Official Gooners Thread - A New Hope

[ONeill]

Gibbs broken foot

Ah Jaysus. Feck sake. He did that shooting late on. Disastrous run of key injuries. Traore didn't impress last weekend.

[Archie Mitchell]

Merson wasn't too impressed with Arsenal tonight even though they won 2-0. Chelsea could go to town on them on Sunday.

[ONeill]

Merson wasn't too impressed with Arsenal tonight even though they won 2-0. Chelsea could go to town on them on Sunday.

For starters I cannot see Arsenal keeping a clean sheet. Even tonight, Standard had about 2 shots on goal and both hit the woodwork with Almunia well beaten. Gibbs would've kept Chelsea on the back foot. Traore won't. It's going to take a few stormers from the likes of Song, Denilson, Fabregas and the Russian. Nasri is lost. He wants to play in the middle but so seems every Arsenal player bar Senderos and Silvestre.

Pinning hopes on Eduardo but he has shown nothing lately to suggest he'll make a difference.

Arsenal must be one of the smallest teams in England, Europe, the World.

[ONeill]

RVP out for months now. I just smashed the wife's Denby.

Van Persie - I felt nobody could stop me

Robin Van Persie will be out for longer than expected.

After a new scan and study in hospital, it was discovered that three of the four ligaments in his right ankle were ruptured in the friendly international game between Holland and Italy.

The Arsenal striker had his ankle put in plaster yesterday [Friday] and will be operated on by one of the world's most renowned ankle specialists very soon. Van Persie is expected to be out for another four months.

During his time with the Dutch national team, and shortly after the tackle by Giorgio Chiellini in Pescara, doctors diagnosed that Van Persie had only a tear in one of the ligaments in his right ankle. He would be out for six weeks.

The healing of that kind of injury could be speeded up, according to his Dutch team-mate Orlando Engelaar and Van Persie's former team mate at PSV Eindhoven, Danko Lazovic, if he would use the skills of Mariana Kovacevic.

The player could not know the damage in his right ankle was more severe. "If I had known at the time what I know now, I would have been operated [on] immediately,'' Van Persie says in his home in Rotterdam, where he sits with his leg up and his ankle in plaster. "We have all been steered in the wrong direction.''

However the Dutch international does not regret his visit to Kovacevic.

He says: "In the area of torn muscles and partly torn ligaments she has treated players in the majority of cases with success. A number of Liverpool and Chelsea players have all benefited from her treatments. They were all back on the pitch in a very short time.

"As I was enjoying a fantastic period with Arsenal and the first official diagnosis from the doctors was that I would be out for six weeks, I wanted to bring that period back to three or four weeks.

"But the ligaments in my ankle were completely ruptured. That's why the treatment in Serbia, we know now, never had the chance to be successful from the start.

"I have never wanted to go for alternative medical help before. Normally I am too cool for that kind of thing.

"But because I wanted to grab every opportunity to get fit again and to be back on the pitch with Arsenal, I decided to have a go. If it does not help me, it won't harm me either. That was my motto.

"I had the treatment methods checked intensively before I went out there. I demanded to know if there was any way it could do any damage. It couldn't. Which is why I went.

"A lot has been said and written about it. But the method of treatment in Serbia is not a bizarre thing. I did not have anything injected in my body. The treatment was solely on the surface.''

Van Persie says he did underestimate the impact of his visit to Serbia. "People say I should have kept it quiet. But because I always want to be honest and I felt as if I had nothing to hide, I wanted to be open about it.

"I was in continuous contact with the medical staff at Arsenal, with whom I have an excellent relationship. In fact, I admire our medical people at the club for giving me the chance to work on a really fast return into the team. A lot of other people made comments without having any knowledge of the treatment methods in Serbia.''

Van Persie says he understands the curiosity after the injury moment in the friendly against Italy. He is the star striker of the Netherlands and one of the main attackers at Arsenal.

"But I was surprised by the hype and some of the bizarre comments. All those people forget I only had one goal with all this: I wanted to get back in the team at Arsenal as quick as possible.''

Van Persie now knows he needs to be patient.

"It is so frustrating to be out for months. I was having a super season with the team. I had never felt as strong and powerful as this year. Apart from, I think, two matches, I either scored or made goals in all the games we played this season.

"I was getting so strong, that I felt nobody could stop me anymore. That is the greatest feeling you can have as a player.

"It is such a pity that great run has been stopped for the time being by one kick in a friendly international match. It is a real shame for me, for the team and for the fans of Arsenal.''

Van Persie hopes he can still play a major role in Arsenal's season. The team, he feels, deserve a trophy. "I want to wish them luck against Chelsea this weekend. I hope the boys keep believing in themselves. I am absolutely convinced they will keep improving and keep the good form of the last few months going.''

Robin says he feels supported by the positive reactions he has received since damaging his ankle.

"In Serbia complete strangers came up to me to wish me well. In London, the same thing. In Amsterdam, at the AMC hospital, everyone told me I had been so unlucky. People tell me they want to enjoy watching me play again soon for Arsenal. That has really lifted my spirit in a difficult time.''

arsenal.com

[Jimmy Two Times]

Big test tomorrow.  Looking like Traore at left back with Billy Gallas a doubt.  Someone needs to step up to the mark and replace RVP.  Ballack, Essien and Drogba might just have too much power....we will struggle at set pieces without Bendtner and Diaby.

[Dinny Breen]

Only Arsenal could depress you like that, probably time for Wenger to call a halt to the experiment and splash the cash in January and next summer..

Drogba will get the plaudits but Anelka worked his bollox off and their back four were so good, can't see any team beating them to the title.

[AFS]

Arsenal form against the top 8
P5 W1 D0 L4

Arsenal form against the rest
P8 W7 D1 L0

Talk about Gattuso being a bit unsettled at Milan, getting him in might settle that unbalanced midfield a bit.

[stew]

Arsenal form against the top 8
P5 W1 D0 L4

Arsenal form against the rest
P8 W7 D1 L0

Talk about Gattuso being a bit unsettled at Milan, getting him in might settle that unbalanced midfield a bit.

No more talk please of the big four, there is now the big two with four other clubs at least two notches below them.

Arsenal cannot get it done against the big two when it matters most but the are still the third best team in the league and easily the best to watch in any league,, scant consolation for their league season aspirations being over before december starts but they are.

[T Fearon]

I reckon we can now challenge the Goons for thrid place

[mortified]

very poor performance today, dont rate Eduardo at all, are all Arsenal players afraid to shoot from outside the box? really annoying today!!!

[Puckoon]

Only Arsenal could depress you like that, probably time for Wenger to call a halt to the experiment and splash the cash in January and next summer..

Drogba will get the plaudits but Anelka worked his bollox off and their back four were so good, can't see any team beating them to the title.

Chelsea were just fantastic today. Arsenal were not bad in the first half. The goal wasnt really on the cards until it came - fantastic finish by drogba, but what about that ball from john terry of all people!

The most frustrating aspect of the game today was arsenals insistence on knocking it in from wide and constant overlapping - we had no size in the box at all, unless it was from set pieces. Eduardo, Vela, and fabregas were not going to beat Terry, Carvalho and the eastern European. More often than not the ball wasnt beating the first defender anyway.

Van Pierse is a huge loss, as is Diaby.

[Norf Tyrone]

Only Arsenal could depress you like that, probably time for Wenger to call a halt to the experiment and splash the cash in January and next summer..

Drogba will get the plaudits but Anelka worked his bollox off and their back four were so good, can't see any team beating them to the title.

Fair comments on here. I thought that the last few weeks especially, Anelka's work rate has been phenomenal. The amount of time he comes deep, gets the ball in the last third, shirks a few tackles and retains posession is phenomenal.

Again as Dinny said our back four were excellent. Ivanovic had a very good game, and Terry was immense.

I think Arsenal actually shaded the midfiled battle but they have no width and everything is congested. It allowed Ashley Cole time to bomb forward and pick out a few crosses. Push Cole back and you are a long way to matching Chelsea.

[ONeill]

If ever there was a time for Wenger to abandon his dream of coaching a title winning side mostly from youth, it's now. Chelsea were bigger and stronger as the game progressed and that told in the end. You simply cannot do it in the modern era with other teams capable of addressing any deficency by throwing a few million at it.

Arsenal can play any team in Europe off the park if allowed. However, their mental strength is questionable. After going 1 down when they dominated play, they were incapable of grabbing the game by the balls. Gallas won the war v Toure but Arsenal may be weaker for it.

I was never a fan of the Abramovich Chelsea as I saw it as a way to buy success without the foundations. It still is. But after today, I hope they win the thing. In Terry, Anelka, Drogba, Lampard and Cole they have players who'll roll up the sleeves and work their knackers off, off the ball. Arsenal could learn a lot from that. Cole took some abuse, kept his head down and delivered.

Arsene needs to dig deep this winter. Eduardo, Vela and Walcott are weak against the best teams. Denilson, Song and Nasri need that steely experience alongside them. And feck me, Arsenal are small. Pires, Henry, Gilberto, Bergkamp, Vieira etc were all 6 foot plus. This side is like Tyrone of '95!

Well done Chelsea - at 2-0 up, they shut up shop and did it well.

[Dinny Breen]

Well done Chelsea - at 2-0 up, they shut up shop and did it well.

Did it very very well tactically and their committment to every block and tackle, the feckers must have won every 50/50.

[Puckoon]

Pires was 6ft plus?