Arsene Wenger says he’ll make a late decision on whether Theo Walcott will be involved in his squad for tomorrow’s game against Sunderland.
The England international hasn’t featured since limping off against Sheffield Wednesday with a calf problem in late October. Laurent Koscielny, injured last weekend, could also play a part tomorrow.
As was the case yesterday, the boss also underlined that he unable to give concrete information on the lay-offs for Alexis Sanchez and Santi Cazorla.
Wenger did play up the fact that his Chilean striker is usually a fast healer, but also suggested that media reports that Cazorla could be out until at least March were not far off the mark.
Unlucky for Cazorla, though he has played so much football for us since he arrived we have been pretty lucky with his injuries. It just a shame he suffers from the condition of being a human whose main weakness is its not indestructible.
So either he doesn’t know (which I think is unlikely) or he’s just not telling the media due to their inability to accurately report what he says in an attempt to throw it in his face later.
Hopefully it’s not too long before we see Alexis, it’d be nice to have a timeline though
He’s not saying as he knows he’ll get some stick tomorrow
Yes I’m sure he is up all night worrying about you giving him stick.
Tbh I doubt he gives a fuck what anyone thinks
He ain’t going to sack himself
Oh for Klopp. It could have been so so good
Or perhaps because it just might be a bit difficult to look at a scan and understand in exact terms just how fast one individual player will heal.
I’m actually amazed and usually disappointed when he gives too concise of answers about hamstrings, etc. because they frequently turn out to not be that precise and people are just waiting to skewer him if it’s any bit off.
Well at least theo almost back gives us more options up front
Is it possible to grab Isco? And Carvalho?
And Cavani…don’t push it
I suppose it is possible to grab them. But I would advise against it – depending on where you grabbed them you could be facing charges.
Dorothy, please take our squad with you to the Wiz of Oz, Santi needs a knee, Sanchez needs a leg, and completely replace Rosicky but leave his beautiful heart please
His reluctance to disclose the Cazorla term could be market related..?
“We have midfielders! dont they knooooooow”
I wonder if we might see the Ox given more opportunities in central midfield given the injury situation? We’re clearly lacking depth on both the wings and in the centre right now, but (as our injured wide players are due to return sooner than our central midfielders) I wouldn’t be surprised to see him move centrally on occasion.
I like the Ox and believe he has much to offer, though more on the wings than centrally. His propensity to give the ball away makes his presence in the middle somewhat frightening.
That and his tendency to fall asleep defensively is a huge risk in the middle, though from a deep lying position he could really do some damage driving forward with the ball.
I feel sorry for Wenger, we went from high to low so fast. It will be tough to get good players in January as the choices will be very limited. But I think Carvalho is one deal that could go through. And I think scouts would have to search very heard to find a promising CAM, I don’t see any good well known CAM joining us in Jan. Champions League game will be crucial.
what is CAM? I am guessing Central Attacking Midfielder. Don’t we have Ozil in there?
Can everyone stop waxing lyrical about Carvalho? You know his agent, and you know he has third party ownership and you know AW is not going to go with dodgy dealers.
I think they cleared up his 3rd party ownership last year, could be wrong.
On the Midfield situation, I looked up Diaby. Poor chap still hasnt featured as is set to be out until July.
So if we had stuck with him, it still wouldnt have helped.
Obviously Santi’s a great player but it gives Ramsey a great opportunity to cement his position in central midfield as a more naturally built premier league midfielder and not on the wing which doesn’t get the best out of him – also Chamberlain has a real opportunity to step up in the next few weeks in Sanchez’s absence he’s got some serious talent just needs a few things to go his way and to stay fit above anything else. Actually looking forward to the next few games to see a different look to the team and to see who’s gonna… Read more »
It’s clearly less than ideal to be in this scenario, but Ramsey, Flamini, Walcott and Chamberlain are good enough players to fill the void. Well, short term, in Flamini’s case.
Short term is a month my friend. Coquelin is out for 3. 3 months out of 9-10 months is considerable, decisive of end of season position etc etc. Flamini is not good enough for 3 months worth games. He’s decent enough as 3rd choice, not second.
Yet another season prematurely ends thanks to injuries
LOL. So you won’t be watching Arsenal’s remaining matches (it isn’t worth it) and be back on here. Cool.
It’s the beginning of December and we’re two points off the leaders. Relax!
I know Flamini isn’t the ideal replacement for our broken Coq, but he should be able to cope with the next couple of games, and I can’t help but like the guy, shows a genuine love for playing at Arsenal, and some added leadership on the pitch. I would get used to seeing him, because I can’t see any miracle happening in the transfer window. Hope to see Kos fit and ready to go, and Walcott back isn’t too bad, but I see him on the flanks until some midfielders recover.
Flamini is a red card waiting to happen. The only question is whether he can avoid one before we have a viable alternative available.
You’re right about the miracle part. It would be a miracle if Arsene signed a DM in January because he’s often been reluctant/stubborn. On previous occassions, I can understand Arsene’s reluctance to sign players as we had young talent out due to injury for the same position. We don’t have any other DM that’s young after Coquelin is out. Bielik is what, 17/18? and physically he’s clearly 2-3 years away from playing in the league. We have contracts expiring for Arteta, Flamini and Rosicky. Wilshere can at best play the santi role, he can’t do the “dirty work” given his… Read more »
Arsene not usually fond of January transfers, but I don’t think he has a choice this year. We just need the current squad to remain in touching distance of the top till Jan, then with a couple signings and returns from injuries we can kick on. To be honest this is a crisis we have every year, I just don’t get why we don’t add more depth. Yeah it’s difficult keeping all the players happy, but you can always loan them out and recall them as time goes on. Having a light squad just keeps us in a vicious circle,… Read more »
Our squad isn’t really light as such. Take 8/9 first team squad players out of any club and they would struggle. Man City for example struggle without Kompany, Silva and Aguero. When Aguero and Bony were injured they only had a Nigerian youngster to play up front. We have 2 of our central striker options injured plus 6 midfield options. That’s pretty difficult to deal with. And because we have injuries to players in the same positions we end up either overplaying a player or bringing back a player too soon which in turn risks injury. Wenger haters will blame… Read more »
Our squad isn’t light, sure but we either have perennially injured players like Rosicky and wilshere, or use players like Arteta for DM, which has clearly never worked after the first 5-6 games. These guys are making up numbers, but they can’t be counted on to be reliable backup to the starters either due to lack of quality in that position or due to fitness struggles. Nobody blames Arsene for all the injuries. People blame him for the lack of rotation at times (e.g. sanchez, koscielny a couple of seasons ago, giroud the same – although his injury was freakish,… Read more »
Why has no one asked him why was cazorla not taken off as soon as it became apparent he was playing on one leg? Staying on can only have worsened his injury
Maybe because Santi didn’t tell him it had gotten worse until after the game??? It sure wasn’t apparent by watching him play. Remember it was a contact injury so at the time it appeared to be a bruise not a strain or tear. Or maybe it’s more likely that AW is just a ruthless, ignorant tyrant who wants to play his squad until they drop. Yeh, that’s more likely.
In his own words he was playing on 1 leg
Why leave a player on who is clearly struggling?
Or did he only think he had a shit second half after he told him he was injured?
Is it me but not only is the cup kit ugly but it’s also cursed. First time worn, chamberlain and walcott injured in one gane. Second time worn, koscielny, cazorla and sanchez injured in one game.
it’s not cursed it’s just very very ugly
I don’t even believe in curses and I think it’s cursed. Three games, three losses, five serious injuries in that shit of a kit.
Whoever designed it should be killed, his blood sprinkled over the kit, and the kit burned at midnight under a new moon and the ashes sprinkled around the pitch at Emirates.
How about a change of our formation?
Would make us less predictble. Just look at Bayern München. They change all the time.
Like a back 3 with bfg, gabriel and kos. Per in the middle so he has a quick defener on each side and is nomore exposed to go out to the touchline. Push the full backs higher up the field. Flamini in the middle with ramsey and ox in front of him. Ozil with giroud and walcott/campell up front. Espescially against opposition that thend to defend deep
A 5-3-3 would be an interesting sight indeed, but I think the rules of the game require no more than 11 players on the pitch per team, one of whom is a goalkeeper.
playing 3 CB requires them all to be extremely versatile, not just one or two of them. I would love however to see a 4-3-3 but it is quite unlikely.
Maybe that is the perk of having young managers at the club. They are not afraid to shake things up and try new things. Though can not say all those experminets are working to good effect, look at Vilas-Boas failure at toottenham.
Isn’t Fat Sam playing 3 CBs at the moment…….. Not exactly a young manager.
It’s Wenger’s fault that we have signed so many injury-prone players. It’s a joke that Diaby and now Wilshere have been on the wage books so long when any one with even a modicum of sense can see that there has never been a realistic hope of their careers amounting to anything. Sell off the dead wood, and while we’re at it get rid of Arsene’s “British Player” vanity project. Wenger needs to stop giving pompous, self-aggrandizing philosophical interviews to magazines and start spending more time looking at the practicalities of success again, which requires a lot more ruthlessness than… Read more »
It’s more than being a miserable bollix all the time too.
Most Arsenal fans are happy with a short-term view coupled with blind optimism: as soon as Wenger starts winning matches he’ll be treated as God again. But look at the track record over the past ten years. We’re stuck in the same quagmire, the same set of results season-on-season and have no hope of getting out as Wenger refuses to change. Maybe some Arsenal fans are happy with that. I’m not, and I don’t apologise if I come across as ‘miserable’ because of it.
Maybe if you didn’t resort to such hyperbole you’re point of view might get a better reaction. You dismiss most Arsenal fans as being blind optimists, that’s clearly not the case. There are some who think Wenger is a God, the way there are some who think he’s the devil incarnate. I’d suggest, rather than declare outright, that most people have a much more nuanced view than that. As for being in a quagmire, if top four every season, winning two FA Cups in a rown and Champions League football is a quagmire, then it’s not a bad one. Or,… Read more »
Thanks blogs well said.
That’s true – and I’ve seen them. But the frustrating thing is that we could – and should – be doing better than we are doing right now. And had we had a better manager during the last seven years we probably would have won a least a couple of titles. That’s probably guys like Tobin are upset.
This season, the title is up for grabs get again but you just know that we’ll miss out once more – that’s really annoying. The points that Tobin made were, in my opinion, justified.
Most fans might be happy with a short term view, which obviously means you’re a fan with a long term one, so how can you complain given the foresight of Arsene and the board? They took the decision to move to the Emirates as they envisaged the landscape of football changing. The board knew the only sugar daddy owner that was available to us was Usmanov, they didn’t want that so it left us with our self sustaining model. Arsene took on the challenge and had to keep us in the top 4, and had to be a sell all… Read more »
Your problem is a lack of perspective. Most teams would be thrilled with our record, you ungrateful lump. Try asking a fan of every team in the football league if they’d trade our record for theirs over the past few years. We just won two cups in a row and here you are whining about quagmires. The funniest bit is “you know I’m right.” What I know is that across team sports only the English soccer media and fandom is so blinkered that an entire managerial career of finishing in the top 25 percent can be inveighed against with such… Read more »
What a nonsense post. The achievements of a team should of course always be based on their level of resources. We have a higher level of resources than most other teams, and therefore of course most other teams cannot expect to be doing as well as us. The real question is should we be doing better with the resources that we have? And given the amount of cash reserves we have, and the fact that year-after-year Wenger keeps making the same mistakes over and over again – including the refusal to fix glaring holes in the squad – the answer,… Read more »
If you’re going to break out the “resources should condition expectations for performance” argument then you have to factor in that our performance has tracked our wage bill almost exactly – we’ve performed as one would expect given our investment. If your complaint is that we should have spent more, well, I’d rather have a team that stewards it resources well than one which spends profligately. As for your complaint about ticket prices, big cities = expensive entertainment. Ask Knicks or Nets fans about their ticket prices and the standard of performance delivered. If you want cheap there’s plenty of… Read more »
1. If I am hyperbolic in a negative sense it is no worse than the fawning comments that most of the fans on here post on every article about Wenger or a player. 2. Just because we could hypothetically do worse is no reason to be satisfied with the status quo. Personally, I could not care less if we were relegation fodder twenty, thirty years ago. We pay the highest ticket prices in the country and with our resources could and should be doing much better than not winning a major trophy in over a decade. That is the reason… Read more »
I won’t argue with the point that people at both extremes need to reassess how they think.
And I never said you should be satisfied, my point was that if your criticisms were less hyperbolic, you might find people more willing to engage than simply thumbs down etc.
Wow Blogs, you’r
Yes, yes I am
lets hope someone other than Arsenal win the FA Cup this season, so that it can be classed a major trophy again.
I’m glad people are still optimistic, last week the responses were far too negative. Our squad had great depth to have Ramsey being a possible replacement for santi then Ox coming in for Sanchez isn’t bad is it? Theo coming back is great news I do wish we had someone stronger than flamini he can only do a job for so long i think we need some slightly better quality, love the guy but he’s the current weakest position on the pitc. With the injuries we have had to say that he’s the weakest player says a lot. We are… Read more »
Frankly considering the squad Leicester have and how successful they have been this season, EVEN with the amount of injuries on hand, we have NO EXCUSE NOT to do well against the likes of Sunderland and Villa. Ramsey-Flamini are our second choice pair but should be strong enough to hold the middle over the next couple of games at least which should be our immediate concern, build up a bit of confidence and a head of steam again, keep pace with City. Also this is a great opportunity for Ox and Campbell both of whom look like they can make… Read more »
The other thing with injuries, we tend to think we are cursed but it depends on perspective. I remember several seasons ago we had a torrid time with our strikers and wide players constantly getting knocked. BUT I also remember we were relatively untroubled at Cback and in Central midfield through the season. If you look at most other clubs, ther will also say they are having issues with injuries or squad depth. BUT Arsenal somehow gets caricatured in the media as a particularly injury prone club with emphasis on lack of summer transfer activity being the narrative for our… Read more »
Whoever comes in as the replacement to play, we shall give full support, because thats who we are.
Buying new players in January has become a necessity, but until then, lets give our best to the current players.
I’m hoping for Flamini second coming before he move back to Marseille next summer.
it certainly looks like Walcott will be in the match day squad v sunderland, as should Iwobi,
Reine-Adelaide is playing for the U18’s v WBA tonight, so he won’t be in squad tomorrow.
Jeff got injured in that game.
I think with ramsey in the middle and right winger like ox could be a breed of fresh change to our tactic, and much more directness and scoring more goals from midfield, I know santi is great and will be a huge loss but the last 3-4 games in the league we lacked directness and wingers running at opposing defenses as teams started to parked the buss in their own box letting santi to receive the ball way back to our half almost from our 16 m box. which slowed our game, and if ozil didn’t produce magic in those… Read more »