When playing Football Manager ™, you are always asked enough questions by the “media” when starting a new season. One of the questions they ask concerns injuries. Each manager comes up with an answer to such questions.
The last time we played the BarcAliens in our home turf, the Mercenary William Gallas was the first to leave the pitch injured. Andrei “Hotty” Arshavin performed a sliding tackle on some Alien and got injured in the process. El Capitan even broke a few bones here and there.
We went to the BarcAlien invasion HQ, the Nou Camp without our “backbone”. That little left footed World Wizard of Year scored 4 goals and ended our Champions League adventure for the season.
Arsenal came into 2011 with a “clean bill of health”. The only long term absentee was Thomas “Verminator” Vermaelen. AW the Alchemist did well to shuffle his squad well as the games came rapidly, but as always fatigue started creeping in.
Even if we have a “big” squad, there’s still a certain set of players that play week in week out. The Carling Spoon was used in previous seasons as an avenue for brooding our younglings. AW the Alchemist took the competition “more serious” this year. We can all see the end result of that…..we are playing Birmingham on the 27th.
The chief physiotherapist, Colin Lewin and club doctor, Gary O’ Driscoll have been very busy this season.
The usual suspects have been Abou Diaby and Kieran Gibbs. They are fit right now though.
Our player of the season so far, Samir “El Rufai” Nasri has been on scintillating form this season. His 14 goals and a few assists have proven to us that we can’t really lay all our Red and White eggs in the El Capitan basket. El Rufai unfortunately tweaked his hammy when we played Huddersfield Town. The prognosis for such an injury is 3 weeks. It’s really unfortunate that Nasri will miss the 1st leg against the BarcAliens. He’ll be back for the 2nd leg in their invasion HQ. It’s also good to hear that a new deal is on the cards for a player that deserves one. I pray it reaches “6 digits”.
Our combative African missing link between Djibril Cisse and Abel Xavier also picked up a knock when we played those blue-jerseyed bullies Everton. Alex Song’s injury is actually confusing because no possible return date has been set. AW the Alchemist told the media Vultures in his press conference that Song cannot “walk” at the moment. I hope he’ll be fit enough to play the BarcAliens because the idea of sending Denilson or Diaby unto the pitch to play them sends chills down my spine. It’s Xavi and Iniesta we are talking about.
We already know the long term suspects, Emmanuel Frimpong and the Verminator.
They are now joined by a new member, Lukasz “Flyin Fabbi” Fabianski. After working extremely hard to usurp Almunia, our handsome Pole developed a shoulder problem that was supposed to keep him out for just 3 games…Leeds, Wigan and Ipswich. Just like rVp and Vermaelen before him, a small scale injury has escalated into a long term absence.
He went for surgery and he’ll be out for a very very long time. AW the Alchemist has confirmed that Fabianski’s season is over. Thank goodness that Almunia didn’t leave for any Spanish side. Wojciech “Szszsz” Szczesny will step up like Atletico’s De Gea and will make the number 1 his own.
With more games coming very fast, I just hope that we don’t suffer anymore injuries because our rivals have been reinforced.
In other news, Everton’s Scotty Boss said that Fabregas deserved to be “sent off” for the comments he made at the ref at halftime.
AW the Alchemist said that El Capitan was with him in the tunnel.
The ref Lee Mason really messed up because Saha was miles offside. Arsenal were the only team that had not conceded a league goal in 2011. Breaking such a nice record with an offside goal wasn’t pleasing to the eye.
We visit St. James Park on Saturday and we all know that there’s no room for error. The Red Hell Owners host their Oil rich rivals this month. They also have trips to Anfield and the Blue Bridge.
All we have to do is to keep winning our games and hope for the “worst” for them.
AW the Alchemist paid tribute to their stalwart Gary Devil after he decided to hang his boots after 20 years in the game. He wore only one jersey throughout his career.
As always, there’s always a place for one or more tweets.
Today’s own goes to our new number 1, Szszsz
“@53Szczesny53: Have u ever played in a different position other than goalie?” At 8 years old I was the worst striker in Poland. Gave up quickly!”
He gave up striking to become a goalie. At 6’5″ he would have been a very good “target man”.
He should ensure from now on that he stops shots on target.
Sayonara
