Injuries Whilst Arsene, Cesc & Eboue Get Feisty

Liege is done, finished and over, Wigan instead looming no less large on the horizon and no less impressive. It would not be Arsenal if there were not the odd injury or ten to be concerned about. Denilson has back-knack which will keep him out for up to three weeks apparently. It is not all bad with Robin van Persie apparently set to return for Saturday’s clash whilst Manuel Almunia is either recovered from a virus or not, depending on which news outlet you believe.

Tomas Rosicky tried to brighten Wenger’s day with his assessment of his own form since returning from injury. Whilst 90 minutes in total is a bit of a short time to judge himself on, Tomas believes that things can only get better:

I am not anywhere near my best, and still have plenty of room to improve. I will get better. It is difficult when you are out for such a long time. But when you play, you just have to forget that. I am just enjoying being back. I am fit and itching to play football again.

Let’s hope that the fit part is right. Arsenal suffer a high number of injuries although I suspect it is probably not any worse that other clubs, we are just more aware of it. This is an area that was discussed in this morning’s Arsecast. As footballers become more athletic, they are susceptible to the same strains that can plague sprinters. The more short bursts of movement, the more pressure put on their muscles. Add into this that Arsenal players are the most consistently active of Premier League sides it is a price that has to be paid.

Rosicky is going to be a key player at the moment in allieviating the pressure on Cesc. Too much reliance is placed on the Spaniard when other key figures are injured and anyone who can take on some of the burden is most welcome. Even so, not too much should be expected of Rosicky in the next few weeks as he regains fitness, dipping in and out of matches before being able to complete a full 90 minutes.

One person definitely out is Andrei Arshavin. Wenger commented yesterday that the Russian had a 10% chance of playing tomorrow. Whilst the manager is notoriously poor with his guesswork about when players will return to action, I would be surprised if he was that inaccurate and Arshavin plays this weekend.

Still perhaps Arsene’s mind is elsewhere, conjuring up ways in which Acme can help him bring about the downfall of Karl-Heinz Rummeneigge in an elaborate manner. Some might argue that would be entirely fitting given Arsenal’s footballing philosophy.

The banning of transfers for Under-18s is another ill-thought out concept by Platini and Blatter. They will not stop the cherry-picking of Europe’s best players by the biggest clubs. If French and Italian teams are right royally fed up with the Big Four getting their talent on the cheap, they ain’t seen nothing yet. All this ban is going to achieve is a dearth of talent in those leagues as the bigger clubs seek out players at a younger age and bring them over before they have chance to sign with a native professional team. This is before the Iberian peninsula clubs utilise the fast-tracking of passport applications that they grant to nationals of former colonies.

Rummeneigge is on ground that is shifting so quickly he might think it quicksand. FC Bayern are obviously not the same FC Bayern that has living quarters for 13 overseas players in their training complex. Nor is it the same FC Bayern who has 4 out of their current 18 youth players born outside of Germany. No, there is another FC Bayern who has been trading on the name illegally and in no way is Herr Rummeneigge talking out of his arschloch. Rummeneigge’s legacy to football will be what exactly? Nauseating as a player, beyond irritating as an administrator is my suspicion.

Not that Arsene is alone is lashing out. Emmanuel Adebayor may have received a three match ban from the FA for his stamp on Robin van Persie but the damage was much deeper than that, with a whole host of jelly and ice cream going to others as his former teammates round on him and withdraw their birthday party invitations. The infamous tag team of Eboue and Fabregas defended the honour of Arsenal, keeping the rancour going. The comments by Eboue are the ones which highlight the disappointment felt within the squad the most acutely but hey, we move on to the weekend and a chance to get back to winning ways domestically.

’til Tomorrow.

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