The news is that Eduardo has suffered a setback in his return from injury. Thankfully it’s not directly related to the horrific break he sustained almost a year ago but the pulled hamstring is expected to keep him out for another couple of weeks.
Talking to Arsenal TV Online on Thursday, manager Arsène Wenger said these types of setbacks are to be expected.
“Nobody knows how it happened,” he said, “but I knew straight away after the game it would be a two-week job. It is nothing like he had before but I do know that little set-backs like this are part of being nine months out.
“After that long out, nobody plays six months on the trot. It is impossible.”
That will not change the fact that this is a blow to Arsenal. The dynamic brand of football that has become a hallmark of Arsène Wenger’s team has been missing of late, yet it appeared to have returned along with the reintroduction of Eduardo in Monday night’s rescheduled FA Cup fourth round replay against Cardiff.
His smart link up play and off-the-ball running opened up the away team’s defences again and again, and showed everyone exactly what the team had been missing since that fateful day in Birmingham.
Indeed his impact was such that it made me wonder how the team might have fared if the terrible injury had never occurred. Might Arsenal have won the league last year? The question is academic, but there’s every possibility.
Some people will argue, however, that injuries are part and parcel of the game and that a squad needs to be able to cope with them. Indeed I often hear it said these days that it’s the team with the best squad that wins the league. Man United being a case in point.
There is a large dollop of truth in this argument, but what it fails to take account of is the fact that a top football team is like a well-oiled engine.
You get the desired result only if all the constituent parts are operational. If a part is damaged, a skilled mechanic may be able to find a temporary solution, but the engine will only return to full working order if the broken part is either replaced or fixed.
It is practically impossible to have a direct replacement for every player in the team. Most managers could not afford it and, even if they could, there would be the added problem of having to rotate to keep players happy.
Having a good squad therefore means having a good balance of players that can deputise for each other on a short-term basis. With long-term injuries, however, the only ways to restore equilibrium are to purchase a direct replacement or wait until the injured player returns.
Arsène Wenger parted with significant funds to bring Eduardo to the Emirates to perform a specific and crucial role in his team. When Eduardo got injured, his team suffered a breach that it was near impossible to repair.
Not having the funds to replace the player, Wenger was forced to make do with an unconvincing patch-up job until this week. Unsurprisingly this has had a massive impact on the fortunes of his team.
Much has been made of Arsenal’s poor form this term, but it is easily overlooked just how beset by injury the squad has been.
Another key figure out for over a year has been Tomas Rosicky. ‘The Little Mozart’ so nicknamed has been in and out of the team with injuries so often that people forget just how big a loss he is, yet we’re talking here about the captain of the Czech Republic.
The injury woes suffered by Robin van Persie in past seasons are well known. Thankfully, this season, he seems okay, yet the club have instead been hit by long-term injuries to Theo Walcott and Cesc Fabregas. To compound the situation, the injuries seem to be unduly concentrated on the team’s attacking options.
You can say a title-winning manager needs a squad that can cope with injuries, but no manager can possibly legislate for the number of injuries Arsenal have had all at the same time.
The extent of the problem is highlighted by the fact that when the injured return, Arsène Wenger will have to pick from an attacking line-up of Van Persie, Adebayor, Eduardo, Bendtner, Vela, Rosicky, Walcott, Fabregas, Arshavin and Nasri. That’s one short of an entire team.
I’m just hoping the manager get’s the opportunity before the season is out.
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