It looks like everything was fine with Islam Slimani until last Tuesday when he kicked a ball in training and felt something in his leg.
As a precaution, Rafa now thinks it will be over two weeks before he will be fit again.
That what he was last Monday as far as everybody in the medical and coaching staff though.
But these things happen and you just have to manage it which Rafa, of course, will do as he tries to win the next two games at Bournemouth today and next Saturday at his former club Liverpool.
Rafa Benitez – being cautious with Slimani
This is what Rafa has said about Slimani’s injury setback as reported in the Northern Echo today:
“When we signed Islam we knew he had a little bit of an injury but he has been training and doing well.”
“He was just feeling the injury a little bit, so we made sure we were cautious with him.”
“Last Friday I was watching him run in training and he looked fine. He was working with the physios and the fitness coach and he did everything that we asked.”
“Then on Tuesday we were training and were working on possession, he was feeling really well but then he kicked the ball and just felt something.”
“Things like that can happen.”
“But he’s fine in himself, he’s positive and he’s telling me ‘oh, I feel fine, I can turn, I can spring’, but just with this gesture of kicking the ball he felt something at the top of his thigh.”
“We think it could be two or three weeks for Islam, it just depends. It’s unlucky for us,”
“We have two bits of good news, the first is that we just have Slimani and Gamez out, so our injury record is quite good.”
“The second bit of good news is that team is doing well. If we can continue to play like this, we can win games.”
“And it means that Slimani can give us something more at the end of the season.”
“So maybe he will be even more important to us.”
Those words from Rafa are indicative of why Rafa is such a good man-manager.
He’s not making too much of it, and Islam just wants to play for Newcastle; Rafa is also staying positive about things.
And it’s got to be frustrating for the 29-year-old who has already said he wants to join Newcastle permanently.
But it could be worthwhile to send the striker to a specialist in case there’s something our medics are missing about his injury.
Comments welcome.
10 comments so far
RUNAWAY777
Feb 24, 2018 at 9:28 AM
Comment #1Morning lads going for a 3 .. 1 to the toon enioy your day
Spoof
Feb 24, 2018 at 9:35 AM
Comment #2Two threads back Ed was blaming Ashley for our Slimani predicament,I really don’t get that like, it was done in training, since when does Ashley do the training sessions, as much as ibdislike Ashley, sorry Ed but it has to be said, you’re way off the mark, what a foolish thing to say.
G
Feb 24, 2018 at 9:35 AM
Comment #3Thinking about the possible outcomes today I think the toon will win, and our defence and keeper will be the difference. They looked really well organised at the back last game, and they’ve had a 2 week break to work together, so in theory they should be even tighter now.
Spoof
Feb 24, 2018 at 9:39 AM
Comment #4G
The difference will have to be the defence seeing that our striker is still crooked.
Spoof
Feb 24, 2018 at 9:40 AM
Comment #5Crooked—–crocked
AncientC
Feb 24, 2018 at 9:42 AM
Comment #6RobLeenio “Please ignore any future provocation and keep your comments to the purpose of the blog (footy, specifically NUFC) or my patience will soon wear out, which surely means that the patience of others has already gone.”
Oh no, we wouldn’t want ‘RobLeenio’ to lose his “patience” now would we? What a whimsical little soul you are.
AncientC
Feb 24, 2018 at 9:51 AM
Comment #7Baso, just to reply from last night, no problem. I did get a laugh at your new blog name. I can usually identify dog breeds, but didn’t even know a Thai Ridgeback existed as a dog breed. I initially thought it was a Cane Corso cross, but couldn’t pin down where the perched ears came from.
NEWEXPATMAGPIE
Feb 24, 2018 at 9:54 AM
Comment #8If they manage to stop Defoe? We might just edge it, but it won,t be easy!
ShearMagic
Feb 24, 2018 at 10:21 AM
Comment #9Spoof.
Ashley isn’t getting the blame for injuring slimani.. He’s getting the blame for not giving funds to rafa in January when needed, which in effect has left us with let’s say three players capable of playing in the forward position (Perez, Gayle, Joselu) and no goalscorers.
Would love to say I expect a tight victory today for us, but it’s got 1-1 written all over it. Let’s hope I’m wrong!
mactoon
Feb 24, 2018 at 11:29 AM
Comment #10@Spoof
On the first of January Rafa gave Ashley and Charnley a list of 3 strikers, one of which he wanted them to buy on a permanent deal. They didn’t get any of them and we ended up going for two loan deals on the last couple of days of the transfer window. That’s why it’s Ashley’s fault.