The amount of muscle injuries we’ve had

Is a concern. Obviously there’s not a lot we we can do about unlucky injuries such as Willis’ knee or O’Nien’s dislocated shoulder, but calf / hamstring issues such as the ones suffered by the likes of Stewart, Flanagan and Hume say to me that either they are being rushed back too quickly or are doing too much in training. I appreciate it’s been a bloody long and difficult season with games crammed in left, right and centre due to the pandemic but it’s still something I’d expect a manager to plan for. Losing Hume and having to play McFadzean and then Gooch at left back for the best part of 2 legs was a major issue for us.

 

Johnson said something interesting in his interview yesterday about recruiting more robust players who can cope with demands.

 

Probably why we recruited another physio last week who has different skills to what we already have.

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ch...land-make-addition-backroom-team-20650837.amp

 

I think it's been a plight on a lot of clubs this season, the quick turnaround from last season with next to no pre-season, heavier pitches throughout winter etc. Don't think that it is totally unique to Sunderland.

 

Our squad is oldest in L1 and we wonder why they're always injured. Need younger hungry players who don't beak easily. I'd also look at sports science, medical and coaching staff improvements.

 

I am not making a direct comparison because the teams I am involved with are not adult or professional. However we have played 2 games a week for the last 3 months and I have never known a time with as many injuries. I think all football has crammed too many games in and everyone has found it hard.

Having said that I do worry a couple of our players seem to pick up injuries easily. Some players just arent as robust.

 

I would agree with that and refer my learned colleague to a certain German that always seemed to be injured yet Allardyce managed his fitness and got more gametime out of him
Now I dont know what our fitness and sports science department is like, its probably just been set up again, but we certainly need to look more closely at individual fitness programmes rather than 22 players running on the beach if you catch my drift

 

I hope you are right mate. The way he got games out of him was amazing. There is someone on here whose relative worked for him on that side of things and said he had a massive team on it. He was able to keep players at 100% so didnt need a huge squad - the payback was worth it.

I am sure I read the last owners turned off the cryo chamber things?

 

The only person using the cryo chamber after Allardyce left was allegedly Martin Bain as he had a bad back. Think it was only leased and was returned by the previous ownership. Hopefully new owners will be more considerate as to sports science and fitness

 

Sold it apparently because Martin Bain was the only one using it. Allardyce worked miracles with Kirchoff and Defoe swears by it, says it's added years on to his playing time and felt as fit at SAFC as he did when he was 21.

It's definitely something we should look at getting back (cryo chamber) as it aids in recovery time as well as other advanced medical science stuff.

 

Is this why he did not play the younguns, I wonder. He said something about them needing to develop physically.

 

How can he tell whos robust or not before he signs them though lol. Im sure nobody wants to sign a player that gets injured alot but its the risk you take.
Im sure every manager in the country wants to sign a player thats built like a machine but its not possible. Willis had a decent injury record until last year.

Statements like that makes me think Johnson is just a Billy bullsh$tter that tells fans what they want to hear

 

Well I guess they can look at injury history but not much more than that.

 

Exactly which is pretty pointless really when you say you want to sign a robust player obviously your not going to sign a Daniel Sturridge etc but its luck of the draw..
Like i said Johnson sounds like he talks the talk but putting words into action is a different story. He reminds me of a lad at work whos totally shyte at his job, but always succeeds by saying the right things in interviews

 

Football league has always been 2 games a week. We simply need more robust players and better medical and sports science. Smaller squads finished ahead of us. Says it all really.

 

We have signed payers who were captains in this league, they should be used to putting in a shift.

 

Of course, what with Hume being 35 and Stewart and Flanagan knocking on the door of 40 that’s obviously the case…

 

The annoying thing is that we've had two teams in place in the last decade who've been brilliant at avoiding this - Di Canio's (Christ they got a full season out of Wes Brown) and Allardyce's, and we've learned precisely nothing from it. Di Canio's team's pre-season set us up perfectly fitness wise, and Allardyce's team came in halfway through and got players back fit and kept them fit.

 

I believe Allardyce uses a specific method which is criticised in some circles as it is detrimental to a players healing (not exactly sure how but it’s not good for players long term) but Kirchhoff is case and point as a short term advocate for those methods!!

Every team has injuries. I just can’t ever remember a season where we had so many injured in the same position!!