Wednesday night was a night that may define our season in many ways. Time will tell whether Arsène’s gambles with the fitness of Fabregas and Gallas will prove inspired or disastrous.
What is certain is that the squad have to prove that we are a great team, not just a handful of great players led by Cesc. Glancing at the back of the programme before the match, I noticed a very obvious difference between the squads. The Barcelona squad is 2/3rds the size of ours, yet they seem able to ride out injuries to key players. We can do the same and still be four points better than Man U and Chelsea in the next six league matches.
Fabregas – Nasri is surely the key here. His recent creative performances have shown signs of the playmaker we expected him to become. Can he perform in the away matches, especially at City? My bet is that the maturity he has shown recently will help him make the most of Cesc’s absence. With Denilson showing against Barça that he can keep his head against top teams after all, and Song and Diaby turning into the new Vieira and Petit, we have the stable platform to let Samir shine.
Arshavin – The Anfield heroics seem a long time ago to most fans. Some say he has become selfish and dispirited – I think they are wrong, but he is certainly playing well within himself. As a result, his absence for 3 weeks probably won’t be too damaging to us. It may be a chance for Vela to get the run in the side he has deserved for a long time and we aren’t short of goals.
Gallas – This could be a bigger problem than Cesc. We’ve all enjoyed Sol’s return but against pace even his reading of the game isn’t enough and that’s why he couldn’t be risked against Pedro et al. Against Spurs and City he could get turned inside out. Silvestre has never really convinced me but he is going to be the critical factor in turning 2 points into 6 in our two biggest games.
RvP – We’ve played without our main striker since November and even during that time Bendtner was injured. We clearly haven’t struggled to score goals but there have been times that we know that van Persie would have brought some extra skill and guile to the team. Eduardo hasn’t managed to impress so far but without Arshavin for three weeks maybe he can find his goal poaching boots. How fit will van Persie be when he returns to the squad and will he have an eye on the World Cup and be protecting himself?
All the injured players are important components of our team. Are their deputies good enough to carry us over the line? Who will be captain? The latest news is that Denilson and Clichy also picked up injuries on Wednesday night taking the tally to five players from that game alone. Our fearless captain possibly played with an already broken leg if reports are to be believed – who else in our team has the mental strength, the guts and the determination of Cesc Fabregas?
Nasri, Diaby, Denilson, Eduardo, Walcott, Almunia – your team needs you to be consistent, to be focussed every minute of every game from now until the end of the season. Cesc Fabregas is just one man, but boy what a man, what a captain.
Can we patch up the side, and crawl over the finishing line without him?
By Alfa and others
Arsenal News 24/7
arsenalarsenal.net 
Whatever the byline says, this was a great effort by Peaches.
Every team needs a Cesc Fabregas; very few ever have one like ours.
You’re right there alfa about how amazing our Cesc is, if you had some more spirited words you wanted to use then add them in.
You just have to feel so sad for Cesc himself, he must be absolutely gutted to have an injury that he really can’t play though. I’m sure if he could be patched up with a few pain-killing injections he’d carry on regardless.
In some ways his performance was overshadowed by the occasion and by TH’s love in at the end. Scoring the equalizing goal against the best team in the world, your home club, with a broken leg and then playing on to see out the draw is Roy of the Rovers stuff.
Morning all,
Hi Alfa, that rivals Bert Troutman’s heroics. I can’t believe the club would have let him play knowing he had a hairline fracture – that would be insanity.
wow a Barca game had cost arsenal 5 players?! it’s a sad news!
who need Cesc Fabregas? we need him.
i think the rest of the gunners will fight till the last breath like Cesc.
up the gunners!
The millions who watched it around the world won’t have known about the Thierry love-in that followed the final whistle – Cesc smashed that ball for the penalty, if Valdes had got anywhere near it he would never have saved it.
That was Cescs final kick of this season 😦
Morning blaze,
We paid a high price for that draw….. we’ll only know how high at the end of the season. As you say, we can only fight our hardest and I do believe Arsène when he says we have fantastic team spirit.
Rasp, I wondered about that. Arsene must have known the risk he was taking watching him hobble around the pitch for the last 10 minutes. I was praying that no-one would pass to him, it was obvious he wouldn’t get up from any tackle.
Whether AW knew about the fracture before hand I don’t know, I’d like to say not, but he showed he wasn’t above risking Cesc’s career at the end of the match. Then again, Cesc was arguing to go back on anyway, I think Pat Rice would have had to physically restrain him to keep him off the pitch.
Hi Alfa,
Well if Reyes was a it of a Spanish wimp, Cesc has the heart of a lion. What a shame we don’t even have a decent song to sing to let him know how we feel.
I reckon we should play Vela against Wolves and against Barcelona. He was great against both Barca and Real when he played for Osasuna
i hope arsene didnt know about the fracture… Cesc himself should not have been that determined to start too if that’s the case.
Arsenal is now in a really bad situation.
we lost 3 players for the season. We got a draw from the tie which keeps Arsenal’s hope alive. at the same time the league is still not far away.
what should arsene do on this sat?
That’s a very good point oskar. Theo showed that they are vulberable to pace and Carlos is nearly as quick and he offers something that Theo doesn’t. Unfortunately I don’t think its likely to happen as Le Boss doesn’t seem to be that keen on Vela.
Hi blaze – Saturdays team selection is going to be very interesting…..
I’d go for
Almunia
Eboue Sol Vermaelen Traore/Clichy
Rosicky Nasri Diaby
Theo Bendtner Vela
I think we have to start using Vela. Change him for Eduardo at some point.
I think Song will play at CB against Barca so Sol will definitely play on Saturday.
oskar – I’ve put Vela in my team. He hasn’t really been given enough chances to prove what he can do. He and Nikki had the beginnings of a great partnership last season and then injuries changed all that.
Oskar, this is Vela’s time.
What about Merida, would you put him on the bench?
WHO WILL BE CAPTAIN?
Almunia as captain until the end of the season? The man can’t even rally his defence let alone inspire the team – I’ll be very disappointed if the armband goes to him.
TV should be captain … end of!
Both Vela and Merida are gifted players and I’m not sure what they’ve done wrong. When you think about how much time Diaby and Denilson have been given its strange that these two have been left on the sidelines.
They won’t command a huge transfer fee unless they play, Vela obviously will play in WC but Merida won’t. Being cynical, has Wenger only held on to Vela until after the summer?
Agree rasp – TV should be captain … end of!
But he won’t – it’ll be Almunia, too predictable!!!
i go for TV too! Almunia cannot lift the team up!
i dont know why Wenger seems does not want to play merida and vela — they show they have talents and potentials!
maybe now is the time for them? anyway Arsene doesnt have many choices now.
Good point blaze – he doesn’t have many choices now, at least they’ll get to sit on the bench 🙂
It’s funny how we all know TV should take over the armband, but we also all know that Arsene will give it to Almunia. In games where Sol starts I would even be tempted to give it to him – he acts like a captain anyway, talking and organising all the time, and no-one can doubt his passion.
As for Cesc, there’s no way in a million years Arsene would have played him knowing he had a stress fracture; the risk of a compound fracture would have been immense. I reckon Cesc did it when he kicked the back of Puyol’s leg (the technique for striking a ball is to maintain a semi-relaxed leg until just before the moment of impact, when the muscles tighten to provide strength. If the swing is interrupted the impact comes before the muscles are fully protecting the limb – and the risk of a bad injury is high). The fact that he scored the pen with a broken leg and played out the rest of the game in that state will enter the folklore of Arsenal – it’s only as the days pass since that amazing game that we’re beginning to appreciate how immense that moment was.
Cesc may be gone for the rest of the season, but how can his example fail to inspire the rest of the team to fight and die from now until the last day?
Come on!
Morning all. Fine article it encapsulates and articulates the whole situation beautifully.
This team must realise that fame awaits them,they stand on the edge. This is the stuff of legends, step into the breach you understudies, carry us through to a league title or even fail heroically and you will be ranked by Arsenal fans alongside the Invincible and 71 double winners.
They have the potential, Wenger has long shielded them from criticism now is the time for them to repay the compliment. To win against all the odds that are stacked against them would be a special achievement.
At the same time we must do our part and stop comparing with the absent players and applaud their own efforts.
We can do it,this squad in their togetherness have the team spirit to do it, I believe together we will do it.
Cmon you Arsenal.
Dandan – well said mate.
Morning dandan and Rocky – great sentiments by both of you. If the collective will of the supporters were enough they’d already be washing down the open-top bus.
Sadly you only have to rememeber how Diaby was obviously a passenger the other night to realise that it might take a rocket up each of them for them to know whats at stake and what they can achieve.
Undoubtedly Cesc knew and he needs to be a captain on the training ground and in the dressing room now.
Sol will be the man for me – not with the armband but by his presence. He’s not going to let this one run away from him – he’s passionate and gritty and determined.
Peaches, Diaby had a bad game the other night, but I prefer to remember the form he’s been in in a lot of other games recently, where he’s been outstanding. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s MotM against Wolves.
I agree Rocky – its because we know he can do so much better that we’ll put faith in him to deliver. He was so lost the other night, he didn’t wake up at all – wrong boots I reckon, Denilson must’ve nicked his 😉
I can’t remember who mentioned Merida, but he is a player with bags of potential that I’ve always admired. I’m not sure if he’s signed a new contract. It would be a great shame if he left in the summer – he has an amazing left foot reminiscent of Brady.
Form as they say is temporary, class is permanent and Diaby is a class act. live with him he will be IMHO a great.
I agree with you dandan – I’m just being flippant. Its just as worrying to know that Denilson has a game in him like the other night and mostly performs below that standard.
Tomorrow will be all about patience. Wolves will pack the midfield and leave Doyle up front on his own, so it may take time to break them down. On the plus side we’ve become good at fighting to the very end.
Should have some squad news soon for tomorrows game shouldn’t we?
both denilson and clichy may be out.
I think those two will be rested any way rather than risk losing them for tuesday. We have a big squad, now’s the time to use it. If Denilson and Clichy are almost fit, put them on the bench and only bring them on if absolutely necessary.
Be good for Traore to play – we haven’t seen him for weeks. He’ll want to impress in case Clichy is crocked after next tuesday and he sure can cross the ball.
This is madness, check out these stats (thanks to Arseweb who I nicked it from) … Sol is the second fastest player in the Premiership 🙄
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1262896/Martin-Keown-Barcelona-cope-Theo-Walcott.html?ITO=1490
Denilson can have a rest tomorrow we’ll have Song, Nasri and Diaby as a mid three won’t we.
Someone said that last week rasp – I can’t believe its true 🙄
I think Silvestre will play tomorrow. He may rest TV and play Sol if he prefers Song at CB on tuesday.
Since we’ve now learned that Sol is as quick as a whippet, he’ll been fine against Alves 😦
It’s not true peaches … trust me! Just another example of how misleading stats can be … unless they back-up your argument that is?
Sol – quick as a whippet 😆 😀 😛
Morning all..or afternoon….
I’d actually rest Sol tomorrow for Barca, I’m sure he could handle Ibrahimavich better than Song..
I’d like to see Vela and Merida play v Wolves and maybe Traore. To have a chance we need fit players on Tuesday and Barca are playing Real this weekend, they’ll be full strength for that no doubt
Hi Livers,
Sol will be good enough against Barça if Song is sat in front of him, that would be my preference. I reckon Silvestre will play tomorrow. Definitely Vela and Eduardo should get a run out tomorrow.
Yeah I agree, Fish Head is a liability though and if he can’t deal with Wolves we have a problem..
Yeah I agree about Vela and Eduardo and maybe rest Nik
New post ….
Maturity not size you can,t play boys against men just as u can,t play girls against boys unless in rare cases their exceptional its just strength& maturity wins out