Martinez concerned over Mirallas

, 30 September, 51comments  |  Jump to most recent
Belgian faces further scans
Everton will await further examination of Kevin Mirallas' apparent hamstring injury before providing an estimate for how long he will be sidelined.

Manager Roberto Martinez admits that "the signs aren't great" given that the club's medical staff were unable to determine the full extent of the problem with initial scans yesterday.

“We had a few scans and we are going to carry on today," the Catalan said. "It isn't a straightforward diagnosis but obviously the signs are not great. We are going to make sure we are clear with the problem.

"It's not normal when Kevin Mirallas feels something like that and has to come off in the game. We know then that it is something serious."

Mirallas's first season at Goodison Park was severely impacted by successive hamstring injuries but he was able to make a full recovery following specialist treatment and he missed the end of last season with a tear to his groin.

This latest soft-tissue injury has the potential to deprive Everton of one of their most consistent players so far this season for some weeks but the club and fans alike will have to wait for a concrete prognosis.

 

Reader Comments (51)

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Colin Glassar
1 Posted 30/09/2014 at 16:18:32
People keep going on about how fitter and stronger the modern day player is compared to players in the pre-EPL era. Well I say, rubbish!!!! They might be fitter and quicker but in no way are these modern day wimps stronger than lads who had to play on waterlogged pitches with a 10 kg casey.

Players who didn't use shin pads, who would play on through injury, broken bones etc... Nowadays, they fall over or get a knock on the head and they almost have to go into intensive care!! Fucking pathetic (I don't mean Mirallas but Seamus and Pienaar) that they miss so many games cos of a fucking knock. They need to start manning up IMO.

Denis Richardson
2 Posted 30/09/2014 at 16:38:35
Mirallas's case seemed a pretty clear hamstring problem which means he could be out anything from 1 to 3 months, depending on how serious the tear is. Personally I don't think he'll be playing for us again until mid- to late-November, which is a real blow. We will have to get through October with no Barkley or Mirallas.
John Voigt
3 Posted 30/09/2014 at 16:47:03
Colin,

Modern day players are more scientifically trained with many sports teams using things like health monitor. The modern methods are very good at making athletes quicker and more explosive in their movements.

I really think that hamstring issues are more of a problem currently than in the past. The more explosive movements players can now make have the negative side effect of putting to much strain on the athlete's hamstrings.

I've always be an average athlete and I've never had a hamstring problem but then again I don't go running at anything close to the speed of Premier League players.

It really is a shame that Everton have had to start the season without Barkley. Coleman has missed games and now Mirallas. A coupe of players that would make the team most weeks have been slow to recover too.

I'd really like to see a full strength Everton side, but it's just not in the cards.

Tony Doran
4 Posted 30/09/2014 at 17:10:26
One door shuts and another opens. Time for the likes of Browning to show what he can do.
Jamie Crowley
5 Posted 30/09/2014 at 17:41:22
Colin -

The Seamus injury – no way he should be rushed back. Head injuries, we now know today whereas 15 years ago we did not, are nothing to fool around with. We are taking about a bruised brain and the kid has his entire life in front of him.

Not disagreeing with your premise at all and in fact I agree. But we need to remove Seamus from the list of "he should have played."

Brain injury needs to be handled appropriately and with the utmost caution.

Jim Bennings
7 Posted 30/09/2014 at 17:49:55
Tony

Browning is good player but hardly like for like for Mirallas.

Its down to Atsu now to show us why Martinez wanted him so much and show us some of the glimpses we saw in Brazil during the summer.

Sad about Mirallas though, been in great form right throughout the calender year of 2014 ,is he possibly our leading scorer so far since the turn of the year??

Guess by the sounds of the injury it's a case of see you in December Kev.

Peter Laing
8 Posted 30/09/2014 at 17:53:44
The hamstring injury seems to have been the curse of Everton in recent years. To have a good tilt on all fronts we needed a miracle in terms remaining injury free, the season started badly with the loss of Barkley and in successive weeks we have continued to lose key players. Let's hope that we can struggle on to Christmas and beyond and have our galatico's all being available in the Spring of 2015 for a proper assault on the Europa league.
Jim Bennings
9 Posted 30/09/2014 at 17:54:55
Suppose before long it will be back to Osman on the wing again, all it will take is injury to McGeady or Atsu and then it's back to square pegs in round holes.

Will we ever see a fully fit Pienaar again?

Would love to really see Pienaar, McGeady and Atsu all really step up to the plate and perform well, obviously regarding Pienaar his fitness will dictate that.

The great concern for me now is I look at our midfield and think "where do we get many goals from and where does the direct running or creativity come from?"

Nothing we can do about it of course but Mirallas is a big big loss, possibly its about this moment in time where we will look back and wish Gerard Deulofeu was still here, frustrating he was, but bloody mighty direct and as fast as a cheetah..

Kevin Tully
10 Posted 30/09/2014 at 17:59:56
Remember when teams used to win the League with a 'squad' of 14 players? How the hell did they manage?

I know they used to have pain killing injections, but surely even those wouldn't let you play with some of the injuries they seem to get in the modern era. Mirallas went down like he had a broken ankle, why didn't players in the 70's seem to pick up hamstring injuries every week.

Was it the Guiness, Embassy Regal, or the fish supper's that turned them into Supermen?

Peter Bell
11 Posted 30/09/2014 at 18:25:54
Colin @1

The days of no shin pads and muddy pitches where a total different time and era to now. Players never got injured as much as the game was not as intense and far slower than the modern game. You only have to see old footage to see that.

The days of Dave Clements and the crew coming out at five to three and doing a few stretches have long gone. The modern player these days has a half-hour warm-up routine that would leave the old school gasping for breath.

Did you see the recent picture of Joe Harper and Mick Bernard in 70s pre-season training? They wouldn't last five minutes in the modern era.

Karl Masters
12 Posted 30/09/2014 at 18:25:28
Players are more like race horses. Finely tuned, but pushed physically to the edge. That's why most of them need ice baths to take away the severe inflammation training and playing at that level gives.

If they do overdo it, the consequences are that much worse, like a high speed car crash is worse than a slow speed one. The level of physical contact between players has dropped over the years, hence less broken legs, but the muscle injuries are more severe now.

Paul Ferry
13 Posted 30/09/2014 at 18:49:31
Jim Bennings - 9: 'The great concern for me now is I look at our midfield and think "where do we get many goals from and where does the direct running or creativity come from?"

Everton as I tap are the joint 2nd highest scorers in the Premiership. Saturday was better but we have issues in all three areas of the pitch and arguably the biggest problem is at the back. We have after all shipped more goals than any other Premier League team so far.

So, ranked 2nd in goals scored and 20th in goals conceded!
I would respectfully suggest that your sense of balance and proportion is well rather wayward.

Colin Glassar
14 Posted 30/09/2014 at 18:54:16
Not only seen it in old pictures, Peter, but seen it in the flesh. This lot, despite being called thoroughbreds, are a bunch of overpaid pansies (can you still say that?) IMO. Put your Ronaldos and Messis up against Mike Pejic and Mick Lyons and they wouldn't last five minutes with all their pace and skill.

Duncan McKenzie and Stan Bowles were just as skillful as those two and they'd have a couple of pints, and fags, before and after a game. Plus, they'd play 60-70 games a season and would never get injured (unless it was a broken leg). This lot are fucking useless.

Colin Glassar
15 Posted 30/09/2014 at 19:05:27
Let's see if this present day bunch could do a few hours of running up and down the dunes at Ainsdale with heavy boots and woolly undies on in the soaking rain. Most of them wouldn't last a few minutes as they'd get blisters on their carefully pedicured toesy wosies.
Peter Gorman
16 Posted 30/09/2014 at 19:24:53
I miss him already
Peter Cummings
19 Posted 30/09/2014 at 19:53:32
It seems to me that for some unknown reason our injuries seem to take longer to recover from, Cases in point are both Coleman and Pienaar,since ColemanÂ’s head clash we have seen a number of similar collisions in TV games yet none of the players involved have had a long layoff or even left the field after the Â’magic spongeÂ’ treatment.

Obviously with head injuries you have to be careful but 4 weeks out?? As for Pienaar, he seems to attract injuries after fairly tame tackles, Bryan Oviedo is a perfect example of the determination and desire to make a complete recovery after a potential career-ending injury, so maybe a speedy recovery is as much down to psychology as medical treatment.

We can only hope Kev can come up with the same attitude as Bryan.

David Harrison
20 Posted 30/09/2014 at 20:08:25
Love it, Colin, but I fear the era of tough as teak footballers is over. When was the last time you saw a player take a knock and do everything he could to show he wasn't hurt? I wonder what the likes of Peter Reid really make of it all today...
Ged Dwyer
21 Posted 30/09/2014 at 20:32:13
So Roberto rested Mirallas for the Palace game (albeit he came on after 64 mins to help save the game) and Swansea to keep him fresh for the derby.

It didnÂ’t work. He pulled his hamstring against Liverpool and we got beat by Palace and Swansea. Same with Barkley last season. After Barkley scored against Swansea he was rested for the Sunderland home game which we lost. Two weeks later he injured his toe and had to be rested.

Surely the lesson here is to keep playing your best players and gather in as many points as you can while they are fit. Resting players only disrupts the team and as explained does not keep a player fit anyway!

Colin Glassar
22 Posted 30/09/2014 at 20:46:18
Probably Paul Ince for England against Italy, David. Nowadays, most players would faint at the sight of a drop of blood.
Jim Bennings
23 Posted 30/09/2014 at 20:50:43
Paul,

That's with Mirallas in the team though. Who would you suggest are our creative goal makers/takers now?

McGeady is wildly inconsistent and Atsu unproven. Barry? McCarthy? Besic?

Pienaar and Barkley still out?

Jim Bennings
24 Posted 30/09/2014 at 20:59:28
I believe when Coleman is fit again he will help out in the goalmaker department but you can't solely rely on a full-back; likewise Baines.

Harold Matthews
25 Posted 30/09/2014 at 21:20:35
Amazing how many of today's professionals are terrified of being hit by the ball.
Paul Ferry
26 Posted 30/09/2014 at 21:06:08
OK JB (#23) – I see what you mean more clearly now.

Yep, I agree, the next month and probably two will really test our reserves (in all meanings of that word),. Thank God that there is another international break around the corner!

At the risk of sounding like a Doubting Thomas, which I am not, this late autumn/early winter will be a real test for Bobby Martinez and we will surely learn a lot more about him. He can play it safe, take risks, or do a bit of both. Much I suspect will depend on results and league position and, needless to say, who is available and who is not.

Safe for me means a fit Pienaar, Osman, sticking with Barry & McCarthy, and sticking with McGeady (dangerous that last one for what does or doesn't do on the pitch but safe in the sense that he has become a regular lately.

It's hard to be precise because it might be tactically necessary to change things now and then. But what might be better options? Well, how about:

(1) Moving a fit Coleman forwards to winger and play Browning behind him – I know, he did a decent 15 mins on Saturday, but I lean more towards risks/doing something different even at these testing times and, if it doesn't work out, think again, but there is only one way to find out.

(2) Break up the Barry - McCarthy defensive midfield pairing. It's not always clear to me why we need two defensive midfielders (Bobby is also incredibly reluctant to sub them). Barry is wobbling right now and he's odds on to get a red sooner rather than later. Play McCarthy there with Besic in front of him. I was astonished at the flak Besic got at the weekend! Astonished! Yep, I counted mistakes but I also saw someone always looking to get the ball forwards and he can pass a ball.

(3) A fit Oviedo on the left flank – yep ,four full backs! – and I want to see more of Atsu who can play left or right.

(4) If we're looking ahead a month from now, it's more than likely that Ross will be back; Naismith behind the striker until then.

So – I was pushed, Guv, I didn't fall, JB made me do it – the team for Swansea at home, 1 November:

Howard – Browning – Stones – Jagielka – Baines – McCarthy – Besic – Coleman – Oviedo – Barkley – Eto'o

Subs: Robies – Garbutt – Distin – Barry – Atsu – Naismith – Lukaku (Pienaar will get injured again)

And vs Man Utd on Sunday: Howard – Browning – Stones – Jagielka – Baines – McCarthy – Besic – Coleman (if fit) – Oviedo/Atsu – Naismith – Eto'o

You asked!

But you also know that injuries and delayed recoveries will be the spoiler!

Colin Glassar
27 Posted 30/09/2014 at 21:44:20
Hit by the ball, glared at by opposing players, intimidated by the crowd, need gloves when the temp goes below 20c etc.... It used to be a man's game, Harold.
David Harrison
28 Posted 30/09/2014 at 22:16:42
Being tough and having resilience seems to have little currency these days. As a rugby league as well as football fan, I despair at penalties given for high tackles on the shoulder, where nobody has been hurt and nobody is bothered but health & safety deem the game needs to be interrupted. Sorry for the diversion but it seems to be a wider problem in society.
Matt Woods
29 Posted 30/09/2014 at 22:20:33
If you want to talk about tough footballers in a purely robust sense, that horrible biting mutant Suarez is practically indestructible. He had his knee opened up and was back in record time to slay England at the World Cup. Whatever you want to say about him, he is one determined athlete who can physically handle modern football.
Colin Glassar
30 Posted 30/09/2014 at 22:25:57
David, I could hear Balotelli's screams as far away as the pub I was in on Dale Street every time an Everton player went near him. It was bloody embarrassing to hear a grown man shriek like that.
Tommy Campbell
31 Posted 30/09/2014 at 22:56:34
Colin, I've got to disagree with you, pal. You've obviously never had a really bad hamstring or quadriceps tear. There is the pain, which is excruciating, and I can tell you first hand that it's worse than breaking some bones.

There is just absolutely no way you can play football with this kind of injury, especially not a grade 2/3 tear which Mirallas looks to have suffered.

Kicks, cuts, bruises even broken toes etc. you can play on with but to run and kick a ball relies on the muscles of the legs, and when the muscle has been torn from tendon and bone you've got no chance.

Some players, such as Mick Lyons, may have gone a career without an injury. That's genetics and it's luck – some players who did get one in the 70s, it most likely finished their career, hence why you could never name them as having 'played through it'.

Colin Glassar
32 Posted 30/09/2014 at 23:03:30
Tommy, I'm not criticising Mirallas. If he's done his hamstring then there's no way he can play. Like Owen the lad has a problem with his hammys and it's something many players just can't overcome.

My point is, today many players are mentally, and physically, weaker than players used to be. Maybe it's something to do with the huge money they earn from such an early age that they can afford to take time off to look after themselves.

Many ex-pros from earlier times will often talk of the fear they had of getting injured as they were on a pittance compared to what they earn today and they often hid their injuries so as to stay in contention.

I'm not saying those days should come back but the players were built of sterner stuff than this lot.

Aman Kanji
33 Posted 01/10/2014 at 00:18:56
You lot going on about old days sound soo OLD!
Mark Andersson
34 Posted 01/10/2014 at 01:23:15
I don't see the point of your posts, Colin, the game has moved on, so accept it and stop moaning about something that is not going to change.

Peter Reid had his fair share of missed games through injury. Okay, he may have been back earlier but you're modern day athletes are trained to be faster and more explosive.

Ernie Baywood
35 Posted 01/10/2014 at 03:50:25
To be honest, the calls for "toughness" frustrate me.

Given what we now know about head trauma, why should Seamus Coleman be sent out on the pitch if doctors judge it to be unsound?

Is Mirallas weak for pushing his body past it's breaking point? Could he have limped on? Maybe... but we now know that has a negative affect on the injury.

In the past, maybe players played on out of a sense of toughness but that was due to lack of understanding. How many retired early due to injury? How many could barely walk in their old age? How often was Jeff Astle a bit groggy? I'd take Jeff not having his brains bashed in over someone feeling uncomfortable about his level of toughness any day.

By rights, the news on Seamus's injury should be headlined "My brain – Fuck all to do with you lot".

The screaming and rolling isn't about toughness – it's about cheating. And a lack of shame to some degree. I dare say that Ronaldo has a fair bit of actual toughness to him. He's just a shameless cheat.

Jamie Crowley
37 Posted 01/10/2014 at 07:11:19
This thing with wearing gloves when it's cold... (Colin 27)

I've had two concussions and four teeth knocked out of my cranium (two separate times, two teeth each incident) playing hockey. I say that to cement my "toughness" credentials. And... also my "compensation" issues... :0)

I'd wear gloves every time I played footy if I were in England. It's fucking cold where you folks live!

Can't be a toughness thing. It's damn cold... bundle up if ya have to!

Tommy Campbell
38 Posted 01/10/2014 at 07:25:35
Ernie – it's a good point you make. The screaming and rolling is cheating and is something I'm quite happy that I've never seen an Everton player in my lifetime doing. Our players always seem to be very professional – sometimes to our detriment but I'm not sure if I'd change that.

With regards to toughness, anybody will know that if they've played the game at any sort of level, you can't be physically weak or go hiding as the bullies will find an easy way of stopping you.

I remember Beckham playing a game at Goodison in around 2000-01. Not noted for being a tough guy, a few of the Everton players attempted to be overly physical with him and he more than handled it, wasn't fazed and I'm not sure it was the first time a team set out to do this to him.

Michael Penley
39 Posted 01/10/2014 at 08:10:19
Balotelli's rolling around was absolutely pathetic, but that's probably why they got him – he doesn't look like he has much of an eye for goal, seeing as he hasn't scored yet in the league.

I loved the moment when Jags barely touched him and he went down screaming and holding his face, and Jags just shrugged and walked away smiling. Hope to never see any of our players resorting to that kind of cheating, or any other kind for that matter.

Alan Humphreys
40 Posted 01/10/2014 at 08:06:26
Jamie (37) no issue with the gloves but I draw the line at the "snoods" that was the craze a year or so back. Thing that gets me with gloves is that they usually adorn the hands of players in short sleeves.

Bottom line for me regarding injuries is wondering whether our back room department are up to it. An awful lot of injuries compounded with longer and longer lay-offs.

Maybe the Physio was once a builder: pencil behind ear: "Yeah Bobby, looks like a bad one, I'd say (puffs cheeks out)... Give it... Yeah, give it 6 weeks. It's a really bad graze!"

Ernie Baywood
41 Posted 01/10/2014 at 08:44:38
The perception of weakness has probably changed a bit. In my day if we saw, someone wearing flash boots (white or green or something) or gloves we figured he fancied himself as a tricky type. We would see that as a weakness and give him a hard time.

Nowadays, I play with a Scottish bloke who wears skins! I think that era has passed now.

Colin Glassar
42 Posted 01/10/2014 at 08:53:05
It has moved on Mark, but in the wrong direction unfortunately. It's now a game motivated by greed and full of mercenary footballers who have no loyalty to club or fans.

I accept the changes but I don't like them. Each to his own.

Jim Bennings
43 Posted 01/10/2014 at 09:16:10
Can somebody tell me what this conversations actually has to do with a potentially serious hamstring tear??

Unless people know sports injuries, then if you seriously shred your hamstring then you cannot play any kind of sport, certainly not one that involves sprinting at high speed.

What do people want to see? Roberto Martinez to say to Mirallas "Forget what the specialist says and get out there and do your thing"?

Get real.

If it is a major tear then he is not back playing before mid-December.

Mark Andersson
44 Posted 01/10/2014 at 09:40:29
Colin, you're right about the game being full of mercenaries money motivated and the loyalty only to there agent. And yet we still get caught up in it.

Will we ever get to see that other £6 million striker? Now that injury should have well healed.

Not the best of starts to a season that we all looked forward to...

Peter Jones
45 Posted 01/10/2014 at 10:10:05
Agree with Alan (40) about the short sleeves. If you were really nesh, like Denis Law, you could pull your sleeves over your hands.

On a serious note, the problem I have about injuries is that we do not seem to get accurate information from the club. We expect a player back by a certain date and the date comes and goes with no sign nor any word. It would be nice to be treated like an adult who can take a bit of bad news.

Pat Waine
46 Posted 01/10/2014 at 10:36:38
Paul Ferry – I agree fully with you. Besic gives us a bit more going forward and I would give him his head. The young lad always makes himself available and has a nice touch on the ball.

We are missing a creative force and without Mirallas we need Atsu to step up. We could really do with Pienaar back too. Three defensive mids on Saturday was possibly two too many. If we can get Coleman back with Barkley soon enough, that will help.

We could really do with a young lad breaking through from the reserves. I don't see any attacking players there. What's the story with George Green???

Andrew Ellams
47 Posted 01/10/2014 at 10:50:56
Peter Reid playing virtually the whole of the second leg vs Bayern Munich with a hole in his shinpad and blood pouring to the point his sock was red. We’ll never see that again.

As for Mirallas, the hamstring is the curse of any athlete in any sport who depends on pace, ask Ryan Giggs and Michael Owen.

Nobody knows how bad Seamus’s injury is. As mentioned above, if it’s a brain impact, he needs to be looked after very, very carefully. Nothing soft about that.

Anthony Lewis
48 Posted 01/10/2014 at 10:40:35
I was a right gnarly bastard centre-mid in my day. Kicked lumps out of every player that came way and would never shy out of a 50-50. And I wore gold boots and a nice pair of black thinsulate lined gloves.

Problem was, if I didn't wear the gloves, my wrists would end up in excruciating agony to the point were I couldn't even grip or lift a pint after the match. Figured the pint was much more preferable to sore wrists, so put up with the stick I got for wearing for them.

Can't account for the ponsey gold boots though...

My point being, that the players that wear these gloves might do so for a reason.

Ernie Baywood
49 Posted 01/10/2014 at 12:18:56
People are naturally optimistic. Bobby to an extreme extent.

I can see why they don't want to communicate it until they're sure. As soon as they give an opinion it gets leapt on. And it doesn't make a blind bit of difference anyway – they come back when they're ready.

Conor Waters
50 Posted 01/10/2014 at 13:44:08
Hamstring injuries are one of the worst out there. Anyone who has suffered them will know that they never fully go away and the older you get, the more potential they have to cause problems. It's the car equivalent of constantly driving on black ice, never knowing when it could pop again. Players will often never regain full fitness after a succession of hamstring problems.

Ged (#21) makes a good point about the irony of resting players who then invariably get injured shortly after. I am firm believer in keeping a fully fit squad playing, especially at this time of year; resting players in September is madness. Players will need resting later in the year. Resting them now only disrupts their rhythm and fitness.

Harold Matthews
51 Posted 01/10/2014 at 13:50:05
The 2nd game after a break is always the dodgy one. In horse racing they call it "The bounce factor."
Kieran Riding
53 Posted 01/10/2014 at 20:08:24
Looking at Christmas, I believe.

Bloody shame if correct.

Bobby Thomas
54 Posted 01/10/2014 at 23:18:42
Posts 1,14 &15 by Colin Glassar are the funniest things IÂ’ve read all day.

Remind me of an article by Frank McConville (RIP) in When Skies are Grey many years ago.

Andy Osborne
55 Posted 02/10/2014 at 01:10:36
Ged #21, I completely agree. If you have a really good player, in this case Mirallas, you should use him while he is still uninjured, because it's going to happen again, no matter how many games rest he has. As for the CP and Swansea games, well, need. I say more than that they were both very winnable games.

Hope he gets well soon. We'll need him to.

Christopher Kelly
56 Posted 02/10/2014 at 01:16:11
Colin,
One of the funniest moments of the World Cup for me had to be when Raul Meireles, he of the mohawked, tatted and piereced variety, faked a skinned elbow (I believe)... and threw himself on the ground viciously like a caught Tiger Shark... Only modern day players. The guy looks like he’s in Hell’s Angels but if you graze him he turns into Bambi on ice. What a disgrace of a man.

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