Afobe Ruled Out For Four Months

Arsenal’s much maligned injury problems are set to continue, with Benik Afobe the latest player to have his spell on the sidelines extended.

Afobe limped out of Arsenal’s 2-1 win over Manchester United in the Premier Reserve League last month, lasting just 22 minutes after picking up a groin problem. The 18-year-old was ruled out for around 10 days on initial diagnosis, but was told this afternoon he’ll miss a minimum of four months.

The news comes as a bitter blow to Afobe, who was promoted to the first-team during the summer, and was penciled in to play in last night’s Carling Cup third round win over Shrewsbury Town. He joins Jack Wilshere, Abou Diaby and Tomáš Rosický in being given wrong come back dates this term, adding to the pressure already on Arsenal’s under-fire medical staff.

Benik may now be forced to finish the season on loan, as he bids to force his way back into Arsène Wenger’s plans.

45 thoughts on “Afobe Ruled Out For Four Months

  • September 21, 2011 at 9:57 pm
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    Oh how misery loves us..

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  • September 21, 2011 at 9:59 pm
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    feel sorry for the kid hope he gets well soon
    Pretty sure our medical staff is going to take a beating here

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  • September 21, 2011 at 10:13 pm
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    “He joins Jack Wilshere, Abou Diaby and Tomáš Rosický in being given wrong come back dates this term, adding to the pressure already on Arsenal’s under-fire medical staff.”

    Really? I don’t remember Arsenal.com publicly announcing a return date for Afobe. There’s a difference between you revealing information and the Arsenal medical team doing so via the club’s official website. Also when was Rosicky given a wrong return date ‘this term’…

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  • September 21, 2011 at 10:20 pm
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    The worst news an Arsenal player can get is that he is going to be out for 10 days. They know they won’t be playing again for half a season or more.

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  • September 21, 2011 at 10:24 pm
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    what the hell is wrong with the medics here, someone should give them a kick up the backside, or get a new team in

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  • September 21, 2011 at 10:31 pm
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    ooooohhhh nooooo….Why? Why injury?? Wish him to play for first team this year…..Benik…Get well soon!

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  • September 21, 2011 at 10:41 pm
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    Any good news…..Same ole same ole.

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  • September 21, 2011 at 10:49 pm
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    That’s cruel on the kid. Making strides into the first team to see it set back. Hopefully he’ll show his talent, probably on loan. Still young, got plenty of time. My only worry is that hopefully the injuries don’t set him back soo much and he ends up like JET

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  • September 21, 2011 at 10:52 pm
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    Finally an article pointing finger at Arsenal medics. Replace ASAP with a cloned version of MilanLab now both at Milan and Chelski thanks to Ancelotti. Proven record of shorter rehab time and prolonged player careers.

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    • September 24, 2011 at 2:41 pm
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      Even though I agree with you, there is criticism at AC Milan right now for the Pato injury. Has been getting too many of those lately.

  • September 21, 2011 at 11:52 pm
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    here we go again…sigh.

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  • September 22, 2011 at 12:50 am
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    The medical team man… what a joke.

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  • September 22, 2011 at 1:11 am
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    Was looking forward to see him play in the Carling Cup but I hope he´ll come back even more determined to prove his worth to Arsene because he is undoubtedly a top talent.

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  • September 22, 2011 at 2:03 am
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    no idea why people blame the medical team for all our bad injuries.i dont see them kicking,jumping on our player and injure them.
    it s abvious to me our training method are too blame. clichy even say he couldnt believe how hard and physical city training are.our player are not prepared properly to get contact after contact and they break very easily

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    • September 22, 2011 at 1:29 pm
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      yeah but misjudging it so many times is just sad… they aren’t the ones injuring the players but they need to be able to know the difference if a player will be out for 10 days or 4 months… maybe it’s the warm-up routines that don’t work, i don’t know, but it can’t be only bad luck the reason why our players are getting injured for years…

    • September 22, 2011 at 6:37 pm
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      I have always said this. This arsenal side ONLY practice possession play and the offside trap in training. Clichy was shocked at how ferocious the training was at City. Players like komapny, de jong, richards, dont muck about. The players at arsenal are wrapped in cotton wool and have no rugidness to their game. They do throw themselves about and show their not total fairies “gervinho” but we need more than that. We need steel. Brick walls. More Vermaelens’. Wenger should take a leaf out of pulis’s book. Mertesacker was definately a panic buy. He is very tall and will win lots of balls. But the pace of this league is very very fast and he will need time to adapt. Time will do not have. He will be VERY USEFUL against stoke but against the better more skillful teams he should not play.

  • September 22, 2011 at 7:13 am
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    They don’t undergo physical training ,that why

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  • September 22, 2011 at 9:12 am
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    stan kronke is the owner of NBA team Denver Nuggets. The medical team at this nba team are the best in the league, i think they need to send arsenal medical team over for some retraining.

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  • September 22, 2011 at 12:13 pm
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    this a great blog, one of the best. but ‘much maligned injury problems’…? doesn’t make sense. the training regime or medical team can be much maligned but not the injury problems, which are much-regretted or maybe just much talked about.

    shame bout benik though, hope he recovers quicker than anticipated.

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  • September 22, 2011 at 1:27 pm
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    are our doctors monkeys… i mean to misjudge so many injuries for so little time… wilshere, afobe, vermaelen, rosicky, diaby… wenger says they are good, but i don’t see a good medical staff making so many mistakes…

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  • September 22, 2011 at 2:33 pm
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    Our medical staff is utter sh*t..im shocked,

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  • Pingback: I shudder at the thought of Joey Barton nearly joining Arsenal, and moan at another player injury. | Being Arsenal FC Bystander

  • September 22, 2011 at 4:59 pm
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    We seriously need to investigate whether its our medical set up or training regime which are causing these injuries.. this so sickening..

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  • September 22, 2011 at 6:18 pm
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    i suspect that a lot of the younger guys are not warming up and down properly, hence all the muscle injuries. but i think the bigger issue is the way wenger has them playing. he makes his players run constantly for 90 minutes and they try to play at a high tempo. it’s really not very normal.

    manU and chelsea and city have more of a ambling pace during their games, only injecting pace when necessary…and their guys are hardly ever injured.

    slow it down wenger.

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  • September 22, 2011 at 8:31 pm
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    There’s a simple reason why Arsenal suffer more injuries than other teams: most injuries occur whilst you’re in possession of the ball, and Arsenal enjoy significantly more possession than other teams, generally.

    That’s not the only reason, but it does account for about half to three-quarters of what we see I reckon – although I just pulled that number out of my arse…

    Add to that injuries affecting the team like dominoes, as one player gets exhausted covering for another out injured, and then gets injured in turn.

    What’s left to explain of our bad run of injuries can reasonably be put down to bad luck, particularly because the two horrific injuries we’ve seen in recent seasons will skew the average.

    I think the case that Arsenal are doing something wrong in training or medically doesn’t really hold up. Other teams also have injured players and aborted returns – how long was Hargreaves on the sick list at United?

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  • September 22, 2011 at 9:18 pm
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    was never gonna make it anyway

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    • September 22, 2011 at 10:24 pm
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      Never gonna make it? Are you kidding me?

      He’s one of the very best English prospects in the country. Outstanding talent. Comfortably better than his more illustrious England youth International teammate Connor Wickham, for me. And Wickham is lauded as the best thing since sliced bread.

      Very sad news for the guy. Had a great loan spell at Brighton and was so impressive in the Emirates cup for us.

  • September 22, 2011 at 9:41 pm
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    Let’s hope he can bounce back like Frimpong did – stronger than ever.

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    • September 23, 2011 at 11:32 am
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      Yeah my bad, Huddersfield not Brighton.

  • September 24, 2011 at 1:33 am
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    And now Wilshere is going to be out for two months longer than expected.

    You have to think that the lack of ambition and lack of professionalism that is rife throughout the club must be effecting the players. Why would the better players want to stay when, on top of the club not wanting to compete with the top teams, their careers are also being risked by not having proper medical treatment.

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  • September 24, 2011 at 4:02 pm
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    Please go 4-4-2. We are so boring now. We don’t need both Ramsey and Arteta on the field together. Walcott is an awful winger so stop playing him there. Get him at striker where he is good. Not 1 shot on goal. Just pass, pass, pass, midfielders get pushed up to high, then we lose the ball and get countered.

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    • September 24, 2011 at 7:42 pm
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      what a great idea… tell me how many times have you seen walcott as a striker and exacly how good was he? I tell you what.. it is a lot harder to play upfront in the middle when you are small. Pace alone is not enough. You need to have intelligence on and off the ball during the whole game. Walcott will never make it upfront as a striker. He might get a chance this season and you will see that. Will be invisible during the whole game or get injured a whole lot.

    • September 24, 2011 at 9:38 pm
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      Walcott was a striker originally and Wenger himself said Walcott will be a striker at some point. Playing with 2 strikers up top is a lot different then being a lone striker. Plus Walcott could be a very similar striker to Chicharito. Playing off the back line, getting in behind the center backs off the ball and he is normally a good finisher. Do some research before you type.

    • September 25, 2011 at 4:58 am
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      Walcott compare to hernadez????? There are no comparison at all. Hernandez has played central almost his whole career and the way he play is different to walcott. Very very different. That kid play with intelligence and with great techniques. Walcott compare to him is fast some great techniques at times but running behind the back four will not be easy when the whole team knows how fast you can run behind them. They will only defend deeper. You will see what I mean. You have seen him played central only a few times and he was not great but good in Southampton. Just because you played in one position once in your career doesn’t mean you are good in that position. To be able to finish you need to get that chance too! It has taken walcott so many chances and so long to be where he is today and now he wants to throw that away by playing in a new position. another wasteful 2 season here. And just because you think one thing doesn’t mean you are right. I gave my opinion and you yours. also I never said anything about walcott playing lone striker.

  • September 24, 2011 at 10:36 pm
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    As long as we don’t fall in to the hands of a billionaire and buy a trophy or title, frankly I don’t mind us losing some of our attractive play if it means we win more. You have to remember who is playing for us and who isn’t. Wilshere, our best short passer of the ball is OUT. Vermaelen, a very good passer himself is OUT. Those two are the catalysts for every offensive move for us. Arteta has been excellent so far (I didn’t think he would) but he can’t do it alone in there. I think once Chamberlain comes in to the starting 11 we will see a more attractive brand of football. Once he becomes comfortable and establishes himself that is. I’m not that fussed about our style of play though. It will come and if it doesn’t, then that’s too bad, but it’s not the end of the world. What we need to do is win. Plain and simple. As long as we do it within the rules and are financially responsible, then I think I would be more than satisfied. When we were in the old 1 nil to the Arsenal days we had a distinctive style of play (although not attractive) and in the past few years we have been great to watch but we haven’t won anything. I think we need to be somewhere in between, which means we may not be as attractive a side as we used to be. I’m tired of losing though and winning is what it’s all about for me.

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    • September 24, 2011 at 11:26 pm
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      For one, we are not exactly winning a ton and are not playing attractive. How is that a positive? Secondly, yes, I want us to play attractive. That is one thing that separates us from most clubs and makes us unique. All I am saying is that to play the 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3 is not for us now IMO. We are often times not very dangerous and yes, I am a little negative because I see what people have been talking about. Arsenal is pulling the wool over the eyes of their supporters. For god sakes, we sell 2 world class players for 60 million. Surely we can afford another top player after that. I mean as I said, Falcao would have been an amazing signing. Instead outside of AOC, we sign a few decent to good players but they aren’t the type that are going to put us in the title race and maybe not even in the top 4 race. Especially loaning a chelsea back up which is embarrassing to me.

      Also blaming injuries is old because everyone has them. I mean Chelsea have been with out one of the top midfielders in Michael Essein for almost a good 2 years now. Gerrard and Agger are always out for liverpool. Tottenham have had huge spells with out Bale or Modric not to mention Huddlestone. Man Utd miss Ferdinand amongst others all the time. Those are getting to be excuses.

  • September 24, 2011 at 11:49 pm
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    Ferdinand is being replaced by Jones, Gerrard by Suarez, and Ramires (even though he isn’t worth 25 million) is coming in to his own and could replace Essien. We don’t have anyone who can replace Vermaelen and to a larger extent Wilshere. PLease don’t whine. Injuries are an excuse because we seem to get the worst of them to worst of people!!! No one else does. You cannot have it all. We just cannot play like Barca and win. We can’t. Me, I want to win. No matter what. You??? I have no idea.

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    • September 25, 2011 at 6:50 pm
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      You could say “Arteta comes in to replace Wilshere” and “Mertesacker comes in to replace Vermaelen”. That was one of the dumbest arguments I have ever heard mate. Fact is we have the team that we put together. Building a good squad is part of the job and before the summer, Wenger said we had money and the were in a good financial situation so when we sold another 75 million pounds worth of players and replace them with decent players but no where near the level we sold then you have to say something. To many blind supporters. I mean look at Atletico. At least they said to their fans, “we are going to try”. They sold Aguero and replaced him with another top striker.

  • September 25, 2011 at 1:10 am
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    I think that there is definitely an issue with the number of incorrect or patently wrong diagnostics.
    The Dutch FA, the Russian FA all said that injuries were missed and/or over-optimistic diagnostic were given to player.
    All the attempt of using a cast instead of immediately operate meant that instead of getting Wilshere back at the beginning of November, Arsenal will get him back at the earliest at Christmas.
    I also think that our very physically demanding style of play and Arsene Wenger reticence to rotate players means that Arsene suffers more than normal of minor muscle injuries which when unchecked ended up as stress fracture. Stress fractures tend to occur when athletes try to compensate minor niggling injury and put more weight on part of their body that cannot cope with the extraneous effort.
    Within the last two years nearly all of our first team players have suffers from one or the other and have missed large chunk of the season.

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    • September 25, 2011 at 1:32 pm
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      The thing is they are keep doing the same thing over and over. I am not a doctor so I have really no clue why the medical team is keep getting it wrong when they have the same injuries years after years. Surely the medical team must do something wrong.

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