Arsenal Football Club have had much more than their fair share of injuries in recent years, with last season pushing the bounds of bad luck to something like a curse. And we are already seeing the same sort of thing again, with Arteta, Sanogo, Gnabry, Gibbs, Miyaichi, Walcott and Ospina in the treatment room.
Hopefully, Arsene Wenger is keeping Abou Diaby under wraps like a secret weapon, but somehow I doubt it. So the news today, reported by The Mirror, that our new club captain, Mikel Arteta, is going to miss at least two weeks, possibly more, after turning his ankle in Istanbul on Tuesday, gives the boss a bit of a headache.
I assume that Mathieu Flamini will come in as a direct replacement for the Spaniard, but the injury does highlight the fact that Arsenal are light in that area, as well as in defence. So Wenger must be thinking harder about signing someone to strengthen the squad in those areas. Not Kim Kallstrom though Wenger, eh?
Just like when Kieran Gibbs got injured just before the end of a transfer window, this injury to Arteta could actually prove to be good news for the Gunners. Then it meant that Wenger signed Nacho Monreal, and for those who are not that keen on the Spanish left back, just remember that we would have had to rely on Andre Santos otherwise. I am not suggesting that Flamini is anywhere near as bad as the Brazilian, but hopefully the Arteta injury will force Wenger’s hand, because he did not seem to be too fussed before it.
MUST get a CB and a CDM, ffs Wenger it’s not like we are cash strapped………
and a striker. Don’t forget a striker.
i too want a striker, but its only bony and reus who are young and available for right price. with reus we can rotate front 3 everywhere
reus – lw, rw, st
sanchez – lw, rw, st
walcott – lw, rw, st
A left winger come striker would be a brilliant buy. El Shaarawy (ST/LW) would also be an interesting addition. With Reus (and Walcott back) we would have such a pacey line up with Alexis up front and Özil pulling the strings. Here’s to dreaming!
Ok, this won’t go down well. But Mario Balotelli is still available. I know his world cup performance probably put most people off. But you have to admit, he is an awesome raw talent and can still improve. Plus, he is one of the best free kick and penalty takers out there. I would still be more getting him especially now that his asking price has fallen well below 20 mil. There would always be issues with how he behaves and affects team moral.
I would just like Wenger to take a risk with him if we can’t go for someone like Cavani. There are rumors… and I would be game for Cavani if it stops Man Utd from getting Di Maria.
Balotelli worth the risk anymore? Thumbs up yes, thumbs down no.
di maria has handed in a transfer request, this might be a good chance to sign cavani by funding psg to sign di maria or else he goes to united…tick tock tick tock arsene…
Seriously??? Would he even move to a club without Champions league football? Please just do PSG a favour Arsene. Get us Cavani! and maybe throw in Rabiot as well for good measure 😛
For me it’s Reus > any other attacking player. I don’t think he’s available but the Dortmund club president says he’s ‘hopeful’ that he’ll stay. A change of tone from ‘he’s not leaving’ as it was last month.
According to sources, Kostas Manolas is having his medical at Arsenal. That should be his fifth medical already.He must be an Ebola patient.
There is a 60/40 chance that he has had his medical AussieGOONER lol. Some Arsenal fans need to quit crying, being happy that your captain is injured is disgraceful. Arteta did 3.4 tackles per game and 2 interceptions per game plus the best dm in the league last season at winning and recycling possession explaining why Flamini who is a ticking red card is benched. Unfortunately his legs are going and we need another dm that Wenger see. Manolas is a great 3rd choice CB. People saying that Wenger is biased to Giroud and can’t pick a team have 0 managerial experience. People call for Loic Remy who is well behind Giroud in the national team. Does that mean Deschamps is clueless? We can only fit 2 more players due to our foreign quota and we need a cb and dm. Wilfried Bony aint good enough and is no more clinical than Giroud. People say sign people that they never see play for example Arteta is a better DM than Khedira who can’t pass or tackle. Khedira is box to box. We have spent money so stop crying and our squad is 2 bigger so far. Debuchy replaced Sagna, Bellerin replaced Jenkinson, Ospina replaced Fab, Chambers replaced Vermaelen plus Campbell and Sanchez were added to our strikeforce. A DM and CB would add 4 extra this summer.
Man United Fan – Lost opening home game, back three is a combo of Jones, Evans, Smalling Rojo. Outlook? Glass half full, probably finish top 3.
Arsenal fan – Won opening game (first time at home in years) signed a better RB, Sanchez, better backup goalie and versatile young English defender. Tied first match away on a red card. Outlook? Glass is entirely empty, we didn’t spend. Instead of upgrading 5 positions we really should have signed 15 players like the ex-Liverpool and Man United pundits suggested. Feeling hopeless. Other supporters laugh at me…I’d fight back but I’m not that type…it’s Wenger’s fault.
The Emirates has the best pitch in England FACT
Beskitas don’t stand a chance on a decent pitch with us.
They couldn’t even win the Turkish league.
This is our best summer in years where we have made great signings and all some people do is whine.
If I were Wenger personally I would have gone to Barca ages ago.
Wenger was offered the Bayern job, Madrid job and Barca job 3 times and stayed loyal.
The pitch prob played a role in the game, but that is still not a valid excuse for not winning. We played there last year didn’t we? And we had no problem scoring. The game was winnable yet the victory wasn’t there. A win at home is looking promising on Wednesday, but this is a sport folks! Anything can happen.
Fair enough. In this case, Wenger needs to tuck Giroud away for a while and give our most lethal attackers a chance up front. Ffs, we have Chamberlain, Campbell, Walcott, Sanchez and Podolski all with pace and ability to run with the ball and shoot. Give Campbell a chance down the LW, Sanchez through the middle and Chamberlain down the right. I bet Campbell is just dying to light that left flank up. At least we can utilize these four players this season until we can afford a world class Cf up front to rotate/replace Giroud. If Wenger can utilize this strategy effectively, all we need right now is a DM and CB.
‘pace and ability to run with the ball and shoot’
wow didn’t realize playing as a lone striker was that simple!! why doesn’t our manager who works with these players on a daily basis see things like you do?
best comment i’ve read on here for quite a while.. by a lot.
How people can act like Arteta’s captaincy is our demise is completely beyond me. His game is completely under-rated. Kos and Mert constantly get a lot of credit, deservedly, for our much, much improved defense last season but our main DM was seemingly non-existent last season according to some fans… Puzzles me!
someone just retweeted this exact same thing onto my twitter page… is that you @aussieGooner?
If the ‘source’ is the Metro then you should know they are the same guys that drop of the fertilizer for my cabbages, best horseshit in the business!
is diaby injured? hes not injured according to physioroom, then why isnt he playing?
He picked up a slight hip injury. Assume it is match fitness keeping him out.
As for DM, Mikel being out for a while, will NOT force Wengers hand. We have Flamini, and, Chambers to cover, and, maybe AOC who the boss sees as an alternative. Only way he will buy, is IF he has already got someone lined up BEFORE the injury.
And, Arsenal players getting injured is NEVER something to be happy about. You may not like them, but, they ARE still OUR players.
Wenger said a month ago he was looking for defensive cover.
Wenger don’t want him to get injured again! Maybe why he isnt playing..
more players injured means we have to buy more….
spend the money wenger
Am I the only one think Arteta injury as a VERY BAD news? Really surprised that many see injury to our captain and first choice DM to be a positive one, thinking it will change Wenger mind in buying a new DM. It practically changes nothing as Wenger and the club had work on the solution for a long time – we had been heavily linked with many quality DM around Europe. It does not happen yet because the players of the calibre that Wenger want is not yet available one way or another – The Bender brothers (under long contract thus Leverkusen and Dortmund don’t want to sell), Khedira (demand excessive wage), Carvalho (club asking for silly money). The things that surely change are
1. We won’t have our captain and best CDM for Everton and possibly the return leg versus Besiktas
2. We may have to pay top dollar for any potential DM target now our negotiation power is much weaker. Or we have to do a panic buy and settle for the 2nd rate CDM like Gonalons (Lyon) – who can turn out to be average (like Capoue) or complete flops (Fellani, M’Villa).
Regarding our striker situation, Giroud is clearly not good enough. But was Wenger very clear about that when he said he saw Sanchez as a player who can play WITH and WITHOUT Giroud. Sanchez will play CF for Arsenal but such drastic change in tactics need time, and the whole team must be trained and adapt to the new tactic that can get the best out of Sanchez. At this stage of the season, with fixtures as important as CL qualification, is it way safer to play the tactics that the whole team already well comfortable with? Please give the team and the manger some patience and understanding, fellow Gooners.
rumours about nigel de jong. great signing, and if wenger has plans to turn chambers into our first team cdm gives him 3-4 years to overtake him when he retires, but i am seriously into carvalho
fcuk!falcao loan = 12m
falcao price = ?
Silver lining
I say we get Alonso from Madrid
hes 32yo….
old and ageing by fans standard
Bob you’re a dick
Get better soon Mikel
1000x yes!
It’s tough at Arsenal now we take injuries as a good thing just so Wenger can open his eyes and buy the DM we need!
Stupid article name. Btw, Wenger said if Arteta’s injury is long-term, we will have to get “creative”. I don’t see that as a word describing transfers.
Creative probably means shifting Chambers to midfield.
how am i supposed change my profile pic?
and how do only davidnz and haywill know how to do this? o_O
they are not human, they are trolls- normal rules do not apply
And then there’s me..lolz
Hahahahahaha,,, Gunners mek me burst with laughter…… Davidnz and Heywill are probably hackers… Balotelli goes to Liverpool,, Wenger must sign someone,, not necessarily Cavani or Carvallo,,, anybody, even Hafiz Rahman…..
@whiterun, visit gravatar.com, sign Up and upload the pix there, using your email address. Then it will be appearing in every site you login with that email. Hope it helps
thanks man :’)
Go to gravatar.com and sign up
is forsyth injured too? 😛
Forsyth is a fitness coach. He helps the team prepare physically and reduces the risk but he doesn’t treat him as he is not a physiotherapist like Colin Lewin.
So Carlo Ancelotti has comfirmed that both Khedira and Di Maria have rejected contracts and want to leave. Throw £60M at Madrid and snap them up. They would sort us right out.
yeah here comes the big real madrid fire sale double discount 10% off buy one get one free dfs sofa sale LOL
Utd sign Di Maria and Rojo
Liverfool sign Balotelli
Chelsea and City spending big
its really over if we are not spending
Rojo is the only real thing you just posted (other than Chelsea and City spending big of course)
Di Maria deal set to be completed real soon
balotelli and sturridge vs giroud and sonogo…its a no f***** brainer unless you have a delusional french tambourine man in charge
Plus, when you compare combination of costa & fabregas or silva & aguero with ozil & giroud, it reminds me of Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s quote “You don’t buy a Ferrari to drive it like a Fiat”…….lol
If you are going to put Aguero in to make your point for Man City then only fair we have Ozil and Sanchez for us. And let us all have the decency to not go in to violent jerk-off mode regarding Fabregas/Costa until after say half a dozen matches. A Monday night in Burnley doesn’t cut it for me just yet.
And now liverpool have added balotelli to their attacking line, what do you have to say about that?
bob i celebrate artetas injury with you!
I don’t think any injury to a player on our squad can be a truly positive thing nor can it be celebrated. But hopefully we make the right adjustments as Bob was referring to.
Get well Arteta.
hope this year wenger gives chances to ox, campbell and gnabry
if he gives them chances whos gonna be dropped???
Pogba refused talks to sign a new contract at Juventus. Says a lot can happen in the dying days of the transfer window. Wait, that’s Wenger talk. Are French people all the same or is there something going on behind the scene we’re not aware of? lol
If we got Pogba id eat my hat,
I read somewhere Wenger saying we will be active in the last 10 days of the transfer window. Pogba also said things will happen in the last 10 days. Probably this is just media bull (why would Wenger give any clue?) but one can dream.
Yeah and then we could get Ramsey replaced with someone decent.
Its only a good thing if WENGER decides to rectify the situation with a CDM purchace. If not we are stuck with a less than par Flamini, A diaby who is lacking over a seasons proper game time and a VERY talented youngster who is not experienced enough in that roll yet. Yikes.
Some sites are stating that we had a bid of 25 mil rejected by Sporting. Wengers starting to piss me off. Is it his personal money or something. Im telling you, its like he is always trying to bargain… Get it done WENGER!!!! 35 mil for someone who SPECIALIZES in that position and is IMMENSELY talented is worth the risk. He will be our very own YAYA and a reminiscent of Viera.
Is saving ten mil really worth another trophy-less season? wtf. We could make that back selling just 300,000 of his shirts alone!!! and they sell millions worldwide. Why is this always such a problem.
If we got any one of; Carvarlo, Kheidra, Song, Tiote….I will truly be happy. But ffs get it DONE!
you’re aware neither Vierra nor Yaya play/played DM?? or is it just because they’re all big and black?
nor are Khedira and Song.
But they can play there, unlike our wanna be ones
i rly dont know how Wenger wasn’t asked anything about Giroud’s poor play in the press conference. i would have asked something if i was in that room. i rly want to know what goes through Arsene’s mind that makes him think he’s is worth being our first choice CF.
He will probably say “I believe we are still at the start of the season and not taking the full shape, and I believe there’s room for improvement. Regarding, Giroud, he is our main striker last year, and he was very consistent throughout the year and I expect the same for him this year, and last match he found difficulties to stay on his feet because of the pitch quality. In our job, we don’t look at one match performance”
In his mind “yea, I know, he was sh$t last match and I really don’t care about what you say or what the fans say, and i will continue playing him as the main striker and you got to live with that, i like the guy”
Super mario to liverpool, we rejectd him cus of bad world cup, bt to be fair he is miles better than giroud wen he finalis his deal nd start bagin goals @pool we wil al moan,
The spine of the team is weak….very weak. Giroud and Arteta show how far we can go. Are they world class. NO, they are really ordinary. We have a great CB pairing but need another understudy as Calum Chambers can fill in. If Wenger does not sign these 3 players we need he will leave us no chance in the league. He must know that, so I am beginning to believe he is after 4th place again. Has it become embedded as a habit pattern in him. Sad because we are so close yet so far away from winning the league……two or three players.
bender/carlvaho
It’s all happening again, we have already picked up 2 injuries from our last two games, we also already had players in the treatment room, god help us, another season wrecked by injuries I bet. We need at least one more world class signing otherwise we certainly cannot win the league. Look at other teams, Chelsea have Costa and Drogba, City have Aguero and Dzeko, United have RVP and Rooney, Liverpool have Sturridge and Balotelli, even Everton have Lukaku. We have Sanogo and Giroud…
I fully agree with the emotions taking over regarding transfers, especially when we´re suffering from injuries (AGAIN), however we all could blatantly see Arteta isn’t good enough for a full season regardless.
However, it’s time to get rational about this people. The majority of fans rejected the idea of Balotelli at Arsenal because of ‘his behavior’ (which is a load of horse to me). Now he’s signing for Liverpool, it makes me wonder if we were ever interested in Balotelli, since they’re getting him for alot cheaper than the ‘reported asking price’ a month ago for Arsenal.
I personally think we are very close to sign Khedira. Think Bayern would prefer an actual CB over a DM that maybe can play CB for them after Javi Martinez got injured. I don’t have a clue what’s taking so much time but I feel like we will sign him.
I also think Wenger is once again gambling on that big money signing in the last days of the transfer window. Will it be Reus, Falcao, Cavani, Carvalho or someone else? I have a much of a clue as any ‘ITK’, dodgy paper journalist and all Arsenal fans. But please rely on Wenger to know what’s best, we still have a squad that should be able to beat Everton this weekend and Besiktas at the Emirates. Have faith fellow Gooners, Wenger said he’s open for business, which is a big difference to recent years. COYG!
meanwhile liverlool will be signing balotelli for 16m while we have giroud upfront can’t see us wining title
If this is true, then we better be signing Cavani or Reus. £16m is a steal.
it’s true ac Milan TV reported it player could play against city on Monday
reus can leave BVB their ceo made a statement reg his future they don’t want him join Bayern
Don’t worry about it too much guys. In the sportive area, all marquee players care about is CL football and to compete for the title. Respectively Chelsea, City and Liverpool all
are able to offer that at the moment, while Arsenal still have to qualify and 0-0 away is not convincing enough to assume that for a player (most Gooners know otherwise but still). Once we qualify for CL, expect Arsene to sign a marquee player, just like he did with Ozil last year. I hope Manolas will also come to Arsenal.
Don’t raise ur expectations, he said that himself “Ozil was available at the last moment”.
I think we need to be pro-active and not just wait players to be available unless we assure the alternatives. Last year our top priority was striker (As it should be this year) and guess what we failed to land our targets and we end up with no body and it cost us the title.
I do believe that, if we had signed better striker last year, we would have won or draw those lost games and won the league. (that’s over now, but we should learn from that)
acc 2 Spanish journo balague regardingKhedira: Mourinho reluctant 2 enter an auction ’cause he thinks player has a personal deal with Arsenal.
been saying this all along that khedira 2 arsenal is done the reason wenger hasn’t pushed it because of players injury record + availablilty of carvalho/lars bender
Wenger playing it cool…he has got deals lined up!
I hope & pray!
The 3 defensive midfielders top of Wenger’s shortlist are Khedira, Carvalho & Bender
I want bender or carvalho don’t need injury prone khedra acc 2 rumors arsenal fitness coach shad forsythe suggested wenger against signing khedira but at this stage we don’t have much options
@Leo do u really think we are in for a cdm
yes 100% will sign a cdm & cb striker at this stage not sure down to le prof
@leo, I thought you already pulled out from this Khedira saga and forever. Nevertheless, rumours always give me hope
LFC have Sturridge & Baloteli
MCFC have Aguero,Negredo,Džeko,jovetic
MUFC have Rooney & RVP
CFC have Costa & Drogba + mattia destro (possible)
AFC have giroud sanogo ???
god help us
Sturridge is a poor man giroud
giroud is a poor mans titus bramble
glad to see your back talking ‘sense’
Guess who’s back gooners
pat sharp? andy peters? who is it…the suspense is killing me
Giroud is underrated
If you are not being sarcastic, you better go back to the cave you were in.
His games decides his rate and if you tell me with these kind of performances you expect him to be well rated then i’m worried about the games you’ve been watching.
probably his screamer vs City.. Or setting up the winner in the dying minutes vs Palace.. but some of those moments were as much as 3 games ago!! can’t expect you to look back that far!! you’d have to have the memory of an elephant
We talk about the possibility of signing guys like Falcao, Cavani, Reus, di Maria, cuadrado etc like we really believe that Wenger will see the light and get one of them.
3 things possible
1. When Wenger says no more forwards he means it
2. Wenger is bluffing and will get one
3. Number 1 but get injuries and forced into getting one.
All managers seem to understand the importance of a top striker except Wenger it seems
Listen, this may get a lot of thumbs down but it’s not unthinkable for us to end up fifth place.
United are strengthening in all positions
Liverpool may get Falcao or Ballotelli
At the moment the only thing I’m sure of is that we will end up ahead of Spuds and Everton.
If Wenger gets us a top CDM and either a top striker or top winger and make Sanchez/Walcott a striker we can talk again about winning the whole League.
We are only TWO signings (plus defender) from GLORY
Liverpool will not sign Falcao, no way. Balo at best because Brenda likes a naughty boy.
Wtf is wenger waiting for!?!? Pool sign balo, khedira leaning towards Chelsea, carvalho turning down arsenal 25m bid……..come on arsene we need a cb and dm soon while there are some left in the market. We also need a striker desperately surely wenger knows og and yys can not carry us for a whole season. This waiting quietly is killing me! 🙁
waiting quietly usually doesn’t involve complaining of comparing to other teams…
It’s really sad that we are celebrating a players injury for thehope of ssigning a new player, but blame Wenger’s loyalty in his players and his stubbornness.
If I remember correctly, we got Arshavin because a player was injured. Not because we wanted to strengthen the squad.
What made Ozil and Sanchez awesome was that they ate genuine additions. But Debuchy, chambers, Ospina are not real additions but replacements (albeit excellent replacements) for fabianski, Sagna, vermaelen.
Chelsea had Ba, Lukaku, Eto, Torres and Mourinho decided that’s NOT good enough. So he got Costa, a top striker. Like him or not he will score 30 goals. The only stupid thing Mourinho did was sell Lukaku and keep Torres. I think Torres is crap, but rate Lukaku highly.
Anyway, I digress. I wish Arteta a speedy recovery but also hope Wenger gets Khedira, Carvalho or Bender or even Schneiderlin.
True fans support their team instead of making fun of some Arsenal players.If it was all about having the best players,we would all be supporting Real Madrid or Bayern.Get a life and support Arsenal or go and mock Sanogo from Whitehart Lane.
true!! having an article why an injury to our captain is good news is absolutely ridiculous…
Drogba to me is finished y’all can say they have costa. Forget drogba
How can losing your captain ever be a good thing? If we lost Vieira or Henry or Cesc for one game it was very bad, but when Arteta gets injured it is a good thing. It really shows how poor we have become at choosing second rate players to be our leader.
Same Sam/ Sam Same is bek, soon Erggs Eges will be bek,,, then we hev 3 super Gunners in Sam, Ergs, Hafiz, Arsene don’t need to sign nobody then…..
Wenger said he has no regrets about not signing Ces Fabregas. Well I watched Ces and he looks bigger and a far more powerful player since he was at Arsenal. Regrets I would say Wenger has a few. Getting back to now what is Wengers obsession with the midfield we have 10 midfielders and his total disregard about up front. Arsenal need a TOP TOP class Striker look at all the top teams they have top class Strikers. Look at who we have Giroud and Sanogo they just don’t come up to scratch. Arsenal also need a left back with GIbbs out injured AGAIN I think he is a great player but he seem’s to have glass legs. No doubt all the Wenger lovers will disagree with me.
The club has a lot of money, the excuses are out and yet all wenger did was replace exiting players. In total he spent 30 million this window, he still didn’t address CDM/ST, he continues to play Cazorla out of position. We NEED dm/st/lw but we won’t get LW/ST i don’t think, so how are we going to win the league? We will be lucky if we win the FA Cup again?
IM GETTING PISSED OF WITH THE SAME OLD CRAP OUT OF AW MOUTH. ALL ARSENAL FANS THAT PAY FOR THE PLAYERS CAN SEE IF WE ARE GOING TO FINISH TOP 4 THIS SEASON THEN WE MUST BUY BUY BUY. GET RID OF THE SICK NOTES AND GO GET A DM WORLD CLASS AND GET A LB AND A FRONT MAN. ITS SO CLEAR WE CAN ALL SEE IT BUT HE WONT DO WHATS NEEDED. YOU NO I HERE ARSENAL FANS SAY WHEN HE STEPS DOWN KEEP HIM ON TO DO DEANS OLD JOB. IF HE WONT BUY NOW WHAT CHANCE WILL WE HAVE IF IT ENDS UP THAT WAY
Patience, patience children.
We have to qualify for CL before big names will sign.
We’ll see some action at the end of this week, so stop frothing at the mouth.
BTW, Mikel Arteta most underrated player in our squad. Took pay cut to join the Gunners, rarely injured, always gives 100%, IMHO gives a LOT more that Wilshere, Cazorla, Flamini.
So get well soon Mikel…