Arsene Wenger hentam Holland & Belgium!

Jadual perlawanan persahabatan antarabangsa kerap mengganggu momentum Arsenal dan yang terbaru ialah antara perlawanan England vs Holland dan Greece vs Belgium.

Pertembungan tersebut berkesudahan dengan RvP cedera dan Vermaelen yang diturunkan walaupun dilaporkan telah cedera ketika perlawanan menentang Spurs tempohari. Thomas Vermaelen diturunkan bermain untuk 90 minit dan Prof. Wenger begitu bengang kerana dia sepatutnya direhatkan menjelang perlawanan penting menentang Liverpool pada Sabtu nanti.

"It looks like Belgium has made a decision which I still do not understand and we will look to see if we can put a complaint in. 

"Firstly they forced the player to travel, then they forced him to play 90 minutes after being injured. 

"They had a centre-back on the bench who did not play at all, in a friendly game knowing they do not even go to the European Championship. 

"For me, that is difficult to understand. 

"The friendlies are becoming more and more difficult to accept for everybody. 

"I was always in favour of using the players for official games. 

"I never asked any player not to go 100 per cent for his country when it is a qualifier or a big competition. 

"But the friendlies are becoming more and more difficult, especially in this period. 

"For us it is vital we do not lose the players now. 

"If you go into a period like that with players already touched by injury you have more chances to lose the players. 

"The Holland manager hasn't spoken to me but he knew Robin was injured because he said despite his groin problem, he will play him, it is the same with the Belgium manager. 

"We are the only team in the world who had that schedule so it is very difficult to understand that our players had to go injured to Greece and play 90 minutes for Belgium. That's frankly not defendable. 

"It is disrespectful to the players as well as me. 

"You never go to Liverpool and think you have an easy game in front of you. 

"Let's not forget Liverpool won 18 championships so of course that is still in the history and the minds of every single person in England. 

"But things have levelled out now and everybody can take points everywhere. You see that with the results in the Premier League. 

"Every point we can take now is vital until the end of the season."

Dengan perkembangan Rosicky dan Koscielny yang masih belum pulih, ini sangat membimbangkan untuk The Gunners terutamanya dengan ketiadaan RvP serta barisan pertahanan yang telah kehilangan Mertesacker.