I get that there are a lot of injuries but, unpopular as it may be to say this, modern day footballers are a bunch of pussies.
Lavia came back for a bit of one game and is now out with bruising. What? Seriously, a fking bruise? A bruise, even on the bone is uncomfortable but it's not an injury. I walked around last week with a big blister on the ball of my foot, right near my big toe. Uncomfortable, hurt like hell and made it awkward to walk at times. It weren't a fking injury though. Jeez.
We look at these stats and I wonder if it is any different really after all. So not talking donkeys years ago, case balls, chopper Harris and all that stuff, just talking about the most recently retired generation, Neville, Keane, Sheringham, Shearer, Henry etc. They will generally agree that the vast majority of footballers are always 70% fit throughout their careers at best. Players are always carrying something. It's sport, it's contact, its physical.
I just wonder if its always been this way but nowadays this lot are wrapped in bubble wrap where the slightest thing is a major issue. It's not a major injury needing a 6 week reconditioning course, he's got a touch of the farmer Giles, pad up, grow a pair and get out there.
Of course there will be some real and serious issues, there always has been, but I do think there seems to be a whole soap opera developing around a lot of this. What it does say to me is that Al, this taking 3 months to make sure the players are at peak fitness is pointless cos they break down immediately again by the standards of the level that the bar is being set at.