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25/26 Injury and illness thread

Would love to see this over a 3 year period, bet we’d be streets ahead of everyone else!

Be interesting if they’d have put some detail to the injuries as well, eg I bet Dowman accounts for about 100 days lost for the Goons but it would be like us missing Scarlett from the squad if he was injured. Not all injured players are of equal impact/status.
I said this to my pals
 
I bet Dowman accounts for about 100 days lost for the Goons but it would be like us missing Scarlett from the squad if he was injured. Not all injured players are of equal impact/status.
This is why the stats are slightly meaningless i.e. you could miss your best 5 midfielders for the whole year, or miss 5 kids/nobodies/backups for the year, there is no comparison but the stat says it is the same number of missed days.
 
Looks like Sarr might’ve had some dodgy lasagna whilst at AFCON…

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I saw a Tweet saying that several Senegal players mysteriously went down with illness (food poisoning) right before the game vs Morocco hosted in Morocco... and the same happened 2 years ago right before the game vs Morocco hosted in Morocco... and 2 years before that... and 2 years before that... so the accusation is that some Morocco scumbags are deliberately poisoning their rivals before big games, and yet Morocco will host the World Cup in 2030?!! Along with Spain and Portugal.

Let's hope we don't have to go there. Did you see this article about Adrian Heath being kidnapped in Morocco?
(I could read it on my phone)
 
Another game, another injury...
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It definitely seemed like he came back early. A couple of games ago he pulled up with injury and was beating the ground with his fists, but then pushed through and played again as we needed him... and now has an injury... do we know if it is the same thing or something else... I'm confused what is wrong.
 
It definitely seemed like he came back early. A couple of games ago he pulled up with injury and was beating the ground with his fists, but then pushed through and played again as we needed him... and now has an injury... do we know if it is the same thing or something else... I'm confused what is wrong.
Think his was caused by a tackle last night
 
Amazing how the injuries keep happening. It’s almost like there is a bigger problem than just once coach’s system.

Seems that ignoring the advice of our best manager since Burkinshaw and failing to undertake a painful rebuild whilst the team was at the peak of its powers but instead spending most of the subsequent decade taking the cheap option or speculating on youngsters in the vain hope that one will be the next Bale might’ve resulted in a squad so lacking strength-in-depth that the first team repeatedly get run into the ground during this era of chronic fixture congestion.

Meanwhile our gobby neighbours from Woolwich are using the financial clout that their new(ish) stadium provides to stockpile players they don’t even need simply to ensure we remain in a negative spiral.
 
Seems that ignoring the advice of our best manager since Burkinshaw and failing to undertake a painful rebuild whilst the team was at the peak of its powers but instead spending most of the subsequent decade taking the cheap option or speculating on youngsters in the vain hope that one will be the next Bale might’ve resulted in a squad so lacking strength-in-depth that the first team repeatedly get run into the ground during this era of chronic fixture congestion.

Meanwhile our gobby neighbours from Woolwich are using the financial clout that their new(ish) stadium provides to stockpile players they don’t even need simply to ensure we remain in a negative spiral.
16 (?) senior first team squad players unavailable mid week yet we still managed to field a squad with 13 senior players in it. How big do you want our squad to be exactly?

Edit: 13 senior first team players unavailable. Not inc loans obviously.
 
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Seems that ignoring the advice of our best manager since Burkinshaw and failing to undertake a painful rebuild whilst the team was at the peak of its powers but instead spending most of the subsequent decade taking the cheap option or speculating on youngsters in the vain hope that one will be the next Bale might’ve resulted in a squad so lacking strength-in-depth that the first team repeatedly get run into the ground during this era of chronic fixture congestion.

Meanwhile our gobby neighbours from Woolwich are using the financial clout that their new(ish) stadium provides to stockpile players they don’t even need simply to ensure we remain in a negative spiral.

Given the injuries league-wide over the last few seasons, I think it's bigger than that too. The calendar is ridiculous, players are playing more than ever in games more intense than ever. At the end of the season, they're flying all over the world for meaningless friendlies or newly created competitions to line the pockets of the already mega-rich. Then they get a couple of weeks off before flying the other way around the world for more friendlies. It's unsustainable yet it's only going to get worse. Rather than treat the players better, we'll just add more. Squads will need to be 30-40 players. The bench will grow to 15 players, then 20 to account for it.
 
16 (?) senior first team squad players unavailable mid week yet we still managed to field a squad with 13 senior players in it. How big do you want our squad to be exactly?

Edit: 13 senior first team players unavailable. Not inc loans obviously.

I want our bench options to be of decent quality, so that when Solanke needs a breather we don’t have to bring on wantaway Muani (who makes Werner seem like the loan of the century!) or a very raw Tel (who might come good in a few years time but not quite the prodigious talent which Bayern’s original asking price suggested).

Or when Udogie suffers his inevitable 5th hamstring injury we actually have a left footed FB who can slot in; ridiculous that he’s still the only proper LB in the squad, well aside from Davies who was never going to be more than emergency cover at this late stage in his career.

Also would be nice to finally sign a CM who can actually dictate the passing tempo of games (like Wharton or Anderson) instead of going for the cheaper option of Palhinha who might be a great defensive shield but whose passing is barely better than Vicario.
 
I want our bench options to be of decent quality, so that when Solanke needs a breather we don’t have to bring on wantaway Muani (who makes Werner seem like the loan of the century!) or a very raw Tel (who might come good in a few years time but not quite the prodigious talent which Bayern’s original asking price suggested).

Or when Udogie suffers his inevitable 5th hamstring injury we actually have a left footed FB who can slot in; ridiculous that he’s still the only proper LB in the squad, well aside from Davies who was never going to be more than emergency cover at this late stage in his career.

Also would be nice to finally sign a CM who can actually dictate the passing tempo of games (like Wharton or Anderson) instead of going for the cheaper option of Palhinha who might be a great defensive shield but whose passing is barely better than Vicario.
so it’s not the size of squad that’s the issue then, it’s better players, I think we all want that..

In terms of Palinhia, the manager was given the profile of player he asked for. No doubt if he’d asked for a ball player we’d have tried for that profile, but those players are a bit surplus to requirements under this managers style.
 
I keep wondering about the pitch/training ground being an issue - too hard a surface or something? Can't remember exactly what it was, but believe the theory was that the surface our players train and play home games on put much more strain on the players.

Both Perisic, Bentancur, Dragusin and Maddison has suffered ACL injuries since 2023 + three woman's team players as well, according to ChatGPT.

ACL injuries aren't that common in football. My ChatGPT research tells me other top flight english teams have suffered a combined five ACL injuries (men and woman) in the same period.

If the numbers are correct, this is at best and freakish statistical anamoly. Certainly something the club should be very worried about.
 
I keep wondering about the pitch/training ground being an issue - too hard a surface or something? Can't remember exactly what it was, but believe the theory was that the surface our players train and play home games on put much more strain on the players.

Both Perisic, Bentancur, Dragusin and Maddison has suffered ACL injuries since 2023 + three woman's team players as well, according to ChatGPT.

ACL injuries aren't that common in football. My ChatGPT research tells me other top flight english teams have suffered a combined five ACL injuries (men and woman) in the same period.

If the numbers are correct, this is at best and freakish statistical anamoly. Certainly something the club should be very worried about.
Did they all happen in home games?

Women's ACL rates are much higher due to inappropriate 'just small men' boot design
 
Did they all happen in home games?

Women's ACL rates are much higher due to inappropriate 'just small men' boot design
Dragusin was the only one that happened at NWHL, while Perisic was during club training. Bentancur away vs Leicester, and Maddison on tour in Asia. But my theory is that this is about the strain from playing and training on a harder surface for a long time, which somehow weakens knees, and increases the chance of knee injuries.

I know women are more susceptible to suffer ACL injuries, but it is peculiar that three out of four ACL injuries in the women's top flight in England have been Spurs players (if the numbers are correct).

I'm no medical professional, so take this with a massive pinch of salt, but there surely has to be a reason other than a curse for us to be on the receiving end of a disproportionate number of ACL injuries.
 
Dragusin was the only one that happened at NWHL, while Perisic was during club training. Bentancur away vs Leicester, and Maddison on tour in Asia. But my theory is that this is about the strain from playing and training on a harder surface for a long time, which somehow weakens knees, and increases the chance of knee injuries.

I know women are more susceptible to suffer ACL injuries, but it is peculiar that three out of four ACL injuries in the women's top flight in England have been Spurs players (if the numbers are correct).

I'm no medical professional, so take this with a massive pinch of salt, but there surely has to be a reason other than a curse for us to be on the receiving end of a disproportionate number of ACL injuries.

I'm not sure. ACLs snap when you get your boot stuck or land badly. There's no association to wear in anyway I don't think.

A much bigger issue is players wearing blades rather than studs. That massively increases the probability of ACLs and other injuries - there's been quite a lot of academic research on that. I'd be interested to know how many of our 4 recent ones were blade wearers.
 
We need to employ a trouble shooter who can forensically comb through every aspect. From training, physio, faculties, equipment used, slope on the car park when getting out of their cars. I don’t believe it’s the medics that are brick and think it’s more likely something being overlooked because it’s too simple yet staring them in the face. Some will be impact injuries or clear single event but who the fk knows what is possibly adding stresses on joints and ligaments along the way. Needs to be taken seriously by the club when you look at the cost of so many being out
 
We need to employ a trouble shooter who can forensically comb through every aspect. From training, physio, faculties, equipment used, slope on the car park when getting out of their cars. I don’t believe it’s the medics that are brick and think it’s more likely something being overlooked because it’s too simple yet staring them in the face. Some will be impact injuries or clear single event but who the fk knows what is possibly adding stresses on joints and ligaments along the way. Needs to be taken seriously by the club when you look at the cost of so many being out
Think they did a review last season didn’t they? But yea agree, something’s up, 3 straight years of full on injury crisis under 2 different managers feels a bit too unlucky for there not to be something behind it. Other clubs have struggled similarly for individual years, but not every year..
 
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