Guess who’s injured again?

By Chris Kirwan
September 24 2002

Duncan Ferguson has suffered yet another setback in his attempt to regain fitness. This time a knock to his ankle has put him out of the reserve team fixture against Manchester City. Perhaps it’s time to reassess the Big Man’s role at Goodison.

Luckily for David Moyes the injury comes at a time when the forward positions are not a troublesome area; the partnership of Campbell and Radzinski continues to flourish, and Nick Chadwick and Joe-Max Moore continue to get closer to first team action.

But the Ferguson injury does deprive Moyes of an icon in the Everton side. While he might not displace Campbell or Radzinski he would be a welcome option for the manager. You only have to look back to Sunday and the impact that Dion Dublin’s physical presence made on proceedings, or to Sunderland where Niall Quinn continues to play an important role despite being unable to complete a full 90 minutes.

Perhaps Moyes should look at how Niall Quinn is used and adopt a similar approach with Ferguson. Whenever Duncan plays 90 minutes he breaks down, so why no reduce his workload and the expectations placed on him? Whenever Peter Reid needs an extra impetus or physical presence he throws on Niall Quinn. Similarly Ferguson could provide Moyes with an option that the likes of Chadwick, Moore and Rooney cannot provide from the bench.

Duncan Ferguson does have a major role to play at Goodison and Moyes and his backroom staff need to figure out how they can channel his talents. All of the talk is of how to get Duncan back to full fitness, but throughout his career has Duncan ever reached 100%? I’m no doctor, and perhaps I’m way off track, but could they not adopt a similar approach as managers did with Paul McGrath whereby he wasn’t exposed to the everyday rigours of training and was kept for matchdays?

I think we have to accept that Duncan can no longer be relied upon to be the linchpin of the Everton attack, and even if he was fit he would stuggle to displace the present pairing, but perhaps Duncan can still play a role as an impact player. However to achieve this the Everton staff and fans need to re-assess expectations.