Arsene Wenger has said today that Arsenal’s German trio of Per Mertesacker, Mesut Ozil and Lukas Podolski will not be available for the start of the Premier League season.
Despite previous advice from the Arsenal press office that the BFG may well be used against Crystal Palace, the boss has more or less ruled that out today, saying, “Our World Cup winners are back on the 11th August. They will miss the start of the Premier League.
“You have the choice – you get them back very quickly and you lose them in October, or you give them a needed rest to build them up again.
“They have an individual programme that they follow so they could be very quick.”
While we’re well covered for Podolski and even Ozil, with Thomas Vermaelen set to leave the club in the near future, it does leave us relatively short at centre-half.
New boy Calum Chambers was deployed there in the Emirates Cup and unless a new signing is made in the wake of Vermaelen’s departure, he could well be thrown in at the deep end as the new campaign begins.
However, Wenger hinted at more business so we could well see the Belgian go, and somebody new come in.
Won’t mind Chambers at the back against Palace. But against City? Not so sure
Maybe better than a half injured TV5 though
would the somebody new be fit though? I’ve heard rumours about Hummels- which would be GREAT!-but surely he would miss the start of the season too.
Looks like a makeshift back 4 to start the season. I’m a bit worried about that.
hummels isn’t coming. it’s extremely hard to recruit a third choice centre-back. either someone very senior or very young.
Why third-choice? If we can recruit Hummels at a price that Wenger likes, he could very well play his way into the starting XI. Just as Koscielny and Mertesacker did when they usurped Vermaelen’s place. That’s how it works at a top club.
New season, new hopes, new signings,new jerseys, new nails to bite off!
Hardly the deep end. Lad looked assured on the weekend. With Kos next to him he should be fine. Nice to hear were well stocked for cover for a player like Ozil. Im looking forward to seeing him push on this year and silencing all the peeps slagging him.
cant say no more. damn it! next time wait for me to post first
Dammit! we could have got David Luiz for a bargain £45m! Wenger out!
etc etc etc
I’m seriously worried about our centre back options. Considering the season starts against Place & CL qualifiers. Fingers crossed Chambers can do a good job for the team.
We’ll do just fine until they return. No point rushing anybody back or over playing anybody during the season
You guys got any wishes for who should Wenger bring in to replace Vermalean?
Titus Bramble
Chris Samba? Senderos?
Silvestre? Oh, wait. He “retired”.
Sylves–
Bah. I can’t even finish typing it.
Lionel Messi.
I can see the Germans being on the bench against Palace. If things go as they should then they can stay there but at least they would be available if things start to go pear shaped.
They could get…per shaped? I’m sorry
Per didn’t play all that much toward the end. He might be ready sooner than Ozil.
That shouldn’t matter. It’s more about how out-of-PL-shape they got during the month off, no?
Don’t worry guys. If you think that’s bad for us then you all should spare a thought for Bayern…
whatever, their second team is borussia dortmund. a slip-up early on might actually be good for the bundesliga.
My refreshing of arseblog news has ramped up five-fold in anticipation for real football round the corner. SO EXCITED.
2014/2015 – the season arsene Wenger’s long-term vision of success comes to fruition.
COYG.
We should sign Nastasic by Sunday, problem solved! 🙂
I can’t believe we let Park and Chamakh go after the number of clean sheets we managed with those two
OFF TOPIC : Yesterday i visited this site some 20 times and found no new updates..WTH??
Am kind off addicted to ArseBlog and Comments are so much fun:D:D
So next time if u hav nothing to post so please make sure u do some random stuff…which may be anything…anything in the sense “How losing Andre Santos is big blow for Gibbs learning experience” or something like that…
Please note that..
“So next time if u hav nothing to post so please make sure u do some random stuff”
“So next time, if you have nothing to post, please make sure you do some random stuff”
Ok, now I can click that thumbs up button with a clear conscience.
Chambers does look like an awesome prospect – deliciously calm on the ball… but you could see some of the lack of understanding between himself and Kos in the Emirates cup, with one pushing up to play offside and the other not for Falcao’s goal. Hopefully they’ll have sorted that out on the training ground ahead of Palace, otherwise it might not be quite the cake walk some of us might be expecting…
I mean, he just joined. And he’s 19. An experienced and decent centre-back is desperately needed.
I think this is the only site on the internet where I always read all of the comments. because they’re always interesting, not the usual trolls shouting at each other
F*** u mate. 😉
Lahm, Boateng, Götze, Schweinsteiger and Neuer all played v. MLS All-Stars on Wednesday night in Portland. Not criticizing, just curious why they’re back sooner than Mert, Özil and Poldi.
And how did that go for them?..
Solely based on fifa ultimate team stats i am wondering if mertesacker would make a good holding midfielder. He’s tall and strong and teams defacto leader. In that position he wouldn’t need to move quickly either. If mertesacker can be deployed there it would make room for hummels in the back 4 and solve the holding midfielder issue in one go.
“Solely based on fifa ultimate team stats …”
You should have stopped there!
And I disagree completely. I can’t even play Per at CB in FUT because he is way, way too slow. Hope they upgrade his speed a bit next year.
I do think you’re on to something about using FUT stats to pick players though. You’re just wrong about Per’s stats adding up to him playing DM.
Solely based on Super Mario World, if he eats the right flower he can throw fireballs!
Sorry, having a bit of fun.
But seriously, He’s in his natural position. Stats – especially video game stats – tell a very limited story.
I know its probably best to just make fun of this comment… But in real terms, the problem that we currently have with the DM position is that Arteta normally fills it and he is criticized for being too slow. He is really calm on the ball and can tackle, he just finds it hard to stop fast breaks and track back.
Per is even slower than Arteta. So it would make no sense at all.
@AshevilleGunner, Messi and Schurrle are also back in training and they also played in the Final
Where is Rambling Pete, for Pete’s sake?!
Ohh?! Lets me change my fantasy league team
I already had that revelation and switched Per out.
who are you doing your fantasy football league with? betting shop? barclays premier league fantasy football? telegraph?
Why is Podolski not back? Hardly played at all during the world (but celebrated the most afterwards, top lad!). I get that the players shoud get their vacations and by god do they deserve it, FA Cup and World Cup, woof! But still, It is a bit strange that especially Mertesacker isn’t called back a bit earlier, given our lack at the back.
Then again, Vermaelen could go on dead line day and still play against Palace.
That Puma kit that Arsene is wearing is misshapen and cheap and the colours are stupid.
Wenger please get Puma to manufacture proper kit.
Adidas make ugly stuff but Puma always manage to upstage them.
Tge Arsenal are class and deserve better
Never thought I’d see “Puma Kit” and “cheap” in the same sentence.
Does podolski even need a rest? He hardly played at the world cup
Again, it’s not so much a “rest,” as getting back into Premier League football shape that’s the issue. Which, for Podolski, judging my evidence from the past couple seasons, means being able to get through 65 minutes.
Poldi had every right to celebrate…116 caps and 47 goals. He played half the qualifiers and has represented my nation with distinction. He been international for 10 years…..legend
Cback is a grave concern at the moment particularly without Per.
We did not concede goals in the emirates cup from open play. We conceded from set pieces.
We need a very good Cback to come in.
All this talk about Dm is frankly nonsense. This is not a priority particularly as Arteta is the player the Cbacks are currently most familiar with. Any new DM coming in will have adaptation issues.
Arteta, Flamini, Chambers and possibly Diaby is enough to cover DM alongside jack and ramsey.
We need a quality Cback quick.
3 Players to look out for this coming season aside from Sanogo, Ox and Ramsey are : Campbell. Quuite why many still think he could still go on loan is perplexing. This player has shown excellent form over a season in greece, the world cup and provides us a different approach up top centrally. He will be integral to our season coming up. Bellerin. Impressive player and night and day to jenkinson. personally do not understand all this excitement with jenkinson. he was a limited player with average technical skills who whipped his crosses in blind. Bellerin looks ready to… Read more »
Campbell no loan
Arent the Bayern germans in the US
playing one of those money cups?