Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Forward thinking

Hurrah! At last - some welcome news on the injury front.

It looks as though Mark Viduka and Obafemi Martins will both feature to some extent in Sunday's home game with Everton, for which we have the added bonus of professional thorn-in-the-backside Tim Cahill being suspended. Viduka trundled off the bench against West Brom to useful effect, and while we might not be able to expect the explosive pace we've missed from Martins so soon after his hernia operation, it'll be good just to have him back.

The BBC story makes mention of not two but "three international strikers", though. I know what you're thinking: has Little Saint Mick made a miraculous recovery? No. Apparently Alan Smith is all set for his first taste of action this season. Good of them to label him as a striker for us - we really weren't sure and had resigned ourselves to considering him uncategorisable...

And to add to the prospect of seeing Smith doing what he does best - nothing of note other than collecting bookings - there's the annoyance that, having suddenly discovered his scoring touch with a brace for the Reserves against their counterparts from Wigan, the Xisco Kid is out for two weeks with a broken toe. At a time when there's a real need to keep fringe players active and in form, it seems ridiculous to maintain the Reserves as nothing more than a glorified U19 side - so it's sod's law that when the management agree and pitch some more senior players in for match fitness, injuries strike.
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