When Francis Coquelin injured his knee in the 2-1 defeat to West Brom yesterday, the Arsenal collective held its breath, crossed its fingers, and hoped for the best.
Although it has yet to be officially confirmed, rumours abound this evening that he’s suffered damage to his medial collateral ligament and could be set for a lengthy absence.
If true, it will mean the midfielder would miss the crucial and hectic festive period, and with Mikel Arteta out also and increasingly injury prone, Jack Wilshere still on his way back from injury, and Aaron Ramsey just on the brink of a comeback following a hamstring strain, it leaves us pretty light in the engine room.
We’ll keep fingers crossed, but Coquelin is due to have a scan, and with Arsene Wenger set to meet the press ahead of the Dinamo Zagreb game we should get more info tomorrow.
Well, fuck.
“We don’t need to buy another midfielder – we’re overstocked with quality in that area” 90% of commenters on this site in September. It was always obvious there was too much flimflam on our bench in midfield – nobody expected Arteta or Flamini to step into Coq’s shoes, so we were always gambling on him staying fit. It was a ridiculous gamble to make. I hope Ramsey will be able to do a job for us and he’s looked best to me in the centre rather than out wide, but risking yet another great chance to win the league on… Read more »
This site is heavily conservative and reactionary both at the same time.We’re world-beaters until we’re shit then world-beaters again.
Ha ha ha… Who could have possibly seen our season falling apart because of injuries and the lack of depth?
“ha ha ha” lost you thumbs up.
How so? I thought ‘Groundhog Day’ was a comedy.
Because it looked like you found the whole thing funny.
Well until there’s technology that lets me upload my actual tears to a website, you cope your way and I’ll cope mine.
How ironic that a Yank saw the irony in the “ha ha ha”….It obviously flew right over your head.
Probably a laugh of despair
And you too by the looks of things.
Dare I try it? “Ha ha ha”?
Ha ha *sob* ha
*bursts into tears*
When Titus Andronicus saw the decapitated heads of his sons, he laughed. It’s the laugh of madness in the face of tragedy. I think we’re about to see our season take a nosedive.
We were all concerned with the DM situation it’s true. But in fairness, 10 first team players being out is a blow that an extra signing would merely begin to alleviate. Sure, we only had Flamini and Arteta as proper DM covers for Coq, but both Rambo and Jack could’ve covered there. Same situation with Campbell at the right wing position.
But in fairness to that, we almost perpetually have 4 or 6 or 9 first-teamers hurt. Or whatever the number is. I got so tired of checking the EPL injury table over at physioroom to help set my fantasy lineup and seeing Arsenal at the top of that table every fucking week that I stopped playing fantasy. Goes back to the not-so-subtle point of the original post. Since like 2009, every fucking season we suffer an ‘injury crisis’. One year is was in September. Once it was December. Another is was in February. Actually it was probably February like three… Read more »
Pretty much!
Squad rotation ……. mmm interesting concept
A yank is spot on. Ultimately it comes down to Wenger’s methods, desicions, training, actions etc. that are causing these continual injury crises year after year.
I share frustration with the injury situation, but for example, Coquelin was injured in a 50-50 on the pitch. He wasn’t overplayed, he had the Interlull off. That’s got nothing to do with methods, decisions, training etc
Yet it happens year after year, consistently more than other teams.
No he wasn’t overplayed, but there’s no player in the squad that can play that position to anywhere near the required standard and that is the managers fault.
You would’t start the season with only one goalkeeper so why do you start the season with only one defensive midfielder?
“Ha ha ha… Who could have possibly seen our season falling apart because of injuries and the lack of depth?”
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
That looked to me that you are laughing at our misfortune!
Forgive me for commenting…or not
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBZDtSpROlg
Lack of depth ain’t a fair point after having 11 midfield players injured we still have alexis ozil cazorla in the midfield so you can’t really blame lack of depth…injuries yes….but being a gooner you should been immune from that now.
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK THIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT
Oh god, please no. It all looked so innocuous too.
So often the case,
Innocuous ones are worst,
Fingers and toes crossed.
OH SWEET JESUS
The amount of depth required to withstand this injury crisis would look pretty freakin’ ridiculous when we’re healthy.
Thus begins the majestic Arsenal career of William The Wall Carvalho
I want Arsene to sign some players that fit the “respectful thug” description, you know the type? The players that injure others by shear aggressiveness and physical domination rather than malevolence and ill intentions. Carvalho would be a good start. If that’s not possible, ingrain that spirit with the youngsters. Give them martial arts courses, develop their primal mental toughness, along with the cerebral and technical sophistication our academy is so known for. I don’t know what the hell I’m typing right now tbh, feels like something North Bank would be rambling about in the Arses. I’m just tired of… Read more »
mmm…. Carvalho probably not the best example to use when making a point..
14 Jul 2015 17:35:38
The midfielder, who has been linked with a move to Arsenal, will miss the start of the season due to a fractured tibia picked up at the U21 European Championship
Sorry, but why is Arteta mentioned in this article? Respect him for old times, but unfortunately he is done…injured or not. This is said without any anger after his performance yesterday. Just ice cold assessment.
It’s really hard not to agree we should have bought…
But then again, at this rate we could’ve bought 3 players to be Coquelin’s back up and then 5 of them would probably get injured at same time, like our wingers problem at the moment! No guarantee whatsoever and that is so frustrating!! 🙁
Except there is no one in the squad who can come close to replicating Coquelin’s contribution to the team, whereas we have 5 or 6 players who can play on the wing. A purchase in the last transfer window of a decent back up or upgrade on Coquelin would have been the sensible thing to do, but that is not Arsene’s way of doing things. Hope it does not prove too costly.
Flamini is a very similar type to coquelin, just sadly not as good.
Now this just sucks
is it negligent to have to much resting on one young players shoulders?
to now think we turned down the chance of the likes schneiderlin and kondogbia as we have arteta and flamini! the sad thing is its only us who could do this
i do wish wenger had the balls of lvg at times, fuck with him, let him down, dont fulfill potential, too injured – your gone. no sentiment
You mean like he did with Podolski and Arshavin?
that took years
in equal measure, bendtner, denilson, diaby, stepanovs, senderos, almunia, fabianski i could go on
All of these players you mention we kind of had to play, – in the leaner years of Arsene’s reign, where we had to eat sausage. Caviar may come in January…
The less said about LVG’s balls the better…
Cause us fans got on his back for the way he treated them.
didnt help that both werent played in their best positions either
Senderos’ best position is on the bench. Or maybe in another career.
Schneiderlin would have gone to united regardless of what we did. Kondogbia wouldnt have come to sit on our bench.
Kondogbia seems to very highly rated by arsenal fans thanks to one deflected shot.
Its very hard to sell a player that is injured all the time, who would buy them? Arsene can also be ruthless just ask vermaelen.
Kondogbia had an amazing game against us and recovered the ball more than any player on the pitch, he’s not as good as Coq but he’s far far FAR better than Arteta and Flamini. ‘Schneiderlin would have gone to united regardless of what we did’, why? he wanted to come to us the previous season. I haven’t felt this disillusioned and let down with how the club is being run since we sold RVP to United. Any one of Kondogbia, Wanyama, Schneiderlin, Carvalho, krychowiak could have been brought in for around 25million. I accept that we couldn’t get a striker… Read more »
I just don’t think we can maintain a cohesive team of first team players who need to be used to playing with each other, and growing together, if at least four of them are repeatedly injured for long periods of time.
We all know who the players are, and we all love them, but…:-(
If Coquelin is out for the rumored 3 months, he will miss all of our remaining matches against title contenders. Great… Of course there’s always the January transfer window. It’s not like someone of at least Coquelin’s quality is hard to find on the market and he’s our only established DM so it’s not a waste to buy either. The biggest question lies in how much money Wenger is ready to risk for the title.
zero is what! if he was prepared to he would have signed schneiderlin or kondogbia
Sadly, I wholeheartedly agree.
Surely Wenger has no choice now but to roll the dice in January.
COYG!
sadly the mans stubborness is legendary
He’ll probably resort to internal solutions a la Bielik…
Whatever we were going to pay for a DM in January you can add £10 million.
“It’s not like someone of at least Coquelin’s quality is hard to find on the market…”.
Could you name me this player? That is available. And at least as good as Coquelin. And you can’t say Lee Cattermole or Lorik Cana.
Coquelin wasn’t even Coquelin’s quality this time last year so who knows.
Football is a team game and to be honest he has the defensive qualities that compliment our other players. I personally don’t think it’s that difficult to find a similar player, and dare i say it someone like Cattermole might look a world better along side Cazorla, Ozil and Sanchez.
I love le coq as much as the next guy – sorry serious point coming but couldn’t resist – however I think it is important to remember that the level of expectation we had of him was pretty low when he started to play regularly 12 months ago and he’s been in his honeymoon period if you like because 1) he one of our own and came up through the youth system 2) he’s the unlikely hero who didn’t look like he had a chance but made it, and 3) finally we had someone with a bit of bite. All… Read more »
Quick someone please tell me gokahn inler is still available. Seriously though go all out for carvalho shouldn’t we have two top quality players for every position anyway. Alas I think Wengers answer will be the Flamster.
I’m getting depressed!
we got Bielik, no worries
This is exactly what we all feared and knew when the season started. Instead of keeping Arteta and Flamini we should have bought a DM of equal quality to Coq. This should be a priority January 1st!
Arsene: Hi, we would like to buy your defensive midfielder
Other Manger: Sure, but his price has just doubled
Arsene: Why?
Other Manager: Because you are desperate for a Coq replacement
Arsene: My coq is fine thank you
Other Manager: Then why are you here?
Arsene: I just need a bigger and better Coq, or at least one that is able to be vertical and perform, rather than one that’s limp.
the coq jokes never grow old
hahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahha lol lol lol lol lol
Sorry for the childish post. My point is though now when we go out to buy a player the value suddenly goes up as the other team knows we now NEED a solid DM. It’s just like with Sp*rs a few years back when they sold Bale. Everyone knew they had the money/they were about to be rolling in it, so they paid so much more for average players. It’s all about supply and demand. Plenty of demand from us to buy, but not much in terms of supply. Especially in the January window. If Coq and Arteta are out… Read more »
true but when we have money in the bank we just have to accept that other clubs will do that and sometimes be prepared to pay a little more than a player is worth. if the signing pushes you over the line its well worth it look at what the likes of rooney and rio did for man utd, buffon for juve, suarez and neymar for barca they looked like huge fees at the time but now you look back and think it was a bargain there will be mistakes granted but you have to take the chance, we have… Read more »
Who gives a shit about how much we spend on someone anyway, we have so much money I don’t care how much we spend once it’s on the right player. Would we collapse as a club if we spent 200 on 3 world class players who could really help us win the league, don’t think so. Wenger won’t spend it and we are all going to enjoy groundhog day, day after day and year after year.
* million
Rio Ferdinand recently said he thought the training pitches at Arsenal are harder than anywhere else, that he felt it when he trained on them (presumably with Emgland?) one of the other pundits agreed, it may have been Wrighty, and then Keown agreed also. I’ve never heard another word spoken about it, but if that’s the case then maybe it’s a factor in some of these injuries? There are always going to be knocks and accidents, but we seem to have far to many muscle strains and concussion type things. We seem to have a permanent situation where our first… Read more »
That was Jenus (sp) on 5live just now? I though they relayed the pitches with some new wonder turf this year? Either way I can’t see it being something that obvious
No, it was a couple of weeks ago, interesting if it’s just come up on 5 live. They haven’t relaid any pitches at Colney as far as I’m aware, although there was news on here about new pitches at Hale End. It may be nothing but sometimes it’s the obvious that isn’t noticed just because it should be so obvious!
There maybe some truth to that as they’re said to be the same as the Emirate’s pitch and i can tell you as someone who’s played on the Emirates pitch is that it’s like an ice rink, very hard and very slippery.
Pissed.
But seriously, what deal did football cut with ACL injuries this season?
I’ve heard of at least 5 ACL injured EPL players.
Fingers crossed our Coq is still erect though.
I guess we’ve not seen the last of campbell because i Rambo should be back in the middle if Coq is out, plus Cazorla’s showing signs of fatigue.
Beilik looked good in the COC too. Gentle introduction into team may well start too.
MCL
Bielik and Crowley to boss the midfield at Man City away?
Sad part is we have many of arsenal haters just waiting for this to happen so they can say, we told you so, here is hoping that our boys can stick it up thier ass and get results
You can’t be taught how to support your team but if you’re happy to be ‘proved right’ over your team’s so called ‘failings’. Then you need to take a good look at yourself.
Get well soon Coq, very soon. You’ll be missed
Isn’t it time to drop Mertesacker and play Gabriel beside Koscielny? If we’re going to survive without Coq, Gabriel must be a starter. Not bringing in a DM and Striker during the summer is starting to look really daft…..we could have ran away with this league title ffs!
Let’s see if we can predict the future. Arsene will say the usual 3 weeks nonsense and wait for the hype to die down. No sighting of the Coq will continue until the last day of the January transfer window. At this point, fans will be desperate with the chavs clawing back their 12 point gap and Liverpool and the spuds right up our ass (or worse already overtaking us). Sky will link us to every DM in the world, yet the buzzer will go and we will sign nobody at which point Wenger will announce ‘there was nobody better… Read more »
You said what everyone of us are thinking, except Wenger. We missed a trick not getting klopp. By the way, why don’t we ever absolutely hammer teams like we did before?
Have to agree, and that is the sadist thing about it. I guess you have just about summed it up… too bad…and too much pressure on the lads who work their balls off week after week, and we all know who they are Koscielny, Monreal, Bellerin (recently) etc the unsung heros…. too, too bad..
The saddest thing about this is that this isn’t even a suprise anymore :/
Well I saw this coming. we should have had a better backup. I personally have no faith in arteta and flamini to sustain a title challenge. May be try chambers there. Eric Dier is doing a job for the spuds. They are a lot similar. I just feel he might grab his chance there. Calum the Saviour. #try the blind optimism.
what worries me after seeing calums passing from defence, i think against liverpool, is how exposed he will be there.
as mentioned above if its as bas as feared we have to play gabriel in order to gove the defence asmuch pace as possible. there will be no pressure on the opposing teams when they have the ball so per will be isolated and picked apart
Chambers time to play in the DMC positiion?
Anyway I wish someone would give some insight into the reasons for the injury situation to stop all this clueless moaning from panicing fans.
Unleash the Chambers.
The train wreck you can see coming from a mile away. Flamini IMO is the better option over Arteta who looks simply a bridge too far in terms of wear and tear. Meterescielny need to improve as well though. NO amount of cover in DM will help if the centre pairing are slack. Vice versa, Coquelin has been passed before with ease. The difference was Meterscielny were up to par to stop the threat (or for the matter our new keeper) So it isn’t just an issue of losing Coquelin and the whole thing goes south. He will be a… Read more »
While I’m sympathetic to the players involved and the fans who will suffer for this, I find it very difficult to be any way sympathetic towards Arsene. I love the guy, but this latest injury does nothing but infuriate me. We let players like Podolski leave. We tried to offload Campbell but are now relying on him? Not one outfield player brought in, yet when you look at the players we have out, bar Coquelin, they are all injury prone. Rosicky, Theo, Jack, Rambo, Welbeck, Arteta and Ox have missed more games than played in the last two seasons, yet… Read more »
This comment is a respectful rendition of what most are thinking. Thumbs up.
To be fair to AW… When fit we have a great squad. Welbeck and jack would improvisation any team. Walcott and Ox tio. Dont think any team would cope with the amount of injurys we have. Still should have bought a DM and striker in the summer, no excuses there!
Nobody could have predicted this…coq getting hurt and leaving a maSsive hole in the team, except, well, every single arsenal fan say for Arsene Wenger.
I think WEnger figured if it did happen he could call diaby back to the club.
I think he is out injuried (sadly).
Well on the positive note Arteta is also out injured. Must be 150 better midfielder than him in europe alone.
Mystic Meg???…no, bloke down the pub saw all of this happening.
Wenger has been in the game sooooo long, but couldn’t see what Joe Bloggs has seen since August.
Paper thin squad….no major trophies.
The way things are going I think Thursday night football will be with us soon
Sell the regular crocks and get some steel in the squad
The next worst thing after his injury is the fact that all the mouth breathing idiot commentators unanimously agreed that Arsenal needed a defensive midfielder and striker as cover. And guess what? We are lacking in those areas right now. Who could have guessed it D:
Ok. We are in emergency mode now. We need to find a way to get through our most recent rash of injuries. Based on the current situation I don’t think we should be too concerned about continuing in the Championship play. We need to rest as many players as possible, and it would probably be best for our EPL title challenge if we were eliminated from UEFA. With all of this in mind I would like to see the following starting 11 for Tuesday. Ospina (if healthy), Debuchy, (don’t want to push Bellerin since he is just coming back from… Read more »
Flamini will be our DM for the interim period, but he too has been dealing with injuries and surely will struggle with the number of matches he’ll have to play without a break. Ramsey is an option when healthy assuming we have a RM mid back (Chamberlin). The only other real options are Chambers (very inexperienced) and possibly Gabriel (very inexperienced there, had heard he had played there before, but not 100% sure) who is not technically strong to play there, but certainly would add some bite. Unfortunately for Wenger to make a move in January for a DM would… Read more »
If we were a real football club then Wenger would be called up to the boardroom tomorrow and asked to explain why he did not buy a covering DM in the summer. But of course he won’t be. The folly of handing out contracts to Arteta and Famini will now be cruelly exposed. Money was available and it should have been spent. The good thing now for Wenger is that the Coquelin injury now gives him a perfect excuse as to why we flopped again in the league. I watched the Spuds v West Ham game today and I’ve got… Read more »
@Fatty I appreciate ur opinion, but… I always found it amusing that so many people blame manager for lack of signings, funny how all these experts ( yourself included @Fatty) know so well who is in charge of approval of any outlay of funds for signing players. Ever took into consider the fact that other clubs or agents might stand in a way of transfers happening? Curious case of pogba/ martial springs to mind, again this comment is based on ‘facts’ that I know from press, which only proves how little us regular fans know of the happenings within the… Read more »
Bull.
Wenger runs the club from top to bottom. And we DO have plenty of money: our own board members say so.
Can we just call back Coquelin from Charlton? Oh, wait. That was last year. Shit…
The management has recognised this (injury) problem already. – OK, great.
Wenger talked about it 1,5-2 years ago and told that they were working on it. – OK, great.
We signed Shad Forsythe. – OK, great.
I really do appreciate our efforts, but…
There are few positions out their in everyday life where “efforts” alone are enough. (if any…)
I personally would think a run out of Gibbs as DM might be worth a peek as well. I would imagine Wenger looks at many options when making his decisions. Given his history, I will wait to see what he does and wish whoever gets the opportunities all the best! I can tell you this, no matter what I bet they will give their all for the team. COYG!
I can’t wait to see the lineup on Tuesday. By Christmas, Campbell will be leading the line, Alexis will try to play on crutches, and our DM will be a bag of sticks in a red jersey.
We have to do something about the injury plague that is battering our club. It is hard to believe that it is all just happenstance. That tackle should never have caused so much damage unless there is something in his everyday routine that caused his ligaments to be more succeptible to injury. Players seem so brittle. What couod make a player more prone to injury except genes? Perhaps Fatigue from over exertion in training or dodgy supplements they eat or lack of vitamins and minerals or whatever. Something or someone is behind it all. This is just to over the… Read more »
monreal n kos could play DM… vry good in possession n read game well
Back when Vermaelen was first choice and it was not clear if Kos would form a good partnership with him, I said that I thought Kos at DM was possible. But as first choice CB we’re not messing with him.
OK so what’s the solution?
Mine is to support the hell out of Flamini and Arteta right now. We know they are our weak link so let’s get behind them. Let’s support them through all there mistakes and give them the confidence they need. Both of them know the game well and have the experience. Can’t say the same for Campbell though, I have no faith in him.
Hopefully Ramsey is thinking that he can keep Coquelin from getting back into the team.
thank god we got those Carvalho Kondogbia Wanayama Schneiderlin Khedira Vidal, no? phew (picks his coat) (leaves internet crying loudly)
Same story, different year. Sad too because i think this is the best chance this team has had and will have in years to actually have a shot at winning the Premier with Chelsea in shambles, Manure still trying to find their way, and Man City looking mighty mighty vulnerable. I just don’t see how they can keep up with all these injuries this latest one (Coq) being the most important one to date in my opinion. There are only two other guys who getting injured would be more devastating (Ozil & Alexis) but with how amazing these two players… Read more »
Well, unless Wenger doesn’t get some DM to cover Coquelin, we will suffer our usual meltdown this season; nobody in his right mind can think that we can challenge with Flamini or Arteta as DM.
Oh and a good interview with Arsenal’s fitness specialist would be quite interesting to understand how come we have so much “bad luck” with injuries……
Must have dozed off, but luckily the alarm went off at 6:00 a.m.
A new dawn, a new day, and I’m feeling goo…BOLLLOOOOOOOOOXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX!!!!!!!