The papers today are full of some absolutely astonishing remarks from Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger about his best player Cesc Fabregas and his ongoing hamstring problems. It is rare to hear a manager call out one of his stars in public, but that is what Wenger has done.
Fabregas, who will start against Chelsea today has suffered 5 injuries to his hamstring in the last 12 months and Wenger says that all those setbacks have left Cesc worrying constantly of breaking down.
“Yes, he is sharp again now because he has two more weeks of practice behind him. In the last two or three days he has looked sharp. It is more a restriction he has. When he comes on, his hamstring is in his head. So we have to move the hamstring out of his head. That comes with practising every day. Physically I think he is ready. At the moment in winter one of the disadvantages, when it is so cold, for the guy who comes on with 25 minutes to go is that it’s not easy to get into the flow of the game. He had as well a little bit of a mental problem – but now it looks to have gone. It is hard to overcome if you have a recurrence of injuries. You only get rid of it completely by reassurance. The fact he has played 30 minutes has helped him but during that 30 minutes he was not himself completely.”
So if I understand Wenger’s comments right, Fabregas does not have a problem with his hamstring, it is all in his head.
What do you think of these comments, and the timing of them right before the Chelsea game?
