The Mail Bag
Injuries
Comments (17)
Following the latest injury scare to Steven Pienaar, I, like many other Evertonians, have been cursing our continuing bad luck in this respect. Injuries are indeed part and parcel of the game, however the latest casualty to hit Baz Rathbone's treatment table has also had me questionning whether this is in effect entirely due to bad luck and the curse of Shankley or symptomatic of something entirely more sinister in terms of cause and effect.
The pace of the modern game, high impact nature and the amount of competitive games that player's are expected to play will all undoubtedly contribute to the casualty list; however, would it be permissible to suggest that it may be in part due to the way we play?
The game at Portsmouth reinforced to me that Everton have major difficulty in competing with teams who offer a physical approach. Without having either the nous or tenacity to maintain any sense of composure whilst in possession, we too often surrender the ball, resulting in players over-stretching, turning sharply, or becoming involved in perilous combative challenges.
Everton obviously need to harden up in the face of the opposition; however, is it too simplistic to suggest that a little more keepball and a lot less hoofball will see us suffer less in terms of the casualty list?
Peter Laing, Posted 29/09/2009 at 12:33:03
Comments
Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer
Just look at the nature of the injuries to Arteta and Jags. Both landed to the ground in a way that 999 times out of 1000 would not cause injury. Big Vic was ’two foot lunged’ by that shithouse Nolan. Pienaar’s knee was collided with by a player who would better fit in with a herd of stampeding wilderbeest.
In a small way, you are correct regarding Neville’s injury but it was more to do with his (wreckless) committment to win the ball.
I mean that it seems coincidence that we are getting a lot of these injuries a year or so after moving into Finch Farm. Could it be that we are training our players in such a way in the gym that it is weakening (or even making them so tight) that the ligaments are more susceptible to injury? Are there any physios on here that could comment?
On the other hand, it could be just the worst run of bad luck ever seen by a football team!
However, good to see Arteta should be make in a matter of weeks rather than months (in case anyone has missed it on the OS).
Don’t really think our squad is small. We have two players for every position except left-back and arguably in goal.
If you look at what our bench was for Portsmouth, despite the injuries it was very very strong.
It just wasn’t used properly!
Hopefully a thing of the past.
Anichebe, Neville, and now Pienaar were all injured via direct contact and all three could have resulted in fractures, bruising or anything else for that matter. I think bad luck is exactly the term to apply.
As for the other two, I actually tore my anterior cruciate ligament in an incident very similar to that which saw Mikel do his, and I am currently sidelined after landing awkwardly on the same knee in an incident frighteningly similar to Jagielka’s (and awaiting scan results).
The first injury was sustained 7 years ago, and I was physically very fit, and playing amateur 11-a-side once a week. The second was sustained 3 months ago, and once again, I was physically fit (the very has disappeared with age!), playing 7-a-side once a week, and doing specific and ongoing physio work on the knee in question.
I have asked myself many times over the last 3 months if I have done anything which may have contributed to my most recent injury. I asked myself even more times if I had done anything to cause the initial injury.
The simple truth is that tearing the anterior cruciate ligament is extremely difficult to do. There needs to be force applied above and below the joint, and the joint (and therefore ligament) to be in such a position that the complex nature of the fibres which make up the ligament can be torn apart. A little bit like an elastic band — there is always one way, and one way only, to snap it.
The odds therefore, are very low. But with 6 billion people in the world, many of them playing sport and partaking in other activities which put the knee under strain, it’s gonna happen, and often at that.
We as Evertonians always look for conspiracies — it’s our nature — but I am satisfied that it is simply appalling luck.
Moreover, those questioning our current form (6 wins, 1 draw and 2 defeats from our last 9, with 20 goals scored and 5 conceded — selective I know!) should really take into account these injuries when assessing our chances over the coming season.
Even if the players involved were punished, we’ve been exceptionally unlucky with the injuries we’ve picked up.
Granted it is extremely unfortunate to have 3 key first team members (Yak, Jags and Arteta) to have serious non-contact ACL injuries in a six-month period.
But over the medium/long term, I do not think we suffer more from injuries than other clubs — we just notice it more because we are better informed about Everton.
West Ham and Spurs are two clubs that seem to have persistently worse injury issues than we do — but again that may just be my perception, reinforcing an existing prejudice I have.
Currently Spurs have 3 out of 4 centrebacks injured — and I believe that was the position 12 months ago. Mind you they are asking for trouble in that two of those — Ledley King (who cannot even train) and Jonathan Woodgate — are long-term injury-prone. Whereas we only have one centre-back injured (at the moment), and during all of last season, never had more than one injured at any one time — which was just as well as we only had 3 CBs last season.
It would be great if someone could do a statistical analysis of injuries at different clubs so we could see where we stand against others. This would then give better fuel to the conspiracy theorists, or more likely, pour a bucket of water on them.
I think because our players are not the so called ’top stars’, opposition players think they can stick the boot in and get away with it. Can you imagine the reaction in the press if Nolan had done the same to Rooney? The FA would have imposed a much bigger punishment if that had’ve happened to a Sky 4 player. It’s not big headline news if Neville’s out for 5 months so opposition players don’t think twice about hacking the shit out of him. Teams target the likes of Pienaar and Arteta. Isn’t Arteta one of the most fouled players in the Premier League?
Look at the awful over-physical way both Blackburn and Wigan played the game at Goodison. Wigan committed something like 20 fouls compared to Everton’s 3 in the first half. There is absolutely no way they would get away with that against a Sky 4 team.
I hope Moyes’s comments in the press mean refs will start to give us more protection.
No offence to "Baz" but as the only injuries we get are to the knees, maybe we should just employ a knee specialst full time.
http://www.physioroom.com/news/english_premier_league/epl_injury_table.php
Birmingham deserve some sympathy with 8 injuries, although they will all be back soon.
As for injuries with return dates beyond the end of October, nobody has more than Everton with 4. Spurs are the second unluckiest with 3.
Speaking of Spurs, didn’t they have a series of ankle injuries a few years back that were attributed to their training pitch?
Add Your Comments
In order to post a comment to the MailBag, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site.
Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and MailBag submissions across the site.
-sm.jpg)
-sm.jpg)
-sm.jpg)
1 Posted 29/09/2009 at 17:17:24
Report abuse
However, I do agree entirely we are weak as a side and in my view, need a midfield enforcer. Unlike others, I see Rodwell as more as an attacking player, not a future CB or defensive midfielder, and think he should be given licence to go forward. Neville should play full back and Arteta, Pienaar, Fellaini, Cahill, Osman who play central are also better attacking.
A real dominant midfield, like Joe Parkinson, would do wonders for our midfield in my view. Moyes doesn’t seem to have gone for this mold of player since he failed with Sissoko.
No doubt Karl Masters will say the talented Castillo was the answer...