By Tony Attwood
Could this be the all-time injury record for Arsenal – or indeed any EPL club? If you are a reader of the Arsenal History site you will know that we recently covered a game in the 1920s in which Arsenal were without 10 first teamers and ended up playing the goal keeper (with an injured wrist) at full back.
Anyway, here’s today’s run down
- Diaby – a chance of playing
- Fabregas – out for two or three weeks
- Vermaelen – out for another week or two
- Eboue – injured against the Totts
- Rosicky – picked up injury in Totts game
- Van Persie – still recovering
- Walcott – injured playing for England
- Ramsey – recovering from a Shawcross
- Gibbs – recovering from injury in Totts game
- Traore – injured but out on loan anyway
- Bendtner – injured playing for Denmark
- Frimpong – injured in training
So who is left? Actually it shows a lot for the strength of the squad that we can take all that lot out and still make up a team for Saturday like this
Almunia
Sagna Squillaci Koscielny Clichy
Song
Nasri Wilshere
Chamakh Arshavin Vela
That’s not too bad. But if anyone else gets a knock, what then? Against the Extremely Tiny Totts on Tuesday we had
- Djourou – playing
- Denilson – playing
- Eastmond – on bench
- Jay Emmanuel-Thomas – on bench
- Lansbury – playing
So that looks like the bench. Beyond that we have the guys who are in or around the reserves….
- Gilles Sunu – missing since playing in the European Final – but what a sensational talent. Last time I mentioned him there were suggestions that he is on loan in France but there really is no reference to this on the Arsenal site nor any other site.
- Gavin Hoyte – plays for the reserves but I wonder if his time has gone
- Nordtveit – has not gone on loan, so could be a backup full back.
- Ignasi Miquel – a centre back, and we still have Djourou as back up so might not be needed
- Chuks Aneke – attacking midfielder, captain of the reserves
- Roarie Deacon – a winger who has come up through the academy. Playing in the reserves but probably still a year away.
- Benik Afobe – a brilliant striking talent, but probably a year too soon for him – but he’s another kid who has come up through the reserves.
The player we can’t play is Wellington Silva, who is not allowed to play until January.
So, bare bones time. But how about this.
Roberto Mancini has said that despite spending 83 trillion billion squilion pounds he only has “11 100% fit players” for the game against the KGB in Fulham tomorrow.
Ah, bless.
Cue press comments about a squad, “rocked by injury” , and “crisis”. (How can you be rocked by injury. I mean, I know about rock n roll, because I played in bands that did it, and these days I dance it, but “rocked by injury”. It sounds like being “stuffed by lightening” or “defeated by penicillin”.
“I do not know what I am going to do just yet,” says the man with the money. ” I will speak with Joleon and Jérôme, but if they are not available I am not sure. Maybe Boyata, but I am not sure.”
So I guess he is not sure.
According to the Guardian “Emmanuel Adebayor should be fit enough to make the bench”, and it is good to know that after his failure as a footballer he has turned to carpentry as a second career. I am sure we all wish him well.
So there we are, or not as the case might be.
In other news it seems that the police have launched all out war on the Toppled Bollard and are stopping people from drinking outside the venue prior to games. Since the Bollard (on the corner of Plimson Strasse and St Thomas’) only has three square inches of space inside, this makes it tough. I understand that Billy the Dog has been having discussions with the forces of law and order, and is now “helping police with their enquiries”.
Last, a bit of a jolly for the Arsenal History research department. Much of Arsenal’s history is just written and re-written from a single source, and if that source gets the facts wrong, or misses a bit out, then every other web site and publication does the same – generally copying the original word for word.
It takes a bit of work to discover where this has happened, but when we find one, it is great fun, proving everyone else wrong (even if it is just on a point of detail).
The Arsenal History site is running the story of the first ever team to play for Arsenal in the league – and in researching one of the players (William Jeffrey) we found just such a case. He played for us in the first year of the club, and its an interesting tale.
It is a bit like researching Arsenal in 1910, but that of course, is another story.
http://www.sport.co.uk/news/Football/44114/Wenger_signs_up_six-year-old_New_Beckham.aspx?
Nice to see the next generation coming along…….
Our squad depth has grown in experience and if we can survive without so many injuries the whole season we will come good. I disagree that Frimpong is a 1st team injury though. He did play a lot of pre season, but so did several other reserves. He might have played CC and broken into the squad. But the fact that he hasn’t featured a considerable amount of games last season for the first team makes me feel that we are trying to win the injury table by putting a reserve player on the list. Nordtveit is injured btw, hurt his ancle in training, out for 1-2 weeks (Was supposed to get a run in the game vs spuds)
“According to the Guardian “Emmanuel Adebayor should be fit enough to make the bench”, and it is good to know that after his failure as a footballer he has turned to carpentry as a second career.”
Priceless Tony!
When will Mancini be sure? However, the only one manager who is sure of what he is doing seems to be Sir Wenger.
Against Sunderland he did what was needed so that another bafoon should not do the same mistake later.
He also is telling what most managers either dont want to see, or ignores for some reason; turning football into RUGBY.
Mr Bayor should learn from CHAMAKH! As a player and a person, it will help him even if he decide a career change to an undertaker.
God Wore Ten, when I wrote that this lunchtime I tried it on my company’s managing director he and looked at me and said, “No I don’t get that one.”
I thought it quite amusing though.
I’ve heard Nordtveit is also injured. Mancini says Adebayor is “fit”? I presume he means from the neck down.
“According to the Guardian “Emmanuel Adebayor should be fit enough to make the bench”, and it is good to know that after his failure as a footballer he has turned to carpentry as a second career.”
brilliant, absolutely brilliant lol.
It should ne noted that the referee for this game is that new youngest ever chap who punishes heavily with cards and has even given a penalty for shirt pulling in the box.
I would imagine that this should play to our advantage if WBA resort to any FatSam tactics.
12 players injured?? Damn, only the 1st month is finished and we are having our 1st team completely injured…is it just that we are unlucky or is there something more to this?? 🙁
Tony – I also thoroughly applaud you for “Emmanuel Adebayor should be fit enough to make the bench”, and it is good to know that after his failure as a footballer he has turned to carpentry as a second career”.
Absolutely superb.
I chuckled quited vigorously at that one, I did.
The key difference so far this season has been that the injuries have all been short term. So if it continues like this, we should have a situation where by the cruch of November and December we would have just about everyone back.
Baring any random shawcross/taylor incidents.
That Adebayor sentence was a great one.
AFter that it almost looked fun having 12 people out. In fact it isn’t.
Just hope we can get some people fit as soon as possible. And not because I think the players we have left ar good enough but because they will get tired and this could lead to even more injuries
Adebayor – a carpenter, ” Priceless”
Mancini thinks Adebayor is fit?? Is that in his football kit or wearing the City coloured gimp suit
“Emmanuel Adebayor should be fit enough to make the bench”, and it is good to know that after his failure as a footballer he has turned to carpentry as a second career”.
He does not have the brain to be a carpenter.