19 Jul 2026 20:50:36
Martinez injured in WC final. Hope not bad news for us.
19 Jul 2026 21:29:26
Need to get rid anyway, so makes no difference.
19 Jul 2026 21:34:42
Mainoo has a back injury. Sesko has a shin injury. Ugarte's out, which, from a playing point of view, is not a disaster, but it makes selling him more difficult, and Ashford hardly excelled. It has not been a great World Cup for us.
19 Jul 2026 21:53:13
On the positive side, we had no players in the England team being flogged like Rice, and they won't have the inevitable sadness of losing a semi final.
20 Jul 2026 05:19:32
Mainoo, I would wager, is fine, or at least will be by the time he is due to play.
20 Jul 2026 12:50:05
Have a feeling Mainoo really didn't want to play on Saturday and went 'My back hurts, get me out of here.' He'll be fine by mid August.
20 Jul 2026 13:51:55
If that's his M.O when things aren't going his way, then he'll never be all right.
20 Jul 2026 15:22:07
Typically most teams suffer a higher number of injuries in seasons following summer international tournaments.
Players don't get enough rest, and the additional traveling and exertion on their bodies often comes home to roost the following season.
For ourselves, we will likely have to play an extra 15-20 games, so adding quality in depth is vital for us this summer. This is especially true as we have a number of players in our first team squad that typically struggle with injuries anyway (Mazraoui, MdL, Martinez, Shaw, and Mount).
The challenge is that, in the current market, trying to find value for money to bulk out the squad is difficult. Although we have found some success with signing players like Heaven for low fees, others such as Sekou Kone, Diego Leon, and Chido Obi Martins haven't yet paid off.
We have already, as of today, signed Christian Orozco and Tynan Thompson. Will these lads have an impact this season? Or will they take a little while to bed in? Maybe one or two of Leon, Obi Martins, or Kone will kick in this season.
Or perhaps one or two of the academy lads will step up this season. The most likely candidates seem to be Harry Amass, Shea Lacey, Radek Vitek, Jaydan Kamason, Godwill Kukonki, Jim Thwaites and the Fletcher twins.
Or at least these seem like the players who are most ready to potentially break into the first team. Although, for obvious reasons, some such as Vitek are unlikely to get the amount of game time needed.
Right now I'd say Amass or one of the midfielders are most likely to have the chance to break out this season. This is mostly due to my suspicion that they might have a clearer pathway because of the limitations of our first team squad. Shaw will likely return to type and spend much of the season injured. Unless we sign another LB, that only places Dorgu ahead of Amass. Likewise, midfield looks a little light, even with the two new signings. Even if we get a third, how they settle and the demands might mean a space opens up at some point during the season.
I think the other defenders will have a harder time due to us already having a lack of experience with Yoro and Heaven, who'll play ahead of them. While Lacey will also struggle to get much game time ahead of Mbeumo and Amad.
We will likely see a fair few injuries this season, and how this squad copes with them will play a massive factor in how successful we are this coming season.
21 Jul 2026 08:54:48
Red Man put a curse on him.