Interlull Injury Watch

We can look at this international break in a couple of ways. The typical way is to curse and swear and moan that all our world class players Robin van Persie is away with their national squads to play football and get injured, while Arsenal pay the wages and have to endure weeks without the player due to injury and/or fatigue.

I believe this year it has been different; at least for Arsenal. The first interlull coincided  with the closing of the summer transfer window where we were all clamoring and freaking out for new players to be added to the incredibly weak squad, and Arsenal had just sent the youngsters to the slaughter that was the moral-destroying 8-2 defeat up in Manchester. The break was most welcome at the time as Arsenal was incredibly frustrating and sad to watch, and talk about at the time.

The second interlull began at early October which we signed off the league fixture with Dull and Tepid loss to Sp*rs, where I wrote the match recap in a somber tone and summed up our play up to that point of the season with phrases such as this:

On the balance of play, Tottenham deserved the win, and while I was practically begging for a late equalizer I was never truly expecting it.

The creativity in the middle of the park is just simply not there, as Arteta and Ramsey are proving to be an absolute massive drop off in creativity from the departed Fabregas and Nasri

The movement off the ball is also shockingly poor all around, which doesn’t aid them in the least, and our counter attacks are…. Well non-existent.

The attack is laboured and faltering,

So we go into the International break with Arsenal in the bottom 6 of the table and Tottenham in the top 6.

Once again, the interlull was somewhat of a welcome sight as we could all take a break from the mayhem that was Arsenal communities. The frustrating was turning into worse, and there were those in London just begging for any excuse to stage a protest.

Fast forward to now, the 3rd international break, and we have seen Arsenal go seven straight matches undefeated, winning 6 with one draw. Arsenal have scored 16 goals and conceded just 6 in that time, with three clean sheets to boot. Arsenal now sit in 7th place in the table, with their first positive goal difference of the season. We are on a strong run of games, with an extremely comfortable win over WBA bringing back the comfort of winning that used to be the norm for Arsenal.  This is a time where we can finally be happy with the squad, and the fans are all finally enjoying watching the club play again.

So where are the Arsenal players playing in the next two weeks?

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain- Will be playing in the England U-21 squad run by that great (ha) manager Stuart Pierce. They will play Iceland November 10 and Belgium on November 14 in their attempts to qualify for the U-21s Euro 2013.

Francis Coquelin- Has been called up for France’s U-21 qualifiers for matches against Romania and Slovakia on the 10th and 14th respectively.

Theo Walcott- Gets to play for England’s meaningless friendly matches against the Spanish on the 12th, and Sweden on the 15th.

Tomas Rosicky- The Czech Republic captain has been called up for actual meaningful games, as the Czech will be playing in a two-legged Euro 2012 qualifying playoff tie against Montenegro. These matches will be played Nov 11 and 15th. (Rosicky is sure to get injured, calling it here.)

Thomas Vermaelen- Belgium failed to qualify for the Euro 2012 tournament, but will be playing regardless. The first match is Nov 11 versus Romania and then on the 15th in France.

Aaron Ramsey- Will be playing for Wales on Saturday November 12 against Norway. Thankfully they only have one match scheduled as Ramsey has looked tired lately in the Arsenal shirt.

Ju Young Park- The international scoring machine for South Korea will look to extend his impressive form on the international stage for his country’s 2014 World Cup qualifiers against the international giant nations of United Arab Emirates and Lebanon. The last meeting with Lebanon, Park managed a hat-trick in a 6-0 win.

Per Mertesacker- Called up by his native Germany for friendlies against the Ukraine (Nov 11) and the Netherlands (Nov 15).

Robin van Persie- The Dutch have called up Arsenal Football club, as we are a one man team. RVPFC will be playing in meaningless friendlies against Switzerland and Germany, and unless Wenger hides him under his bed he will surely get injured. Because that is what van Persie does on international break. And score goals.

Laurent Koscielny- France has called up our most impressive defender, and it will be interesting to see if he will be played or not. Both their matches are in Paris, against the world’s evil USA, the Belgians.

Johan Djourou- Will be going to play friendlies for Switzerland against the Netherlands on the 11th, and then Luxembourg on the 15th.

Wojciech Szczesny + Lukasz Fabianski- Both our keepers have been called up to the Polish national squad, where Flaps will sit on the bench again, for their matches of no meaning against Italy and Hungary.

Gervinho- The Brazilian Ivory Coast striker has been called up for their friendly match in South Africa, which will be played on the 12th in Port Elizabeth this Saturday.

Alex Song- Has been called up for the Cameroon squad who have scheduled two games in the space of three days. Am I the only one who wishes Song was still suspended from his national squad? Come on Eto’o, pull rank one more time and have Alex Song be sent back to London to keep Diaby’s shadow company.

That’s your round-up for now… Make sure you cross your fingers and arms, and legs and whatever other superstitions you may have, to ensure our players come back in one piece…and preferably not injured in any way.

Because we all know our superstitions work 100% of the time.

**If you haven’t read these articles yet, you should. Arseblog and Goonerholic were invited to tour the new Arsenal Medical Centre and they both wrote their own pieces on the experience. They are terrific reads, and great insight on what the club is doing to help heal and prevent injuries to the players. Absolute must reads.

The New Arsenal Medical Centre by Arseblog

A Day at Shenley Is An Eye-Opener by Goonerholic  

Some Related Stories:

Category: Arsenal News