As pre-season approaches, the game against Barnet is just 11 days away, us Arsenal bloggers have got to begin our own preparations.
As the players return to work on their fitness, technique, passing, shooting, tactics and everything else, we have to find a way to get back into the swing of things ourselves. We have to look at the matches, the form of the players, the formation, the way the manager chooses to use his subs, the upcoming fixtures and, of course, the injuries.
So it’s a big thank you to Nicklas Bendtner for giving us a good injury story this morning to get us ready for the catalogue of knocks, niggles, scrapes, pulls, tears, breaks and itches that The Harold Shipman Physio Department will have to deal with until some time next May. Basically, Nick is knacked. He says:
I still feel quite bad in my groin. Sadly it hasn’t been better during my holiday, like I expected it to giving it nothing but rest. And that worries me a lot. I had hoped and counted on, that a total break from football and training would heal the injury, but it hasn’t happened.
It doesn’t feel good at all. Some mornings I can hardly get out of bed. It is not the best way to return to Arsenal like this, but the club and I have to get to the bottom of my problem now.
Now, I’m no expert by any means, but it strikes me that, you know, going off at the end of the domestic season, training every day with Denmark and playing in the World Cup might have something to do with it. A total break from football, for me, generally doesn’t include the biggest international tournament in the world.
Denmark played their last game just under two weeks ago and it’s pretty obvious they were nursing Bendtner through the games. He really wasn’t fit and he’s coming back to us with his groin … erm … bollixed, if you’ll pardon the pun. I mean, I understand it from a Danish point of view and from Bendtner’s point of view but it’s not much good to us, is it?
The further Holland go in this tournament the less likely it is that Robin van Persie will be ready for the start of the season. He’ll need some kind of holiday to recover a bit (although given how much time he’s had out in recent seasons he should have a stockpile of energy like an EU grain mountain) and that leaves us a little light on striking options if Bendnter’s injury is as serious as it sounds. Fingers crossed it’s not as bad as all that but when it comes to injuries I find it’s helpful to err on the side of doom so that when the megahellasuperdoom diagnosis is made it doesn’t seem so bad.
Meanwhile, Barcelona are stepping things up their pursuit of Cesc Fabregas, who is preparing to start the semi-final of the World Cup. New Head of Annoying Arsenal, Sandra Rosell, went schmoozing with the ladies in Cesc’s life, his mother, girlfriend and sister, while there are reports of a ‘secret meeting’ between Cesc and Pep Guardiola at the Spanish training camp. Secret meeting is probably just newspaper hype, Guardiola was there to see the Barcelona players involved in the World Cup and that he wouldn’t speak to Cesc at all is unthinkable. What was said remains anyone’s guess.
However, with Arsene still in South Africa and both Rosell and Guardiola out there, it would be no surprise if some kind of meeting were to take place. I hope Arsene goes fully armed with vuvuzela and simply parps it every time they try and speak.
In seriousness though it’s something we have to sort out one way or the other sooner rather than later. The public statements we’ve made have been quite definitive and not open to much in the way of interpretation but it hasn’t stopped them at all. We’ve got a new season to prepare for and doing so with such a cloud hanging over our best player and our captain is hardly ideal.
And speaking of the new season Thomas Vermaelen says:
This year it did not work out, but we have a lot of good players and a good team with a lot of quality. We have to continue what we have been doing, we are working hard. I am convinced that next year we can win trophies with this team.
I think if more of our players had the same attitude as Vermaelen, and a few others, then trophies would certainly be realistic.
Fran Merida talks about how he had no hesitation in leaving Arsenal and hints at ‘circumstances’ making it easy to do so. I would imagine those circumstances include him not really getting too many first team opportunities. Perhaps he was a little hasty, he’s still quite young, but other players of the same age have been given more playing time so I suppose he felt he was being overlooked. It’ll be interesting to see how he gets on in La Liga this season.
The latest on Laurent Koscielny appears be that he was at the club yesterday getting his photos done and a deal should be announced shortly. I’m told he’ll wear number 6 and Young Guns reckons he was training with the kids yesterday. Official announcement imminent, I expect.
The latest goalkeeper linked is Monaco’s Stephane Ruffier. I’ve now officially lost count of the number of keepers we’re never going to sign.
Finally, the Arsenal USA online store might need to check who’s in charge of ordering new goods. I think they might have got this one a bit wrong (via Alexthemonkey).
And that’s more or less that for today. The first batch of the first team are back for pre-season today. I hope they enjoy two hours of laps.
Till tomorrow.
