July 19, 2018 12:00 pm
Some players are just injury prone.
No matter who they play for, what fitness regime they are under, how little or how much they play, their bodies will break down.
Whether it is Jack Wilshere or Abou Diaby, Jamie Redknapp or Daniel Sturridge. Or the original sicknote Darren Anderton. Some players will just always be out with injuries.
That is why it was no surprise to me when I heard about the news that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain would miss most of the 2018/19 season with injury.
When Arsenal sold him for £40m in the summer of 2017, I was delighted.
It was daylight robbery. We had got a huge transfer fee for a player who was injury prone and inconsistent.
Whilst some would point to “poor coaching”, the reality was this extremely talented individual was not living up to the hype. He was inconsistent who delivered a lot of dross with a little bit of magic occasionally thrown in.
He would beat three men, then run the ball out of play, or over hit his cross. And how often did he play a cross field ball that would whistle over his opposite wingers head and out of play?
He was frustrating.
At Liverpool he did not really improve. Some people decided to get hyped up about him. Those who used him to highlight Arsene Wenger killing players careers. The Liverpool fans who refused to accept their club had wasted £40m. And the Scouse loving media who wanted to paint Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool in a positive light.
Oxlade-Chamberlain did two things for the media. It gave them a reason to criticise Arsenal and Wenger, whilst praising Liverpool and Klopp.
Last season, he started just 14 league games; which highlights his inconsistency that he was not a first team regular for Liverpool. He scored just 3 goals with 7 assists. The year before playing right back for Arsenal he played a similar amount of minutes, scoring 2 goals with 7 assists.
In fact, when you analyse his statistics from the last two years, you can see how little he did actually improve; if at all.
On leaving, he seemed to blame Arsenal for a lot of his failures. A frustration of playing out of position they key one. What he failed to do was take any blame for his lack of improvement.
Players themselves have to be hungry and have the desire to improve. You could have the best teachers in the world, but if the student is lazy and disinterested, there will not be improvements.
Oxlade-Chamberlain thought he was good enough to play regularly in the centre of the park for a top team. He literally thought he was better than what he was. He moved to Liverpool and failed to play regularly in the middle of the park.
Compare him to Aaron Ramsey.
The Welshman is vastly superior, and it was him that was keeping the Englishman out of the Arsenal team.
I always compare Theo Walcott to Oxlade-Chamberlain.
The Ox is clearly the more naturally gifted, technical footballer, but he had very little output. He does not get the goals or assists that his natural talent should bring.
Meanwhile, Walcott is less talented, but his output was incredible.
Oxlade-Chamberlain turns 25 in August, he has just 12 career Premier League goals. Walcott turned 25 in 2014. In the season before he scored 14 goals in the single season.
Even if we remove the debate about his talent, there can be no debate over his awful injury record.
He has missed 600 days out injured since the beginning of the 2012/13 season. That is an incredible amount of time.
By the time he is out injured for the entire 2018/19 season, it will be nearly 1,000 days out injured in 6 years.
At the moment, he is injured about 30% of the time. A year out will take him towards 40% out injured.
There is no debate to be had. If you have 40% of your time off work, out sick, you would be sacked. This is football so it is different, but not being available for 40% of the time is incredible.
History continually repeats himself. A player with a horrendous injury record will not suddenly get better. Oxlade-Chamberlain, like Daniel Sturridge, will always limp from injury to injury.
Arsenal got £40million for an injury prone, inconsistent player 12 months ago. What a deal we got. And we laughed all the way to the bank.
Keenos
Follow @KeenosAFCPosted by keenosafc
Categories: Arsenal
Tags: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Arsenal, She Wore, She Wore A Yellow Ribbon
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I would seriously doubt anyone associated with Arsenal, staff or fans, are laughing about this injury.
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By John Brown on July 19, 2018 at 12:14 pm
Wow, what a class-less article. The author must be pretty bitter.
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By John Doe on July 19, 2018 at 12:28 pm
This may be the meanest,pettiest posting that I have ever read on an Arsenal based site. As an Arsenal fan and a die hard Wenger supporter I have suffered through some terrible moments in recent years. But to seize upon a serious injury to a very decent young athlete as an occasion for gloating and claiming vindication against the so-called “fans” who pilloried Mr. Wenger hits a new low. If Wenger stands for anything it is that football should be a beautiful human activity and that nothing takes priority over the common humanity of those who produce the games and those of us who enjoy spectating. I am certain that he, along with his myriad of decent supporters, will be appalled at this posting. “Keenos” or whoever you are owes an immediate apology to Oxlade-Chamberlain and to all fair-minded readers. You should be ashamed!
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By Jonathan Lehman on July 19, 2018 at 12:28 pm
Do you have eyes mate? Ox played great for liverpool 2nd half of the season once he got up to speed.
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By miff on July 19, 2018 at 12:31 pm
No one involved in football laughs about career-threatening injuries like these – Pieces like this just makes you come across as quite a sad little individual.
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By Ed on July 19, 2018 at 12:32 pm
What a snidely, nasty article, if you can call it that. Seems it’s not only Arsenal Fan TV that suffers with a lack of class. I was never a great fan of his, but for gawd’s sake show some sympathy for the bloke. He can’t help it that he is injury prone. Most Arsenal fans would wish him well.
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By David on July 19, 2018 at 12:39 pm
Whoever wrote this shite is a total wanker. The Ox was really getting up a head of steam before the injury. I hope the so called writer suffers a similar injury and see how he/she likes it.
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By Billious on July 19, 2018 at 3:05 pm
Laughed all the way into the Europa League
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By Arse-Nill on July 19, 2018 at 3:33 pm
wow, thats peak 😦
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By kamil on July 19, 2018 at 3:37 pm
This is pathetic. What an absolute loser this writer must be.
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By John on July 19, 2018 at 3:48 pm
This is embarrassing. Take it down
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By mike14 on July 19, 2018 at 4:40 pm
Yes. I will take a blog down because mike14 tells me too
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By keenosafc on July 19, 2018 at 6:37 pm
I don’t see how you could possibly even begin to argue that he’s not one of the most injury prone players around and has been an inconsistent performer. He’s great on his day though.
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By Oliver on July 20, 2018 at 10:41 am
The Humour might be inappropriate but the facts are undebatable and Arsenal made the right decision at the time. We got money and his unfirtunate story continued like overmars and Edu….. So the article is good except for the closing lines.
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By jex on July 20, 2018 at 8:31 pm
A pathetic posting from an equally pathetic and impartial blogger! I called you out several times for not having the ability to be impartial and fair and this just takes the biscuit.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was a top player for us and saw the sense to leave the club to attempt to improve his game and try to realise his potential. He took less money and an opportunity to graft his way into the team which you any person who does their research would have known.
The Ox wasn’t injury prone but he did take longer to recover and this injury is unfortunate as he was starting to play a lot better than he did under your favourite manager Wenger. The guy who couldn’t beat 10-man Atletico Madrid at Emirates…. I hope he is able to play some part of this season, Liverpool has a better medical team than Arsenal had.
This posting just shows what happens when you give the Village Idiot a laptop and half a brain…. They chat shit like there’s no tomorrow!
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By KEV_DA_GOONER on July 24, 2018 at 8:49 am
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was not a top player for Arsenal.
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By keenosafc on July 24, 2018 at 8:56 am