City squad update Thursday, December 2nd 2021 Nigel Pearson has given a squad update ahead of Saturday’s Sky Bet Championship match against Derby County. Matty James and Andy King both joined in team warm-ups this week and Pearson added: "It’s early days but it’s good to get them back out there. "They can have an impact on the younger players during training – I’ve said it before that the best coaches are good players. Just because players aren’t available to play doesn’t mean that they don’t have an impact on their teammates." Nathan Baker, who was taken to hospital with a head injury during the Sheffield United game and later released that evening, continues to recover at home. Pearson told Robins TV: “It’s very important that we go through the right procedures. His health is our priority so at the moment it’s making sure he is ok. "He’s not been in yet but I have exchanged some messages with him and we are making sure he is doing the right things. When you have had injuries like that it’s important that we make sure he is fine." Joe Williams suffered a new hamstring injury against Stoke City and Pearson added: "Joe has been unlucky with this injury but he is not going to be back before January. "It’s a disappointment because in the games he has played really well and everybody can see what an asset he is to the team, both in his aggressive nature and his enthusiasm. "He’ll be an important player for us but it’s about making sure that he is right so it will be sometime in January that we see him." https://www.bcfc.co.uk/news/city-squad-update/
The signing of Williams IMHO is very much like the signing of the goalkeeper Billy Mercer from Chesterfield in 1999, we signed him injured and he made just 25 starts in 4 seasons. Mercer was one the best lower league keepers at the time but was signed in the full knowledge that he had a nasty groin injury, something that was never cured, I hope that Williams finally overcomes his injury woes but because he is a top player, but I would say history might be against again.
will james and king be on the bench.... DERBY is no crap team just 1 point less than City is the reality, we lost against Sheff who were on same points! 12 of our points have come from teams below however teams on similar points and just above us [ 3-5 points] has been hard work! DERBY HAVE LOST 3 less than our 9 .... and GD is -3 v BCFC -9
Williams is a real issue, he cannot seem to sustain a run of games. Baker is just unlucky for me, the poor bloke picks up a different type of knock/injury every week. Not all long term, but string them together he misses more games than we (and I'm sure he) would like.
Correct Baker's surgery last year seems to have worked for his ongoing hamstring problems and now his injuries seem to be from his own bravery ( some in the squad could do with some of that in their game), whereas Williams who I understand had his op outside of the clubs normal channels, has not resulted in such a good outcome. Again the club deny it as much as they like but he was signed injured, it's why we got him so cheaply after bigger and better clubs than us pulled out.
The story was he became injured on the day he arrived to sign. A couple of then prem clubs and big championship clubs were vying for his signature the price being quoted varied from 2.2mil to 4mil. Suddenly all of the interest went and we got him for 1mil. From what I have heard he was injured when we signed him and he later publicly blamed the then medical backroom staff for exacerbating his injury (he was the one who went public, but quite a few others including Paterson were also very unhappy with their treatment) after LJ was sacked and (coach) Simpson was in charge when asked about news that Williams had had an op stated "that is news to me" it would appear that Williams went off grid to have his op.
