Hamstrung Cesc

[justinmitchell]

Here's a quote about Cescs' latest hamstring injury:

Cesc Fabregas’ injury problems should not be likened to Michael Owen’s, according to Arsène Wenger.

The Manchester United striker has been dogged by hamstring trouble throughout his career and needed surgery to fix the latest recurrence earlier this year.

Fabregas is suffering a stop-start season of his own after picking up hamstring strains at Sunderland and Braga. But as far as his manager is concerned it does not follow that the Spaniard will have the same long-term problems as Owen.

“Cesc is a ball giver and Owen was more a runner,” said Wenger.

“The strength of Owen was more based on his pace and the timing of his runs, Cesc is more a playmaker so he doesn’t need to sprint as much.

“That’s what is remarkable in Cesc’s case - usually people who are exposed to hamstring injuries are sprinters like Owen or Ryan Giggs but Cesc is more a stamina player and that’s what puzzles me a little bit.

“I’ll do what is right for him and for the Club but I will listen of course to medical people. It is a hamstring and I remember Ryan Giggs has gone through that his whole career but it didn’t stop him from making a big career.”

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It's a waste of time comparing players who experience similar injuries. Different physiology, movement, balance, strengths, fitness, health, etc. play a large part in how the body functions. Its the reason why clubs will spend a massive amount of money on player conditioning.

I've always found it amusing when Wenger talks about injuries. I've always had the impression the medical team is naive about the injuries. They've almost always been to slow to diagnose and players always rushed back too early. Maybe it's just Wenger and he has his own opinion of the injuries.

Hamstrings are a typically 4 week injury depending on the severity of the injury. Strains range from 2-4 weeks and tears range from 4 weeks to a year. It's quite common for players who experience reoccurring hamstring injuries to injure their other hamstring; its a result of putting more strain on the other leg in an effort to avoid injuring the previously injured leg.

What the club should be doing as soon as a player receives an injury is putting them on ice for two weeks. In Australia, whenever a player receives a hamstring injury, they're almost always out of play for 3-4 weeks.

Arsène Wenger and the Club’s medical staff are leaving no stone unturned as they try to get to the bottom of Cesc Fabregas’ ongoing hamstring problem.

The Arsenal captain was forced off during the second half of Tuesday’s defeat in Braga with a recurrence of the injury that has dogged him for some time.

Fabregas’ hamstring has already kept him out of four of Arsenal’s 14 Premier League games this season and he is set to miss at least a couple more. Wenger’s concern is obvious and he wants answers.

“We have analysed his body and it is not fatigued and he is not tired,” explained the manager.

“He is a guy who just has a little bit of a hamstring problem but where does it come from? Does it come from his back, from the fact that he is naturally not flexible?

“We are investigating as much as we can. The problem [is] before when you were injured you waited at home and when you could play again you played again – today you can have ten scientists around you but you still get injured.

“We will consultant every specialist we can. But at the end of the day it doesn't stop him from being injured.”

Wenger admitted after the midweek defeat in Braga that he had “gambled” by fielding Fabregas from the start. But the Frenchman insists that he has not taken unnecessary risks with his captain’s fitness.

“When you’re 23 years old you want to play football when you are fit,” said Wenger.

“We had a chat before the game on Tuesday and he felt perfectly alright. All the data we had was positive so it’s difficult to say to a player ‘I know you’re fit, I know you feel good but you don’t play’.

“On the other hand if you look at the number of games Cesc played, you can see he played more games than last year and the year before.”

Fabregas’ importance to the Arsenal side is obvious and Wenger admits that the responsibility the Spaniard shoulders may have an indirect effect on his well-being.

“I think he has more pressure on his shoulders than before,” said the manager. “Pressure to do well, pressure to deliver, to be the captain. He feels responsibility to win things that’s for sure.

“I don’t know if that has an influence but it’s difficult because you can have psychological reasons or physical reasons – it’s difficult.”

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Of course this goes without saying - every player suffers some sort of psychological effect of an injury. It effects every player in every sport.

“I think he has more pressure on his shoulders than before,” said the manager. “Pressure to do well, pressure to deliver, to be the captain. He feels responsibility to win things that’s for sure.

Could that contribute? Sure if he forced himself back, or hes been ushered back into the team when he wasn't physically ready. It has happened before at Aston Villa. Granted he won us the game but he missed another two weeks of football.

I honestly don't understand what the confusion with injuries is with this football team. Anyone worth their money would tell you the players need to rest. Instead they're always back training much too early and back playing before they're physically ready.

So in short. I'm not surprised that Cesc injured his other hamstring, it should have been expected. The best thing for him to do is to be put on ice for a month and make sure his hamstrings are right before he goes.
I remember reading this forum about Rosickys' injury and all the anger at him and the football club. If the tendon is torn from the bone, it's a 10-12 month injury. :roll:

So long as there isn't anymore stupid quotes about players getting placenta...

 

[Herbas]

Regarding comparing Cesc and Owen, I think it was simply a question from some journo and Wenger just answered that?

 

[Raider]

Let Fabregas recover fully.

Rely on other players in the meantime. Let Fabregas get fully fit.

Then play him. ( but only when fully fit ) Fabregas seems to be getting rushed back time after time. Lets go through a few games and manage to win without him.

 

[justinmitchell]

Unfortunately it isn't really an option - without him we're poor and with him this season we've been just as poor.
He should definitely be rested for a month.

 

[celestis]

He definitely needs a month off , he has lost a bit of pace and power this year he might not have been that quick but he could definitely burst past players last season and get a yard on most, enough to get into goals scoring positions .

 

[Klaus Daimler]

We wouldn't have had this problem at all if he'd been given a proper rest. Instead we've kept rushing him back too soon. That's what irks me the most. Why on earth would we risk him against Braga when we rested several starters anyway? We knew for a week that he was a doubt right up until the day of the match. The sensible thing would've been to leave him out irrespective of what the late tests told us.

Normally I agree with Wenger that there are reasons for our seemingly never-ending stream of injuries that we can't always control, but this is not one of them. We've just ****ed up. And we're about to find out how much it'll cost us.

 

[Biggus]

“We have analysed his body and it is not fatigued and he is not tired,” explained the manager.

“He is a guy who just has a little bit of a hamstring problem but where does it come from? Does it come from his back, from the fact that he is naturally not flexible?

“We are investigating as much as we can. The problem [is] before when you were injured you waited at home and when you could play again you played again – today you can have ten scientists around you but you still get injured.

“We will consultant every specialist we can. But at the end of the day it doesn't stop him from being injured.”

Hes been in an Arsenal Spain or err Barcelona shirt for the past two years without any rest.
You don't have to be a f**king sports scientist to work out whats wrong.

 

[yuvken]

We wouldn't have had this problem at all if he'd been given a proper rest. Instead we've kept rushing him back too soon. That's what irks me the most. Why on earth would we risk him against Braga when we rested several starters anyway? We knew for a week that he was a doubt right up until the day of the match. The sensible thing would've been to leave him out irrespective of what the late tests told us.

Normally I agree with Wenger that there are reasons for our seemingly never-ending stream of injuries that we can't always control, but this is not one of them. We've just ****** up. And we're about to find out how much it'll cost us.

Yes, agree totally. I was bemused and surprised before the Braga game (not only for this), and not so surprised with the outcome. I wonder if he's going to learn anything from that now? I'd leave cesc out until he can't take it any more, and begs to enter like Begndtner.