Mathieu Flamini is out of Arsenal’s Champions League tie with Dortmund tomorrow night.
The midfielder suffered a head injury on Saturday and Arsene Wenger said in his press conference today, “There is a five-day rule that we will respect.”
Flamini did train with the group today but clearly the medical team have erred on the side of caution. The re-jigging will probably see Aaron Ramsey drop deeper into the midfield with Mikel Arteta back in the holding role.
Beyond that there are no post-Norwich injury worries for the manager, although Theo Walcott suffered a set-back last week in his recovery from an abdominal injury.
the speed he went into that tackle was amazing. maybe he should play with a helmet to prevent this
If he played with a helmet or any sort of padding, he’d kill the other player. The fact he tried to carry on when the Tettey went off is testament to this
When they first went down the Norwich player squealed and rolled around like he had been shot. Not so Flamini, when he got up he wobbled like anything but he still wanted to play on. A player we have needed since Gilberto left.
Well if Rooney get’s a headband and Cech has to wear a helmet, I reckon Flamini should wear this:
http://www.escapade.co.uk/masks-sale/halloween-horror-masks/hannibal-fiberglass-mask.asp?gclid=COPT1Z-cqLoCFRIPtAodbjoAOw
Flamini rested v. Dortmund is ok, Arteta-Wilshere-Ramsey is a balanced trio.
I expect Ramsey and possibly Ozil and Giroud to be rested v. Palace however.
They are absolute pony, I think your right. It’s a big oppourtunity to get in a large rotation.
It’s away and “absolute pony” have done us in before. I would expect a rotated but strong team against them to try and maximise chances of 3 points. Every point counts, especially when the title is looking to be a tight race.
This I agree with. We’ve made the mistake of thinking games are easy before and ended up losing. You need to win enough games so that it’s mathematically impossible for any team to catch you, then have early holidays.
No early holidays. Ever. You never slow down just before the line you keep going at 100% past the line.
If it’s impossible for another team to catch us, surely you’d give young players invaluable playing time
I Agree – wait till it is mathematically impossible for another team to catch us then let fringe players play so the top players are rested before the Champions League and FA Cup finals 🙂
I don’t think there will be too much rotation given the Chelski game in the cup on the following Tuesday
Palace haven’t been in the EPL since 2004.
It will be like a Cup Final for them to be playing us, they will be up for it.
They won’t get the chance again for another 10 years.
Gutted about this as he would have been perfect to break BVB’s counter-attacking. I just hope Arteta had enough time to get his match fitness back now.
reckon we should play Vermaelen with Arteta. TV5 is very suited for pushing forward and is a beast as we all know from previous seasons, also any game time would keep him happy too.
So you mean like Ramsey, who is very suited for pushing forward, is in the form of his life and actually plays in midfield.
no, i mean Vermaelen, which is why i said it. Cazorla still finding match fitness, why rush him into action when he can sub with any of the midfielders during the game. Vermaelen can step in for Flamini and do just as well a defensive job. Ramsey has got his free roaming role at the moment so why leave him in the back and stifle the creativity or goal scoring opportunities? Arteta – Vermaelen – Jack – Ramsey – Ozil is what id start with personally. Yeah we’re in awesome form, but Dortmund are just as devastating when they’re on… Read more »
Have you seen Vermaelen play the Flamini role? If so, can you post a link. I don’t recall him ever playing in midfield and so have little confidence in him suddenly picking up that position and the required attributes to suddenly stifle Dortmund.
No i dont recall him playing there but its my opinion that he would do a good job. If you needed youtube evidence for players to play in new roles, then Theo wouldve never played upfront, Wilshere wouldnt be playing the wings, Arteta went from a creative attacking mid at everton to a defensive midfielder etc, the list goes on and on.
Arteta went from defensive midfielder at Barcelona B, Rangers and Real Sociedad to attacking midfielder at Everton and back to defensive midfielder at Arsenal. Wilshere is clearly on the wings for development purposes, as was Ramsey last season and we know how that’s turned out. Walcott started as a forward at youth level and Southampton and then started moving out wide to use his pace against full backs. This is where he flourished at Southampton but he always wanted to go back to the middle. Another very notable position change: Henry started as a wide forward/winger at Monaco under Wenger… Read more »
Probably a crazy idea but, I wonder if Arsene could coach Flamini’s attitude into Frimpong!
Wouldn’t have wanted to be the one to tell him he’s not playing………….
Apparently Arsene stood in a shark diving cage with a megaphone at the other end of the field.
Flamini was rolled out in chains, a straitjacket, and a muzzle to stop him from biting. He was escorted by twenty Arsenal security guards. Wenger approached cautiously with Bould and the coaching entourage behind him, unable to take their eyes off Flamini in all his hideousness. AW: Mathieu, ze news ees not good. You must rest now, you will play no part against ze dortmund. MF: Tell me Wenger, does eet urt you when ze arsenal lose? AW: Of course, why do you say zis? MF: Will it urt you on Tuesday, when you feel ze icy pain of defeat?… Read more »
At least he’d think there are two of you.
Wouldn’t matter to him much though..
Smart move by Arsenal. If he’s not fully healed and goes for long headers, he could wind up with long-term brain damage and end up like Alan Shearer.
Shame he won’t be playing, I’ve got a ticket for tomorrow, my first Champions League match.
Can’t wait to see the boys play in this amazing form!
I hope this is a mind game for klopp by le prof. I HOPE. But get well soon anyway!
Really bad news this, Flamini is going to be crucial to our CL campaign.
Flamini to get us to the final again?!
We’ll see more of NB in the next 2/3 months. Giroud won’t be rested for the WC play-offs. NB will possibly start against chelsea + the first game after the international brake. Strangly i’m not unhappy with that as i’m quiet curious to see how he’ll perform
Any news on the poor fella who announced to him that he wasn’t playing? Is he gonna make it?
Heard the ground he headbutted still hasn’t recovered. Nor is the groundsman who complained.
This is bad news as he has been outstanding this season. Massive game for Arteta now. Dortmund are missing a few players though so fancy us to do them by a couple of goals. Reckon it will be a cracking match!
completely agree… this is the fun of a CL match… matches against teams like dortmund who play top quality attacking football… its gonna be a real cracker…
So we’ve ‘only’ got Arteta to come in then? Pah.
After Napoli, we know he’s impossible to concuss.
As long as he’s had the dent in his Lego barnet beaten out again.
Did they ever manage to reattach the Norwich player’s head to his neck?
They couldn’t. Flamini took it as a trophy for his cabinet at home.
absolutely no problem with this. Flamini puts his body on the line for this club, so we should take very good care of him.
First big test for arteta this season, to command that area, keep things in check. for me a concern will be protecting the full backs with wide players who like to drift inside – and indeed their drifting is a key element of our game without fit wingers.
Love the way he tried to get straight back up and then tried to carry on. He might need protecting from himself though he was clearly out of it
I’ve had a few knocks on the head playing myself, I suspect we all have. Sometimes, especially with a head knock, you don’t realise just how bad it is and need someone else to tell you “look, there really is only one of me here, perhaps you’d better sit down.”
Feel Flamini is better for the PL. Arteta’s cultured approach is better suited for the CL
Arteta and Flamini is useful against very strong opposition.
Likely with Arteta, we will need one of either Ramsey or Jack to sit back a little and offer more support defensively. My pick would be Jack. he is better driving forward from deep.