Sam talked today about Newcastle’s injury situation ahead of the upcoming Christmas flurry of games.
Damien Duff – doing well in training to get get back into the squad
Our squad is not the biggest in the Premiership, and that’s one thing we need to do in the summer, to build the squad in terms of both quality and quantity. Hopefully we’ll be in Europe again, and we’ll need a bigger squad because of the greater number of games.
Sam Allardyce is aware that our squad could be stretched if injuries and suspensions are picked up over the Christmas period. He told the Newcastle Journal today:
“We’ve got Steven Taylor available again after the Fulham game and that’s good. We’ve also got Abdoulaye Faye, Stephen Carr and Damien Duff getting close, while Shola Ameobi had a game in midweek as well which he will benefit from.â€
“They will all be vital for us, we are going to need every single player over the course of the next fortnight. All that is left is to get Michael (Owen) back and we’ll have pretty much a full squad to pick from, at least until the four lads go away for the African Cup of Nations.â€
It does look like Steven Taylor can play on Sunday and then Faye, Carr and Damien Duff could well be available for our game at Wigan Athletic on Boxing Day, which is a 3:00 pm kick-off. It will be great to have Damien Duff back in the squad, and he may well be on the bench for our home game against Manchester City on Wednesday 2nd January. KO 7:45 pm.
We know the Newcastle fans will give the Irishman a tremendous hand, having come back from a terrible and career threatening ankle injury.
Comments very welcome.
4 comments so far
George
Dec 21, 2007 at 10:27 AM
Comment #1It is about time that our injuries healed up, but for all this is not funny, i can not see us having a full squad to choose from. Unfortunately it is that time of year and the northeast of england is suffering from a bad bout of flu which has had me in bed for over a week. Everyone i talk to is suffering and you can guarantee you that the players will start dropping soon. Hope i am wrong but this flu is horrendous.
Leo
Dec 21, 2007 at 10:56 AM
Comment #2bhah flu, had it, didnt once lie in bed over the day, cant be bothered alowing a bug to get the better of me… played lots of 5 a side during my bout of illness. and played my ususal heart renching speeds.
just like out players like butt et al did when they had it
brett wilkes
Dec 21, 2007 at 11:03 AM
Comment #3duffer remains a key to us as we lose width with charlie at the back and he will give us the option on the left with milner on the right its a good dilema to have when you have to leave some quality out. from here on in toon all the way
Ausgeordie
Dec 21, 2007 at 11:19 AM
Comment #4Seems odd for Sam to build this relationship between milner and Zog when ideally Milner will go to the right and duff will go upfront on the left in front of Zog in midfield with Enrique up back.