Is it really bad that when I saw those pictures of the West Ham players touring the Olympic Stadium, all I could think was that construction sites can be really dangerous, and I hoped they didn’t come back injured? Should I feel guilty that I was a wee bit relieved not to see Mark Noble get an England call up, because at least then he could avoid being injured during international duty?
It’s safe to say I’ve got squad injuries on my mind—and at this point, how could I not? Our season started off with a massive injury to a certain giant striker, and our bad luck with fitness has continued ever since.
We are heading into the game against Chelsea with the following players either reportedly or confirmed injured: Andy Carroll, Ricardo Vaz Te, Mladen Petric, Matthew Taylor, Razvan Rat, and Winston Reid.
Joey O’Brien and James Collins may also miss the game, both having picked up injuries while on international duty. Rat is the other name added to the internationally injured list, having injured his hamstring playing for Romania on Tuesday.
This is worrying stuff for West Ham, particularly when considering the back four. It’s good news that we’ll soon have Alou Diarra and George McCartney back from their long-term injuries, but how do we have so many players injured so soon in the season? And do West Ham have a contingency plan to deal with the excessive queue for the treatment room?
Sam Allardyce has commented on the injuries, particularly in the defensive area, saying “George McCartney is just back to match-fitness, but we’re short in the defensive area. That’s just our luck at the moment because three defenders have been blighted by injuries on international duty, but hopefully James and Joey will recover and Razvan looks like a difficult one at the moment.”
“On top of the other injuries, these have come in the defensive area where we cannot really afford to suffer any more because Winston Reid is also out.”
Commenting that we are “short in the defensive area” and that we “cannot really afford to suffer any more” in that area makes the decision to loan young defender Daniel Potts out to Portsmouth, a bit of a surprising one. Potts has played in top-flight games before, and it will be good for him to gain more confidence by playing in a lower league side; but with four defenders injured, is this the best time to send a healthy defender to another club?
Given that we have also seen injuries to Joe Cole and Stewart Downing this season, and only have four players who have played in every league game, is something odd going on at Upton Park? Have we been terribly unlucky to have the injuries we have, or is something not quite right with the training plans? Do you think our injury list is causing our bad run of form?
At least it allows Big Sam to keep the opposition guessing on who will be playing each game day – because right now I’m just hoping that when Saturday comes, we can manage to scrap together a striker, a back four, and a full subs bench.
All I could think, was ‘what a good stadium for a team who could get relegated at this rate’
Majority are training ground injuries. Chadwell Heath needs to be addressed it’s damaging the squad
Sam needs the sack if we are to ever play attractive football again
I’d play tedious football in a 9-1-0 formation at the moment if it got us 3 points. Nolan is a shadow of himself right now. Jarvis and Downing don’t seem to be pushing each other on. Ravel is caught in the hype. Jack’s knees don’t help him. Joe can’t grab a break. Carlton couldn’t ever score for toffee and as for Modibo. I reckon calling Geoff Hurst out of retirement would more likely see a goal scored. January can’t come quickly enough.