Arsene Wenger has confirmed that Mathieu Flamini was taken off with a groin problem and says that he doesn’t yet know how long he’s going to be without the combative Frenchman.
Flamini was replaced in the 8th minute by Serge Gnabry, who won a penalty and was then substituted himself after Mikel Arteta’s red card.
Speaking about the decision to send the Spaniard off when replays showed it was clearly Chamakh who initiated the contact, the Arsenal manager said, “I believe it was the wrong decision. It was very far from goal, he was not the last man. I think he got that wrong.”
Wenger was also critical of the pitch at Selhurst Park, believing it was set up to prevent his team passing the ball as well as they like.
“I will soon have a pitch with long grass,” he said, “to practice for when we play away from home.”
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Updates via @attacktheball
OMG flamini cost nothing…. how much for Fellaini again?
Chamakh and Arteta fell over each others ankles. It’s a yellow card at worst because he was through on goal.
No they didn’t. Chamakh pushed/forarmed Arteta. Arteta then fell, and Chamakh tripped over Arteta’s feet as he fell. No foul, definitely no yellow card.
If the red card was for denying Chamakh a goal scoring opportunity then the referee has clearly never seen him play before…
lol
Please let this be short term for Flamini
no arteta no flamini!!!!!!,anyone withme for vermaelean as cdm vs chelsea??????
Considering positional discipline doesn’t seem to be TV’s strength at the moment I wouldn’t put him in there. But….guess the options are pretty limited. TGSTEL? He’s tall…
Long live TGDMTEL
positional discipline was one of Luiz’ biggest faults when Benitez went to Chelsea, so he put him in midfield and it worked out well for him, because he wasn’t the last line of defense any more. might work well… But on the other hand, he might be drafted into the defense to give one of the other two center backs a rest – seeing as there’s only 3 cbs at the club!
Poor punctuation and ill-conceived suggestion!!!!??????
Sorry, just had to. It was too easy. /snark
well english not my native nor my adopted tongue language,still learning this mad bullshit!!!!!!!!!
Good on yah! It is indeed a crazy language 🙂
Somehow I’m reading that last sentence in a Russian accent… “I’m still lorning thies… mad buhlshieet” heh but good on you for contributing, mate, and to hell with guys giving you shit! 😀
Palace players seemed eager to impress Lord of Orcs Tony Pullis today with some of that play.
Cant believe we had that wanker Shamakh for that long!
“It was Chamakh who was in on goal so no way was it a goal-scoring opportunity”
Of course, Arseblog at its witty best, even in the face of a red.
Steve MacMannaman made a similar joke on BT Sport afterwards !!!! I think he might be a secret Gooner from some of what he said afterwards.
I think it showed how we missed Flamini again. I hope we have not become too reliant on him in the middle now. admittedly the packed the midfield but we found less space after he went off.
I wonder if Vermaalen can become a midfielder ? At least if he goes forward he won’t be leaving the same hole as before when he used to bomb forward . . .
Yes and Piers Morgan too! You’ve gone mainstream, Blogs…
I’ve always thought Vermaelen would be worth a punt as a defensive midfielder. With the opposition ahead of us, he looks the safest option.
Sorry, I missed your comment before I replied above, but yes, I agree to some extent.
Will he curb his enthusiasm enough to stay back though, even if he is playing a little further forward as a result ?
Arteta misses chelsea only right?
Right
Just checked the FA rule book …. If it’s considered as a professional foul then it’s a 1 match ban
For violent conduct, serious foul or abusive talk you get a 3 match ban , so we should be fine as Arteta won’t have probably played in midweek anyways …..
Still that joke of a ref got that wrong as well as a 1st penalty which wasn’t given.
I wonder both, if the F.A will try and bemoan Arsene, which their cuntish enough to do, and also whether Arsene can or will appeal the decision, FLamini less with our up-coming games we can’t really afford to be Artetaless aswell, get that appeal in Le Prof
Is Arteta’s red card gonna be considered as a ‘professional’ foul (hence a one match ban to serve against the Chavs) or is it gonna be a 3 match ban ?
Hopefully we’ll have him out just for the Midweek cup game… Fingers crossed also for Flamini… We need both of them BIG TIME
As nor Wilshere nor Ramsey offer enough cover at DM
As said before , I’d give Vermaelean a shot at playing there
Vermaelen as CDM? Hes our only backup in CD!
So id say no to that…
“I will soon have a pitch with long grass,” he said, “to practice for when we play away from home.” – Wenger
Lol, brilliant
He should build a pitch like the Emirates turf, then invite all the global rugby national teams to play at the Emirates all at once, then drop a bunker buster missile on that ruin pitch and ask his players to train with a live eel in their pants with an artificial hailstorm raining down on them.
But I fear that even these conditions wont prepare the players for the shit farm Pulis and Mourinho ready ahead of an Arsenal visit.
Haha toss a family of small burrowing rodents in there too to give it the authentic feel.
It’s a good idea, so I hope he’s serious but also, that’s been SOP for groundsmen ahead of a match against us for the best part of a decade FFS.
Surely with Flamini and Arteta out, if Frimpong can’t get a run out on Tuesday, he might as well jack it in.
Flamini please come back early!!! Dammit heading into the tough fixtures with no Defensive Mids?!! Wait can we play the Verminator there?
I think we could, but, and it is a big but, we don’t know what his positional awareness is like, for example if he thinks a defender behind him is somewhere he is not due to being essentially out of position, bad things will happen. I think i would be very careful before dropping such a position change on a player without a few weeks training with the team in said position; better off giving strict orders to 1 of the midfield 2 to keep back and emphasize communication, or to give Fringpong a go, i suspect Arsene will go… Read more »
Chamakn in on goal is more of a row Z opportunity than a goalscoring one…..
Noooooooooooooo
.
.
When did we run out of horse placenta?
When that Dutch cunt stole our entire supply out of the unlocked freezer at London Colney when he defected to the glory hunters.
I have long maintained we need to practice on a few crap pitches just for these types of games.
I particularly thought it was a useful thing to have learned when we used to play Blackburn and Bolton and Wigan away, all those years ago when we had Henry Bergkamp up front.
There are a few ploughed fields masquerading as Sunday League pitches just up the road from AW’s abode, I should imagine he could have the training sessions there, when necessary, and bring the lads round to tea afterwards.
I am sure Mrs. Wenger would be delighted !
😀
Every season we lose key players during crucial run of games. God please show some mercy on us.
Chamakh was just about to leap for the header on goal when contact was made.
😉
Lets hope Arsenal appeal that pathetic referring sending off decision. I don’t trust English referees, they have cheated Arsenal for years.
shouldn’t be a red card! Chamakh made the contact first and Arteta defended and both lost their balance. wth is wrong with the ref.
vermaelen woulf have been my choice in place of flamini and arteta , but monreal should start after his excellent performance today.
Chamakh made an obvious move away from the ball to initiate contact with Arteta. Should not have been a foul and most certainly not straight red! God I hope the FA don’t fuck us on the decision..
Totally agree chamakh made the move into arteta and they clipped each other
If you lose an appeal don’t you get an additional match ban? I believe this was the case with Giroud towards the end of last season. I’d take the one-match ban so he’s fresh for next Saturday.
Let the kids have a good go at Chelsea I say; we looked very tired today.
Only if your appeal is considered “frivolous”.
Comeon.. we can play verminator in midfield. He is better than that david luiz playing in midfield i suppose o_O
Arteta suspended? Flamini injured?
Ramsey overplayed?
Chill! I got this
#DENCH
Losing Fmaini would be extremely annoying considering the fixtures we have ahead.
*Flamini
Return of the DENCH
It is time young padavan Frimpong. Now go out and kick some ass.
It’s ‘padawan’. And I think he’s more of a Sith Lord.
Now I really would love to hear “It was just a precautionary substitution… Flamini is good to go against the mugsmashers” & the F.A being the cunts that we know, can’t even interpret their own rules.
Fingers crossed it’s just a match ban. Even if they rescind the red, they’re still cunts! COYG.
how long is flamini?
and also, how long is arteta’s ban? fingers crossed it will just be one game and that one game is chelsea on tues…
how long is flamini out?
and also, how long is arteta’s ban? fingers crossed it will just be one game and that one game is chelsea on tues…
In the absence of Flamini … the best options, personally, are Vermalen or maybe Frimpong?
The centre of defence definitely a ‘destroyer’ both in midfield and defence!! and who has the energy to run the pitch in attack too!!
Fabianski Jenkinson Mertersacker Koscielny Monreal. Vermaelen Frimpong Rosicky. Cazorla Bendtner Gnabry.
It’s either TV or Dench in DM on Tuesday night!
Like Verminator as a person and as a backup but for me DM is not a good idea. The reason he is a good defender is because he has attacking verve, quick reflexes, good balance and is a skillful ball playing defender. The reason Kos keeps him on the bench is because he has poor positioning and can’t read the game, that is why he is no DM.
The boss clearly doesn’t rate the DENCH so he will drop one or two of the midfielders back.
Think we have been over articulating playing both Arteta and Flamini particularly against Palace. Playing both is fine against better quality technical opposition but we risk this sort of thing, with Flamini out on a knock (self Flaminied) and Arteta serving suspension. Arteta should hopefully be back in contention against Liverpool. Against Chelsea, we could play the CB pairing of Perscielny but probably be better to play Vermalen with Per to assess the Belgian. young Hayden could also be involved in a triangle but with Rosicky (and experienced head0 beside to keep discipline with positioning. with the number of tough… Read more »