(UPDATE) Poll: Where Would Arsenal’s Injury List Finish?
By: Martin | November 17th, 2009As you know, we complain about injuries, even though a lot of other clubs (Liverpool, Chelsea) have plenty of injury problems of their own. But we now have fully eleven (UPDATE: 12. See below.) players injured, and crying doesn’t help, so why not have a little fun with it?
Our 11 players could be configured into a lineup:
Fabianski
Traore-Djourou-Clichy
Denilson
Walcott-Wilshere-Diaby-Vela
Bendtner-van Persie
An unconventional formation, sure. But Denilson could play a pretty conservative holding mid type of role, protecting the backline and trying to win the ball. Then we’d still have 4 very capable attacking midfielders to hold the ball, move it upfield, and make runs towards the goal. And then one world-class striker and one…well, the jury’s still out on Bendtner at this point, but he did score 14 goals last season as a 21-year old.
That would seem to be a solid team–vulnerable at the back, certainly, but they would be very dangerous going forward. So my question to you is this: If, miraculously, this 11-man team could stay healthy, where would they finish in the table?
(UPDATE: Frak. Kieran Gibbs left injured in the 21st minute of England’s U-21’s match against Liechtenstein. Which means he could play on the backline of our all-injured team, either bumping Traore or Vela out of the starting 11. Ummm…it also means that we don’t have a left-back at the moment, which means we could be seeing Silvestre at fullback, or Gallas sliding over and Senderos playing center half on Saturday. Neither of those options are anywhere remotely close to acceptable. I know some of you get mad at me for criticizing meaningless international matches and talk about how important it is, the glory of playing for your country, etc. I hope all the glory of playing in international friendlies was worth it when you’re watching Silvestre stumble around like a drunken Frankenstein on Saturday.)
Where Would Arsenal’s Injured List Finish in the Table?(polls)
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jesus christ. sylvester might get to play. heaven help us
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United States
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i hope wenger does anything and everything to keep sylvester off the pitch. gallas on the left and senderos with vermaelen in the middle would be an adequate patch i think. or maybe eboue on the left? it seems like he can play any position except keeper and center forward…altho always on the right.
hopefully gibbs isn’t hurt too badly…when do clichy and traore come back?
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United States -
Clichy’s out for a while, but honestly, I’m not even sure I know what’s wrong with Traore–with those types of minor players, they don’t get the same level of coverage in terms of announcements and updates, etc. But I think I remember somewhere reading he was going to be back shortly after the international break. He would definitely be our best option there, and it would be a good chance for him to show what he could do with the senior team. Kerrea Gilbert is another option, although I think he mainly plays on the right, too.
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The other option would be Gallas or Vermaelen at left back, and Song dropping back to center half to pair with whichever one doesn’t. Then, we could do Cesc, Nasri, and Ramsey in midfield, and Eduardo, Arshavin, and either Eboue or Rosicky up top. That would leave us vulnerable at the back, but I would prefer that over the involvement of Senderos and (especially) Silvestre.
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United States -
Martin, I suppose dropping Song back to center back is a possibility, but I think Wenger might balk at it. Song has clearly become the first choice defensive midfielder, with Denilson and (sometimes) Diaby covering. But with both of those two out, I can’t Wenger fielding a midfield without Song. Some combination of Cesc, Ramsey, Nasri, Rosicky, and Eboue just seems too attacking oriented.
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Possibly, but he did draft Song as a reserve center half several times last season, and he used Nasri as the holding midfielder several times. So it wouldn’t be unprecedented. I don’t know, though, the more I think about it, the more I wouldn’t mind seeing Senderos get a start and see Vermaelen (who played left back at Ajax) scoot over until one of our three center backs gets healthy again. But I have the terrifying suspicion that Silvestre is going to be involved.
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United States -
Excellent observation guys. This side can finish mid-table by the looks of things. But IF.. ONLY IF..it remains INJURY-FREE i.e.!
Hah..that apart, they should be just about fine!For more on the same, Read On:
http://11gunners.com/news/rvp-down-what-now/2523/Posted from
United States -
To follow Martin’s comment, I also remember TV5 being mentioned as able to play either center or left back. That’s when we bought him, and still had Toure. So I thought he’d rotate somewhat with Toure, Gallas, and Clichy at that time. So I suppose he could play on the left and Senderos in the middle. I think that’s the way to get our best players on the field.
Also, I thought Walcott was coming back by Saturday. I know he’s been out a while, so he makes this “fantasy” injured team. But isn’t he coming back? Please tell me he’s coming back.Posted from
United States -
Some of the best teams play two games a week because of all the competitions they’re involved in. We lose two players per week to injury.
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United States -
Has anybody else noticed that when our players go down in a match, it’s in the first twenty minutes or so?
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United States -
anything but silvestre, anything but sylvestre…said tweetie!
man oh man, silvestre in and rvp out…oucchh,
thx for the article martin, it sure made me laugh a little!
i just hope it stops here…now…no more injuriesPosted from
United States -
Still a talented group of players that would beat most other sides in the league
Posted from
United States
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