Arsene Wenger says Arsenal are getting better at managing the fitness of their squad but admits it takes time to get to know individual players and their risk of injury.
In the first half of the season, the Frenchman effectively split his squad in half with ‘first choice’ players featuring in the Premier League and those on the fringes getting game time in the Europa League and League Cup.
The increased rest between games has so far, for the most part, helped to minimise injuries with fewer players ruled out for prolonged periods with muscular problems.
Having been criticised heavily in recent years for season-defining injury crises, the boss is pleased with the turnaround.
“First of all, we rotated more in the Europa League and was able to rest more players,” Wenger told Arsenal.com.
“Afterwards, you always improve by learning from the seasons before, you learn more about the general concept of our training intensity.
“We also learn more about the individuals. We have a deeper analysis of what happened with the player last year, whether he got injured, how many games he played in three weeks and after he got injured. From the player’s injury history, you learn when to rest him and when to play him.
“It’s about adapting the training loads to the history of the individuals. It’s also about strengthening where they’ve had weak moments in their history.
“When you play every three days, you weaken your players. When you rest them – and sometimes during the week when they do not play – you can work them to strengthen their physical condition. After that, they’re a bit less vulnerable.”
Having recruited Shad Forysthe as the head of athletic performance enhancement a couple of years ago and with Darren Burgess arriving as the director of high performance, you’d expect further improvements to be made in this area.
Cue a massive injury crisis…
Less injuries, though would be hoping for better results given that.
Losing Sanchez and the uncertainty surrounding him will look like a v good thing if we can beat Sp*rs.
*Fewer
You’re a disgrace to your federation.
losing the uncertainty is certainly
My theory is we never actually sold Alex Song but just use him for spare parts…
Somebody running around out there with a black leg i hadn’t noticed?
Ramsey, some day its a tattoo but actually…
Love your username man
What planet is Wenger on… le fraud once again talks bulls.it
Deary me.
What? bulls? it? You’re a spud right?
Facepalm*
“always improve by learning from the season before”.. hmm..
dont know what wenger is learning from past seasons , frankly it might have been close to nill . But we have to appreciate some big changes in the back room thanks to some proactive appointments by probably gazidis. And the results of which we can see clearly , no there is less injuries , less dithering on transfer market. gazidis is putting in a framework for arsenal to function well when wenger eventually leaves , but with the look of it they are actually performing better than wenger ever did when he was overseeing those areas. now it is… Read more »
Classic, something goes right at the arsenal and it can’t possibly be anything to do with AW.
Everybody needs to vote for Lacazette’s goal
https://carlingtap.carling.com/goal-of-the-month/2018-1
Definitely doesn’t deserve goal of the month with all those belters lol
I didn’t bother watching the others 🙂
Done!
But yet we sit 6th in the table. So the whole “if we didn’t get all these injuries” excuses are debunked.
I thought he talking about mental vulnerability…..
Not particularly anything to do with this article but all I keep reading online from arsenal fans is about this new line up + Jack is looking good and how Jack could be captain. Doesn’t anyone realise that Wenger is now going to bench Jack again? I would have him in the starting line-up all day long but we can obviously tell Xhaka isn’t getting dropped and Wenger obviously prefers Ramsey over Jack. I guess it’s a good problem to have but is he now going to reconsider signing a new deal if it comes to fruition that he is… Read more »
Good point, Bryan. Jack can definitely do what Xhaka can do (except for heading clearances out of the box–it’s surprising how often Xhaka does that) and he does not switch off as often. Granit had a decent game against Everton but Wilshere’s form is better. Let’s see what happens, but I’d play Jack on Saturday.
In a 4-3-3, I’d rather bench Xhaka for Neny and have Jack with Ozil on the CM. Ramsey? Much as I hate when Wenger does it, I’d rather play him in Iwobi’s role. Doesn’t dribble, but he’s not really a B2B midfielder, but an attacker. Let him play the Sanchez role and free him up to attack more, yet defensively he’ll do what Sanchez did at his pomp (Ramsey’s best position is as an AM). It’s the best compromise I can think of to have Jack, Ozil, Mikhi and Ramsey all doing what they enjoy to do (Ramsey goal hanging… Read more »
Suspended sentence for Sanchez, tax evasion. It’s lovely that they waited to charge (or sentence) him until he moved to that shit shower up north. Classless..
Living in Manchester is probably punishment enough
I haven’t seen the stats, but it sure seems as though Forsythe’s arrival coincided with a change for the better in our injury record. I don’t know how he keeps Kos out there. Other teams have strengthened their rosters; we’re still a very good squad. I regret losing Szczesny; I think he’d have been worth another six to eight points this season. Cech is good but not the player he used to be.
It doesn’t/ Forsythe been there for a few years and it’s only this season we haven’t suffered as much. The number 1 factor is that due to the EL, Wenger has finally decided to rotate his squad, something he’s never wanted to do. Usually he plays the same starting 11 till Christmas till our core and overused players start to fall apart (Ramsey, even guys that didn’t suffer injuries regularly like Ozil, started breaking down). It’s also no coincidence that historically, the players with serious chronic injuries all had 1 solid season of overuse, before breaking down the next season.… Read more »
It happened with Cazorla as well. He’s been overused many times. A player of his calibre shouldn’t have started Lundogorets away.
The same thing is happening with Xhaka this season. He’s had more starts than any other Arsenal player this season. I believe Xhaka and Bellerin are next in line for a potential long term injury. We need to buy players in their position.
A CM/CDM and a CB is a priority. A CDM like Fabinho will be useful at RWB as well.
Yep, good shout. Won’t be surprised if both Xhaka and Bellz start to suffer a repetitive muscular injury from next season.
Also happened with Ramsey and his hammies, which he still now suffers from.
Really isn’t a coincidence that the only season he’s been forced to rotate his squad regularly is the season we’ve managed injuries. Guaranteed if we were in the CL, we’d be in our usual post-Christmas injury situation.
After reading post from most guys here. Don’t you guys all think AW best time in Arsenal has been with that intelligent man David Dean????? That was to me our best moment unlike this money rich scumbergs.
So it should take more than a decade to “learn”?? And we’re talking about one of the richest and most organized clubs in the world…