2 hours ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

I would imagine the player is being hopeful while the manager is being realistic. 

Is it realistic to say a player will be out for 6 months ( 7 if we include the club world cup ) for a hamstring injury? Even a hamstring tear won't have a player out for that long. I think Maresca mispoke anyway, he corrected himself in the next sentence when he said that Fofana would be out for part of the season.

If he is out for that long, then we have to come to the conclusion that the way we handle these injuries just isn't good enough. When our players get injured, they tend to stay injured or need way longer than should be necessary to recover.

3 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

Is it realistic to say a player will be out for 6 months ( 7 if we include the club world cup ) for a hamstring injury? Even a hamstring tear won't have a player out for that long. I think Maresca mispoke anyway, he corrected himself in the next sentence when he said that Fofana would be out for part of the season.

If he is out for that long, then we have to come to the conclusion that the way we handle these injuries just isn't good enough. When our players get injured, they tend to stay injured or need way longer than should be necessary to recover.

Didn't Lavia miss the entire second half of the season last year with a mystery hamstring injury?

8 minutes ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

Didn't Lavia miss the entire second half of the season last year with a mystery hamstring injury?

Yes, which is absurd. These hamstring injuries should rarely ever be season enders in December. If there is anything in Fofana missing the rest of the season with this injury, then we're hopeless. That would be 3 players in 2 seasons that have had their season ended by it half way through. When Saka tore his hamstring, there was no talk of him missing the entire season. They have quickly operated on it and have him on course to return in March. It's always us that seem to turn these things into long term issues.

3 minutes ago, Scott Harris said:

Yes, which is absurd. These hamstring injuries should rarely ever be season enders in December. If there is anything in Fofana missing the rest of the season with this injury, then we're hopeless. That would be 3 players in 2 seasons that have had their season ended by it half way through. When Saka tore his hamstring, there was no talk of him missing the entire season. They have quickly operated on it and have him on course to return in March. It's always us that seem to turn these things into long term issues.

I want to say our medical department is just complete dog sh*t but then another part of me thinks how can we sack them and get new in and still be equally as bad. Its been an issue for years now and nothing seems to change. We'd look a complete different team these last 4 or 5 years. Imagine Kante/RLC/Reece/Fofana/Lavia/Pulisic/CHO all managed to stay fit over the years. 

14 minutes ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

I want to say our medical department is just complete dog sh*t but then another part of me thinks how can we sack them and get new in and still be equally as bad. Its been an issue for years now and nothing seems to change. We'd look a complete different team these last 4 or 5 years. Imagine Kante/RLC/Reece/Fofana/Lavia/Pulisic/CHO all managed to stay fit over the years. 

It's frustrating.

I've been looking at the players that left like Pulisic, Loftus-Cheek, Kovacic and Hudson-Odoi, and none of them have even missed half the amount of games they missed with us through injury.

They pick up the odd injury here and there, like most players do, but they get over it and manage stay fit for long periods again.

One thing I have noticed is that when a player gets injured, there tends to be silence on the condition of the player for long periods, like they take an age to assess the situation. Another team that does this is United and they also have an awful injury history, arguably as bad if not worse than ours at this point.

Haven’t we got a completely new medical team?

9 hours ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

I want to say our medical department is just complete dog sh*t but then another part of me thinks how can we sack them and get new in and still be equally as bad. Its been an issue for years now and nothing seems to change. We'd look a complete different team these last 4 or 5 years. Imagine Kante/RLC/Reece/Fofana/Lavia/Pulisic/CHO all managed to stay fit over the years. 

8 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

It's frustrating.

I've been looking at the players that left like Pulisic, Loftus-Cheek, Kovacic and Hudson-Odoi, and none of them have even missed half the amount of games they missed with us through injury.

They pick up the odd injury here and there, like most players do, but they get over it and manage stay fit for long periods again.

One thing I have noticed is that when a player gets injured, there tends to be silence on the condition of the player for long periods, like they take an age to assess the situation. Another team that does this is United and they also have an awful injury history, arguably as bad if not worse than ours at this point.

3 hours ago, El regreso said:

Haven’t we got a completely new medical team?

https://bmjopensem.bmj.com/content/9/4/e001640

Conclusions Bringing their own fitness/performance coaches is common for managers entering a new elite male football club. However, this paper has highlighted that this trend seems to lead to a three times increase in HI burden. Similarly, replacing the team doctor was also associated with increased HI burden. Instability among head staff members in male elite-level football teams seems associated with increased HI burden during the season.


 

Quote

 [We] looked at it and we think European sports is probably 20 years behind US sports in terms of sophistication on the commercial side, and sophistication on the data side. [...] 

- Behdad "evidence-based" Eghbali

 

 

Edited January 10, 20251 yr by SydneyChelsea

7 hours ago, SydneyChelsea said:

https://bmjopensem.bmj.com/content/9/4/e001640

Conclusions Bringing their own fitness/performance coaches is common for managers entering a new elite male football club. However, this paper has highlighted that this trend seems to lead to a three times increase in HI burden. Similarly, replacing the team doctor was also associated with increased HI burden. Instability among head staff members in male elite-level football teams seems associated with increased HI burden during the season.


 

- Behdad "evidence-based" Eghbali

 

 

But weren't we having these issues before changing staff too? Hence the change. 

21 hours ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

I want to say our medical department is just complete dog sh*t but then another part of me thinks how can we sack them and get new in and still be equally as bad. Its been an issue for years now and nothing seems to change. We'd look a complete different team these last 4 or 5 years. Imagine Kante/RLC/Reece/Fofana/Lavia/Pulisic/CHO all managed to stay fit over the years. 

As far as I can tell, those players havent had the same injuries since leaving the club. the CHO one is mind bending. He's not missed much at forrest since signing for them, and this guy is better than anything we've signed since pushing him out the club, bar possibly Noni.

Reckon its the trainign ground pitches at Cobham?

 

 

 

1 hour ago, bluetrooper said:

As far as I can tell, those players havent had the same injuries since leaving the club. the CHO one is mind bending. He's not missed much at forrest since signing for them, and this guy is better than anything we've signed since pushing him out the club, bar possibly Noni.

Reckon its the trainign ground pitches at Cobham?

 

 

 

He had a few years barely playing much football and has grown into his body during that period. 

9 hours ago, bluetrooper said:

As far as I can tell, those players havent had the same injuries since leaving the club. the CHO one is mind bending. He's not missed much at forrest since signing for them, and this guy is better than anything we've signed since pushing him out the club, bar possibly Noni.

Reckon its the trainign ground pitches at Cobham?

 

 

 

Definitely has a point. Kante has been playing without constraint since he left, although some would argue the intensity of the league helped. I see Pullisic just about playing week in week out, we rarely had him available 2 weeks in a row. Best thing for CHO is he left us, with his form and record he may just get a big deal soon.

14 hours ago, icecoolguy22 said:

Definitely has a point. Kante has been playing without constraint since he left, although some would argue the intensity of the league helped. I see Pullisic just about playing week in week out, we rarely had him available 2 weeks in a row. Best thing for CHO is he left us, with his form and record he may just get a big deal soon.

It's the Italian league, slow as bugger. I could still manage 45 minutes a week there and I have jelly for knees.

Pulisic was a tough one to take. He genuinely was about to explode as a world class attacker, my god he really was incredible.

Of course it’s against Arsenal in FA cup final he gets that injury. 

57 minutes ago, dkw said:

It's the Italian league, slow as bugger. I could still manage 45 minutes a week there and I have jelly for knees.

You would also probably score more frequently as well.

 

Maybe get the odd goal too. 

 

;)

2 minutes ago, axman2526 said:

You would also probably score more frequently as well.

 

Maybe get the odd goal too. 

 

😉

Don't worry about my off field activities my friend, I have a wife younger than me 😉

4 minutes ago, dkw said:

Don't worry about my off field activities my friend, I have a wife younger than me 😉

Hmm, has some footage of Mr. And Mrs @dkwfound its way on to our gifs?

 

Wes Fofana back in training after 30 years out ... 

should be back in March apparently, 

assuming he stays fit for the rest of the season it means he'll only have missed about 20-25 games this season. 

Progress!

Just checked and he's missed twice as many games as he's played in his senior career, that's insane that we stuck him on 250k a week.

7 minutes ago, Ukraine Bolt said:

Just checked and he's missed twice as many games as he's played in his senior career, that's insane that we stuck him on 250k a week.

Most of our contracts are insane if you look at the previous contracts our players were on ... and doubly so for those injured in perpetuity !

2 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

Most of our contracts are insane if you look at the previous contracts our players were on ... and doubly so for those injured in perpetuity !

Lavia on a 7 year contract is going to be funny if he only averages 2 games a season. 

I would keep him in bubble wrap until the pre season.

While he always left me wanting more, our poor run has also coincided with his injury and isn’t really being talked about. The poor run is a combination of many many things, but perhaps Wes was more impactful than thought. 

What also helped was a consistent back line. Like them or not, Sanchez, Gusto, Fofana, Colwill and Cucu had a better understanding together. Maresca doesn’t know his best defenders anymore - rotates CBs every game. 

Our hopes relying on a CB that struggles to play more than 10 games a season tells you everything you need to know about the SD's squad building abilities.