Ideally a 50/50 is benched and perhaps gets a 10 minute runout, the doom merchant who lives in my prefrontal cortex insists Ballard gets injured within 20 minutes and is due back at Christmas.
It's a simple decision. Rule of thumb - you DONT risk tweaks in the Hamstring. Ever. Ballard is a unit. When he has to react to sprint to a loose ball or to cover someone, the force going through the hamstring could cause it to go properly. Wouldn't even consider him tomorrow.
@MattyJHewitt MD: “Jenson played 90 minutes and was fine. Woke up the next day and his knee had swollen up. He went to see a specialist and they’re still not sure on the timeframe but his season is finished.” #SAFC @MattyJHewitt MD: “Naz has picked up a knock during the game so he hasn’t trained this week. He won’t be available for tomorrow. We’re waiting on timeframe.” #SAFC @MattyJHewitt MD: “We don’t want to go in to games playing teams with Premier League budget and you’re picking such a young team. I will always back young players, but to have so many across the board is not ideal.” #SAFC @joe_nicholson96 Dodds on Dan Ballard “Dan, it’s not as bad as first feared. It’s a real difficult one. I think what we are going to do with Dan is leave it until the very last minute"
Dodds mentioning about having no experience i see. Isnt that the reason Mogga and Neil left and got sacked??
Dodds said: “The break will be important. I think we will get two or three bodies back closer to the team. Corry, Aji and Dacky are all back training with the team so they will be three huge positives going into the Easter Weekend. “Patrick Roberts and Jack Clarke, it may be a weekend too early for them but we will see how their bodies react.” Ahead of this weekend’s game against Queens Park Rangers, Nazariy Rusyn has been ruled out after picking up a knock against Southampton. Jenson Seelt will miss the remainder of the season after suffering a knee injury. Dan Ballard faces a late fitness test ahead of the game at the Stadium of Light. If Clarke could be back for Easter, that would be outstanding news.
I think his reference to so many young players, in the team, is to do with the absence of O'Nien, Clarke and Ballard rather than in general. Dodds isn't doing well but he's certainly had little luck with absences.
I've not warmed to Dodds, but so what. Gets my full support for the rest of the season. I do believe it's going to take several games to iron out the Beale ball effect, and I do believe Dodds was making progress. Feel sorry for him for the hand he's been delt for tomorrow, but hopefully he can pull us back on track for Easter
I’d rather not have Ballard tomorrow than not have him until next season, wouldn’t chance it personally
I’m not happy about the Ballard/N Ireland friendly situation. If it’s touch and go for us on Saturday I’d leave him out but if he then goes on to play in a nothing game for NI and knakkers his injury so that he’s out for a long time then that’s seriously bad for us. Either he’s fully fit then all’s ok or he’s ‘iffy’ and should have the proper treatment over a couple of weeks and not be rushed back. If he’s not fully fit for Saturday then no way should he go off for NI friendly games.
You mentioned the Beale effect Dodds has coached this lot for a lot longer than Beale and he was right there from Mowbray to present day he should know them inside out
Well my predictor score is my general confident home win but I expressed a concern when TM got sacked whether our current players were rebelling and not trying. I forget who quite rightly shot me down but I fail to comprehend how the fk we can go from playing bloody good football to the dross we are currently experiencing. So the question we need answering is is the real SAFC going to turn up or are the players going to go through the motions again without putting any real effort in. I hope to fk I am talking bollocks here and the lads after a wretched run of results, albeit with a lot of injuries, just get the win. A boring lucky 1-0 will do just to stop the rot. Once again RTB thanks for all of your efforts.
FWIW my reading of the Ballard situation is that Beale doesn’t want to tell QPR about our weakness. He won’t play.
