koscienly and Mertesacker to rest, or Jenkinson plays as RB and Flamini goes in at CB and that would enable Sagna to rest. Gibbs won’t play as i’m sure Monreal will get a run out.

Gavin

Frimpong will play a CDM role also i think allowing flamini to move into the back 4 and gather up so much needed game time.

Hopefully Ryo, Sanogo, Gnarby, Eisfeld all get some time in the Capital one cup to impress some more, its a pity about Zelalem as he does look like one for the not so distant future, which is some feat given that he’s only 16.

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