When I read the news this morning that Samir Nasri had a knee operation and would be out for a month, I literally facepalmed and let out a huge groan. You know, I’m starting to think that the team is cursed and some of these players are more cursed than others.
Nasri, for example, was a bit of a risk when Arsene bought him owing to a history of “meningitis-like” flu and other injuries that had plagued his career. In his first season at Arsenal, he seemed to have put that behind him as he played in 55 matches for club and country. But then last year, Diaby broke his leg during pre-season training and Nasri was out until November. And now this year a routine Mascherano* tackle seems to have sent him to the doctor for knee surgery.
Even more aggravating is that we have only played one match and are already have 6 players officially “injured.” Which makes me wonder if the treatment room isn’t just a little too nice. Like, maybe they have some gorgeous Swedish supermodel who gives the players full body rub downs after they have been soaking in the hot tub, drinking mimosas. And we all know what happens before the hot tub.
I’m joking around a bit, but I’m really starting to think something is wrong with our team doctors. I’m talking wrong enough that someone might need to lose their job over it. Colin Lewin looked at Nasri, gave him some treatment and let him go back on the pitch to play 90 minutes — which almost certainly aggravated any injury Mascherano dealt.
But maybe it’s not the doctor’s fault, nor Mascherano’s fault really. The fact is that the Liverpool enforcer’s tackle was hardly blood curdling. It’s the kind of tackle that every player gives and gets week in and week out and Nasri’s knee buckled. You could fire everyone in the team doctor’s office, right down to the tea lady, and you can’t fix the fact that Nasri is out for a month from a routine tackle.
I don’t know, the team investigated the overwhelming number of injuries we had last year and came up blank. Maybe they need to investigate the investigation and see why they didn’t turn up an answer. Something needs to be done, hire a witch doctor for all I care but this injury curse needs to stop.
*Watch the highlights of the Liverpool match, Mascherano goes through him just short of the 13 minute mark and Nasri signals for treatment about a minute later.
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I expressed how I feel about the treatment room staff last season in your blog and I echo your suggestion that somebody should be accountable for some mistreatment. one example is the Djourou’s injury. Cmon we are a top club can’t we hire somebody like House?
August 18th, 2010 at 10:23 am
@Jet Pinoy Gooner, I vote for Remy 13 Hadley.
August 18th, 2010 at 1:03 pm
@Yan The players will never be out of sick bay if she’s the doctor and I would understand.
If there were any bit of a doubt at the time, Samir should have been held out longer than he was to be examined more thoroughly, or worst case subbed.
I know if was different circumstances, but the Liverpool physio had no problems holding out Agger for a prolonged period of time, with the team on their heels down to 9 v. 11. Kind of makes you wonder, with us, is it the players telling the physio they are ready to go back in the game and ok to continue playing, or is it the physio giving them the green light to go back in? I could very well see Nasri wanting more than anything to get back in and fight in such a big game as it was, and possibly letting his adrenaline take him too far. At that point, Colin would need to step in and lay down the law.
August 18th, 2010 at 10:35 am
Daniel Agger clearly had concussion. It was criminally negligent of Liverpool to let him play on. If it was one of our guys, I don’t care if we go down to 9 men. You don’t let a player play on with concussion.
That said, this is a funny line “if he doesn’t know who he is then tell him he’s Pele and put him back in”.
August 18th, 2010 at 11:22 am
@Patrick, “WTF is Pele?” -Agger
August 18th, 2010 at 11:38 am
@Patrick, Clearly why I prefaced with “it was different circumstances”. The point is that if for any reason whatsoever, our medical staff is afraid of keeping a player out of the game to avoid further physical injury, then this is an obvious problem.
I’d facepalm too but I wear glasses and that’d be a disaster.
Facepalms are funny.
August 18th, 2010 at 11:24 am
@Patrick, There are a couple of Wenger Facepalm pictures, but every time I try to post them somewhere it doesn’t work. Which, I suppose, is a facepalm moment in itself.
August 18th, 2010 at 11:38 am
@Uncle Mike, quite paradoxical
I am curently in the treatemnt room and yes you are right, the blonde supermodel is named Helga (a smart gal for a blonde) and she gives a great handjob as a warm up. Samir just walked in and I can tell you he has a grin as big as a cheshire cat! Nicky B and Aaron are chomping at the bit to get her hands all over them. Oh a sing song has just broken out and someone just pooped the cork on a bottle of bubbly…….Yeah Hey hoo doo rah ray!
We iz ‘avin a some fun ‘ere. Colin just asked if we could tone it down as it may sounds like we are ‘avin a wee bit too much fun in here.
till lata and my next broadcast from the sexxiest treatment room in the EPL…….Oy Arsene, what you up to there…….
August 18th, 2010 at 11:23 am
@redanddread, What goes on in the treatment room, stays in the treatment room.
arshawin also said he was injured before. and still he was allowed to play in the international break and then again the full 90mins in which he hardly “played” .
The “Footprints in the sand” story? Most depictions I’ve seen of Jesus show him looking rather NOT like Dennis Bergkamp (there has been some confusion), but rather tall (which would help in the air) but thin. And, since he’s not English, Arsenal opponents would probably try to break his legs.
Then he’d forgive them. Maybe he wouldn’t make it as an Arsenal player. Except as a goalkeeper. Who is more experienced at making saves?
August 18th, 2010 at 11:37 am
Jesus saves. Reina scores on the rebound.
I could see Agger had a concussion. You could see Agger had a concussion. Liverpool knew he had a concussion (that’s why their RMF Maxi Rodriquez was covering Agger’s LB spot). To continue to play Agger there is medically negligent and risking the player’s long term health. The only people who didn’t know Agger had a concussion were Arsenal because they never took advantage.
August 18th, 2010 at 11:40 am
@ctpa, That is the point exactly, that if there is medical negligence at hand, and our physio is not equipped to decide between small niggle and potential area of infection, then this is a problem.
August 18th, 2010 at 2:20 pm
@kevin, I was playing and chipped the keeper within the first five minutes of the game Bergkamp style from the edge of the box. Later on a ball came over the top and the keeper let me have it on my jaw and i black out. I score again while in black out, then right before the half I talk to my friends who are on the touch line and start saying some crazy stuff and I get taken to the hospital and get treated for mild concussion. I don’t get how liverpools medical staff couldn’t recognize how out of it Agger was and how my friends could see that i shouldn’t be out there.
Thud!!! That the sound of Koscienly ‘non-injured’ knee falling off later today.
I’m still wondering today about easily Fabregas had his leg broken by Puyol. Wenger insists his leg was not broken going into the game. I wonder if there wasn’t a little buckling of that periosteum from the prior week’s tackle.
August 18th, 2010 at 11:38 am
@ctpa, correction …about how easily…
Arsenal Supporters Trust has launch a fan share plan where supporters can for 10GBP ($15)/mo purchase 100 GBP ($156) of a 10,000GBP Arsenal share. Share holders have full privileges including voting rights and attendance at the AGM.
Just another reason why I love this club.
Don’t bother going to the web site to join up because it has crashed from supporter interest.
Re: Nasri’s meniscal injury.
http://ajs.sagepub.com/content/14/4/291.short
You’re are licensed, certified, degreed, experienced physio (Colin Lewin) and you do a 3 part exam on Nasri’s knee and he WILL tell you he has pain on 1 if not all 3 tests then you send back out and we bring on Rosicky earlier and maybe we win the game outright. As I sit here writing this, I have a partially torn meniscus which bothers me on occasion. Sometimes that occasion is more frequent than at other times depending on my activity. On those occasions, there is debilitating pain. That’s how I roll.
August 18th, 2010 at 12:17 pm
@ctpa, correction:…DON”T send him…
August 18th, 2010 at 6:36 pm
@ctpa, would adrenaline cancel out any of the pain? That’s the only way I can see Nasri staying on….
LONDON CALLING: I have a feeling its goona be a hard season
Nasri : Knee
Djourou : God knows. A year off, one pre-season game, a week off
Ramsay : We know about that one
Song: What is wrong with Song
Bentner : Lower region
Cesc: Runny Tummy ( Mexico)
Still no new signings. Even Blackpool have found and bought a central defender, why can’t Arsenal.
Arsenal Doctors: Did you hear Arsene say the Doc said Kozz leg was broken following John Cole tackle and 15 minutes later he came running out. Tim may have a point.
London Out
Young guns is reporting that according to Canal+ we are in for Sevilla’s Sebastien Squillaci. Ex-Lyon, Monaco, French international who is 6’1″ and just turned 30 yo this month. He apparently has been left out of Sevilla’s CL game today (which is usually a sign???).
injuries if you didnt laugh you would cry
http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=815414&sec=england&cc=5901
As Gomer Pyle used to say: “surprise, surprise, surprise. Hodgson who I used to like is now sounding like an idiot. He hopes it settles down by next Monday’s game. Agger doesn’t remember the Arsenal game. Hodgson will be lucky if Agger is back in a month if not longer. Absolutely f**king incredible. On a black and white TV circa 1958 I could see Agger’s eyes had no coherent focus in them. WTF were the physios asking him on the field: where are you?, who are you? What is your coaches name? How many fingers am I holding up? You could see those physios were clueless.
August 18th, 2010 at 2:08 pm
I agree, he could have died. From the sound of the article, he still might.
Didn’t he clear another ball after he came back on?
Werder Bremen up 3-0 on Sampdoria. I guess they’ll do ok without Ozil.
As an American myself I have never understood why injuries in football take so bloody long to get better. In this country we have basketball, which has an 82 game season plus play offs, the NFL which despite its slow pace and pads still is brutally demanding and then the NHL, which I would argue is the most physically demanding league in the world and like basketball they also play 82 games plus playoffs. What baffles me is that athletes in these leagues seem to suffer injury at a far slower rate and they seem to recover at a far quicker pace. I rarely hear about massive hockey layoffs and in basketball LeBron played through a fucked up elbow in the playoffs. I understand due to the length of the games and lack of breaks that players are prone to different injuries and all but for fucks sake, it just seems insane to me that the Chicago Blackhawks can play close to 100 games in a shorter time frame in the NHL and have most of their players fit for most of the season and every time someone farts too close to an arsenal player he is out for 2-3 months.
August 18th, 2010 at 2:44 pm
@Bendy The Viking, It’s gotta be the socialized medicine.
I think the NHL and NBA is different because of the substitutions and as you know, tired legs cause injury. I’d be interested to see a comparison of work rates among the different leagues. Just minutes played would be interesting, but miles ran, skated, etc. would also make my day.
August 18th, 2010 at 2:54 pm
@Bendy The Viking, I just looked and Martin Broduer (goalie) played an NHL record 4697 minutes one year. And it looks like the NBA stopped keeping stats on minutes played after 2007-2008 when Iverson led the league with 3423. By my calculation, last year Vermaelen played 4015 minutes in all competitions — all but 2 in 90 minute chunks.
August 18th, 2010 at 2:57 pm
@Tim, Duncan Keith led the NHL in TOI (time on ice) last season with just 2180 minutes. Nearly half what Vermaelen played.
August 18th, 2010 at 6:32 pm
@Tim, Vermaelen is not skating up and down the ice as fast as he can go either to initiate an attack or skating back to cover a forward. Vermaelen is not looking to slam guys into the boards or take hits into the boards from 6′+, 200lbs + monsters charging like freight trains. Vermaelen is not blocking hard rubber pucks shot at speeds over 90mph that will leave you bruises, broken bones, no teeth, and no feeling in your feet for months. Then there is the ‘stick’ work.
August 18th, 2010 at 7:58 pm
@ Tim & ctpa: Tim, ctpa makes the point I was trying to make. Look as what people have to do in hockey. Its insane. They also play those minutes over a shorter time period. The NHL season doesnt start until end of october in earnest. The speed in which those players move and hit each other is incredible. Just look at the hits from this season’s stanley cup finals between Pronger and Buff. That is what I find confusing. These guys routinely take physical beatings, literally be slammed into the board by giant men traveling it incredible speeds and they just get right back up and try to get the puck back. And when MOST athletes in our leagues get injured it doesn’t seem like they spend nearly as much time out. Why is it that our medical team cannot prevent and heal injuries well or quickly? The whole thing seems absurd. Even comparing our squad to the other premier league teams who play in the champions league and their injuries never come close. How many times last season did Rooney make a super fast and unexpected recovery? How many times last season did 3 weeks turn into 3 months for us?
August 18th, 2010 at 6:19 pm
@Bendy The Viking, I guess Greg Oden didnt get the memo about american sports!!
August 18th, 2010 at 7:36 pm
@Bendy The Viking, If you’ve ever played a full 90 minute game of football you’ll know why it is so easy to get injured. It’s about 10km running, not too far. But at least half of that is a sprint. 5kms of sprinting puts alot of strain on your body.
Is there data demonstrating that Arsenal players miss more games than players on other teams? I ask because I assume that everyone is more aware of injuries on their team than other teams.
My pet theory about Arsenal injuries is that our players are younger than players on other EPL teams. On the face of it, this doesn’t make sense since athletes become more injury prone as they age. However when Chelsea or United buy a proven player, part of the reason that that player has had a successful career is that he has not had a string of injuries and so he is less likely to be injury prone. Players early in their careers haven’t had to deal with the rigors of a pro schedule, and a certain percentage of those players will turn out to be injury-prone.
@Tim, I agree that comparison studies between sports looking at work rate, game play intensity, body O2 consumption, metabolism (anaerobic and aerobic) would be very interesting. Players baseline conditioning no matter what the sport would play a role in injury prevention.
I can tell you from a personal perspective that playing ice hockey in a adult league was much more intense and demanding than playing football (soccer) as a defender. A shift on the ice can range anywhere from 45sec to 1 1/2 min because you are playing at maximum intensity either attacking or back checking. Your line mates cannot and will not carry you through a shift unlike what Arsenal does for Arshavin. When you go off the ice your thighs are on fire from lactic acid build up. I’ve played with groin pulls/strains, blood soaking my skate, a broken ankle (not well), a skate cut to my chest and a partially torn meniscus. I paid to play, no one was paying me, there were no scouts, no excuses, it was a ‘non-contact’ league and I was my own physio (except when I played in camps at Lake Placid).
I love football but I have to tell you from mite level through pros to old farts, the only way a hockey player goes down on the ice or comes off the ice is we’ve had the shite knocked out of us, we’re dead or we are dying. We don’t roll around on the ice waving our arms around, we don’t sit on the ice looking help, we either get up and get on with it or skate off under our own power.
The Guardian is now parroting the Young guns story on Squillaci. Young guns has more meat on its story because any defender move would affect Norveidt.
August 18th, 2010 at 7:29 pm
@ctpa, Squillaci does make sense. Sevilla didn’t play him last night, so he wouldn’t be cup-tied. He’s in the last year of his contract. He cost Sevilla 5mil, so they’d want no more than 10mil. At 30 he’s got experience in two top leagues, the Europa League, the Champions League and International level. Like any Frenchman he’d jump at a chance to work with Wenger. I’d say this is the real deal. That’s not to say we haven’t been trying, the very unnecessarily public rebuttals for Jagielka, Spahic, Mertersaker, etc, all go some way to saying we’ve been trying. And finally Wenger has found a player with experience, technique, size and at a reasonable rate.
August 18th, 2010 at 8:34 pm
@ctpa, Wasn’t Young Guns just parroting a story from Canal +?
August 19th, 2010 at 6:22 am
@Tim, Hello Tim: Just read the report on Selliva FC site. Our newly intended is still only 6ft tall. I wanted us to buy a giant. Oh well. He will do.
A bit injury prone, having read the various blogs on him.
Its good to see Arsene taking a different stance in terms of age. Our newly intended is 30.
I am a little excited, I must admit. On another matter but clearly related: The Mark S saga is dragging, its seems Mark H. is playing hardball. I demand an ACAS intervention to find the middle ground.
Laters
http://msn.foxsports.com/foxsoccer/bundesliga/story/Bayern-supremo-slams-Dutch-physio
We should hire this clown Thoorn. He’s probably the same clown who thought RVP ankle injury was not that serious. I remember when Robben picked up that injury and I thought muscle tear is at least a month (Gallas, Ronaldo at AC Milan)if not longer when it is ‘properly’ diagnosed. The Dutch physio performed a ‘miracle’ to get Robben back in 2 wks. I hope Bayern Munich wins its lawsuit.
Sevilla’s board will meet today (if not already) to decide on our offer for Squillaci. If it is 6.5mil, I would say we are not trying to rob Sevilla of a 30yo who they paid 5mil for 2 yrs ago. We’re in a tough spot thuogh and Sevilla will know it. The player wants to go and that will help.
I’ve ‘watched’ Squillaci over the years at Lyon and Sevilla but I can’t say he made a big impression + or -.
Apparently Fulham want the money and Vela (in some capacity) for Schwarzer. I say f**k them and make an 8mil bid for 33yo Given.
Squillaci will do; maybe nothing to get excited about, but much needed experience in the position. We all would be delighted to see a decent signing in this area.
If he is 30, what sort of contract is Arsene going to offer him? Surely it will be more than one year. If that’s the case, why did we lose Gallas over his contract period and wages? They are both French internationals, but Gallas starts ahead of Squillaci.
Mourinho wants to trim his squad and apparently Gago, M. Diarra and L. Diarra are going to be available. I would love us to pick up either Gago or see L. Diarra return. The latter is impossible given the acrimony in his departure and his criticisms of Wenger, but frankly he would be a strong addition. But I really like Gago, ever since his Boca Juniors days. He is class and could compete with Song and strengthen our spine, especially for big games and in Europe.
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