Back on topic folks.

Wenger clarifies Vermaelen injury situation

Is that six weeks to get back to full training?
To be back competitively. Two weeks without training and four weeks preparation.

Hope he doesn't have any further setbacks and that he can finally shake this one off and get back to playing football again. Can't wait to have him back.

Only 2 weeks till he's actually back in training then?

Listening to the latest interview with Wenger, it doesn't sounds like there is any chance of a new centre back coming in. I'm not sure how I feel about that, depends on if Vermaelen's situation is as positive as it seems.

It makes sense to not sign a player if you only really need him as a backup first hand for as little as six weeks. We've got a fairly easy run of games too. The problem is: What if Vermaelen has another setback after this? Or, what if he needs a month in the team post those six weeks to really get going? It's not an easy question. The best solution might be to get someone in on a loan, but that's easier said than done.

Yeah, the problem as I've seen it has always been us missing our best defender, rather than not having enough depth. Problem with a stop gap or a loan is it doesn't really solve that problem. Would just be short term cover who wouldn't be very good.

Only know Honda from what I saw of him in the WC which was impressive.
What's he been like since?
Know very little about Kagawa, what would he contribute?

Admittedly a World Cup is not the best place to judge a player, but other than his Ronaldo-esque shooting technique, I didn't see anything really outstanding or special in Honda.

I'd take Kagawa over pretty much any other player we're realistically going to get linked to (yes, I'd take him over Hazard any day of the week), but he'll cost too much. Dortmund has him tied up on a long-term contract and they only signed him seven months ago. They're capale of pricing any club out of a transfer for the next couple of years.

Honda would be a great buy though. I don't think you're giving him enough cred for his ability, ricky. I believe it was Wenger who called him the best striker at the World cup this summer. I thought he looked swell too. Immense workrate coupled with good technique.

Klaus wrote:

It makes sense to not sign a player if you only really need him as a backup first hand for as little as six weeks. We've got a fairly easy run of games too. The problem is: What if Vermaelen has another setback after this? Or, what if he needs a month in the team post those six weeks to really get going? It's not an easy question. The best solution might be to get someone in on a loan, but that's easier said than done.

The most obvious question is what if Vermaelen has another setback and at the very least, we can likely expect some post-injury niggles even if his Achilles operation does turn out. However we should also consider that Djourou, while he is near the end of it now, is still in the process of recovering fully from his injury last year. Not to mention he has a history of being somewhat injury prone to begin with.

Given those two factors, I'd say the chances of us only having a back two of Kos and Squid for the run-in area little bit too high for my liking. Maybe it's a case of expecting the worst, which I know can have its own implications if you plan for the worst and the worst never comes.. But without either Vermaelen or Djourou in the back, I don't know if our defense will be strong enough to steer us to the finish line.

Klaus wrote:

I'd take Kagawa over pretty much any other player we're realistically going to get linked to (yes, I'd take him over Hazard any day of the week), but he'll cost too much. Dortmund has him tied up on a long-term contract and they only signed him seven months ago. They're capale of pricing any club out of a transfer for the next couple of years.

Honda would be a great buy though. I don't think you're giving him enough cred for his ability, ricky. I believe it was Wenger who called him the best striker at the World cup this summer. I thought he looked swell too. Immense workrate coupled with good technique.

Kagawa must be really special if you'd take him over Hazard. What makes him so good? Bearing in mind I've seen one Youtube video that you posted ages ago.

Hazard's ability to run very, very fast with the ball glued to his feet, is so rare when you look around football right now. That alone makes him extremely special, add in his other abilities and you can see why he's so coveted..

Dave, I agree, and I think we're already playing with fire. What if Djourou had pulled his groin last night, or Koscielny? We'd be in a world of trouble, despite some decent fixtures upcoming. We've got to go out and at the very least get a competent back-up option.

dave: Absolutely. It's not an easy decision to make, especially not for us. We're not privileged to the kind of information that the club has. If Vermaelen really will be back we're gonna be alright, but if there's any significant doubt that he'll have another setback then we must sign someone. No two ways about it.

Ricky1985 wrote:

Kagawa must be really special if you'd take him over Hazard. What makes him so good? Bearing in mind I've seen one Youtube video that you posted ages ago.

He's just a complete player. The closest thing you'd find to Nasri in the rest of Europe, probably - and almost as good. He's a bit quicker to release the ball though which makes him a good option in midfield too in our setup. Some players just ooze intelligence when you watch them. It all happens so naturally too.

Honda has a great touch and superb awareness of other players. Would fit like a dream.

Kagawa is good but i've seen a lot of the bundesliga thanks to espn and he doesn't strike me as being physically strong enough or consistent enough. Would look great over 2 mins on youtube. He's a mix between rosicky and ji sung if you want to picture his play ricky.

Watching the Asian cup which Kagawa started all 3 group games and Honda 2 of them(rested for the last one), I would say Klaus is right.

Kagawa dribbles abit like messi, low centre of gravity, quick turns and release while having a good shot in him too. Would suit us perfectly. Honda is much more direct and less technical, but better on set pieces.

Both are attacking mids who can also play as 2nd striker, but Kagawa suit us more.

he's busier not better technically at all - it's just honda makes things look effortless

anyways the guys to go out and get are definitely hazard and banega

Kagawa with 2 goals and an assist 2 singlehandedly send 10 man japan through to the semis against host Qatar. Finished 3-2.