Are some of Newcastle United’s injury problems self inflicted?
Posted on March 11th, 2011 | 45 Comments |
Ireland, who was carrying a knee injury when signed on loan from Aston Villa was all set for his debut against Everton last Saturday, however a thigh strain picked up in training has ruled him out for another stretch, with the midfielder looking certain to also miss Newcastle’s next match against Stoke. Obviously, a thigh strain isn’t the same as a knee injury, however after such a long time on the sidelines, it’s a possibilty that the thigh strain was a result of the player being pushed too quickly after a fairly long spell out.
Speaking in a recent interview on the Ireland injury, Newcastle United manager, Alan Pardew also conceeded that this was a possibilty, saying:
“We knew when we took him he was injured but this thigh strain, like anything when you’ve been out for a long time, you pick up these little injuries,”
“I don’t think he has played a game since December 9 or something.
“Maybe we forced him back too early because of Joey Barton’s situation. I think we’re at fault a little bit because he’s picked up a thigh strain.”
On the subject of Joey Barton, who I think most will agree has been a “key” player for the side this season, also picked up a knock in training before the same Everton game where Ireland was looking to make his Newcastle United debut. Despite the knock, he was selected however only to suffer from a recurrence of the injury in the warm up for that game. He is still a doubt for Newcastle’s next game, with Stoke City next Saturday.
Another player signed while injured is Dan Gosling, who also seemed all set for his first team debut after a long time out with a cruciate knee ligament injury. After resuming training, and a 70 minute spell in a reserves game, he too had to return to the sidelines with a swollen knee, which is thought to be a recerence of the old problem.
On that one, Pardew commented at the time:
“Anyway, we’ve brought him back and in all this time there was a slight swelling that wouldn’t go away…” adding later:
“If you’ve got swelling, it’s not right. Unfortunately for Dan, he’s going to have to be patient, and we are too because we all got excited when we thought he was ready to come back.”
In another interview, Pardew gave another quote which reveals that he may have been sailing close to the wind recently with regard to selecting players who are carrying knocks, and / or need to be rested. Speaking on our current injury situation, Pardew confessed:
“I am going to pick the team on Thursday. In recent weeks we have been trying to get players through Thursday and Friday to be able to play on Saturday, and it hasn’t worked for us.”
Now it may not be the case in all the cases I have cited, but it certainly seems a possibility that this excitement, an overzealousness to return players from injury may be playing a part in these relapses. If there is a case, and Pardew certinly seems to have conceeded that there may have been with Ireland at least, then the manager may have learned his lesson with another eagerly awaited player who is yet to return from injury. I am referring to Hatem Ben Arfa.
Pardew yesterday sought to dampen speculation that the French Tunisian wizard would be making a return to the side any time soon. In an interview with BBC Newcastle he said of Ben Arfa:
“He’s still some way off, the most important thing is Hatem is 100% when he plays,”
On the projected date of his return, the manager added:
“I think that’s going to be late April, early May, if then.”
Which could mean that Ben Arfa could be out for the rest of the season, which is disappointing news. However as Pardew suggests, the important thing in the long term would be that the player is “100%” not rushed back too soon, and suffers no relapses which could hinder his career for good.
I hope that the same is true for all the other injured players too, however important they are for the team.
NUFCBlog Author: workyticket
workyticket has written 1086 articles on this blog.
we do seem to have our fair share of injurys