An archive of all the football injury stories to date on PeakFootball.com. Includes pieces on football injury prevention, slapstick football injuries, and the latest Premiership injury news. Whether it’s knee injuries, hamstring injuries, or just the odd bit of bruising, we’ve got all the info to help you pick your fantasy football team or keep updated with events on your clubs treatment table. To browse more categories, by team or injury, use the category list on the right.
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INJURY
I suppose recovery from fractured metatarsals gets easier with practise. After just one month out, Wayne Rooney is back and raring to go, although manager Alex Ferguson admits it’s far from certain he’ll start again former club Everton:
Rooney has trained very well and will travel. But whether I start him, put him on the bench or leave him out until Wednesday night, that’s something I have to decide.
It’s a pretty rapid recovery, even for a player once dubbed a “quick healer” by Ferguson. However, with turn-coat Rooney now somewhat of a hate figure at Goodison Park, Fergie might be best advised to keep the 21-year old out of the fire until the Champions League tie with Sporting Lisbon.
Gareth Barry will continue in central midfield after the double blow of losing both Frank Lampard and Owen Hargreaves struck England. Lampard returned to Chelsea’s Cobham training ground over the weekend, whilst it was only today that a fitness test ruled Canadian-born Hargreaves out of tomorrow’s tie with Russia.
It’s a massive bonus for Barry, whose close friendship with Steven Gerrard enabled him to form an effective partnership with the Liverpool midfielder on Saturday.
The big doubt remains over who will partner Michael Owen upfront. Emile Heskey impressed against Israel, but with classier opposition less likely to be intimidated by the Wigan man’s awesome physical power, McClaren may opt for the superior guile of the wonderfully ironically-named Crouch.
Either way, it remains a must-win game for England. No amount of injuries will excuse failure to qualify for Euro 2008.
At the age of 34, persistent knee injuries have finally called time on the career of Ole Gunner Solskjaer. His father, Oyvind, confirmed his retirement to the Norwegian press this morning:
He would have liked to stay on and was hoping for a 100% recovery, but something has happened with his knee which made it impossible for him to continue.
This final complication, after his most recent operation in June, has obviously proved a bridge too far for a player whose career looked over as much as two years ago. He made a remarkable comeback last season to score 11 goals as United romped to the Premiership title - a fitting end to a distinguished career.
United fans are understandably moved by this news, but they’ve had plenty of time to prepare for it - it can hardly be considered a surprise. The question is, will Ferguson buy to replace him? Wayne Rooney and Louis Saha are both still in The Treatment Room, so could Fergie turn to one of Nicolas Anelka or Obafemi Martins to boost his striking options?
With only a few days left in the transfer window, we’ll soon find out.
Ledley King is a fantastic footballer. When fit, he’s a shoe-in for pretty much every England squad. He’s an outstanding centre-half, and a solid holding midfielder. But his knee is made of polystyrene.
It’s a genuine shame. One of the most talented defenders of his generation has missed a huge amount of football due to chronic knee problems, and has once again been forced to admit there is no timescale upon a possible return.
No wonder Spurs are fishing around Curtis Davies.
If we were The News of the World, this story would be very different. But we’re not, and whilst certainly bizarre, this story remains entirely innocent.
Reading striker Leroy Lita has injured himself whilst stretching in bed. Manager Steve Coppel says:
Leroy is in a great deal of pain. It’s a point of laughter but a serious business for him.
It seems the problem may be related to nerve damage. Whilst I’m sure the Reading squad have had a good laugh at Lita’s expense, it’s unlikely they’ll be chuckling when they realise he’ll be out for up to a month.
What’s remarkable is that I sustained an identical injury only a few days ago. I was lying in bed stretching, then hopping around the room screaming as something in my calf went “pop!”
With the season beginning in just a few days, players need to watch out for injuries all time. Even, it now seems, in bed.
When using a stretcher, don’t lift the injured players face repeatedly into your groin.
Like a figure in the corner, the ghost of his broken metatarsal still haunts Tim Cahill. The Australian midfielder limped out of Everton’s 2-2 draw with Werder Bremen, and assistant manager Alan Irvine said:
He felt his foot which is a bit of a worry.
Can you feel your foot? If so, be worried. Irvine continues:
It obviously gave him a bit of a fright but we will just make sure he is ok.
I imagine a lullaby and a soothing hot drink will settle him down again. In seriousness, it seems the curse of the metatarsal break is refusing to relinquish its grip on footballers across the land. And arguably, as the number of games players play each season increases, these injuries will continue to occur more frequently. This study looked at the metatarsal fractures suffered by David Beckham, Michael Owen, and Danny Murphy:
It is interesting to note that the three injured England squad members played significantly more games than the average for their respective clubs; this is partly complicated by the success of the clubs, thus imposing more games on the players in a regular season. Moreover, although the exact type of fractures sustained by these players remains unknown, the relative innocuousness of the challenges or tackles that led to the injuries has been demonstrated clearly on television. The theory of repetitive loading compounded by muscle fatigue leading to a predisposition for stress fractures, seems well-founded in these circumstances. Similarly, the three injuries occurred towards the end of the football season, in which, with the possible exception of David Beckham, the players were fully involved, to an extent which may have left them vulnerable to stress fractures. Further work is indicated with regard to screening vulnerable athletes. It is possible that there is an argument for rest intervals in order for bone strains to decline, but this is merely a hypothesis at this stage. The recent calls by Sven Goran Eriksson and Arsene Wenger to the Football Association to insert a winter break into the football season may prove to have a scientific basis after all.
It’s not be one for the purists, but unless we want all our players to be “feeling their feet” sometime soon, a Christmas rest might be the only solution.
Sam Allardyce is so short of players in his injury hit Newcastle squad that yesterday he fielded London-bound Kieron Dyer. Allardyce says:
We used him because we were short and he played very well. But I don’t think we can keep him, for the reasons I gave last week.
Whatever your opinions of the man, you can’t help but feel for Allardyce as he picks up the pieces of years of profligacy and appalling decision making by the previous regimes. Newcastle have spent millions of pounds in wages on players who were very rarely fit: Dyer himself is a prime example.
Michael Owen and Shola Ameobi both missed the friendly win over Juventus, Mark Viduka is yet to play for the club since signing from Middlesbrough. Another summer acquisition, Joey Barton, is already out for the start of the season with a broken foot.
New chairman, new manager, but same old injury problems.
Alex Ferguson described the fact that Scholes injury is not serious as “100% good news”.
What was feared to be possible ligament damage was in fact just bruising on the cartilage. Scholes is likely to miss United’s opening two games (the Community Shield against Chelsea and the home fixture against Reading), but will be free to return after that.
The fate of Owen Hargreaves remains slightly less clear. The £17m midfielder is suffering from knee tendinitis, and Ferguson is uncertain as to when he will finally be able to make his United debut. The manager said:
It’s becoming an irritant rather than a big problem.
Which, amusingly, is how most people regard Owen Hargreaves.
PeakFootball.com can exclusively reveal that Cesc Fabregas was flown home from Arsenal’s Austrian training camp last night with a knee injury. Whilst the extent of the problem remains unclear, Arsenal were concerned enough to send Cesc packing for scans in London this morning. It is expected that Arsene Wenger will reveal the nature of the problem after tonight’s friendly with FC Salzburg.
Still only 20, Fabregas has managed to steer clear of major injuries so far in his short career. Arsenal fans will be hoping that this is just a scare in what has been a troublesome pre-season period.
UPDATE: Scans for Fabregas brought positive news, and he should return to training within a week.
