Arsenal News 24/7Writer: Amos 
Date:Friday August 15 2008
Time: 3:47PM
UK time is: 10:07:01
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We have to rush Toure says Wenger
The absence of 7 players mainly due to injury means that Kolo Toure is to be pressed into action while still short of fitness. Along with new recruit Samir Nasri he will be made available for the opening premier league game against newly promoted West Bromwich Albion tomorrow.
Arsene Wenger said today 'Kolo is still short, but because we have so many injuries I have to rush him a little bit. So compared to Wednesday night, Nasri and Kolo are back in the squad.'
This should enable us to add a little more experience to a very young midfield that struggled to impose itself in the first half of the CL encounter earlier this week. It has yet to be seen whether this might mean Djourou being deployed in central midfield which Wenger apparently contemplated for the CL qualifier prior to Senderos being ruled out due to a hamstring injury sustained in training.
Arsene seemingly has no reservations about Nasri's ability to make an impact telling the clubs website:
"He is doing very well. He is an intelligent boy and that is always a very good ingredient. When you are intelligent in life and with talent, you always have a chance.Samir should get the chance to show what he can do tomorrow.
For me he is a player who has a good engine, good technique and vision. He can play the final ball which we like here. He has the technical level to go into any combination and is very mobile.
We believe he has the ingredients to fit into our game. He can replace Alex Hleb in the build-up of the game, in the creation of the chances, and he is very versatile. He is also very young, the same age as Cesc Fabregas. We now have a very young generation which can develop together.
I expect he will fit well into our collective game and that he expresses a good attitude, is very ambitious and fights very hard for the team."
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Your Comments
I did sweat a bit when I heard the word "rush".. We can't afford to have Kolo suffer any setback in recovery. We need to get off to a good start but we just can't send on someone who's not fit yet. I really hope Kolo comes through it okay. So yeah Amos, it sounds like maybe Djourou can be pushed up to the DM spot to partner either Denilson or Nasri. Denilson in CM is more likely as Nasri's just coming back from injury too. Fingers crossed!!
Lou the Gunneress
Nasri and Vela can make a major impact this season, even though its their first. I've been especially impressed with Vela, he really seems to be happy to be here and up for it. If we can get a top-notch holding midfield player with a great engine who can stay fit, that would go a long way to making me feel more comfortable about our prospects.
Gooner_Vin
NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! He should not play anyway, never mind rushing him!
Goofle
I worry greatly about the long term effects Wenger's poor judgement will have on Cesc and Toure's seasons. This is the worst time to pick up an injury, as the long term ramifications can put you behind for months. An addition or two would have prevented this, I've no idea why the manager didn't oblige. If you're rushing players back AW, it means the squad is too small.
Little Dutch
Kevin Keegan on SSN: "Michael Owen is ok, but he won't play. We won't risk him against ManU for just one game, only to have him out for another 5, 7, 10 games." Simple as that. There's no way Arsene can't see what Keegan sees. Just no way. So let's not sweat over Kolo and see tomorrow.
Lou the Gunneress
If Arsene needs to "rush" Toure back into the squad, then it just has to be. As we have been saying our too small. But we can fix things by Saturday 12:45pm. So we have to just trust the players out on the pitch can do it for us, and we can get 3pts!
hackneyval
Its not a bright idea to rush anyone back from injury and certainly not at this time of the season. If Wenger truly believes that our squad has the depth to challenge for the PL & CL, he should not be rushing anyone back. Toure has only 1 pre-season under his belt and it would be a terrible idea to play him. I'm praying this risk pays off but if it doesnt, then Wenger is clearly to blame. RvP rushed his comeback in Jan, and was pushed back by another 4-5 weeks, can we not learn from those mistakes ?
prits
Djourou was solid on wednsday no point in riskin toure
SuperGoon
Considering a halffit and halfcrocked player, who we rely on as a vital cog for the whole season, for a game like this must send a screaming message that 1) Maybe our medical and training staff should get some more training of their own, and 2) Our squad just might not be deep enough to enter the campaign. We all saw what happened with Toure after the ACN last year, why even risk the same thing to start the season?
smithdj74
Im with SuperGoon. No reason we shoud risk Toure. Djourou can be a fantastic replacement
gunnerkid107
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