Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has hailed the strength of character in Abou Diaby following his latest comeback from serious injury.
The 28-year-old France midfielder has been dogged with injuries his entire career and has made just 41 appearances in all competitions for the Gunners over the last four seasons.
He most recently tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, leaving him sidelined for over a year, and made his comeback on the final day of last season.
Diaby is set to make his first appearance of the current campaign in Tuesday night’s Capital One Cup clash at home to Southampton and Wenger said: “He deserves a lot of respect.
"He is a giant, mentally, to do what he has done. With the severe injuries he has had, he comes back every time and is dedicated.
"Diaby played 90 minutes at Villa Park for the under-21s last week. He was with us at Villa Park again on Saturday and he will play against Southampton on Tuesday.
"I am a huge believer in his quality and I am sad that he couldn't show it more. If there is some justice, the future will be much better for him."
Wenger also confirmed youngsters Hector Bellerin, Isaac Hayden, Chuba Akpom and Semi Ajayi will all be given a chance to impress against the Saints.
"We still have a team of experienced players and we want to do well in this competition," he said
"I believe this is an opportunity to give a game to players who need it. We go into a period where we play, and play, and play, and we want to continue to win our games."
http://www1.skysports.com/football/n...head-of-return
Diaby deserves respect?! What for?? Picking up his 60k a week and doing fuck all in return for nearly a decade?!?!
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If you think that just changing the manager will improve the team then Wenger has to go . But if you look around and see what is happening elsewhere ( Man U as a prime example ) then you have to think twice .
For me , Wenger is still the man for us but he needs someone to put pressure on his to buy good players .
Bring Dein back and keep Wenger .
DO NOT POSTPONE TODAY'S DUTY FOR TOMORROW .IT MAY BE TOO LATE .
It runs a lot deeper than a couple of bad performances, it's primarily about Wenger not using his resources wisely and his tactical flaws, in regards to the resources he's not even financially handicapped, so to go into this season with such an imbalanced squad is an unneccessary risk. In regards to the tactical flaws...I am just interested to see how we fair in a few weeks time away to Chelsea, it will be interesting to see how Wenger lines us up and how we approach the game.
About our main rivals, of course City and Chelsea both have deeper squads than ours, though I wouldn't say they are far superior to us. I think we could go someway to bridging the gap by adding a bit of quality and depth to the defensive areas of our squad, I am not talking about spending 30million on a CB, just a couple of really solid signings.
To be fair to Wenger, even in his most baffling moments, I don't think he's ever sunk this low...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/29319599
Last edited by I am invisible; 23-09-2014 at 03:47 PM.
I understand that but even the most hardened of the 'Wenger Out' brigade was conceding he deserved a chance to build on last season. A couple of bad performances (and still only one poor result, Leicester away although after Utd's comedy show up there maybe that wasn't so bad.) and they all pipe up again. Fakeyank keeps making the point that a string of good results will sway people as though that's an unreasonable thing. It's a results business, of course good results will influence people although I take the point that the context of the last 10 years is relevant. That said, I don't regard the last 10 years as the unmitigated disaster some on here make out it has been.
What have I told you about using facts?
Interesting. Those two will always be difficult to compete with because of their infinite money cheat though.