Injury Thread 2025-26

Steven Toast said:

Because instead of going "no, you aren't ready", they let the player decide he was ready. It's one thing for a player to say he feels good, it's another for a medical professional to give him the all clear to play games again. This was my worry about Hirokawa. These medical decisions have been ****ing appalling.

The fact that it was labelled a risk should have told everybody at the club that he wasn't ready. We saw what happened to Sinik, yet we risked it anyway.

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Is this why players keep coming back ‘ahead of schedule’?

I’ve no medical history but I could have told you just to leave Matazo till next season. Imagine 3/4 months without actually having a niggle or a serious injury. Build up his strength etc etc.

Devastating news for the player. I wish him a speedy and pain free recovery.

How unlucky to recover from one ACL injury then do the other 5 minutes into your first game back.

WYT said:

Looks like Matazo might have done his other ACL. Judging by his Instagram post

“Difficult to find the words, this one is just above my understanding… I leave it up to god, he knows the why.
Overcame this injury once, I will do it twice. I thank you all for the messages and prayers.
See you soon, Be blessed”

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I did my right acl just over two years after doing the left. Docs told me it was an inherent weakness in my knees. I had reconstructions on both but it’s never the same.

Devastated for him. That is cruel.

It reminds me of Krystian Bielik. He did his ACL at a young age in January 2020, returned to action in November, made a few appearances and then did his ACL again in January 2021. Both his ACL injuries were on the same knee though.

It’s not impossible that Matazo bounces back from this and has a decent career. Bielik has gone on to play 145 games since his second ACL injury. I suspect the mental aspect is harder to overcome than the physical injury.

Different breed, different mentality to the modern players

When Billy Whitehurst was at Oxford United, he got himself into a pub fight.

This was about 5 days before a game against Nottingham Forest.

He took a telescopic straight to the nose.

By the time it was over, his face was in bits.

“I’ve got a hole straight through my cheek near the side of my nose.”

“My nose is all smashed up.”

He had 30-odd stitches to patch his face up.

Most players would have been nowhere near a football pitch.

Whitehurst went into training.

Maurice Evans looked at the state of him and asked if he wanted to play against Forest.

Whitehurst did not see the issue.

“Of course I’m f****** playing.”

“It’s just stitches.”

“No big deal.”

So he started.

And even before the game, Whitehurst knew what was coming.

The first match you play with a knock, somebody always catches you in the exact place you do not want to be caught.

Against Forest, that somebody was Steve Sutton.

About 10 minutes before half-time, Whitehurst went up for a header.

Sutton came out to punch the ball.

He missed it.

And caught Whitehurst straight on the nose.

“It didn’t hurt because you have got the adrenaline running through you haven’t you?”

The physios came on.

They wiped the blood off.

There was no discussion about him coming off.

Whitehurst just jogged back to the halfway line because it was a goal kick.

Then he got to half-time.

The doctor looked at the damage and ripped all the stitches out.

Then they stapled him back together.

“Literally put staples in.”

“To be fair they were a lot better than stitches.”

So Whitehurst went back out for the second half.

His face stapled together.

His nose smashed.

A hole in his cheek where you could see all the way through into his mouth.

“I wouldn’t have known if I was allowed to play with the state I was in because I looked like Frankenstein’s monster.”

“I played the whole game.”
#football

Pure **** luck for the bloke. Hopefully this one isn’t as serious as the last. If this is his 4th I’m guessing this knee might have gone before?

I don’t realise the physios sent him
Back on the pitch after the injury!

Steven Toast said:

Because instead of going "no, you aren't ready", they let the player decide he was ready. It's one thing for a player to say he feels good, it's another for a medical professional to give him the all clear to play games again. This was my worry about Hirokawa. These medical decisions have been ****ing appalling.

The fact that it was labelled a risk should have told everybody at the club that he wasn't ready. We saw what happened to Sinik, yet we risked it anyway.

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At some point you have to get back on the horse, sure the injury came just 4 minutes into his first league game but he's spent hours in the gym, many more on the training pitch and time playing in the under 21s. Lets not make out he's been forced to make the decision to play himself.

PLT said:

I think there's an argument that people are being harsh on him, and maybe he can get fully fit and reliable next season, but you're being a bit kind with your summary there. He had a calf injury at WBA which we were told he was over when he joined. That turned out to keep him out for a good few weeks, and several more before he could start a game, then when he did start, he immediately missed the next game with another new injury, then as he was recovering from that was when he had the incident with Phillips which injured his ankle. So three separate injuries, one which was an extension of the one he came with that he was supposedly already over. It's not a great record however you look at it, but hopefully this season isn't the norm for him.

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I don't recall any "new injury" between the ongoing calf issue and the incident with Philips? Tell me more.

TigerKare said:

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there's the team talk for Saturday sorted, leave nothing out there and try everything to make your mate a premier league player on his return.

Devastated for the lad, you could see on his face how gutted he was, those first couple of minutes he was sprinting round like a spring lamb just pleased to be back in the turf, so sad. Think he'll do well to come back from this tbh, but wish him luck and gods speed in his recovery

Gone For A Walk said:

I don't recall any "new injury" between the ongoing calf issue and the incident with Philips? Tell me more.

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It was reported at the time. Can't remember what muscle it was but it just kept him out of the one game immediately after Coventry, whichever that one was. He and Koumas both missed it with minor injuries and it was reported both would be back the game after. He then trained all week before the Phillips incident on the Friday.

Gutting for Matazo. When it happens again so soon you have to wonder whether it is just pure bad luck or a weakness or imbalance somewhere in one of the muscles that support the joint following all the rehab. You'd think they can and do track all of that and would've known all the muscles were strong before letting him play, but maybe it's not that easy to spot every possible weakness.

What must Matazo be feeling ATM, still a young lad and a second ACL after coming back from the first. Heart goes out to him, can't and won't blame the club for this, if it had been same knee you could make an argument but for it to happen innocuously again to his other knee is so far beyond bad luck. Stay strong kid

pierredelafranchesca said:

What must Matazo be feeling ATM, still a young lad and a second ACL after coming back from the first. Heart goes out to him, can't and won't blame the club for this, if it had been same knee you could make an argument but for it to happen innocuously again to his other knee is so far beyond bad luck. Stay strong kid

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I don't think they're as unrelated as people are suggesting.

Tearing the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in one knee means you have an increased risk of tearing the ACL in your other knee. This is one of the findings from MOON Knee Group long-term ACL research.

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Bad luck for me is if someone gets a horror tackle that cripples them.

If someone has some inherent physical weaknesses that needs to picked up by medical staff before signing.

armchairfan said:

Bad luck for me is if someone gets a horror tackle that cripples them.

If someone has some inherent physical weaknesses that needs to picked up by medical staff before signing.

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Medical staff? They sent him back on the pitch ffs

Amin Arrears said:

Medical staff? They sent him back on the pitch ffs

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Ran about for a few mins with a snapped acl

Im not a medical pro or anywhere close

But as a pro football club with players earning many thousands+ per week,
Surely the medical staff and stuff needs a serious look at?
Theres no way its all just bad luck

If i was acun, itd be first thing i do
players are essentially assets that are potentially not looked after well enough

bradymk2 said:

Ran about for a few mins with a snapped acl

Im not a medical pro or anywhere close

But as a pro football club with players earning many thousands+ per week,
Surely the medical staff and stuff needs a serious look at?
Theres no way its all just bad luck

If i was acun, itd be first thing i do
players are essentially assets that are potentially not looked after well enough

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Everyone’s a specialist these days
And only they know!!
It’s ridiculous
Any player should play half a dozen games for the u21’s after a long term jnjury
Play at a less competitive level and ease back into it

PLT said:

It was reported at the time. Can't remember what muscle it was but it just kept him out of the one game immediately after Coventry, whichever that one was. He and Koumas both missed it with minor injuries and it was reported both would be back the game after. He then trained all week before the Phillips incident on the Friday.

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It was the Sheff Utd game.
Koumas 'felt' his hamstring so wasn't risked.
Collyer wasn't injured but he was left out, as in rested, as part of his comeback plan. We had Amir, Lundstram and Crooks for midfield, and Gyabi was back on the bench.
Bar the mishap, he's 'only' had the ongoing calf injury.