Planet Swans ArchivesWe have had a lot of injuries this season and many are talking about an ‘injury curse’ at the Vetch. There certainly is something somewhere as I struggle to recall a season as bad as this one as far as injuries are concerned.
Martinez originally was injured in a Friday night game against Boston at the Vetch and faced up to eight weeks on the sidelines. Fortunately we thought he came back to action early in home games against Kidderminster and Cambridge. He didn’t look fit in either game although reports from Rochdale last weekend suggested that he looked more like that Martinez that we all know and love. But now comes this blow that could see him out until December, possibly longer if some rumours are to be believed. Is this just unlucky or are we pushing the players too hard before they are ready?
Brad Maylett seems to be working a shift pattern at the moment with a few weeks on and a few weeks off. He doesn’t always look fit when he returns to the team – suggestion there perhaps as well that he is being returned to the action too early. Karl Connolly lasted less than half and hour before he was carried off the Vetch again. Does the list go further than that?
It has been suggested several times that maybe we are not preparing the players as a whole for the rigours of league football. Maybe there is something wrong on the training pitch or in the methods of warming up and warming down that is making them more prone to injury. Maybe there is a contribution from that somewhere which, coupled with bringing back players sooner than expected, is causing us more problems than we need?
Personally I would rather see a player sit out a couple of extra weeks as they recover from injury than to see then rushed back into the fold and soon out again injured. I would hate to see a 80% (or less) fit Lee Trundle back in action in a week’s time only to watch him hobble out and face another six weeks on the sidelines.
Sure some of this is bad luck and some of it is a result of key men being targetted at times. But not all of these injuries are down to incidents during matches when you would assume that the players are more exposed to the chances of injury. Many of them are training ground incidents and that is either just unlucky or somewhere we could be doing something wrong.
Explaining the latest set back for Martinez, Flynn told the Evening Post “‘It happened at the end of training which is obviously frustrating for him, ‘He just struck a ball and felt the ligament again.”
We have got ourselves into a great position to challenge for promotion this season but at this relatively early stage I see no point in taking gambles on the fitness of key men. Losing Martinez is a big blow – same as it was when we lost him at the start of the season. We cannot afford to be without a player of his influence for any length of time – less so if it is as a result of something that could be avoided.
There is certainly no finger pointing here at individuals but it has to be worth considering that something could be wrong that could be rectified. If there isn’t then fine – we’ll put it down to bad luck and move on the way that we have done so far. But if we are taking gambles then the better one would have been money on the Swans at 40/1 at the start of the season and not on our key players that we need as fit as possible.
Failing anything being wrong in what I have said today – anybody up for a good conspiracy theory
