Injured players

[steve@dcfd]

I’ve seen this tweet looking at Leeds injuries and their near relegation
Games missed by Leeds players this season:

Patrick Bamford - 27
Kalvin Phillips - 14
Liam Cooper - 14
Robin Koch - 11
Luke Ayling - 8
Adam Forshaw - 7
Junior Firpo - 7
Pascal Struijk - 5

Against all odds, they've secured Premier League safety.

Now let’s compare why we were relegated and there were more

Games missed by DRFC players due to injury

Okenabirhie.     46
Taylor.               43
Close.                32
Anderson.         27
Bostock.            25
Hiwula                26
Agard.                18

The top five would have played regularly in first team if they had been fit.

[scawsby steve]

I’ve seen this tweet looking at Leeds injuries and their near relegation
Games missed by Leeds players this season:

Patrick Bamford - 27
Kalvin Phillips - 14
Liam Cooper - 14
Robin Koch - 11
Luke Ayling - 8
Adam Forshaw - 7
Junior Firpo - 7
Pascal Struijk - 5

Against all odds, they've secured Premier League safety.

Now let’s compare why we were relegated and there were more

Games missed by DRFC players due to injury

Okenabirhie.     46
Taylor.               43
Close.                32
Anderson.         27
Bostock.            25
Hiwula                26
Agard.                18

The top five would have played regularly in first team if they had been fit.

IMO, Steve, only one of those 5 would have made a huge difference; Fej, because of his goal scoring ability. Taylor has pace, but little else. Close massively underperformed after all the hype. Tom just wasn't the player this season that he used to be. Bostock's a talented footballer, but just not physical enough for League 1.

I believe our demise this season was down to other factors.

[steve@dcfd]

We both have different opinions but we will not know.

[scawsby steve]

We both have different opinions but we will not know.

We'll not know as regards to last season, but if this squad underperforms in League 2, we'll certainly know then.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

I’ve seen this tweet looking at Leeds injuries and their near relegation
Games missed by Leeds players this season:

Patrick Bamford - 27
Kalvin Phillips - 14
Liam Cooper - 14
Robin Koch - 11
Luke Ayling - 8
Adam Forshaw - 7
Junior Firpo - 7
Pascal Struijk - 5

Against all odds, they've secured Premier League safety.

Now let’s compare why we were relegated and there were more

Games missed by DRFC players due to injury

Okenabirhie.     46
Taylor.               43
Close.                32
Anderson.         27
Bostock.            25
Hiwula                26
Agard.                18

The top five would have played regularly in first team if they had been fit.

Indeed. What about Cameron John and Seaman?

We don't really need to look much further to see the odds we're against us.

[steve@dcfd]

Yes I thought there were more especially Cameron John should not have miss him, he played 5 times so missed about 40 games.

[roversdude]

What about Ro-Shaun ok I’ll get my coat
Seriously though thought he was “ok” after his injury, problem is (and I seem to recall the Shrewsbury fans saying similar) there is always a mistake waiting to happen

[steve@dcfd]

He played for 32 games so just normal injuries really.

[scawsby steve]

He played for 32 games so just normal injuries really.

He didn't PLAY for 32 games, Steve, he just put his f*cking shirt on.

Absolutely useless.

[Alan Southstand]

Scawsby,  I wish you wouldn’t sit on the fence so much!

 

[Alan Southstand]

Let’s be fair, though, was it just the players or was there more to it? Certainly, the medical/physio side of the Club has come in for some criticism last season.

[bpoolrover]

I’ve seen this tweet looking at Leeds injuries and their near relegation
Games missed by Leeds players this season:

Patrick Bamford - 27
Kalvin Phillips - 14
Liam Cooper - 14
Robin Koch - 11
Luke Ayling - 8
Adam Forshaw - 7
Junior Firpo - 7
Pascal Struijk - 5

Against all odds, they've secured Premier League safety.

Now let’s compare why we were relegated and there were more

Games missed by DRFC players due to injury

Okenabirhie.     46
Taylor.               43
Close.                32
Anderson.         27
Bostock.            25
Hiwula                26
Agard.                18

The top five would have played regularly in first team if they had been fit.

IMO, Steve, only one of those 5 would have made a huge difference; Fej, because of his goal scoring ability. Taylor has pace, but little else. Close massively underperformed after all the hype. Tom just wasn't the player this season that he used to be. Bostock's a talented footballer, but just not physical enough for League 1.

I believe our demise this season was down to other factors.

what you say is right but it would have made enough difference with fej and taylor alone playing not to have been relegated, pace was one of the main factors our build up play was so slow

[steve@dcfd]

He played for 32 games so just normal injuries really.

He didn't PLAY for 32 games, Steve, he just put his f*cking shirt on.

Absolutely useless.

I like you would like better players at the club, getting back to the level we had.. Maybe we will see that again  I don’t know. What say or believe is your opinion and maybe others. But we had a terrible injury record last season and it did effect our squad.

[roversdude]

Taylor, Fej and Anderson were carry overs from injuries sustained the previous season. Although we obviously missed these players the knock on effect of panic signings didn’t help, however the biggest factor I could see last season was the fitness or lack of throughout the squad. God only knows what the fitness regime was but it was only once we got the new fitness guy that things changed, obviously this wasn’t an overnight fix either. Just my take on things

[Jonathan]

It’s an interesting point.

On one hand you can say the amount of games RoShaun Williams missed was fairly normal, or question the ability of the likes of him, Agard and Hiwula. But when you consider we were missing them, alongside all of the six (including John) at the top of the list that would almost certainly have been guaranteed starters, then you see exactly why we struggled so much.

During a vital spell we were forced into selecting a back four of kids alongside Tommy Rowe at centre half. But when all is said and done people disregard that and just lump it into the records of both Wellens and McSheffrey as a stick to beat them with. No manager could get a tune out of what we had for large spells of the season. And we did improve in both performance and results towards the end - with a better team available. It’s not rocket science.

[Chris Black come back]

I instinctively felt that as well, but if you look at the results when he had better players fit, it was still not good. Last 10 games of season against largely poor opposition, he got 9 points. It’s pretty poor.

[BillyStubbsTears]

It’s an interesting point.

On one hand you can say the amount of games RoShaun Williams missed was fairly normal, or question the ability of the likes of him, Agard and Hiwula. But when you consider we were missing them, alongside all of the six (including John) at the top of the list that would almost certainly have been guaranteed starters, then you see exactly why we struggled so much.

During a vital spell we were forced into selecting a back four of kids alongside Tommy Rowe at centre half. But when all is said and done people disregard that and just lump it into the records of both Wellens and McSheffrey as a stick to beat them with. No manager could get a tune out of what we had for large spells of the season. And we did improve in both performance and results towards the end - with a better team available. It’s not rocket science.

Literally no-one is saying the injuries didn't matter. Of course they did. The injury situation was horrendous.

The point is whether the managers got the best or even close to the best out of the hand they had.

It's perfectly possible to argue that the injuries were shocking AND the managers under achieved.

[Alan Southstand]

RW had a threadbare squad from the off and it wasn’t until January (and GM’s shopping spree) that we got the ‘numbers’ into the squad. However, you could also argue that the quality, excepting maybe the odd 1 or 2, was simply nowhere near good enough.

‘Under achieved’ infers they could have done much better, but particularly in GM’s case, I’m not sure he has it in him. Fingers are already crossed that he has learned something/anything.

[ForsolongaRover]

I know it’s old ground, but the scene was set by inaction following the performance on day 1. Is there evidence that Wellens actually recognised that his squad was “threadbare”. He had not managed in L1 since Oldham and I wonder if he cottoned on at that stage.

I was able to come up for that match and it was without doubt the worst performance I had seen in recent years. I was genuinely shocked that we could put out such a bad team. It was plain to anybody used to watching League 1 football that his team were probably worse than the squad which finished 2020/21. Even if that wasn’t obvious to Wellens  we were playing a team known to struggle at this level (Wimbledon) so surely that provided a yardstick. It was curious that one of the few players I thought gave 100%, Barlow, was one who he regularly singled out and expressed doubts - not a nice character trait in a manager.

If he had used the rest of August more productively there might have been firmer foundations on which to build.

Yet he did not seem to recognise this and should have done something about it then with still a few weeks left in the window, but he didn’t

[roversdude]

I’m sure Wimbledon flattered to deceive early on in the campaign

[Goole Rover]

RW had a threadbare squad from the off and it wasn’t until January (and GM’s shopping spree) that we got the ‘numbers’ into the squad. However, you could also argue that the quality, excepting maybe the odd 1 or 2, was simply nowhere near good enough.

‘Under achieved’ infers they could have done much better, but particularly in GM’s case, I’m not sure he has it in him. Fingers are already crossed that he has learned something/anything.

GM didn’t stand a chance. I’ve said it before that the January window is similar to Doncaster market at 16-30 all the decent produce has gone you’re left with the stuff that nobody wants. Give the bloke a chance.

[Alan Southstand]

GR, every man & his dog knows what is available in January, so why didn’t we prepare better in the summer - that’s when we needed the budget - not in January! The Club knew we were in a mess and if anyone was up against it, it was RW.

GM had the temerity to criticise RW on the dealings in the summer, then went and did the very thing he was critical about! GM has a lot to prove.

[roversdude]

Alan it would have been daft getting some players knowing your star striker and winger were due back any minute

[Draytonian III]

I think the previous poster’s favourite player from the last 20 years is Richie Wellens, because he seems to defend everything that said against him.
Great player, rubbish at man management

[Jonathan]

It’s an interesting point.

On one hand you can say the amount of games RoShaun Williams missed was fairly normal, or question the ability of the likes of him, Agard and Hiwula. But when you consider we were missing them, alongside all of the six (including John) at the top of the list that would almost certainly have been guaranteed starters, then you see exactly why we struggled so much.

During a vital spell we were forced into selecting a back four of kids alongside Tommy Rowe at centre half. But when all is said and done people disregard that and just lump it into the records of both Wellens and McSheffrey as a stick to beat them with. No manager could get a tune out of what we had for large spells of the season. And we did improve in both performance and results towards the end - with a better team available. It’s not rocket science.

Literally no-one is saying the injuries didn't matter. Of course they did. The injury situation was horrendous.

The point is whether the managers got the best or even close to the best out of the hand they had.

It's perfectly possible to argue that the injuries were shocking AND the managers under achieved.

Literally no-one is saying that anyone is saying that injuries didn’t matter. Just that they are quickly disregarded when anyone is referencing stats around runs of form or win percentages.

[BillyStubbsTears]

It’s an interesting point.

On one hand you can say the amount of games RoShaun Williams missed was fairly normal, or question the ability of the likes of him, Agard and Hiwula. But when you consider we were missing them, alongside all of the six (including John) at the top of the list that would almost certainly have been guaranteed starters, then you see exactly why we struggled so much.

During a vital spell we were forced into selecting a back four of kids alongside Tommy Rowe at centre half. But when all is said and done people disregard that and just lump it into the records of both Wellens and McSheffrey as a stick to beat them with. No manager could get a tune out of what we had for large spells of the season. And we did improve in both performance and results towards the end - with a better team available. It’s not rocket science.

Literally no-one is saying the injuries didn't matter. Of course they did. The injury situation was horrendous.

The point is whether the managers got the best or even close to the best out of the hand they had.

It's perfectly possible to argue that the injuries were shocking AND the managers under achieved.

Literally no-one is saying that anyone is saying that injuries didn’t matter. Just that they are quickly disregarded when anyone is referencing stats around runs of form or win percentages.

Literally, you yourself said that people were saying that injuries didn't matter.

" But when all is said and done people disregard that and just lump it into the records of both Wellens and McSheffrey as a stick to beat them with".

[Jonathan]

It’s an interesting point.

On one hand you can say the amount of games RoShaun Williams missed was fairly normal, or question the ability of the likes of him, Agard and Hiwula. But when you consider we were missing them, alongside all of the six (including John) at the top of the list that would almost certainly have been guaranteed starters, then you see exactly why we struggled so much.

During a vital spell we were forced into selecting a back four of kids alongside Tommy Rowe at centre half. But when all is said and done people disregard that and just lump it into the records of both Wellens and McSheffrey as a stick to beat them with. No manager could get a tune out of what we had for large spells of the season. And we did improve in both performance and results towards the end - with a better team available. It’s not rocket science.

Literally no-one is saying the injuries didn't matter. Of course they did. The injury situation was horrendous.

The point is whether the managers got the best or even close to the best out of the hand they had.

It's perfectly possible to argue that the injuries were shocking AND the managers under achieved.

Literally no-one is saying that anyone is saying that injuries didn’t matter. Just that they are quickly disregarded when anyone is referencing stats around runs of form or win percentages.

Literally, you yourself said that people were saying that injuries didn't matter.

" But when all is said and done people disregard that and just lump it into the records of both Wellens and McSheffrey as a stick to beat them with".

That doesn’t mean anyone is saying injuries ”don’t matter”. Unless my eyes deceive me, those words don’t appear anywhere except in your prickly response.

My point was that, at a later date, some people have a habit of rolling out the stats and overlooking the context. And I think we both know why you’re a little tetchy about that.

[BillyStubbsTears]

If you disregard something, you are saying it doesn't have any importance. It doesn't matter.

I'm more than happy to accept that you didn't mean that, but that's what your initial prickly post said.

[Chris Black come back]

I’ve seen this tweet looking at Leeds injuries and their near relegation
Games missed by Leeds players this season:

Patrick Bamford - 27
Kalvin Phillips - 14
Liam Cooper - 14
Robin Koch - 11
Luke Ayling - 8
Adam Forshaw - 7
Junior Firpo - 7
Pascal Struijk - 5

Against all odds, they've secured Premier League safety.

Now let’s compare why we were relegated and there were more

Games missed by DRFC players due to injury

Okenabirhie.     46
Taylor.               43
Close.                32
Anderson.         27
Bostock.            25
Hiwula                26
Agard.                18

The top five would have played regularly in first team if they had been fit.

We received 72 bookings over a 46 game season. Leeds received 101 bookings over a 38 game season. We got relegated, but we didn’t resort to cheating like they did. For that I believe we can take some microscopic comfort.

[sedwardsdrfc]

Would we have stayed up with a normal amount fo injuries? Yes it was very close in the end so there can't be too much argument about that.

Would we have had a good season or achieved even par for our team? not on any evidence of any moment this season. We'd have been poor regardless