We all know the problems most of the football teams have. It is a universal problem in the world of football to have injured players in the team.
Imagine this: a team pays millions of bucks for a player who is a future star, or maybe is a star, and the player plays for a week or two and gets injured.
The team cannot use the player anymore for a certain amount of time and while he recovers there is a risk other players might get injured too, thus forcing the manager to use players who do not play in the positions required. Inevitably, the level of football for that team decreases.
But all this is known to football managers. They know there is a risk when buying a player. But risks must be taken and sometimes it pays off.
Arsenal is a clear example of what could happen to a team when it loses players due to injuries. In the last two seasons Arsenal were ravaged by injures, damaging their chances of lifting the Premiership title significantly.
In season 2007/2008 there was a stunning number of injuries—60 throughout the whole season. Several of which were serious and by that I mean injuries that had sidelined a player for over a month. Arsenal had lost the services of a lot of key players for a big part of the season.
- B/R Ticket Guide
I could make a list of at least five or six reasons why Arsenal were the team that was most affected by injuries concerning the big four in EPL.
One of the reasons is the fact that Arsenal buy players out of England, meaning they would come from a league in which the game is less physical than the English one. There would be time for adaptation needed but during that time the chance of the player to sustain a injury would be significantly higher.
Typical example of such injury is the one suffered by Eduardo da Silva. In his first Premier League season he sustained a broken leg, leaving him out of the game for more than six months.
Not once or twice has Arsene Wenger said that the only preparation he makes in terms of fitness is done in pre-season. This is understandable due to the heavy schedule in the Premier League and Champions League but considering the number of injuries throughout the season it is not a very successful tactic.
Another reason, and I will not think twice to label “the most important one,” is the missing depth of the squad. A team usually needs a squad of no less than 24-25 players.
In season 2007/2008 Arsenal have had a squad of 24 players, five of which were still not at the level required due to their ongoing development: Kerrea Gilbert, Alexandre Song, Justin Hoyte, Denilson, Johan Djourou.
The young age of the squad could also be a problem when it comes to injuries. Young players could be a bit overzealous at times and that could lead them to go into a tackle without judging the situation first, and thus injuring themselves or other players.
International matches are also one of the main reasons players end up injured. International managers push the players to the limit and it is a fact that many of them sustain injuries during matches for their country. The significantly high number of international footballers in Arsenal does not help them when dealing with the injury problem.
It is hard to predict when an injury can occur but certainly there are ways to minimize the risk for players to sustain one. I just hope Arsene Wenger could find a way to minimize the injuries for Arsenal this season.
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3 months ago
Eduardo's injury was unfortunate, RvP got injured during a friendly and never recovered properly. Rosicky and Diaby are injury prone as players - esp. Rosicky, as he had some sort of muscular problem in his thigh.
When you pull a muscle, strain it or have a hamstring problem - it's just bad luck IMO. That's what Arsenal have had - bad luck.. I don't really think that anyone in particular is to blame.
from 3 months ago
Luck can be changed. :)
3 months ago
Yeah agreed, RvP originally got injured with the Dutch. Hopefully Rosicky will be better, because he's had an operation on his leg.
from 3 months ago
Ya, hope he is well this season. He is a really vluable player to us. Thx for the comment Ismail.
3 months ago
What rubish.The only reason why Arsenal get more injuries is that their style of play.They are concentrating on playing technical football.Pure football with the foot and the ball.Others(so called English style which was proved utterly rubish in the international stage) play this physical style of football which doesnt have much of a footballing value but only physical value.Just like American football.People will always say physicality is a part of football.Yes it is .Just like most normal countries play.Eg/;the Spanish,the Dutch even the German.But the English have this special kind of football which is not what normal football loving public like to see.From the English national team to even big english club football.Successful but no value.Eg:the last Champions league final.No footballing value.
Basically what I want to say is ,if Arsenal were in the Spanish league they will not have this many injuries because in Spain they play pure football most of the time.
from 3 months ago
Chandi, Its known that in sport if you are not prepared you lose or worse- get injured. Arsenal play technical football thats true. And they suffer form teams who play a bit harder but in the last two seasons they have started to play a little bit more tougher than usual. Thats because they have recognised that there is a physical aspect of that game, especually in the Premiership... I can give you an example of another team that plays technical football- Barca .Surely, they dont suffer form injuries as much as Arsenal. there are reasons for that. Thx for the comment.
3 months ago
Are you saying that a home-grown players leg wouldn't have broken if subjected to the same tackle that Eduardo was? I fail to understand your point.
3 months ago
Are you suggesting that a home grown players leg wouldn't have broken if subjected to the same tackle that Eduardo was? I fail to understand your point.
from 3 months ago
Yes , I am saying that a home grown player or a player with Premiership experience would have a chance to avoid that tackle by being prepared. There is no doubt that Taylor's tackle could have broken the leg of anyone but Chuck Norris.
3 months ago
You're absolutely right about the lack of depth in our squad. Season after season the squad gets trimmed down and we end up relying more and more on our younger, less experienced squad members.
Since the 2003/04 season, we've brought in 23 players (including Carlos Vela in 2005 who was unable to play for us until this season due to work permit problems!) During the same period, we've got rid of 41 players. I think, in terms of squad depth, these figures speak for themselves.
3 months ago
its outrageous and downright racist to say that eduardo is injured because he is not english. it is that kind of attitude that got him injured in the first place: players think it is justified to go in hard on foreign "softies". the same thing happened to abou diaby against sunderland.
from 3 months ago
I have not written anywhere that Eduardo was injured because he is not English. It was an example of a player with insufficient Premiership experience. It has nothing to do with nationality.
3 months ago
Lol, "down right racist". I don't think its that serious.
But I agree though, anyones leg would have broken in that tackle. Even if it were Johnny Wilkinson- the England Rugby Captain.
3 months ago
And waht is this rubbish about the lack of depth in the squad?so that means if you have a few more expensive players there wont be many injuries.So if ronaldo was there instead of eduado that day,he wouldnt have had an injury??what are u people talking about.If you had a brainless ,babarian like Vinie Jones ,yes hea wouldnt have escaped cos he would always expect that as thats all what he knows.Kick the hell out of playes not playing football.The pont is the type of football is the reason not anything else.
from 2 months ago
Its not about the injuries,Chandi, its about the problems that are cause by them. For example if a you have a big team and get 5-6 injured players at the same time then it wont be a problem as there are players who could replace them but if you have a small team then there will be a problem because they can not be replaced. Typical problem caused by injuries and concerning the depth of a team.
3 months ago
Stefan! yes Barca dont have that many injuries cos they play in spain.If they were playing in England you would see.If arsenal were playing in Spain they wouldnt have this problem.Imagine that.Arsenal in the Spanish league.Trust me ,the best league in the world will go from No 1 to No4 overnight.And they will suceed in Spain too.Arsenal is the team which keeps english premship football on the top ,footballwise.Have any europian team/fan has said about the quality of club football in england other than Arsenal?No.The best they could say is that` there are a few others is that there are a few teams in england who knows how to win games`.Thats it.No recognition about the football they play.No other english side will make it to the top 4 in Spain.Its the quality of football mate.
2 months ago
I agree that Arsenal are one of not a lot of teams in the Premiership that try to play "pure" football. But at the end of the day the stakes are becoming higher and higher in football and new tactics will continue to emerge. Intimidation by physical,tougher style of play being one of these tactics. We could only imagine what would happen if an English team plays in Spain. We got the Champions league and maybe thats a way to judge about the current strenght of a league but its still relatively unacurate as they dont play as many games as they would play if they are in the same league.
2 months ago
Sorry, but IMO your arguments are wrong or lacking of evidence.
1. The Eduardo tackle: there´s not evidence for saying that a he could have evaded the tackle given properly time to adapt in the premiership. It could be, but the argument is too weak beacuse if he had more seasons in the premiership there´s a fair chance that this tackle could have reach him.
2. Even if being new to the premiership gives you a better chance to being injured (let say more than 6 games off), evidence says that in recent seasons that wasnt the case, just look at the most recent bigtime acquisitions of the premiership: Fernando Torres (new but not injured); Dimitar Berbatov (2 seasons, not injured); Alex Hleb (3 years, skillful, but never really injured); Santa Cruz (new but no injuries); Tevez (2 years, maybe one or two injuries but easy to heal). So I would say that its about being injury prone: Diaby, van Persie, Robben, Rosicky. So in the case of Eduardo the reason may be luck (in Sagna´s case, bad luck or injury prone since he injuried himself).
3.Being a skillful team is not a reason, the Arsenal of Begkamp, Vieira, Henry, Piresa was as skillful as this one or the better Barca of Ronaldinho and Co. and the only injury not realated with age was the one Pires suffered in his second season.
4.Depth in squad; thats not a reason for getting injuries...haha, is a problem when you get injuries, but the evidence of last season is that playing other players out of position hasn´t provoked more injuries
5.Being a young squad...mmm, older players give you injury problems as well (Henry, Vieira...in their last season), but I would say that ManU and Liverpool have their fair share of young players (Tevez, Rooney, Ronaldo, Mascherano and some of them new to the EPL: Torres, Babel) and they didnt get injured that much, and Chelsea, which is an older team have had problems of injuries precisely beacause they´re getting old (Ballack, Lampard, Drogba, even Terry which isnot that old ... all of them missed a decent number of games beacuse of injuries)
6.International games, that seem to be a reason for getting injured, but is not a reason that predates only Arsenal, the big4 are in more or less the same position, so whats the point in making this a reason since is the same for the rest.
2 months ago
Sorry, but IMO your arguments are wrong or lacking of evidence. 1. The Eduardo tackle: there´s not evidence for saying that a he could have evaded the tackle given properly time to adapt in the premiership. It could be, but the argument is too weak beacuse if he had more seasons in the premiership there´s a fair chance that this tackle could have reach him. 2. Even if being new to the premiership gives you a better chance to being injured (let say more than 6 games off), evidence says that in recent seasons that wasnt the case, just look at the most recent bigtime acquisitions of the premiership: Fernando Torres (new but not injured); Dimitar Berbatov (2 seasons, not injured); Alex Hleb (3 years, skillful, but never really injured); Santa Cruz (new but no injuries); Tevez (2 years, maybe one or two injuries but easy to heal). So I would say that its about being injury prone: Diaby, van Persie, Robben, Rosicky. So in the case of Eduardo the reason may be luck (in Sagna´s case, bad luck or injury prone since he injuried himself). 3.Being a skillful team is not a reason, the Arsenal of Begkamp, Vieira, Henry, Piresa was as skillful as this one or the better Barca of Ronaldinho and Co. and the only injury not realated with age was the one Pires suffered in his second season. 4.Depth in squad; thats not a reason for getting injuries...haha, is a problem when you get injuries, but the evidence of last season is that playing other players out of position hasn´t provoked more injuries 5.Being a young squad...mmm, older players give you injury problems as well (Henry, Vieira...in their last season), but I would say that ManU and Liverpool have their fair share of young players (Tevez, Rooney, Ronaldo, Mascherano and some of them new to the EPL: Torres, Babel) and they didnt get injured that much, and Chelsea, which is an older team have had problems of injuries precisely beacause they´re getting old (Ballack, Lampard, Drogba, even Terry which isnot that old ... all of them missed a decent number of games beacuse of injuries) 6.International games, that seem to be a reason for getting injured, but is not a reason that predates only Arsenal, the big4 are in more or less the same position, so whats the point in making this a reason since is the same for the rest.
2 months ago
Mate please read the name of the article again. I wrote about PROBLEMS THAT ARE CAUSED BY INJURIES. Depth of the squad can not be a reason for an injuries but can be a problem if there are injuries. International games where a player of the club gets injured can also lead to problems. About Eduardo there was definitely some bad luck. About the tackle being avoided,we'll never know at least we see a similar situation.Maybe as close as I can come for a similar tackle is the one Diaby did on Gretar Steinsson from Bolton. I couldnt find video for that but if I remember right it was similar. About the adaptation of players maybe its up to the player so you are right on that one. I just wonder how the monks of Shaolin temple bend swords and spears. Not that Im comparing football with Kung Fu .lol.
2 months ago
I know why you included squad depth as a reason for getting problems that are caused by injuries. In fact what I said is that playing footballers out of position (a direct consequence of lacking depth) didnt cause injuries last season, in case that argument flops around
Still, IMO your argument regarding depth is floppy. The squad depth caused problems to Arsenal precisely beacause Arsenal got the most injuries, they got injuries on FIVE first team players (van Persie -and his substitute Eduardo-; Rosicky, Sagna, Hleb a few important games, Gallas), not because Arsenal have the a significant less depth than United or Chelsea, since neither United nor Chelsea got that much injuries on their first team, otherwise they would probably had the same problems Arsenal had, except for Chelsea midfield, both United and Chlesea second choices are the same calibre as Arsenal second string (I consider Tevez and Rooney as first team players).
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