Injury Crisis

[USA_Loyal_Royal]

Right, so its no secret we have had a very difficult season with a lot of injuries, poor form, and shit games. I dont wanna blame it all on the injuries we suffered this season because all teams have injuries through the season, but in our case it seems we had more than most teams at the worst possible times. there are a lot of people saying adkins out but i still feel like he did the best he could with what he had. if a lot of these injuries didnt take place we could be at a completely different place. a lot of other players like mccleary, alfie, akpan, etc all missed a few games here and there with injuries, but this list is for major and longer term injuries.

list of injuries through the year to key players:

bridge (out for most of the season)
morrison (out for most of the season)
karacan (out for most of the season)
williams (sporatically out for a lot of the season)
guthrie (sporatically out for a good portion)
drenthe (injured/unfit for most of the season)
ledge (injured before the season but could have been a major asset in the champ)
pog (sporatically injured)
baird (injured a major part of his loan)
jason roberts (long term injury, would have been a major asset this season)

i cant even imagine where we would be if these injuries hadnt happened, or at least most of them hadnt been long term. we basically are missing a strong midfield because of injuries, even our backups got injured in midfield. anyway, take an objective look at this season and it is fairly obvious with what adkins has had he has done brilliantly with all the injuries, lack of investment, and everything that is going on off field with AZ and trying to find a buyer.

[sandman]

Was it not Nige who got rid of our sports scientist and replaced him with his own man?

[Eaststandman]

Really? yes ok these are factor, but there is something far beyond all the mitigating facts, the team has just not clicked, gelled or responded in a progressive improving way, we are at best erratic and excuses are like arseholes, everybody has one!

[USA_Loyal_Royal]

Was it not Nige who got rid of our sports scientist and replaced him with his own man?

yes but no matter how good a sports scientist is injuries like karacans, bridge, roberts, morro, baird, etc etc those are long term and they wont be able to do much about those. maybe a few of the shorter term injuries he could have improved the recovery time but it probably wouldnt be significant and we have no idea maybe adkins guy is actually improving upon recovery time that our previous person could not have done.

[Ian Royal]

Was it not Nige who got rid of our sports scientist and replaced him with his own man?

Our injury record under his predecessor was not particularly good.

There were loads of injuries over the last few years that went from being expected to be a few weeks out to months and months out.

[Royal Ginger]

We've also got McCleary nursing an injury since QPR away, and a good chunk of Sharp's loan spell was spent injured.

[MmmMonsterMunch]

I don't think fitness, recovery, training etc is much to do with it. Think we've just been incredibly unlucky.

The midfield has been ravaged the entire season & the club should have done more in Jan to combat that i.e. keep Baird until the end of the season.

On a brighter note, at least some of the crocks are off the wage bill soon.

[Ian Royal]

Amazing that our injuries have mounted up in positions we actually had quite a lot of cover.

At the start of the season, you'd have had to look at ALF, Pog and er... Blackman and thought we're boned with a long-term injury upfront. Whereas in midfield we had Guthrie, Williams, Karacan, Akpan, Leigertwood (not expected to be out as long as he was) and then Baird on loan. Who'd have thought we'd end up with four of them injured at one time!

[MmmMonsterMunch]

Agreed. We had plenty of CM options in errr.....August

[USA_Loyal_Royal]

Amazing that our injuries have mounted up in positions we actually had quite a lot of cover.

At the start of the season, you'd have had to look at ALF, Pog and er... Blackman and thought we're boned with a long-term injury upfront. Whereas in midfield we had Guthrie, Williams, Karacan, Akpan, Leigertwood (not expected to be out as long as he was) and then Baird on loan. Who'd have thought we'd end up with four of them injured at one time!

^this

[3points]

need to add in Guthrie's suspensions as well.

Don't agree that Pog has been injured - he's always that slow.

And HRK has not looked fit all year either

[Sutekh]

Not so much the injuries but more the fact that a large number of them seem to have happened in training which is alarming and is perhaps something within control of the management.

[Royal Monk]

"sporatically" .... what is this new word ?

or do you mean sporadically

[seahawk10]

"sporatically" .... what is this new word ?

or do you mean sporadically

I thought about posting something like this but did not want to seem a pcunt. Plus I thought, maybe that's the way the Brits spell it?

[glass half full]

"sporatically" .... what is this new word ?

or do you mean sporadically

I thought about posting something like this but did not want to seem a pcunt. Plus I thought, maybe that's the way the Brits spell it?

It gets spelt that way from time to time...

[SCIAG]

Amazing that our injuries have mounted up in positions we actually had quite a lot of cover.

At one point we were down to four senior defenders, including Gunter at centre back. Our only left back has been injured for most of the season.

Pogrebnyak and Le Fondre only missing a couple of matches between them is pleasing, but is it really amazing? And Sharp, Ugwu and Samuel have all had lay-offs, forcing us to use makeshift strikers (there was a brief period when neither our first team nor our U21s had a fit striker, with HRK, Drenthe, Tanner and L. Kelly filling in).

[sandman]

Not so much the injuries but more the fact that a large number of them seem to have happened in training which is alarming and is perhaps something within control of the management.

Which is the point I was making with the sports science comment. Kevin Dillon was on the radio on Friday and said that they banned tackling in training when Coppell was manager. If you have that amount of injuries we've had then you are obviously doing something wrong in the way you prepare the players.

[WoodleyRoyal]

Tbh I don't why they train at all. It's not as if they are getting any better at kicking the oxf*rd ball, be easier to just get them on the treadmill or rowing machine and be done with it

[maffff]

I've never known a season quite like it....

Between half the squad being injured, uncertainty in the ownership situation, apathy from the stands and inconsistent form it's really not been an enjoyable campaign - for one where we are sixth (we really have been spoiled over the last decade..).

And that's despite with some success at youth level and a few local players blooding in to the first team.

[floyd__streete]

it is fairly obvious with what adkins has had he has done brilliantly with all the injuries, lack of investment, and everything that is going on off field with AZ and trying to find a buyer.

Its not like we have one of the biggest wage-bills in the division or anything is it?

Drenthe, Bridge, Williams crocked half of the season - these are players signed under the Adkins regime remember Due dilligence wasn't really done on the first two was it