Wenger – Mental hurdle is biggest for Eduardo
Arsène Wenger believes that Eduardo must overcome a “psychological hurdle” to get back to his best.
The Croatian suffered a broken leg and dislocated ankle in a Premier League clash at Birmingham back in February. However, his long rehabilitation programme finally bore fruit on Tuesday night when he played 45 minutes for the Arsenal Reserves as they overcame Portsmouth 2-0 at Underhill.
Speaking ahead of the game, Wenger was in no doubt that the Rio-born hotshot could return to his physical peak and explained that overcoming the mental side of his injury will be the striker’s biggest task.
"For him to be back playing in the first team will not be a physical problem, it will be more a psychological hurdle to go back into the fight," the manager told Arsenal TV Online in an exclusive webchat on Tuesday afternoon.
"Any goal you see from a striker is about the fraction of a second when he was ahead of the defender. Any reluctance to go in to contact gets that away and then you do not score any more.
"That is where the question mark will be about Eduardo. He is a very brave guy, but sometimes you cannot master that kind of reflexes."
Eduardo has been involved in first-team training for a few weeks now but the manager explained that only competitive matches can complete the 25-year-old’s recovery.
"When he plays with us in training, everyone is very careful with him,” added Wenger. “Nobody wants to take responsibility of a bad tackle and he is injured. So it is better he goes in to a game where people do not care about him and he discovers for himself he is strong enough to deal with it."
