More bad news to kick things off today with the word that Kieran Gibbs went off injured for England U21 against Lithuania. When it rains it pours, doesn’t it?
While the extent of the injury remains unknown the fact that Gibbs has gone for an X-ray suggests he won’t be playing against Sunderland this weekend. He’s also the second player to come back from International break with an injury (third if you include Abou Diaby) and with William Gallas, Bacary Sagna and Andrey Arshavin still to play there’s a genuine chance it could get a whole lot worse.
With Gael Clichy out with a stress fracture Gibbs’ injury will provide a particular dilemma for Arsene Wenger as to who will play at left back. Mikael Silvestre’s lack of pace and attacking instinct should rule him out while I feel the manager will be reluctant to break up the Gallas-Vermaelen partnership that has worked so well. Meanwhile Wenger is likely to feel that Armand Traore does not quite have the experience to step in at such a crucial juncture of the season.
Personally I think it will be Emmanuel Eboue who gets the nod, particularly if Gibbs’ injury turns out to be relatively minor. The Ivorian has been used there before and played a couple of games on the left in pre-season and I think he is the best like-for-like replacement we have for someone like Gibbs or Clichy. Plus, we could all use a little more Eboue Murphy in our lives.
Moving on and the manager has named the player that will replace Alex Song when he heads off in January to the African Cup of Nations. And that player is… Denilson!
No surprises there really, however it is interesting to hear Wenger rule out Samir Nasri as a possible candidate because of his tendency to attack and his “little handicap in the air”. Denilson is of course unavailable at the moment with a stress fracture in his back so let’s hope he has a complication-free return.
And that’s it for today in a jam-packed but rather short post. I’ll be getting up tomorrow at 3.30am Australian time to watch Egypt and Algeria battle for a spot at the World Cup before poking my nose into the other European qualifiers.
Take it easy.
Have your say on Gibbs’ injury, Denilson, Nasri or World Cup qualifiers by leaving a comment.
Our injury list is worrying me greatly. It just keeps getting worse. I HATE INTERNATIONAL BREAKS!!!!!!!!!!
True Shane, this effing international break has well and truly screwed us up. Hopefully we won’t look back at the end of the season and realise this is where it all started to go wrong.
However it was good news that RVP’s injury is relatively short-term (in his terms after all) and I’m pretty hopefull Gibbs will be back very soon.
This injury thing is getting scary, Oh God i hate internationat breaks
play armand traore there hes the only left back left hes a good player
No chance it will be Eboue. Even with Clichy & Gibbs out, we have 3 left backs in Silvestre, Traore & Vermaelen.
One of them will play.
I suspect it might be Silvestre who hasn’t featured this season but who’ll help in defending corners now that RVP, Diaby & Bendtner are all out.
Yeah, I wouldnt agree that that Traore lacks experience, I think he is more experienced than Gibbs tbh. And would add a good attacking threat on the left. Other options would be to put Vermaelen there and move Send or Silv into CB…doubt AW would do that but you never know.
Tough one to call.
Hope all the other guys come back home safe!
I pray we dont feel these injuries. Iam sure other players are going to step up nd perform very well.
I hope it will be Senderos and Gallas and move vermaelen to the left. Though Wenger says he is reluctant to rotate his CB pairing, but then when injuries mount, he got no choice.
Furthermore against chelsea, there is no drogba, so therefore Senderos can play!!!
I think Sylvester would be a better replacement.He has experience even though he lacks pace.Our other problem is the strike force.We are really in trouble in that department
Whether injury or replacement, Gunners will surely make it to get trophy
I think he’ll go with traore for the LB spot. He’s had a full season in the Prem, and did well over the summer. I guess it’s time he got his chance like the others. I think eboue would probably be a better choice for winning games, but traore deserves an opportunity.
Id maybe give armand a chance against sunderland & Liege and then make a decision over whether he should play against chelsea. If not, eboue has shown himself to be a solid LB in the past.
Denilson as Song’s replacement? Funny as last season I remember how Song was his replacement. But that is how things go now. I love how you focus on the negative news first. Doom and gloom? Not at all. Besides Gibbs injury doesn’t sound like he will miss many games at all.
Whether injury or replacement, Gunners will surely make it to get trophy this season
Has some one done any research about the injuries, they are worrying, all teams are crying Liverpool, Chelsea, Everton. Arsenal has Walcot, Denilson, Vela, RVP, Diaby, Clichy, Gibbs, Bentner, Wilshere we dont know whos next. Let Traore play nothing like inexperience what happened when goalies were all down? Ebue is now a utility player, Silvestre is injury prone too. On song I think we need back up during transfer period, if Denilson gets injured again (Ramsey “experience”)Anyway we need to pray for them to get well and back for options headache to AW
I think if drogbe is not playing .it is good to some one with good quality of professional at left corner to replace for arsenal .that person ll be troure if a vailable.i also ensure ars will get trophy an less wenger come with telanted player.
This is not the end of the injury list and it will mount even more. this is the period when the trophy proper will either be won or lost. i know we have come a distance but it is not enough, without having good players, all injured, then lets forgewt using replacements as solutions. and when AW says and talks about experience, why doesnt he allow them gain that experience at this juncture that play people like Silvetre who are prone to alot of errors and lack the same pace they had before.
Lets go Gunners lets go Gooners.
I have greatful i can say arsenal will get 1or2trophy if ars players are continoue hard working .i want the ars manage to select the strong players in journwary trans.. I really sry rvp injury.
Maybe AW will play some youngsters?
This terrible injury toll happens every year at Arsenal and it has ruined our title and cup hopes for the last 3 seasons. Makes me wonder if the players do enough conditioning training although there’s not much you can do if somebody takes your ankles out. We desperately need another striker/winger in January now.
It would be ridiculous to break up the Gallas/Vermaelen partnership, Traore is just not good enough and Eboue is too right-sided. Sylvestre is the best option, he may not have the pace of Clichy and Gibbs but then he is a full-back not a wing-back.
Diaby is probably not fit so Ramsey could get a start alongside Fabregas and Nasri with Song sitting in front of the back four.
Perhaps Gibbs could join RvP on his visit to the Serbian witch for some placenta treatment.
You never know, it just might work!
Its pitty for the players that got injuries on international duties because we can’t blame any one for that but lets look forward on what to do. My suggestion is that we can use this boys like Merida, and that one that was used on the game against Liverpool on 30th October, who is Gilbert, he is a good defender. I can be very happy to see the two in the pitch this weekend against Sunderland. Its a must for us to win this game so that we can put pressure on Chelsea and give Man United stress.
Thank you.
traore is a better player than that fool we bought from utd my nephew be better than him plus if traore is that bad of a player why hold on too him then y not let him go
this is why teams add a few extra players in the transfer markets… with a few players injured we are suddenly having to make do with inexperienced, slow, or out of position players to fill in the holes. in defense that is particularly worrisome for us.
here’s to hoping the rest come back healthy and the wounded heal quickly. hopefully AW makes a grab for some cover in the transfer window.
come on ireland!!!!!!!lets have a go at least
Denilson am sure he will make it but still, the midfield will be lacking song’s tempo but thats not a bad replacement and for Gibbs, Eboue will make it better than the way him. We have seen Eboue in the left back doing well. We saw him in champions league against Manu after Gibbs mistakes. He deserves that position
Eboue? I think we may use him on the right up front to give us some cover whilst Bentner is out.
If Traore is fit in time then he is the perfect like-for-like replacement. He played plenty of first team football last season in the Premier League and has been at Arsenal long enough to deserve his chance. He has been part of our good Carling Cup runs and is very similar in style to both Clichy and Gibbs.
I’ll go even further. If Gibbs wasn’t English, I am of the opinion that Traore would have played more football for Arsenal. The stress that Wenger gets from the media here may have been what gave a promising Kieran Gibbs the nod over the talented Traore last season, leading to the latter being sent on loan. Controversial!
I guess we are lucky to have three brilliant left backs (Silvestre not included).
I hope he give Traore a chance too and uses Eboue further up… And Vela too should have a crack at it, this is the time for some of the “senior” young guns ncluding Ramsey, Vela, Traore to step up. Good news that Gibbs injury isnt so bad and he will be back soon so its maybe a temporary problem.
Meanwhile Van Persie is getting some interesting treatment for his injury….
http://bleacherreport.com/tb/b1A7n
ha ha ha ha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
COME ON IRELAND!!!!!!
extra time and shuda won 3-0…wot a keeper that lloris is
am sad that arsha wont be at the world cup but to be honest i wont be sad if sagna and gallas join him
COME ON NOW BOYS,ONE MORE PUSH
I’m Watching France Vs. Ireland now and Sagna’s got a busted lip…nothing to serious i hope..
tut,tut,tut thierry henry that was not nice blatant handball i feel for you shambo.
I cannot believe Arshavin missed out on the World Cup. The red card for Kherzakov was ridiculous, as was Thierry’s handball.
If ever there was a clear indication that video technology is needed it was those two incident. Four years of hard work for Ireland and Russia down the drain because of a refereeing decision.
absolutely gutted once again my team has been undone by the hand of poor officiating,honestly if its not arsenal its my country
…keane got blown for handball 4 times tonight and they conspire to miss thierrys double handed control,not only that but squillachi was clearly offside in the buildup and he then went on to impede dunne before henry broke our hearts.wot a case for technology.
wev contested to win places from the toughest continent,then made the playoffs via fifas blatant bending of the rules,only to draw the former champs and recent finalists,we go down at home to a ridiculous deflection,we then pick ourselves up off the floor and produce a display that would rival any other qualifier worldwide for sheer guts and determination and its frankly a disgrace that given,duff,dunne,keane and co’s last shot at playing at a world cup should be unjustly and more importantly UNDERVEDLY taken away from them in this manner….
i actually thought it wud be anelkas disgusting dive that would go against us,i would have taken that 100 times above our iconic henry doing wot he did,and then the way he wheeled away in celebration,it really soured alot of fond memories i hav of him and his integrity and id say he feels some degree of shame,he must
as an ireland fan all i can say mores the pity that my team and my countrymen will not be showcased at yet another worldcup finals and im as proud of those 15,000 loyal,heartbroken and hoarse travelling fans as i am of those players who left everything in paris tonight….you will all just hav to make do with the french, who only sing when their winning
as an arsenal fan i will cheer on our french players in the comp with the dirty taste in my mouth of poetic justice…anelka deflection,henry hand to foot to gallas…..3 men strongly connected to the other team i love…..sick sick sick game
absolutely gutted
oh yeah and i nearly forgot to mention tne dignity our boys showed in defeat…your a credit
am still gutted and am goin to bed now to cry loudly and long into the night….
I think the replacement is cool.