Last season we seemed to go from one injury crisis to another. I'm not sure if that statement is true or me being so far away and not paying attention. If the injury list was extensive and stretched to most of the season, what would the likely impact be on our position in the premier league? We managed to do very well in the championship and the only glaring issue was the Morrison injury in the December when we lost 4 on the trot. Luckily we had enough of a points cushion that it didn't adversely affect our season too much. We won't get the same luxury in the premier league. I always wonder how some teams seem to have bigger injury worries than others. No team will go through a season without injuries, but I feel ours was worse than others in the championship. Is this true or am I being too inward looking? Are the injuries due to Colin's "up and at em" style or is it to do with training methods? Personally I believe it's the "up and at em" and the players fell by the wayside due to either burn out or they hadn't toughened up enough, although I don't think that label can be thrown at either Morrison or Gunnarsson. Your thoughts please.
A valid observation Taff and one I considered myself. I do wonder if they overtrain. A fit team but liable to injury as their bodies are ' on the edge'. Definitely something that needs to be looked at.
This comes back to yesterday's discussion on the number of players in our squad excluding home grown youngsters. We can name only 25 excluding home grown under 21 years old. That is the same for any Prem club. Colin has worked on getting a minimum of 2 players per position but also needs those who can cover more than 1 spot - hence the need for the likes of Connolly, Manga, Gunnar and (for now) Pilks. Reid can cover a variety of positions up front as well. However, a significant injury crisis would cause a major problem as it would for any Prem club unless they can pay for the highest quality in every position.
Leicester fell lucky the year they won the league. No major injuries and able to select the same team almost week in week out. Didn't they use the least number of players through the season? We may be lucky we may not. Still think we need to look for a root cause as to why we got so many last year.
No doubt! However, if any of our players pick up a graze or minor bruise, we could equally get relegated.
Another good post from Taff, I think we have all thought we have more than our fair amount of injuries. Quite a few are more than the normal wear and tear you expect through out the season, Why ? who knows, the way we play and train must be part of it. However I also think fitness levels though out football can't help, muscles, tendons and ligaments are so tight that injury is just waiting to happen.
It is a concern and one I’m sure the management is well aware of. The players are so finely tuned these days making them susceptible to all types of injuries unheard of in earlier eras; or if they were injured they got dosed up with cortisone and played through the pain barrier.
I vaguely recall a manager (Graeme Souness?) had the Liverpool training ground turf resurfaced because it was causing too many training ground injuries.
