It’s true. Thomas Partey’s injury is all my fault. I caused it. No, I wasn’t training with the Ghana national team. That’s not what I mean. I’m referring to my own match preview from Friday in which i took the piss out of Man U for their spate of injuries. “Droppin’ like flies,” I joked. Well, here we are now with the Black Stars announcing Partey’s injury, which will “could be on the sidelines for a while”. Clearly, this is karma for my loose lips.
Unconfirmed reports suggest that he suffered a grade three groin tear. If true, Partey will be out for more than “a while”. That’s probably three to four months, and he’s no likely to be 100% physically or mentally for some time after that. The good news is that this brings to an end Arteta’s experiment of playing Partey as an inverted RB. It could very well be that the inverted RB position itself is cursed. First, we lose Timber. Now, we lose Partey. At least with Zinchenko back, he can resume his role as the inverted LB— a role he is familiar with and one that doesn’t disrupt chemistry elsewhere.
As I discussed in that ill-fated match preview, I hope that Arteta stops with the infernal tinkering. This injury may just force him to. With the transfer window closed, there should be no more intrigue over Magalhães’s status. Please, Mikel, restore him to the XI. We need that left-footed centre-back alongside Saliba. Get back to playing white as RB; remember the chemistry and interplay he has with Saka? Good times. Ahead of this back four, we should be okay with Havertz and Rice. The rest of the pieces fall into place.
This injury situation is getting dire. We’re not even four matches in, and we’ve lost Jesus, Zinchenko, Tomiyasu, Timber, and now Partey to injuries of various severities. We’re an injury away from having to play Cedric, whom we could not palm off on some other club. In retrospect, selling Tierney and Holding now feels hasty, to put it mildly. Let’s hope we’re just getting some bad juju out of our systems in the early going so that each player’s return can feel like a new signing.
I’m holding out for news that the Black Stars’ medical team’s assessment is itself hasty. We might get better news after a few days and Partey’s been assessed a second time. Stranger things have happened…haven’t they? Please tell me that stranger things have happened…
It is doubtful that the ill-advised (editorial comment) experimentation and tinkering by Arteta would or could have prevented the Timber or Partey injuries, let alone the others you listed. However, a little bit foresight might have resulted in keeping certain players and also adding others to those positions that were or could be weakened by injuries absences (Asian or African Games).
It seems hard to believe that the chickens may be coming home to roost this early in the season, but as matches in the various local cups and the CL begin to pile up, things can easily get worse. Granted that hindsight is always blessed with 20:20 vision, but we should expect the grown-ups in the room, who are also paid handsomely for their labors to prepare and plan for all contingencies.
Hopefully, the laws of probability may begin to equalize the situation for Arsenal, whether by reducing the number of future injuries or offsetting ours with some for our opponents (a cruel and mean option that should not become our best hope). Unfortunately, the time to have implemented and executed any plans to deal with this situation has now ended with less than one might have expected (I admit to constantly belaboring this point lately as the transfer window closed with an underwhelming thunk).
Let us hope Thomas is not severely injured and that those still left on the squad including those who have been isolated and ignored so far, prove capable of carrying the added burden and, of course, do not join the ranks of the wounded.
PS how many worn cliches did I use today?
There were quite a few hoary old cliches in there, to be honest.
Between our indifferent start & injuries and Man City’s dominant start, it already feels as if we’ll be chasing shadows if not choking on their dust. After a window that started with such ambition and excitement, much like recent seasons, we faded down the stretch. We were going to have to be nearly perfect to surpass Man City, but that’s gotten even harder. It’s far too early to reach any definitive conclusions, of course, but we may find ourselves falling back on that cruel and mean option sooner rather than later. A De Bruyne-less City still looks impressive, even intimidating.
As long as MC has their Scandinavian goal-scoring machine and a team, with or without de Bruyne, with a manager as skilled as Pep, nobody will surpass them on any given day, unless a multiplicity of planets align and the football gods are bored and want to add something to their day. A brief review of previous years wherein we stumbled coming out of the gate and never fully hit our stride should have informed Arteta that diddling around once the season began was a perilous, if not stupid, way to try to reach the top. This start, even though two matches were won (barely), reflects a lack of maturity and foresight. Arsenal needed to sweep every match in the PL until Oct 8th when, if they had done so, they could risk a draw or defeat vs MC. They needed all available points and they needed goal differential and have not accomplished either. We are already well behind on GD (I doubt much improvement tomorrow) and run the risk of falling further down the table, as well. I realize that it is early and things tend to even out, but many of the sides are better this year and the injuries and weaknesses at some position will make it all that much harder.
PS, Partey may “only” be out a few weeks, but that makes everything that much harder, even if true
just a couple points of interest:
(1) considering United’s rather lacklustre form thus far, combined with the fact that they might need to employ a few newbies on this day, one might normally expect nothing less than all 3 points, especially on our own turf…that’s far from a given nowadays, with Arteta at his shoehorning worst and not a speck of new blood to lift our spirits, and as such I would suspect that a draw seems to be the most likely result…maybe just maybe the only silver lining comes ironically in the form of another injury, which will see Partey sidelined for the foreseeable future…of course, I certainly don’t mean to make light of his present predicament, as it’s not his fault that he’s been reduced to the role of MA’s inverted plaything, but his absence almost undoubtedly puts the kibosh, for the time being, on MA’s fever dream plans…birthed during a 4 day Ayahuasca cave retreat, this cluster**** of relative nothingness has appeared more regressive than progressive, so maybe a return to some sort of normalcy might allow us to win the day
(2) during Saturday’s fixtures, I saw a few things of considerable import…most notably the productive outings of City, BHA and the Spurs…in regards to the former, I can’t help but think what sort of f***ed up nonsense MA the “assistant” would have tried to employ were he still coning it up at the Etihad…let’s face it, their in full machine-learning mode, so much so that Pep’s brief absence will somehow make them better in the end…as for BHA, they’re electric, when at their best, and DeZerbi is showing why maybe having a chance to work on your craft before plying your trade in the best league in the footballing world is the best course of action…just wish we had even a modicum of their sense of urgency in the final third…as for the Spurs, this could be a classic new manager bump scenario, especially considering the toxic environment last season, but if that’s not the case they could be a tough out come derby time
they’re in full…
Wow! This is what real support is. From the piece itself to the comments, all brimming with positivity. All knowing so much more than the club’s staff too. Great stuff. Truly inspirational gentlemen.
Do I detect a note of sarcasm? I can’t quite be sure…
Jim, thanks for popping in. It is true that the comments to this post are negative; AST and Palladio are of the pessimistic frame of mind.
For myself, I’m usually guilty of excessive optimism even if that isn’t quite so evident in this post (or the one that follows).
I hope you’re not put off by the pessimism. See you around…