Following skipper Mikel Arteta’s remarks last week, Per Mertesacker is the latest to bemoan the impact of Arsenal’s injury crisis.
A shortage of defenders has been an issue all season, and now the Gunners have been without most of their first choice midfielders during the most physically draining period of the season.
Laurent Koscielny’s return to first team action after weeks out saw him suffer a nightmare day at Southampton after a good display at West Ham, but the German believes the fact that Koscielny is having to play so soon after a long period out is far from ideal.
“It’s not that easy,” Mertesacker said. “One [player] came back from a long-term injury and then he is just fit for two or three days, and then he has to play.
“For example Laurent, he has to play. He cannot train for two or three weeks because we have no players left. It’s always tough at the moment. Players come back but they have to play immediately.
“There is no time or room for building automatic understanding or the kind of things you need to prepare for. We have a big squad but obviously we need fit players. We could do with a small break but we haven’t got a small break, so we need to prepare ourselves again for Sunday.”
Asked if the constant changes in defence had been a problem, Mertesacker admitted, “We have suffered. We have been through that all season.
“At one point, you want to be consistent in your lineup, especially the back four. We have to find that. It’s difficult for us at the moment but what keeps us going is our spirit.”
The effects of the injuries aren’t just that players are missing, it’s that players are being asked to play to the point where fatigue has an impact on their own form, Mertesacker being a case in point.
We’re tired of saying it, and no doubt you’re tired of hearing it, but until we get players fit and keep them the fit the struggle will continue.
Spend some fucking money already.
Who would have thought that having only 6 defenders would result in such problems?
Oh yeah, only the whole wide world apart from Wenger. Can’t you see your stubbornness and arrogance is tarnishing your legacy?
Funny thing is though all our defenders are now fit!!?? Kos has to play because we don’t have any other cb’s, not that any are currently injured! This is a hint from Mert to Wenger in my opinion.
Of course it is a relevant issue, we have too many injuires for sure – but seriously, since 2007 we constantly brought up injuries as an excuse. There has not been a season when we did not lose key players to long term injuries. When we had a close to full squad this season what did we do? Run the starting eleven into ground while forgetting about Rosicky, Podolski and co… Last season we played Özil against a lower league team in the Cup in his first season in England. Wenger is out of his depth when it comes to… Read more »
We also used very young squad as an excuse for years until it becomes as untrue as saying the earth is flat.
We have ten midfielders at least yet only 5 recognised defenders. Never mind buying one defender we should buy two or three
Has nobody told these players that language constructs reality? Maybe if they tried altering their discursive practices (for instance, saying, “I’m okay, you’re okay” all day long), they would realize that their injuries were but the fabrications of an oppressive regime. The hegemony of reality must be stopped.
Injuries.., spirit…, consistancy…, Wenger…, blah blah blah
Ground Hog Day – Colney edition. Ths is getting fucking tedious.
Beyond tedious, it’s ridiculous. I was awake for hours last night thinking about this shit, and I’ll still cough up to go see another ten games this season. It’s like having a fucking condition. I imagine this is a bit what it feels like being a QPR fan
Yep,injuries caused our sub standard keeper to have two bran farts.Injuries caused Koscielny to play as badly as Cygan or Squillaci ever did,and to stand hands on knees watching saints nearly score instead of breaking his balls trying to sort his own fuck up out.Injuries caused Mertesacker to have snail-like reactions for the first goal.Etc etc.Same shit,different year.
Okay, okay. There are a few things I just need to say. I’ve supported Arsene Wenger through the thickest of shit. I still remember the feeling of sickness when we went 2 goals down in the final and the way we were humiliated against Liverpool and Chelsea. However I stuck by Wenger because I had faith in him. I still have faith in him, but he made some terrible decisions. Whether you agree or not, not signing Cesc Fabregas has been a mistake. Of course he wouldn’t solved the defensive crisis, but the truth is that he would have made… Read more »
Dunno who debuchy and chambers are. We have the same number as last season… Sagna and verm out for the two former. Can everyone stop losing their heads and get the facts right. On another note, just please give us a beast at DM. I genuinely thought when frimpong broke through before his knee injury he could have been the answer. Why the bejesus can we not find a decent destructive player who can pass the ball and likes a scrap. We are in England, it can’t be that sodding hard.
No prizes for noticing that the 2 runaway clubs have a dearth of options in this area…
Not dearth I meant excess. It’s getting late… You get the point…
Dearth Wenger…Dark Lord of the Defense 😉
Debuchy was a direct replacement for Sagna. Chambers a youngster with potential that no one yet saw playing the role he inevitably has had to.
Wenger did not replace Vermaelan when he himself said he absolutely needed to. Further, we went through the previous campagn knowing full well we were short already (Vermaelan crocked and still no cover), just praying Mert or Kos were not injured. The lack of defenders did not spring about because we suffered injuries this season – it just highlighted the starkly obvious.
We also loaned out jenkinson and promoted bellerin who has less experience and is not yet as good.
If we had kept the verminator he’d still be crocked.
If my aunty had bollocks she would be my uncle
Incredible
I agree with most of what you’re saying. But we should not forget we signed Chambers and Debuchy. I think Kos and Debuchy being out installed a lack of confidence more than not playing with Ozil and Ramsey.
I agree that Wenger saying he had nowhere to play Fabregas was a stupid thing to say when he just a week earlier said that he was open to upgrade any area of the team. And Fabregas would undoubtedly have been an upgrade on anyone in our midfield perhaps with the exception of Ozil if you compare the top level of the two. So the decision to not bring him back when he was offered up on a silver platter was a curious one and directly conflicted with Wenger`s own words. I love our players, But i love Arsenal more,… Read more »
Ozil did nothing. Arsenal have not missed him one jot.
Maybe you should do a quick check of points per game won with and without Ozil before spewing shyte.
i really dislike all this chat per is giving when he has been one of the biggest underperformers of the year. never really admits ‘yeah, ive been terrible and i really need to improve’ but goes for the collective ‘injury problems and we need consistency’
Exactly!
Enough of the lessons to be learnt already
hopefully his last season as a starter
Did he not already say that earlier in the season?
http://news.arseblog.com/2014/10/bfg-theres-something-missing-from-my-game/
Not sure we can expect him to keep saying he’s not playing well…may as well just give up and not bother turning up at all.
Effect of injury affected by lack of a Cback.
That is the main problem.
It saddens me to see prince Poldi in Milan what a sad day for me, Poldi when playing his first season for us he was scoring and putting in crosses for Giroud and some fans say “Oh he doesn’t work hard” ok we have Webz and Ox who run all day but no end product I am not saying they are bad players but we still lose games no matter how much running they do, at the end of the day goals matters and if Poldi had same start as ‘dat guy’ he would’ve scored more..Thanks for the memories Poldi… Read more »
Talk on the pitch, please.
Wenger is clearly the cause of the inJury woes of arsenal. It is easy to predict those likely to be on the injury list next seeason-the overused players. I feel for Sanchez, Carzoria and Ox. Wenger should review his squad management style. The players are stronger when they leave Arsenal. Wenger should ask himself questions. Chamberline should not be playing every match at his age.
Comment: To Ody, many variables can account for injury. If injury were solely to be a function of overusage, it will mean that Diaby is the ‘most overused’ player on earth, while Giroud was the ‘most underused’ player last season.
And how comical to watch that slow right leg swing out and yes miss.
A boat turns quicker than this guy
In defence of pers form. He had no preason and has played almost every game which means he is struggling physically. It is compounded by him having had 4different partners at centerback and sometimes having to change sides depending on played alongside him. At southampton neither cb looked anything like fully fit. The midfield and forward line was decimated by injuries and a suspension. Both dm’s out (arteta,flamini), both box to box mid’s out (ramsey,wilshere). First choice attacking midfielder out (özil). First 3 centre forward’s out ((giroud,wellbeck,sanogo). The left winger had to play up front (sanchez). The right winger is… Read more »
they need to make like the house of pain and put on their shit kickers and kick some shit.
when you remove the distractions, the game remains. it is a game after all. enjoy it and express yourself, as a player and a supporter. if you do that, you don’t need apologize and such apologies should fall upon deaf ears.
And fuck John Terry.
Mertesacker keeps talking, he should really just focus on playing because he is not in a position to speak with his performances this year. We can blame injuries all we want and they’re playing a big part don’t get me wrong, but even if we had all our players fit we’d still be behind Chelsea and City. We need better players in key positions like a top keeper, top CB with Koscielny, two dominant central midfielders who don’t get injured all the time and a top striker who can win us games. We have too many overpaid players who are… Read more »
Hank Scorpio bemoans the constant bemoaning coming from squad and manager
Can we have a world class keeper too as well as a centre back and defensive midfielder please
Chezzer looks mad at times with his decision making. But we were very weak in the middle. The result was a fair one. S’ton played with purpose and won. No cribs. The day however was made by Spuds hammering the Chavs. Invincible my foot. There is a reason why only one team has been able to achieve that feat in over a century. For all the gloating and arrogance of Maureen, he has to accept that his team has been very very lucky with injuries. Till date, he has been able to pick his best choice 11 for almost every… Read more »
Spurs beating a manager we were never ever able to beat saddens me.
we aren’t that short at the back in my opinion, however long term injuries to debuchy and Kos made us struggle. bellerin impressed me greatly against Newcastle and I think we can now consider him a decent back up for RB. So we have at RB- debuchy and bellerin at CB- Kos, chambers and mert. At LB- Gibbs, Monreal. 1 more quality centre back should be enough in my opinion.
a defensive midfielder for me is more important as flamini and arteta shouldn’t be first choice any more
When Wenger retires I’d like to see Benitez in charge. Tighten us up at the back, right age and experience. Wins stuff as well
It really saddens me to read these comments from Per and even knowing how frustrated we are at the situation, and how tetchy people are right now, I’m surprised at the reaction to them. Here’s a guy who was an arsenal fan at 14 (or whatever it was when he took a picture of himself in a gunners shirt in his back garden), who seems to get what the club means to fans, who walked away from international football after winning the world cup because he probably recognised the toll all the games and travelling was taking and wanting to… Read more »
Would be nice if Mertesacker admitted his own form was not good enough. He is a world cup winner after all. The whole club is an excuse-making machine from top to bottom.