Criticising players coming back from injury

[No. 9]

Are we too quick to criticise players in their first few games back after injury.

Seen it with Lukaku, Pienaar, Barkley, Coleman etc already this season

Got to get them back up to match fitness

 

[zandvoort blue]

Barry mate
You forgot Barry

 

[ijjysmith]

How long has Osman been injured? 4 years is it?

 

[Ashtonian]

See normally i would say no but the likes of peinnar seem to always be injured and getting back to fitness these days so it easy to simply not want him in the team. Feels like every time i watch him he is returning to the team.

Barkley has been supported from my perspective, not heard any too bad a word said about him recovering. Lukakau is the target away from the usual suspects so he will be slagged off until he scores a hat trick every game.

Just depends on who it is really

 

[No. 9]

Barry's gone mate

Useless player. Don't wanna see him in the team ever again. Play Besic from now on etc etc repeat

 

[Tree13]

Are we too quick to criticise players in their first few games back after injury.

Seen it with Lukaku, Pienaar, Barkley, Coleman etc already this season

Got to get them back up to match fitness

Yup. There's a lot of knee-jerkers on here, blessed with short memories and an inability to accept certain truths.

For instance take Gareth Barry - he had a great season last year and when the discussions on here turned to "Should we sign him permanently" we had dozens of posters clamouring for him. Some of us sounded a note of caution and pointed out that his age, combined with the fact he was never blessed with pace to begin with, meant that IF we signed him we would have to manage him carefully and not simply play him in every game. We were shouted down.

Lo and behold, too many minutes in too many games without sufficient rotation has caused Barry problems, and the same posters who insisted he was a nailed on starter for three years are now asking for him to be banished. The true problem of course is Gibson's inability to stay fit (another valid observation shouted down by the masses) and provide the necessary cover to rotate with Barry.

There is a massive blind spot on this forum for many posters when it comes to succession planning: look at the LB spot for evidence of that. People would rather simply play Baines there until he drops dead, rather than accept that he will inevitably decline as he ages and therefore start making alternative plans with the two promising understudies (Oviedo and Garbutt) currently on our books.

As for the players you named, I've not seen any real criticism of Coleman or Barkley; those wetting the bed about Lukaku are allowing his price to influence their opinion too much; the criticism of Pienaar is slightly more warranted, but it's interesting that the ultimate cause of his decline (age) is acknowledged in his instance but ignored when the likes of Barry are mentioned.

 

[Titus Bramble]

Are we too quick to criticise players in their first few games back after injury.

Seen it with Lukaku, Pienaar, Barkley, Coleman etc already this season

Got to get them back up to match fitness

Barry's gone mate

Useless player. Don't wanna see him in the team ever again. Play Besic from now on etc etc repeat

I think you've just answered your own question.

 

[Seanjd]

I think you've just answered your own question.

Beat me to it. Amazing.

 

[MACCA75]

Irony is lost on some people..

 

[degsy]

See normally i would say no but the likes of peinnar seem to always be injured and getting back to fitness these days so it easy to simply not want him in the team. Feels like every time i watch him he is returning to the team.

Barkley has been supported from my perspective, not heard any too bad a word said about him recovering. Lukakau is the target away from the usual suspects so he will be slagged off until he scores a hat trick every game.

Just depends on who it is really

Lukaku had his toe / foot problem what ever it actually was. He will get cut a lot more slack when off form if he puts in a decent shift, gets stuck in, gives it a bit of Stracq. All he is at the moment is a slightly better rich man's Anichebe

 

[mightymoyes]

why dont they play in the ressies til they're nearly up to speed. pienaar looks miles away from match fitness.

 

[CynicalBlue]

Controversial possibly, but I actually think sick note Alcaraz looks decent when he returns from injury, alas a day later he is injured again though.

 

[Seanjd]

why dont they play in the ressies til they're nearly up to speed. pienaar looks miles away from match fitness.

Can't you only field 2 overage players in under 21's? We usually have at least 5 out....

 

[Milk]

Big difference between fitness and match fitness.
No amount of practice games and U21s are going to prepare you for the reality of a Prem game even if you're as fit as a butchers dog

 

[caught]

I don't think it matters. I mean,

A lad: "Barry's been crap this season."
A lid: "But yeah mate but he's been injured."
Lad: "Yeah mate yeah but he's been crap tho."
Lid: "Injured tho mate."
Lad: "Yeah but still crap tho mate."
Lid: "Yeah but injured."
Lad: "We should melt his body in a furnace and then put the liquid into little Gareth Barry ice cube trays mate, for Christmas Baileys."
Lid: "Yeah but give him another week tho mate."
Lad: "No mate."

If we read this in the context of Beckettian absurdism, which I think we should, we can see clearly that language itself is an imperfect and imprecise tool of representation, ultimately futile and merely a distraction from the looming finitude of life.