Foot injuries
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.
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.
Unremarkably, Joey Barton will miss the start of the Premiership season. Remarkably, it’s not due to suspension. He hasn’t been up to his usual high-jinx of viciously assaulting team-mates or putting cigars out in peoples’ eyes. Instead, he has suffered the most fashionable injury in football: the fractured metatarsal. A statement on the Newcastle United website read:
“He sustained a partial fracture of the fifth metatarsal in his left foot.”
Barton picked up the injury during a 1-1 draw in a friendly with Carlisle - a game which Michael Owen missed due to a thigh strain. It seems that a change in manager hasn’t yet brought Newcastle a change in fitness fortunes.
Question: What is more annoying than spending £6m on a new midfielder, only for him to miss the first half of the season with a ruptured achilles tendon?
Answer: Spending £6.1m on a new midfielder, as West Ham did on Julien Faubert, only for him to miss the first half of the season with a ruptured achilles tendon.
Faubert, who was viewed by many as a replacement for Israeli Yossi Benayoun, picked up the injury in a friendly against Czech side Sigma Olomouc. George Cooper, West Ham’s head physiotherapist, revealed the injury had come “completely out of the blue”:
Julien has no history of any achilles problems and this kind of rupture is usually predisposed by past steroid injections in the area - something he has never had - so it is a major shock.
“A major shock”? Really? West Ham ought to be getting used to this kind of thing by now. Signing for them is essentially a cast iron guarantee that you will get injured. I’d suspect any player declaring an interest in joining West Ham is looking to cash in big time on their health insurance.
Take for example, Lucas Neil - signed for £1.5m, then out for a month with an ankle problem within days of finalising his contract. Or Nigel Quashie, picked up for the same fee and missing since March with a foot injury.
And who can forget la pièce de résistance: the £6m January outlay on Matthew Upson, who has since amassed a spectacular 41 minutes playing time for the club.
Latest signings Richard Wright, Scott Parker, and Craig Bellamy should beware - it’s surely only a matter of time until it’s their turn…
Two England Captains could take to the field of LA Galaxy’s Home Depot centre on Saturday, each suffering with their own injury problems.
John Terry broke a toe in Wednesday’s 1-0 win over the Suwon Bluewings. However, scans have since shown that it was merely a hairline fracture. He took a full part in training yesterday and is almost certain to face the Americans.
David Beckham’s battle with his ever-expanding ankle is well documented. Galaxy General Manager and former professional scarecrow impersonator Alexei Lalas attempts to bring us the latest:
There is a possibility that he is going to play and if there was no possibility that he wasn’t then we would just tell you that. I think it’s pretty clear.
It might be just me, but I think there are so many ifs and buts and double negatives in there that I think it is fairly conclusively not “pretty clear”.
Good old Alexei. Always keeps us guessing.
