Morning all, the Interlull is done. Officially. That’s it now … until next month … but it was quite the night for Arsenal related fun.
Firstly, Alexis didn’t get the rest we all wanted him to get against Peru. Of course the Peruvians are managed by a certain P. Addington with his sinister PCP marmalade sandwiches, but in a 4-3 win Alexis scored twice and got an assist. It really does feel as if the floodgates have opened in terms of scoring now; after 8 games at the beginning of the season without a goal, he’s now got 9 in his last 5 games – which is all right I suppose.
Hopefully he’ll be able to keep that up on his return, but obviously we have to take into account the fact he’s been playing with a bit of an injury, and he’s got some transatlantic travel to deal with. Where that leaves him for this weekend’s game against Watford remains to be seen, but with Bayern Munich in midweek you do wonder if that might enter the manager’s thinking.
That said, I think you could make a pretty good case for the Watford game being the most important of the two, even if Bayern are obviously the more prestigious opposition. Anyway, we’ll keep everything crossed that he’s cured his groin problem by playing football, a revolutionary way to deal with injury.
Elsewhere, Joel Campbell scored for Costa Rica in a 1-0 win over the USA. Just last week he was talking about his international goal drought, and although @msartin23 said we shouldn’t get excited because he was facing ‘garbage, more garbage, most garbage and garbage jr in defense’, it won’t have done him any harm.
I’d question why the USA are fielding garbage when they could easily give the odd game to trash; we know that rubbish has a long history in the game; and I can’t believe they left out Flotsam and Jetsam, but who am I to question Jurgen Klinnsman? I also noted, in my extensive research, that they have a player called Mix Diskerud who, even if he doesn’t become a DJ after his football career, really is missing a trick.
Aaron Ramsey got his first goal of the season as Wales beat Andorra, while at U21 level Serge Gnabry scored for Germany as they beat the Faroe Islands 6-0. Chuba Akpom got his third goal of the season, and his first for England U21s, in a 3-0 win over Kazakhstan. After starting his loan spell at Hull with goals in consecutive games, he hasn’t scored since August 11th, so you’d hope this will do him some good too.
Hopefully we’ll see the benefit of these international games and performances. It means Ramsey, Cazorla, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Giroud, Walcott and Campbell return with goals to their name and their confidence boosted a little. Alexis doesn’t need his confidence boosting, he just needs to be fit. So, if they’ve all managed to avoid injury in the process, then their travels should benefit us to some extent.
Meanwhile, Petr Cech played for the Czech Republic as they won 3-2 against the Netherlands. It means that they’ll miss a major tournament for the first time since 2002. I can’t think of anything else to say about that game. I was pretty sure there was something I could talk about this morning but it just seems to have slipped my mind. What was it?
Dammit.
I was positive there was another thing. What was it?
CURSE YOU BRAIN.
Anyway, I’m sure it’ll come back to me in a few mome-
Oh yeah, this. What an unerring finish. I will leave it to you to decide how you choose to respond to such a thing. As I am an actual grown-up adult and capable of empathy I certainly won’t be laughing out loud and perhaps using an emoticon to express how I feel. No sir.
As ever you can find all the clips on our video page, there might be one there that bears repeated viewing. And chortling. Have fun.
Elsewhere, Danny Welbeck says he’s hoping to be back in the new year after his knee surgery:
It’s difficult to put an exact date on it, around the New Year. After I had the operation I was in a leg brace for about four weeks, which wasn’t easy.
And like most players who have an extended spell out of the side, he’s finding it tough going:
It’s frustrating being on the sidelines and watching in – you feel kind of helpless. But you just have to keep motivated. The appetite’s there, you just want to get back out on the pitch and show what you can do. So it’s difficult but you’ve got to see the positive side of things at times.
Obviously there are some days when you just want to be back out there playing, but it’s a process and something that I’ve learned to deal with in time. But it’s hard.
Of course none of us should ever feel any sympathy for a footballer who is injured because they get paid a lot of money when they’re out of work, and they drive nicer cars than us. All they have to do is sit around and count their bundles of cash as they light cigars with £50 notes and swig the finest of ales out of goblets crafted from the femurs of unicorns. Still, I suppose we could go so far as to wish him a speedy and full recovery. But only grudgingly, right?
Finally for today, a quick reminder that all the Arseblog t-shirts are on sale this week. Get an Alexis, a Coquelin, an Henry, Pires or Bergkamp, or indeed a *boilk* to throw on those mornings when you have a *boilk* going on. Click here to see what’s on offer.
Right, hopefully back to real stuff tomorrow, and let’s keep fingers crossed that there are no fresh injuries to contend with. Until then.
