By Matt Sadler
December 6 2018
As somebody who has always taken an interest in our younger players and players sent out on loan, I was inspired to start doing a regular “Loan Watch” for the Arsenal Times forum by Carl Jenkinson’s excellent form for West Ham during the 2014-15 season (how long ago does that seem now!).
Unfortunately, ever since, it hasn’t been quite as rewarding largely due to the vast majority of our players out on loan struggling for form, fitness and/ or first team minutes. One previous loan watch star, however, is Calum Chambers, who had a very good 2016-17 season with newly promoted Middlesbrough.
Chambers is a young player I’ve always had time for. Yes, he can be inconsistent, prone to a lapse of concentration, and sometimes even overzealous, but over the last five years or so we’ve seen plenty of examples of what he is capable of. Crazy to think he is still only 23…
One such example would be Chambers’ debut season here, where he was named Player of the Month for August, nominated for the 2014 Golden Boy Award, and performed well for us right up until a November horror show against Swansea, after which he gradually faded from the first team picture. Another example would be his previously mentioned 2016-17 season with Middlesbrough, where he formed a centre back partnership with Ben Gibson in a defensively strong side who were mostly relegated due to their lack of goals. A more recent example would be the end of last season, where he suddenly found himself in the side and performed well alongside Konstantinos Mavropanos.
Calum Chambers move to Fulham this season came as something of a surprise, as he had only recently signed a four year contract extension and had played a big part in pre-season, with boss Emery saying that Chambers “will be part of my plans this season”. Rob Holding, who struggled for form last season, or maybe even Mavropanos, seemed more likely candidates. Despite this, just over a month after signing his contract extension, he joined Fulham for the season, with Emery saying “Calum is a talented defender who has a bright future. We all believe this loan at Fulham will be an important part of his development and wish him a successful season.”
Not to worry though, another season like 2016-17 wouldn’t do any harm. Unfortunately, this hasn’t been the case. Whilst 16-17’s Middlesbrough were strong defensively, but struggled for goals, 18-19’s Fulham are quite the opposite, the highest scorers amongst the Premier League’s current bottom 7, but have conceded the most goals in the league. Manager Slaviša Jokanović seemed to change his line-up almost every week, using five different centre back pairings in just 12 games, which couldn’t have helped.
Whilst Rob Holding has finally found form again in our starting eleven, Chambers’ season was going very differently, with him struggling against Watford and being pulled off at half time in a defeat to Cardiff, as well as being in and out of the team. However, it appears he may have finally found some consistency. In Jokanović’s final game, against Liverpool, Chambers found himself starting in midfield and performed well. He kept his place in midfield for Ranieri’s first three games, playing well in a victory against Southampton, being widely sounded out as Fulham’s best player in their recent defeat at Chelsea, and playing well again in a draw at home to Leicester.
Apparently Fulham coach Scott Parker is the man behind the move, with Ranieri saying “I spoke with Scott Parker and he told me he could play there and I believe he is very good. He’s intelligent and it’s good for the team and for me”. It appears that Chambers’ versatility, something he has been well known for since his days as a youth player at Southampton, may have handed him a chance to save his season. “Collectively, he links very well with the defensive line and the forwards and he has good movement, he is attentive” Ranieri continued.
I’ll be interested to see how the rest of his season pans out.
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Quote:djarse
Holding now confirmed as having done his ACL - out for 6 - 9 months. Big shame for him.
May force Emery to get another centre back in January.
Quote:tigerlineQuote:djarse
Holding now confirmed as having done his ACL - out for 6 - 9 months. Big shame for him.
May force Emery to get another centre back in January.
I surely hope that Arsenal's physios are using the newest method for ACL repair. Here at my school, Louisiana State University, we have had remarkably faster rehab rates with our (American) football players than at other schools and in the NFL. We are preparing to publish a study that covers 39 different players over 17 years to demonstrate these successes.
The traditional approach to ACL repair is to remove a portion of the patellar tendon from the center of the good knee. It also removes portions of bone from the patella and the femur. This bone-tendon-bone method has been the gold standard and most schools and organizations have not considered alternatives.
At LSU, we are removing a portion of the hamstring tendons (both the semitendinosus and the gracilis) from behind the knee of the healthy leg and using that portion to replace the torn ACL. We have had football players back on the field in four months.
Quote:Gooner Sod
Either way his season is done just as he was becoming a key player....
Quote:MattySadler
Cheers lads.
Unfortunately Chambers' loan doesn't include a recall clause.
Will we be forced into the transfer market, or are we gambling on Koscielny and Mavropanos returning to fitness?
Quote:tigerline
I will be very surprised if Koscielny is able to provide us with any extended play again.
Shortly after he tore his Achilles tendon, I posted my concern that the nature of how this injury occurred led me to believe that it was associated with a condition called Achilles tendinosis, rather than Achilles tendinitis which has reportedly plagued Koscielny for years. His Achilles tendon spontaneously ruptured as he was lightly jogging back up field. There was no impact; there was no physical exertion related to the injury.
Tendinitis is an inflammation injury typically caused by a sudden physical impact.
Tendinosis, on the other hand, is a condition that builds up over time where microscopic tears occur throughout the tendon tissue resulting in thickening and internal degeneration of the tendon itself. I am speculating that both of his Achilles tendons are internally damaged and weakened and are therefore susceptible to recurrent rupture.
The nature of Koscielny's injury was atypical of normal athletic Achilles ruptures.
This injury was not the rupture of a healthy Achilles tendon.
I fear that both of his Achilles tendons are ticking time bombs ready to fail at any time.
Quote:mapleleafgooner
Won't be easy to bring in a new defender in January.
Quote:Yes,neither are good enough, but I'd take Chambers over Lichsteiner any day.Bergmars
Quite why we signed Lichsteiner and loaned out Chambers is baffling.
Quote:goonerredQuote:Yes,neither are good enough, but I'd take Chambers over Lichsteiner any day.Bergmars
Quite why we signed Lichsteiner and loaned out Chambers is baffling.
Quote:goonerred
How is Chambers playing?
Quote:Not much of an endorsement to be the best in a team that's going to get relegated. We sent him out to Boro and they got relegated. Next season we should play him or sell him.MattySadlerQuote:goonerred
How is Chambers playing?
Only just got home but mixed reports from some I follow on Twitter.
Theme seems to be Fulham lose by a few but Chambers generally comes away with credit. Has been one of, if not their best, performers since mid-December.
Quote:goonerredQuote:Not much of an endorsement to be the best in a team that's going to get relegated. We sent him out to Boro and they got relegated. Next season we should play him or sell him.MattySadlerQuote:goonerred
How is Chambers playing?
Only just got home but mixed reports from some I follow on Twitter.
Theme seems to be Fulham lose by a few but Chambers generally comes away with credit. Has been one of, if not their best, performers since mid-December.
Quote:MattySadlerQuote:goonerredQuote:Not much of an endorsement to be the best in a team that's going to get relegated. We sent him out to Boro and they got relegated. Next season we should play him or sell him.MattySadlerQuote:goonerred
How is Chambers playing?
Only just got home but mixed reports from some I follow on Twitter.
Theme seems to be Fulham lose by a few but Chambers generally comes away with credit. Has been one of, if not their best, performers since mid-December.
No but you can only play with what's around you. With Boro, they were actually quite strong defensively, but they didn't have any goals in their side at all. Their strikers, Negredo, Fischer, Bamford and Gestede, scored 11 league goals between them.
He's under a long term contract so if a good offer came in I'd sell, otherwise I don't mind him being a squad player as he's home grown, versatile and has a few years experience under his belt now, plus he looked pretty good towards the end of last season.
Quote:goonerred
With all the injuries we have, he would be another option right now. It's a shame we didn't have recall clause.
Quote:Cheapskate club, would have been worth it.MattySadlerQuote:goonerred
With all the injuries we have, he would be another option right now. It's a shame we didn't have recall clause.
Not sure how true this is but Ornstein claims recently that we didn't actually look at any defenders at all in January, and the only option we considered was recalling Chambers, but decided against it because we would've had to pay to bring him back.
Presumably Fulham paid us a fee to have him for the season and we would've had to reimburse some of that had we recalled him.
Quote:SuperRob
Let's be real though. If he wasn't an Arsenal player out on loan, and we were being linked with him for a transfer this summer, would anyone be happy about it? We'd be so underwhelmed by it.
Someone who barely stands out in a team at the bottom of the league is hardly the ambitious signing that will take Arsenal to the next level next season is it.
Quote:djarse
Bring him back !
Quote:goonerred
Sell him, I just don't rate him. Getting player of the season in a team that was relegated is hardly a high recommendation.