Long Injury List - Mancienne to Step In?
By dixon9
October 14 2008
The painful wait for the domestic league programme to resume is now less than a week away. One England game over and another to come tomorrow evening alleviates the wait but with a tough game away to Middlesbrough to come at the weekend, taking stock of our own injury situation gives some reason for concern.
With such top quality cover we will get little sympathy of course but it is interesting to see how Scolari preserves his model of football whilst maintaining its potency against this weekends league opponents from the north-east and then Roma in the Champions League just a few days later.
Ballack aggravated this annoying, persistent calf injury of his in Germany's 2-1 win over Russia and has not been in training since. It seems unlikely that the German captain will be able to participate in his country’s match against Wales and probably therefore doubtful that he will make the trip to Middlesbrough.
Bierhoff, the German manager said: "Ballack missed training yesterday with a calf problem and is undergoing treatment. He could a kick during the game against Russia and there is no way, at present, that he could sprint”.
"We will be watching him carefully, but he knows better than anyone else how his body will react, and whether we can get him fit. Calf problems are delicate things and there is no way will take a gamble on him. He will only play if he is 100 per cent right."
Drogba will more than likely be out at least until the end of the month or even until mid November once we take into account the training required to approach match fitness. His knee injury is not however, the hangover from last season as it’s the other knee coupled with a swollen ankle – even so, I hope Scolari keeps him wrapped in cotton wool until he is fully healed.
Carvalho has also been missing with similar problems to Drogba along with Deco who has had a thigh muscle strain. Both have been absent since the first 10 mins and the warm-up for the Man Utd game at the Bridge respectively – just how close are they to returning we don’t know yet but I would take a guess that at least one will take to the field for the Roma match.
Essien is the real blow as he will be out for months to follow and won’t be back until the last few months of the season. His thrust and power will be a very welcome addition to our armoury during the most intense stage of the season although it remains to be seen if Scolari will allow him to maraud forward in the way he was permitted to whilst under Mourinho. The Ghanaian is neither a right back nor a holding “Makelele” midfielder.
Now we come on to the more recent additions in our treatment room – Terry and Ashley Cole; Terry again has this nagging back problem and Cole with a hamstring injury. We don’t have enough information on Cole and I can’t see Terry being quite ready for the weekend. Scolari needs to be firm with Terry and curb this Captain Marvel tendency of his to play on even when carrying 3-4 injuries at a time – all that achieves is ensuring that he will again finally buckle at a later stage of the season.
So is that the end of the casualty list then? Unfortunately not. Anelka (leg), Alex (hip and thigh), and Joe Cole (ankle) are ALSO doubtful for Boro according to the media – my hope is that they are exaggerating as usual – if not Scolari does have his work cut-out.
In summary then, for our next game at the weekend we have:
Definitely out: DrogbaEssien Very doubtful: BallackCarvalhoDecoTerry 50/50: A ColeAlexJ ColeAnelkaDoesn’t look good does it? But we can take heart in those such as Ivanovic who have stepped up and covered almost impeccably. Bridge would cover for Ashley Cole of course but IF Anelka is also injured then we are relying on Di Santo and/or Kalou.
With Terry, Carvalho and Alex out we would still need a partner for Ivanovic at the centre of defence.
One of the silver linings on the black cloud of injuries is that you can sometimes get lucky when giving youth a chance. How about the very talented Mancienne who is still incredibly yet to play a Premier League match?
The 20-year-old has been a regular for England U21s and has been hailed as “…Will be better than Terry and Captain of England one day” by QPR fans where he served very successful loan periods.
"I understand the problem at Chelsea because there are so many top-quality players. But it can get you down when you are a regular with England Under-21s but you go back to the reserve team. It's very frustrating.
"I am at a stage now where I need to play first-team football and feel ready to test myself at the highest level."
"My game has blossomed under Stuart Pearce and my education at Chelsea has been top class.
"I will keep trying to catch the boss' eye but eventually you have to be honest and start thinking about what's best for your career."
Over to you Felipe…
Mancienne I don't have a problem, but Scottie last night against Villa reserves looked like his mind was elsewhere... like Crystal Palace... Warnock wants him
Mancienne can prove his worth tonight by helping to keep a clean sheet against the Welsh in the 2nd leg of the Euro U21 play offs.
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Great shame as I was under the impression he is/was as good as Walcott.
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"It is born out of hypocrisy and fundamental insecurity. There have been two kids on the block for the past 12 years. Suddenly, there is a third and that one is threatening to be more successful than the others and they don’t like it." P Kenyon.
Franco has been in the squad and has come on as a sub.
As I said I wont have a problem with Mancienne if he gets the opportunity, although I would prefer Carl Magnay.
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"It is born out of hypocrisy and fundamental insecurity. There have been two kids on the block for the past 12 years. Suddenly, there is a third and that one is threatening to be more successful than the others and they don’t like it." P Kenyon.
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"It is born out of hypocrisy and fundamental insecurity. There have been two kids on the block for the past 12 years. Suddenly, there is a third and that one is threatening to be more successful than the others and they don’t like it." P Kenyon.
We can also add Cech to the 50/50 list:
LINK
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"It is born out of hypocrisy and fundamental insecurity. There have been two kids on the block for the past 12 years. Suddenly, there is a third and that one is threatening to be more successful than the others and they don’t like it." P Kenyon.
Cech
Carvalho Terry Alex A Cole
Ballack Deco Essien
Drogba Anelka J Cole
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"It is born out of hypocrisy and fundamental insecurity. There have been two kids on the block for the past 12 years. Suddenly, there is a third and that one is threatening to be more successful than the others and they don’t like it." P Kenyon.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008:10:15:01:29:57 by dixon9.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2008:10:16:18:58:25 by carefree2008.
CROCK SITUATION
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"It is born out of hypocrisy and fundamental insecurity. There have been two kids on the block for the past 12 years. Suddenly, there is a third and that one is threatening to be more successful than the others and they don’t like it." P Kenyon.