I won’t be around until the weekend + Rosicky & Clichy news 15 June, 2009

Posted by lasagnechef in Arsenal News.
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If you’ve missed me saying so all weekend, I’m away this week. I’m off to Kent in about an hour and I won’t be able to update the site until the weekend. You might get an update Friday night but to be honest it’ll more likely be Saturday. In the future it would be nice to be able to have someone fill in whilst I’m away and give me a hand with the site but that looks like some time away at the moment. I’ll bring you an update on today’s news before I go…

I mentioned Tomas Rosicky yesterday talking about his injury situation but there are some fresh quotes out today. He’s been talking about his fitness and his chances of making a full return next season:

According to (fitness coach) Tony Colbert, I could have been playing at the end of the last season, he saw no reason why I shouldn’t, as he thought my fitness was okay. The club decided not to play me.

They did not consult with me. They saw that I was okay and maybe they just did not want to take the gamble. I think that it was obvious from the training that I was ready to play, if not for 90 minutes.

Until I play in a league match I will not be able to tell what my chances are. When it comes to fitness alone, I must say that I am in a better shape than I was when I came to Arsenal. But I don’t know what will happen after I make repeated sprints from one end of the pitch to the other.”

It’s understandable that Tomas wasn’t risked, we didn’t really have much to play for in the league and it would’ve been wrong to throw him in at the very deep end against Chelsea or Man United in the cups. We opted to give him the summer to be safe and I guess we are expecting him to be fully fit and ready to take part next season.

It gives me confidence when he says that he’s the fittest he has been whilst at Arsenal, however the fact that he’s not sure about the constant sprints you have to endure in a game situation worries me. Surely he would have practiced this? Especially if he says he’s in the best shape he has been for a long time.

I’m starting to think we can’t expect too much from Rosicky next season. I bet it’s going to be like Eduardo’s comeback last season where it was very stop-start with little niggling injuries every so often. Maybe towards the latter end of the season he might get a run of games but don’t expect him to return on the first day of next season and play every minute of every game right up until May.

There’s been talk this week about Gael Clichy moving to Spain, It’s been mainly the tabloids stirring so I was never that worried but you never know. Well Gael has said he will be staying at Arsenal – he admits he is flattered to be linked with Real Madrid but wants to respect his Arsenal contract.

He didn’t have the best season this year but he’s still one of my favourite Arsenal players. I look forward to him returning from injury and seeing him next season, I think Gibbs’ emergence will inspire him on a bit more and we can get the best out of Clichy again.

Last night, I watched most of Spain’s 5-0 thrashing of New Zealand just to see Cesc playing again. It was an absolute walkover for Spain, it was like playing a Sunday League side, Torres had a hat trick inside 20 minutes and Fabregas got the fourth soon after, it was a bit of a tap in but I was still happy to see him score. He looked hungry last night and was really enjoying his game; you would be though, playing for one of the best teams in the world. Hopefully a win in South Africa this summer will bring him back to Arsenal high-spirited.

And finally I said about Paris St Germain’s Mamadou Sakho being linked this week, well he has denied it all and will be staying with PSG. That’s that then.

Well thanks for reading, I better get going now. Speak to you at the weekend.