Thomas Vermaelen has deflected attention away from speculation about his future by underlining his hopes for regular playing time at the Emirates in the final months of the season.
The Arsenal captain, who has made only eight starts all season, played at left-back in Munich last night after a run out in the centre of defence against Everton at the weekend, on both occasions earning plaudits for his efforts.
“It is not easy, but I try to stay positive,” reflected the Belgian when asked about playing second fiddle to the regular centre-back partnership of Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny.
“Firstly, I have been injured in the last couple of weeks, but when the boss needs me, I try to play well. I know anything can happen, so I am happy to play when he needs me. From my point of view, I hope it is as much as it can be. I work hard for the team and that is the only thing that I can do.
“There has been a lot of speculation, but I can’t talk about it because I don’t know what is going on. My focus is at Arsenal at the moment. There is still a lot to play for – I can’t do anything about rumours.”
Vermaelen also touched on the Gunners status as favourites for the FA Cup stressing that there’s no room for over-confidence in the build-up to a semi-final against cup holders Wigan.
“We are still up there in the Premier League, we are in the semi-finals of the FA Cup, you can feel the desire in the team that there is still something to play for. We can’t deny that we are the favourites anymore because we are the highest Premier League team, but this is the FA Cup – there is something special about it.
“Wigan go to Man City and knock them out, we got knocked out last year by Blackburn Rovers, who play in the Championship, so we know what we have to do. We are the favourites and we have to act like that to get a good result.”
I really admire our captain’s professionalism.
Arsene should really get another young CD(20-22 YO) in the same vein as mertesacker, and who is willing to wait a few years for a regular first team berth. Verm and the New CD should atleast be given the whole of capital one cup, if not the first few rounds of FA cup too. This will keep them in decent form and Arsene can play him even when there is a small risk of injury to Mertscielny.
Vermaelen is not going to sit around playing back up for another season. If he doesn’t get a guarantee of action ( and with the form of mertscielny, that’s just not likely ) he will be off to another european top club. We need one if not two cb’s next summer for sure.
miguel?
made that robben twat look very average yesterday and reducing him to his cuntish divy ways, always played well when asked and no bullshit. love the verm, hope he continues the next season with us
All he needs is playing and he’ll get it….there’s still alot to play for lets just hope he always put up a good shift and it beats be as to why some punk would rate him low
Verminator is back. Hope he stays for a long time
Rosler allways set up his teams according to how the opposition likes to play. And he will know full well how Arsenal will want to play, because that is a constant that never changes. I saw him remark that teams that have a strict philosophy of how to play football are easier to break down, because they never surprise you, and you can practice all week at how best to hurt them. So i hope we have a plan B for this fixture, for there is every chance plan A wont work. But that Said, we do have by far… Read more »
Easy to know how we’re going to play, but not that easy to do anything about it. If we play our game well, we will win.
If we impose a high intensity game on them early, our technical superiority will tell.
If we turn up as if we have already won it, then it’ll be difficult.
Honestly the team has a great team spirit. A player of his class doesn’t moan. That is pure class. He had a rough season last year and PERKOS worked very very well. Hope he is getting a chance. We will need 3 super centre backs in the team. Hope he won’t leave us.
He’s certainly coped better with the limited playing time than some players have. Even for a defender of his calibre, it’s tough to force your way back into the equation after being unceremoniously dropped, as he was last year, and doubly so when you have to break through such a solid partnership as Kos and Per’s. To see the club captain willing to work hard and fight for his place speaks volumes about him, and it should serve as an example to the rest of the squad.
Play him as DM’er. He would give great protection, could go up the pitch quite bit as he usually does and means he will act get to play.
You know, I am kind of tired reading this kind of suggestion. Verm as DM. We should understand by now that Arsene does not like to deploy a pure DM, a destroyer. What he likes is a deep lying playmaker or a passing midfielder. That is why we seldom see Flamini played there. He played Arteta there, fabregas, rosicky, nasri, to ensure fluidity of play. So I would not bet Arsene will play Verm in that position anytime soon, not if he can help it.
What happened to jenkinson’s fingers?!?!?
He put his hand to close to Suarez’s cage
I only got this to say. Absolute superb.
Deep down i still believe Verm could force his way into the team and be a regular again, but the question is at who’s expense?!? Kos & Mert have proved to be formidable and if it aint broke why fix it, its a tough one and they way Verm has handled it is exceptional. In regards to the game vs Wigan, Like in most games the key is scoring the 1st goal. If we score 1st, Wigan will have no other choice but to go for it and then its game over cos we’ll rip em apart on the counter.… Read more »
I can completely understand the current situation and I do think that TV5 is a fantastic captain, but it just doesn’t seem right having a captain that is back-up to other players. I feel as though if he continues to be back up to Kos and Per next pre-season (which seems likely to me, and rightly so due to their performances), then I personally think that Mikel or Per should be officially made club captain.
@Rocky Rocastle, There are 2 schools of thought in football management. There are managers that have a playing philosophy and ethos. They find players that fit their philosophy and believe their philosophy will win out 8 out of 10 times. These managers are often more successful on the long term – Wenger, SAF, Klopp, and Guadiola come to mind. There are those who believe in a more tactical approach to the game. They find ways to attack other teams’ strengths and weaknesses. They get it wrong most of the time when they play against superior talent. The point is that… Read more »
Am I the only one though, that thought “faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack” after his mis-kick
TV5 signed a new contract for us at a time when things were really at a low – just after Cesc and Na$ri left (I think). For that move alone, he deserves respect.
Should his performances at LB continue like that, would that be something for him long term? TV is pretty fast and likes getting forward. He offers more physicality than our other LBs…
A good problem as they say.
I hope he’s not gone in the summer, especially to another English team.
I thought he did really well yesterday.
Although from a lot of the reports I’ve seen, you’d think dirty diving old man cunt made Verm look like santos!
It would be great to be able to keep him. he is a good example and a leader even if he doesn’t feature much in the first team. If his form picks up, he may be back in as we do need a bit of rotation in the CBack position. Don’t think he should displace either MOnreal or Gibbs at LB but great option to have considering Gibb’s injury prone. Come summer, it will be difficult to find new Cbacks. The likes of United and City and Chelsea will all be looking for someone to refresh this area (that’s not… Read more »
And I agree with Vermaelen.
Let’s not take Wigan lightly. They knocked out City. We have had our Blackburns and will have to play this game with the fiercest of intensities.
Does this mean we can go full riot against the spuds at the weekend?
One thing i know is that our captain loves to score against wigan,hope he will continue that habit at wembley!
Diving must be punished. Fed up with watching athletes rolling about in pain with the faintest of contacts. image stroking the hardest bloke in your local on the shoulder and be falls down as if a tank had fallen on his head and rolled about endlessly with tears in his eyes. it wont happen so why should it be okay in football. My suggestion would be a straight red if you are clearly cheating, overacting and trying to get someone else sent off. Lets make campaign to kick lying cheating over paid cunts from making this game cheap.
“image stroking the hardest bloke in your local…”
0.o
“…and he falls down as if a tank had fallen on his head and rolled about endlessly with tears in his eyes.”
0.0
I’ll take two handy 4-0’s in our last two games to the cup.
Need to focus on the league for now though, this team has showed they never give up & with players like Rosicky and Ox surely now to come to the fore we have that fight and will in abundance. I know a lot of us are thinking the league might be out of reach, but don’t give up yet. Two positive results against City & Chelsea and we are laughing
You got it Wengersnosehairs in one. Prick teasers.
Watching the City v Barca game. Obviously there is a bias against English teams.
Very wise Verminator, very wise words indeed. And you played very well last night.
Finally I think we should welcome Man City fans to the world of Arsenal. Out of the cup and the CL in 3 days. Welcome to our world.
That’s what I was thinking–City’s week has been rather of an Arsenal 2012-2013 vintage.
Their CB situation I do not envy.
hopefully we can take advantage of it.
Verm was impressive vs Bayern.
He’s obviously worked hard to get back to the level he needs to be at.
Really hope he sticks around.
Kos is amazing but does give away a lot of penalties, and TV5 offers more going forward.
Put him in CD in one or two games it wouldn’t hurt, but it will for the opposition IMO, we have to keep our key players
Vermaelen could play the fullback position long-term in a similar way to Ivanovich. Both are atypical fullbacks, being more powerful and strong in the air, yet they have great speed and can shoot…
I’m just not sure that’s better than what Monreal/Gibbs offer, and if it happened then one of them would have to go…
I gotta say that I love the fact that Koscielny has turned into a world class defender, but I’m really starting to get sick of the fact he’s consistent in giving away penalties and red cards in big games.
How about having mer-kos-verm in a back three, then have five midfield players and two strikers?
and then who would come in there if one of them got injured? Sagna from right back and stick on Jenkinson?
We could do that but it’s best if you don’t chance bollixing your best, and only three true centre backs at once. The cover situation then looks extremely thin.
Has the fa cup changed back to being a trophy once again. Was reading a piece yesterday about the fa cup not being a trophy. I reckon that if we win the league, it will lose its status as a trophy. Media cunts
Top of the injuries list again. Imagine where we’d be if we if we didn’t suffer so many each season. Actually the last 2 seasons have been ok on the injury front but this season has been awful 10 M Ozil Hamstring Injury 28th Apr 14 N Bendtner Knee Injury no return date Y Sanogo Ankle/Foot Injury 16th Mar 14 K Gibbs Ankle/Foot Injury 16th Mar 14 Late Fit Test J Wilshere Ankle/Foot Injury no return date N Monreal Ankle/Foot Injury 16th Mar 14 Late Fit Test K Kallstrom Back Injury 16th Mar 14 Late Fit Test T Walcott ACL… Read more »
Isn’t Ramsey back for Spurs as well? At least that’s what I’ve heard constantly for the last week.