Having admitted that Arsenal are struggling to compete with ‘half the team out’, Arsene Wenger gave a rather depressing update on the fitness of the club’s sidelined players.
Speaking after the 2-2 draw with Swansea, the boss confirmed that none of Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere, Mesut Ozil and Laurent Koscielny will be available for at least two weeks.
“None of them are close to coming back. Koscielny is out for a while. After that Ozil, I don’t know but at least two or three weeks. Ramsey is perhaps the closest. He is two weeks maybe.”
It doesn’t sound particularly promising given certain players looked absolutely shattered this evening, especially with the games continuing to come thick and fast.
Asked if he might resort to playing some of his younger prospects, the boss underlined that the current pressure on his team doesn’t make it an ideal environment in which to blood new talent.
“When you go through a difficult period like that, you need a bit of experience. To put young players under massive pressure at the moment like we are… It is easier said than done. At the moment, I feel that the experienced players did very well and we need that as well in a situation like that.”
Fuck this shit. We started the seasons 20 games or so on top. Now we’ll be lucky not to get into a fucking 4th place bitch fight. WTF has happened to our season.
ramsey got injured
…and we had a generally favourable early fixture list coupled with some lucky breaks (e.g. Spuds at home). Against the big teams, as usual, we bottled it.
We need a friggin shrink like the mugsmashers nicked off Team GB.
we were top of the league on new year’s day and then ramsey had his injury. we sort of managed to avoid collapsing until ozil got injured, from then it’s been a shit show
We’ve missed Ramsey a lot yes. But I think our most underrated player is Walcott. – The threat his pace poses nobody else in the squad has got and since he got injured we haven’t had anyone who can actually score in the big games.
yeah he got injured, as did walcott but both were with 3 weeks remaining in transfer window, we brought in injured kalstrom who made debut 54 days later and made a failed loan bid for that useless odd shaped headed fucker Kalou……….
Fucking Bullshit I say
In a nutshell, that is it. The positive is that it is Ramsey, so maligned in the past, who was our main player this season.
The negative? He and others will be overplayed again next season.
I’m looking out for the report of this alleged investigation into our fitness issues.
i’d be really surprised if all these muscle injuries are a coincidence.
Could be a long wait. The dude doing the report dropped his file on his foot and is out for 6 months.
No team should depend on one or two players
Meh. What are you feeding them Arsene?
Would it have been such a disaster to give a run out to Gnabry today or even start Sanogo? If he can start against Bayern surely he can handle pressure?
I am seriously wondering why he even bothered in the 87th when an actual earlier rest (after the goal, perhaps) might have, well, actually helped.
Bayern away involved a lot less pressure than where Arsenal were at 0-1, until Podolski scored. We’re going to have to muddle through.
Ramsey is forever “2 weeks away”. I guess tomorrow never comes.
Ramsey is the new Diaby. LAND.
I want to like and dislike this at the same time.
When do we get some fucking good news? Fuck sake this season is going right down the toilet at the moment. The FA cup is the only thing that keeps it alive.
Did you actually think we would win the Premier League? The Champion’s League? Come on, be honest now…When it was clear we would be going the whole season with Giroud up front, the writing was on the wall surely.
I genuinely think we could have done it if Ramsey, Walcott and Ozil could have stayed fit. Ramsey was on fire in every respect – drive, power, tackling, stamina, assists, goals – the complete midfielder. Walcott – last season’s top scorer lest we forget, who had been out for months -finally showed against Spurs in the game in which he got injured that he had the movement and nous to be a genuine pacy, direct alternative to Giroud and Ozil got right back on song against Everton before his early injury in Munich. Where would we be if they had… Read more »
We are never fully fit. This is Wenger’s main issue year in, year out. Ramsey, Wilshere, Rosicky, Theo are all frequent flyers on the treatment table. You cannot expect them to play a full season, because it likely wont happen. Prepare yourself by bringing in re-inforcements who are not injured (sorry Kallstrom, although he looked descent today in his first action ever with us). Cant you sign a player of some steel? It’s too little, too late. You are struggling to hold onto 4th when we were in first place a month ago. An epic collapse is upon us.
So, the false New dawn has darkened rather quickly. I’m sorry, but large scale changes are needed. We need a new impetus, some new ideas… Wenger is a legend, but it’s time he moved upstairs. His head hasn’t been right since Dein left. Rice jumped ship, even Lewin knew it was time. Come on, I love this club with all my heart, but the time has come. Do I have the definitive answer? Of course not. I work on computers day in, day out, I’m ‘clueless’ but, for the love of OUR club, this isn’t good enough. End of.
I have the answer – KLOPP.
Klop klop klop klop….see yourself out the front door.
You mean the same Klopp whose team is currently in rather a similar situation to ours and is being accused of stubbornness with his pressing game and running his team into the ground? Doesn’t sound that different to Wenger.
Most of the Gooners calling for Klopp haven’t been following Dortmund’s season. Doesn’t mean I wouldn’t take him, but they’ve had shit luck with injuries, just like us, and they haven’t been able to handle Bayern (their Chelsea/City/ManU rolled into one club), nor have they been able to put lesser teams to the sword consistently. If it’s down to a dogfight for fourth, believe me, you want Wenger in charge. Who the hell has more experience with that? Everyone’s complaining about the medical staff, but if we had three or four fewer games around Christmas we would be in better… Read more »
Martinez please
The keeper??
The cocktail. Two, please.
You mean Tuchel.
Messed up in January when we had the money for reinforcements. We have a real fight on 4th
More like messed up in the summer. There wasn’t that much to buy in January. The summer window however there were plenty of good strikers and other players that we were in need of available but we didn’t act. Apart from Özil the summer was really poorly executed.
The Ozil signing was just luck rather than any planning by Wenger, just turned out that they had too many outstanding talents so could afford to offload one.
and they replaced him with a youngster Jese who has more fight in him plus Isco
Spot on. Forget the guy banging them in for the mugsmashers, the real mistake was the dithering over Higuain. We knew we had to reinforce, but we fucked that one up.
Before anyone thumbs me down, notice I said “we.” There’s no point blaming, express your frustration and keep supporting the team knowing we are likely to see some more pain this season.
Yeah, but if they had shelled out 50M or even 55M for Suarez we’d be top of the league right now, with or without Ozil.
Life is very unfair, isn’t it?
Get well soon, lads. We really miss you.
We’ve been told that “Ramsey will be back in two weeks” for roughly the last two months. At this rate it’ll be a miracle if he plays even one more game for us this season. I’m suddenly feeling really glad that Wenger signed Kallstrom on loan, even with his injury problem.
#WengerKnows
Bring back the horse placenta. All is forgiven.
i’d be happy with bloody gerbil placenta at this point
I know many of our fans won’t like this bt the truth is just that i think that Arsene is loosing all the necessary things to keep the club together, just this season alone almost all the top four teams have beaten us with wider margin except four Man-United. And all he keep saying is to blame him when they lost with wider margin.
Yup, he refuses to delegate at all. He wants to control everything, and there has to be some recognition that age is a factor, and some things need to be done by others.
#wengerknows we will finish 4th n no trophy. Seriously now I am scared of wigan
It’s fucking Wigan!
who put City to the sword, twice in 12 months, in a high pressure cup competition.
I’m worried, less about the final, if we make it, because we should have some players back by then.
I guess Wenger is paying price now for not signing enough players, and playing the same players week in week out till they break down. Would not be surprised if Sagna breaks down soon too considering the effort he has put in this season. F*ck sake I hope I’m wrong on Sagna.
A lot of our fans really did start to believe in this ‘new dawn’, but, come on… Can you see now? This team is done until things change. We all know it. Simple as that.
Look man, some of the defensive confidence we showed this season did constitute part of a new dawn. So did the big signing. But we did not lose so badly to every rival in one season. wth
As much as people Disliked wilsheres performances this season I feel he would have added that heart,desire and drive the team missed today. I remember him scoring the winning goal against the swans in the fa cup last season where he carried the team , we need more players to take responsibility. COYG!!
At this rate Diaby will be back before Ramsey.
“When you go through a difficult period like that, you need a bit of experience. To put young players under massive pressure at the moment like we are…”- AW
Errr… Sanogo?!
We must win the FA Cup. Period. As to the league, aim for top 3, though, given Liverpool’s momentum at the moment, top 4 looks more likely. What a shame. Kim looks to be a solid option. He doesn’t offer exceptional pace or sublime touch, but his movement shows experience and he can flat-out pass short and long. These last two games, Ox has been a major disappointment with bad passes and silly give aways. not tolerable at this level. Looking at Ox right now somewhat reminds me of Ramsey when he was struggling a few years back. Ox must… Read more »
Yeah I agree about Ox. Lots of potential but not enough to lead an Arsenal mid field.
Kim looking good from what (very little) we’ve seen of him.
How on earth did the outlook for this promising season get so dim so fast? I’m finding it hard to convince myself that we’ll manage a 4th place finish now. 🙁
Ramsey. Walcott. Ozil. Wilshere. Kos. That’s how. It’s really quite simple. Any team in the league would suffer like this with its top three goal threats (scorers and creators) and half its starting field players out.
So, 4 key injuries has ruined our title chances. Where have we seen that before? It’s about high time we seriously look into the medical reasoning for this. It’s been an unlucky coincidence for 10 years. No squad depth, 3rd time we’ve fallen at the busy end of the season in the last 10 barren years. Lessons are there and they are plentiful, why is nobody other than us fans, learning them?
Our squad looked like it had depth in December, save for striker and maybe CB. Go back and look at the comments! Then, the injuries…
What striker would you have bought in January? Kalou?
Shane Long, seriously, he is like Giroud with pace, and cheap.
Yes, 4 key injuries DOES seem to have ruined our title chances. And it should be more than looked into. It should be corrected.
Come back to me Welsh Jesus…
I guess it’s the emotions talking but this pisses me off. The prospective dates of players returning is always postponed.
Why fucking bother? The whole medical team can be replaced, too many of same shite. I say, the next time I hear “two weeks”, I’m gonna pretend the lad won’t be playing this season. If he does play and score, I won’t celebrate. He was injured anyway. C’est ne pas possible. Na-ah. Bist du verrückt?
Good night? Good night.
It sounds like we’ve got Sausage Charlie from Snatch on the medical staff.
“Two weeks Wenger”
“You said two weeks FIVE weeks ago!”
We should be used to this by now, but this is more painful than ever, for some reason… Changes, please.
Be careful what you wish for.
Just look at Man U. They have changed….into an even more steaming pile of manure.
man u changed from a dude who won something every season or at the very least tried his very best to,sometimes two things ,once even 3,compared to wenger who in reality has given us some fantastic memories from his 1st 500 games but his 2nd have been the bare minimum in ratio to what he has spent,the utd job was impossible to fill,our job is a fantastic opportunity for a top manager,wenger was a very good manager who assembled a WC unit in 2004 that when push came to shove wobbled to cfc in CL,in the prem wenger could tell… Read more »
Wow, it didn’t take long for Koscielny’s “two-week” absence to become “out for a while”. How long is “out for a while”? Three weeks? Six weeks? Eight weeks?
I never thought it could be possible for a team like Arsenal to have a ‘bad’ medical team (I mean they can only do so much, right?), and I thought we’d always just had awful luck, but at this stage I feel like we may as well fire them all and bring a new group of fresh meds.
Come back Gary Lewin
How the hell can these players still be weeks away at this rate we need a squad of 30 players just to get through the season somewhat unschated.
I read somewhere wenger wont sign a contract until he has full controll of signings, why does he want this when he has no interest in signing talent, ( if I need to strengthen in some positions I well ) this was the best time for him to win the league with all or rivals with new managers, he should get a tattoo 4th on he’s fucking forehead
“I read somewhere wenger wont [sic] sign a contract until he has full controll of signings.” Care to share the source? I follow Arsenal articles but never read such a thing anywhere.
I can’t believe he does not have that already, he seems to be in control of everything.
Forget spending, mental strength, tactics, etc. This club won’t win a title until it gets this injury problem sorted. Constantly being near the top of the league injury table is not a coincidence (and please spare the “are you a physio?” retorts; doesn’t take a medical degree to read numbers). Of course the team vs. Swansea looked less than stellar — missing Ramsey, Özil, Walcott, Koscielny and Wilshere will do that to you. And buying new players in January just adds to the list of injuries waiting to happen. Let’s keep the ones we’ve got fit. Season looks a lot… Read more »
Get Wenger out now
We had one striker for the whole season, who is one dimensional, how were we going to maintain like that
This evening I jumped on the bandwagon that many of you have been on for a while now. Sorry to say it but Arsene needs to go. Changes are needed. Teams that were nowhere near fourth spot in previous seasons have majorly strengthened and we have players like Arteta who’s never won a cap for Spain starting week in, week out for us. There’s a reason why he’s never been picked and it’s glaringly obvious. If Wenger signs a new contract at the end of the season, we can only expect what we’ve had over the past 500 games –… Read more »
Even before the game I had my doubts whether the gunners can finish 4th let alone win the epl. The gunner attack as said many times consist of many passes and is predictable. When you watch how other teams score it makes you wonder why the gunners take along time to shoot.As is usual,the box is congested with so many players and the gunnere will engage in a series of passes. The element of surprise is lost. I am afraid the gunners could finish even 5th/6th which for a club of Arsenal’s stature aint goo d enough. Even if Arsenal… Read more »
I want to blame the current situation on bad luck, but it’s difficult to justify such a stance when the team began the season with one senior striker and only three center halves.
I’m not going to pretend like I know exactly how the Arsenal front office is run, but clearly the person(s) involved in player acquisition and squad building have been found wanting this season once again.
Yet isn’t it funny at this point we’ve not needed more than three center halves, and our area of most players missing is midfield..
Wenger said there were no strikers available, except the cnut that scored the Chavs sixth at the weekend. We then alerted everyone to Draxler by failing to meet any buy out clause he may have had. Wenger or whoever does our business gets out the Glasses Guide to Football. Checks the prices for high mileage shot boxes and tries to buy new showroom condition players with low offers. Then they go and and sign the six stone weakling that is Özil. Hang out long enough and we’ll any old pile of junk for decent money. Rolls Royce ideas and fucking… Read more »
Give me a week to translate that and I’ll get back to you.
This is what you get when you run players into the ground. We had the depth to rotate the squad earlier in the season, but chose not to. Especially with players such as Ozil (who is used to having a Winter break) and Ramsey (who is really still recovering from his previous long-term injury). Sure, there’s nothing we could do about the Walcott and Wilshere, injuries, but you really would hope for a faster recovery when you have a ‘top-class’ medical team at a club at our level. I just don’t get it…
Its because, as has been pointed out many times, the manager does not like to rotate. He has a core of about 15 he trusts, and they play till injured or suspended. Anyway, a team that claims to have financial firepower, or in general a team that considers itself competing at the top of the league every season, wants to have 2 good players for every position. This is where our financial constraints are valid, we could not buy so many players. Perhaps now, this summer, we will strengthen even in places where our first choice is strong. Having said… Read more »
I miss you, Rambo and Theo! 🙁 *sob*
Players / Squad exhausted…..if you don’t invest in players and a strong balanced squad like a supposed top team should, then you end up with shit season after shit season…expect more for the duration of Wengers new multi million pound contract.
Next year: Ozil, Ramsey, Cazorla, Rosicky, Wilshere, Walcott, Arteta, Flamini if he is extended, Ox, Gnabry, Mertesacker, Kos, Gibbs, Monreal, hopefully Sagna (we’ll see), Jenks, Szcz, Giroud if still here, Sanogo. Plus Additions. It’s a quite good squad when fit. If you can’t see the potential with a few proper additions (and a few more tactical options, to be fair) in the areas that have been discussed ad nauseum, just go ahead and give up. Since shaking the debt There has been ONE transfer market- winter is not realistic. And we got Ozil. Not everything is available at once. I… Read more »
Mate….Chelsea signed Matic with basically no fuss in January. A physically imposing, athletic and technical holding midfielder that looks to be potentially world class. What did we do? We listened to Arsene bang on for the entire month how the window is an unnecessary distraction and should be abolished. How is that type of attitude going to solve out issue? Because we can talk about injuries all we want and make excuses around that….however…. 1. These injuries are a pattern and have been for several years 2. I believe Ramsey, Walcott, Ozil and Wilshere all started when we shipped 6… Read more »
Pay above market. Like Chelsea did for Torres? Or Pool for Carroll? (Ok, Carroll isn’t fair, that was plain ridiculous). How about Sp*rs 100m? And with one of the most solid defenses in the league in January, Matic wasn’t needed. He’s not a striker. He’s not a pacy winger to cover for Walcott. City has been spewing oil money for multiple transfer windows now building their team. It did not happen in one season. Arsenal have financially come to the good for One Season. Nobody thought we’d be any better off than we are now at the start of the… Read more »
Well no shit Arsene. I mean for fuck sake we heard Ramsey is 4-6 weeks in what….late December or early January? And as is typically the case at Arsenal somehow the number of weeks is understood to be multiplied by 3 or more. As soon as he said Ozil was 4-6 weeks….hell I am wondering if he will be fit for Germany….forget about Arsenal this season. This isn’t some kind of unfortunate spate of injuries. As Arse2Mouse mentioned this evening, believing that drivel pays zero attention to the past several years. Something is wrong, and it has been for a… Read more »
Martinez will be next manager.I didnt think the change was needed yet but i am changing my mind after the peformances this season against our rivals. We dont get beat, we get embarrassed. His best days are over. I love Arsene but its obvious now. winless in 11 vs Maureen. 11! No longer can we ignore his faults hurting the club. Fighting for fourth every year is beneath us.
What is wrong with the team? No one comes back from injury before suffering multiple setbacks, its like some insider smashes them up. It happened with Oz and now with Ramsey.
no players are there to help our team ,when it matters the most. Another hope of winning the title gone in vain ;(
Wenger can not motivate the players anymore,
Especially for these important games.
He has forgotten how to win trophies ffs,
And when he gets close to one he poops his pants, he becomes apprehensive and nervous,
Which explains the wrong starting line ups & so called Tactics,which has resulted in loses,
Then comes out with blame me.
face it people, wenger is finished, game over.
theres a malaise at the club right now, the fans are angry at being led on to believe that this season was different, their anger passes onto the players who freeze up in the big games, and wenger is somehow so stubborn in his ways that he refuses to get anyone in January when he clearly know giroud wont cut it.
heres the ironic thing though….. we actually have improved/made progress, we are 6 points off top and have a great chance in the cup….
Sack gazidis for making ridiculous bid for Suarez, him or Higuain would have make a huge differences.
It wasn’t ridiculous was it? It’s just that the scousers don’t honour their contracts.
Crop rotation, no i mean squad rotation. Damn maybe Wenger is confused between the 2 of them as well! Better to rotate earlier than wait until everyone is injured and you have no fucking choice?!?
Way I see it, take Sturridge, Suarez, Coutinho, and Sterling out of Liverpool; Hazard, Etoo, Oscar out of Chelsea; Silva, Toure, Aguero, and Navas out of City and they’d struggle too. That’s what Arsenal are dealing with – you can say that Wenger should have bought and maybe he should but no amount of buying would cover those injuries. Its also a shame that Giroud is taking a lot of the flak for a team that has lost a lot of much of its attacking threat, he’s performed as well as a £12million has any right to do, I honestly… Read more »
Listen I agree with you 100%, but we have said this for eight years now…… Nothing changes. It is just too long.
Chelski have a 22 man squad same for City with big money spent not sure about LFC but they don’t seem to be too bothered with Suarez and Sturridge playing as they are! Might be a different story if one or both were injured? Arsenal are lucky if they can put 11 men on the pitch!! We all love Wenger but at the end of the season, regardless of the FA cup he needs to go! Everyone has listed numerous reason for him to go but hardly any for him to stay!
Anonymous people posting in a comment section on a blog is hardly a representative sample of ‘Everyone’. There is a very good chance most of the people who would list reasons for him to stay would read the comments around here lately and not bother. But try these: 1. Got Emirates Stadium built without falling out of CL 2. Kept the club out of financial difficulty and did it the right way 3. Maintained Arsenal’s reputation for playing quality football, even without $50m players 4. Developed some of the world’s best football talent. Many have left, but it was done… Read more »
Couldn’t agree more Bonbonbon. It is not all doom and gloom, although sometimes it is easy to get lost in emotion based on what we have seen recently. I do however feel Wenger should not sign a new contract. He has failed to deliver again, perhaps he is just an unlucky manager? Either way I would be happy with a change this summer. We may go the way of utd, but we may also build on our foundations. I am not frightened to see.
Only at Arsenal can a thigh strain put you out for 4 months…….. Come on Diaby!!!
Groundhog Day
Piers Morgan is the realest of you lot