According to the club site, Simon Davies is going to have an operation on his right knee and is expected to be out for 3 months. By my reckoning, that's him missing in action until December at the earliest, missing all or most of the Europa group stages. Does this sound eerily reminiscent of 2010 to anyone? Let's hope he comes back afterwards to have the same European impact that he did then. Late edit: The BBC is putting the time out at 5 months.
That's dreadful news. Obviously for Simon but from the club's perspective a small squad is fas tbecoming a very small squad.
Anyone now think then that we should go in for another winger on top of the right back and striker we already need. Maybe a loan move for a winger might be the way to go, someone like Kakuta from last season?
Absolutely agree Robes, a loan for for a winger until January would be a sound move. Like the Kakuta suggestion - he looked quite tidy last year from what i saw and can't imagine he is going to get too many chances at Chelsea any time soon.
There's an argument for looking for a loanee winger, but not if Jol thinks that Kasami, Frei, Briggs (once Riise the Elder is fit again) can do a job on the wings. Add Dembele and Dempsey if we sign a new strike partner for Bobby and we are still well catered for on the wings. To be honest, as much as I like Simon Davies, I wasn't sure how much game time he was likely to get this season anyway. We can't keep calling for the club to give youngsters a chance if we're also calling for them to sign more players in the positions where we've got promising prospects who might actually get a game.
This is just a nightmare for Davies. On his day he can be so influential, and under Jol's tactics I reckon he would be excellent. Hope he gets through this one quickly and is back in the shirt asap. Frei should be promoted now as his replacement, he looks a real prospect.
I would also like to see this as an opportunity for frei to get closer to the 1st team this year. In the early europa games, he looked talented but seemed a bit naive though this will change obviously the more he plays. Once riise is back from injury as well then there is always the possibility of pushing briggs into left-mid which may be productive, although admittedly what I've seen of Briggs so far suggests he'd be better equipped to play at full back and make overlapping runs down the wing.
