Midweek [lack of] News Round Up 25 February, 2010
Posted by lasagnechef in Arsenal News.trackback
Still very dull and quiet round these parts. With no midweek game there’s been nothing to really talk about but then again hopefully that means our players will be fit and raring to go this weekend. We’ve got a very tough trip to Stoke on Saturday and we’re going to need to be at our best – we’ve been there twice and lost twice. Eduardo Da Silva is looking to return to the side this weekend and is sick and fed up of all his injury setbacks:
“I have stopped looking back, thinking about negatives and I’m looking forward now because I missed games and had a year out which affected me.
I’ve not got a problem with the leg now but I do suffer muscle injuries because I was out for so long and now I’m working so hard to come back. But I’m getting stronger physically, I’m stronger mentally, my confidence personally is growing and I believe I’m at a club where we can win titles and trophies because we are one of the top ten teams in the world.”
I’m not counting on having Eduardo’s services this weekend. For the past three games he’s meant to have been back so I’ve kind of lost faith in when the manager tells us he will return. If he does pass the necessary fitness tests then he probably won’t be fit enough to last 90 minutes anyway.
I’m not sure he’s the type of player we’ll need at the Britannia anyway. He is easily pushed off the ball and might get muscled out of the game. However he is the sort that can turn a game in an instant with something magical – but we haven’t seen that in a while from him.
I’m glad we have Bendtner available at least. His physical and aerial presence will be a good asset and he proved his strikers instinct with the tap-in last weekend. We could certainly do with Robin van Persie who’s not afraid to get stuck into a physical battle and is easily one of our best players. According to his national manager we could have him back earlier than we think but I’m not so optimistic. The Dutch have always tried to play down his injury, first diagnosing it as a two week problem and then constantly shortening the recovery time against our own estimates. He’s saying early April but I think what Wenger said last week will be more accurate and that was late April at the earliest.
Tomorrow we will get a full update on the latest injury news so we’ll get a better idea of who we will take to Stoke then. I must admit I am a little bit worried about the game, it’s a horrible place to go and our record shows that. Last night Man City were beaten there in the FA Cup and they will be on a high from that for sure. However it did take 120 minutes to separate them though so hopefully they’re suffering a bit of fatigue.
A full match preview to come tomorrow.
In other news The Mirror’s John Cross has been talking about our early leavers at Ashburton Grove. It’s a familiar sight nowadays seeing the stadium almost half empty at the final whistle and it is frustrating for the players and fans. What difference does half an hour make on a Saturday afternoon? I know some people have places to go and that is fair enough but 20,000-30,000 people can’t all have to be at the dinner table for 6 o’clock or wherever people have to be.
It’s a real shame but I don’t see it improving drastically. Yes the queues are bad for the tube but why miss the last 5-10 minutes of the game just to go join a line of people? I very rarely leave early, only if I genuinely have to be somewhere. I hate queuing too, I’m a very impatient guy so I find the best tactic is going to the pub or the shops for half an hour after the game until they die down.
It’s a bit of a pointless topic to discuss really when I think about it, everyone’s different and you can’t tell people what to do but it is a bit embarrassing sometimes. In quiet weeks like these though all there is to discuss is pointless topics anyway.
That’s about all I can muster for this afternoon, tomorrow’s press conference should bring us a load of fresh stories; fingers crossed it’s good news. Before I go, if you haven’t seen this photo of Eboue, Arshavin and Bendtner, you need to – it’s amazing.
Thanks for reading.
FOR STOKE
Why cannot a player stand in front of Delap when he takes a throw?
Even if it is a few metres back, but in the line of sight, it might just throw him off a little and cause a higher trajectory.
According to the FIFA Laws: All opponents must stand no less than 2 m (2 yds) from the point at which the throw-in is taken.
Surely this is enough to disrupt the flight of the ball.
Why do we allow Delap to spend one minute getting a cloth and then feverishly drying the ball before a throw? Surely this is time-wasting and not in the spirit of the game.
I would be showing the ref the watch everytime he took a throw.
Then again…if Arsenal concede from a throw-in maybe they deserve to get beaten.
Eduardo is a rat face
Eboue looks fantastic in that pic!