Arsenal lose Fabregas for 4 months, who will Wenger sign / appoint captain?
Fabregas out with knee injury
Cesc Fabregas was injured in Arsenal’s home draw against Liverpool (he ruptured his knee ligaments in a challenge with Xabi Alonso) and while initial estimates put the time out at 2-3 weeks, Wenger has now said that they’re looking at 3, maybe 4 months without their new captain.
Our thoughts are with Fabregas and hopefully he can recover from his injury quickly. For Arsenal this long lay-off (even the quickest of recoveries would bring him back in March) means they have several pressing decisions for Wenger to make:
The Arsenal Captaincy
Deposed captain Gallas is unlikely to be recalled, and while Manuel Almunia took over the armband in Fabregas’ absence before, he doesn’t seem like a long-term solution for the job. Then again neither does anyone else – Adebayor or van Persie, anyone? Toure has always been a fan favourite for the captaincy but he was overlooked thrice (when Gallas was appointed, when Fabregas was appointed and when Almunia took the armband) so it’s tough to say if he’ll ever get the captaincy.
Who do you think Wenger will appoint as stand-in captain?
The Arsenal Midfield
With Walcott and Rosicky already out to injuries and Arsenal’s midfield woes well-documented, Fab’s absence leaves the available midfielders list looking something like this:
Nasri, Eboue, Abou Diaby, Alex Song, Denilson, Aaron Ramsey, Amaury Bischoff and Jack Wilshere.
With due respect to these players, they are not the answer to help Arsenal catch up with the league leaders. They could turn around and prove us wrong but Diaby, Denilson and Song are already known quantities and are unlikely to scare Martin O’Neill’s Aston Villa on Boxing Day, and Bischoff, Ramsey and Wilshere still lack the experience to deal with the Premier League on a day-in, day-out basis. Nasri in my view is the best remaining player of this lot, but there’s little in central midfield to give hope.
Signings? Wenger says he won’t get desperate, but the next two league games will be quite important for Arsenal and if the midfield appears incapable of holding up, Wenger will be shopping in January (finally!).
Who do you think Wenger should sign in January?
Arsenal’s Premier League and Champions League Aspirations
Arsenal have made a habit of beating or at least avoiding defeat against teams that have been better than themselves on paper – wins against Chelsea and Manchester United and a credible draw against Liverpool despite being 10 men down is an enviable record. However, they’ve also lost to weaker teams home and away, and unless the players go into each match with the same approach as they do against the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United, more points will be lost and eventually Arsenal will be be scrapping with Aston Villa for 4th spot.
There are still a couple of months before the Champions League becomes an immediate concern but a weak midfield will not help Arsenal against Roma and even if Fabregas makes a recovery in time he would not be match fit and would be risking further injury in the process.
I would like to see Wilshere, Ramsey and Denilson tear apart Premier League and European teams this season, but I fear that opposition teams will outmuscle and overpower Arsenal’s young midfield – or will we see the making of a new Fabregas from this young lot?
How do you rate Arsenal’s league and champions league chances this season?
Wenger should believe in his policy and focus more on his young midfield 4 glory
I SO OPTIMISTIC THAT ARSENAL WILL WIN THIS SEASON REGARDLESS THE PROBLEM OF INJURY WE ARE FACING THIS SEASON.I THNK WENGER SHOULD BE CALM WHEN SIGNIN SO THAT HE WOULD SIGH PLAYER LIKE DIABY AGAIN.
Well our captain is out with an injury dat will last up 2 4 months.i think wenger should make almunia our standing captain cos he is among d oldest players and a regular first team member.gooner til i die
Many who are doubting current players might have to eat humble pies. Players have a habbit of upping their game when a big player who’s been an obstacle move out of the
way. Remember how Gilberto went for Lati American championship and Flamini played so well that he
could’nt get back into the team?
We might be in for another surprise. Who is to say we cant
experience this again when conditions that existed are exactly the same. Flamini could’nt get into the team and when Gilberto went away Flamini played so well that no one could miss him. Hope we get something like that again.
“more points will be lost and eventually Arsenal will be be scrapping with Aston Villa for 4th spot.”
Ummm, you are in a scrap for 4th place. You are not finishing above 4th, that is the best your season can finish. Start facing the music. There is a decent chance you will not be in champions league next season. And you have 0 hope of finishing 3rd or above.
Throw in the carling cup team. Surprise everyone, and shock everyone, these youngsters probably do not know what is fear, that make them even more dangerous. Go on Arsenal, against all odds!
Stand-in captain will probably be Alumina. Hes one of the senior players and done the job before. Cant see anyone else doing it really. Wenger ought to sign in January some back up. Theres a few players out right now injured. Imagine the badluck of having more go out. Arsenal dont look like title contenders this season and the way things are going right now it hasnt been the best of seasons. To stand a chance we need to sign more experienced players. To help guide the younger fellas. At least no one is expecting the gunners to do much this season. I cant see that squad winning much on current form though I would love it if the did. Because they do have the skill but something is not working right, perhaps confidence is low.
Arsenal have looked VERY bad in the matches that Fabregas has missed thus far. They can’t keep the ball in midfield and they aren’t nearly as dangerous on offense. Maybe this will force someone like Song, Nasri, or Diaby to step up, or maybe Ramsey will prove that he is the real deal. However, I just don’t see it happening. Who knows? Maybe it will force Wenger to go out and get someone like Arshavin.
gooners are in trouble, dare i say it. i love the young guns, and wilshere and ramsey should get the chance they deserve now. one of them should have gone in for fab against ‘pool. wenger needs to back himself and his policy, and give these young players a fair shake.
I think Kolo Toure should the captain, he is a leader and charasmatic player. I still do not understand why Wenger sign up a player as SILVESTRE and gave on loan SENDEROS, for me a much better player, plus younger.
May be he should not sign no one new. I don’t know how is playing but I heard that FRAN MERIDA is the FABREGAS long-term replacement. May be is time to call him to the first team and see how it works, in addition to the names appoint in this column.
Arsenal has the chance to make up to 3rd place in this league. More with the FABREGAS injury, without him any chance to make to the top two of the season. In champions league i think will win ROMA even without CESC and the depend on the draw, but i see unlikely to be in the final. Quarter or semi.
The Fabregas injury is the worst thing that could happen for Arsenal. The need for a new temporary captain is the least of Arsenal’s concerns with respect to his injury. Almunia has vice-captained well enough and Toure is a qualified candidate.
The major concern is the lack of depth in the Arsenal midfield. While I support Wenger’s youth policy, I believe it only works effectively if there is genuine experience in the side gained through age. We cannot expect a 16-year-old (Wilshere) or a 17-year-old (Ramsey) to be able to step up to the challenge in such a harsh league. Yes, there have been players capable of doing it (ie Fabregas) but those players are once in a life-time stars.
I believe Arsenal’s performance this season would be much different if we had experience in the midfield leading by exmaple. If Rosicky were fit, we’d be looking at a very different Arsenal midfield. Older, experienced players give the younger players someone to look up to as a mentor and lead the way.
With all that said, I don’t believe Wenger should follow his normal approach and sign an unknown who will flourish (ie Eduardo, Sagna). This time (and probably not the last time) he will need to sign a relatively well-known name that can provide the experience the young guns need. Xabi Alonso is obviously no longer an option because of his fine form; Benitez would be crazy to sell him. Yaya Toure’s name is always brought up, and while I’d love to sign him, I just don’t think it will happen. Apparently Arshavin was thrown into the mix but he’s not the type of player we need. We need an out-and-out fighter; someone to replace what we lost when Flamini left. Who that is? We’ll just have to see
bring senderos back from milan,sign arshavin and sign marcos senna and ur sorted,lol!!
I feel sorry for Cesc!! Hope he gets better soon!!!!
@glenny – Senderos is missed, indeed. Not Arshavin though. Senna maybe, but something tells me he’ll fail miserably in England.
Barry Ferguson of Rangers, anyone?
ferguson will fail miserably @ arsenal arshavin is much a better player.
@Ahmed – While our defence is very vulnerable right now, I don’t think Senderos is the answer. I’ve never really liked Senderos because he’s way too slow, is caught out of position too often, and generally makes a lot of mistakes. Djourou is better than right now. And I’d love to see Senna signed
Midfield tha could replace Cesc: James Milner (Aston Villa), Charles N’Zogbia (Newcastle), Stephen Ireland and Michael Johnson (Manchester City), Nigel Reo-Coker (Aston Villa), Mark Noble (West Ham Utd.), Tom Huddlestone and Aaron Lennon (Tottenham), Xabi Alonso (Liverpool), Daniele De Rossi (Roma), George Boateng (Hull City)
arsenal are great but i must admit we are goin 2 need some help untill ur injured players return. Arsen will need 2 buy some players of quality if we stand a chance of winning a trophy. Senna and alonso are buy long term buys and maby we sud consider loaning a winger such as pederson or lennon and perhaps a striker for long term like david villa or eto or henry and sell adeybyor