That Hleb photo again as the ‘Katita’ mystery is solved

I’ll kick things off today by saying that I really feel for Alexander Hleb every time he gets injured.

The Hleb photo is back!Not because he misses out on games, not because he’s probably in severe pain, but because every single time he does, every website on the planet digs up that awful picture of him getting taken out against West Ham. You know the one; eyes closed, face contorted in pain and his hair looking distinctly mullet-esque to boot. It’s just awful Alex, and I really do feel sorry for you.

The reason for the photo’s re-emergence is that Arsene Wenger has confirmed Hleb’s absence from Arsenal’s trip to Newcastle United this week. Wenger’s side play Newcastle on Wednesday night and the Arsenal manager revealed that Hleb will miss out, somewhat surprisingly because of a recurrence of his hamstring injury rather than the gash to the achilles that he sustained from John Carew’s woeful tackle at Villa Park on Saturday.

“He had a hamstring problem before but we decided to play him. He had a little recurrence and I am not sure he will be available for Newcastle on Wednesday night.”

Hleb looked very sharp for Arsenal against Aston Villa and will certainly be missed. The other major absentees for the trip to Newcastle are Cesc Fabregas, who is still recovering from a minor hamstring problem, and Robin van Persie and Abou Diaby, who are still a little while away from returning from respective knee and back injuries. The squad will certainly be a little thin and without the presence of Hleb and Fabregas in the side I think Wenger would be mad to go with anything other than a four-man midfield with two out-and-out strikers. Hleb, who played in behind Emmanuel Adebayor against Villa, should be replaced by either Theo Walcott or Eduardo da Silva and with the latter not even making the squad on Saturday I would say it’s likely that the Englishman will start.

There should really only be one change from the side that won on the weekend and with that in mind, I would expect Arsenal to pick up another three points against an out-of-sorts Newcastle side on Wednesday night. I’ll talk a little bit more about the game in tomorrow’s blog, but unless there are some training ground injuries (knock on wood) there really shouldn’t be much more to add.

Flamini pulls up his shirt to reveal the word ‘Katita’The meaning of ‘Katita’ revealed?

Perhaps the most interesting news of late is that Wolfsburg manager Felix Magath has his eyes on Jens Lehmann and will most likely make a move for the German goalkeeper when the January transfer window opens. He’s a top manager, Magath, and he’s smart enough to know that Lehmann is still a top goalkeeper despite his often unnacceptable attitude.

Yogi’s Warrior from ‘A Cultured Left Foot’ made the point yesterday that Wenger could do worse than keep Lehmann as he is probably the best ‘number two’ in England right now. It’s a fair point, but at the end of the day this Arsenal team is all about unity and togetherness and Lehmann has shown time and time again this season that he doesn’t seem to care one bit about that. As a result, I think he should move on in January and if Wenger does end up pursuing that option he’ll be happy to know that there is at least one club out there who do want him.

A couple of little titbits to finish of with today. Firstly, Emirates Stadium will be hosting its first rock concert in May next year and the man taking the stadium’s virginity is Bruce Springsteen and his E Street Band. Not a band I’d particularly want to see but interesting nonetheless. Secondly, it seems the Mathieu Flamini ‘Katita’ mystery has been solved and the answer is little more bizarre than first predicted. According to one of the comments on Third Gen, back when Wenger was coaching Grampus Eight in Japan he was nicknamed ‘Amitase Katita’ which translates to ‘honorable fighter’. Obviously, Flamini wanted to get the message out to his manager and the fans to tell them what he’s all about.

So to all of those people (alas, I was one of them) picturing a seductive and shapely European women, you can now replace that image with a grey-haired, bird-faced elderly French man. Somehow it’s not too bad though, is it?

What do you think?

Have your say on Hleb, Lehmann, Springsteen or Flamini by leaving a comment.

Loading...

Comments

  1. Wassup gooners! Arsene ‘Ketita’ Wenger doesn’t sound too bad you know..
    Am i the only one noticing Ebuoe’s good performance in the last few games? this is a guy about whom people commented negatively when it became apparent he would be playing as a winger. some people ‘screamed’ about getting an established natural winger but to me i’d pick Ebuoe (with his Villa performance) in mind over most natural wingers. I love the way Ebuoe plays it, the way he cuts back in and his crosses too. the most loveable thing about him, i think, is his directness when he moves with the ball and it’s gonna take him far. Remember our own legend Thiery Henry? He wasn’t much of a dribbler himself and his sort of direct playing always got people off – guard..if Ebuoe keeps up, he’s gonna make it big. CHEER!

  2. There’s no question that Eboue has been doing well of late. He’s consistently been in the top three or four players in the last few games and full credit too him. Just needs to work on his shooting and playacting and he’ll become an Arsenal favourite again!

  3. Sorry, Spanish Fry, but you’ve been horribly fooled by a commentor on Third-Gen who invented the whole thing about Wenger and Katita.

    “Oops”.

  4. Indeed I have, just left a comment on your blog there to admit my defeat. Clever little bugger though, full marks for the brashness to pull it off. Have a good one Jammathon – hope the publicity helps regardless! 🙂

  5. It’s nothing. The evidence show that Flamini and Wenger is going commit themselves for the club. Stupid chelsea fans are thingkin that he is on his way out to join watford. So So stupid

  6. If we perform our first half peformence against newcasle and chelsea surely 3 points added to our title race. I feel sorry for chelsea fans. Drogba out to real madrin in january and lampard to Juventes. Abramovich bought success but his stratergy will fail time and time again until he feels whats right!
    old russian imbleicials

  7. Sup ya all ? I used to say flamini is not good enough for Arsenal but recently he played very well ,but the sad news is that flamini got a new injury too and he’s going to miss newcastle game !!!! SHIT , when injuries going to stop chasing us ??? CURSE .

  8. we have truly been hit with the worst injury list now. Hleb, flamini, diaby, fabregas and Van Persie all out agaisnt Newcastle. Is it just me or do RVP’s injuries always take an extra 2-3 weeks to heal. i fink a draw, cuz of our injuries

  9. Injuries will happen!
    Time for the prodidy to step up and show his class…Enter “Denilson” I’m telling you this guys something special.
    I will also like to see Ed get A CHANCE in a striking position too.

  10. Thank god that Katita isn’t some stunning french femme!!!! I’d have had to go into mourning for a month or so…

    Seriously; Alex Hleb is unfortunately one of those type of players that is always likely to get injuries… not because of his physique or any doubt on how robust he is… it’s just that players cannot tackle him.His close control work is so exceptional that the uncultured will simply end up diving in against him through nothing more than an inability to do anything else!

  11. katita is the name of his girlfriend of more than two years.. she is a very beautiful half mexican girl who i have the pleasure of knowing.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.