It’s an odd Interlull this as the competitive games are over, but rather than let the players return to their clubs there’s a schedule of fairly pointless friendlies this week. England are playing Scotland tomorrow night, for example, for no good reason other than a game between the two is always a bit tasty. Jack Wilshere says he’s keen to be involved:
I am desperate to play. They are the games that every England player wants to be playing in.Tuesday night is not going to be very friendly, and we have got to be ready for that. It will be a bit like Arsenal v Tottenham, Liverpool against Man United, but we are used to that as players.
Ahead of a crunch game against Manchester United maybe it’s not the worst thing in the world for him to be involved in a competitive game. Remember, he missed the wins over Sunderland and Burnley, as well as the draw with Anderlecht, so if this helps get him up to speed then all the better. I’m sure I’m not alone in harbouring some fears than an overly physical game might end up doing some damage to one of our English contingent, but then there’s very little we can do about it if that’s the case.
My money’s on a couple of crunchers on Chambers and Gibbs, forcing us into a back four of Bellerin – Mertesacker – Monreal – Flamini for United. And in case your wondering, the lining of my cloud is not silver but more cloud. With snappy beetles in the cloud. And the cloud is a typhoon.
Meanwhile, Joel Campbell, away with Costa Rica, has bucked the trend set by Lukas Podolski and Tomas Rosicky. They’ve complained about their lack of playing time, Campbell has declared his happiness at the club and says that he knows he’s got to work hard to get his chance. Via his own website, he said:
What they have been saying is not true, I’m very calm. I have not been furious. Obviously, yes, I would like to be playing, but that’s something that has to be earned day by day. Arsenal is one of the best teams in the world where there are many important players. I have to be patient, keep training and I know my chance will arrive and I’ll have to take advantage of it when it comes.
Well, fair play to him. You certainly can’t fault the attitude there. There may well be an element of making sure you say the right thing, but if he’s willing to keep working and remain patient, who knows? I think it’s clear there’s been a genuine reluctance on the manager’s part to use him so far this season – and I think it’s been quite telling that when Sanogo returned Campbell found himself out of the squad altogether.
Some of that, of course, is that they’re different types of players. Sanogo can only play as a central striker whereas Campbell can be deployed left or right and I think that’s where the issue is. This season he’s had to compete with the likes of Oxlade-Chamberlain, Cazorla, Podolski, Alexis and Ozil who have all been used in wide positions. The thing now is that with Olivier Giroud and Theo Walcott on the way back, there appears to be even less room for him in the squad.
If we were being super positive, we might suggest that the step-up from the Greek Super League to the Premier League is one which requires a bit of time and development and after a few months he might be up to speed. However, If the manager won’t use a player like Podolski, who has a pretty good scoring record, then it’s very hard to see how Campbell can work his way into this team beyond a litany of injuries in the forward positions.
Still, his attitude is publicly good and you just never know when you might need a player over the course of a season. Even Nicklas Bendtner got us a couple of important goals last year so you can’t rule anything out 100%.
And speaking of Podolski, the manager played down talk of a January departure. He was on beIN Sports last night chatting about all kinds of things, and he responded to a story in Bild that our asking price for Hashtag McGillycuddy was just €5m. He said:
It’s not established at all that he will leave at Christmas. It was me who sets the price and it [the €5m valuation] doesn’t correspond at all to his price. He is not for sale and there is no offer.
Nonetheless, Podolski’s unhappiness is obvious. Twice during this Interlull he’s been asked about his situation and twice he’s declared himself to be woebegone and downcast. He obviously wants to play and at the moment he’s not being given the chance to do that at Arsenal. Regardless of his alleged World Cup hangover (a tournament in which he hardly featured), one start from nineteen games this season is a sign that he’s not in the manager’s plans as anything other than a substitute.
And as he points out himself, being thrown on for 10 minutes here and there doesn’t make it easy for him to have an impact. That his one start resulted in a fairly dismal performance against Southampton is neither here nor there, really. At this point the boss, and fans, should know what you get with the German. If you’re looking for an all action forward then you’re looking in the wrong place, but if you keep him relatively involved and sharp, you have a genuine goal/assist threat from the bench and if Wenger is guilty of anything it’s diminishing Podolski’s role to the point where even that is gone from his game.
Right, that’s just about that. Despite the Interlull James and I will be recording an Arsecast Extra for you this morning. If you have questions fire them across to us on Twitter @gunnerblog and @arseblog using the hashtag #arsecastextra and we’ll get too as many of them as we can.
Until later.
