Pre-Season Injuries - Starting As We Mean To Go On

I have to say I'm incredibly impressed with the start we've made here. We've often been at the forefront of player injuries but this may be our best work yet:

- Doucoure
- Chalobah
- Deulofeu
- Femenia
- Kaboul
- Cleverley
- Penaranda?

All MIA with two weeks to go. However, fear not, the Watford FC medical team are on the case and we can expect all of them back in "X days/weeks/months/decades". Looking forward to seeing what our new head of medical can do to keep them out for as long as possible:

 

Someone will be along shortly to tell us that we aren't in a position to comment because we haven't diagnosed the injuries first hand and that the medical team are in fact doing a great job.

 

WTF is going on with our players a lot of them seem to be virtually permenant "sicknotes"

 

Is that a genuine question or one of your mind farts?

 

They are not actually ‘MIA’ cos they haven’t seen any action - injured long before any action starts.

Unbelievable with all the money, resources, technology and supposed medical team experts available for the players ‘wellness’.

 

Okaka too. Not appeared in any of the videos at Colney or in Austria. Ok, he's not great but would still be nice to know if he was still alive or are we planning on going into the new season with Deeney, Gray and Jakubiak as our only strikers?

 

I personally think this is good. Get them fit for February and press on with building some momentum with the squad come next year in the Championship. The Pozzo's know what they are doing.

 

We won't see Okaka here again

 

Kaboul is training for the World record for time out for a foot injury. Peneranda out for an eternity. Mystery illness strikes down Doucoure and Chalobah. Garcia feigned complete ignorance. Our injury list hurts us more than any lack of signings for certain positions. There are already World Cup players back and playing at other clubs. Let's hope some of these medical issues are being addressed because sooner or later we will suffer.

 

Remember the big defender we bought from Sunderland the other year, stubbed his toe, not been seen in over a year

 

It boggles the mind that some absolute clown thought it was a good idea to give Kaboul a three year contract considering his age and injury record. He and his agent must have been p*ssing themselves.

 

Incontinence? Surgery should clear that up in a couple of weeks or just wear nappies FFS!

 

I have every confidence that this thread will run to more than 100 pages of wailing and a sobbing.

 

VOR will also post emojis like the kids. Lol.

 

I fear he's gonna get DjeDjed

 

It's because it's absolute unbelievable that this is still going on. Half of our starting 11 potentially ruled out already

 

Meh, we could put this team out v Brighton.

Foster
Janmaat Kabasele Prodl Massina
Hughes Capoue Doucoure Pereyra
Gray Deeney

or

Foster
Janmaat Kabasele Prodl Massina
Capoue Doucoure
Pereyra Hughes Sema
Gray

Likely that Femenia and Cathcart will also be available. Time for the others to come back and time for a few more signings.

 

Its never boring!

 

It's the start of the season though, we should be able to put out our best team. Last couple of seasons, we've had fully fit squads (bar Deeney last year) at the start. We've started well, injuries have bitten and we've fallen off a cliff.

Starting a season minus a few players puts as at a significant disadvantage, not least because those missing can't be doing a full pre-season and won't be match fit with no friendlies to build up with. There's also the additional factor that our medical team seem incapable of getting people back on the pitch within a reasonable period. I have little faith that a fit Doucouré will feature in the opening game, or that we'll see Cleverley before Christmas.

 

No one is saying it's desirable, but just to get a hint of perspective.

 

Can just turn that on its head though. Maybe you should get a sense of perspective about it not being that bad, despite the evidence.

a) can you ever remember a pre-season with this many key players unable to take part in warm up games because of fitness issues?
b) can you ever remember a worse run of injuries than the last two seasons, particularly seemingly innocuous ones keeping players out for months on end?

We have topped the injury tables two seasons in a row by quite some distance, think it's perfectly reasonable for people to fear the worst after what's gone on this pre-season.

 

At least it delays the anger caused by reading about his contract extension when his current one finally ends.

 

I do understand the clubs desire to keep things private, but ultimately it just leads to fans getting frustrated.

Chalobah was seemingly back from injury at the end of the season. He went off to train with the England squad. Why is he now not fit?

Be nice to know why he's now still not fit, 8 months after he was initially scheduled to be back.

 

'Seemingly' is the key word there. He had a very serious injury. He was given a jolly boys outing, a reward if you like, for his work on his rehabilitation. He didn't look fit while on the pitch - one leg was almost double the size of the other. He looked off the pace in a game in which there was zero intensity.

This season is all about seeing whether he can get back to PL level. I expect him to be in and out of the team all season. I doubt, unfortunately, we can really rely on him in the near future.

 

It’s more that I don’t really care. This is one complex part of my life I don’t have to manage or take decisions about. I’m not going to get emotionally invested in our pre-season training and fitness.

I’m not surprised we have lots of injuries, we have loads of players. I reject the idea that this is somehow brought about by a poor medical team or fitness regime. Some players struggle for a couple of seasons before they get back to their best. This is where we are corporately, struggling to get fit.

I feel it’s likely that the owners and the coach will do what they need to, but the sense of panic spreading among the fans about fitness and signings won’t help in the slightest.

 

I’ll be happy to oblige

 

Personally I think the medical team are doing a great job, I can understand as to why they are not in a position to comment on the longevity of the injuries as the players haven't been diagnosed yet"

 

We just don't know though. Maybe he was returning to fitness then had a setback?

A bit of clarity from the club would be nice. They decided to tell us about Cleverley last week, why not the rest of them? It's all very odd

 

You've got to laugh really.

 

It's gonna come out in a few years. One of those Shipman type medical professionals has been hobbling our players with toxic injections because of some Munchausen by proxy syndrome.

You heard it here first.

 

Muscle imbalance by proxy?

 

After seeing the wheels come off in each of the last three seasons, we're trying a revolutionary approach to just ******* the whole idea of wheels off in the first place this year.