Why So Many Injuries, Arsenal? A Guest Post
Apr 2nd, 2014 by 'holic
Regulars will be familiar with the wit and passion that Trev brings to the comments, or ‘drinks’, that follow each piece. They will also know that Trev is currently recovering from painful knee surgery that, somewhat ironically, has enabled him to write a piece about the possible reasons for the injury situation that causes all manner of ill-informed comment on social media sites. I will let Trev introduce himself, and his thoughts. Thanks for taking the time to put this together for us Trev, and we all hope your own recovery picks up apace.
I have run my own Sports Physiotherapy practice for 24 years, having trained under a tutor from the National Centre for Sports Injuries, in the diagnosis and treatment of muscular-skeletal injuries and conditions. Treatment consists of a range of manipulative soft tissue techniques and osteopathic manipulation.
Like most Arsenal fans, I find our continuing injury situation frustrating, not to say infuriating. Unfortunately, I fear some of our woes may be of our “own making”. Here are a few thoughts…
So why do Arsenal get so many injuries ?
The first part of this piece sets out some of the anatomical and physiological basics which underlie the possible answers. Stick with it if you can. I sincerely hope you think it was worth it by the end – should anyone make it that far !
Whether an Arsenal footballer, a little old lady, an all-in wrestler, or a blog writer, there are some physiological truths that apply to each and every one of us. The one at the root of this article concerns muscle function.
In the human body, the muscular system does a few things, some of which may not be immediately apparent. For example, the muscles store the ingredients required to generate medium term energy – that is to say, while the sugars needed to fuel a 100m sprint are all in the blood stream, the 1500m runner will derive their energy from the muscle stores, and the marathon runner will eventually burn up fat reserves.
The muscles also create a pumping system which cleans the body of the waste, such as acid and oxidant, created by generating energy. Most obviously, the muscles generate the forces which move the body around, and slightly less obviously, the forces which prevent it from moving too.
To explain that last point – whenever an injury occurs in the body, be it bone or joint damage, trauma, bruising, strain or inflammation, the muscles around the injury site go into a protective contraction – ‘if it can’t move, it can’t incur any further damage’ is the theory. This protective contraction reflex, or spasm, also kicks in whenever a joint is stressed to more than 70% of it’s flexibility or strength limits.
That contraction may resolve itself as the injury state improves – sometimes it does not. There are ways of “kidding” the body’s nervous system into releasing the protective contraction, and it is important that this is ensured as the body returns to health, otherwise continued contraction and compensation for injuries can result in postural changes.
The body will try to accommodate imbalances as far as possible which, over time, can lead to changes in many parts of the body. Eventually, something has to give but detecting and correcting all the affected parts can be a difficult and lengthy process.
None of that is peculiar to Arsenal Football Club, but the more injuries a player suffers the more complex the problem becomes. And it is our young players that seem to be more injured than most.
I believe that is because Arsenal players tend to have been promoted to first team level at a younger age than at most other clubs. Connective tissue – the tendons and ligaments that give stability to joints – does not mature and harden in young males until the age of around 21. Arsenal’s style has been based on ball retention, committing and unbalancing opponents, thus inviting challenges and moving at high speed. All this results in higher risk of catching, tearing and twisting injuries, sometimes, in Arsenal’s case, to 16-20 year olds.
Once that connective tissue is damaged as a teenager, it is very hard to get a perfect repair. Any resulting instability, damage or trauma in a joint will result in the soft tissues reflexively contracting to immobilise and protect the joint. Contracting muscles, operating at a shortened length, are more likely to suffer further tears or strains.
The Arsene Wenger model of recent years has tended to be to use leaner players for their quickness and agility, and we have had a lot of smaller, shorter players who rely on technique and passing rather than the more mature power runners of his earlier years at Arsenal, when we didn’t seem to suffer these injury pile-ups.
When we played Chelsea a few seasons ago, compared to their players, we were on average several inches shorter and many pounds lighter. Arsenal players have, therefore, been under more physical strain just to try to compete. Over 90 minutes of top level football the body could well be into fat burning for energy conversion as muscle supplies run out. As our players are so lean, they could struggle for energy from fat sources which will result in fatigue and possible injury.
Our injuries seemed to lessen once we began to recruit older players, and while we have had serial offenders like TV5, TR7, and a mystery situation this season with Lukas Podolski, most of our current crop has been to those immature, younger players like The Ox, Theo Walcott, Jack Wilshere, Ryo Myaichi, and now Aaron Ramsey who is struggling to recover from a thigh strain, and the still young Yaya Sanogo who arrived with a bad injury record that is continuing.
Abou Diaby’s situation is a bit of a freak but he has clearly never properly healed, van Persie only had an injury free season when he was 27-28 yrs old, and Kieran Gibbs has only recently been less plagued by injury as he has matured, but even he is now struggling again as the season lengthens out.
Compare those players to Mikel Arteta, Per Mertesacker, Laurent Koscielny, Arshavin, Olivier Giroud and the signings of Wenger’s earlier years who joined at an older age and have been relatively injury free.
What causes consternation among many fans is the now customary “3 week” syndrome. The club probably does not want to let rivals know exactly what the injury situation is, but fans would clearly like to.
Podolski, for example, was forecast to be out for ” 21 days” immediately after the game – “6-8 weeks” by the following morning, which had become 13 weeks by the end of November with another “3 weeks” to go. Apparently his hamstrings had virtually shredded themselves, but supporters were not told what the problem really was. That is very frustrating for supporters, but it is the club’s decision to handle the situation that way.
The latest situation with Kim Kallstrom will not have helped to dampen fans’ angst, although it may have been a ‘business’ decision to take him, which Arsene has subsequently explained.
The Aaron Ramsey thigh strain is the latest mystery and, personally, I am struggling to see how a lad leaves the pitch looking relatively comfortable at Christmas and is struggling to be back for a late Easter.
However, rather than simply incompetence, it is more likely that Arsenal’s playing style of close control and ball retention, coupled with the employment of a lot of young, relatively small, super lean players is what tends to result in these clusters of injuries.
Greater maturity, bigger physique and more powerful players seem to be the answer to more than just the fitness problem that we have in the Premier League.
Does that mean Arsenal should recruit an army of Stoke type giants ? Most definitely not.
But finding players who can combine the physical and technical requirements of Arsene Wenger’s style of football is a very hard task.
171 Responses to “Why So Many Injuries, Arsenal? A Guest Post”
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Thanks for the article.. thought provoking!
Trev
Many thanks for this. Both interesting and educational. We keep hearing Gazidis and co claiming we are exploring every avenue yet I wonder if their analysis has been as basic and clearly sensible as this.
Untold Arsenal has an ongoing obsession with Arsenal players being targeted by opponents. That has happened in the past but recently I find your theory far more plausible. Lets hope the powers that be at the club read this excellent blog!
Trev
The single best and most persuasive piece I’ve read on our injury woes.
Well played.
On a totally unrelated note, what are our chances of poaching any of PSG’s forwards? Lavezzi is fast and clinical too!
Knowing your credentials I’ll take your word for it Trev. My theory is that anybody called “Nemanja” is less likely to suffer serious injury problems.
If Nemanja has legs like tree trunks it could have something to do with cause and effect I suppose …
Interesting input into the issue but worth also noting that both ManU and Spurs over the last 3 seasons have lost more playing days due to injury than we have. They’ve tended to play the same number of games in a season as we do. As do City and Chelsea who have lost fewer days than us, ManU or City despite playing similar number of games in a season. This could be explained by the fact that they tend to have deeper squads of physically mature and experienced players (much the point made in the article) which can only be obtained when wages are divorced from revenues. But at the same time Arsenal lose about 10% more playing days on average each season compared to the PL average but when you take into account that we can play 30% or more games per season over all competitions that looks on the modest side. Colin Lewin went into some detail about our injury performance and, as participants for the last 11 years in the Uefa Elite Club Injury Study Group we get to benchmark ourselves twice a year against comparable teams. The conclusion has always been that our injury record isn’t really very different from the norm.
Sorry should read “….us ManU or Spurs…” and not “…us ManU and City…”
Good article.
But what about Ozil, for instance? Wasn’t he supposed to have stayed clear of major injuries so far in his career? Is it sheer bad luck that this has happened just now when he’s at Arsenal?
If the injuries are related to the age and stature of the players why do Barcelona not suffer the same?
Thanks Trev. When will I read it????
3 weeks……….
Excellent post. The protective contraction theory has me convinced we will see Diaby again. Albeit with a third leg .
Cheers Trev, interesting stuff.
Thanks for reading, fellas.
Tariq, Hansolo,
I could imagine that Barcelona suffer less than we do because they play in a much less physical league.
Similarly, Ozil has escaped injury until submitted to the rigours of the premier League.
It is a much tougher place to survive in.
Amos,
I haven’t seen those comparisons but I have seen us at the top of the Premier League injury table – quite consistently.
So are our injuries about average or are we perpetually the wrist off team according to physio room.com? I have always felt convinced it was the latter. Nobody else has the number of senior players we have currently injured and that is what has predominantly derailed our season. Yet Amos sounds persuasive.
Own goal parade beginning to plague the Moaner?
so in essence you are saying arsene should take it easy on our up coming players and start buying strong all-ready made players
Final para says it all for me. We don’t “combine physical and technical” anymore. Our greatest ever side did that. Brutally.
I wonder why Arsene moved away from that? Stands along with his blunt refusal to ever go 2 up-front over the last 5/6 years – or get any solidity in our centre midfield – as one of the real oddities he seems total wedded to that isn’t working and revokes what worked so well for so long.
Pace. Power. Technique. We haven’t been the same since we forgot about the first two.
UTA and Va-va-voom.
@14 – Doesn’t this raise serious questions about our approach to youth players and our recruitment strategy in particular?
El Puno, even a post on injuries you turn into a personal attack on Wenger.
It’s ok the first hundred times, but like Paddy when he got up we have heard you over and over and over again.
Change the record please. Thank you.
Is this Villa 0-1, us 6-0, Palace 0-1, Paris 1-2 in the chavski wallopers last 4 games now? I know it doesn’t bear thinking about, but dear Dennis did we turn in a stinker that day. Urgh.
20 – I’m a massive fan of Wenger and have said that many times. I hope he gets his new contract sorted asap. However, in an article on why our young, slight, agile players get injured it seem perfectly fair enough to note that our best sides married technical and physical attributes.
I also can’t see how asking questions about his decisions on playing style constitute a “personal attack.” It is a comment on football management. He is our manager. The article is about the players he manages and what he does with them?
20 – “the employment of a lot of young, relatively small, super lean players is what tends to result in these clusters of injuries.” You can’t help but refer to the employer.
Very informative,
Thanks Trev.
Hmmm.. Pastore isn’t half bad either.. passes 4 chelski defenders and beats Cech on the near post!
Oh i so do hope that we get in a proper partner/backup for Giroud!
The firmness of the pitches both at the Emirates and Colney can’t be helping.
The damn things are concrete based. That just cannot be any good for muscular injuries.
PetroFrance 3 PetroBlighty 1
But how anybody can treat an injured heart?
That’s what I like to know.
We nearly signed Pastore in the August window. I was sad at the time that we didn’t but anything that upsets Mourinho is fine with me. Lovely goal. I thought the UK journos rather underestimated PSG. This is a very high- quality team and they are very good way from home as the last round evidenced.
Great posty Trev!
I think I have followed it to the last word! Very interesting indeed!
El Puno,
I think it’s well accepted that, luckily for us, Arsene Wenger accepted that he would have to go with a youth policy following the stadium development as there would be insufficient funds to buy top level experience.
So, by definition, he would be working with physically immature players and the higher injury risks that that involved.
Cheers H2H.
Well done Arthur – tough ask that ! 😉
Nice one, Trev. Thanks.
Thanks for a very interesting post, Trev – and more thanks for some of the responses.
Trev, you certainly raise the question of whether such a reliance on a preponderence of young players as we have is advisable. Maybe one or two of them, buttressed by more robust, mature players would be the ideal.
Also, are you saying that even the more well-built players, Ox for example, who has a really good physique, should be brought on more slowly to allow their musculature to toughen and mature?
Plenty of food for thought, especially when we are all guilty of wanting our particular favourite to be played more often, when in fact they should be played less before they’re 20 at the earliest. It is surely not by chance that most of those who are most often out because of injury are the younger players. Diaby has been out so long he’s not among the youngsters any more, but he’s a bit of an exceptional and chronic case.
And another after-thought, if you know all this, surely the Arsenal physios must know it too, which means that Arsene must surely have been told.
I look forward to the recruitment of half a dozen man-mountains in the summer window.
That should have been “25-year-old man-mountains”.
Enjoyed the post, Trev. Informative and educative.
dkgooner,
I don’t know what the Arsenal physios know, but none of the factual information should come as a surprise. My opinions – and that is all they are – are a mixture of those facts and a bit of deduction.
I hope it doesn’t sound presumptious but the comments I get from patients most, are to the effect that they haven’t had such an holistic approach to treatment through the conventional routes. My own training was quite different to the ‘hospital’ type Chartered Physiotherapists, which is what I imagine Arsenal employ.
Just one example:
A county and national level tennis junior I treated from age 12, moved to Nottingham at 18 so as to be at University in close proximity to the national tennis centre.
Almost straight away he developed a hamstring problem that would not go away – continually tightening during matches to the point where he dared not play on.
He saw a number of people locally, including the Derby County physio – all without success.
When home for Christmas he paid me a visit and I discovered his pelvis had become twisted – not uncommon among youngsters in sports where there is a high degree of rapid twisting.
With one session of manipulation to realign the pelvis, the hamstring tightness completely disappeared – without even directly treating it.
That is another aspect of reliance on youth – the relative ease of misaligning important joints that have not attained full stability.
Thanks N7, ttg, Esso, Lurky,
and all who’ve taken the trouble to read it all.
And thanks to Holic for the space and presentation.
Cheers, Guv. 😉
Thanks Trev…so can you untwist my pelvis then? sounds kinda fun! does red wine go with that?? seriously, thanks, good read…we need us some Branislav Ivanovic type monster in the summer window…enough of short and lean..
on another note – gotta love it:
“Jose blasts ‘ridiculous’ goals
Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho branded his side’s defending as ‘ridiculous’ following their 3-1 loss to Paris Saint-Germain.”
DK
Interesting stuff from you too whilst I think the physical aspect can be a very important factor here like Trev just explained there is also the mental side too. If things do get tough especially on those young players they need to fall back on those who are more mature on the mental coping side of things.
In those big games we not only lost those players that we so badly miss, but also our heads went in first, too much of aggressive stance from Chavs caused it and we either had incorrect tacticts that were applied or those who are more mature and experienced failed to deliver. In my eyes belief is everything and you cant be three nil down in space of 30 minutes.
Just to add that the second half of the Shitty game proved it, Arsene must of said something to them to make them believe.
No need for you to thank me Trev. Other way round. An informative viewpoint, well expressed.
Thought provoking stuff.
Very nicely written Trev, plenty of food for thought to mentally digest.
Great article trev. Very interesting read.
One question – do you believe the physios would be telling arsene the medical truth about required recovery times for most injuries given most of our team are young.
I ask this question with regards to what type of pressure do you think the physios come under for quick fixes they know are not medically suitable for the long term.
Aussie,
I can’t see it’s in anyone’s interest to lie about anything. The most likely ones to lie would be the players themselves – wanting to get back on the pitch before they are properly healed.
The problem I’m describing is that because connective tissue is very inelastic, it is very difficult to get a bad injury back to it’s original length once it has been overstretched.
That leads to instability in the affected joint and it is quite unpredictable at which point that vulnerability will lead to a recurrence.
Would climate make any difference as my bones seen to react badly in winter making me feel weaker.
Personally, I think we employ witch-doctors, whose cicrcadian rythym runs on 21 day cycles.
That coupled with the teenage midget master plan (copyright And Lester).
PS – there is no such thing as an un-affected joint. (Copyright Dr Feelgood).
cheers Trev.
hope your own injury is as good as can be expected considering.
Just seen the pics of Chelsea thugs running amok prior to the game against PSG,terrifying the locals,women and children among them.
Very brave as usual.
Police half asleep,arrive at the scene far too late.
Shops and Cafes smashed up.
Bringing the Club into direpute doesen’t seem to bother them one iota.
Trev, excellent piece. To me what’s been missing from recent Arsenal sides is the power that personified the early Wenger rosters, and this also manifests itself in the increase in the number of players injured and the length of time they are sidelined. And the glib solution is to say, “Well, just sign powerful yet technically skilled players”, but as you state, they are hard to come by.
You make a lot of sense, Trev, and without a single pun! An interesting read, and the focus on too young too soon makes a lot of sense.
What worries me about the injuries is their long-term effect. Many here seem to think that when Rambo, Jack, Theo etc return all will be well. I’m not so sure. Outstanding talents all of them, but these guys have all had multiple injuries and I no longer have confidence they are our long-term future.
RvP is a classic case. He was forever injured in his early years, then had one good season with us and one with Manure, and now seems to be regularly injured again. If you can’t get more than two decent seasons out of ten from a player, what’s the point?
Öskar
Atrocious defending from PSG today, it made me proud that we have Per/Kos as our CDs. I’m surprised the chavs didn’t score more. Perhaps they will in London. This tie is far from over, imo.
What a talent Eden Hazard is. He could have been ours, if AW had had the guts to lash out big dosh one year earlier. Much better value than what we ended up with.
Öskar
My own personal take for this season is bad luck.
It is true that mature players are less injury prone. The older I get the less mobile I become and surprisingly, less injury prone because I am a lot less flexible now.
But I think the main reason for this season is that we have 4 first team midfielders out very early this season. OX, Podolski, Carzola, Rosicky and Walcott.
This placed a big strain on our remaining midfield players.
Which is thus not a surprise that those injured in the 2nd half are Wilshire, Ozil and Ramsey. Walcott is out again purely due to luck, I think.
Arsenal has invested heavily in big names coming in to help out the injury situation. So I am not sure what else is missing.
Great theory Trev and it most certainly describes one or two aspects of our manpower and training issues as well. There are, however, equally important factors to discuss, such as:
1) Poor playing conditions (fields, weather etc.)
2) Officials failing to protect players properly (true for all EPL teams)
3) Inadequate training for muscular strength and particularly lower body strengthening. Gibbs said that his 2013 weight training preparations helped him avoid most injuries this season. Giroud is very muscular and also seems injury-free.
4) An extremely long season at very high intensity and often under extremely stressful psychological and emotional conditions due to some poor fan support and a constant negative media barrage.
5) A psychological shadow hanging over the healthy players who see their colleagues getting injured regularly….this engenders doubt and hesitation while playing.
There may be other factors as well….but that is for a future articles.
I think the club are only too aware of the demands and limitations on young bodies. Coincidentally an item in the club’s magazine repeated on Arsenal.com touches on this subject in a Wenger interview:
” I believe that the players are better prepared now, and they last longer because they take care of their health much better. The medical environment is much better than it was 10 or 15 years ago and the individualised injury-prevention training is much better than it was before. So I think everybody lasts longer today because he is better prepared.”
The boss adds that this could be a long-term trend, and in 20 or 30 years’ time we will see the average age of a Premier League team going up. “Yes, it could go up a little bit because the players are always better prepared from a very young age. Their bodies can take more on and for longer.
“I think we might see players extending their careers a bit. For a defensive player it has always been easier to extend their career but today we see players like Rosicky who was born in 1980 and is still very sharp and has a good change of pace. Why? Because he takes complete care of his body and because he’s looked after much better than before.”
“When you are 20, you basically think that you are indestructible, so you are a little bit less professional,” the boss explains. “You take less care of the preparation because you think that you are strong and will recover. Usually with the development of a player, the older he gets, the more conscientious he becomes and the more he realises that he depends on the quality of his body. He takes better care.
I kind of agree with the conclusion. Borussia Dortmund has a lot of injuries as well and they have a similar model as Arsenal. Thanks for this post.
Ice one, Trev! 🙂
Excellent read thanks. I can heartily recommend that you sign Kaboul from up the road, he’s a fit lad who never gets injured…
Nice one Trev
My medical knowledge is nil and i could understand it so thanks for putting it in terms i could understand.
If you wouldnt mind I would like to ask a question that you may be able to answer. Your point about not letting our footballing foe`s know exactly whats going on with injuries makes perfect sense but this is my question.
Q. Even thou we may under estimate the duration of an injury, why are we normally so far off ?
If you could, would you be able to shed some light on this plaese.
P.S Hope you feell better soon.
Cheers
Great stuff Trev, cheers mate.
Arsenal1971,
Good question, and I think the first part of the answer is a repeat of the one I gave to Aussie, which is –
” because connective tissue is very inelastic, it is very difficult to get a bad injury back to it’s original length once it has been overstretched.
That leads to instability in the affected joint and it is quite unpredictable at which point that vulnerability will lead to a recurrence. ”
So that unpredictability makes it hard to forecast exactly when a player will be fit again – when, or whether, a recurrence may happen.
Also, any instability in the joint could lead to a different injury occuring during the rehab programme.
The only way to overcome such instability is to increase muscle strength significantly, or surgery to adjust the length of those ligaments or tendons. Both lengthy processes.
(In case the medical bits are confusing, here’s a quick breakdown –
Muscle – the most elastic tissue, containing some connective tissue
Tendon – joins the muscle to a bone, contains more connective tissue, is less elastic than the main body of the muscle, and slower to heal
Ligament – joins bone to bone, contains greatest amount of connective tissue – therefore the least elastic, and slowest to heal. )
Great stuff Trev, very interesting!
Thanks for the interest and kind words, BJ, Oskar, Tabs, bath, Dave.
Thank you Trev
I suppose its just one of those frustating things that drive us up the wall so hard to imagine how frustrated the boss must get with it.
It was a question my son has asked me so many times and i have had no answer for him, I will tell him to read your post instead of me butchering it in my own words.
Cheers
Amos,
Just to be clear – I’m not in any way accusing the club of any ignorance or incompetence.
When I said some of our problems may be of our “own making”, that was with reference to the youth policy that the club had no option but to follow. The increase in the number of injuries was probably, I feel, the result of that, rather than shortcomings of the medical staff.
Catalan Gunner, a chiropractor with a lot of sports experience who drops in here too infrequently these days, and I have discussed whether a truly holistic approach to treatment is taken within the club. That, we don’t know, but you would imagine that a manager like Arsene Wenger would be interested in every possible aspect.
Holic, I hate to raise the dread spectre of pedantry, but the fact that Trev is writing about injuries when he’s injured is not ironic. It’s coincidental.
It would, however, be ironic if he identified the cause of the injuries in his article and then proceeded to injure himself in exactly that way at a later date.
Be back when I’ve read it…
Thank you Trev for taking time out to answer these questions.
I wasn’t suggesting that you were making any accusations against the club’s medical facilities Trev. I accepted from the start that your input on the issue was an interesting one.
A couple of years back Colin Lewin tried to explain that some of the problems were indeed of our own making in that we tended to run further in a match than many other teams and also our game involved more sprints. Even so, when compared to those clubs competing at comparable levels with a similar number of games, the club’s findings are that we’re pretty well in the middle in terms of our injury record (though it’s not linear of course – some seasons are worse than others).
Both Colin Lewin and the club doctor Gary O’Driscoll have strong sports backgrounds and connections with sporting science clinics around the world. I think ‘holic himself took a tour of the medical facilities a couple of years back and I’m sure would have been given some greater background on the extent of the research and investment in modern treatment techniques the club undertakes.
It’s easy to think our own club is more affected by injuries than others but all the data tells us that we aren’t really.
No, Porco,
That would be miraculous not ironic, as there is nothing left to injure in my knee – unless I find a way of breaking up titanium, steel and polyethylene ! 😉
Trev,
Thoroughly enjoyed that. Comprehensive and substantive.
Hope things are somewhat better at your end.
It could be time for the boss to get the younger palyers in the gym pumping some weights. Which im sure they do already.
Then they can have arguements amongst themselves.
BFG : Oi Jack ! do you lift man ?
Jack : Yeah !
BFG : You look a little small dude ! you dont lift !
Jack : Yes i do, i bench 80k !
BFG : I do that for a warm up ! thats not benching dude !
Diaby : What are you guys talking about ?
Trev: Really interesting article — thank you!
Heh Trev, check in at the Arsenal medical centre and I’m sure they can arrange it for you!
Interesting read, Trev, and thanks for laying it all out so clearly. Your theory makes a lot of sense. Anyone remember what the Invincibles’ injury record was like?
Amos@7 said Colin Lewin went into some detail about our injury performance and, as participants for the last 11 years in the Uefa Elite Club Injury Study Group we get to benchmark ourselves twice a year against comparable teams..
Would love for the Club to share some of that with us. ‘Holic, you now know to get for your next guest post….
Amos,
I’m aware of that tour of the new medical centre. Holic actually asked Catalan and myself for a couple of questions/issues to possibly be put at the Q & A.
He did apparently put this theory forward which, at the time, they didn’t really answer.
Apologies if my memory is playing tricks but I think that is a fairly accurate description of what happened.
Frans de Kat and Jan van Loon?? They do know April fool’s is over right?
Afternoon all.
Reports coming in that Ramsey and Nacho will be back in the squad for the Everton game.
Trev’s post is working already. 😀
I’m going to Wembley people! A friend that I know on Twitter and met on my 1st NLD a while back stepped in with the offer of a spare, so happy 😀
A very well-reasoned, persuasive, and convincing theory.
I guess also the fact that more technical one’s game is more ‘unnatural’ motion is involved — rapid stop and turns in all directions, balance while running and dribbling and especially evading challenges and landing — and also inviting more contacts from the opposition. So a group of youngsters with tendons and muscles not yet fully matured undergoing strains and stresses out of motions for which those were not originally meant for…
Nice one Wind.
Bring us back a win mate. 🙂
H2H
Hope thats true, what a massive boost to the team.
Maybe Trev should have wrote the post 2 months ago 🙂
Seriously hope its true, ramsey and ozil back please, we need them big time.
In terms of injuries i always feel the pace of the league, our training method which is way too technical wherein players are exhausted means a lot more injuries than necessary. I do wonder though if our medical staff are competent enough for i have forgotten when was the last time a player came back from an injury well ahead of time.
I sincerely hope this is addressed for giving injuries as an excuse has started to sound dour even though it is the fact.
NBN @ 76: Recollection is that the Invincibles could also have been called the Indestructibles, as they all played a lot, with relatively limited rotation. By today’s standards, they would have been considered a painfully thin squad going into the season.
But that was a side with talent AND power to spare, thus the result.
Trev,
I was discussing your very interesting article with some people today who had been discussing when youngsters should start playing competitively. I have a six year- old grandson who is playing small side games on Saturday and doing skills training on Friday. These sessions are run by GA qualified coaches but I do sometimes feel the intensity of the game is too much for little fellows who are growing very rapidly. Would too much football at a very early age with inadequate conditioning be another reason for injuries in late teens, early twenties?
So many theories about our injuries: training is too hard and medical team suck both big on twitter recently, overplayed players, bad luck, too many games too young, too small these days, we don’t get anymore injuries than anyone else, just bad luck etc. I’m sure I missed some.
Given that AW is as forward thinking on training and conditioning as anyone and we regularly invest in the training facilities, my own personal opinion, based on nothing more than supposition, is that it is just random. (We get lucky at times to. RVP has stayed fit 2 years in a decade and it took one of those when we had nothing else to drag us into the top 4. Seems as much luck as anything he stayed fit, given his record.)
That said, the best way to guard against injuries would seem to be a deep squad: you can rest players, not rush them back, and you won’t suffer as much when you do get them. The irony of this being the deepest area of our squad is attacking midfield. Yet we couldn’t keep fit there, or get by without our frontline talent.
I am truly baffled by us this season. Our back 5 looks immense, then implodes. We are full of creative players, but we have gone whole halves where we can’t even must a shot. When you look back, we have been so up and down all season. Villa. Away at Moyes’ rolling calamity circus. Then City. Even when we were threatening to pull away from the rest of the league we were prone a fuck-up. This was before we ever had injuries and when we looked mentally robust. I can’t figure it out – is there someone to blame, has the boss lost a bit, or were we just not quite up to scratch in what is a pretty even and open league?
Liverpool and Napoli at home, Dortmund away in October and November I think are my high points for this season.
2 shots on target from 56% possession away at Stoke with 4 attacking midfield players starting and Ozil off the bench along with the Chavs ruining us will be the low points.
Tough to see how we got from such highs to such lows. Injuries don’t explain it, not that drop off. Our squad for Stoke and Liverpool was still excellent. Bermuda triangle stuff.
Looks like there are question marks at Everton over Barkley and Jagielka. That would even things up a bit on the injury front.
I think just having Aaron on the bench would give me a huge boost.
Won’t be able to see the game now as I’ll be on the way to England for a funeral. Former neighbour died suddenly – some people are just so inconsiderate.
Lack of on-field leadership is one reason, El Puno. We need a Vieira type captain leading from the middle of the park.
Öskar
Inconsiderate if the airline you’re flying doesn’t show the game live I reckon, dkg. Did you try Emirates?
Öskar
Excellent post Trev
Something totally different to the usual posts,but related none the less.
I had a back operation in ’92,did the disc at L5 – S1 in ’83,but they wouldn’t operate then because the success rate of the Op i had to have was only about 30% in those days.
So i had to suffer for 9 years,bfore they gave me the green light.
On the table for 8 hrs,titanium rod either side of my spine at the base.
3 months rehab,then walking everywhere up hill and down dale,along with swimming 50 laps a day,all to strengthen the lower back.
Cannot do any rotating sports like Tennis,Golf,Squash etc,so it was either swimming or running.
I chose running because at least i get to see some scenery and i am out in the fresh air,unlike in a pool with my head underwater for an hour at a time.
Ran my first Marathon in ’94,came in at 3hrs 58mins.
I still run 3 days a week and top up at the gym regularly.
But my back has never been the same,i still have to be careful i don’t overdo it,and have regular physio and deep tissue massage to keep
‘ The Wolf from the Door’
I’m just thankful that i am still active,i do miss the opportunity to play the other sports mentioned above,but given where i was before the Op and where i am now,i count my blessings.
I don’t know what i will do when my Physio retires,he is Chinese, and back in the day used a lot of massage techniques that were a mystery to most,and incomprehensible to some,but are now quite commonplace.
Many is the time he has got me back on my feet when i have overdone it.
So i raise my glass [ of fresh orange juice ] to the Physio’s of this world,the unsung heroes of the rehabilitation revolution.
Cheers
The Sweeper
Lukaku anyone? Surely he’s too good for the swampies down the road and has pace, power and good technique. We also know he would bust a liver trying to score against the Chavs.
I’d take him and Benteke to be honest. Doubt we’ll get either alas.
Actually out off Benteke, ruptured his Achilles and out for six months. That said, given the Kim Kardashian signing that would mean his price is cheap and Le Boss will be all over it.
Morewhineio wouldn’t sell Lukaku to us surely? He’s still raw, but could be anything in a year or two. I’d prefer a finished article, if we had that sort of money.
Öskar
Thanks to everyone I’ve missed individually for giving quite a long piece a fighting chance. I’ve read every comment and hopefully answered most.
Clive,
It’s great that you have found a regime that suits you and I admire anyone who can run a marathon, especially in a time like that.
I would only offer the following thought –
Running is not actually great for backs – too much ‘vertical’ impact through the joints, particularly after an operation like yours. Fast walking – even to the extent of wearing your running gear – is much kinder to the joints.
I note your dislike of the swimming pool but one very good exercise is to walk through it – forwards and backwards which will strengthen the back extensor muscles (the ‘actual’ back muscles).
What is important is that you have a regime that strengthens the muscles that support all four sides of the spine – i.e. back, abdominals, and sides, for example, the obliques (look them up!).
If your surgery – and weakness – was to the base of the spine, it is also very important to strengthen the upper leg and pelvic groups.
Sounds like a lot of work but I have an excellent regime to do it that can be done on the floor at home for as little, or as much, time as you like.
Might just reduce a fair bit of that residual pain.
Ttg,
Conditioning for young children is a bit of a funny subject.
You can’t, for example, aerobically condition sub 11-12 year olds – they tend to have a natural fitness, depending on how much exercise they get and their weight.
The amount your grandson is playing sounds fine.
The best thing for sub 11 year olds is as many different types of activity as possible, as it spreads development across the body rather than concentrating too much effort into limited areas.
Some periods of rest – i.e. taking a break now and then – is important too. The trouble with the proliferation of indoor facilities and coaches, many of whom do a good responsible job, is that some of them want to run courses continuously to maintain their incomes.
Holidays from their sports are what will protect the very young ones from injuries as they get into their teens, and just sensibly cutting down a bit if very active children are getting bad tempered or picking up too many colds and infections – signs that their bodies and immune systems are getting fatigued.
Oskar,
Finished article? Wenger likes to develop. Even Giroud can’t really be described as the finished article and certainly Draxler isn’t the finished article.
Problem with the finished article is the price. Cavani will be available this summer as will Costa. We tried with Suarez and Higuian but found we were knocked on both deals.
The higher the price the more devious the sharks. Not sure we’ve got the negotiating team for those finished articles.
I’m going to Wembley! (x2) Got the email I was hoping for from the club saying I could purchase FA Cup Semi Final tickets since I’d attended 11+ games in the specified time period! (Reduced from 14+ games) So now the spare I was previously using is going to another Gooner to use, and I’ve got my own now. Everything worked out in the end thankfully. 😀
H2H @ 82, thanks mate, you know me, I’ll do my best. 🙂
BOOM!!
Sprints across the pitch waving arms wildly, then suddenly realizes the stadium is empty.
Will highly recommend Tim Stillman’s latest offering on arseblog: an excellent analysis regarding our need and Arsene’c continuing search for a left-sided creative player who can also score and why exactly Poldi is not that player (not creative enough on his own in packed space) and Santi, despite coming close, is not quite that player (prefers to move inside and deeper).
At the time of last summer’s transfer I had suggested that we are very much in search for that player (Suarez, Griezmann…) and that is what Arsene may have in mind for Draxler.
Oh I entirely agree, NB1, the finished article would be hugely more expensive than the tyro. I was expressing MY preference, well aware it’s not AW’s way. It’s why I was thrilled by the idea Suarez might join us … until he didn’t. Higuain to a lesser extent.
Cavani had a poor one against the chavs, but he’s a worker so would definitely fit in. Except he’s more of a replacement for Giroud and I would prefer a fox to play off Ollie who has his value in the air.
Never mind Draxler, Dr F, the more obvious answer is Marco Reus.
Another idea I’d like to see tried is Poldi on the right wing, cutting inside to let off his left-foot bombs. ‘Wrong footers’ on the wing have been quite successful lately, think RvP, Robben and Messi, all lefties on the right wing and Ronaldo, Ashley Young and Craig Bellamy all right footers on the left. Not to mentiuon the late great Tom Finney who played on the ‘wrong’ side for England.
I always think Poldi’s left foot is wasted. By the time he’s cut in from the left and then cut back to get it on his left foot he’s so close to the goal line that he has no target.
Öskar
More memorable of course were Overmars and Pires who both played on their ‘wrong’ sides. How could I have forgotten that in my previous!
Öskar
Well in ecg 🙂
Dr Faustus, just read that article, great stuff from Tim, agreed all the way through. Good points about the Invincibles as well and the ‘stick’ for beating this current incarnation of Arsenal they have become online.
Trev@96: Could you share that back-strengthening regime you suggested to Titanium Man Clive? I suspect many of us old lags who are still pounding out a few miles regularly could benefit from it.
NBN … may I suggest you join Athletics Anonymous immediately? It’s an organisation I founded where the principal rule is: Whenever you feel like exercising the first thing to do is lie down until the feeling passes. The second thing to do is give me a call and we’ll get together and drink scotch until your senses are fully recovered.
Seriously, exercise? Life isn’t the Olympics ffs!
Öskar
A cautionary tale … http://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/22/obituaries/james-f-fixx-dies-jogging-author-on-running-was-52.html
Öskar
Wind – Thanks! Was slightly embarrassed to remember that Arsenal don’t play Thursday night football (hence the empty stadium) but it was still a beautiful strike. Congrats on getting tickets to the semifinal match. Very jealous!
Oskar – Fine rule, but I find having a scotch first usually makes the feeling pass more quickly!
Trev – Great article. Definitely adds to some insight into my continuous injury problems (I like to think myself as Diaby, but without the skill, pace, height, motivation, youth, etc.).
Oskar – I’ve also wondered about playing Poldi on the right side. We rely so much on our wing-backs to overlap the midfielders and make the cross, it seems we could put Poldi in a position where he could have a better angle on the goal (especially from the outside). On the other hand, he has done well coming in as a sub and providing good crosses, and he doesn’t seem to have a problem with putting the ball on target from narrow angles.
A winger, a striker, some balls in midfield. Then some young cheap depth to develop. Over to you arsene…
Some balls and a positive outlook, over to you, El Puno.
I have finally had the time to sit and read the post Trev. I must say I found it fascinating and really enjoyable. As someone who has had various injuries during my playing days I have always found the physio side very interesting. The virtually nil muscle strains over the years also adds support to your slightly tubby theory????
Thanks for taking the time. I hope your knee is well on the mend.
Ned,
If you ask Holic to send me your email address, I’ll do my best on there.
It’s difficult to desrcibe purely in words and too lengthy to put on here.
Trev@114, thanks. ‘Holic, could you do the honours?
Trev, terrific, no stellar, work for the post and some perceptive and interesting ideas (especially loaded to the gills with opioids plus plus plus, and some unpleasant side-effects) Also a very accurate assessment of damaged tissues and how difficult they can be to heal, the problems that can result and the prolonged rehabilitation of those injuries.
Appreciation to Amos for your interesting points and information that I had not previously realised regarding the numbers of our injured compared to other clubs. Like many of us it feels like that we suffer more injuries and these take longer to recuperate than the norm.
Given the advances in sports medicine particularly in regards to rehabilitation, conditioning and strengthening the resultant monitoring of all of these has become very precise. Computerised analysis of the athletes ballistic movements during this recovery results in referral to the strength and conditioning teams to work at any instability that is detected and is then referred back to the physios and medics to ensure that the athlete is progressing as planned. Arsenal as an elite club would be well on top of all of this.
However I don’t subscribe to simple bad luck as a cause and the reason for our injuries. Some astute drinks have made very valid points why we have so many players damaged that bear merit. Different positions require different training regimes and predict likely injuries. There is a need for the players to have an endurance base – 10 to 15 kilometres per game but based on multiple short sharp efforts (sprints). As Trev pointed out they require different muscles and energy sources. A difficult balance as they counteract each other. Wanting to add power/ muscle means again a change in that dynamic – too much power means slower athletes, not enough they can’t compete effectively.
The need for adequate recovery time, on-going training, inevitable fatigue and niggling injuries, on top of young players, a smaller squad, significant player injuries that reduces rotation and the situation becomes far more problematic and noticeable.
Answers? I have none – but I believe in the rehabilitation and medical teams that we have, I don’t for an instance think that they are inadequate nor are they incompetent. As Trev has said (and experienced) some injuries are harder to treat, take longer to heal and often lead to unanticipated other complications.
Me, I’m still up for the boss to win the league with the thinnest squad ever seen in the Premiership. He loves the injuries to give the other teams a chance.
Doctor Faustus,
Yes, Tim Stillman’s point about replacing Pires is a good one. But that is some task.
I always struggle with the “name your three best Arsenal players” thing. Top of my list is always Liam Brady and Dennis Bergkamp – but how do you leave Thierry Henry off top spot ?
By the same token, how do you leave out Robert Pires ? I think some people didn’t realise quite how special he was until he was gone – probably including me, to be honest.
If you haven’t seen it already, there is a clip on Youtube, around 8 minutes long, of his best goals and assists – I’ll check it out to see if it’s still there – 8 minutes of pure solid gold.
Cheers Steve – slightly tubby, eh ? 😉
LHTG – many thanks, and an excellent post, yourself.
Cheers ecg – heh ! 😉
Dr F,
There you go –
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7hQ8YN2SSRM
You might need something to dry your eyes after that 😉
Otd: plenty of research shows that regular consumption of a couple of drinks a day plus exercise is the best combination for increasing longevity and reducing the risk of heart disease. (And by exercise they don’t mean walking to the fridge…) You are missing out on half the benefits.
Oh and now Gnabry and Gibbs are injured.
Fucking witch doctors, I’m tellin’ ya.
Should I note two more young ones, Dr F ?
Drives you mad. The stats apparently say we only suffer the average number of injuries but it doesn’t seem like it to me.
Two more training injuries when we are already down to “bare bones” ?
Wonderful Pires clip. Right footed player playing on the left, though still had a pretty useful left foot. Might be worth trying Poldi on the right.
The witch doctors arrive like spirits in the night.
Ramsey having escaped their clutches meant that they went on the hunt for new victims. The younger players, not being so streetwise, were caught playing Call of Duty on their playstations after curfew.
They never stood a chance.
Now they are going to be tied to the treatment table at London Colney for at least 3 weeks.
Nice to see that Pires collection again.
It shows you everything that is missing with Arsenal offensively these days
– pace, midfielders who are prepared to get in behind and into the box, and most glaringly obvious, players who can shoot!
Diaby Ramsey and Ozil against Wigan next week, well if we lose with that then we need to be crucified. I sincerely believe if we win tomorrow the 4th is confirmed, then the FA cup takes top priority, so a win tomorrow will settle the nerves and wigan maybe facing upto a team which will not lose.
Not sure injuries explain why we shat the bed in just about every big domestic game, or why we were fairly resolute throughout in Europe?
I think we will show our class on Sunday, 3-1 or 4-1 my punt, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous as well. Dennis knows which team will turn up for us.
125 – wasting Ozil if we don’t add some of that in the summer.
Trev,
Thankyou for such a helpful reply. Very helpful and I’ve passed it on to my daughter. I never had that sort of organised training when I was young because it didn’t exist ( they had only just invented the wheel!) so I envy them their facilities but want to make sure that they don’t overdo it.
Ironically I see Gibbs and Gnabry are doubts for Sunday too
El Puno: Not sure injuries explain why we shat the bed in just about every big domestic game
They don’t because we haven’t, if you ask me. There are only two matches where we’ve really fucked up and that’s Liverpool and Chelsea away. Those were beyond awful, but other than that we’ve beaten Liverpool twice at home and Tottenham twice at home and once away and drawn at home to Chelsea in a game we should have won. Yes, I know, ManUre at home but that was an after-effect of the Liverpool capitulation – same with Swansea at home unfortunately. ManUre away was a poor effort but we also know that half the squad were ill that day.
And you may note that I left ManCity away out here, and that is because that is a game that we were still in until fatigue and crap refereeing broke us down. It was 4-2 well into the second half and we had what would have meant 4-3 wrongly disallowed (not to mention the situation in the first half where a one-on-one to put us 2-1 up was equally wrongly flagged off) and then City got two late goals to make it look like a rout. That was also our third game in six days with the small matter of a trip to Napoli nicely tucked in the middle so fatigue was definitely a factor for that one.
Don’t get me wrong here, we have stuff to work on but I think the past few weeks have somewhat distorted the picture. We don’t need that many new and better players, we need to sort out the injury situation because unless we don’t it doesn’t really matter who we buy.
And as far as the claim that we haven’t had more injuries than others, well, I’d like to know what statistics they based that upon. We can not possibly be ever-presents at the top of the injury table and not have more injuries than others.
Just saw this on Twitter:
Since losing to Arsenal 0-1 in March 2012, Everton have lost just two of their last 38 Premier League home games (W27 D9 L2).
That’s quite a remarkable stat.
Again, a big thanks to Trev for a highly enlightening piece and great follow ups in the drinks. I must say that I believe that my IQ has risen a few points since reading this. (no cheeky buggers, that doesn’t mean it’s doubled. 😉 )
Great Pires vid too, I’ve always said that youtube clips on players were great. 😛
As for the weekend, two players in, two players out. The ol’ Arsenal injury Hokey Cokey continues. 🙁
Something slightly different.
Last summer was, for many, the season which they wanted us to “Spend, Spend, Spend”, I’ll freely admit that I wanted us to strengthen in various positions too, but never beyond our means.
For those that think throwing money around guarentees success, heres a cautionary tale, this very well could be any team in the PL, including us;
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/26881825
Some clubs will always find themselves in trouble because they aren’t big enough, ie a small fanbase and troubles filling their stadium. If you think this is why Leeds are in trouble I’d suggest you check out the attendances at Elland Rd, there’s a few PL teams that don’t get as many in as they do.
Lars @131
Eye opening stat.
Suggests to me that a point at Goodison would be a job very well done, and leave us well placed for both the all important Wigan game and the run in.
130 – perhaps slightly overstated. My take would be in the games with the 3 ahead of us we were superb once, Liverpool at home. Vile 3 times: away at Liverpool and home and away to chavski. We pushed the city games, but only took 1 point letting in 7 goals. So, we were dire in half those games if you’re sunny side up, or produced once out of 6 if you’re the other way inclined. (Giroud’s miss vs chavs at home looks like a turning point in the season to me.)
Below that, we were rotten twice against a terrible Man U team and got all we could handle off Everton at home, taking 2/9 points in those games. If the scum weren’t scum beating that rabble wouldn’t look so impressive, especially given the tonking they have taken from those above us.
It’s not been good, in my opinion. We look as far away as ever, in a season we should have closed the gap given our expanded resources. Oh well. Onwards and upwards. UTA
I thinkk we can beat them.
Everton will be going for it. Close them down quickly and hit ’em on the counter.
COYR’s
Trev, many thanks for the Youtube link. For a glorious six months or so before the injuries I believe he was probably a contender even for the best player in the world in that year.
To continue on the injury discussions: it would be worth asking whether the GPS-based movement tracking and subsequent analysis to detect potential problems based on unconscious limiting of movements even before the players feel something has really helped and if so how much. Or whether data gleaned from that is not accurate or statistically consistent enough to inform decisions about resting players.
Because in certain cases — e.g., Rambo — even in naked eye it was obvious that he is having trouble with his fitness and range of motions towards the end of December. That must have been detected in the GPS-tracking but maybe the eventual data presentation had failed to really identify him in the ‘red’ zone.
Trev. As a medical man you will realise that I am just under tall. At a recent check up it was confirmed that I am exactly the right weight for my width.
😀
Agreed Lars @130,
And with your last paragraph too.
Seems we have more to me and, as they say, if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and sounds like a duck – it’s probably a duck. 😉
Lars, they must be way overdue another loss now then. 😉
El Puno @ 135: “It’s not been good, in my opinion. We look as far away as ever, in a season we should have closed the gap given our expanded resources. Oh well. Onwards and upwards”.
Allow me to please disagree. We are just seven points off the top of the table, in fourth position, and the only team above us who have not spent octuple times more money than us on transfers and salaries is a team that is having an unique season, with no Europe and early cup exits, and a potential FIFA ballon d’or contender having the season of his life.
In all this hullaballoo everyone seems to have forgotten we came through the so called ‘group of death’ in CL with some fantastic performances thrown in, and except for a penalty miss, then a bit of bad luck and a moment of surprising desperation we were very close to knock Europe’s best club team off the competition.
Even discarding the summer transfer, I am as frustrated as you are that we didn’t feel the gaps in key position even in January especially with Theo being out for the rest of the season (his goals and assists tally now look so much more pivotal now, this is why we should appreciate players for their abilities when they are there), and I believe a player in his mould would have given us a few more points by now.
Forget the abominations away at Chelsea and Pool — away at City was a bizarre game that we could have actually won, even playing less than 72 hours after a grueling away match at Napoli — but even if we had lost those but managed to get full points from Stoke away and Swans home we would have been just four points off the top, with easier run-in, and even having some key players injured for much of the second half.
That is, in my opinion, closing the gaps. In the last few seasons we were nowhere near this level of consistency.
@ 141: Actually we would have been just two points off the top if all other results remained as they were but we won against Stoke away and Swans home performing the way we have done most of the season: intelligent, disciplined, unspectacular but grabbing the key moments. That shows that our approach to Chelsea and Pool away were wrong, we didn’t need to start with open attacking game plan but a stodgier safety-first approach. I guess the idea was to impose early, get a win and then let that momentum carry …but a bit more pragmatism surely now looks to have been a better option in hindsight.
I think if we didn’t get that tonking at Pool and Chelsea, we would have won our home games that followed, ManU and Swans.
Hi All
If anything this season many could argue that Liverpool and ourselves have over performed this season. While we were sitting at the top of the table *for some considerable time i might add* all the some called pundits were taking great joy in the Arsenal will not be able to sustain this level of performance and to be fair we havent, mainly due to injuries.
The loss of Ramsey was the first major blow, as many have writen he was the best midfielder in Europe and his stats backed that claim up. Just before he was lost to injury his displays did slightly drop and i think that was solely down to carrying an injury but as his performances justified what other choice did the boss have but play him more than he would have liked.
Theo was showing some true maturity this season and his pace was terrifying to all defence`s in the PL and CL and he also showed some real flashes of what we all wanted him to become, another massive loss.
Ozil is in his first Pl season and again no player has come to England and lit the PL alight in thier first season including the imortal DB10. We have a world class player in Ozil and the best is yet to come, he however dose need a willing runner infront of him which he currently doesnt have. The early season inter play with Ramsey was breath taking with Theo as a willing outlet. Both wre lost to injury and its no coinidence that his form suffered after.
Jack has yoyo`d in and out of the team this year with a niggle here and another niggle there so top form was never reached and another frustrating season for him.
In and outs at LB has also held us back as Poldi hasnt played as much as he should have done as Santi was preffered over there and was prone to running into the middle leaving a partly fit LB exposed.
So inconclusion a great season with a huge amount of frustration of what may of been if certain players were able to put a full season in. Additions are needed upfront without doubt and a dedicated LW would be a great idea and a RB and CB and a big bully of a DM would set us up nicely for next season.
3 points against an inform Everton is a big ask but we are cable of getting them if we play the same way we did in the 2nd half against shity.
Cheers
145 I dont judge a season by a couple of games, frustrating yes ! But in 4th and a game away from a final !
146 – I think we have a crazy talented squad, if thin in a couple of obvious areas. Basically think this group underachieved. Maybe that’s my partisan assessment on how good the individuals are though.
147- Regarding the talent I cant argue, but that talent has missed a large part of the season so in my eyes i think we have done a great job. They have made me pull my hair out and scream at the TV and frustrated the life out of me, but the bigger picture is that most fans would have taken or position we are in now with the business end of the season looming on the horizon and a final in touching distance.
Trev, God bless you I needed that to remind why I fell in love with this great club. I don’t think we ever get those group of players together again. Terrific what a team!!!!!!!COYG
One other key stat that I would be interested to know is the percentage of injuries that occur ( or are worsened) in training rather than in matches. My perception is that we get a lot of injuries in training. We learn today that Gibbs and Gnabry have been injured in training just as Ramsey and Monreal return.
Poor old Everton have Jagielka out but otherwise have their full squad to pick from.
Interesting debate . I tend to find EL Puno has a glass that is far too empty for my liking but it is also clear he loves the club. But Dr. F has produced a very interesting perspective which I am sympathetic to. The problem is that we have been so poor in the Chelsea and Liverpool matches. Both of those were pathetic capitulations which very much resemble the type of performances Spurs have put in against Liverpool home and away and Citeh home and away and in the second half against Chavski at the bus stop. We are significantly better than Spurs as our results this season gave shown and we should have done so much better in those two crucial games.
This has been a better season up to this point given our injuries especially those to Ramsey and Walcott. If Suarez and Gerrard had missed half the season or YaYa and Silva or Hazard and Ramires our rivals would be significantly worse off. Of all those teams the only serious injuries have been to Aguero and Sturridge and none of those have rivalled the lay- offs to our two.
For me a good end to the season would be to finish as close as we can to the top even if it is fourth and to win the FA Cup. And Inthink we will do both.
ecg @ 109, thanks mate, it should be a spectacular day 🙂
Meanwhile the Mirror has this ridiculous headline and brings up the Bin Laden connection again
Former Arsenal footballer ‘joins Jihadi fighters waging war in Syria’
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/arsenal-jihadist-ex-footballer-abu-issa-3376223#
They don’t seem to know who he is though or when he played for us!
Rui Fonte, Amary Bishoff, Luiz Boa Morte, where are they now?
H2H@153. Gone the way of Stefan Malz and Gus Caesar, I fear.
Those two have no Portugal connection Pangloss. 😉
Or you could see it as steadying the ship with a draw to the title favourites after two dissapointing results.
You choose your own perspective.
We were always outsiders, even when we were top of the league the bookies odds were shorter on other teams. Those chaps are not often wrong I’m afraid.
That’s the spirit.
A good dose of optimism will make you feel a lot better. 🙂
SanAntonio,
Bergkamp, Henry, Pires, Vieira, Lüngberg, Gilberto Silva, not to even mention the back four and mad Jens. ………
Just incredible that one club side could contain such a list of truly world class players. I used to pinch myself and warn myself to make the most of it while it lasted, because it seemed impossible that we would ever see the like again.
A massive pity that we couldn’t land the Champions League in that era as I used to think that that side could have beaten any other club or national team in the world.
Truly priveleged we were.
Bookie mugs? LMFAO – you ever seen a poor bookie? Seen plenty of poor (mug?) punters.
Bookmakers do exactly what their name says – they make a book where they don’t care who wins – they always come out on top in the end.
I wish we played that CL final 11-11. That was the year we we’re suppose to win it. Don’t know if we will ever get there again or anytime soon with all the money being poured into all these clubs.
IS there any information on Koscielny’s return date? The news blackout is alarming.
Inspiration, for those who need it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqq0Pl3mT4U
Öskar
Öskar that is an inspiration and then some. Flamini RVP Pires(2) Bergkamp Vieira Edu. (Which of the six is most likely to score for us this week, I wonder? 😉 ) Come on Flamster make it two weeks in a row.
Thanks Trev,
fascinating stuff.
Can’t help thinking that my lovely old Nan nearly got to a hundred without once complaining about her hamstrings.
Give Ozil pie ,mash and cod liver oil.
No charge for the consultancy Mr Wegner.I do it for the love of the club.
Nice guest post Trev and explains many of the possible reasons for our perennial injury crises!
Good contributions too from others, particularly LHTG @116 who correctly expands on many of the principles involved.
The simple way to appreciate why injuries have affected our squad more over recent years is simply because we have played with more physically immature players, whose bodies have yet to fully develop into their adult morphology, being asked to play, and happily willing to, at a high level of a professional impact sport weekly with seemingly inadequate recovery or appreciation of the variability of impact this has on their immature musculoskeletons. If that young player is unaware of the potential seriousness of a “niggle”, he will just continue to train and play with the zest and enthusiasm of youth making the niggle worse. Consequently, more serious longterm damage may be done to that still developing musculoskeleton that may have major consequences for later in their sporting adult life. Young sportsmen who have yet to physically mature need to be handled more delicately and rested and permitted to recover more often for longer until they mature physically. To expect them to recognise the significance of a “niggle” is unrealistic so the decision to suitably rest and treat the niggle has to be made by the medical team. Unfortunately, that is not always easy in the modern game as more and more “exceptional” young talents enter first-team squads and teams under the belief that, “if he’s good enough, he’s old enough”. This should actually be revised and corrected to read, “if he’s physical mature enough and he’s good enough, he’s old enough”.
Big three points up at Goodison! COYBG!
Heh! Larry – she would have done if she’d known where they were. 😉
Cheers DanC – and dapperly done yourself, sir !
Excellent post.
However, I also feel that some of the players are too blame in some certain scenarios.
Take a player like Jack Wilshere for instance, brilliant lad, Arsenal DNA through and through but he holds onto the ball far too long at times, inviting a tackle to himself and we as fans have seen how many times be has visited the treatment table in his fledgling career.
Arsene Wenger has done a great job in his recent investments of both young and experienced players but injuries can happen to anyone and no one is left out. Podolski was given a simple pass and in his run up for the ball, he tore his hamstring and that kept him out for 4-5 months.
The depth of the squad has to be mentioned as well. We know that our club has an abundance of players in midfield but if a player like Giroud suffers a lengthy layoff, we would be biting our fingers because his replacements aren’t capable.
I really hope that we won’t be unfortunate with injuries next season because I strongly believe that if we had Walcott, Ozil and Ramsey fit, we would have still been challenging for the Premier League.
Keep up the great work Goonerholic.
Trev, hope the knee’s recovering well after the intervention. Keep your spirits up fella. 🙂
Very quiet in the bar today, the guvnor hasnt opened the doors yet.
Very nice post Trev.
This is a very true article. I’m in my second year at university in the USA, doing the Pre-Medicine track, I feel smart understanding everything in this article haha.
We recently finished the sections on skeleton and bones. Your bones don’t fully ossify (“harden”) until you are at least 18-20 years old, the whole human body is fully “matured” physically around age 26.
Arsene always says that if a player suffers a major injury before the age of 20-21, then he can come back and develop again to reach his maximum potential. However, a major injury at a younger age could also screw him over for the rest of his career.
Also, I know that Arsenal was the first team to use creatine. Wenger’s comments about supplements are not totally off the mark. There could well be a link between them and our injuries. It is sad that we haven’t investigated sooner.
Overall I think our problems are a mix of everything. We have too many small players but Messi is small and even with his recent injuries he’ll play 50 games this season for club and country. We have to look into our preparation and recovery procedures, the supplements the players take, and probably need to change our training methods a bit.
The rest is caused by our style of play and just plain bad luck. We also must never risk a player again either. Too many don’t tell the club about a small injury they are carrying. It’s about damn time we had a full, proper investigation into every single thing we do. But as you said, finding the right balance between pace and power (that Arsene’s best sides had) is very difficult.
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