My alarm didn’t go off this morning, hence I was stuck in an extended dream about being stuck at Istanbul airport where they refused to accept my passport.
This is because I had drawn it myself, with a fetching cartoon picture of me, on the back of a napkin, but every time I asked one of the immigration officials for help they simply ignored me and served somebody else. Because the immigration section also doubled-up as a bar. Then two English girls came down complaining that the view from their room in the hotel was terrible and demanded a change and the manager took great exception and catapulted them out to sea.
I guess the lesson is never complain about your room at Istanbul’s airport hotel. And if you’re going to make your own passport, at least try and make it look official.
From an Arsenal point of view there’s little happening really. Some good news in that Mesut Ozil won’t be playing against England tomorrow night with Joachim Low using the game to see other players against strong opposition. Imagine, an international manager using the chance to shuffle things around in a friendly when you can experiment a bit with your team selection because the result simply doesn’t matter.
From the way Jack Wilshere is talking here, it looks like he’ll be involved and while there’s a natural inclination to want to wrap him in cotton wool, maybe playing wouldn’t be a bad thing. It’s not as if he’s going to be exhausted from playing too much for us. He’s been in and out of the side all season. Partly because of injury, but partly because of his form and maybe the more he plays the better his chances of that improving.
Of course that’ll look a bit off if he picks up a knock but he could do that just as easily in training (which is where his last ankle niggle came from), or playing for us. However, if he plays, does well, restores some confidence/fitness/sharpness then it stands us in good stead ahead of the games we’ve got coming up in our soon to be hectic schedule.
Jack also spoke about Ozil’s arrival at the club and despite the perception that he hasn’t quite hit the heights just yet, lauded his performances:
He’s been superb since he’s come. He’s a top, top player and he’s been like that for years. Ever since the 2010 World Cup, I’ve been watching him. He’s a great player. Ozil is a smart player, even in training. Sometimes you think you’ve got him and then he’s gone. I don’t think my game has changed from playing with him. I haven’t played that much!
Whatever else about Jack, he does have a sense of humour. Still, I think having the midweek off will be good for Ozil and ultimately for us. With the returns of Walcott and Podolski imminent, having fresh legs for the German to work with can only be a good thing, and with no Interlulls until well into the new year, the focus will be fully on domestic and European football.
Meanwhile, there’s some slightly worrying news from Wales after Aaron Ramsey revealed the reason he missed their match against Finland was because of a hamstring strain. Chris Coleman had claimed that it was because he was still suffering the effects of the ‘flu’ which had hit the Arsenal squad ahead of the Man Utd game, but Aaron said via Twitter:
Gutted to miss the game yesterday, my hamstring was tight after training. Medical staff didn’t want to risk me.
Thank you Wales medical staff. However, he went on to say that he’d be ok for the weekend, but you suspect, given how much he’s played, and with such intensity, that he must be very close to that fabled ‘red zone’. Fatigue and lack of rest make players more susceptible to injury and we have had to play him in almost every game. The fixtures we have coming up make it very difficult for the manager to rest him but with other options for the right hand side, and hopefully plenty of bodies for the middle of midfield, we should be able to manage the situation well enough.
Beyond that nothing much happening, the final games of the Interlull take place tomorrow night with World Cup qualification at stake for some. Anything that does happen, we’ll bring it to you on Arseblog News.
And remember, you can find @arseblog and @arseblognews on Twitter, give our Facebook page a like if you … er … like, and for those of you in offices whose web access is stifled by despotic bosses and IT departments, you can get Arseblog slammed into your box every morning by joining the Mailing List.
Till tomorrow.
