What next for Thomas Vermaelen? Striker to stay and Wenger is 'parfaite'….

Injury Update

Carl Jenkinson is having a scan today but Wenger has pretty much ruled him out for Stoke, Gibbs, Vermaelen and Diaby are all two weeks away from a return.

When Thomas Vermaelen is fit and ready to play, what will Wenger do with him?

Slot him straight back into the defence and move Koscielny to right back?

Slot him back in and drop either Mertesacker or Koscielny?

Let me back boss.......

Leave our central defensive pairing alone and keep the Belgian on the bench?

Or will he do what many fans suggest and play him in the centre of midfield?

Tough one isn’t it?

Most agree that the pairing of Koscielny and Mertesacker is starting to gel, even Martin Keown has noticed improvements and Wednesday was possibly their best game together this season, yes a few hiccups on the ground but in the air, I think they won pretty much everything, something we haven’t been able to brag about for ages…

So would it be the right thing to do to ‘drop’ either?

The injury to Sagna and now Jenkinson may make it an easier decision for the manager to make but if Jenkinson’s injury is not serious and he’s soon back playing, what happens then?

Continue with the young Englishman, or subtly let him know that he’s not quite ready yet by moving Koscielny to right back in any case and play Vermaelen with Mertesacker in the middle?

Like I said, it’s a tough one isn’t it?

I think the worst case scenario is having our best three central defenders playing at one time, what happens if any pick up an injury, we would then be back to Djourou, Miquel or even worse, Squillaci.

Following Wednesdays match in France, Sue Campbell, head of Arsenal Travel has heaped praise on the travelling fans:

The fans were fantastic and did us proud. They worked with us and Marseille in advance to understand what was required and followed the guidelines perfectly.

They were tremendous ambassadors for the Club.

About time too I say, our away fans have been immense, especially this season when things are not all as rosy as they once were…

Talking of which, many of us still hope for just a couple of signings to be made in January, some have even suggested we could sell one or two in the same transfer window as well.  One name that has been discussed is Chamakh but Arsene Wenger has confirmed he’s here for the foreseeable….

Marouane is not going anywhere; there is not a problem with Chamakh.

He is fighting for the position with Robin van Persie who is in great form at the moment. He will get his chance, we have so many games.

Chamakh doesn’t want out either, he’s said:

I love this club and I will do all I can to be a success here with Arsenal, I am working hard to reach my level.

Finally, Bobby Pires has given Lucho Gonzalez a bit of advice and told him he should have moved in the summer to Arsenal…

Tactically you work a lot, and Wenger makes you work on your qualities – he is perfect.

Ah Bobby, I do miss you but did you ever learn what the word ‘parfaite’ means in English 😉

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peter wagumba
peter wagumba
14 years ago

arsenal plus arsene wenger just top class period ! ! !

trugun
trugun
14 years ago

Chamakh loves Arsenal?? I don’t think i’ve seen a player look so unhappy for a long time, the phrase “face like a smacked arse” comes to mind, although Arshavin pushes him close at times.

mah
mah
14 years ago

it will be interesting to see what le boss does with the back 4 when TV5 returns. I doubt he’ll be playing in midfield though,that would be too drastic a step specially when the midfield has slowly started to gel (and hopefully will get better by the time TV5 returns). There’s a case too,for playing TV5 at LB in case gibbs takes longer than expectd to recover coz i feel santos looks quite unfit at the moment. As far as sunday is concerned,djourou will play RB (The horror!)
And rico, miquel is really good.way better than djourou and even better than kozzer at times.bright future for the lad,hopefully at the arsenal!

TT
TT
14 years ago

Morning all

Chamack has always looked like that trugun, take no notice of it. The proplem with chamack is that he is not a lone striker material. Play him in a 442 and he would flourish or at least get more chances than he gets now. With improved crossing he will get us many more headed goals and he is not that bad on the floor either. i would leave the pairing of Merts and Kozzer alone, Verminator is not back for the next 4 games and hopefully the current pairing will be even more solid than now. As I said yesterday I could see verminator having to fight hard to get into the defence as a CB while the two are playing like they are now.

I would not tamper with the midfield either as we have Song Le Coq and Pong all there for defensive midfield berth and why add the 4th to that? it would only hamper the progress of Le Coq and Pong. But it is a nice dilemma to have though:) How long since we had 3 good CB to cover 2 positions?

goonster
goonster
14 years ago

Hi rico….great stuff huh?…..we finally have a decent CB pairing our GK problems are all but gone and we have young exciting prospects springing up. Things are starting to look up. Can only get better I say. Bring on those northern thugs and let’s rip their balls out and feed it to scum face pulis!

goonster
goonster
14 years ago

TT God bless you my man. I ve been saying that for like forever. Chamakh was class in bordeaux. That a host of teams wanted him means he was doing something right. A chamakh/RVP combo ll give most teams night mare but we know wenger won’t play them both. Its frustrating watching players like chamakh, andey and walcott look incompetent cause of this damned formation we play.

TT
TT
14 years ago

I would leave JD there rico. Braking up the partnership of Kozzer and merts and moving Song into CB leaves us with Pong or LeCoq as DM against Stoke and I would rather play with JD as RB and leave Song in the DM to deal with the physicality of the stoke forwards/midfielders. Besides JD needs game time and he wont be as exsposed as a RB as he would be as a CB.

goonster
goonster
14 years ago

Hi ya WATH….how are you this beautiful morning. Freezing your butt off I guess? Well am warm and comfy thank you.

goonster
goonster
14 years ago

Oh rico am in my office with the windows up and stuff. My sleeves rolled up and sipping a glass of st remy wine. Its my boss birthday. Its so out here. Am beaming from ear to ear cause I know you AK WATH LEE and the rest of the crew ll probably be freezing your butt off. Lucky me huh?

goonster
goonster
14 years ago

Sunday ll be a huge test rico but the lads ll come through unscathed. 2:0 to the arsenal.

mah
mah
14 years ago

read somewhere JD is happy to play at RB + AW has played him there so kozzer moving there after the marseille performance is highly unlikely.
Arsenal to win,but no clean sheet for us. Reason-
etherington and pennant v. JD and santos.

goonster
goonster
14 years ago

I am pretty confident….like I told oliver a couple of days back. I see positives every time we play. On wednesday its our ability to close teams down early and be dogged in defense. Kozzer repaid my huge faith in him. We have a world class GK manning the goal posts and carl looks like he’s been playing in the CL all his life. Kept ayew quiet all through. Corner kicks don’t scare me anymore like it used to. Positives rico…positives. This time last year we were moaning our lack of cover for the CB department now we ve got three decent CB and a good back up in jd. We used to wince each almunia or fabaianski come out for crosses now we are bit relaxed. We are movibt forward. All we need now is to sort out the offensive department are we are going to give the league something to think about. Am impressed so far. Nobody gave us a chance which is better. We ain’t playing with any pressure. Come january he needs to buy and buy well. We ll be fine rico. Am psychic like that. COYGs!

goonster
goonster
14 years ago

Pardon my typing ladies and gentlemen…..stupid touch screen phone is letting me down.

goonster
goonster
14 years ago

Mah am sure pennant and etherinton(spelling) won’t be bombing forward on every occasion. They ve got their hands full too you know. Gervinho and walcott ll keep them busy all afternoon. Besides that mug pulis won’t attack us at the EMS he ll come to shut us out and probably play on the counter. Had we been playing them at the brittania, then I ll be worried. We ll win this easily. 2:0 to the arsenal.

goonster
goonster
14 years ago

We ll be fine rico….be rest assured. Tomas needs to play the same way he did against the mackems. Theo needs to step up and gervinho to have a blinder. Am positive we ve turned the corner. My only worry is the creativity in the middle. We don’t create much from the middle anymore.

mah
mah
14 years ago

@goonster, always get a phone with a physical qwerty keypad mate! Well i realise they wont attack us too much,but teams have been giving it to us recently so i would’nt completely discount stoke going forward. I hope you turn out to be right though.

goonster
goonster
14 years ago

Yeah mah but we ve won all our games at home this season apart from the liverpoop game. I see the trend continuing. He needs to start with the same eleven with gervinho replacing ashavin. We ll win this. I have a feeling it could be over before the hour mark!

TT
TT
14 years ago

And please train some players in taking corners. My dead granny would deliver the ball better! We had 9 corners against OM and did any of them really cause them trouble? Cant remember a single one.

boyo
boyo
14 years ago

This is arsenal he isnt going to be back in two weeks !! Diaby was due back in the last week of September. So now they underestimated by 5 weeks. Be real it isn’t going to happen

goonster
goonster
14 years ago

Tell me about it TT….we keep lobbing them free kicks into the keeper’s arms. It was frustrating. Whatever happened to arteta. He takes all the corners at everton and I remember cahill scoring a few. Does it have anything to do with FAMILIARITY? I can only hope. Cause we need to improve on our corners and free kicks

TT
TT
14 years ago

It’s training goonster. If you lump a hundred balls into the penalty area from corners in training the defenders will get used to defending and positioning them self’s and the attackers can come up with different set piece scenarios and train on them. That’s what’s get’s you good both at defending and attacking set pieces.

allezkev
allezkev
14 years ago

Cracking post Rico.
Afternoon Gooners.
Most on here don’t want to see Verm in def/mid.
So i’m gonna be pedantic and say that i would.

allezkev
allezkev
14 years ago

If there is one thing the present Arsenal have lacked in recent years, it’s a strong spine. Verm in front of BFG & Koz with Song alongside him is a powerful core to the side imho. The others could fit in around this powerful axis. And when Jack is fit, well lets worry about that then!

allezkev
allezkev
14 years ago

Hi boss. It’s a git getting clips on my phone. I’ll watch it when i get home.
Ditto Bobby, one of my all~time favourites btw.

allezkev
allezkev
14 years ago

Having Verm alongside Song would also allow AS to go on his ‘Terry Mc’Dermotts’. Verm is also a 6 to 8 goal a season man and we need some goals from the mid.

allezkev
allezkev
14 years ago

Imho Verm is too good to be a full~back. I prefer my best players to be in the centre of the team.

Wenger bigging up Chamakh could be a ploy to increase his value [is he CL cup~tied?] or alternatively he needs him as it looks as if we could go a fair distance in everything.

allezkev
allezkev
14 years ago

Rico. Rotation boss. But in those big big games i’d have Verm in there. He’s one of our best players. We have to get the best out of him. But maybe protect him a bit as well.
There’s plenty of games for Coq/Frim. What a lovely problem to have all these great players.

allezkev
allezkev
14 years ago

No not yet boss, but i’ll keep up the pressure. 🙂
Maybe if Verm gets a game there we’ll all see.
Love to stay but i need to work. See ya tea break.
:-). 🙂

TT
TT
14 years ago

Put Vermalien in midfield and take either Rosicky or Arteta out and we will decrease our creativity even more. Its not more defensive midfielders we need now as our defensive department is now less of a concern than our creative side of midfield or the lack off.

TT
TT
14 years ago

AA and Walcott defenitly but Arteta has only been here for less than 2 months and Ramsay can only be considered to be in his 1st season after his horror injury. I would give them a lot of slack especially Arteta that is getting to know the system and the players still.

mah
mah
14 years ago

We are not the best defensively at the moment but its on the mend (knock on wood).its clear we are lacking fluidity in our game / not being able to produce the final ball consistently enough.putting vermaelen in midfield cant solve that,imo.more of AA,theo and gervinho making smart runs into the box instead of waiting for the ball to be played to feet,making the build up laboured and ramsey to pull up his socks and make the passes he does for wales,please.

Joaquim Moreira
Joaquim Moreira
14 years ago

good morning!
Put Walcoot at RB.
Properly balance the midfield and play with two more advanced players. put a defense that is just right quick, and does not make a player crosses the right side that does not put the right foot on the ball is a mistake. So I do not see Kos Saints or playing on the right. Djourou has a tendency to fall into the field because it is not a side. The solution is to adopt a player who plays on the wings, it’s fast, crosses and balance the midfield area, strengthening it and giving freedom to the two sides defenses.

mah
mah
14 years ago

any chance you could suggest to theo that he should play RB on his twitter account, joaquim? Would be interesting to know what he has to say about that!

mah
mah
14 years ago

yeah,i know you guys were kidding. But i wasnt. It really want to see someone being to theo what piers morgan is to michael owen… An avowed pain in the butt.

mah
mah
14 years ago

to inspire him prove a point on the pitch. No other reason.

oliver
oliver
14 years ago

morning all…good post, rico…stoke should be a much more difficult test than om proved to be, but should also give us a better idea of where our team is at the moment. stoke will certainly put us under more pressure than we saw this past weds, and i expect that they will cause much different problems…if we can cope with them and win the game – something we have done consistently at home versus stoke – that will be further evidence of improvement…

while not in any way a pulis fan, i have to acknowledge that he is doing a good job with this stoke team…they are no longer strictly an aerial/delap throw side, they can play on the deck a little bit as well. they have improved year on year to the point that they are in the europa league – and doing rather well – this season, and are no longer mentioned as relegation candidates…

i realize the above may be anathema to some, but credit where credit is due…

Micko
Micko
14 years ago

For me its a no brainer, if tv5 is fully fit he walks straight back into our defence to partner merts, koz is a decent defender who is improving every game, he has a steely determination about him which I like and will get plenty more chances to impress throughout this season.
I don’t want tv5 anywhere near our midfield, he is by far and away our best defender and will give the team a massive gee-up when he returns.
I would still like us to go and get cahill in january but i don’t think wenger will.

devilgunner
devilgunner
14 years ago

And good afternoon guys and chicks.

Hope you are all ok.

Good to see Jenks out only for two weeks. He is fastly becoming one of my favourite players, that is, those who really want to play properly like Chesney, TV5, Merte, etc.

And please do lay off Chamack. Until RVP came on after his injury Chamack was buzzing. Since you cannot put RVP out MC has struggled since the system is not suitable for him. Chamack is a good player like Arshavin is………THE SYSTEM DOES NOT SUIT THEM. Put them in a 4-4-1-1 with AA behind MC and see the difference. Until then whoever says that Chamack is rubbish will be hit by the largest saucepan my son’s grandma has.

Where art thou AK???

Micko
Micko
14 years ago

Devil, chamakh couldn’t hit a cow’s arse with a banjo !

allezkev
allezkev
14 years ago

DG i am thou’est here me o’ china plate.
Looks like i’m out on my own with Verm, Rico.
But he has the technique, passing ability and eye for a goal to play in midfield… And i shall not be moved. 🙂

devilgunner
devilgunner
14 years ago

No you are not on your own mate. You know that I agree that TV can be a good d/m. Likewise Kozzer can be a gd 1. Not as good as Manu’ Petit but with the right partner he can flourish.

allezkev
allezkev
14 years ago

Marooned in Las Vegas.

devilgunner
devilgunner
14 years ago

……even TH14 could not hit a barn door in his first year. I know that MC is in his second but how many did he play this year?? bits and pieces.

AK you still have not answered to my question of two posts ago…..If you and I were to play for AFC you would be left back and I left outside. Do you agree???

devilgunner
devilgunner
14 years ago

let’s see if you can get out of this one AK!!!! 😮

devilgunner
devilgunner
14 years ago

lol……..just read Le-Grove and heard that Gaddy boy of Libya was a spuds fan. Well since Osama bin Laden, Saddam and Castro supported AFC we are still 3-1 up.

allezkev
allezkev
14 years ago

Well DG, i don’t suppose it’ll happen. But isn’t it great to be able to debate on all our good players and in increasing numbers. 12 months ago the team picked itself, not anymore!
Rico agree wholeheartedly over M’Vila. He would be a big signing and big statement.
I’d still go for Cahill. Too many good players?
I can live with that…

allezkev
allezkev
14 years ago

DDDG… 🙂
I never really believed all that. Lol anyway.

oliver
oliver
14 years ago

ak, you’re not in vegas with chamakh, are you?

reading the tv debate with interest, there are arguments for and against him coming straight back into the side…for me, i still think he is the better overall player than kos (with absolutely no disrespect to the latter), and i would like to see him play with mert…kos has been one of our better defenders this season and i would better buy the argument that he and mert are a fine pairing on the back of a prolonged run of games together, rather than in reaction to his outstanding performance against passive, rather unambitious opposition at the velodrome…

whatever arsene does here, there will be many that feel strongly he got it wrong. i would recommend to kos that he use the remaining games where tv works himself back to match fitness to make to make himself (kos, that is) undroppable…if he and mert can excel in the league – and significantly contribute to wins on sunday and at the bridge, the argument in favor for keeping kos and mert together will become that much stronger…

tv can also play at left back, as i understand. while i am not an advocate of keeping players out of their best positions, injuries/suspensions and sometimes depth at certain positions dictate this. i would feel better using him there – particularly if gibbs remains sidelined or santos gets injured/suspended – than in midfield.

Micko
Micko
14 years ago

Devil, i think your find thierry done quite well for us in his find season, just took maybe 6 or 7 games for him to get going, there’s a reason chamakh hasn’t played much this year, can’t remember the last time he had a good game, it’s been that long.

oliver
oliver
14 years ago

al qadhafi a spuds fan? yeah, just like george w. bush starting supporting liverpool when his buddy tom hicks became co-owner…

i am certain pedro made the former comment tongue-in-cheek…

oliver
oliver
14 years ago

we’ll see…tv isn’t projected to be back for a couple of more weeks yet, so arsene has some time for an informed assessment of the mert-kos central partnership…

santos seems to fit arsene’s preferred full-back mold…better attacker than defender – bac being the obvious exception to this…

los kos and mert together, we should know a bit more about santos from sunday’s match…

Micko
Micko
14 years ago

rico, santos will start, but I couldn’t tell you who will be playing right back, jenks must be gutted.

oliver
oliver
14 years ago

jd did reasonably well when he came on for jenks weds…the booking was harsh, as his tackle got all of the ball before his follow-through took the man out. perhaps the referee’s positioning made the follow-through look worse than it was. he got caught out a couple of times, but did otherwise fine, esp. starting the move that led to the winning goal.

oliver
oliver
14 years ago

micko, i have a suspicion jd will continue at right back on sunday. i can see arsene encouraged by his performance on weds, and wanting to give jd the minutes he needs to improve his sharpness…

mind you, stoke will be a much more difficult test. if pulis plays pennant down the right, jd will have his work cut out for him…

Micko
Micko
14 years ago

Oliver, it was a great tackle to be fair but he doesn’t fill me with confidence, I keep getting flashbacks to the blackburn game when they got their 4th, djourou should have put the ball into row z leading upto that goal.

Gooner Sam
Gooner Sam
14 years ago

Youve got to say wioth not many options and JD having an OK game on Wednesday that he has to play RB. The only other option is CB and that not only are you breaking up the CB pairing that did well but also putting JD in there asking for a calamity.

If we start well I think we will win as even though Stoke like playing the Arse they will be knackered from last night.

Wonder if Rmabo will shake Shawcross hand…I hope not, I’be no time for that scumbag

oliver
oliver
14 years ago

that’s why i think stoke is going to be much more of a test…they may not be the greatest away side in the league, but i don’t think they are as bad as many make them out to be…

i am under no illusions they will put us under far more pressure than om did…and pennant and etherington on the wings will be difficult for our full backs.

oliver
oliver
14 years ago

sam, i don’t think jd at rb is ideal either, but there aren’t too many options…yennairs? i think we would be setting the kid up for failure…perhaps coq – but didn’t arsene say just last week that coq at rb is not really an option, as the player is not particularly comfortable in the position?

it will be jd…i don’t think arsene has any real choice…what happens should jd get injured – not unprecedented for him – is anyone’s guess…

oliver
oliver
14 years ago

rico, if you are referring to jd, i didn’t think he was that bad on weds at all…especially considering this was his first real match action for a few weeks.

santos wasn’t great defensively, but he didn’t cost us – this time at least. we have the same lack of options on the left as we do on the right…unless gibbs makes a miracle recovery, it will be santos.

oliver
oliver
14 years ago

if i were ramsey, i’d take the high ground. hopefully our lad has moved on…three points are much, much more important than individual score-settling.

Gooner Sam
Gooner Sam
14 years ago

Your right Oliver, coq played at RB in fact against stoke in the FA Cup a couple of years ago when we lost to them (stupid throw in goal I seem to remember) and he didn’t look happy there then.

My unfortunate guess is that we will have JD at RBG (as you say no other option) and Squiggle on the bench…which worries me more than anything.

Although maybe not becuase Song can cover in the worse case scenario..

I wasn’t against Eboue being sold but was Jenks enough to cover…

On another subject ifr someone offered 10+m for Chamach I’d bite their hand off!!

Micko
Micko
14 years ago

gibbs just needs some cabbage soup and he’ll be ready to go again, literally.

oliver
oliver
14 years ago

sam, my guess is squil won’t make the bench on sunday. with six places available, i think arsene will instead name coq because it gives him to option to use him as either a last-resort rb, or in midfield. if jd goes down, we may see coq. if santos goes down, we may see kos move over to the left, song move back to center and coq or frim come on in song’s place. i don’t think arsene will want to sacrifice a more versatile options for a player (squil) who can effectively play in only one position.

Micko
Micko
14 years ago

GS, we got chamakh for nowt so that would be good business, wasn’t there a rumour in the summer that a french club were interested but he wanted to stay with us.

oliver
oliver
14 years ago

enjoy rico…

Erick
Erick
14 years ago

wooops late again nyt all

devilgunner
devilgunner
14 years ago

Let me explain………AK would be LEFT BACK at London Colney. I would be LEFT OUTSIDE of the team. Quod erat demonstrandum

Joaquim Moreira
Joaquim Moreira
14 years ago

Put Theo at right back! Say this in the twitter, Arsenal home page and in another blogs! Look at the other clubs: Daniel alves was a winger; Coentrao was a winger,etc
Santos on the right is not good choose. He doesn’t use the right foot…
Se you later!

allezkev
allezkev
14 years ago

Oliver it was a play on Maroune buddy… 🙂

allezkev
allezkev
14 years ago

DG i hung my boots up when George Graham was still manager. Nuff said.

devilgunner
devilgunner
14 years ago

Hiya AK.

Did you know that Aaron Ramsey is master of death???

1st May Aaron scored in the 1-0 win over PLC. The Day after Osama was killed.

19th october Aaron scored in the 1-0 win over OM. The day after Gaddafi was killed.

Come one Aaron. Score and hopefully the PLC dictator and importer of hair dryers may pass away. lol

allezkev
allezkev
14 years ago

Rico ‘going out’ again…!?
You becoming a bit of a ‘party girl’ boss??? 🙂

allezkev
allezkev
14 years ago

If Ramsey scores this weekend then President Assad had better check his life policy.

allezkev
allezkev
14 years ago

DG. I notice that the reserves lost their unbeaten start to the season when they lost to WBA.
Squillaci played.
Coincidence?

allezkev
allezkev
14 years ago

Apparantly, Yennaris had a stinker at right~back. Hmm.
He did ok when switched back into midfield.
Another like Coq it seems.
But he may suffer if Wenger throws him in against Bolton next week. Therefore i hope that AW doesn’t play him.

devilgunner
devilgunner
14 years ago

Maybe yes maybe no. I did not see the game so cant comment. But maybe you are right.

How are you all mate??

We are all ok over here.

Feeling a lot better now since last week.

devilgunner
devilgunner
14 years ago

So Rambo is still alive after all those years. Let’s see him pulling the next trigger……who will go next??

Did he score when they killed Saddam???