It’s fair to say that when Arsenal players start dropping like flies, Arsene Wenger’s medical staff are the ones who bear the brunt of the stick. Indeed, so concerned were the club by the constant battering received by their treatment room experts that in November a raft of Gooner bloggers (including Arseblogger) were purposely courted in an attempt to clarify the extraordinary measures taken to keep the squad fit.
One man who appreciates more than most the dedication of the Gunners medical team is Carl Jenkinson. Having worked his way into first team contention, the summer signing from Charlton was cruelly sidelined with a back injury which has kept him out for over 3 months.
Ready for a return to action – he played 45 minutes in the Reserves 5-0 win over Norwich last night – the young defender has taken time out to thank those who’ve nursed him back to health.
“It is fantastic to be back,” he told Arsenal Player. “It has been really hard coming in every day and doing my rehab stuff, but I am delighted to be back now.
“The injury felt fine; I had no problems with it at all, which is great news because you never know how you are going to react in a game.
“It is a family club at Arsenal, so there are always people who will put an arm around you and try to help you out.
“The medical team have been fantastic, keeping me motivated and making sure I am doing the right things. I have got a lot to thank them for in terms of getting me back to where I am now, so I am very grateful to them.”
Timing his return just a couple of weeks after first choice right-back Bacary Sagna also made his return, could see Jenkinson spend more time on the bench than the pitch, a state of affairs that the 20-year-old admits is frustrating.
“I felt like I was starting to come into my own [when it happened] – that was the most frustrating thing,” he continued.
“In the last few games I played I was starting to show people what I could do and to then get a setback was hard to take.
“Three and a half months is a long time, so it has been hard work but I think you just have to focus on the future and be positive, so that is what I am going to do.”
Good luck Jenks!
And I hope Jack is coming back soon too. But I guess that Abou likes the new centre maybe he’s moved in or somethig ?
Gj jenks
For me he is part of a bright future at afc.
Jack, jenks, ox, Rambo, frimpong,coq,szc,song,and kos are all exciting prospects,already doing a job. Let’s hope for fourth and no more bloody injuries please.
Also about time we showed the spuds where they belong.
Would have loved to see him stake a claim whilst Sagna was injured
He just needs to remember that Sagna isn’t getting any younger (he’s only just turned 29 but won’t be long until he is classed as “experienced”), so will get playing time.
Failing that, he’s still young enough to be trained as a left back to give us a defensive engine on that side.
He has surprising speed, as I think has been mentioned before. You usually do not think of a pasty, awkward looking young man as a speed demon, but seeing him track back in some games shows that he is no slouch. With his crossing ability, I wouldn’t mind seeing him on the right side of midfield, either. He’s not as fast as Walcott, but I would give up some speed in return for some crossing that has a chance to be turned in. /football manager
Not to mention Jenko will track back unlike Feo.
Theo yells back, doesn’t that count?
I was a believer in Theo, but his attitude during the game is wearing thin on me.
@getz – yes I think Walcott has confused “getting angry” with “winning mentality”. Honestly, no matter how much people complain about the defence, and even Song, arguably our most important and consistent player, our biggest problem is lack of creativity coming from the wings. When we play well, it’s usually because either theo, or gervinho or arshavin or oxlade is making things happen. Too often they are not effective enough (obviously too early to be accusing Oxlade of not doing enough, he’s done very well so far), and as a result the games become much more difficult than they should be.
Good news, at least he will have time to learn from the master himself, that is called Sagna, unlike other kids thrown in at their teens to do a man job.
I know CRF will open his mouth and go Messi, Nymar, Gotze bla bla bla without thinking those players, YES they were teens superstars but look who were playing around them!!!! Ass hole AKA A Cole, started with us as a young player but look who were playing around him????? Fab started at a young age but look who were playing around him???? RVP at the age of 21 with all his talent he was just like Messi as a teen SQUAD PLAYER playing with an experience WORLD CLASS PLAYERS.
Now you want us to build starting 11 team around Ox, Ryo, Jack, Ramsey, Campbell and not break those kids down??? Are those kids good enough to play for the starting 11? Yes of course they are talented and can play. Are those kids able to handle pressure of a big club like Arsenal and win our first trophy without an experience talented players as starting 11? No of course not, they will break down, the pressure that will be put on them so great they will break down often, or someone will SHOWCROSS them just like Ramsey.
What about Messi, Neymar, Gotze….!?
HA! You know me too well. My point of building around players didn’t mean to only have other players their age. Building round our world class youngsters with experienced players would be the way to go. Our best teams have been a mixture of youth and experience and mixed pace, power and technique.
Well done for trying to twist what i said though. You almost had it but then that pesky common sense got in the way again didn’t it. Don’t worry, we’ll work on it while Cygan is sleeping.
Well, your beloved Arsene, which is according to you the BEST manager that ever lived, let down so many talented youngster by over playing them and put all the pressure of a big club like the Arsenal on their young shoulders since 2006.
After the 2007 when we were close to winning it, he started replacing Flam, Help, Gilberto and Rosicky (before being injured for 2 years, he was a different player), with Denlison, Diaby, Song and Le cunt add to that 19 year old Fab , guess the average age??????? Now you know what we are saying is the right way, we need mix of experience and up coming talent. But, is your beloved Arsene doing it????.
If you give me the ” WE DON’T HAVE MONEY BS ONE MORE TIME” while our wage bill 130 mil filled with the chamakhs, Diabys, Denlisons, Alumunias, Theos, Bendtners, Gibbses of this world earning 60K a week (20 million a year), not to mention the other crap in less wages, I would know you are just blinkered like the failed economist that runs our club.
BTW, can someone tell our failed economist that, the GREAT Bayern Munich Annual Wage is 115 million.
Anyone else get an image of’Dr Nick’ from The Simpsons in their head, when they hear the words ‘Arsenal Medical Team’!?!
I like BFGs physician in Germany with the stylish name of Dr Stockle from
Turbingen.Makes Dr Smith from Neasden seem very quaint.
Whoever the medics are can they all get our players back on the pitch
a.s.a.p. even Diaby must finally get fit or sold for horsemeat.
Hell, he’s a gooner. He’ll get his chance if he wants it that bad. He’s got the raw ability, so as long as he applies himself this lad could be here for the long haul.
His crossing ability with his left foot is as good as with his right. So a cover for gibbs till santos returns.
If Gibbs gets inured I would rather see Sagna play left and Jenkinson RB.
Sagna struggles a bit at left back may be because he is very use to his position at rb and his left foot is good for shooting but not crosses which is mostly his attacking side of the game.
Nothing against Jenks, but I’d really like to see Gregory van der Wiel as Sagna’s successor.
true jenks needs time to develop and i remember seeing him play vs real madrid in the champions league this year and he was probably ajax’s best player
talking about van der wiel by the way
Like sagna, he’s a pretty simple player, but he’s tall and I think he’s a bit quicker, so I do think he will overtake bacary eventually.
was he high when he said this?
Jenkinson – “The medical team here is fantastic. They assured me the leeches they used are top quality”
Why is everyone saying Jenkinson is fast. He’s not that fast. He’s as fast as, maybe, Oleg Luzhny in that game he played against us for Kiev when he looked awesome before he came to us. But i’ve seen him struggle to keep up with the speedier wingers, he’s not as fast as Sagna, no way, he’s just a very tenacious player so he makes up for it with his determination to get the ball and also his body strenghth welll. He’s also a Gooner and he seemed to be improving and growing game by game (as was our other missing full back, Santos) and, in my opinion, along with Santos, was an important part of why we went on that unbeaten streak before christmas. I like him. But he’s not a speed merchant by any means.
Great to see but the Medic team are like AFC if you keep going you must get something right sooner or later.
He is out for 2 weeks….which becomes 12, he will be off about 2 months….which becomes all season.
Dont wont to be a nark but that is the normal report we put up with lately