Diaby knock not the French FA’s fault + Coq can step up
October 3, 2012
A good chance to get over the misery of Saturday’s defeat against Chelsea tonight as we get back to Champions League action at home to Olympiakos.
For the first time this season injury problems are proving a factor as Diaby was yesterday confirmed to be out for three weeks with the thigh strain that forced him off at the weekend and additionally Mikel Arteta was revealed to be suffering with an ankle knock that could well keep him out. He faces a late test but frankly I think we’d be insane to take any sort of risk with him. If you had to pick one player that it’s essential we don’t lose for long periods this year it would have to be the Spaniard. You only have to look back as far as last season to see how badly we missed him when he was out. And this year we don’t even have the relative experience of Alex Song to call on in his place.
On the subject of Diaby’s injury, Arsene Wenger looked very much like a small boy who’d been found alone in a room with a broken vase but was still desperately pointing fingers at the dog sleeping in his basket downstairs. We all knew the dangers of relying too heavily on Abou this or any year and yet Le Boss was slightly desperately attempting to lay the blame for his latest setback at the feet of the French FA:
I said many times that if France wanted Diaby in Spain they should not take him for Finland and Belarus.
They could have taken him but not played him because the guy has been out for a year, played four or five games.
You have a breather, give him two weeks to recover completely. I think it was a mistake to play him with the French national team.
Hmm. Don’t get me wrong. I’m usually right behind AW in any club vs country row and I said at the time that it seemed a massive risk to take Diaby away on international duty so soon after his comeback but in the end he only played the one game and that was about a month ago. Since then we’ve played him against Montpellier, Man City and Chelsea at which point he finally succumbed to his thigh strain. It seems a bit rich to blame that on Didier Deschamps.
As Arsene Wenger says, while it is clearly a blow it’s also an opportunity for some of the other midfielders to step up. We can’t go from raving about our fabulous strength in depth one week to bitching and moaning when some of those squad members are actually asked to play some games. Tonight I’d be excited to see Francis Coquelin step up and into Mikel Arteta’s (tiny) shoes. He did well against Southampton a few games ago and this is a great chance to show that he has what it takes to be our second metronome.
Alongside him I expect we’ll see Aaron Ramsey, hoping to build on some slightly more promising recent performances and reestablish himself as one of the most exciting young names in international football.
The other key issues are as ever who starts up front and who gets the nod at the back. I can see Olivier Giroud being given the chance to bury some demons this evening. Arsene said yesterday that he’s extremely down having missed those recent chances and the only way to stop playing those images over and over again in his head would be to replace them with some nicer images of him banging the ball in the back of the net. You get the sense we’re reaching a critical period for him and his Arsenal career. Too many more missed opportunities and the crowd may start (wrongly) to get on his back. If that happens (again wrongly) verdict will be passed in the press and he’ll start to be labelled a flop signing. That would be very difficult to come back from.
Conversely if he can bang in a few in the next few games you get the exact opposite effect and he’ll be given a much easier ride and far more time to settle in to life in the Premier League.
At centre back I expect we will see the return of Per Mertesacker and if we do I expect it will probably be at the expense of Laurent Koscielny. AW won’t want to be seen to be dragging LK over the coals for his performance at the weekend but then he won’t want to drop his captain when his vice-captain is likely to be out injured. So I suppose it’s possible he won’t drop either of them and will keep Per back for the weekend.
I think we’ll line up something like this:
The Don
Jenks – Per – Verm – Gibbs
Coq – Rambo
Ox – Caz – Pod
Olivier Giroooouud
It’s the second match of Wenger’s latest ban for racially abusing an opposing player…oh sorry, I mean for, you know, saying something about a referee making a wrong decision or something…so Steve Bould takes charge again. Hopefully that won’t lead to the suspicions of paralysis that we saw in the Montpellier game when it comes to making changes.
At least it’s a home game this time so maybe the professor can try out some innovative new ways to get his point across to the bench. Like…I don’t know…starting a chant or something. He’ll be sitting in the stands anyway. He can just claim he was getting in the spirit of things.
I look forward to helping him out.
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13 Responses to “Diaby knock not the French FA’s fault + Coq can step up”
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starting a chant
that would be quite the image alright…3-0 tonight with or without Arteta
I agree with you here, it’s frankly poor form for Wenger to blame the French FA for Diaby. It’s a distraction technique, he decided to gamble on his staying fit and now, oh so predictably, all his plans are up in smoke. The gamble fortunately paid off with RVP last season as otherwise we’d have finished about 10th, but over the last few years Wenger’s gambles on injury prone players usually haven’t. If the guy can get injured kicking the ball then it’s hard to see a future for him as a footballer.
Arsene starting a chant… classic lol
I think Wenger is right about the French FA. Wenger knows Diaby and his condition better than them, with Diaby’s injury record, he needs careful management on the way back to fitness. He played a full pre-season where he was played 45 minutes every few days, then he was played for slightly longer periods before being taken off late in his first couple of games, then played a blinder against Liverpool…at which point, the International ‘Break’ arrives – that was the perfect chance for him to get some much needed rest – two weeks rest then start again…and when he’s playing full games consistently for a few weeks without breaking down, you know he is back and ready for both club AND country – That’s what Wenger prescribed, but thanks to the FFA, he DIDN’T get that TWO WEEK BREAK, and as a result it may have eventually caught up with him.
What everyone must realise is he needs to be eased back into the fold, just like RvP was, then just like RvP, he too maybe can shake off these niggles.
There are many examples where International managers have gone against what Wenger advised, and as a result lost their prized player both for themselves, and for our club – Theo, RvP, Wilshere, and Diaby – do they not learn?
As for Wenger playing Diaby since the International break – what should he do, give him a two week break from club duty so that he is ready in time for the Internationals? seriously guys, Wenger is manager of Arsenal, and French, yet he is only looking after ARSENAL’s interests – rather than HIS country – I applaud him for that. Wenger does actually know sometimes.
Quite rightly put. But hasn’t it been the case all the time: A player comes back from a long term injury and is immidiately called for the national side. A few weeks later he breaks down. The same thing happened with Arjen Robben, the Dutch FA and Bayern Munich. Robben had returned to action after missing 4 months of action during the 2010-11 season. During an international break, he played for Holland and returned injured. Bayern were furious ‘cos 1. They had to pay for the medical bills 2.They had requested that Robben be played as an impact player since he was not 100% match fit. In my opinion the blame lies 40% with Wenger and 60 % with the Frenchies. But i guess u have to accept that since he’s coming back from a long term injury, he will keep getting niggling injuries. But its ok since he will be out for 3 weeks not 3 months
Quite rightly put. But hasn’t it been the case all the time: A player comes back from a long term injury and is immidiately called for the national side. A few weeks later he breaks down. The same thing happened with Arjen Robben, the Dutch FA and Bayern Munich. Robben had returned to action after missing 4 months of action during the 2010-11 season. During an international break, he played for Holland and returned injured. Bayern were furious ‘cos 1. They had to pay for the medical bills 2.They had requested that Robben be played as an impact player since he was not 100% match fit. In my opinion the blame lies 40% with Wenger and 60 % with the Frenchies. But i guess u have to accept that since he’s coming back from a long term injury, he will keep getting niggling injuries. But its ok since he will be out for 3 weeks not 3 months
My team for tonight’s match would be
Mannone
Jenkinson Mertesacker Djourou Santos
Coquelin Ramsey
Ox Arshavin Walcott
Giroud
Bench: Martinez,Vermaelen,Gibbs,Frimpong,Gervinho,Cazorla,Podolski
Hi, Marble Halls.
I agree with your line-up except *maybe* Gerve instead of AOC and Kos instead of TV – Kos clearly needs a bit of match practice.
On the Wenger thing, I think he is justified. I haven’t seen the intervew but I do remember when Diaby was rested for a game while on international duty because of having picked up a knock – hip or thigh, I seem to recall. AW is reported elsewhere as saying that original knock is at the root of the current injury.
I really don’t see the issue unless we’re playing one of the Manchester teams or Chelsea / Totts / Pool. In CL group, we should be fine. in fact I would consider going with;
Mannone
Coquel Merte Kosc Santos
Ox- Cham Vermie
Ramsey
Theo Giroud Poldi / Gerv
Try that on for size to stretch the team’s depth a bit and give some much-needed rest to a few of the players that have put in nearly 90 mins per game for all of the games to date.
Sadly we had a string of games that Diaby simply couldn’t miss and I think that’s where Wengers annoyance stems from – he wanted him rested for those internationals because he knew he was going to play him for 3 games in a row, with West Ham being a possibly resting point, I know they’re physical and it’s away but one where we’d cope I think. Anyway, that could be the last time we see him this season, who really knows?
All of our players should have strange “injuries” during all non-competitive internationals. Does anyone in the world even think these friendlys during a season are a good idea? Or is it just inertia that keeps them going?
@ Justin P
I think that the early season friendlies are to be scrapped either next season or the season after.
We were average tonight, better in the second half with some nice flahses but equally worrying flashes of brain farting in defence. Gibbs is starting to become a big player for us, really hope he stays fit this year. Giroud impressed me again, hope he gets some luck soon and starts knocking them in.
Zinc- I agree, Gibbs has really hit another level entirely. And Giroud is doing everything right except scoring, so I expect the luck will catch up. Nice to see him get that assist (and see a confident Ramsey tuck another one home).
Also who taught Jenkinson to dribble? Last season he always looked a bit shakey on the ball, this season he seems to brim with confidence on it, with impressive lanky cutbacks regularly.