Antonio Valencia - broken ankle (?)

[sam86]

Another so bad they won't show replays.

And another nothing challenge.

Seems to be a lot more serious injuries lately than there used to be.

 

[SirDouglasLoft]

I thought they said broken leg.

 

[sam86]

Looked like ankle to me Not 100% sure.

 

[hola gus]

Broken leg just above the ankle. Strange. Seemed like a nothing tackle. Wasnt even a foul. Bizzare.

 

[Beach Hut]

You have to feel for him, no maliciousness at all in the challenge yet out for 4 months plus now

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Another so bad they won't show replays.

And another nothing challenge.

Seems to be a lot more serious injuries lately than there used to be.

Nah. Just a lot more coverage of them.

Look at Brian Clough, Dave Mackay, Gerry Ryan, and countless other old pros who suffered serious injuries. Its an occupational hazard.

 

[mcshane in the 79th]

Watched it again and his foot is pointing in the wrong direction. Nasty one

 

[manilaseagull]

Sky + great for replays!!

 

[sam86]

Picture here if people want to see it...

Nasty injury for #mufcs Antonio Valencia against Ranger... on Twitpic

 

[Blackadder]

Bugger. Need to transfer him out from my Fantasy League team!

Watching the Spurs game myself.

 

[Gwylan]

Nah. Just a lot more coverage of them.

Look at Brian Clough, Dave Mackay, Gerry Ryan, and countless other old pros who suffered serious injuries. Its an occupational hazard.

Quite. John Thomson died after a collision and Derek Dooley had his leg amputated after an injury - happily, injuries don't go to that extreme these days.

 

[JGaleBHA]

Shame, good player. Get well soon Antonio.

 

[Guerrero]

Nowadays the game is played at such a pace,and by athletes,that a slight anomaly in falling or locking legs together can cause serious injury.
Probably not a good analagy,but...
Run into a wall slowly.You might get a bruise.
Run into a wall fast.You'll be concussed,bleeding and maybe even break something.
Run into a wall fast that is moving towards you fast............PAIN.

 

[Spider]

Nah. Just a lot more coverage of them.

Look at Brian Clough, Dave Mackay, Gerry Ryan, and countless other old pros who suffered serious injuries. Its an occupational hazard.

Thank f*** someone said that. I know it sounds pretty unsympathetic, but why the f*** can pundits not accept that when you have 22 men running around a pitch aiming for the same small object you are going to get some serious injuries. Stop calling for blood everytime there is one. Players nowadays are more than compensated for the unlikely chance of injury - let's not forget that Valencia is probably earning more than most will earn in decades in the months he is out.

 

[Bevendean Hillbilly]

You could see from the Rangers players reactions that he was f***ed.

Same injury as BZ...nasty.

I agree though, injuries are inevitable.

 

[folkestonesgull]

There has been a huge increase in the number of injuries and time players are injured in rugby..I think the speed at which the game is played has an effect on football as well.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

Stop calling for blood everytime there is one.

Of course, everyone on here had empathy and good wishes for Carl Henry when he did Bobby last week. There was calls for his blood within minutes of it happening, despite an Ablion game being in progress.

 

[Gwylan]

There has been a huge increase in the number of injuries and time players are injured in rugby..I think the speed at which the game is played has an effect on football as well.

Rugby's slightly different, there's a massive shift in sizes of some of the players. I remember when backs were skinny wraiths, now they look like nightclub bouncers. There's a difference between being hit by someone weighing 80kg of skin and bone and 100kg of solid muscle.

There's hasn't been the same shift in football. Yes, players are faster but other factors favour modern players. Pitches are better, they get more protection from ref and they're in better physical condition. My belief is that there are fewer bad injuries these days than there were 40 years ago but I don't know if there any stats on this.

 

[beorhthelm]

there is a couple of similar injuries every year, yet every time people think its a new thing. its the recency effect.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

I've got nothing to back this up statistically, but I bet far fewer players suffer career ending injuries these days, not more.

Medical advances mean injuries that crippled players thirty years ago can now be up and playing the same season. A ruptured knee ligament no longer means the end of your career as it did for say Brian Clough. Someone has said the game is faster- I'm not convinced that would have an impact as it's always been known that English football is at a far higher pace than the game on the continent, little has changed in that respect. The only thing that has changed is that players are far more protected now than they used to be, despite what Arsene Wenger likes to think.

Tackles from behind used to be perfectly legal (and common), and if you look at old videos from the 50s onwards, you'll see plenty of shockers, including full on charges on goalkeepers. The likes of Dave Mackay, Norman Hunter and Tommy Smith didn't get their reputations by being soft on attackers. Graeme Souness roamed around Scottish football during the late 1980s/early 1990s flying in knee high and studs up on just about anyone who crossed his path. And what about the Billy Whitehurst, Mick Tait, Gavin Maguire or Henry Hughtons of this world, the out and out thugs who didn't even worry about being respected like Mackay or Smith would have done.

I think the only injuries that genuinely do seem to be on the increase is broken metatarsal bones, and I suspect that's more to do with the fact that today's pitches are better kept (ie harder, without three inches of mud to soften the impact) and because many modern boots are designed to be as thin as possible, offering little protection from a kick to the instep.