Arsene Wenger says Mathieu Debuchy has suffered a badly sprained ankle after an awkward fall in Arsenal’s 2-2 draw with Manchester City.
The French international tumbled late in the second half and was stretchered off before being taken to hospital. It’s not yet known how long he’ll be out, although the boss sounded somewhat pessimistic.
“Debuchy has a badly sprained ankle,” Wenger told media after the game.
“How long will he be out? I don’t know, but it doesn’t look good. People told me they need a bit more time to assess how long he will be out but it’s a bad ankle sprain.”
In Debuchy’s absence Calum Chambers was deployed at right-back. No problem there, although it does now mean we don’t really have any back-up centre-backs.
Danny Welbeck was also subbed off late on in the game having gone down, but Wenger was quick to allay fears of a long-term problem claiming the England international was merely suffering from cramp.
“Welbeck had cramps and he should be okay. He did well. I believe that he needs to develop his link play with our players but that is a bit normal.
“It’s sad that he couldn’t take his chance but overall every time he had an opportunity to find some space he looked dangerous. There are some things to work on with him to integrate him well into our game but I’m happy with his first game.”
After an enthralling end-to-end encounter, Wenger spoke positively about his side’s performance but remained frustrated by the way they conceded their winning advantage in the last ten minutes.
“I think we produced a game of top quality. It was a game of top quality between two very good teams, played at tremendous pace, especially in the first half. We were unlucky to be 1-0 down in the first half and we did something remarkable to come back and be in a leading position.
“The only frustrating thing for me is that we didn’t manage to keep the lead and gave a cheap goal away. That’s where we have room for improvement because it was a very encouraging game but the way we conceded the second goal nearly killed our game because we could have lost afterwards – it was just a mental blow. But overall I think it was a top quality game.”
..and then there were 5. Step up Calum Chambers.
Step up Bellerin
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1e75XFc40Sc
Such a shame… He was really growing into the team.
If Chambers has to step into central defense, Bellerin is at RB
As mentioned, he is very much part of first team planning.
He is better than Jenkinson. Only issue at the moment is insufficient experience so he needs to be eased in.
We are short at Cback without a doubt.
I don’t think Bellerin is better than Jenk, but he probably is a lot better than Jenkinson was at 19.
Definitely better going forward than Jenkinson. He came out of the Barcelona academy and is technically gifted and the better at passing. Also quicker going forward even though Jenks is no slouch. It’s only the defending side of that game that Jenkinson might edge it on, even though Bellerin can cope and will only improve with experience.
Bring back Eboue!
Why no match report?
Blogs went to the game and I guess Mrs. Blogs wasn’t feeling it.
What a performance by Wilshere today
Blogs was on the match watching the game and acterwards too many beer!!!!
#findramblingpete
Poor old Debuchy, not to worry we have plenty of defenders who can fill in …………………………………………. what was that?
I know. Debuchy is likely out for several weeks if not months. So any niggles or injuries to even one of our centre-backs in that time, and we’ll be seeing Monreal at CB and Flamini at LB.
Insane gamble by the club not to buy a CB over the summer.
Sad hope it’s not too long. Time for chambers coquelin bellerin and co to step up!
Costa has got a hat-tick today. Love to know why AW didn’t rate him enough to sign him up …
Can’t see beyond those wankers at Stamford Bridge for the title this year as much as it pains me to say it. The thought of it makes me feel quite ill but he is flying, our only hope he get’s a major injury and their goals dry up.
7 goals in 4 games he has, taken to the prem like a duck to fucking water 🙁 bastards!
6 assists in 4 games too by a certain someone
At the moment we have 4 guys playing a free role in midfield and the Wenger man will tell me that there was no place for Fabregas?! And not only that, but the reason for this was because we bought Ozil, who by the way, we’re playing everywhere but his preferred position. Bitch please! I refuse to swallow bullshit like it’s fucking candy.
for me, i will gladly accept any offer to swap Ozil with Cesc…
I thought Wenger’s thinking on Fabregas was that he had to prioritize the budget in order to bring in a striker, a keeper, and a defender. Unfortunately, the club thought it prudent to gamble on not buying a defender, so…a lose-lose situation. We miss out on Fabregas, who is vastly better than Ozil at the moment, and we miss out on defensive cover.
It all looks very, very stupid.
On the other hand, there was a John Terry own goal. Positives and negatives, positives and negatives, chaps…
But they won 4-2.
Costa would never have come to Arsenal. His agent is Maureens butt buddy. Just wouldn’t have been allowed to happen.
So can’t blame Wenger for a lack of movement for Costa………. However , Fabregas is a different matter …………
And exactly when Arsene Wenger’s team will NOT fall off mentally after conceding late? When?
The team were absolutely fantastic. They practically played a full match against one of the better teams who brought 3 fresh players on in the second half. See below what I’ve pasted from Guardian match facts:
Mikel Arteta (s 90′)
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (s 88′) – forced substitution
Calum Chambers (s 81′) – forced substitution
Samir Nasri (s 46′)
Edin Dzeko (s 67′)
Aleksandar Kolarov (s 77′)
What a game though Smh…
Really feel for Debuchy… He was fantastic today…
.
Okay, why did Wenger wait that long to bring on Arteta?
Why wasnt Ozil taken off towards the end?
What happened to Sczesny on that Goal-kick?
.
There really is need for improvement… SMH…
.
Good goals by Jack and Alexis though…
Disapointed we didnt take all three points…
Buh still…
#COYG!
Atrocious defending to concede the second goal. Where is that our “we won’t lose this’ player. On another note, City’s physical / kick them of the ball tactics shows their desperation in this game and respect for us. Ref could have tamed thrm much earlier
Hi blog. Where’s the usual fast written match report?
Blogs was at the game so it probably won’t come til later.
You don’t ask for a match report so soon when Blogs is actually at the Emirates for the match.
Didn’t u know that Tom is in charge of today’s liveblog.
Be reasonable.
Last year if Sagna was out we had Jenkinson and Bellerin, now we have Chambers and Bellerin so why are people panicking? Apparently Bellerin is quite good too so if Chambers has to play CB I’m still not worried. We’ll be fine guys…
Last year we had a backup CB who wasn’t our backup RB.
Kos has been struggling with an inflamed tendon issue for months now. He’s not gonna be able to play 50 games this season. An injury to him and now we’re in deep shit.
It just doesn’t make sense we didn’t buy a backup CB. Unless Wenger really fancies Hayden. Which he hasn’t shown much evidence of yet.
And how many headed goals have we conceded this season I believe 80% of all the goals we’ve conceded this season have been headers either from set pieces corners or crosses from open play. We need to sort this out asap! Bould and co.. it scares me anytime I see the ball in the air around our 18yard box. And the problem is not height it’s organization and marking your man!
Another observation today I came to realized today the epl doesn’t seem to suit ozil.
And what.a.goal by sanchez !
Chambers is a good quality replacement of course, but that means we now have to rely on Bellerin if anything happens to Mertesacker, Koscielny or Chambers. Sure Bellerin has lots of potential, but he’s very inexperienced, and we have Dortmund, Southampton and Chelsea in the next few weeks. Not an ideal position.
And a very promising start for Welbeck. I was surprised by how much he changes our game. With him we can play with so much more speed, because with hispace and movement he pulls defenders around, creating space for other attackers. It’s looking promising.
The fact is it was an encouraging game overall. Sure, there are things to pick at. But our game was fluid with high intensity most of the game. We were dominating the title holders for long periods, and we came back to lead the game after being one nil down. It is looking good!
More injuries:(. Jack was immense if he plays like that for the rest off the season then it could be promising. Ozil grew into the game far too slow a start. Sanchez wow and impressed with Welbeck put in a good shift shame he didn’t score!
#findramblingpete
We started well but faded after they scored the opener. We did well to get our noses in front but in the end we were lucky to keep the point after some kamikaze defending. Nice to see a great display from Wilshere, who was rightly awarded the MOTM. Sanchez’s goal was sensational. Both goals we conceded were avoidable. Ozil was utter shit again: for 42 million quid he’s a fucking disgrace. Being forced to play wide is no excuse, he’s taking the piss. Surely it’s time to drop him and bring in the Ox. Yet again we fail to beat… Read more »
We do need a midfield enforcer badly to protect the defence, or just some steel in midfield. I remember the days when NOTHING got past Paddy 🙂
Spot on about Monreal being responsible for the first goaL. Why didn’t he just teleport himself back to stop the cross, right?
The cunt was jogging back when he should have been busting a gut.
He’d never have got back in time anyway, ‘bust a gut’ or otherwise.
Gibbs (who I prefer and is much faster) wouldn’t have got back in time either.
It was Navas not a CB with the ball.
Ozil looked like bambi on ice today, was well impressed with everyone else though, maybe not flamini, who i think was at fault for their first
If anything, it was Flamini who was responsible for the first goal as he completely switched off/wasn’t aware of the runner coming in from behind him.
Fuck me even Loic Remy has scored for the chavs now, however on the brighter side the spuds are drawing at sunderland 🙂
Hope it’s not as bad as it looked. Debuchy’s slotted in nicely for us. It would be a massive shame to lose him for too long. I absolutely trust Chambers but it is worrying how bare we look at the back with just one injury.
God help us if the BFG or Kos get an injury …
Also needed to atleast see Joel Campbell atleast on the bench…he’s skills and trickery would have been useful today..
Was a good game but this match just showed how much we need a better defensive midifielder. Plus i really doubt whether sczezney is the man to be in our goal. How cd he fail to kick that ball further before the 2nd goal.
I know there is a world class player in there somewhere but at the moment and no disrespect to the bloke but based on what I have seen since he joined us right now I would take Fab over Ozil any day … Oz is such a lettuce for all his skill, he needs to toughen up and get stuck in. I don’t buy this not being played in his favourite position bullshit!!! How much is he being paid a week ……..
You buy world class players to play them in their specialist positions no?
Do you see Jose playing Cesc at the wings?
I think Wenger is waiting for Theo to come back before finally bringing Ozil back into the #10 role. He played there for 5 minutes today and did better than the remaining 85. 😀
I have been saying this for some time now but I get thumbed down every time I mention Ozil for Cesc as a straight up trade. I watched the Chelsea game and Cesc is already running that team playing a little deeper in the midfield.
Ozil had a few nice passes, but he really hurts us with his giveaways and always looking for a soft foul when he gives the ball away. He would be wise to study Sanchez and what he does if he loses the ball.
We were a bit lucky to get the 1 point.
At the end of the day you need to feel glad the two balls late only hit the posts. But it really sucked to concede late
Agreed and what would have happened if DWs had gone in instead of hitting the post.
A different game… probably
Good thing we won a trophy. Kinda shuts up the fellow fans while we’re playing like shit.
Bellerin can do the job. The draw feels like a loss.
Dropped points.
early days but we have had too many draws and that could come back to haunt us.
It will be very competitive this season so we need to get starting early which I feel we haven’t done so.
We need to start making some big statements very shortly. It’s not good enough to be competitive, we need to start showing we are going to tear down Chelsea(scoring-wise). That hasn’t happened yet.
First thing though is to tighten up defense.
Could have been worse…
Could have been better…
Should have been better. But it never is against the good teams. It never has been for quite some time now. I’ve learned to lower my expectations, so it’s all fine and dandy if you ask me.
Ozil is a world class player, but he really needs to up his game. Regardless of the position he is being played in, he should still be making an effort with defensive duties. Its Infuriating when you see Sanchez working his socks off and Ozil just cruising through. No way should he be prone to getting dropped regardless of how much we paid for him.
Guess we will just have to take out our frustration out by decimating Dortmund. Then the remaining on Southhampton and Chelsea
Southampton are looking very strong despite being decimated by their summer fire sale. Chelsea are flying at the moment. We will have to improve very quickly particularly at the back. Good start for Welbeck. He will need to sharpen up and he should. Jack, well, again England are frankly stupid playing him in the role of a DM. Where all his critics? Both Jack and Welbeck are at the age when Ramsey, Walcott, Fabregas showed more than palpable signs of improvement. Jack’s strength is in his mobility, particularly his vertical dribbling. he is the closest thing to Diaby we have… Read more »
Everyone will be quick to blame Ozil, and rightly so, but once again Wenger’s stubbornness is hurting the team too much. -Ozil is a specialist #10, there are very few of those in the world. He is nothing close to a winger. The Premier League has a very high tempo and he turns into a liability on the wing on both offense and defense. Wenger did the same with Arshavin. :\ -We cannot play a 4-1-4-1 with Flamini/Arteta in the CDM position. They simply aren’t good enough for the top level in that role. Monreal should not start over Gibbs… Read more »
Jack was great today
Ozil was awful today. Bloody awful
Frankly, he will have to step up or Wenger needs to bench him.
Could have had someone like Chamberlain on earlier to go at the City Right back closing stages IMO. Give them something to think about coming forward. Our runners at that point in Welbeck and Alexis were getting a bit long in the leg. Wenger should have been a little more bold.
As was evident pre-season when many were crying out for an imposing DM, we really need Cback options. If Chambers has to cover at RB and gets a knock himself, there will be no options to over the main pair in the middle. BUT most of all, our defending from set pieces has seem to fallen to pieces recently. tellingly, all goals let in pre-season were from set pieces. Also not entirely sure why we start panicking with 7 minutes to go. That does not show resilience rather a flaw. Perhaps Arteta needed to be brought in earlier to shore… Read more »
We’ve stopped putting people on the posts for corners. Flamini drifted back to the goalline once the corner was taken, but wasn’t posted there. It was collective bad luck that as he was about to head the ball clear, sczchezny took it off his head and it went in.
But of course, it was collective poor defending that city had three players at least looking totally unmarked, one of whom directed the header towards goal.
Bould, if he had any hair, would have been bald anyway having torn it all out.
A lot of moaning here as usual. I thought it was an encouraging result and a decent performance. The midfield and attack show a lot of promise, our movement and threat up front is so much improved on last year. But no real excuses for the defensive lapses. Jack rightfully MOTM today, Ramsay for me was very poor compared to his usually standard. Ozil not good but all the doubters should take another little look at his contribution to the goals. He showed some of the attributes everyone slates him for not having… Like fighting for the ball and putting… Read more »
Welbeck, Alexis, Wilshere, Kos, Debuchy (HEAL) Yes! Substitutions, Ramsey and Ozil’s lack of sharpness at times, Flamini’s defending. Baffling. Easily could have been an MC win, but we showed moments of brilliance and quality, mixed with some very familiar instances of getting counter attacked, kicked to hell and another mysterious implementation of zonal defending on corners. (Is it just me, or does Szc look his absolute weakest just before a corner? It definitely doesn’t look strong.) Alexis is again a total beast, Welbeck and Kos hustled, and Wilshere…just watch that move on Clichy and the header for the assist again.… Read more »
I thought Flamini was decent today to be honest. He was at part culpable for the first goal but it wasn’t entirely his fault either. The second was a collective and systemic issue. but it was a set piece and not from open play so again, can’t entirely blame Flamini. Arteta should have come in earlier to shore us up IMO. Considering Flamini is second fiddle, he did well enough. There was no way Wenger would replace Flamini from market having just signed him. So this is a moot point. We can all fantasize signing fantasy players that can improve… Read more »
Disagree. A DM’should if at all possible clear / stall an open threat before the counter attack gets started. Today, in addition to flubbing that with a trademark sliding move that left him off his feet, Flams recovered and was potentially the man between the cross and the striker in the box, but seemed to just watch it unfold for Aguero’s goal, and not for the first time this season. While we may disagree on Flam, I agree that substitutions were baffling. Would like to have seen them sooner. We have the depth to go up 2-1, change the shape… Read more »
Remember that Debuchy’s injury changed the substitutions. But honestly, I feel we have a tactical problem, not a personnel one at this point.
It is scary and disconcerting how quickly from an attacking position we look completely open to the counter. This, and set piece brain farts, are a problem.
Set piece is as good as a penalty against us!!
Also….How shit was Ozil today? Fuck sake….David Silva makes Ozil look like Vinnie Jones.
Better performance.
Somewhat disappointing result.
José Mourinho has clearly done some kind of soul exchange deal with the injury gods, the prick.
I fffffrucking love Jack Wilshere.
Ozil wasn’t bad, dunno why people are having such a go at him. He played well enough. Not a particulary good game but not a bad one either. We scored two great goals and let in two poor ones. That’s really the story of the match. Our set piece defending has been utter shit this season, which is odd because the zonal marking actually worked really well last season. Defensive set piece work has to be the training priority. We can’t go on conceding a cheap set piece goal every game. We won’t even get in the top 4 that… Read more »
This is the problem though. Bar a few performances at the beginning of last season, Ozil has remained steadfastly in the ‘not particularly good but not bad’ bracket. I can put up with the total lack of hustle from the guy as long as he is completely faultless with the ball, but at the moment he just seems to be consistently dallying and making poor decisions, often leaving us completely exposed to the counter attack. I think benching him for a game or two might do him some good. I honestly think Rosicky deserves a shout ahead of him on… Read more »
If you play your trequartista as a winger he’s not gonna do well defensively. I would definitely rather have rosicky as a wide midfielder than ozil. But I’d also rather have Ox.
If Wenger doesn’t want to play Ozil in the No. 10 position he shouldn’t play him. At least not from the start, and not in big matches against teams with attacking fullbacks.
I dunno what is going on in Wenger’s mind honestly because it doesn’t make sense what he’s doing with Ozil this season.
This.
If only the Welbeck and Ramsey chances had been converted! Although very lucky being saved by the post at the end.
I will put Ozil on d bench against Chelsea if I were Arsene Wenger..he’s just too slow and weak in my opinion
great game. on both sides. we were lucky with the draw. city could have nicked it in injury time.the great news is that jack is on his way back.
the bad news …well the injury to debuchy. are we cursed or what?
please arsene we love mesut but you have to kick his ass and show him the bench, poldi would show him how to keep warm.everybody is running out of arguments to defend him.
fernandinho is a cunt!
If he’s going to play 4 1 4 1 he needs to put one of Ozil/Wilshere/Ramsey on the bench. Playing Ozil as a wide midfielder is a waste of his potential.
I still don’t erally know why we’re playing a 4-1-4-1 though instead of the 4-2-3-1 we know a lot better and play better in.
Looking at the squad, rotation seems a must—both for freshness, and for the kick up the ass that a benching is. A self respecting footballer gets angry when benched, and we have a good squad, so putting someone on the bench for a bad performance makes sense and is totally defensible. Unless the coach is thinking price tags and pet projects. Right now, Ramsey and Ozil need to be coming off the bench. Let me put it more positively, right now Oxlade Chamberlain needs to be given a chance to show why he should not be starting. If he does… Read more »
Ozil’s poor form might not have been so obvious, except that Alexis was playing the exact same position and doing it so much better! No excuse for not fighting for the ball and tracking back to help.
Puzzled as to why everyone is so miserable?
Toe-to-toe with the champions and two sensational goals.
It’s the “what could have been” phase right after a match. Man City fans probably feel they were robbed also.
For how long are we gon give excuses like yea ozil wasn’t particular shit and shitty excuses like dat, it getting tiring,watching silva and fabregas now u realise how bad bad he is playing, his confidence is as low as it could and i dont understand why, he really needs to stepup and stop sulking, he should start fighting and stop being so sisi, he should start justifying thing……
You should start using punctum in your sentences. Another idea is to write english in such a way that it is understandable to others aswell as yourself. As for Özil, why rip on someone after just a handful of games? Are you suggesting that AW should bench him so that he ‘understands’ the importance of his role? Granted, he gave away a few too easy passes (note: a couple), but so did others. It’s just more visible and frustrating when Özil does it due to his price tag. Had he, however, thrown away a clear cut chance like Sanchez did… Read more »
I am gutted for him he played really well today and I have to say Jack was like a man possessed. I am also gutted for Danny not getting the 1st chance in but I think he is going to do well for us. Ozil should have come off he went missing for a lot of the game.
However it looks awesome if the team can click for 90mins like they did today 🙂
It was a big relief that we didn’t get spanked and came out with our pride intact. Frankly we haven’t got our game going yet. Our attacking elements haven’t gelled at all. Hope it will in the next few weeks with big games coming on. Also, there seems to be some curse affecting Arsenal. Every game we play there is a long time injury. God only knows what is going on. Today we played with 9.5 people. Ozil and Flamini went missing completely. I can’t describe either. They seemed to me like still in bed. Ramsey looks half the guy… Read more »
Hmmmm…… Time to recall carl from loan?
Wenger drained all confidence out of poor Arshavin. I can see the same eventually happening to Ozil. When you have a playmaker of his quality, you set up your team to accommodate him, not play him out of position. Wenger’s pride stops him from benching his record signing, but something has to change. Cesc must be laughing at what’s going on.