Categorized | Arsenal

Djourou injury confirmed as bruising, plus stuff I don’t want to talk about

Posted on 08 February 2011. Tags: ,

Written by: LadyArse on February 8, 2011.

Well, what shall I talk about today? The interlull is upon us, pointless international duty threatening to strike down every player who didn’t manage to convince their national team doctor they had the runs, and the media still have their knives out for Arsenal.

I wish to discuss none of this, simply because it depresses the life out of me.

One thing I did hear today which grabbed my interest was on the Chapper’s Premier League podcast where ex-Premier League referee Graham Poll said this:

Now I’m not one to stick up for Gary Neville, but when this was said to him, Poll reports that Neville replied “but that’s cheating” and he’s right. The fact that Poll couldn’t understand that Neville wouldn’t accept this is laughable.

And also, possibly, at the root of our recent problems with refs.

It’s worth discussing at a later date because simply, I’m quite fed up with all the talk about refs who are, let’s face it, usually refs because they were a.) bullied at school and b.) picked last for football at school (Sorry to offend any lower league refs reading, I don’t mean to aim that at you).

We should be talking about football matters, but what would they be? Should we go over the 4-4 from the weekend for the hundredth time? I’d rather not do that either.

Shall we talk about our injuries which are mounting rather nicely, just in time for the arrival of The Barcelona Globetrotters? Well, there’s was good news on Djourou with the Swiss FA saying he would only be out for one week. Bear in mind this is not an Arsenal week, but rather a Swiss week which will be exactly seven days, no more, no less and explains why he was relatively upbeat on Twitter yesterday. Bad bruising. Superb news.

There’s no news on Denilson or Robin’s ‘flu, Gibbs mystery injury, Cesc’s dodgy tummy, or Song’s leg after Kos kicked it.

How about the non-spending in the transfer window? Wasn’t it obvious that all this would happen as soon as the window shut? Well, actually, no, it wasn’t. We didn’t buy a centre-back for a number of reasons, the main ones being there was no-one around who was ‘of value,’ teams didn’t want to sell, and, in the long run, how do you keep five or more centre-backs happy knowing that you have kids out on loan who will eventually want to play as well? We didn’t buy knowing we had Song. Should we have expected that we would lose Djourou AND Song to injury within the space of one week? We had Denilson and Diaby to cover Song, should we have foreseen the injury of one and the craziness of the other?

How could ANYONE have known that we would lose all those players in one week? And, even if you could, would you say that we should have bought ‘just in case’? Well, what if we had, what would you suggest we do with all those players when people start returning to fitness?

Let’s not talk about that either.

James Shea, our current number three goalkeeper (with Fabianski injured and Mannone out on loan) has signed a contract extension to keep him at the club ‘long-term.’ If I’m honest I know very little about him, having only seen him play a few times and I’m nowhere near as well placed to comment on his ability as I was when watching Szczesny for the first time a few years ago. The club clearly rate him so that’s good enough for me. He’s an Islington lad as well which should please quite a few people as well, local lad and all that.

There was no blog yesterday as I was slammed with work and also took part in one of @TheRSD’s series of live blogs with fellow blogger @SianyMacalarny. If you missed it, you can replay it here

Free 6×4 print with every transfer purchased in February, click here for more information.

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  • sid

    Arsenal fans are a joyless bunch. If there was (god forbid) a bus crash wiping out half our squad, some mug would be on here demanding Wenger be sacked for nto bringing in 10 players in advance.

    • Rocky Jay

      STFU Sid, you getting me to piss in my pants just by the thoughts of a bus crash wiping out half of our beloved squad!!

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  • Anonymous

    hey ladyarse, if the news about JD id right, then you made my week …. i would spring you a kiss …. *
    at least one good thing concerning our injury list. nice point about the swiss week rather than the arsenal week …. you are so right about that (see: vermaelen’s & rosicky’s small problems….)

  • Jekyll

    What you do with all those players is get rid of the ones who aren’t up to the job, i.e. Squillaci, Denilson, Diaby.

    I didn’t see anyone demanding anything other than cover for the fact we’ve currently only got 3 CBs and so what happens if one get injured… as has happened. That’s just called forward planning.

    • sid

      right mate, yeah. And spending £15million or more on someone who could be 4th or 5th choice in 3 weeks when Vermaelen is back? That’s forward planning is it. Thank Christ you aint running the club you mug.

      • Jekyll

        You need to cut out the abuse, especially to those who aren’t being abusive.

        Who said £15m? What about a loan?

        As it happens I do think Arsenal could use a top quality CB to compete to be Tommy V’s partner when he’s back. You get rid of Squillaci in the summer

        • sid

          Jees. A loan. You want rid of a CB with CL & international experience within 5 months of signing him and you think there was a CB available who’d be good enough for our first team that another side would be willing to give us for nothing??
          Are you living on planet earth?

          • Jekyll

            Yes, I want rid of Squillaci, he is not up to it. Ideally I’d like Wenger to have actually spent proper money on the kind of CB we’ve needed for years – the kind we used to have.

            As you don’t have the ability to debate an issue without resorting to aggressive rhetoric I think I’ll leave it there.

          • Shudders

            Most of us don’t know Squillaci’s potential, and we don’t know his optimal performance level. We don’t know if he’s going to get better after an “adaptation period.” We don’t know if he’s better with Vermaelen. So it’s jumping the gun too much to say he’s not up to it. (Unless you were privy to his performances in France and Spain, OPTA statistics, psychological profile, and have the ability to situate all that into the context of the Premier league.)

            Moreover, it’s the Bendtner dilemma all over again. Squillaci is only being ask to grow into (over the next 12 months) one of the best 4th choice center backs in the league. That’s it. Or, to make way once Bartley or someone else comes along with better qualities.

          • Anonymous

            heey..planet earth here ..

            Squillaci was a big mistake by the lunatic wenger…as usual…Silvestre what a coop he was..Senderos..oh my God…we could go on and on and on and….and for all of you so called Gooners who dont think we need any investments in Our XI…..we currently have 24 loanees and no real cover for Chezzzer…CB’s…Song…or the crock RvP….c’mon its rididcilous…

            nope get that over the hill wenger out asap…

        • Jdeigh

          TV was good going forward, scoring on corners and the like, but he wasn’t perfect in the back, sometimes playing players onside and the like. I wouldn’t say he should automatically go in when he’s back from injury and replace Koscielny, especially if Djourou and Kos continue to play so well together.

      • http://twitter.com/jopparoad Joppa Road

        Just out of interest how would a £15M CB (if one had come in) been 4th or 5th choice? I don’t think it was a bad shout from Arsenal fans to want a CB in when you consider TV5 has been out for practically the whole season leaving Squill as our only back up realistically.

        To call someone a mug for saying it just really show you up IMHO.

  • http://twitter.com/jopparoad Joppa Road

    Could it be that the injuries we have suffered this time around have come at the right time, if that is possible? Hear me out.

    If we were going to get injuries then the month of Feb isn’t a bad time to get them. We have Verm coming back, Nasri hopefully a couple of weeks away and now it looks as if JD should be ok in a week or so. Apart from Barcelona, all the teams we face are beatable with the injuries we have. Of course Barcelona are beatable too but it’s going to take a Herculean effort to get past them. If we go out, then so be it we EPL, LC and FA Cup are very winnable.

    Come the end of Feb hopefully we should have a near full strength team to pick from. For me February wasn’t the worst time of the season we could have picked up a few injuries.

    • Brittany

      I completely agree. I rather have injuries woes now rather than the during the run at the end of the season. March, April, May are the real important months. And if we go out against barca, I welcome that if it means stronger team competing in less competitions.

    • Shudders

      I am with you here on the timing of the injuries. And it’s great that Cesc and RvP have begged off international duty with illness.

      I think the Barca re-match is timed perfectly (apart from Nasri’s injury) in another way:
      If we can’t beat Barca then we can’t win the Champion’s League b/c it’s likely they’ll walk it this year. (Who has the tactics and personnel to stop them?) If we do beat Barca then we are in with a shout at winning that competition. So if we are going to, then it’s way better to lose to them now, get over niggle February injuries, and pour all into the FA Cup and the league.

  • Jdeigh

    Correction: Song was injured by Chesney, not Kos.

    • Anonymous

      Just repeating what Le Boss said “Song cannot walk, I don’t know what he has got. He was kicked, I think it was by Koscielny, he knocks out everybody in our team!”

      • Jdeigh

        I just looked at the video again. It was Chesney and Song sliding in and Chesney caught Song in the thigh with his boot.

        Wenger proably said Koscielny but he meant Chesney as Chesney has injured Fabianski (shoulder), Sagna (concussion), and in this case Song (thigh).

        http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/8105/chesneysong.jpg

      • Shudders

        Yes, AW misspoke. Chesney injured Fabianski in warm-up (as he stated on Arsenal.com video), then Sagna with the head butt, then Song with the kick. That’s why AW made the joke in the first place, but confused everyone by saying Kos. Shame he misspoke, b/c that kind of joke would add to Chesney’s growing persona (as does his story about his Dad punching Mancini). I bet he’s got an eye out for getting back at Nolan, too. Shame Newcastle are out of the FA cup.

        • Anonymous

          I’ve a funny feeling Ches will remember….:)

  • eleanor

    For those who prefer their good news more “bonnes nouvelles” than “gute nachrichten”

    http://www.football.ch/fr/start.aspx?vNews=1&newsID=9

    It appears there’s no cartilage damage, only swelling and bruising. And the Swiss national team doctor goes on to say that if there are no complications JD20 should be able to resume training in LESS than a week.

    Since the information has probably come directly from the Arsenal medical team, I really do wish AFC would be less reticent with stuff like this.

    I mean, I’ve been fretting for days now. Well, sort of. And we really shouldn’t be getting updates from sources like the Swiss FA, fascinating though their website is.

    The Press Office at Arsenal must be one of the worst in all PR history.

    Grrrr … and … yay. Mostly yay.

  • Anonymous

    Guys, no need to be insulting anyone, we might have differing opinions, but no need for the insults :)

  • Anonymous

    The reason we didn’t get a CB in is because AW won’t admit to making a mistake with Squill ! TV5 back in a few weeks we heard that months ago and you wouldn’t be surprised if he does make it back he gets crocked again being that he’s been out for so long ! Kos and JD have surprised me they look good. AW should have put his hands up said I made a mistake and sold Squill and brought Samba in. To be fighting on four fronts with Squill as cover is ridiculous.

    While I’m at it what is the point of buying and wasting our time buying these 16/17 year old wonder kids ! How many of them make it with us ?

    So to sum up we get rid of Big Al, Eboue, Squill, Denilson and Vela probably get £28/30m save a fortune on wages cut down on the wonder kids who never make it save a bit there too and buy some decent additions to the squad !

    • The Happy Gooner

      Walcott; Ramsay; Szczesny; Djourou; Song and some bloke called Fabregas.
      All signed before they were 18. What a wasted bunch of signings they’ve been.
      Probably best we stop developing youth from the age of 8/9 too because as Wilshire and Gibbs prove, that’s not working either………..

      • Anonymous

        How many 16/17 year olds have we had to go through to get them it’s easy real off the ones you’ve mentioned what about the 50 odd that never made it ?

      • Gerrybro

        Yes they are good promising players – but Arsenal have not won anything yet with them. Where is the evidence that any club in the EPL can achieve success by growing their own alone? Name one club who has won the EPL without making any big signings?
        Arsenal has become a glorified youth development programme. The club will not win a major trophy unless and until they buy some top experienced players to supplement the kids.

  • Gibbon

    The injury problems are entirely foreseeable-because JD and RVP couldn’t play more than one game per week up to January and in January they had to-and just look at the last 3 years-its a repeated pattern. We have not been able to defend high balls into the box since Sol Campbell left.
    Diaby and Denilson are not defensive midfielders and neither can do Songs job. When Song is missing we are unbalanced defensively.
    We do need a commanding centreback and we dont have one because Wenger wont pay the market price – no other reason. A big centreback would not necessarily help against Barcelona who dont play aerial ping pong like EPL teams do. We haven’t got the defensive capability throughout the team to hang in there when they have the ball-it is the weakest part of our game.
    We have not got a hope in hell against Barcelona with such a weak defence-we will be lucky to keep the score down- like last year .

    • Rob_Anon

      Don’t know what you’re worried about – Super Fabio is going to play Jack out of position as England’s defensive midfielder – obviously playing a midget 19 year old out of position, to absorb all of the high balls and hard tackles in the answer. That or no-one gives a crap about our players.

  • puppyguts

    it makes my laugh how fast alot of gooners are to judge squills ability, he was half decent at the begining of the season but most seem to forget tht entirely

    p.s stop making lists of players u want out of the club, its cringe worthy tht alot of you call yourselves arsenal supporters

  • Ccurry85

    we JD injury record of course we should known that we would lose him at some stage of the season in similar terms would anyone be suprised if RVP got injured again before the end of the season. Can you explain how are are keeping 5 cb happy, Vermanlen is injured, Song is not a centre back and neither is DIaby or Denilson quality cover for him and Squillaci is cleary not good enough. We had/have a great chance of winning the league this year yet our lack of ambition will shoot us in the arse once more, mark my words next year will be much harder.

  • wrightydenhenry

    Yes some Arsenal Fans are a miserable bunch, one minute we’re praising the team ala Everton (and a brilliant atmosphere) comeback and the next minute everything is a disaster ala Newcastle 22 minutes of a nightmare. Well we gained a point on United unexpectedly and the news on Djourou’s injury is better than expected. Who knows Nasri might even be fit to play against Barcelona.
    When the Verminator returns will we play him or just rotate Djourou/Kos as they have forged such a partnership together?

  • Weedonald

    Are we still debating the CB conundrum? Time to give it a rest lads and lassies. Wenger gambled and maybe, with the Djourou news and Diaby not being dead-legged for too long, he did the right thing…when you all become Arsenal’s manager, you all can make the calls and take the flack but until then, we have to trust in our crappy manager who was named manager of the decade and who has kept a mediocre collection of losers(according to a lot of Arsenal ¨fans¨) in the EPL top 4, in all the cups including 11 years in the CL and helped build the best stadium in England. God he’s so bad that I think Harry Redknapp might actually have a chance to do better………if he can ever match Wenger’s achievements in the next decade that is.
    As far as Barca goes, I remember when we tied AC Milan at home 0-0 and everyone said that we’d get our arses handed to us at the San Siro BUT we beat them in front of their home fans, the first English team to do so….isn’t it a possibility we can find the grace to do this again against Barcelona?
    AC Milan were the defending CL champs at the time and had arguably the best team in Europe. I know Barca is light-years ahead of that AC Milan team and that we are just a bunch of whining, weak, spineless, cheating, diving, indefensible losers who pretend to be EPL contenders according to the UK media but hey, one never knows. For a bunch of crap, we are doing MARGINALLY better than the other 18 teams below us and being the only EPL team still in all four cups, with the 2nd best goal difference in the EPL, and with 5 key first team starters out injured! Including 3 CB’s and our player of the year so far; Nasri!
    But I digress, as far as Squillaci goes, I saw him play in Spain and for the French National side and he never looked out of place or as akward as he has at times for Arsenal. I don’t believe we have ever seen the best of him and it is also very possible that he’ll begin to show his real skills and abilities as he sees more time and competition. We have allowed only 3 more goals than United over 25 games (and that includes our meltdown at Newcastle),we have scored 1 less goal than United and are 2nd in the EPL for goals scored…….God are we ever shite!
    Let’s fire Wenger, sell everyone, including Gunnersaurus, Pat Rice and the entire Grove medical team, hire a real winner like Fat Sam as manager, bring in only English players of outstanding character and skill like Pennant, Savage, Barton, Bentley, ad nauseam and play Volley-Football like half the crap teams in the EPL do….that would be truly British!

    • Anonymous

      sometimes i really hate AKB’s who have absolutely no clue whatsoever…besides from licking someones ass…get real…we’re not living in lalalalaland…and c’mon Squillaci are worse than wengers masterbuy Silvestre..

    • Anonymous

      I’m not content with top four I want top one ! That’s the thing, replace the mediocre squad players you know who they are with better players and bingo we get stronger and our chances improve, it’s not rocket science !

    • Kipmonster

      ‘ when you all become Arsenal’s manager, you all can make the calls and take the flack but until then, we have to trust in our crappy manager who was named manager of the decade ‘ ………….
      Ridiculous of course as the above comment is but understandable as this blog is home to a legion of AKB financial non contributors. Criticising Mr Wenger’s judgements & actions does NOT mean he is viewed as Crappy etc. A more ruthless approach is needed regarding non performing players such as Squillaci. We should have brought in a quality Centre Back & Squillaci should be bombed out at the end of the season instead of keeping him ‘ a la Silvestre ‘ who after a poor 1st season went on to be even worse the following season …….. quite an achievement !! It’s ridiculous to consider Song as cover when he has been superb in his midfield position & at present there is no other available tplayer who can fulfil his role.
      Vermaelen is highly unlikely to play a significant role during the rest of this season, Kosceilny is promising but should not be a regular starter yet & needs to bulk up, Djourou is fragile & to rely on him to be consistently available is highly optimistic & Squillaci has simply been a Stepanovs / Silvestre disaster !!

      • Anonymous

        As I’ve said to you before, not everyone who lives outside of England is a ‘financial non-contributor’ as you put it. To go to a game (which I used to do at least once a month, sometimes twice until I lost my job) I had to pay for match tickets (usually for the matches people couldn’t be arsed going to), pay for taxis, flights, trains and hotels. Since I am unable to do that at present (though when I can get the money together it all goes on going to see the Arsenal) I pay for my red membership, pay for my nephews membership, buy my shirts from Arsenal.com, contribute to the Fan Share Scheme, pay extortianate amounts for a Sky subscription, plus a host of other things which provides money for MY club.

        Arsenal does not just belong to the people who are fortunate enough to be able to attend regulary, being a season ticket holder is not the only way to financially support Arsenal and your constant desparaging of people you chose to see as ‘less than’ supporters because you’ve decided they don’t contribute enough is tiresome.

        • Weedonald

          Thanks LA….good critique…..Some of our supporters not only love to shit all over their team but also cannot refrain from judging long-distance supporters, even though they know less about us than they do about Football in general!

        • AMTGooner

          Well said LA!

          “A more ruthless approach to non-performing players” would have seen us get rid of Nasri – our player of the season so far” and a host of other players. God forbid, the great TH14 didn’t immediately perform, so those who insist on judging within 5 minutes of a new player’s arrival would no doubt have got rid of him too if they’d had their way. Does anyone ever remember that defensive legends like Tony Adams were actually quite rubbish to start with, and ‘safe hands’ David Seaman was quite dodgy before he developed into our rock. I could, of course, go on, and on, and on. Just because we don’t subscribe to the Championship Manager knowall school of thought doesn’t make those of us who support our manager of the decade, and most successful manager of The Arsenal, EVER, complete idiots who don’t understand football. Paying a lot of money to be one of those privileged enough to get to see games regularly (and by the way, in case you hadn’t noticed, the Emirates is not big enough for everyone who wants to get in to do so) does NOT make you management experts. As is clearly demonstrated by the naivety of your prescriptions for greater success.

          • AMTgooner

            Sorry if not clear – but the “you” in the last sentence of my post above refers to Kipmonster ‘s naivety, and not to Ladyarse….!

          • Kipmonster

            Your the naive idiot comparing your named players to the likes of Silvestre & Squillaci who were are flawed players at the latter end of their careers.

        • Kipmonster

          Financed by your illegal unlicensed merchandising !!

          • Anonymous

            If you say so

      • Weedonald

        Kipmonster…you may be a more prolific contributor to Arsenal’s financial health than I or other supporters can ever hope to be as we live thousands of miles away and will rarely if ever be able to see Arsenal at the Emirates but you can take your holier than thou attitude and put it where the sun shines! I buy anything Arsenal I can get and watch any Arsenal game available and like LA, spend a great deal to do that. I am retired and do not have the financial clout you so arrogantly boast of but I , and millions of other Arsenal supporters worldwide support the Gunners faithfully and enthusiastically so sod off with your AB financial non-contributors and your implication that my comments are somehow ridiculous because I don’t have the good fortune (unlike you apparently) to live in the UK.
        I realize that my commentary was too subtle and tongue in cheek for you to understand but my ridiculing of fanboys like you with their doom and gloom excessively critical attitudes towards our players and manager would escape you entirely. Noone on this site knows what or how Wenger uses his superior knowledge and experience to balance our on-field needs against our financial resources but it is EVERYONE’S right to express their opinion….but it is not your right to judge other supporters, no matter where we live and what we conclude.

        • Kipmonster

          The only reason I talked in that tone regarding financial contribution is to annoy the distant fans who have the ridiculous view that you are not a genuine fan if you criticise the manager or club. It’s constantly blogged by the ‘ Arsene Knows Brigade ‘ when the recent seasons repetitive flaws & weaknesses have shown that despite the fact he IS A LEGEND and is NOT sh*t !!!, he has shown that he doesn’t ALWAYS know !!

  • wan

    Guys dont go overboard ranting on wenger and squillaci. He was probably bought to be our 3rd/4th choice. And he was rather decent when partnered with JD. If TV was fit this entire time, we would all be raving about the depth we have in our CBs.

  • W.Copping

    lads. Our first choice starting eleven is excellent: Szczesny; sagna, djourou, TV5, clichy; fabregas, wilshire, song; nasri, RVP, Theo.
    subs: koscielny, gibbs, ramsey, arshavin, chamakh, bendtner, diaby.
    reserves; eboue, squillaci, denilson, rosicky, vela,, and then the future of our squad (which is on the horizon) Lansbury, frimpong, JET, eastmond, wellington.
    the squad looks a lot better than ok to me. you cannot prepare for injuries. when cheslea had no terry or alex, they fell apart. when man utd have no rio or vidic , they fall apart.
    give your comments the full benefit of time and think about it. we are never going to spend ridiculous amounts of money on players, so get over it.
    the game at the weekend was a freak. it will never happen again. and none of the goals we have conceded recently have been from defending crosses and heading (since wigan at end of dec, with flapianski in goal), the only one was newcastle’s 2nd , when clichy missed the header). 2 (dubious) penalties and tiotes goal of his career hardly mean we need to buy a load of new players! newcastle did well, took advantage of the tide that had turned in their favour, and we have to learn. but it was a crazy crazy game. so many factors (linesman, diaby, nolan, crowd, etc) all contributed to an insane game of football,. a game of 2 halves!
    learn not to be fickle, that is a trait of tottenham fans. certain players are not up to it, but these are squad players, and every squad has them. our players are our players, and we must support them.
    i am not a so called AKB, or anti AW, im just an Arsenal supporter. who understands football. i have seen players far worse than some of our current crop of squad players who were considered good enough to be regulars at the time. get some perspective.
    optimisim is required, until the summer. the glass if undeed half full!
    come on you Reds!!!

    • Gerrybro

      How can you say that the back up players are OK? Seven out of the eight defeats so far have had Squill and Kos as our centre back pairing. Is this just coincidence?
      The capitulation against Newcastle is not a one off- the games at Wigan and home against Tottenham this season showed that. Newcastle are a mid table side with a modest forward line and a defence even dodgier than ours. The best you can say about our defence is that its brittle. Without Djourou we look vulnerable against any high ball into the box. That is not good enough for a top side.Our centre backs and left back are too easily rattled.

  • Anonymous

    Can we just calm this all down?

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