Most of the newspapers & media outlets, obviously with some kind of briefing from the Arsenal press office, are reporting that Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are set to miss the Gunners next three games.
The Ox picked up a hamstring after 4 minutes of last night’s 3-0 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday, while the man who came on to replace him limped off just 11 minutes later after suffering a calf strain.
It means that both of them will miss this weekend’s trip to Swansea, the Champions League clash with Bayern Munich, and the North London derby – which really is not ideal.
After a relatively decent period without too many injury problems, Arsenal have lost two important players in one game, following the ankle injury sustained by Mikel Arteta last week, and Aaron Ramsey’s hamstring strain which will keep him out until after the next Interlull.
Quite who will play on the right hand side remains to be seen. Kieran Gibbs could play in an advanced position on the left with Alexis switching sides, or Arsene Wenger may use Joel Campbell despite the Costa Rican’s struggles at Hillsborough.
Either way, it gives the manager some serious thinking to do ahead of some very tricky games, and let’s hope some training ground magic gets them back sooner than expected.
Stiff upper lip and all that
The old Arsenal injury crisis, it is so predictable you can almost set your watch to it. So thats 9 first team players out, and after last nights showing, if anything happens to Bellerin or Nacho too, we are fucking fucked. Debuchy and Gibbs are having absolute stinkers at the moment. Centre midfield is a real concern too, if Le Coq gets done or Santi, we are in real trouble. Flamini isn’t really a genuine answer, I know he banged in a couple away at Shitehart – but he went missing last night against an even shitter team then Sp*rs.… Read more »
Thierry is still around, he could do a job for us.
Can we get Jeff to do a job?
Recall Gnabry… Pulis doesn’t want him anyay
^this
Yep, when he said he wasnt ready for first team football i can only imagine that Pulis meant that Gnabry was ready to snap someone or couldnt take a long throw-in.
I think Zelalem could equip himself quite well for a couple of games too. Not ideal I know but needs must and all that.
*wasn’t
Not a bad idea. Apparently Pulis, much like Mourinho, does not know what to do with skillful players. He’d rather have them mechanical – chasing balls and players all over the pitch, sliding needlessly into tackles and generally, just being a nuisance.
Bring our Gnabry back!
This is so true! A few years ago, Pubis got freakin Eidur Gudjohnsen on loan to Stoke from Monaco and didn’t use him. Undoubdetly the most talented player to have ever played for Stoke, but still only played a handful of games ‘cus of Pubis
I read that league rules say that we can’t recall Gnabry.
I guess the success of Coquelin has forced the change of rules.
Should have been clearer, we can’t recall him right now. We’d have to wait until January. I think it’s because he’s playing for a prem team.
Well.. Shit
Not ideal not fucking ideal. Who will play RW is really anyones guess. I wouldn’t rule out Swoon Pires one last time.
Also.
S.Wednesday to face Stoke at the Brittania, glad they stopped us from visiting that shithole atlleast twice this season.
Arsene said the scans will take place 48 hours after the injuries occurred, which hasn’t passed yet. So all the reports so far are basically just guesswork.
A calf and a hamstring are pretty straightforward to guess in fairness.
If they were pulls and not just tight…
please lord! give me straws!
I’m just hoping for that “the injury to Theo Walcott is not as bad as originally thot” press release.
hopefully with better spelling
At the same time in another part of town it’s confirmed that while Costa’s injury wasn’t serious his head has swollen to such proportions it might be life threatening.
“Paging Dr Shad. Paging Dr Shad. Could you please report to the physio room immediately”
Hiiii everybody!!!!!
Oh shitting wank
To me, the most obvious (though far from ideal) solution is move Ozil out onto the right and then bring in The Flam in midfield. Or I guess move Cazorla out wide and keep Ozil central, though I’m not sure Cazorla has the legs for a wide role any more.
Final suggestion, maybe we could inject Walcott, Chamberlain etc with some of Alexis’ blood. See what happens.
What happens if you put matter and anti-matter together?
Chamberlain would be all right though 😉
I would hate to move Ozil out wide with the form he is in. But if so, the best option would be to move cazorla to ozil’s place, move pzil to the left, Alexis to the right and leave coquelin and flamini at the back. This would mean everyone except coquelin changing positions though 🙁
Glamini on the right,
Scissors and volleys all night!
But my real prediction is Campbell on the right, at least for one of the matches, and we might see an Iwobi appearance. But guessing a Flamin’ Coq, with Santi / Ozil as wing/#10 as required for Bayern. with them you can just say ‘you two play wing/#10, ok?’
I really wish Debuchy and/or Chambers were making a better statement of intent. Then we could just push Hector up and be set.
Were that to happen, Walcott would buy 2 dogs. A german shepherd and a pooch, move to South America and live in a condo by the beach.
Bollocks
We can beat Swansea and Sp*rs even with 10 men on the pitch; whoever gets picked at right-wing will do a good enough job for these two. My problem is with the selection at Munich, because I wouldn’t want to stray too far from the set-up we had last time around. I think the most appealing solution would be to introduce Debuchy and push Bellerin further afield. Admittingly, it’s not ideal – I wouldn’t fancy moving Bellerin from a position he has just been in the process of making his own. The other bummer is that the absence of Theo… Read more »
Seriously? It’s not like we have a great record vs Swansea
I would say put Bellerin on the right, but that would mean Debuchy will play. That would be terrible.
If Debuchy wasnt having such a nightmare then we could have played Bellerin at right wing.
If not I’d probably go for Flamini Coq in the centre and move Santi out wide
The thought of Debuchy vs Montero makes my seat a little damp. In the bad way.
I was thinking about Bellerin as well. Gabriel can play either full back positions.
I feel really bad for the Ox. I imagine he was focusing on this run of games to cement himself in the manager’s mind as a starting option.
Wishing him a speedy recovery…and many more speedy runs at full backs to come!
If Debuchy wasn’t so fecking useless at the moment I would say play him with Bellerin in the forward role on the right side
Just seen Pete’s comment – now I feel somewhat vindicated but also a bit silly
just seen both. likewise.
It is going to be Cazorla wide, Flamini or Arteta in midfield.
Far from ideal, but as underwhelming as Joel Campbell has looked, realistically that’s only one change from the starting 11 against Everton and Giroud was man of the match in that game. Worth also considering Campbell has played in two weakened sides and without a functioning human playing fullback on his side of the pitch. I think the most sensible thing is to disrupt what works as little as possible. Moving Sanchez to the right and Gibbs up or Santi out wide and flamini in with Coq disrupts working partnerships and a formula that has worked well for us so… Read more »
You make a lot of sense and I agree, for what it’s worth
Saw what you did there. Blogs will hate you for it but the Genesis reference made me smile.
Totally agree with this. I’d also rather we were defensively sound (by having Bellerin at right back, and Campbell actually looked quite good defensively the other night too) than having more attacking threat by pushing Bellerin forward and having Debuchy at RB.
I fear that – as suggested by Anonymous Kumquat above – Ozil will move right and Santi forward, with Flamini going central. I hope I’m wrong.
Absolutely, it would be madness to change functioning parts of the team to fill in for what has been this an unproductive part of the side this season. Considering that Ramsey and Chamberlain have produced just 1 goal and zero assists this season from the right attacking position, i can’t see how Campbell can be any worse, he might actually be better if give a run of games. I would personally be disappointed not to see Campbell given a few games to show what he can do, especially considering that Wenger has given Sanogo 20 odd games and must be… Read more »
Naah….hardly change anything from Everton. Cech in goal..Bellerin Mertesacker Koscielny Monreal
Coq Santi
Campbell Ozil Alexis
Giroud
One player in ,one player out……consistency.
Exactly, Campbell has his faults but at least you know he’ll put the effort in, track back and make some useful tackles. Slight change in tactics on the right side but not too big of an impact on the overall set up of the team.
There is NO WAY Joel Campbell can be worse than the Ox. End of.
100% right. You could even ask Campbell to play like Ramsey plays, cutting inside heaps and giving room for Bellerin to overlap and cross the ball. This would mean that Campbell wouldn’t have to cross the ball and could just play 5 yard passes to Bellerin all game, which shouldn’t be too difficult.
If only there was some way we could have protected ourselves from this sort of thing, some action we might have taken, say, over the summer…
you mean like fitting the entire squad with hydraulics instead of hamstrings?
Sounds like a good use for spending the Summer War Chest…
Time to show the stuff we are made of. Rising from adversity is the stuff of champions; if we have it, this is the time to show it.
I like the idea of bringing on Campbell, but I’m curious as to the kind damage Bellerin would cause further up the field, especially on current form.
Yeah, I think only Campbell or flam is the only one coming in. I can’t see anyone else starting.
Give Pires a set of kit and we’re good to go.
Tbh, I think starting Campbell would have the least impact on our play. Bringing flamster in and shifting Santi outwide would change our transition play and tempo too much. In anycase if we’re really going to be champions we got to tide over period like this. COYG
We should hopefully still have enough to beat Swansea and Spurs with the team we put out (even if Campbell plays). The issue will be if we aren’t winning those games by the 70th-75th minute, then we’ll have no one on the bench who can change the game. Also, for Bayern away, Campbell will likely be dropped in favour of Flamini or possibly Gabriel or Chambers, as I expect us to sit back and be defensive for most of that game.
gnabry is this year’s Coquelin!
This is really gutting that we have no one left to play on the right. But despite this crisis I’d rather not see Joel play on the Right. It is better that we play Flamini as CDM, advance Cazorla to an attacking role and keep Ozil on the wing. Since our front 3 behind Giroud interchange anyway, starting position won’t matter and Flamini will be on hand to smash home a hattrick.
Or maybe try Iwobi? That’s a thought as well.
I’d play Gabriel at right back and Bellerin in front. Done.
We could also play Chambers as RB and let Bellerin play on the wing
Exactly what I was thinking
Chambers got fucked last time against montero. No thanks. Maybe in another game. but we need our defense at their A game. At least we’ll get a draw. And you know now a days the team to go in front first wins. Especially considering the pace of montero, we don’t want counterattacks from him with us one goal down.
Ramsey was never a speedster but he played well; why not play Flamini too on the right instead of disrupting an already balanced midfield.
Very impressed with Campbell’s back tracking, tackling and ball retrieving against Wednesday although his crossing was crap. We know whom should we look at if Coq gets injured!
Brilliant. Campbell as DM and Flamini on the right wing. As Blackadder would have said; “In the confusion we claim a draw”.
Think we should recall Gnabry.
Should maybe we can play The Jeff on the right
Can’t do that until January, I believe. Wish we could.
Recall Eboue ffs, he’s been on loan for faaar too long!
Who is our backup striker now? Please don’t say Alexis, coz we haven’t got anyone else on the left wing.
I just hope we scrape through against the Swans. They beat us in both the matches last year. Right wing would have solved itself if Debuchy and Campbell hadn’t played like shit on Tuesday night. I hope the gaffer bumps up Chambers in RB and puts Bellerin up front. We will need defensive solidity against Montero.
I miss Rosiscky the most of our injured players. Welbeck would have been useful too after injuries to all of our right wing options.
Hector is so good he could play RM. Chambers can play RB.
Agree, best thing is to prob stick Campbell right wing. At least we saw that he tracks back and can tackle. Hopefully it was just ‘one of those games’ and he can show his attacking intent as well. He needs these games if he is going to stay at Arsenal
Chambers and Deboucchy are not working at RB. Bellerin is the only option.
Campbell worked hard vs. Wednesday and would be a better option to replace Ramsey/Ox than shuffling the centre, which would introduce the mediocre Flamini, push Santi into exhaustion on the wing and ruin the great Ozil, Santi, Coq setup.
We will be sound.. Just beat Swansea, hope we come bottom in the champions league. To many competitions for our thin squad this year. Let’s focus on the league and keeping players fresh.
Bit late to this party, but as most people have said, he’ll just put Campbell in I think. Keeps our shape well enough, and with everyone else in our first 11 in good form, having to carry someone who isn’t (Campbell) isn’t disastrous. Most teams play with a few players out of nick anyway. I’m not really a big fan, but Campbell may just need a few games to get going properly. He’s not normally as bad as he was on Tuesday and maybe with better players around him he’ll step up. Receiving shit passes from a Flamster playing the… Read more »
Bielik looked decent.
Cech
Bell Mert Kos Mon
LeCoq Bielik
Ozil Caz Sanchez
Giroud
Such a shame we were the only club in top 5 leagues in Europe who didn’t buy an outfield player. Campbell is getting so much stick for last two days. He was poor and does not look good enough for Arsenal but at least he put some effort in. Flamini should never start a big game in central midfield or anywhere else for that matter. And Chambers seems to have got off very lightly, just saying, he is pants. Praying no more injuries otherwise we are fucked.
Although that’s quite a harsh post I have to admit that it’s quite accurate. I was going to argue against the ‘not buying any outfield players’ thing, but if we’d bought a viable backup to Coq they could have both played, with Santi moving forward (not ideal but better than nothing). I wouldn’t be happy with Flamini playing next to Coq in the situation now. I still think Chambers has got talent, he just seems a bit of an air-head at the moment. If he can learn how to read the game better and get his positioning right (he hasn’t… Read more »
Every year we show great potential, every year we underperform in the transfer market, every year we get loads of injuries. There is a saying about repeating behaviour and expecting different results…
Given the nature of the 3 games, I sense Wegner will play Flamini right wing, with Bellerin at right back.
And yes I want Gnabry back
See? What that tells you? We are rubbish at league cup. We should stick to premier league, FA cup and Champions league TBH and leave this carling cup to the pros like our academy players. They have more experience in playing on crappy surface in front of minimal crowd because most of them have on loan in these place. Put the ox, theo alexis ozil etc in there an they will be disorientated because they have been beating bayern just a week ago. IMO unnecessary and worthless risk taken for a trophy no one cares about. When are Danny, Jack… Read more »
I don’t see Arsene moving Bellerin up and putting Debuchy at RB. The back line is stable and Arsene won’t tinker with that. Getting Gnabry back and then letting him go back on loan in Jan would be ideal but don’t know if we can get him back from Pubis. My guess is that Campbell or Flamini will play there. Not ideal, but probably going to happen. Hopefully Campbell can take his chance if Arsene decides to give it to him now.
You’ve got to go with Campbell, you can’t go changing 3-4 positions just due to one injury. He’s got good feet and works hard – so maybe playing with better players like Cazorla and Ozil going forward will bring the best out of him. Plus as someone said above he’ll have a fully functioning right back playing behind him in Bellerin. The sad thing is Flamini and Campbell are the names being flung around which if you believe the rumours were the guys Wenger was trying to sell this summer! So I don’t think the manager has total faith. I… Read more »
If only The Jeff wasn’t playing in the U-17 World Cup.
If France go all the way (the final is on 8th November) he’ll be pretty knackered when he comes back. (Four games in 11 days.) So maybe we should all get behind Costa Rica tonight – hope France go out and make him available for Sp*rs.
I rather have Campbell Play cause he never neglects his defences duties, plus with the likes of ozil, bellarin around he might actually do well offensively.
If Campbell doesn’t start any of the 3 games then you’ll have to question why he was kept around in the 1st place.
Gnabry back please. And let’s experiment with flam right wing (I know, I know, but we are were we are…)
I think Campbell will be a good option. People are probably hesitant but let’s remember when he was given a run of games by both Olympiakos and Costa Rica he did perform. He is still in the same situation coq was when he first came back. Not too many people have faith in him