Mesut Ozil’s latest injury has raised further questions about the competence of Arsenal’s medical department especially as the injury was reportedly spotted by the German national team doctors. However, the club’s official site has been quick to confirm that Mesut Ozil complained of a sore knee after the match against Chelsea on Sunday, which ended at about 16:15 GMT. It states that the club asked the German team doctors to run a scan on the club’s behalf,
Yet, the entire scenario raises several questions about the club’s management of player’s injuries. Why couldn’t the club carry out the scan itself after Mesut Ozil complained of a sore knee after the match? And it has taken another 72 hours for this particular news to come out, when a proper handling of the case at the time he first complained on Sunday would have seen it dealt with immediately if the medical team was proactive instead of allowing him to travel to Germany further putting a strain on the knee.
The much heralded appointment of Shad Forsythe has not changed Arsenal’s fortunes on the injury front. If anything the injuries have gotten out of hand since the American’s arrival.
There is no doubt that questions would continue to be asked about the competence of Arsenal’s medical staff and rightly so as the injuries continue to rack up.
While fingers would obviously be pointed at the medical team and how they manage these players, Arsene Wenger should also come in for some criticism in respect of this latest injury. The Frenchman has a past history of not using players properly by running them into the ground. It is well documented that Mesut Ozil seldom played ninety minutes during his time at Real Madrid, but there were times when an early substitution would have done the German a lot of good this season, the Chelsea match was good example, as well as the match against Aston Villa when the game was won at half time.
Both Arsene Wenger and the medical team have to share in the blame in Mesut Ozil’s injury. It was Arsene Wenger that said that the German contingent had the club needed an additional one week break from their World Cup exertions to prevent injuries later in the season, while other clubs who had players that returned early have not suffered such injury to their players, it is what Arsenal sought to prevent in the first place that has planned. It means that the issue lies in how the fitness of Arsenal’s players are handled and not how early or late they returned from the World Cup if other clubs are taken into consideration.
The question then is can the medical team do a lot better? The answer is an obvious yes, as besides Mesut Ozil’s injury, the manner of the injuries suffered by both Mikel Arteta and Aaron Ramsey in the Manchester City match was another dark stain the books of the medical team at Arsenal.
Can it get any worse before it gets better on the injury front? Only time would tell whether things would change from the medical front, because at the moment it does not look like it.