Injuries

[robbiez666]

I'm a little concerned that a lot of teams in other leagues are picking up injuries with the break and there's a lot of games coming up over a short period. Compared to most teams in the top flight we're a bit light in terms of squad depth, so might impact us more than others. The extra subs will help but it's going to be very tricky getting them fully match fit quickly.

 

[BushBlade]

Our fitness and conditioning staff are as good as any in the league, probably better than most.

 

[yorkshirecoast]

The number of games in such a short period of time may also takes its toll. The good thing is the current team is a lot fitter than most Blades’ teams I’ve seen but we’ll need a bit of luck with injuries too.

 

[Upton_Blade]

Our fitness and conditioning staff are as good as any in the league, probably better than most.

Totally agree with this.

Look at our fitness record since CW, AK and MP came in. It's 2nd to none.

 

[Berkshire Blade]

Injuries have increased a considerable amount in Germany. Considering a three week injury could see you miss 7 games it's a worry and why some clubs wanted a longer 'pre season'

Haven't Everton had a few already?

 

[Digs blade]

Yes it’s a concern but we don’t seem to do injuries (kiss of death).

Also we seem to get on a roll when the games come think and fast

 

[Alf Tuppers Shorts]

13 poss 14 games in 6 week with 5 subs available in summertime, shouldn’t be too much of a concern as stated we seem to have a great set of back room staff and physios. Feeling confident about this side of things .
One slight concern,does second season syndrome kick in a bit prematurely, got that new season feeling.

 

[Bladesman]

 

[BigBed]

Injuries................Nope.

 

[coaxingstar71]

Nothing to see here.... move along.

 

[8lade]

It's a valid concern robbiez666, how do people feel about the cover?
Can't see a problem up front as it's perm 2 from 4 anyway (setting aside my bias for Sharp).
Midfield we've 3 from 4, next in line is Freeman and I know a lot of people like him but I see it as a weakening of the team when he is utilised.
Defence my guess is Freeman for Baldock, Osborne for Stevens, Jags, Retsos, Robinson? not sure where he plays CH or LB.
We have cover but it does slightly weaken the team whereas other teams at the top can bring players on who are the equal of those playing or bring them on to change their shape without reducing the effectiveness. Fingers crossed.

 

[TCsLoveChild]

Wilder‘s Blades don’t do injuries. ️️ UTB

 

[Bartleby]

13 poss 14 games in 6 week with 5 subs available in summertime, shouldn’t be too much of a concern as stated we seem to have a great set of back room staff and physios. Feeling confident about this side of things .
One slight concern,does second season syndrome kick in a bit prematurely, got that new season feeling.

Our second season in the Championship wasn't too shabby

 

[Varkanoid]

Fitter than a butchers dog.

 

[Greasy Chap Butty]

We are probbaly the fittest team in the league.
Also we need to be.
I think the smaller gap betwen games will affect us more than other teams who don't rely on the movement we do.

 

[bromtom]

It's a valid concern robbiez666, how do people feel about the cover?
Can't see a problem up front as it's perm 2 from 4 anyway (setting aside my bias for Sharp).
Midfield we've 3 from 4, next in line is Freeman and I know a lot of people like him but I see it as a weakening of the team when he is utilised.
Defence my guess is Freeman for Baldock, Osborne for Stevens, Jags, Retsos, Robinson? not sure where he plays CH or LB.
We have cover but it does slightly weaken the team whereas other teams at the top can bring players on who are the equal of those playing or bring them on to change their shape without reducing the effectiveness. Fingers crossed.

I think LFreeman is one of our strongest subs but does a different job to Fleck, I think Osborn is Fleck's defensive side, and LFreeman is his attacking side.

Defensively I'd be worried if we needed Jags for a prolonged period, but maybe JOC could move into the middle and Stevens to the left with Osborn at wingback if we needed more cover?

I think if Baldock was out we'd play Bash there and put Retsos in the back 3, but that's risky because we'd be breaking up a solid unit, but it's a case of what's the bigger risk, Retsos at the back with Bash as a more cautious RWB, or K Freeman in the Prem? Don't know if Retsos can cover RWB, that'd be handy.

GK other obvious weakness. I'd hope at Man U we play Verrips and see how he is, he's won some trophies and looks handy in the training videos, but he's an unknown, and Moore is known but doesn't inspire confidence, I'd take the chance of Verrips being a hidden gem though.

Berge can cover for Norwood and Lunny, and hopefully we'll keep Besic for more depth so I think we're alright in the middle, and strikers is as you say, pick a couple and they'll probably be reyt.

 

[robbiez666]

It's a valid concern robbiez666, how do people feel about the cover?
Can't see a problem up front as it's perm 2 from 4 anyway (setting aside my bias for Sharp).
Midfield we've 3 from 4, next in line is Freeman and I know a lot of people like him but I see it as a weakening of the team when he is utilised.
Defence my guess is Freeman for Baldock, Osborne for Stevens, Jags, Retsos, Robinson? not sure where he plays CH or LB.
We have cover but it does slightly weaken the team whereas other teams at the top can bring players on who are the equal of those playing or bring them on to change their shape without reducing the effectiveness. Fingers crossed.

We are generally better than most at managing injuries, but we've got one of the weakest squads in the league and play one of the most athletically demanding games. I hope we'll be fine. Fingers crosses we'll be fine. The situation does play against us a bit.

 

[8lade]

We are generally better than most at managing injuries, but we've got one of the weakest squads in the league and play one of the most athletically demanding games.

Entirely agree. It's noticeable our poorest performance of the season (by Wilder's own words) was the second game of playing both EPL superpowers within 4 days, thankfully most teams will be in the same boat this time around.

 

[SwissBlade]

We have depth. Leon Clarke will fire us into the champions league.

He looks leaner than ever

 

[LoughboroBlade]

I think LFreeman is one of our strongest subs but does a different job to Fleck, I think Osborn is Fleck's defensive side, and LFreeman is his attacking side.

Defensively I'd be worried if we needed Jags for a prolonged period, but maybe JOC could move into the middle and Stevens to the left with Osborn at wingback if we needed more cover?

I think if Baldock was out we'd play Bash there and put Retsos in the back 3, but that's risky because we'd be breaking up a solid unit, but it's a case of what's the bigger risk, Retsos at the back with Bash as a more cautious RWB, or K Freeman in the Prem? Don't know if Retsos can cover RWB, that'd be handy.

GK other obvious weakness. I'd hope at Man U we play Verrips and see how he is, he's won some trophies and looks handy in the training videos, but he's an unknown, and Moore is known but doesn't inspire confidence, I'd take the chance of Verrips being a hidden gem though.

Berge can cover for Norwood and Lunny, and hopefully we'll keep Besic for more depth so I think we're alright in the middle, and strikers is as you say, pick a couple and they'll probably be reyt.

We’ve got cover for each position for a reason – if Egan’s out that will definitely be Jagielka unless he’s out for a spell for whatever reason. If he was out, I think you’d be more likely to see Stevens keep his place and Robinson be the one to replace JOC if he has to move. If JOC is injured, I think it’ll be Robinson that’s likely to come in rather than say Stevens doing it with Osborn in. I know Stevens moved there last season, but that was because we had literally no naturally left-footed alternative at LCB.

Retsos, as someone that’s played more in the past at right-back, will deputise for Baldock I think rather than Basham in an emergency. Before that though, you’d probably see K.Freeman given a one-off opportunity.

Think you have it spot on for the Fleck alternatives – and probably would be determined by the opposition faced.

I’d be a little worried about throwing Verrips into the Man U game – we’ve seen virtually nothing of him, and Moore didn’t look overawed by the occasion in his one game this season.

I think we are in pretty good shape tbh. We’ve got everywhere covered, and lots of different options up front.

 

[bromtom]

We’ve got cover for each position for a reason – if Egan’s out that will definitely be Jagielka unless he’s out for a spell for whatever reason. If he was out, I think you’d be more likely to see Stevens keep his place and Robinson be the one to replace JOC if he has to move. If JOC is injured, I think it’ll be Robinson that’s likely to come in rather than say Stevens doing it with Osborn in. I know Stevens moved there last season, but that was because we had literally no naturally left-footed alternative at LCB.

Retsos, as someone that’s played more in the past at right-back, will deputise for Baldock I think rather than Basham in an emergency. Before that though, you’d probably see K.Freeman given a one-off opportunity.

Think you have it spot on for the Fleck alternatives – and probably would be determined by the opposition faced.

I’d be a little worried about throwing Verrips into the Man U game – we’ve seen virtually nothing of him, and Moore didn’t look overawed by the occasion in his one game this season.

I think we are in pretty good shape tbh. We’ve got everywhere covered, and lots of different options up front.

Ah, Robinson, yeah he'd replace JOC - I think the ideal is keep as many of the back 5 where they normally play in case of injuries, but I don't know if Jags could do say 4 on the spin if required what with the games coming thick and fast. I'd be happy if he went straight in though, moving someone else would only be if Egan and Jags weren't available.

Moore looked confident but I don't think he had a particularly inspiring game apart from (if I'm remembering correctly, his distribution) - he gets down quick to smother but he's weaker on long range efforts and covering his angles which can be exposed against players such as Man U's who on their day can pull a 40 yard screamer out of nowhere or slice you apart and tuck it in from any angle you fancy.

It is a shame Kean Bryan sat on Verrips' head and gave him concussion, I was enjoying having a look at him playing in the cup, he's got a good recent record in the Belgian League. I just think he must've been brought in to replace Moore though, otherwise why would be go through the hassle we had? If we'd have had to buy him he'd have been around £5m or so you'd imagine. I think it'd be fair if they had a game each, Moore getting the home tie because of his long service - though you're probably right that Moore would be selected.

I do agree though that overall, we're in decent shape for most eventualities.

 

[Fulwood Blade]

Nah - injuries won't be an issue - we'll get 3 nil up against Villa, make 5 subs to save ourselves for Newcastle - what could possibly go wrong with a 3 nil lead?

No danger - move along.

UTB

 

[8lade]

Moore deserves his chance, he wasn't particularly at fault for any of Man Utd's goals (you can always hope he pulls a worldy) not seen anything of Verrips and more importantly Moore was chosen for the Man U game at the Lane.

 

[bromtom]

Moore deserves his chance, he wasn't particularly at fault for any of Man Utd's goals (you can always hope he pulls a worldy) not seen anything of Verrips and more importantly Moore was chosen for the Man U game at the Lane.

There was the third one where he commited too late and ended up running out of the goal to nowhere as a Man U player squared it across for a Rashford tap in in an empty net



I also personally think he misread the second and jumped over it, when it was only really likely it'd be driven low along the pitch, although it was only a few yards out so that's perhaps harsh.

I would argue that Moore has been given his chance, he played at a packed Bramall Lane against Manchester United and now Verrips deserves his chance? We'd seen as little of both at this level when the season began (nowt), so in my opinion they should both get one of the two games where Henderson is ineligible.

 

[8lade]

Does look like Verrips has stepped up to first reserve which I hadn't realised be interesting to see how it pans out. (Didn't Moore get injured I can't remember).

 

[PokerBlade]

I guess we won't know until the games are played but there's a chance that the break could benefit us. It's clear that fitness is a strong point of ours and if anyone's going to handle it well then you'd guess it would be us. Not sure how much you can read into it, but we were the last to finish training and have been very clear with our attitude that we wanted the season to restart as soon as possible and were preparing as such. Where other teams have been asking for a longer warm up period, our players and manager have more or less said it won't take us long to get up to speed. Some other team's fans (including a funny comment from Roy's Villa thread) have seemed surprised that we've had strict training regimens for the players during isolation.

No way to know who's been honest about it, and you suspect some clubs will say anything if it's to their advantage, but my big hope is that if our fitness was an advantage before then it could be an even bigger advantage after the restart.

 

[8lade]

I'm hoping it's all BS but it would be typical Blades to start pulling the injuries before we even start playing.

 

[Bladesman]

 

[Dkc]

Moore deserves his chance, he wasn't particularly at fault for any of Man Utd's goals (you can always hope he pulls a worldy) not seen anything of Verrips and more importantly Moore was chosen for the Man U game at the Lane.

I just watched the Man U game again in its entireity and had a second look at Moore's performance. He wasn't at fault for any of their goals - I doubt any keeper would have been able to do better. He didn't make any spectactlar saves, but there were a couple of shots where he got down and held the ball well, and he cleared a bobbling backpass well. His distribution wasn't as good as Henderson's, who's better at kicking and quick release. Obviously Hendo is the keeper you want between the sticks when a spectacular save needs to be made, but Moore was solid v Man U. It was also his first-ever PL game. When the team is named later today, the keeper on the bench will be the one that gets the nod against Man U. I expect it to be Moore. But if Wilder has seen spectacular stuff from Verrips in training, it's possible that he gets the nod.

Regardless of his gk ability Moore has been a great servant to the club and has accepted his role as back up. He'll never be a de Gea, or Henderson, but i he does move on he could probably do a job as first choice keeper in L1 or possibly Championship.

 

[Dkc]

Telegraph reporting as fact that JOC is out, but nothing from club

Jack O’Connell out injured for Sheffield United against Aston Villa

Injury could be indication of problem teams have had in bringing players back to full fitness

www.telegraph.co.uk