The International Break, or as I like to call it “The Arsenal Injury Watch” has been in full swing for the last ten days. The major news as always for the Gunners has been on the injury front. Arsenal recently confirmed that midfielder Jack Wilshere will be out two to three months with his ongoing Achilles injury. Wilshere himself confirmed as much through his Twitter account:
"@JackWilshere: I can confirm I will be out for around 2-3 months! I am working hard in the gym to stay fit and I am gutted but I will be back stronger!"
Lovely.
He thinks he’s gutted? Try being the millions of Arsenal fans for whom this is all just a little too familiar. Too add more salt to the wound, defender Thomas Vermaelen went under the knife in Sweden (again) to treat his Achilles injury, which cost him much of last season. London Colney has become quite the M.A.S.H. unit in recent years.
The Indefinite Absences
This means no Wilshere in the midfield until November at the earliest. Wasn't this injury only supposed to sideline Wilshere for two to three weeks at one point? Seems like another in the ongoing saga of Arsenal players having these "un-diagnosable and indefinite" injuries. It's getting quite old at this point.
The most glaring of these cases was last campaign with defender Thomas Vermaelen. The Belgian went out on International duty last August and came back to London with a knock that would see him miss about two weeks, according to the medical team. No big deal. Arsenal can cope without almost any player for two weeks.
Than it became two months.
Then three months...
You get the idea. Vermaelen wasn't available for selection again until May 8th, and didn’t actually feature for Arsenal until May 15th. His "two week" injury kept him out of action for about eight months.
That's either a pretty poor diagnosis, or horrible luck. This, my friends, happens too often to be just bad luck
Missing Men
During the 2009/10 campaign, Robin Van Persie injured his knee playing for the Netherlands and initially was supposed to be out for six weeks. Five months later the Dutchman returned to the Arsenal lineup (this was the infamous horse placenta healing incident). This came after the 2007/08 season, where the medical team couldn't seem to get Van Persie fit for more than a week at a time, when the club was in the thick of the title race and desperate to have the Dutchman in the lineup.
There's also the case of midfielder Tomas Rosicky, who missed the better part of 18 months, including the entire 2008/09 campaign, with a mysterious hamstring injury that had everyone befuddled. Since that injury, Rosicky has struggled to find the form that led to Arsenal purchasing him in the summer of 2006.
How can a hamstring injury be that misdiagnosed for so long? If my doctor couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me for 18 months, I’d be going to see someone else.
Kieran Gibbs seems to be made of glass, and when he is injured he seems to be unavailable for an extreme amount of time. This renders his talents basically useless as he cannot be relied upon. Another constantly injured player is Abou Diaby who it seems is always "like a new signing" because he misses months at a time, only to return to the squad and remind us that he is better in potential than he is on the pitch. Then he gets hurt again.
Anyone else see a pattern?
Are Changes Needed?
I'm not here to necessarily criticize the Arsenal medical team; I am after all, no doctor. But this seems to be an ongoing problem at Arsenal. A few years back Cesc Fabregas injured his hamstring. After that, it was always a guess as to whether or not Fabregas would be fit for the next match due to a muscular problem.
As a non-trained professional in this area I have nothing to offer in the way of training solutions. It seems to me though, that someone in the know would be able to. Does this happen on this scale at other clubs? Every club has injuries, sure, but on this level? Do I just not notice this problem at other clubs because I don't care about them?
These are all valid possibilities. I'm just hoping Wilshere is actually only out until November, and that his season won’t turn into Vermaelen’s from last year.
This has to affect the team’s transfer policies as well. Last summer, Arsene Wenger only added Sebastien Squillaci (insert joke here) to the backline. He of course assumed he’d have Thomas Vermaelen available. But when January came, he didn’t add a defender either. Was it because the medical team told him Vermaelen was close to recovery? I think this is a legitimate question to ask.
Has the constant Rosicky availability/non-availability lottery effected what midfielders the club has purchased? Possibly.
I think these problems have gone on long enough for the club to have a serious discussion about a new medical team or at the very least a change in their training regiments. What the exact remedy is, I can not say. I am extremely bothered by the rumor that Arsenal took Yossi Benayoun on loan without a medical. Is this normal practice?
I think this area needs addressed if the Gunners are going to be able to challenge for trophies now and in the future. Arsenal need all hands on deck to take on the financial clout of teams like Manchester City and Chelsea.
Too Much Too Soon?
In Wilshere’s case it doesn’t help that since the start of the 2010/11 season he has played 54 competitive matches for club and country. That is a staggering amount of games for such a young player. The amount of games the young players at Arsenal are playing could be part of the problem, as their bodies aren’t yet ready to cope with the style of play. But with most of them being so talented, you cannot blame the boss for selecting them.
One stat I can provide to prove this point, is that last term, Arsenal first-team players missed an average of 10.7 games due to injury. The last time the Gunners won the Premier League in 2003/04: first-team players missed an average of 4.7 games. That’s an enormous difference.
Getting the Band Back Together
One thing I do know for sure is that Arsenal desperately need Wilshere in the lineup if they are to challenge for a top four spot, much less any silverware this term. The most disappointing thing is that Wilshere is ready to break out now that Fabregas has left, and become a much more offensive presence. I envision Mike Arteta playing a bit more towards the center circle distributing from there, and Wilshere being the midfielder who goes the most forward, finally realizing all the offensive potential he possesses.
Apparently that will have to wait two to three months. Or so we're told.
Follow Jimmy Gossard on Twitter @JimmyGossard
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