As Arsenal prepare to venture forth for the second time in seven days on the scabby, pock-marked, divot-laden, no-man’s land, swampheap of an excuse of a pitch at the Stadium of Light, Arsene Wenger has confirmed that Per Mertesacker is likely to miss much of the rest of the season.
The BFG got nobbled by the Sunderland pitch last weekend, and the manager says the prognisis is not good. Speaking to the official site, he said, “Unfortunately he has had surgery and we have lost him for a while. How long I don’t know. He had reconstruction of his ligaments. So it will be long term.”
If we use Andre Santos as a guide, who suffered a very similar injury, it could be three months, but when Robin van Persie had reconstructive surgery on his ankle ligaments the club said he’d be out for four to five months. Either way it looks as if it’ll be next season before we see our glorious German ent in red and white again.
He’ll be a big miss in the centre of our defence, his organisation skills immediately apparent on Wednesday when a decent, but hardly brilliant, AC Milan side had Vermaelen and Koscielny, then Djourou, running hither and tither like the housekeeper from Tom and Jerry whenever Jerry got into the kitchen.
Meanwhile, Laurent Koscielny misses tomorrow’s game having suffered a knee injury in Milan but could be back for next weekend’s North London derby. That means a central pairing of Djourmaelen will have to improve vastly on their midweek display if Arsenal are to progress in the cup.
There is some good news though as Gervinho, boosted by his heart-breaking penalty shoot-out miss in the African Cup of Nations from Africa final, returns to the squad and should go straight back into the starting line-up.
Carl Jenkinson also returns to full training on Monday having spent 3 months out with a stress fracture of his spine.
Fuck
at least the world will end in a couple of months so we don’t have to deal with these ridiculous injuries much longer
We get our injured fallbacks back, then our centrebacks get injured! DAMN YOU INJURY GODS! DAMN YOU TO HELL!
Hi Ryan. I’m also gay for the Arse. Good call. I think we live in exciting times, what with Coq now firmly in the Arse after signing a new contract. Good times lie a-head.
But in response to your cursing of the heavens: it really isn’t that bad. It looks as if Koscielny will be back next week, and I have to say that as far as fourth-choice CBs go, Djourou is pretty good. In fact, I can think of a few top teams whose 4-choice CB is much worse.
Yes, it’s not ideal, but there’s also the larger picture: our defence also needs better protection from Song, for example (who lately has been a bit shit), and the wide players (Theo, I’m looking at you); and actually I think it’s exciting that we have our full-backs, uh, back. They are crucial to our attacking play.
I’ve said it before that the defensive problems start in midfield and Song needs a rocket up his arse – or maybe a coq…
not long ago ’twas the fullbacks now it’s the centre-backs. What’s happening to The Arsenal
Why are we so unlucky?
Maybe the medical centre is build on old indian graves
get well soon Per!
I’m yet to be entirely convinced by the bfg. His pace notwithstanding, he doesn’t win much in the air for w tall circus man. Having said all of that, it can’t be coincidence that he’s invariably in the right place at the right time, which iw infinitely more than can he said of the Verscielny axis on Wednesday night. I think we’ll miss the big lovable oaf.
Why? what part of 75 caps for Germany at the age of 27 don’t you like?
The man is pure quality. His positional awareness is among the best in the Premier League. Our defence stabilised the day he joined.
Get well soon Per.
And fuck Milan, the diving, no proper pitch, ref deceiving, no class ladyboys. COYG!!
He’s the worst German defender I’ve ever seen. If you think he’s ‘pure class’ then you haven’t seen the Chelsea or Norwich away games.
The BIG FUCKING GERMAN bring calmness in the defence , he compliments Koscielny/Vermaelen , they are more active Centrebacks , That’s why The Germans love and the do better than England . he has played for them for 2 world cups , he must be good for them ,if they keep calling him and doing great in the Big competitions.
he didn’t do great for Norwich and Chelsea , But he did great vs ManYoonited,Dortmund(home and away) , marseille(home and away),Man City,Everton,,Bolton ,just pick any clean sheet or win.
He is a great Centreback and he will be missed by Arsenal fans and German NT fans. you negative twats can keep on crying over why we didn’t get Gary Cahill
That’s a BFProblem.
Not his best fan when he arrived but showed so much leading and “read-the-game” ability we’ve been missing and now he’s off.
I just hope we won’t see the usual:
February: He’ll be back in the preseason
August 31st: He’ll be back in 2-3 weeks
September: He had a setback
May 2013: He’s back!
we are so fucking unlucky
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Poorly-rated
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Managers less of an idiot than you, idiot.
Don’t feed the troll.
I can see just by your name that you’ve quickly come onto here just to troll.
Get well soon Perscielny.
hahahahahahahahahaha
this is one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen.
Do like to see Blogger giving our big fucking German some support, he has made a few errors along the way but he has been a good addition to the squad and I genuinely believe he’s helped Kos become a top player in the process.
Per has been underrated.Vorsprung der tecknik as they say.
We will miss his calmness at the back for the rest of the season.
As for the Sunderland game I sincerely hope that the team put the
nightmare of WC Milan behind them and show that they do have
ability.
AW please please please give us a rest from Walcott starting.
He is seriously “Doing my head in” at the moment.
He doesn’t deserve a starting place.Everyone can see it apart
from AW.
Looking forward to getting our season back on course at the
Farmer O’Neill Field.
Not sure if it was deliberate, but WC Milan is about right! The home fans certainly treat the stands like a toilet.
Get well soon per mert****ker you BFG.
and whats german for we are almost screwed? One injury away from the squilster.
Well that’s bad, but at least it isn’t RVP. Maybe Lady Luck is just looking after him this year.
I wish you hadn’t said that.
You’d better knock on some wood right now!!!!!!!!!!
We know he’s not the quickest, but is positionally aware. He’s been a steady signing. The Premier League takes some adapting to, but many are quick to throw him under the bus because of some average performances. Centre halves who are calm on the ball is an asset, which he is!
Don’t worry BFG, I still love you!
Massive miss for us!
I now officially think we are jinxed.
We all saw on Wednesday what happens when the BFG and his reading of the game doesn’t play.
I was hoping last season Per Mertesacker comes and plays for us and it came true this season. A combination of cb’s including verminator,kos and mert definitely looked strong than any other in the league only for us to suffer the full back situation which every Arsenal fan would know has been a problem since last six years never do we have a decent spell of having a regular back four.
Mertesacker has been a good signing so Well done Mert come back soon.
You need to start praying for a few more players in the summer & while ur at it you might as well pray for a trophy aswell!
One thing at a time hunter
So tell me what you want you want players or trophy? Oh wait i know…
(sigh) really not confident bout the game at the weekend.. can see us doing a repeat of last year getting knocked out of all silverware chances in the space of days.
I think they need to re-introduce school milk or something at the Arsenal!!! What on earth is it with all these injuries, and its not just this season either its year after year.. we seem to permanently have around 5 or so 1st teamers out at a time
Read a comment by someone on here the other day when Per first got injured…was something along the lines of “We’re just a combined Injury/Suspension away from Squillaci..” found the statement pretty funny…after Kos’ injury though, I’m no longer laughing…
Per Mart… i Luv u, ur calmness, basic reading of d game nd ur spirit really attachd me to you, those who initially criticized u are nw eating there words(f**cking cheat fans). dey nw sings…we miss u BFG against A/C MILLAN. bt get well soon my dear friend PER MAR 2 continue ur good work
That’s worrying.
We have already been shown how much we missed him in central D. And now if Djourou starts, my nightmares will be almost complete. Please stay healthy Verminator, because a Djourou/Squillaci central D would result in my brains painting my living room wall. Hope you get well soon Per.
Too bad about the BFG, such an excellent reader of the game. He’ll be missed, but in my opinion we should be able to do our job with what we’ve got at the moment, given that Kos returns relatively soon. Though I must say I’m happy to hear that Corporal Jenkinson is returning to training
Yes! Jenkinson back to full training, finally…missed having him around the team
He’s not such a big miss. At times this season he has been a liability.
By the way: has anyone read today’s Daily Mail? Wenger is going to have a clear-out this summer. Maybe he should start with himself.
And we bring in who to replace him who can still get the club top 4 even on a tight budget. (If you say Harry Redkapp I will rip your legs off, 3rd most spenders the last few years)
I’m so tired of you ‘Arsene is God’ arseholes. We’ve won fuck-all in seven years under this bloke. I’m fed up with explaining just how incompetent he has been managing the club, especially in the last five years.
We need a new manager NOW! My favourite right now would be Jochim Low, the German National manager.
Enough of this fucking shit!
Quick Google search tells me that the only thing Joachim Low has done at club level was to win the Austrian League, and then have the club promptly declare bankruptcy the next season. Also consider the talent he has to work with at a national level.
Fatgooner , Your comments really makes me sad , You hate almost everything Arsenal , The Board,The Manager,The players . I expect that from Man united fans
he was overused too much the fact we dont have a good bench makes us rely on individuals too much and then they end up getting a long term injury, the squad is big but the depth is thin. we seem to not just tie our hands in buying but also selling.
Ahhhh jeez, this season just gets better and better. Strap yourselves in, it could be a rough ride.
Let’s hope Djourou finds some form, and wish the BFG all the best with his recovery.
I really hope we get to see a frontline of Ox/RVP/Gervinho. I could end up being horribly wrong but I have a feeling that attacking trio will cause defenders major problems.
And when it doen’t you’ll say why did he start Gervinho instead of Walcott, why didn’t he start Asrhavin instead of Chamberlain. You’re all mental.
That I most certainly will not, I just am legitimately looking forward to Gervinho and the Ox playing with each other. I really want to see what will happen when RVP is surrounded by two lively wingers who aren’t afraid to take their man head on. I just have a feeling that opposing fullbacks are going to have a nightmare trying to defend two wingers with the pace, unpredictability, and dribbling skills of Gervinho and Ox.
Walcott has his moments but I have a feeling opposing fullbacks are not going to enjoy being attacked by the combination of Gervinho and Ox. Although Gervinho seemed to play a fairly free attacking role with little defending leaving the tracking back more to Walcott. So I’m interested to see if the Ox and Gervinho can form an effective partnership without leaving us too exposed at the back. If it doesn’t work I won’t be complaining at Arsene saying he should try a different combo, in fact I’d commend him for giving it a chance.
I’m not sure what aspect of my post seems negative, I’ve just been honestly looking forward to seeing this pairing since the Ox broke out against ManU.
“, I just am legitimately looking forward to Gervinho and the Ox playing with each other..”
hehehe , I just the both play with Coq too
This place is full of mentally ill Gooners. When Vermaelen is injured everyone says we miss him, when he’s back we miss Mertesacker, when Sagna’s injured we miss him, when he’s injured we miss Jenkison, when Koscielny’s injured we miss Djourou, when Djourou’s injured we miss Koscielny, when Gibbs is injured we miss Santos, when Santos is injured we miss Gibbs.
Face it you utter morons. It doesn’t matter who fucking plays, the defence is a car crash and Wenger is 100% inept at building a defence that can keep clean sheets.
You are killing the club as much as he is with your ridiculous stupidity. Go and support the scum, Arsenal need a serious manager and serious fans with brain cells.
So we can’t miss more than one player at a time? Makes plenty of sense.
The idea, I think, is to support the team and manager we have…?
Rather than some other Arsenal ‘team’ and ‘manager’ of your imagination. Support the team we have. Or don’t.
But if you don’t, this doesn’t make you a better Arsenal fan than the rest of us. In fact it doesn’t really make you an Arsenal fan at all. Does it?
Lehman, Toure, Campbell, Cole, Lauren.
Brain fart, heh?
I guess I should have read this before replying to your previous post and trying to make an intelligent argument. I think you might be the mental one without brain cells Pete.
The current situation reminds me of the poem IF. Written by Rudyard
Kipling just before he baked exceedingly good cakes.
Basically he refers to those twin imposters,victory and defeat,and treat
them with the same manner you wil be a rational person.
Hence Blackburn 7-1 and Milan 0-4 should be looked at rationally and
see the god and the bad.
However if we lose to Sunderland tomorrow I doubt if I will be rational
in the short term and Kipling can stuff his cakes where the Sun doesn’t
shine.
However if we win I will be rational until the Spuds game.
Oh the stress of following the Gooners.
We can’t miss more than a couple of players (like 2) at a time because our squad depth is not where it should be to battle the major powers. Too many mentally soft players who think that they’re better than being just squad players and if only they could get a run of games, they’d fix their 2% strike conversion rate.
If the rumblings of a clear-out are true, that would be the best thing to happen for us this year.
Paying £50K a week to some of these numpties is criminal if RVP is only getting about £80K/week.
Oh, and Pete,
You are just now realizing that supporting a club causes mental issues??
What a shame. After Per there’s no decent replacement. Hopefully the against goal count doesn’t embarrassment us too much with all the remaining games of this season… In a nut shell, we’re fucked
Get well soon BFG…
Ok BFG’s injury was probably to blame the pitch cutting up, but with all our consistent injury woes isn’t it maybe time we took a look at our training methods?
Good luck with your recovery Per. A damned shame, this.
Well well what a season for wenger and the fucking board!
Get well soon BFG.