The only surprise is that RVP’s injury isn’t the fault of International football
10 comments September 8th, 2010
Injuries to key squad members are like London buses: depressing.
Yesterday afternoon we were delivered the news that Robin van Persie would be out until mid-October. It’s disappointing, but not surprising. His injuries are something one has to take in to account. He can never, ever be relied on to be a regular member of the squad.
We’ve been here before, but it remains such a shame for Robin, who is 27 now and must be wondering if his the glory his talent deserves will elude him in a career dogged by injuries. This is by no means a ‘serious’ injury, but it has interrupted his season before it ever really hit its stride, and is likely to mean that of our first eleven games of the season he’ll have started just one.
Perhaps even more disappointing was the sight of Theo Walcott being stretched off early on in England’s game against Switzerland last night. Walcott had started the season, and indeed the England game, in good form, and seeing him so clearly in pain was a real worry. The latest prognosis is better than first feared, but I’m not going to be counting any chickens – Theo’s claim that he’ll be back within two weeks sounds a little optimistic, especially when you look at arseblog’s picture of the nasty twist.
Sandwiched in between all the doom and gloom was the news that Samir Nasri will be back in full training this week. Even so, I suspect the game with Bolton may come a little too soon for him.
Elsewhere, Cesc Fabregas played 45 minutes in Spain’s 4-1 defeat against Argentina, whilst Andrey Arshavin captained Russia to a demoralising 1-0 loss at home to Slovakia. Apparently Arshavin was tested for performance-enhancing drugs after the game, which is at once hilarious and pointless. Wee Jack Wilshere made an impact as a sub for the U-21s, after Stewart Pearce made a point of leaving him out of the side. The telegrams reporting the likely deaths of the remainder of our squad have, it seems, yet to arrive.
Sebastian Squillaci made an appearance for the Reserves in their 4-3 win over Blackburn last night. You can check out a few clips of him pointing and shouting in this free video, which looks as if it was lovingly compiled by an obsessive stalker sat behind the goal.
Hopefully by tomorrow the misery of the interlull will have begun to lift, and we can start looking forward to some proper football once again.
