We are still waiting for a more detailed progress report on the injury to the combative French midfielder Francis Coquelin, but in the Arsenal press conference today ahead of the home Champions League game against Dinamo Zagreb, Arsene Wenger gave the latest update and it is bad news for the Gunners, as we expected it to be.
As reported by The Mirror, the bad run of injury luck continues as the manager confirmed that it would be at least two months in the treatment room for a player that has become a vital part of the Arsenal team. Coquelin will have a nother scan today but we can forget about seeing him until well after the turn of the year.
There was also some rare good news for the Gunners though and the timing could not have been better, because Aaron Ramsey is back in the squad and he is one of the players that could help Arsenal to get over the blow of losing Le Coq.
The Wales international has been used almost exclusively on the right wing so far this season but he still feels that his best role is in the centre of midfield. Ramsey´s attacking threat is greater there but he also offers more defensive qualities than Cazorla or Arteta and his work rate is amazing.
So can Ramsey make the loss of Coquelin be not quite the devastating blow we feared?
He is an important player to us and very versatile. With Coquelin injured Ramsey could be key. However I would not stake our season on Ramsey being the perfect replacement for Coquelin. Defensively he loses position too easily as a result of his natural tendency to want to go forward and almost more importantly, it is hard not to expect him to get injured again if he has to play every game.
exactly
His hamstrings are suspect Ramsey.
remember, we’ve been thru using ramsey at cdm. it didnt work well. thats why coq was preferred.
in wenger we rust.
I wonder if Ramsey was panic-called up to the team since Coquelin got injured..
I dont think ramsey is the option there. I think flammini will play there and next in line would be Chambers. Ramsey will start from the wing. With Coq not in the team, our back four has be more solid and I would expect Gabrian to partner Koschielmy. Ramsey playing will benifit us in a sense that our right side has now more solitary as his defensive rate is excellent.
On a positive note, Sanchez was looking very very sharp and Westbrom neede 3 players to stop him. I wonder if we had Walcot and Ramsey playing with Sancez at his sharpest best, we can be very very dangerous.
I think you left out our top goal scorer. Ramsey shares time while getting back to fitness with Santi. Chambers and Flamini share the DM spot.
Theo when returning should play his best position RW and maybe if he was there instead of Cambell we level and then give Alexis or OG the pk.
it’ll be great to get walcott back. but wenger must expect that each season 1/3 of this team will be out. thats the way its been. deal with it. plan for it.
if we had schneiderlin + coq : one of them could play midweek CL . and the other one would be perfectly rested for the weekend. is this a hard concept to grasp? why gamble and always have the minimum squad? why be surprised when 1/3 of your team is injured? it happens every year. why is it surprising?
Wenger is to be blamed for all the mess that we are in now with the injuries piling up. When Schindelin was available he said we have adequate replacement and £20m was too much to pay for Schindelin and as a result Coguelin over worked and now he broke down. Next will be Sanchez God forbid if he is not rested. The injuries hit us every season and Wenger and the back room staff and club owner who knows nothing about football could see it coming. If it was in some other sports they would all have been fired for their negligence. Our title hopes is not out the window. Another problem is that he refuses to play Gabriel who is way better than Mertsacker who cost us the goal against Tottenham and the first against WBA because of his lack of mobility. Is he waiting for Gabriel to say that he his leaving to start playing on a regular basic. Please check the stats,most of Arsenal’s clean sheet this season is when Gabriel is on the field and we concede most goals when Mertsacker is on the fiend so what’s the problem,is Mertsacker Wenger’s new girl.
Coquelin’s injury wasn’t a result of him being overworked. He had the whole interlull period without a game and made a silly tackle following a silly loss of possession. It’s in the aggressive nature of his game, this had to happen sometime, just a shame it’s immediatly a lengthy injury smh
I think Ramsey would be best placed next to cazola. But it highlights how Wenger failed to get an adequate replacement for Coq. We have one natrual CDM in Coq and not one other player in our team is good enough to play there (as a CDM). This has potentially ruined our title chances, Unless we can hold out till January and Wenger buys a CDM to go straight in to the team and battle it out with Coq when hes back.
Lately I have realised A Ramseys importance more so than ever. Even if it’s a game were he may only play a few simple passes to a player in space at the right time and in the right area and then two or three passes later we have a goal. You only realise the importance of keeping the tempo going when you see so much good build up being run out of play or the ball being released to the wrong player at the wrong time.
Ramsey understands Ozil more so than the great many of his teammates, I am eagerly awaiting his return. His off the ball work has been sorely missed along with his clarity in seeing the bigger picture.
And Ozil understands Giroud more than anyone else. He keeps giving them to Olivier, who keeps putting them away.
Especially when he places it on his head. That was why CR7 regretted his leaving Madrid.
I think Chambers should get a chance in DM role. He is not getting play time as well and looking at Gabriel as 3rd CB option, he will never get to play anyways. Atleast by slotting him into DM role, we can know whether he is reliable to be called upon for DM backup. If anyone watched him in his initial Arsenal days, he did decent defending, winning some tackles, interceptions and aerial duels. And how bad can he be? Not worse than Arteta or Flamini.
The last time Chambers played as a DM he was substituted after half time.
And he wasn’t injured.
And he was substituted for Walcott, an attacking change because we were trailing 2-0.
chambers is waaay to slow for cdm. would gabriel not be a good pick there?
i would lean towards gabriel for dm
chambers is just like gibbs, shows promise but has many poor lapses, way too risky
How come Gabriel will do a better job than Chambers who has been described to play at CB, and DM positions?
i dont know what “described to play” means.
actually watching games, you see gabriel, he has speed and tenacity. kinda like coq. chambers is slow.
I love Chambers but not as a CDM…Please Wenger save us from him. We only have one option Flamini!
Ramsey is no replacement to Le Coq but another vital player. Ramsey (as a B2B player) beside Le Coq in our team is not the same as Ramsey beside Cazorla. Le Coq is completely defensive minded while Ramsey will always be attracted to opponent’s 18 and take a chance on goal. I will be happy if he is fully fit rather than being rushed because of Le Coq’s absence. Call up that young Pole, KB tomorrow. Who knows he can do a Bellerin.
I don’t think Bielik has been registered for CL-football, but I might be mistaken.
Ramsey’s return is HUGE & will help a lot…but he isn`t even close from Coquelin defensively!!As great of a player he can (2013-2014) he’s not as good defensively…is it time for Wenger to consider getting a proper DM in January…Arteta looks done to me (injuries after injuries, mistakes after mistakes) & can`t even play a full game. Flamini he`s a good option but likes to go forward & liable to be sent off. I would try Chambers or Gabriel but…a proper like for like DM would do the world of good to AFC
Try Bielik or Chambers in DM
Cazorla b2b
Ramsey on Right
Alexis on left
Ozil CAM
Giroud up front
Ramsey is not defensive minded so play him on right because Cazorla is best box2box
It’s definitely a huge plus having Ramsey back
loose one player, get one back, this is the problem w afc every year, extended injuries, i think theo has spent 70% of his time on the table, they should have made his weekely contract based on if he is fit to play,
Atleast Ramsey is back for tomorrow, then Ox will be back for Norwich game. Then Walcott will be back for the Sunderland game, and then Wilshere maybe supposed to return by Aston Villa game(posted by physioroom.com). Our attacking options will be returning soon bar Wilshere, Welbeck and Rosicky, but we will have defensive midfielder issue just where we started from last December. Hope Chambers Bielik or Flamini can hold out till January.
prince: thanks. making me feel better when u describe our returnees. but also underscores, that this happens each year. our squad should be bigger than others bc we get more injuries. we need to also have a serious investigation of the hardness of the Arsenal practice pitches. they may have contributed to our injuries.
happy to hear Ramsey is back…………….his absence was really felt, he could have put those chances at the back of the net against the Albions
I think Rambo should play with matt F together and this I think will work. 4-2-3-1 and we just need to play to not lose just Nick points until Jan. Any decent manager will have players to come in as soon as possible. Yes we need a CF but we need cover all over the park. Everyone is talking about vardy and yes he is having a great season but he is not for Arsenal. We need EPL harden players to come in and just do a job from the bench. As AW said our second team is not good enough he said that so what to do AW ? Yep buy some players or our best ones will leave because I can’t see A S or Ozill staying and not winning anything. We need a captain on the park so for me it must be PC or Ozill