Injuries are part and parcel of football. They are as inevitable as night following day. As winter turning into spring. Bad luck following good. We expect them and so accept them with only a murmur of irritation.
However Newcastle United currently appear to have more than their fair dollop of setbacks. First we had Callum Wilson _ did I hear a distant voice shouting 'inevitably?' _ quickly followed by two other big hitters Allan Saint-Maximin and Bruno Guimaraes. I'm convinced all three bowing out as one has cost United valuable points of late leaving the win column stuck on one.
Long term course you can add Jonjo Shelvey - remember him? - Emil Krafth and Karl Darlow. That is bad enough but then as we have entered the international break more have unbelievably added to a long queue.
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Elliot Anderson was unable to join up with Scotland's young bucks, Bruno who only came back against Crystal Palace was forced to pull out of Brazil's opening international, and Sweden sent home Alexander Isak, £60m worth of talent deemed too injured to play in either of their scheduled two games.
Crazy but wait, there is more. In the early hours of Sunday morning came news from the other side of the world that Chris Wood was forced off during the first half of New Zealand’s friendly defeat to Australia with what appeared to be a rib injury.
It has all got so silly that Darlow was badly injured in training, not combat, immediately United had allowed Martin Dubravka to go to Manchester United on loan and so were forced to sign a keeper no one else wanted, Loris Karius, after transfer deadline day to provide emergency cover. Oh, and by the way, Dubravka himself got hurt and was sent home by Slovakia this international fortnight!
I mean, how many black cats have we run over? Eddie Howe will need a roll call before we roll on to Fulham and the restart of Premier League hostilities.
Wilson may be about to thankfully rejoin the living but instead of him partnering Isak in a twosome we have looked forward to seeing will it be one replacing the other again? Maxi is anybody's guess while Bruno is a genuine worry but desperately required and we are all waiting with anticipation for young Elliot's first PL start.
The consequences of the mighty going missing have been significant. Wilson has been out of United's last four PL games while Saint-Maximin has been sidelined for the last three during which time the Mags have collected just three points and scored only four goals in their last four games, results which have seen them slip to 10th in the standings.
Of course the possible reasons for a pile up of the lame is always up for discussion. Is it merely a matter of being grotesquely unlucky? Or is it a case of being like Leeds United when Marcelo Bielsa was manager and the feeling was his high intensity pressing game, replicated every day in training, inevitably took its physical toll on players?
United are a good side when all their players are available but their squad is painfully thin when big hitters are sidelined. Turning draws into wins is the order of the day at Fulham but help is required please.
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A trio of Newcastle legends are coming together to raise money in the name of the biggest legend of them all.
Top players Mick Quinn, Rob Lee, and Steve Watson will share the stage at a dinner on Friday March 3 next year when all proceeds will go to the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation. The do will be held at the Grand Hotel Gosforth Park as one of the annual fund raisers organised by the NUFC Legends.
Quinnie of course famously fell out with his boyhood hero Kevin Keegan who sold him to Coventry City where in his first six Premier League games for a very average side he scored a record 10 times.
Lee like Quinn was snubbed by a big name United boss, Ruud Gullit, and was stripped on a squad number but rose again under Bobby Robson to such an extent he scored a deserved equaliser in the FA Cup semi-final of 2000 at Wembley at which stage I was convinced United were destined to reach their third successive final.
However within five minutes of our undiluted joy future Sunderland boss Gus Poyet notched his second goal of the game to squeeze Chelsea through instead of United. That Lee should be helping to raise money for the Foundation of the man who saved his Newcastle career seems totally appropriate.
Tickets cost £45 and are available by contacting either Les Hancock on 07779 841293 (lesnufc@yahoo.com) or Terry Sweeney 07968 126622.
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