I think the fact that JFC, Reeves, Page, Clarke, Cullen and Ward are all five nineish and not natural athletes, means they are playing on the edge in a fairly brutal league with precious little protection from poor refs. Other sides get extra protection by getting us carded and acting hurt when clearly not. We need to recruit bigger more athletic players and be more cynical in 50/50s.
I don't agree with the "Not natural athletes" part. The amount of athleticism required in the modern game is higher than it has ever been. Height is not necessarily a factor in that.
That being said, trade offs are made for good technical players versus big, imposing lumps. And we have decided to go for the former constantly (which I think is the right choice in the long term). To get smaller, more technical players to play in League One you need something to give, either they're injury prone, lacking first team football, not fully developed physically (Lapslie), or they're on the smaller side, or a combination thereof.
I think what we're seeing is the result of some bad luck and some trade-offs. I don't think our injury list is any worse than it was this time last year, when, if memory serves, we had something like 12 senior players out at once.
Sorry to disagree but can you advise another sport they might be suited to? Apart from Page none are particularly quick, so are vulnerable to clumsy challenges or avoidance that might stretch their physicality. I am their size and my sport was rowing, not a great fit for a relative midget but none show the mental toughness to win a regatta. Unlike, say Duracell bunny Lapslie, who declared himself fit when clearly wasn't.
Actually this is the one I would challenge @Sage on, knowing that you literally do this shit for a living, and respecting your opinion as such.
The boy suffered a concussion and was seemingly back in training a few days later, where he felt dizzy and had to stop, then was in a matchday squad a few days after that, suffered a head-to-head collision, and is now showing concussive symptoms again. It seems to me like he was allowed back too soon. No, they couldn't predict a head-to-head collision but surely they should be aware that contact with the head, be it heading the ball or a stray arm or a collision are all part of the game and a risk.
I think we are more cautious with head injuries and concussions here in the States, both in footy itself as a result of players having to retire due to constant concussions, but also, I think, as a spill over from the problems with American Football/the NFL. But to me a concussion usually means two weeks out, full stop. It seems to me Lapslie was let back too soon.
Harvey, to your point, I want to reject the premise of "what other sport would they be good at?" as not relavent, but I actually think it's kind of an interesting thought exercise, pardon the pun. I suspect different track events, namely the medium to longer distance running. My experience with people who are athletic is that they tend to be good at most sports they take up, so it's kind of hard to tell without knowing the lads better than I do now (which is not at all).
@SDAddick with head injuries, especially concussion injuries, there is a strict protocol that must be followed. I believe it’s a 6 day clearance turn around. He suffered the initial concussion on Tuesday 11th December, meaning that he wouldn’t have been allowed to train again until Tuesday 18th December as that was the 7th day, possibly Monday 17th he could have joined in, but that isn’t for certain. He wasn’t in the squad for the Wimbledon game on the 15th. Correctly done. We then know that during that week commencing 17th when he did join training, he went down and could see stars showing signs of a slight concussion still being apparent. He then was not in the squad again for the Gillingham game and would have begun training again around Christmas Eve, depending upon the protocol and the signs of concussion itself that Lapslie was presenting.
With head injuries, there really is a strict policy now that is in place and must be followed otherwise the club and medical team would be putting themselves at risk of being sued, fined, or potentially sacked. I have no doubts that they followed the protocol to the letter and done everything that they were meant to.
The only thing that they maybe could have done, IF they didn’t, was to perform a scan to see if there was any further signs of injury. However, this is firstly very costly and secondly, it may not have been needed because every box was ticked for example.
With the way Lapslie plays, how wholehearted he is, it would be an idea to maybe play with headgear to protect him a bit more.
Personally, I couldn’t comment on what the specific situation is with Lapslie, but for sure, from the initial concussion and the part where he went down seeing stars, there was enough time between each event to follow the protocol twice, tick each box again, and allow him to join in.
It is however, a contact injury again, and one thing that they just will not perform a contact/impact on the head when they’re recovering from the concussion. It’s extremely difficult to predict, but maybe there is a case of increasing the protocol from 6 days to a further 2, having 8 days. Those extra 48 hours could be huge. However, that isn’t anything that the club can do, it must be followed by the governing bodies.
Years ago players played with concussion (I've done it myself). Not saying it was the right thing to do but more that people weren't aware of the dangers.
On the Aribo injury; if that was done in the challenge by the East Stand, then he took a big whack. The Man City bloke Delph was sent off at Leicester for something similar (personally think both were good challenges but I tend to judge things against older standards).
Years ago players played with concussion (I've done it myself). Not saying it was the right thing to do but more that people weren't aware of the dangers.
On the Aribo injury; if that was done in the challenge by the East Stand, then he took a big whack. The Man City bloke Delph was sent off at Leicester for something similar (personally think both were good challenges but I tend to judge things against older standards). I'm not overly surprised that Aribo is out.
Years ago players played with concussion (I've done it myself). Not saying it was the right thing to do but more that people weren't aware of the dangers.
On the Aribo injury; if that was done in the challenge bytheEastStand, then he took a big whack. The Man City bloke Delph was sent off at Leicester for something similar (personally think both were good challenges but I tend to judge things against older standards).
Disgraceful when our own stands are injuring our players! The East Stand should get a 3 match ban.
25 different players have played league football for Charlton this season.
Lack of experience yes. Small squad, no.
Some of those 25 are nowhere near ready and have been used in desperation.
They are U18 or U23 players not first team squad players who are 'fit for purpose.'
If you are talking about players 'fit for purpose' then it is a small squad.
But is that any different to most clubs in this division?
I doubt there are too many league one sides with 25 seasoned pros in their squad. Clubs at this level cannot afford huge squads, so i'd guess the vast majority have quite a few academy kids in there.
Portsmouth for example have used 8 players who are 23 and under this season and it isn't hurting them.
Our squad is reliant on kids simply because so many of the older pros are injury prone and have come to us with a history of being so and/or lacking match fitness. Luton (31 out of their last 33 points) have 11 players who have played in at least 20 of their 24 League games. By comparison, we have just 5 that have done so.
Yes we've had a million injuries but what 'kids' are we heavily relying on this season?
Grant, Aribo and Dijksteel are the ones who've featured regularly but they have over 200 appearances between them so i wouldn't consider them to be kids. Then we have Lapslie who yes fair play is new (and young) but has been in and out of the side.
Then we have Bielik and Cullen also U23 but they would probably walk into most sides in this division.
It's not as if we're playing 5-6 teenagers each week.
Point taken re "kids" - though 5 of the 6 outfield players on our bench for Coventry were U21 and 3 of them wouldn't, ordinarily, be anywhere near the first team were it not for the injuries. Again, comparing us to Luton, their bench for the last match consisted of players who have over 2,000 appearances between them.
Years ago players played with concussion (I've done it myself). Not saying it was the right thing to do but more that people weren't aware of the dangers.
On the Aribo injury; if that was done in the challenge by the East Stand, then he took a big whack. The Man City bloke Delph was sent off at Leicester for something similar (personally think both were good challenges but I tend to judge things against older standards).
I remember being at a game when Andy Jones got knocked out cold by the goalkeeper - and then just got up and carried on playing! Think he did get subbed off in the end though.
Years ago players played with concussion (I've done it myself). Not saying it was the right thing to do but more that people weren't aware of the dangers.
On the Aribo injury; if that was done in the challenge by the East Stand, then he took a big whack. The Man City bloke Delph was sent off at Leicester for something similar (personally think both were good challenges but I tend to judge things against older standards).
I remember being at a game when Andy Jones got knocked out cold by the goalkeeper - and then just got up and carried on playing! Think he did get subbed off in the end though.
Honestly I think we've been unlucky with injuries up to now this season.
Having read the match report which first of all bemoans all the injuries, I think as a club all of us, Bowyer included need to stop bemoaning the bad injuries we keep getting.
You'd like to think it'll even itself out but it won't. The injuries can't be pinned on Roland either, we've got a January transfer window about to open we can let Ward go and bring in two players in. That immediately reduces us with one less injured player and gives us two more bodies to choose from - if we get the two in early as Bowyer seems to hope.
We also get Sarr back on Tuesday and then Solly back for next Saturday. I think we just need to accept we've had bad luck, take it on the chin and now move on and make the most of what we've got and as a club stop referring to the injuries and they'll soon go into the background, they -will ease up.
Honestly I think we've been unlucky with injuries up to now this season.
Having read the match report which first of all bemoans all the injuries, I think as a club all of us, Bowyer included need to stop bemoaning the bad injuries we keep getting.
You'd like to think it'll even itself out but it won't. The injuries can't be pinned on Roland either, we've got a January transfer window about to open we can let Ward go and bring in two players in. That immediately reduces us with one less injured player and gives us two more bodies to choose from - if we get the two in early as Bowyer seems to hope.
We also get Sarr back on Tuesday and then Solly back for next Saturday. I think we just need to accept we've had bad luck, take it on the chin and now move on and make the most of what we've got and as a club stop referring to the injuries and they'll soon go into the background, they -will ease up.
Honestly I think we've been unlucky with injuries up to now this season.
Having read the match report which first of all bemoans all the injuries, I think as a club all of us, Bowyer included need to stop bemoaning the bad injuries we keep getting.
You'd like to think it'll even itself out but it won't. The injuries can't be pinned on Roland either, we've got a January transfer window about to open we can let Ward go and bring in two players in. That immediately reduces us with one less injured player and gives us two more bodies to choose from - if we get the two in early as Bowyer seems to hope.
We also get Sarr back on Tuesday and then Solly back for next Saturday. I think we just need to accept we've had bad luck, take it on the chin and now move on and make the most of what we've got and as a club stop referring to the injuries and they'll soon go into the background, they -will ease up.
Why would you let Ward go?
Don't get me wrong i'd like Ward to stay but we've got 21 games left to play, and we need players to be able to feature in say 18 of those and I doubt he'd feature in so many games. If the wage bill is tight then we'd need another left back as a higher priority IMO even if it means instead of Ward.
How far off a return is Cullen? He's been a big loss for us.
Josh Cullen continues to make good progress following the left shoulder dislocation he suffered away to Walsall. He is back outside completing ballwork and conditioning sessions with the strength and conditioning staff and is working on the final stages of strength work in the gym. It is hoped that he will re-integrate back into team training in the next two weeks.
Back in team training in the next 2 weeks, I expect he may be 1st team ready towards end of Jan
I think the fact that JFC, Reeves, Page, Clarke, Cullen and Ward are all five nineish and not natural athletes, means they are playing on the edge in a fairly brutal league with precious little protection from poor refs. Other sides get extra protection by getting us carded and acting hurt when clearly not. We need to recruit bigger more athletic players and be more cynical in 50/50s.
I don't agree with the "Not natural athletes" part. The amount of athleticism required in the modern game is higher than it has ever been. Height is not necessarily a factor in that.
That being said, trade offs are made for good technical players versus big, imposing lumps. And we have decided to go for the former constantly (which I think is the right choice in the long term). To get smaller, more technical players to play in League One you need something to give, either they're injury prone, lacking first team football, not fully developed physically (Lapslie), or they're on the smaller side, or a combination thereof.
I think what we're seeing is the result of some bad luck and some trade-offs. I don't think our injury list is any worse than it was this time last year, when, if memory serves, we had something like 12 senior players out at once.
Sorry to disagree but can you advise another sport they might be suited to? Apart from Page none are particularly quick, so are vulnerable to clumsy challenges or avoidance that might stretch their physicality. I am their size and my sport was rowing, not a great fit for a relative midget but none show the mental toughness to win a regatta. Unlike, say Duracell bunny Lapslie, who declared himself fit when clearly wasn't.
Actually this is the one I would challenge @Sage on, knowing that you literally do this shit for a living, and respecting your opinion as such.
The boy suffered a concussion and was seemingly back in training a few days later, where he felt dizzy and had to stop, then was in a matchday squad a few days after that, suffered a head-to-head collision, and is now showing concussive symptoms again. It seems to me like he was allowed back too soon. No, they couldn't predict a head-to-head collision but surely they should be aware that contact with the head, be it heading the ball or a stray arm or a collision are all part of the game and a risk.
I think we are more cautious with head injuries and concussions here in the States, both in footy itself as a result of players having to retire due to constant concussions, but also, I think, as a spill over from the problems with American Football/the NFL. But to me a concussion usually means two weeks out, full stop. It seems to me Lapslie was let back too soon.
Harvey, to your point, I want to reject the premise of "what other sport would they be good at?" as not relavent, but I actually think it's kind of an interesting thought exercise, pardon the pun. I suspect different track events, namely the medium to longer distance running. My experience with people who are athletic is that they tend to be good at most sports they take up, so it's kind of hard to tell without knowing the lads better than I do now (which is not at all).
SDA glad you could come up with one sport the named lightweights could turn to, but as someone who lost about 7kg of muscle to run the London marathon in 3'20" favouring a hammy, I doubt our rejects could make the transition. I go back to my staple "mental toughness". Those guys haven't got it.
Solly Brown Hales Humphries Mendonca Aizlewood Went Costa Yann Gritt. Those are hard men we need today.
Comments
With head injuries, there really is a strict policy now that is in place and must be followed otherwise the club and medical team would be putting themselves at risk of being sued, fined, or potentially sacked. I have no doubts that they followed the protocol to the letter and done everything that they were meant to.
The only thing that they maybe could have done, IF they didn’t, was to perform a scan to see if there was any further signs of injury. However, this is firstly very costly and secondly, it may not have been needed because every box was ticked for example.
With the way Lapslie plays, how wholehearted he is, it would be an idea to maybe play with headgear to protect him a bit more.
Personally, I couldn’t comment on what the specific situation is with Lapslie, but for sure, from the initial concussion and the part where he went down seeing stars, there was enough time between each event to follow the protocol twice, tick each box again, and allow him to join in.
It is however, a contact injury again, and one thing that they just will not perform a contact/impact on the head when they’re recovering from the concussion. It’s extremely difficult to predict, but maybe there is a case of increasing the protocol from 6 days to a further 2, having 8 days. Those extra 48 hours could be huge. However, that isn’t anything that the club can do, it must be followed by the governing bodies.
On the Aribo injury; if that was done in the challenge by the East Stand, then he took a big whack. The Man City bloke Delph was sent off at Leicester for something similar (personally think both were good challenges but I tend to judge things against older standards).
Having read the match report which first of all bemoans all the injuries, I think as a club all of us, Bowyer included need to stop bemoaning the bad injuries we keep getting.
You'd like to think it'll even itself out but it won't. The injuries can't be pinned on Roland either, we've got a January transfer window about to open we can let Ward go and bring in two players in. That immediately reduces us with one less injured player and gives us two more bodies to choose from - if we get the two in early as Bowyer seems to hope.
We also get Sarr back on Tuesday and then Solly back for next Saturday. I think we just need to accept we've had bad luck, take it on the chin and now move on and make the most of what we've got and as a club stop referring to the injuries and they'll soon go into the background, they -will ease up.
Back in team training in the next 2 weeks, I expect he may be 1st team ready towards end of Jan
Solly Brown Hales Humphries Mendonca Aizlewood Went Costa Yann Gritt. Those are hard men we need today.