The two-week break at the beginning of the Premier League season was a time during which we would have hoped that several of our players who were already nursing small injuries would be able to take a little bit of time (in spite of the international schedules they would be playing/traveling) to get healthy. As you may recall from my season preview, this was a fairly major early-season concern to begin with:
...but perhaps the most cogent point regarding the start of the 2011-12 season is that we had nearly nothing in terms of injury at the very beginning of the season. It does not seem that we will be in a similar position this year with the likes of Yohan Cabaye, Cheik Tiote and Fabricio Coloccini reportedly already nursing niggling injuries. This may not bode well staring a the 2012-13 Europa League square in the face.
While our hopes may have been realized in the shape of Cheik Tiote (who did not play for the Ivory Coast in their first-leg ACoN play-off versus Papiss Cisse and Demba Ba's Senegal) who looks set to return for Newcastle v. Everton in a week's time, the news is not nearly as good with some of our other internationals.
Fabricio Coloccini:
A statement on the AFA’s official website said: "Fabricio Coloccini has a hamstring injury in the femoral biceps of his right leg. He himself travels with the squad to continue treating with the same doctor."
-via The Chronicle
A worsening of a hamstring injury that was sticking around with Captain Colo is definitely not the news that Alan Pardew or any of the staff, squad or supporters of Newcastle United would have been hoping for following Fabricio's recall to the Argentina setup. I will just leave this one alone as I'm going to hit broken record status sooner rather than later. You may recall that we're missing Ryan Taylor to a long-term injury, Danny Simpson for 3-4 weeks, James Perch and now potentially Coloccini from a defensive line on which depth was a concern in the first place.
Tim Krul:
Netherlands goalkeeper Tim Krul has returned to club side Newcastle after suffering an elbow injury in training yesterday.
-via fifa.com
Krul played in the 2-0 win over Turkey in Oranje's opening FIFA World Cup™ qualifier on Friday night as he seeks to claim the number one jersey from Maarten Stekelenburg. But he now faces an anxious wait to discover the severity of the injury after being ruled out of the clash with Hungary on Tuesday night.
Days after being told by Oranje trainers that he was being considered the Dutch No. 1, Tim Krul has taken an elbow injury during that is ruling him out of their second match in this international break (v. Hungary) and has seen him return early to Tyneside to try to determine if and for how long this injury may rule him out of the Newcastle squad. This may reveal the real victory of the summer transfer window, that being that we did not sell Steve Harper and in fact saw him climb above Rob Elliott on the depth chart. While an injury to Tim Krul would see Elliott dangerously close to the lineup, at least we do have Harper to step into the breach in the meantime. Again this is a situation on which I have made my ideas abundantly clear.
Ultimately, these injuries are far from ideal and will force Alan Pardew into trusting the young defenders that are in our 23-man roster for the Premier League in that competition as well as giving them run in the Europa League and Capitol One Cup... For better or worse, this is where we're at. One thinks that a couple of extra million £ might have prevented this crisis... but I reckon it's not my £, so I don't get a say on how or if they're spent.
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