Good morning from cold Dublin.
I sit here in considerable pain after playing my first five-on-five game in about three months last night. There are several reasons why I haven’t played for so long, including a back injury and a bad break from laziness, but it was a lot of fun to be out there again. Fortunately, the pain is limited only to the extremities, torso, organs, joints, tendons, ligaments, muscles, skin, tissues, the entire skeleton, and the right ankle.
See how I’m not afraid to share injury updates? Hey Mikel? HEY?!
Speaking of which, the manager spoke about the losses of Jurrien Timber and Thomas Partey this season, saying about the former Ajax player:
“It was a huge blow. Everyone could see from day one what he was going to contribute to the team. The versatility, the quality, the leadership. And a skill that we didn’t have at the back. “It was a hard blow.”
We had a question about where we could be with him in the Arsecast, and while it’s obviously difficult to predict with certainty, his presence would definitely have been beneficial. At left back, where no one expected him to play when we signed him, he would have taken some of the load off Oleksandr Zinchenko, who is simply not designed to play so many games in a row: physical and mental fatigue affects him. . And on the other hand, Ben White has been playing this season with an ongoing issue that has plagued him, so he could have been useful there.
Takehiro Tomiyasu has helped in that regard, but it was cruel to lose an exciting summer signing on his Premier League debut. At his press conference yesterday, Arteta was asked about his potential return, and he said:
Unfortunately, this is a very long-term injury. He is doing very well, but he is still far from being able to train with the team or compete with the team, so we don’t expect him to return anytime soon.
Unless you’re playing smoke and mirrors, which I don’t think you are because the recovery period for an ACL is practically set in stone these days, it just goes to show that the things circulating in the cesspool that is Twitter these days on Timber Being in January was just silly. We may be able to see him before the end of the campaign, and it would be great if we could add some fresh legs, but in my opinion, he is a player for next season, so it is very important that his rehabilitation is completed correctly and without any risk. What I am sure of is the club’s perspective on the matter. Not to mention the near certainty that a player who has been out for so long will have a bit of a problem when he starts playing again.
Regarding Partey, Arteta said:
It was also a big blow to lose Thomas. We also had other plans with him, to be very versatile and unpredictable in the way we play. We haven’t had them and that’s difficult. We have them in the building, which is a joy. But we haven’t had them on the field as much as we wanted.
It’s easy to understand what he means. A midfield trio of Thomas Partey, Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard felt designed for big games this season. When you face a Man City or a Liverpool, what confidence that would give you, along with fantastic passing ability, ball progression and creativity. I also wonder if we would have seen Kai Havertz as more of an option as a 9 with those three forming the midfield. As things stand, they needed him further back, but you could definitely imagine certain games where he could have started up front, and Arteta could have used Gabriel Jesus as one of his wide men, taking some of the burden off of Bukayo Saka. and Gabriel Martinelli.
But that’s how football challenges you. I’m sure Manchester City fans could talk about what their season would have been like with Kevin de Bruyne fit, for example, and it’s up to the rest of the team to deal with the absences. I think we’ve done pretty well to be honest. Despite all the recent concerns, some of which I obviously share, one could look at it with the glass half full and think: we are where we are and there is room for improvement. If we can find it, that can only be a good thing. But obviously your mileage may vary on all that.
Well, I’m going to drag my battered corpse downstairs for more coffee, and we’ll be waiting for the Liverpool game on Patreon a little later with our preview podcast. It should leave mid-morning.
For now, have a good one.
