Sonko injury update

[Smoking Kills Dancing Doe]

The big problem is it's the 23rd now, we can't give Bikey 3 games to see how he does, we need to buy someone this week, someones that's of the same class of Sonko and that is gonna cost.

We are six points from "safety" with 14 games to go. Bikey will cope against the weaker teams and may make the step up. Gunnarsson is capable of doing a job when he's back. Looks like we'll add Bennet to the mix and Sonko might not be out for the rest of the season.

Coppell will not panic and spend big.

You can't play center mids at center half in the Premiership. Bikey looked decent against a Sheff Utd attack that created nothing. What if Ivar gets injured?

Sonko's a massive player and don't kid ourselves there is no replacement in the squad and we shouldn't just make do till he gets back.

[Scarface]

The big problem is it's the 23rd now, we can't give Bikey 3 games to see how he does, we need to buy someone this week, someones that's of the same class of Sonko and that is gonna cost.

We are six points from "safety" with 14 games to go. Bikey will cope against the weaker teams and may make the step up. Gunnarsson is capable of doing a job when he's back. Looks like we'll add Bennet to the mix and Sonko might not be out for the rest of the season.

Coppell will not panic and spend big.

Yes but now we're almost safe, we should be pushing to finish as high as possible and not let our season end on a low. Remember Coppell always says the end of one season effects the start on the next, which is why he very rarely rests players or give youngsters a game.

The higher we finish the easier it will be to attract new players in the summer.

We need to invest now and with a player ready for the Premiership immediately.

[SpaceCruiser]

You can't play center mids at center half in the Premiership. Bikey looked decent against a Sheff Utd attack that created nothing. What if Ivar gets injured?

Er, who says he's a centre midfielder? He originally came to Reading as a defender.

[Mr Angry]

Sonks' is to undergo an exploratory operation on his knee to see if they can find out what the problem is, after the scan was inconclusive.

Ceefax pg 310.

[Top Flight]

The answer is an £8 Million bid for Upson. That should just about do it!

That would be a combination of our Summer (which we barely spent) and January transfer budgets rolled into one!

That would solve the problem in my opinion.

[Scarface]

The answer is an £8 Million bid for Upson. That should just about do it!

That would be a combination of our Summer (which we barely spent) and January transfer budgets rolled into one!

That would solve the problem in my opinion.

The problem being West Ham will offer him 70 grand a week and we'll offer around 20 grand a week.

[Mr Angry]

The answer is an £8 Million bid for Upson. That should just about do it!

That would be a combination of our Summer (which we barely spent) and January transfer budgets rolled into one!

That would solve the problem in my opinion.

or an £8M bid for Ken Dodd.


http://hobnob.royals.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=52281

[londinium]

The big problem is it's the 23rd now, we can't give Bikey 3 games to see how he does, we need to buy someone this week, someones that's of the same class of Sonko and that is gonna cost.

We are six points from "safety" with 14 games to go. Bikey will cope against the weaker teams and may make the step up. Gunnarsson is capable of doing a job when he's back. Looks like we'll add Bennet to the mix and Sonko might not be out for the rest of the season.

Coppell will not panic and spend big.

Yes but now we're almost safe, we should be pushing to finish as high as possible and not let our season end on a low. Remember Coppell always says the end of one season effects the start on the next, which is why he very rarely rests players or give youngsters a game.

The higher we finish the easier it will be to attract new players in the summer.

We need to invest now and with a player ready for the Premiership immediately.

I agree that we are close to being safe and when we are, and only then should a push be made for a higher league position.

We won't be safe before the transfer window closes, so I don't think getting anyone in now, especially at over inflated prices as they are, is the best thing to do.

At this point last year Wigan had 38 points and only then went on to get 13 points from there last 14 games. I would be happier to get another 9 points in the bag and then start to push on rather than get someone in now at an over inflated price on big wages who may not fit the Reading ethic and it all go belly up.

[Smoking Kills Dancing Doe]

You can't play center mids at center half in the Premiership. Bikey looked decent against a Sheff Utd attack that created nothing. What if Ivar gets injured?

Er, who says he's a centre midfielder? He originally came to Reading as a defender.

So Byn's not a center mid?? I wasn't talking about Bikey, who anyway looks better playing center mid than any other position in the reserves.

[SpaceCruiser]

You can't play center mids at center half in the Premiership. Bikey looked decent against a Sheff Utd attack that created nothing. What if Ivar gets injured?

Er, who says he's a centre midfielder? He originally came to Reading as a defender.

So Byn's not a center mid?? I wasn't talking about Bikey, who anyway looks better playing center mid than any other position in the reserves.

I thought you were talking about Bikey!

[East Stand Royal 500]

has been playing in the lower leagues all his career

...er ... er ... as have all the current squad. Isn't Oster almost the only one with previous experience in the prem if you discount Glen Little's 4 substitute appearances for Bolton so why is that necessarily an issue?

We had a completely untried squad at the start of the season but virtually without exception they have proved their worth. Why not trust SC's judgement a bit more - he's as keen as the rest of us for Reading to do well and so is JM.

Even if JM's only interest is in selling the club, he won't spoil the ship for a ha'porth of tar. If there's someone good available for a sensible price then he will make the funds available out of self-interest but he will not pay silly money and I agree with him.

[Royalee]

has been playing in the lower leagues all his career

...er ... er ... as have all the current squad. Isn't Oster almost the only one with previous experience in the prem if you discount Glen Little's 4 substitute appearances for Bolton so why is that necessarily an issue?

We had a completely untried squad at the start of the season but virtually without exception they have proved their worth. Why not trust SC's judgement a bit more - he's as keen as the rest of us for Reading to do well and so is JM.

Even if JM's only interest is in selling the club, he won't spoil the ship for a ha'porth of tar. If there's someone good available for a sensible price then he will make the funds available out of self-interest but he will not pay silly money and I agree with him.

I agree with your sentiments. However, Sodje hasn't even been playing in the top half of the English lower leagues for long and is also substantially older than our other players when they were proving themselves at that level. Sodje still isn't even proven in the Championship yet and doesn't have time on his side.

I completely agree with us not spending silly money on players. However, I would definitely like to see us invest in one or two quality defenders and feel Bennett is a must as we will struggle without Sonko and believe we would have done on Saturday had Gillespie not got himself sent off. Before he came on Sheffield were playing with two big strikers who were winning a lot of ball in the air but had no decent service - a decent crosser of the ball like Gillespie from the start would have put us under severe pressure and perhaps tested our backline a lot more.

[West Stand Man]

How about Sodje?
Shouldn't be a problem against a team like Wigan .......

You must be fishing after his performance up there. Bikey is young, had the talent and will improve whereas Sodje is already in his late 20s, has been playing in the lower leagues all his career and doesn't have the ability. Both were a gamble, but Bikey's the only one which will work.

Thank heaven that you are managing and selecting the team rather than Steve C, or I'd be seriously worried that he might make a mistake and pick the wrong player. Phew!

[rotherwick_royal]

has been playing in the lower leagues all his career

...er ... er ... as have all the current squad. Isn't Oster almost the only one with previous experience in the prem if you discount Glen Little's 4 substitute appearances for Bolton so why is that necessarily an issue?

We had a completely untried squad at the start of the season but virtually without exception they have proved their worth. Why not trust SC's judgement a bit more - he's as keen as the rest of us for Reading to do well and so is JM.

Even if JM's only interest is in selling the club, he won't spoil the ship for a ha'porth of tar. If there's someone good available for a sensible price then he will make the funds available out of self-interest but he will not pay silly money and I agree with him.

I agree with your sentiments. However, Sodje hasn't even been playing in the top half of the English lower leagues for long and is also substantially older than our other players when they were proving themselves at that level. Sodje still isn't even proven in the Championship yet and doesn't have time on his side.

I completely agree with us not spending silly money on players. However, I would definitely like to see us invest in one or two quality defenders and feel Bennett is a must as we will struggle without Sonko and believe we would have done on Saturday had Gillespie not got himself sent off. Before he came on Sheffield were playing with two big strikers who were winning a lot of ball in the air but had no decent service - a decent crosser of the ball like Gillespie from the start would have put us under severe pressure and perhaps tested our backline a lot more.

No they weren't. Even after Bikey came on we were still controlling things at the back, especially in the air.

[Royalee]

has been playing in the lower leagues all his career

...er ... er ... as have all the current squad. Isn't Oster almost the only one with previous experience in the prem if you discount Glen Little's 4 substitute appearances for Bolton so why is that necessarily an issue?

We had a completely untried squad at the start of the season but virtually without exception they have proved their worth. Why not trust SC's judgement a bit more - he's as keen as the rest of us for Reading to do well and so is JM.

Even if JM's only interest is in selling the club, he won't spoil the ship for a ha'porth of tar. If there's someone good available for a sensible price then he will make the funds available out of self-interest but he will not pay silly money and I agree with him.

I agree with your sentiments. However, Sodje hasn't even been playing in the top half of the English lower leagues for long and is also substantially older than our other players when they were proving themselves at that level. Sodje still isn't even proven in the Championship yet and doesn't have time on his side.

I completely agree with us not spending silly money on players. However, I would definitely like to see us invest in one or two quality defenders and feel Bennett is a must as we will struggle without Sonko and believe we would have done on Saturday had Gillespie not got himself sent off. Before he came on Sheffield were playing with two big strikers who were winning a lot of ball in the air but had no decent service - a decent crosser of the ball like Gillespie from the start would have put us under severe pressure and perhaps tested our backline a lot more.

No they weren't. Even after Bikey came on we were still controlling things at the back, especially in the air.

Did you conveniently forget the two headers in the first half?

[Royalupnorth]

Getting back onto the topic of Sonko's injury, I am slightly concerned by the haste that is happening in getting him sorted.

Purely an educated guess, but an "inconclusive" scan would suggest to me that something has shown up on the scan, but because it is so soon after his injury there is likely to be inflammation around the knee ligaments anyway, and they can't tell if what they are looking at is damaged or not.

If he's undergoing an exploratory operation, then this will almost certainly be an arthroscopy (keyhole job). That means they are looking for something inside the knee, not on the outside, which means we can discount tendon or muscle injury, medial ligament and lateral ligament.
We can therefore assume that we are looking at either an ACL rupture or a cartilage tear.

ACL tear - I've already stated on previous posts that the injury sustained looked like it could involve the ACL, but the events after the injury makes this seem unlikely.
Cartilage tear - would have struggled to continue at all after the initial injury.

My guess, at the time of injury and further confirmed by the "inconclusive" scan is that he stretched his ACL slightly, but didn't rupture it. This would look inflamed on the scan, but they would be unable to tell if it was ruptured or not because the inflammation would obscure they way the scan looks.

If they do an arthroscopy, this would tell them for sure, but they shouldn't do the surgery straight away, its too soon after the injury, there will be blood inside the joint and it needs to not be as inflamed, otherwise his recovery will be hindered.
They should instead wait a week or so, and then perform the surgery.

In this case, why not wait a week, repeat the scan and only put the poor guy through one operation or maybe even no operation.
Give him the arthroscopy and its guaranteed he will be out for 4 weeks.

Answer: Because, they need to know now, not next week, to see if we need to increase our efforts to get someone in during the transfer window.

No consideration for Sonko at all.
Purely business.

And that, unfortunately, is the state of modern football.

Rant over.





PS....

[ShrewsandRoyals]

I kept out of the "what he has done" bit earlier as I suffered a similar style of injury a few years back.

I got away with an ACL pull, inflamation and needed my knee cap cartilage smoothed off a bit. After having done the original injury I did manage to walk 2 hours to get off a mountain - but I darn well knew I had done the damage, and suspect Sonk's didn't exactly come clean about how bad it was, thinking he would run it off.

Without the strains and stresses of being a footballer I still couldn't kneel down 3 months later.

[Drew_3]

Getting back onto the topic of Sonko's injury, I am slightly concerned by the haste that is happening in getting him sorted.

Purely an educated guess, but an "inconclusive" scan would suggest to me that something has shown up on the scan, but because it is so soon after his injury there is likely to be inflammation around the knee ligaments anyway, and they can't tell if what they are looking at is damaged or not.

If he's undergoing an exploratory operation, then this will almost certainly be an arthroscopy (keyhole job). That means they are looking for something inside the knee, not on the outside, which means we can discount tendon or muscle injury, medial ligament and lateral ligament.
We can therefore assume that we are looking at either an ACL rupture or a cartilage tear.

ACL tear - I've already stated on previous posts that the injury sustained looked like it could involve the ACL, but the events after the injury makes this seem unlikely.
Cartilage tear - would have struggled to continue at all after the initial injury.

My guess, at the time of injury and further confirmed by the "inconclusive" scan is that he stretched his ACL slightly, but didn't rupture it. This would look inflamed on the scan, but they would be unable to tell if it was ruptured or not because the inflammation would obscure they way the scan looks.

If they do an arthroscopy, this would tell them for sure, but they shouldn't do the surgery straight away, its too soon after the injury, there will be blood inside the joint and it needs to not be as inflamed, otherwise his recovery will be hindered.
They should instead wait a week or so, and then perform the surgery.

In this case, why not wait a week, repeat the scan and only put the poor guy through one operation or maybe even no operation.
Give him the arthroscopy and its guaranteed he will be out for 4 weeks.

Answer: Because, they need to know now, not next week, to see if we need to increase our efforts to get someone in during the transfer window.

No consideration for Sonko at all.
Purely business.

And that, unfortunately, is the state of modern football.

Rant over.





PS....

a very good summation!!

[Ian Royal]

I would point out that the doctors have a duty of care to their patient and it is unlikely that anything could happen without Sonko knowing about it and giving his permission for this to go ahead.

[Royalupnorth]

I would point out that the doctors have a duty of care to their patient and it is unlikely that anything could happen without Sonko knowing about it and giving his permission for this to go ahead.

In order to afford the insurance that allows you to operate on premiership players (Its around £50,000 a year extra!), you do not want to lose the favour of the clubs. You pretty much do what they tell you to.

And if the club say to Sonko, you can have the op now and know straight away, or you can wait a week and have another scan, which would you expect him to choose?

I doubt he has been given all the details.

I believe the club are pushing this faster than is good for the player.