Arsenal News: Injuries Continue To Plague Gunners

This season has been one wave of startling news after another for Arsenal, and the season is barely into September.

On the same weekend the Gunners were dealt worrisome news that starlet Jack Wilshere’s injury problems are getting worse, enforcing defender Thomas Vermaelen was ruled out of action for six weeks due to reoccurring Achilles problems. He is slated to have surgery to repair damages.

Wilshere’s ankle and Vermaelen’s Achilles have been the source of their injury problems since last season, and many are questioning the decision making of manager Arsene Wenger and his medical team.

While the young Englishman was pivotal to the Gunners last year, many blame Wenger’s constant selection of the midfielder the root to his unsuccessful recovery. Even England manager Fabio Capello came out this morning to voice his displeasure over the Frenchman’s judgment.

According to Arsenal’s official website, Wenger knew the talented midfielder was facing an injury crisis with as much as two months of the season to go last year.

And when the press asked Wenger to update the status of Wilshere, he reiterated the news nobody wanted to hear, as he is facing another setback in his rehabilitation.

Wilshere is yet to feature for Arsenal or the Three Lions this season.

News of Wilshere’s lack of progress certainly did not become easier to swallow as the influential Vermaelen will go under the knife later this week in attempts to have him back in action in a month.

Vermaelen has been a bright spot in an otherwise bleak campaign thus far. The imposing Belgian has been consistent in his appearances and will be gravely missed over the next month.

Injuries have been haunting both Wilshere and Vermaelen for months now, and keeping these two fit has been a sinister task for Wenger and his staff. With Abu Diaby yet to feature this season due to injury and Bacary Sagna’s illness unknown, Arsenal will be looking to get plenty out of their new transfers and current squad.

Gervinho and Alex Song will also be unavailable once league action picks up, as they will serve their final match bans from the opening game against Newcastle.

If Arsenal are to turn around their season, they need to get their squad healthy and have the squad depth other successful teams have. If Wenger continues to see his players succumb to injuries and suspensions, his squad is greatly reduced and it forces him to call upon inexperienced players from his reserves.

Fans of the Gunners want to see their team full strength week in and week out, and without the proper decision making regarding injuries Arsenal are going to be fielding weaker teams than their league rivals.

While I understand that injuries are a part of the game, the process during recovery is what is important to the player. If players are rushed back from injury because their squad is desperate for their services, it should come as no surprise to see them continuously head back to the treatment room.

Wenger in a sense is forced to rush his important players back though. As he sees the depth of his squad decrease he is obligated to select weaker, inexperienced players from the reserves. And when he has done that this season, such players fail to live up to pressure and find themselves over their heads (i.e. the Manchester United game).

If Wenger calls upon players to perform and they fail to execute, it compels the manager to rush significant players back to the pitch.

Pundits, detractors and even Fabio Capello question Wenger’s decision to rush player’s back, but what is the manager supposed to do? He has addressed part of these worries with his activity on transfer deadline day, but he is forced to make unflattering choices regarding his team if his selected players fail to perform.

Arsenal have also been showing a lack of discipline and maturity over the course of the new season with multiple players being dismissed from matches and serving bans. When Wenger has both suspensions and injury problems to address, expect the Frenchman to have daunting and drastic decisions to make.

The Gunners must move forward considering the success they had on the final day of the transfer window. With the players they brought in, Wenger should be a bit more at ease when it comes to his team selection.

With notoriously injury-prone strikers Theo Walcott and Robin Van Persie staying out of the trainer’s room, Wenger must take each day as it comes and address each issue one at a time. If he begins to pile on added pressure, his problems will increase and will continue throughout the season.

Not all blame can be placed on the manager though; in fact, the under-fire Wenger can actually be relinquished of most of these issues.

The players are the ones who go out and perform, and judging by the display Arsenal have put forth to start the season, it is quite obvious they are not living up to the bill.

Wenger puts plenty of trust in young and emerging talent, and he constantly gives his players the opportunity to succeed on the pitch. If Wenger is giving ample chances to perform, best believe players better step up.

The fate of this season depends on it.