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Opinion: Blues must be careful with injuries to key players, or risk long-term troubles

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Let’s just take it easy shall we?

One of the big talking points in the final few moments before the game against West Bromwich Albion on Saturday was the absence of three Blues regulars from the starting eleven.

First choice left-back Kristian Pedersen, centre-back Marc Roberts and midfielder Ivan Sunjic all missed out on the game with varying injuries. Blues boss Pep Clotet had said in the buildup to the game that some players were having fitness tests, but chose to keep them secret.

Speaking to the club website after the game, Clotet was quick to reassure fans that things aren’t as bad as they might appear, and that things should be back to normal sooner rather than later:

“We ‘re working very hard to get them back for next week. They are minor problems not big ones an it’s about them and how they are feeling. They are already working hard with the medical staff and the sooner we can get them on the pitch the better.”

All I will say is that I hope they truly are minor problems, because I don’t want us to be in a situation where we rush them back too quickly from injury and us be in a situation where we could be without them for the rest of the season.

Are you concerned with the amount of young players on the bench?

Yes

No

I’ve spoken before about how I feel a large part of this last stretch of games should be seen as essentially be seen as a way to work things out for next season, and given that these three players could be hugely important to the team next season (assuming that they are still here and other clubs don’t come in for them), then they should be playing as many of these games as possible.

So hopefully the club manages their injuries correctly, otherwise we could be in trouble going forward. Especially as, and our bench kind of showed it on Saturday, we don’t have a lot of experience when it comes to backup players to see us through.

Whilst I’ve said that we should be looking to play young players in this part of the season, even I have to admit that the amount of academy players did look kind of troubling.

What about you? Do you think that these players should be wrapped in cotton wool as it were, given the circumstances?

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