Arsenal’s 2-0 win over Borussia Dortmund will have lifted the spirits as qualification for the knock-out stages of the Champions League was secured for the 15th consecutive season, but as always there’s a bit of a downside.
Mikel Arteta went down with another calf injury, with Arsene Wenger admitting it doesn’t look good for the skipper.
“We lost two players tonight. Arteta has a calf problem again, it looks quite serious and he could be out for a while.
“These injuries are very difficult to take.”
Yaya Sanogo, who got his first Arsenal goal after just 72 seconds, also limped off late in the game with a hamstring problem, but as he really only started because Giroud wasn’t available, it probably won’t ave the same impact as that of Arteta.
Still, it won’t take away from the fact he got off the mark in red and white, and considering the reaction to his selection pre-game it might have just silenced a few (for a few minutes).
Meanwhile, Jack Wilshere will see a specialist tomorrow to decide whether or not he requires surgery on his damaged ankle.
This hurts
It’s the basic pleasure / pain principle. You want Giroud back a month early? You lose Wilshere. You want to play well and beat comfortably beat Dortmund 2-0 at home? You lose Arteta.
God dammit.
What a goal sanogo, NEEDED that and hope it’s a sign for things to come! Sanchez -need I even mention?!
I can’t take any of this silver lining sh*t anymore. We now have more reasons to go for a DM. Not even a tall and strong rock, like everyone’s asking for. At this rate we just need a defensively aware and intelligent CM like Arteta (faster would help too).
How about Gundogan?
Chambers? He looks like he could play anywhere.
He could someday. In the short term the last we need is another player playing out of position trying to learn a new role.
We need a player like Arteta more than anything. Someone who can orcestrate the game and tbh the only player i can think of at the moment who has a chance of joining us is Cabaye. He will fit right into our system.
Cabaye could be a good option in that role. The kind of player who is capable of creating attacks but also willing to get stuck in. I don’t know how disciplined he is but I believe he played in the deeper role of a midfield triumvirate for France at the World Cup and though I wasn’t focusing on him in particular their midfield looked pretty good. However I would rather we got someone like one of those Benders who are willing to sit in front of the ball and recycle the ball rather than independently trying to instigate attacks.
Ugh. That’s bad news. Arteta is a key to our team. Hope it’s not serious.
I predicted before the game, Cazorla, Chamberlain, Alexis to have a good game, and Sanogo got on the scoresheet.
Good performance, Gibbs was outstanding, Ramsey improved. But im not going to get carried away. Carry this form into the next 4 or 5 games and i will get excited. Dortmund where already qualified and looked off the pace, especially in the first half. But well done to the boys for getting the job done. Cannot wait for saturday now, and really hope we gained some confidence from tonights game and kick on from here.
Arteta keeps getting these injuries, especially around the 60th minute, the poor bloke is knackered, basically played 150 odd games for arsenal in 3 years, I think unfortunately this might be him finished
The locker room inquest worked a treat. Just as it did after Liverpool a few years ago.
And as for the Arteta injury, we will miss him if he is out for long, but no matter what, we need a DM and CB in january. Or at least 1 of them if 2 aint available.
I just hope in the January window wegner doesnt end up buying a CAM and then saying it was that or no one…
I’m delighted with the win, just like any gooner should be, but I’m thoroughly devastated to have lost our skipper. Let’s hope it’s not too long.
#comeonshad
Bugger.
lol liverpool
#InShadWeTrust
Arteta has been fantastic for us.
No Gustavo, Wanyama, bender, Carvalho, Capoue, MVilla, Melo.
That said, DM will have to be looked at next summer. Wear and tear issues will only continue to plague Arteta.
Flamini is a decent back up but we need a more accomplished player in next summer. Also Chambers should be moved into DM as and when(IF) we get another Cback.
For now, I hope Arteta is french.
This is so Arsenal 2014-15, isn’t it? I guess the silver lining is we WON, better than losing 2 players *and* losing We’re going to miss Arteta- he’s a calming influence, and his passing is metronomic. Thankfully we’re well stocked in the forwards department. Welbeck and Giroud should be back for the weekend. We really really need to rest Sanchez now. We need him fresh for the Christmas fixtures. Great to see Santi getting back into form. Rambo had a decent game I thought. I have a feeling Wenger might give Nacho another game against West Brom. He had a… Read more »
The one good thing that may emerge from Arteta being out for a spell is that Wenger will be forced to buy a defensive midfielder in the January transfer window. He has already admitted he will add a centre back.So difficult to predict him though.
Once Debuchy comes back I can see Chambers being eased into that DM role.
Don’t think we’ll buy DM in January or next Summer… we already have him in Chambers.
Once Arteta AND Flamini both leave the club, that’s when we’ll finally be buying one.
Nothing good can emerge from it, because if he is out until January or after, he will be missed a lot. Wenger should buy a DM, yes. But i would rather have Arteta fit and able to play. And as for Wenger promising to buy a CB, he promised that when he said, “if we sell Vermaelen we will definetly replace him” and he didn’t, and it was a silly mistake. And has cost us dearly. So hopefully he has learnt from his mistakes, and sorts the squad out.
Arteta will probably return to training mid January so no need to buy – LANS.
Besides, I’ve heard that there is ‘no value’ in the January transfer window.
Something tells me Wenger was banking on Diaby being fit and being a contender for Arteta instead of buying a DM…
As somebody mentioned on another post, Chelsea bought Matic in January, and lets face it, he is good value. Players do become available, players will be attracted by Arsenal if Wenger comes calling, it is just wether or not Wenger will go searching for a DM. I think he will only go for a CB. And not someone that will replace Koscielny or Mertesacker, someone cheap and a decent CB. I would love for him to get a Quality DM and see what we could then do in the Champions league. He needs to address the problems in the squad… Read more »
I love Martinez kicking and distribution
The Flamster has to step up now.
Or maybe have Rambo DM and bring in Rosicky?
Sad one for Arteta…really loved his game today. Another silver lining is that a quick glance at the coming fixtures shows that we are more likely to control possession in those games so all we need is to attack intelligently and not leave us exposed at the back and we should be fine till january. The defending tonight was top notch and started from the front players. Teams less skillful will just be suffocated and forced into errors. The team should be ready to punish such errors unlike against United. As an aside, This team is better than what many… Read more »
the attitude of gibbs was just too good.. own goal led to the defeat against manutd.. made sure that he was nothing short of excellent in the next match.. didnt do a single thing wrong the whole match..
just putting it out there, maybe if we change managers, we will start buying tougher, physically built, injury-resilient players…
We generally occupy the third or fourth spot for a good chunk of each season because that’s right where we rank financially. changing manager would do fuck all other than risk destabilising us and sending us into a moyesian spiral. Unless we get a sudden billionaire backer any new manager is going to struggle to match Chelski and Citeh just like AW does.