Arsene Wenger is not feeling well

Internationals are over for a few months and other than Theo Walcott, Arsenal look to have come out relatively unscathed, though Arsene Wenger may have picked up a bug of some sort: he’s making some very strange statements.

Cesc played all 90 minutes in Spain’s rout of, oh who cares, and will fly back to London for a good rest and hopefully a chat with the boss. He’s not playing this weekend and I hope he clears his head and figures out that Flamini and his buddy Hleb are not going to come sauntering through the door. Nor is Spain colleague Alonso going to ride in on his white horse and lead the team to victory. Cesc is going to have to take a leadership role on this team, I don’t care how young he is, there is literally no other option. People have been saying that he’d make a great captain, that this is his team, that he’s the star, blah, blah, blah. Well, the team is in an emotional toilet and clinging to the rim as clubs like Hull have a flush. Time for Cesc to show his mettle, quit acting so emo, quit looking for leadership elsewhere and pull this team up himself. No one is coming in to save us, he’s going to have to do it himself.

Theo underwent shoulder surgery last night and is now recuperating, to the tune of three months. Like I said yesterday, this doesn’t give Wenger as much of a selection headache as people think: Nasri can play there, Vela next week, Wilshere, etc. What is worrying is that Kolo is reportedly out and that raises the question as to who Arsene would put in the right back spot with Sagna, Kolo, the Tea Lady, and that clown Eboue all injured. After the boss spoke so highly of him this week the answer is clear: pair Djourou and Gallas in the back and put Silvestre in right back.

If the midfield looks a bit murky it’s because the old-heads are calling for Eboue’s reinstatement, which is sort of like hoping you get an outbreak of herpes before your honeymoon. Eboue was one of those most directly responsible for the breakdown at Tottenham (him and Song) and paired with his long history of histrionics on the pitch, incompetence with the ball, incompetence without the ball, and suspect defending as of late I’d rather he didn’t play. In fact, I’d rather Arsenal play a man down than play with Eboue.

The only real murky part is who will play on the right? My guess is a lineup of Nasri, Song, Denilson, and Diaby; and yes, I’m being serious. It’s always a crap shoot though, Arsene could pick Wilshere to play in Theo’s spot, he could play van Persie on the left (he’s done it before) and Nasri on the right, he could play with a man down and punt on 2nd down, you just never know. The announcement of the lineups is fast becoming my favorite part of this season because it’s the only predictable part of the match; in it’s unpredictability.

Arsenal are the talk of all the papers again with every disgruntled defender and half-assed holding midfielder being linked to the club. The big story though, had to be the speculation that Arsene would go nook-u-lar on the FA after hearing that they hurt his star pupil. So, what did he say?

I’m disappointed because he is an important part of the squad, but that could have happened in training here, it was an accident that could have happened anywhere. I do not blame the FA for that. It was accidental in training and I accept that. In a moment like that you do not think about compensation you think about how you can replace the player.

WHAT? Does Arsene have syphilis or something? Just last week he was talking about how unfair the international schedule is and now, suddenly, he’s all “accident’s happen?” I guess this is just going to go down as another example of what a strange season it’s been.

Press conference tomorrow, Man Citeh on Saturday, I’m off to work, even if I feel like death, that’s it for today, this sentence needs more commas, cheers.

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