Things I Think I Know About Ankles and More

That's Going to Leave a Mark

Well, its November and what would any November be without a significant injury to one of the core players for Arsenal. Whatever the season is like it is always the month before Christmas that sees us suffer. This time the victim is Robin Van Persie our inform central striker with the chocolate leg. He’s a victim, not of a bad tackle, but of circumstance with this right ankle being missed on tackle but so firmly planted it rolls leading to a partially torn ligament in the ankle.

Now for those of you that do not know partially torn ligament in the ankle sounds pretty bad. Let me spell out to you in a more comforting way – ligament tears are known more commonly as – ankle sprains. Depending on the type of damage and range of movement each sprain is classified into 3 levels of severity. They are:

Grade I Sprain

A Grade I (First Degree) sprain is the most common and requires the least amount of treatment and recovery. The ligaments connecting the ankle bones are often over-stretched, and damaged microscopically, but not actually torn. The ligament damage has occurred without any significant instability developing. Recovery time 4-6 weeks.

Grade II Sprain

A Grade II (Second Degree) injury is more severe and indicates that the ligament has been more significantly damaged, but there is no significant instability. The ligaments are often partially torn. Recovery time 4-8 weeks

Grade III Sprain

A Grade III (Third Degree) sprain is the most severe. This indicates that the ligament has been significantly damaged, and that instability has resulted. A grade III injury means that the ligament has been torn. Surgery is likely necessary and recovery time is 6-12 weeks.

Based on what we are hearing from the Dutch FA, Arsenal and Van Persie himself, I think we could say he is either a Grade I or II sprain. More likely a Grade II since he seems to be on the longer end of the recovery time.

Arsenal physios and doctors are allowing the dutch striker to go to Serbia to visit a doctor who has a rather inorthodox way to treat ligament injuries. It is a combination of electro-therapy and gene-therapy. The gene therapy being the placenta fluid I am so sure you have all read about. As best as I can surmise based on my career in healthcare. The placenta fluid is likely thought to have regenerative properties. Scientists are currently looking at placenta genes as a way to conduct gene therapy on more chronic conditions. Anyway, I digress. The addition of the electro-therapy will be used to stimulate and speed up whatever processes the placenta fluid is likely to have. Basically, it can only help and not hurt any more than he is hurt now. If it doesn’t it should not alter his recovery time in the negative.

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor, I just am making a broad assumption based on what I know is being done with placenta in science.

So enough with ankles and on to the more urgent discussion of what does Arsenal do? Once the injury was universally known, the twitterverse, blogs and media were quick to determine we had in face suffered a major catastrophe and our title hopes were lost. I love pundits and fair weather fans, I really do. These are the same pundits who declared the fight for the last big four spot would be between us and City. They didn’t see the epic collapse of the scousers or the mediocrity that is City’s defense coming.

Again I digress. It is true that the loss of Robin Van Persie is a loss to the club. The striker has been coming into form lately and has goals in 7 of the last 8 matches he has played in. He was prolific in the recent North London Derby. But how much and how significant a loss is debatable.

Remember that Van Persie was rather slow to start the season and by the third league game we had already scored 11 goals. If memory serves correct only 1 if any were scored by the man with the chocolate foot. The rest came from a rather robust attack. And true again, we are missing the great dane who fancies being the best striker in the world in 5 years. However if we are going to suffer injuries anywhere, our forwards are one of our deepest areas.

Figure that Eduardo and Arshavin are likely to feature big in the revamped lineup with RvP out. Also, John Cross at the Mirror has confirmed that Walcott should feature in the squad against Sunderland – likely coming off the bench. Additionally, Carlos Vela is set to return and he is definitely going to be looking to show Arsene that he is ready for more first team exposure.

But really this is a golden opportunity for Eduardo who has declared that since Crotia is out of the World Cup his focus is squarely on helping Arsenal achieve its silverware goals. Now is the opportune time for the Crozillian to do so.

I don’t buy into the doom and gloom and like has been said in a previous thread, if our championship hopes are tied to Robin Van Persie then we don’t deserve to win. It has to be a team effort and frankly there is more of an aura of “Teamwork” in this current generation of players than in recent memory. Goals will have to come in from everywhere and they should. I still think we pose one of the biggest attacking threats in the league.

Arsenal are not done by any means. And as they were written off at the beginning of the season – I think they are being written off again, much to I hope the chagrin of the punditry who say so.

THINGS I THINK I KNOW:

• With all the news on Van Persie, lost was the stellar performance of Aaron Ramsey on international duty for Wales. His 2 assists and a lone goal were the only single biggest reason that Scotland went down in flames. He done Club and Country proud and at 18 is slated for more glorious things to come
• Also lost in the clutter was news of Eduardo’s brace in Croatia’s 5-0 friendly win. If this is portent of things to come opponents should beware
• Arshavin was instrumental in Russia’s 2-1 win over Slovakia. While he didn’t score his play leading up to the goals is a reason why Russia were able to go ahead and win
• There are ongoing attempts to unsettle Fabregas again. Don’t they realise that while he is Spanish in nationality he is no longer Barca blood. He has been at Arsenal far longer than he had been at Barca. Who do they think got him to this point in his career? Certainly not them. While I have no doubt Fabregas will sometime go to Barca, I don’t see it in the near future.
• Adebayor is out again saying he feels no remorse for his celebration and is upset his former teammates wouldn’t shake is hand. Awww Dade has turned to Baby. Seriously this guy needs some mental help
• Why is it we have 2 players go down and the press has us in a bonified crisis while Chelsea lose Lampard, Drogba, Bosingwa and Cashley Gold and nothing is spoke of it or how it effects them. By the way John Terry is also fighting an ankle injury and his prognosis is iffy
• As a fan of Scottish Football – how the mighty have fallen. Two years ago, Scotland’s national team looked very promising and their were talks of a sustained run. However that was a team managed by an able manager – McLeish of Birmingham. Thank goodness George Burnley is gone. My choice for replacement  – Sir Alex Fureson’s son who was recently released from his job. Also the SPL are pure shite and in shambles
• Back to my favourite team to slag – Mark Hughes is currently doing damage control for his teams current lack of form. Since beating Arsenal they are 0-4-1. Their last two draws has seen the opposition come back to draw level. The defence is crap (sorry Kolo) Lescott and Bridge are the biggest culprits. Selling Dunne was the worst move for the Citizens.  Sparky is saying they were never focused on a top four spot and that if they finished fifth this season wouldn’t be a failure.  Riiiiiggggghhhtttt. £200m isn’t supposed to buy fifth place
• The special one wants to return to build something. Jose Mourinho wants to return to the EPL and build something from the ground up and sustain for 10 years. City is glamor choice based on the money – but if he wants a challenge and wants to really build something. How about coming back next season when Newcastle are promoted and under new ownership. Build that storied club back up to being a force
• Finally I think our lineup for the near feature will look something like this: Almunia, Sagna, Gallas, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Song, Nasri/Diaby, Fabregas, Arshavin, Rosicky/Vela, Eduardo/Walcott/