The Indie are reporting that there is extensive knee ligament damage. Wenger is giving a press conference this afternoon ahead of the Zagreb game and is expected to give more details on Coquelin. http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...-after-suffering-extensive-knee-a6744881.html This is a situation that we all dreaded, losing Coquelin and it's gone and happened. The decision not to buy a DM in the summer has come back to haunt us as many expected it could. We can't change that at the moment though. What are our options now ? Personally I would play Flamini at DM and then try and buy some cover in January, so that he and a new signing could share the responsibilities. Other than that we could play Ramsey there, but it's a bit of a waste when he is best going forward. Arteta for me is too slow now days and can't really offer the back four the protection. thoughts ?
Has to be a combination of Flamini and a backup person. The other person would have to be a new person playing at DM, Chambers or one of our youth prospects. If the rumours are true that he has extensive damage, his season is pretty much over for us. This means that we desperately need a quality DM replacement in the transfer window, but we need to be able to last until then. The big question is how effective can Flamini be and how much support other players like Ramsey will provide in midfield. Either way it will be hard for us to maintain our momentum in the Premiership and we will drop points.
I would say that Wenger took a gamble and it didn't pay off. Except it wasn't a gamble. It was just his normal defective management style. 18 more months of this guff.
Put Flamini and Ramsay CM so we don't have to carry a defensively worthless midfielder in Cazorla in the middle of the park. At least we'd have two energetic midfielders in the middle of the park, albeit neither particularly good at DM.
I would lean towards Santi+Ramsey and (I know this might sound crazy to some) go for Lassana Diara in January.
I would have my reservations with Ramsey as DM and Santi combo. Santi would provide little to no defensive cover and Ramsey isn't a DM. At least with Flamini, you're getting a DM, albeit a ****ty one. But Diara as backup would be a good stop gap. Anyone know if he's playing well?
He is beasting this season. Played his way back to the national team. It'll be tough to prize him away
Coq is out for 2 months according to Breaking News on Sky - so that's him out for at least 3 months ! Arsene you need to buy a replacement in January or we are ****ed
This is why Wenger is soooo annoying.... Obvious hole was there to be plugged but, as usual do the maximum with the bare minimum. Even my 3 yr old knew at some point our Coq would get hurt. There were options out there that were very affordable. Anyway there goes my hopes for the season.
Who was playing so well in DM that Diarra couldn't get a game for us, Denilson? I remember him being really good in the cup games No doubt Giroud will crock his leg against Norwich just to complete a great couple of weeks
What a pile of **** this weekend has been. I didn't see much of the game - just a few snatched chances and our team lacking bite in the middle once coq went off, and of course the penalty... But it's typical that the one player we absolutely couldn't afford to do without if now out over the busiest period and probably out for half of the remaining season! As has been said, a lot of us knew this could (and more than likely would) happen, and that it was irresponsible not to get a DM in the summer considering there was a range of different players moving - 1st team players, competition for coq or cover. We should have at least gotten one. But as of now we have a decision what to do - realistically I see a rotation between Arteta and Flamini as neither can cope with more than a game a week - however neither have the legs and Flamini's positional discipline that he showed to great effect two seasons ago, has totally gone and he tends to just chase the ball around these days. Ramsey has no positional discipline, and attacks too much to be a DM, and would be wasted in that position. Chambers could be a good call, but as has been said, is too slow (though not as slow as Arteta/Flamini), otherwise it's Gabriel, which is a big gamble or a youth player.
I would play ramsey as dm under strict instructions he is there to protect the back 4 and not to make Hollywood runs and passes providing he listens he could do a job there
Wenger: "We have players that play in Coquelin's position like Mathieu Flamini and others that can play in his position like Calum Chambers... Sometimes it is an opportunity for others to show they can do the job." If only he could take that advice about his own role
I'm not keen on Chambers playing that role. I don't think he's mobile enough or has the ball playing skill to conduct play as needed. I mentioned it before but modern DMs need to be more like a defensive minded CM these days, players who are able to tackle, break up play, anticipate attacking moves and also play clever passes forward. I'd like to be proved wrong about chambers, but throwing him in at the deep end in a role he's never played before is desperate stuff. Flamini I am much more confident about.
