Interlull and expert take on our injuries

So the interlull goes on and we all wait for the Swansea game, the odd thing of interest has happened, UEFA have decided to pin the blame unfairly on Arsene, when it was in fact their inexperienced delegate at fault. No surprise there then, UEFA's kangaroo court nailing the innocent in a way that attempts to stifle anyone daring to challenge their almighty corrupt power.

Some of you may have seen my pieces from the weekend and earlier today. The common theme is the fact that our club is not being run in a professional or efficient manner. Transfers are being handled in rather inexplicably amateur fashion and this has cost us big time. Apparently Phil Jones was another of our near misses, we almost had him last January, we bid 8mill and Blackburn wanted just over ten, the rest as they say, is history.

Anyway something I am more expert on is things medical. LeGrove ran an interesting piece on our injury record today, certainly there is a bit of truth to this story, Raymond Verheijen is a fitness coach who has openly criticised Arsenal's training techniques. One thing I think people should be very aware of is that the coaching team are a very separate entity to the medical team. The coaching staff and managed will decide what our players do, while the medical team will pick up the pieces, although a bit of a simplification, it is fairly true.

I have to say though, looking back at all of our injuries and in particular the longer term injuries, very very few could even be argued to be related to overuse:

Vermaelen - achilles tendinosis - must be managed with sensible training but probably something he was inherently predisposed to getting

Djourou - osteochondral defect in knee - rare problem and extremely unlikely to be over use related

Ramsey - tibial fracture thanks to Ryan Shawcross

Diaby - ankle fracture thanks to Dan Smith and persisent ankle issues related to original injury

Gibbs - initial foot fracture after poor tackle and chronic issues since

Cesc - hamstring issues certainly lasted longer as he was rushed back quickly

Rosicky - chronic issues existed pre-Arsenal and actually sorted out by club

Van Persie - ankle surgery needed after ligament rupture caused by bad tackle

Walcott - shoulder surgery for recurrent dislocations

Eduardo - victim of shocking ankle fracture due to Taylor challenge and injuries continued after this

Overall the only players I would say who has been sidelined for injuries that have been related to overuse are Jack Wilshere and Cesc Fabregas. The latter of these was badly needed, so an educated risk was taken and this seems reasonable, even in retrospect. Jack certainly has been overplayed for one so young. The main thing we can act on is squad strength as this allows more player rotation and reduces the risk of burning out our top players. I feel that it is unwise to blame the coaching staff or the medical staff for our injury record, and the evidence above seems to back this up.