"I had a hesitation to play Cesc", admits Wenger
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has admitted his Cesc Fabregas gamble backfired on Tuesday.
The World Cup winning captain has been struggling with a hamstring injury this season, and Wenger considered resting him for the trip to Braga.
However, the French coach eventually gambled on Fabregas, and this backfired as the midfielder suffered a recurrence of the problem.
“It could be two to three weeks,” said Wenger. “It is very disappointing because I had a hesitation to play him before the match started. I took the gamble and it backfired on us.”
To make matters worse for the Gunners, they lost the match in Portugal 2-0, meaning they still have work to do to qualify for the last sixteen of the UEFA Champions League.
Ahead of Sunday’s crunch Premier League tie with Aston Villa goalkeeper Manuel Almunia is welcomed back into the squad, while Emmanuel Eboue and the aforementioned Fabregas are both missing through injury.
bad decision from the boss. he shouldnt hav played. end of.
The other bad decision was letting Gallas go. I do not give a fig about Nasri and he not speaking, that is childish. Tell me which one of the two new center backs is better then he? That first goal on the countre was ridiculous. Arsenal cannot paly everyone forward until they know they have dependable center backs. I think Joahnn is better the Squillaci who is better then Koscielny and Vermaelen has not played al year so…once agian Gallas is playing for half of what he earned at Arsenal and led his team off the pitch victoriously. Our boys have lost their heart, and the manager has lost the plot. The season is still yong, but they had better find some belief.
i think it was a bad decision playn fab and the prof should get us players that have winin spirit cos as for now there is no winin mentality in arsenl
squid is past his prime. no longer good enough.
Keystone cops defending at braga, hilarious if it wasn’t outrageous, three defenders and a keeper cannot stop one player.
how many times will wenger gamble on players? patrick viera used to say i gnashed my teeth sometimes when i play because i wasnt fully fit. thierry henry was supposedly playing at 75percent for most of the 2004 2005 season. gallas hadnt recovered fully from his calf injury when he was forced to play barca last season . cesc himself was bruised badly in the game agaisnt barca but wenger played him and he broke a bone in the process. When will wenger realise that allowing the injured to recover fully saves them time on the injury table. that was a stupid decision and let nobody say hindsight. this manager does that all the time. cesc has to leave arsenal. his career is at stake. i would if i were him
I continue to be a big fan of Wenger, but his team selection for Braga was poor. While it wasn’t a real “must win” game, it was v. important to get a result, if only to put the Spurs game behind us. In that situation, you have to play Nasri, Chamakh, Arshavin from the start. That way, he could have rested Fabregas, and still fielded a stronger team. I don’t understand it – I really don’t.
The tide is turning but will anyone have the nerve to sack Wenger?
Everybody @ Arsenal, Wenger has had a say in their employment from the top (Gazidis who loves his vision!) to the bottom. He’s actually accomplished what Benitez failed to do @ Liverpool!
I will carry on supporting ARSENAL FC when liam brady becomes our manager
I doubt you would.
i am disappointed with the foam of most of our players this season lets be honest Fabregas has not been anywhere close to his best,the newcastle game was horrible for him,Arshavin has continued from where he left off last season and what’s even more disturbing is he is the player who loves to talk too much but he is not playing well himself,Denilson is also disappointing this season and the few times i have seen Bendtner this season i havent had any reason to get excited,Walcott has been poor as well.Rosicky,Wilshere and Nasri have been good but i think wilshere is starting to lose his head a lil. You add the fact that our defence is extremely poor a lot teams have no respect for us esp this season coz of that and thats very sad.i think Wenger should revert to the old 4-4-2 it worked for us in the past i dont like the whole playing with one striker thing that our formation allows. the players need to have a winning mentality and i dont think our dressing room isnt a happy one but the sad thing is that is stuff we will get to know when a player leaves but we as the fans deserve better form the team considering we pay a lot of money to watch them play as well as for them to live the lavish lives they live ryt nw