Late blog again, sorry. I try to get these out before 7am but since there is a delay in my work today I figured I’d wait for news on Cesc’s injury. I was “rewarded” with this report:
The news is not good because it is a partial rupture of the medial knee ligament which is taking three to four months injury time. We count four, we know he will be working very hard to come back earlier but I count four months.
How much [we will miss him] is difficult to say, the only thing we can say for sure is that we will miss him of course. We have to find a way to compensate for the fact he will not be on the pitch, and give everybody a bit more. I am sure we can deal with it. When he comes back he can help us to get over the line in the final months.
Well, that’s the worst news possible. If you remember back to the start of the season, Arsenal struggled mightily without their captain and now we’re headed into a crucial period of the title race and asking players like Song and Denilson to fill in. It’s a bad day what I can say that I could even see King Ramsey I The Boy King getting a few games as a sub and maybe even a start.
The absence of Cesc means that Arsenal will almost certainly need to prioritize between the three cups they are still striving for: FA, Champions League, and Premier League. The most important of those three is the League; financially and from a prestige standpoint we’d like to finish fourth or higher (even though Peter Hill-Wood pointed out the other day finishing fourth is not as financially devastating to the club as the doomsayers think.) Second in importance is the Champions League; this team is built for that competition, more so than the Premier League or the madness of the English cup ties that’s for sure, so I could see him place that second. Thus, I can see Wenger playing a modified Carling Cup squad in the FA Cup now that Cesc is down. He’ll need Denilson, Diaby, and Song as fresh as possible for the other games.
Oh what? You think this injury means that Wenger’s going to buy someone? Well… maybe. His answer there is perfect Arsene Wenger:
Yes [I am more likely to buy]…. but we also have internal solutions so we are not desperate because of that
If I know my Arsenespeak, that statement means that he has his eye on someone but doesn’t want to pay over the odds. Which means he’ll table a £16m offer for Alonso and it will be rejected… again.
Now, if you’ll indulge me a second I’d like to vent some spleen at Arsene.
Ahem
WHY THE F*CK DIDN’T YOU SPEND THE EXTRA £2M TO GET ALONSO IN THE SUMMER YOU F*CKING RETARD??????
Thanks
Of course he couldn’t see that Cesc would get injured and be out for four months, but he equally had to see that if Cesc went down it put a tremendous burden on the rest of the team and that having a second, versatile, battle-tested, fit, player who has the natural talent to fit right into your playing style and handle the pressure of the EPL, and the engine to run your opponents off the pitch would be crucial to winning a trophy this year.
The only player in the world than I can think of who fits that bill is Xabi Alonso and word has it that Wenger missed out on him this summer because he didn’t want to up his bid from £16m to £18m. Of all the mistakes that Wenger has made this year, and some of them are huge — like the Gallas captaincy, his stinginess in holding on to that last £2m will certainly stand as the biggest mistake because it has the ability to take down the season and possibly even the team. Evidence of how bad that decision was could take the form of Arsenal paying the stupid sum of £20m to desperately acquire Andrei Arshavin.
The reason that the Arshavin rumor has any legs is because irregardless who they buy, Wenger will be spending over the odds. Teams know what they have and what it’s worth to us, and as Gareth Southgate said when his midfield engineer (Tuncay) was linked to Chelski earlier in the week, “We are not here to help other clubs.”
It’s at trying times like these that the manager earns his keep and if there was ever any manager I trust to do the right thing, it’s Arsene Wenger. So, get off your ass and do the right thing, Arsene.
Buy who? A Cesc replacement. Hmm, that should be easy then. Plenty of them around, eh? Ten a penny.
Without Cesc, Arsenal’s chances of doing much this year are thin. It is NOT time to go flashing the cheque book blindly though. Rather, it’s time to put a “foot on the ball” and think rationally.
The current squad is really strong. They’re learning the trade week by week and (the youngsters) are visibly benefiting from that. Why not take the time during Cesc’s absence to build NEXT season’s team?
That will mean playing Denilson as Cesc’s replacemet. (YES! He is good enough) with Song alongside as first picks. Diaby nd Ramsey to deputise, learn and grow.
Does it lessen the chances of silverware this year? Probably? But we’ll live to tell the story.
I think AW will buy. In fact I hope he does, but not a fill in until Cesc gets better. A quality pklayer wh will start with Cesc next season. There aren’t many. Alonso isn’t one. Xavi maybe, but will Barca let him go? I don’t expect to see Arshavin any closer to Le Grove than St Petersburg.
Buy who? A Cesc replacement. Hmm, that should be easy then. Plenty of them around, eh? Ten a penny.
Without Cesc, Arsenal’s chances of doing much this year are thin. It is NOT time to go flashing the cheque book blindly though. Rather, it’s time to put a “foot on the ball” and think rationally.
The current squad is really strong. They’re learning the trade week by week and (the youngsters) are visibly benefiting from that. Why not take the time during Cesc’s absence to build NEXT season’s team?
That will mean playing Denilson as Cesc’s replacemet. (YES! He is good enough) with Song alongside as first picks. Diaby nd Ramsey to deputise, learn and grow.
Does it lessen the chances of silverware this year? Probably? But we’ll live to tell the story.
I think AW will buy. In fact I hope he does, but not a fill in until Cesc gets better. A quality pklayer wh will start with Cesc next season. There aren’t many. Alonso isn’t one. Xavi maybe, but will Barca let him go? I don’t expect to see Arshavin any closer to Le Grove than St Petersburg.
There are no replacements for Cesc, but Alonso would have been able to fill in better than any other player in the league for all the reasons I gave in the blog. He’s one of the most versatile player in the league and plays in a style that complements Wenger’s system.
I have been saying that the current squad is strong now all year, beating off the doomsayers left and right. Beating them off I say!
Maybe a dumb question but why are we talking about looking for ANOTHER central mid? We have been complaining for the last month that we are playing our central players in wide positions (like Diaby) or forcing them to play out of position (like Eboue). Why don’t we take steps to try to restore some WIDTH to the team? Has anyone noticed how one dimensional we are when the only two wide players(Nasri & Walcott – at least the only two who have played this year) are absent? That being said, I would not mind seeing Alonso in the squad but his presence would some someone else (Denilson, Diaby, Ramsey, Wilshire or Song) redundant. It seems unlikely but I’d like to see Ribery (or another creative winger) come in (we should have bought him last year with the money we got for Henri).
Anyway, just my 2 cents.
I mentioned just that same thing the other day. It’s not central that Arsene needs players it’s wide.
I was simply saying that Wenger should be rueing the day he didn’t spend an extra £2m on Alonso.
Wenger is hardly going to announce to the world who he is going to buy is he?!
“Wenger missed out on him this summer because he didn’t want to up his bid from £16m to £18m.” – you know this for a fact do you? Anyway Alonso is a good player but worth no more than £10m. As for ‘desperately’ spending £20m on Arshavin – it aint gonna happen!
My American friend, you should get a job in one of our tabloid newspapers the accuracy in your reporting is incredible!
Arshavin is far from any band-aid to our problems. He might have been good for last season, but this season we have a different problem of which he is not the solution. He hasn’t proven anything on a big stage to be worth 20M. The UEFA Cup probably gets less viewer ratings than the FA Cup. That is the extent of it’s importance. While he had a good Euro it’s hardly worth valuing him based on a few weeks of football. Wenger needs to come up big and I don’t necessarily mean money, I mean quality. He has negotiated some very good coups in his career and I hope he pulls a rabbit out of a hat in the window to salvage our good name and keep European competition at our stadium. I quite honestly do not want Wenger to learn the hard way via Bayern Munich or AC Milan and the UEFA Cup how lacking our current squad is. We need consistency and the record books show that all youth does not provide that. It is integral to any success this season that we find a better balance of youth and experience before 5th place is only viable position we can find ourselves in come May.
I have to agree (once again) that our problems are out wide. Between Nasri, Walcott, Rosicky, and Eboue we have a combination that could be very effective, BUT they’re always injured and/or low on confidence for various reasons. I don’t really count Rosicky as a squad player anymore, and we should not count on him coming back or being effective. I would be fine with buying another winger, but would really prefer that Wenger gave Vela or Wilshere a chance. I think the squad still has the potential, but Wenger must let Vela and others get on the field.
cesc is a hard player to replace, then again he did well after viera left. i would love to see ramsey or wilshire come in this boxing day, although strengthening the squad this january should be top of the agenda, especially on the wides.
Arteta,ngzobia,parker colochini will make difference in our team.