Monty91
10-07-2013, 02:20 PM
"Just what goes on in the White Hart Lane injury-rehab clinic? It has come to resemble more of a black hole from which players never emerge. They go in with what is reported as a minor knock and aren't seen or heard of again for months.
Take Aaron Lennon. Lennon has long been a paid-up member of the sick list. Almost every season he seems to spend at least two or three months out of action.
Normally his injuries strike rather later in the season. But in the second game this season he went off with what looked like a minor foot injury and hasn't been available since. That was about six weeks ago and there's no sign of him coming back any time soon. Each week, I check the club website to see if he's fit again; each week I read that he's still unavailable.
Then there's Etienne Capoue. When he was stretchered off against Arsenal on Sept. 1, it was first feared he had a broken leg. Within a day, the news was far more optimistic. Capoue had a badly bruised ankle and would be out for a month. The month has long been and gone and there's no sign of the Frenchman making a comeback. The same goes for Danny Rose. He went off with a toe injury against Tromso. We were initially told that the injury was not that bad and he might be fit for Cardiff the following Sunday. He wasn't. Nor has he been since.
There have been similar narratives for previous seasons. Kaboul was injured in the first game last year against Newcastle. Sandro went off against QPR. Both injuries turned out to be a great deal more serious than first admitted. Defoe was also out for a lot longer than was first announced. The list goes on and on.
All of which offers some intriguing possibilities. The most sensible -- that Spurs imagine there is some advantage to withholding information -- is somehow the least likely. After all, what is there possibly to be gained when the opposition will always assume you are going to field your strongest team? So that leaves two options.
The first is that the club doesn't actually know how serious the injuries to its players really are; the second is that the club doctors and physios are secretly making the players worse. Will the next player -- should there be one -- to escape from the rehab rooms please tell us which it is?
Take Aaron Lennon. Lennon has long been a paid-up member of the sick list. Almost every season he seems to spend at least two or three months out of action.
Normally his injuries strike rather later in the season. But in the second game this season he went off with what looked like a minor foot injury and hasn't been available since. That was about six weeks ago and there's no sign of him coming back any time soon. Each week, I check the club website to see if he's fit again; each week I read that he's still unavailable.
Then there's Etienne Capoue. When he was stretchered off against Arsenal on Sept. 1, it was first feared he had a broken leg. Within a day, the news was far more optimistic. Capoue had a badly bruised ankle and would be out for a month. The month has long been and gone and there's no sign of the Frenchman making a comeback. The same goes for Danny Rose. He went off with a toe injury against Tromso. We were initially told that the injury was not that bad and he might be fit for Cardiff the following Sunday. He wasn't. Nor has he been since.
There have been similar narratives for previous seasons. Kaboul was injured in the first game last year against Newcastle. Sandro went off against QPR. Both injuries turned out to be a great deal more serious than first admitted. Defoe was also out for a lot longer than was first announced. The list goes on and on.
All of which offers some intriguing possibilities. The most sensible -- that Spurs imagine there is some advantage to withholding information -- is somehow the least likely. After all, what is there possibly to be gained when the opposition will always assume you are going to field your strongest team? So that leaves two options.
The first is that the club doesn't actually know how serious the injuries to its players really are; the second is that the club doctors and physios are secretly making the players worse. Will the next player -- should there be one -- to escape from the rehab rooms please tell us which it is?