Morning all, a quick early one for you today.
There’s conflicting information about Olivier Giroud. Yesterday the Mirror ran quotes in which he said he just twisted his ankle a little bit and would be fine for Marseille. That was followed by Arsene Wenger giving an update on his fitness and suggesting he’s a doubt for the game in midweek because of a knee problem:
We have a few problems. Some with Ozil but the main one is Giroud, who has a knee problem. He will have a test tomorrow and hopefully he will be fit. But it will only be decided tomorrow.
At the time it certainly looked like he’d hurt his knee, not his ankle. I wonder where the quotes, purportedly from the player himself, came from? I’m sure he knows the difference between those particular parts of his body. A bit odd and, of course, a bit worrying. The fact that he’s our only striker means we can’t afford to take even the slightest risk with him in case we aggravate something that might keep him out longer.
I assume they’ll do a test ahead of departure to see if he travels with the squad. The boss says that Theo Walcott is the ‘obvious solution’ which is indeed true. The obvious, and only, solution, unless we’re going to start a kid like Chuba Akpom and I don’t think we’re going to do that.
It’s the kind of situation that would have provided an early chance for Yaya Sanogo but he came with a bit of an injury record and this doesn’t make for an entirely auspicious start to life in London. Unfortunate for him, and it’s not as if you can blame him for being injured, but so often timing plays a huge part in a player’s career, and this is far from that for the young Frenchman.
Anyway, we’ll get the squad news later today and we’ll have the latest updates over on Arseblog News throughout the day.
Elsewhere, the boss has spoken about the progress made by Aaron Ramsey in the last 6-12 months, and says he’s not surprised by it. Players make progress as they mature, and play more, but he also said:
He has a huge desire to improve and I think that when you have this kind of attitude you shouldn’t expect any limitations.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that many of the frustrations fans had with Ramsey’s game – holding onto the ball too long, too many flicks and tricks when being sensible was the best option – have been eliminated and that’s down to listening to people on the training ground. Perhaps he didn’t listen quite as quickly as he should have, but better late than never.
As it stands he’s our joint highest goalscorer this season and he’s setting the perfect example for Jack Wilshere whose game right now suffers from some of the same problems. Add a bit more simplicity, stop trying to do too much, and it’s much more likely to click. Which isn’t to say Wilshere is playing badly, but I think we all know there’s more to come from him.
So, that’s really about it. The early start is because I’m off to New York for a few days and hopefully I’ll catch up with some NYC Gooners in the Blind Pig. As always Tom will be here for your blogging needs, and if you need Twitter updates of new posts, make sure you follow @arseblog_tom because it’ll be quiet enough at my end – do you know how much roaming costs?!
Here’s to good results and performances in the next week or so and I’ll talk to you when I get back, fattened from food and drink and many bourbon cocktails.
