[Archived] Lenihan has broken foot

[JHRover]

Absolutely bizarre that he's been out of action for around a month and yet only now appears to have been diagnosed with an injury that is expected to keep him out of action for 'several months'. If he's not going to be in contention until at least January (coincidentally when he could also transfer to a different club) then surely efforts should have been made to cover for him sooner?

Surely this diagnosis could have been achieved several weeks ago. Surely if management knew he was going to be out for half the season then serious efforts ought to have been made to recruit a quality CB to play ahead of Ward at least through to January and re-assess? Surely there were better options out there than 4th choice MK Dons CB? Given our obsession for using the loan market surely we could find someone experienced but out of favour at a Premier League/Championship club who wanted regular games and would have been able to slot in straight away?

I've never seen the MK bloke play, so I can't judge him either way yet, but given he's struggled to get in a below average Dons side recently I suspect better options were out there. 

Why were we running around at 11pm on Thursday getting a CB on loan? If Lenihan had been diagnosed earlier, as he should, then far more serious attempts should have been made earlier to get a replacement in. Unless of course my theory is correct and there was a ban on new arrivals until a departure (Feeney) had been secured.

[G Somerset Rover]

One thing is clear. If Mulgrew gets injured, and let's face it he has good form here, then we're screwed. 

[blueboy3333]

Is it going to be 'several months'?

He's turning into a bit of a crock is Lenny. Out for a while last season too. Good luck to him in his recovery.

[blueboy3333]

Just now, Gavlar Somerset Rover! said:

One thing is clear. If Mulgrew gets injured, and let's face it he has good form here, then we're screwed. 

Which is why we should have made two good CB's a priority. Mowbray, in his wisdom, was a bit obsessed with midfielders even when we were loaded with them.

[roversfan99]

1 hour ago, chaddyrovers said:

nobody saying everything has to be positive have they?

I'm not bothered about what mk dons think of Downing tbh but how he plays here Downing gives us experience of this league. he was back up option when Hannagan the Motherwell defender was 1st choice to come here. gone Sheff Utd instead

I don't know if you watch the Wilder video of deadline day and what gone on the day with clubs, players and agents changing their minds. was a great insight into football

As much as I'll judge him on here, and when hes playing for us obviously support him, as will everyone else, surely its a bit of a worry that a centre back that was 4th choice at MK Dons, and a player who seemingly played poorly all last season, leading to their supporters being delighted that hes left, is potentially going to replace one of our key players for half a season in which we are expecting automatic promotion?

[Crimpshrine]

Appears to me now that Downing was a signing made in desperation. 

Knowing that Lenihan would be out of action for a while it was a case of 'we need a centre half quickly - ring round and see what you can find'. 

I doubt very much that Downing was actually top of Mowbray's shopping list. He may do ok if called upon but fingers crossed that Mulgrew stays fit.

[47er]

Chaddy---genuine discussion forum or accept that TM knows best? We can't have both.

Accept everyone has a right to their view or not?

Accept its possible to want an experienced centre-back but to be worried that  a 4th choice for MK Don possibly doesn't meet the requirements?

Give him a chance to show what he can do, despite obvious reservations, or automatically accept that TM knows best? i.e. judge the player when we've seen him?

 

 

[JHRover]

3 minutes ago, Crimpshrine said:

Appears to me now that Downing was a signing made in desperation. 

Knowing that Lenihan would be out of action for a while it was a case of 'we need a centre half quickly - ring round and see what you can find'. 

I doubt very much that Downing was actually top of Mowbray's shopping list. He may do ok if called upon but fingers crossed that Mulgrew stays fit.

If that is the case then it is a situation we should have never been in. 

Lenihan picked up his injury at Southend. They've had weeks to diagnose him and discover the broken bone in his foot and need to operate on him. For some strange reason that was missed for weeks and weeks, when most of August could have been allocated to finding the CB we needed, whilst this operation could have been done weeks ago and he could have been on the road to recovery by now. 

Highly concerning really, there have been concerns about the defence all summer and questions over whether these have been addressed, and now this news and the timing of it just adds to the questions and issues to contend with.

Even ignoring Lenihan's injury we still needed cover as both Mulgrew and Ward are injury prone and in their 30s, and young Wharton is also injured, we're 4 games in and down to the bare bones and praying that Downing is on standby ready to play a regular role in a promotion winning team. I fear there is too much of a laid back attitude with some fans who think that if we tread water for a year or two that eventually Mowbray will end up with a promotion capable squad and that this might be a 2-3 year 'project'. We can't be having any of that, promotion is essential this season for this club and every player on the books needs to be able to step in and deliver promotion winning results when called upon.

[GreenRover]

DisAppointed to hear this. Several months means half the season.  Is a worry if Mulgrew gets hurts. Ward and Downing centre halfs? Not too convincing. I really think it is time to give Wharton a go. Hopefully we can use the method of the best form of defence is attack. Surely come January a hardened centre half has to be bought. I am a fan of Lenihan. Disappointed to hear this. 

[Sparks Rover]

So, would he have been gone had his foot not been broken. Are we getting him fit for sale in January?

I think so

[Tugay's Right Foot]

this was posted by the player himself, can't see it being a cover-up by the medical staff.

 

possibly a new injury cum setback while on the recovery track

[islander200]

 

2 hours ago, Tugay's Right Foot said:

this was posted by the player himself, can't see it being a cover-up by the medical staff.

 

possibly a new injury cum setback while on the recovery track

There must have been a problem with the scan machine that only got fixed after transfer deadline day 

[Tugay's Right Foot]

36 minutes ago, islander200 said:

 

There must have been a problem with the scan machine that only got fixed after transfer deadline day 

Cardiff threw a few quid for the repairs when the door closed on Feeney's butt

 

I still can't believe he has gone to championship side on the right end of the table

[Waggy76]

7 hours ago, GreenRover said:

DisAppointed to hear this. Several months means half the season.  Is a worry if Mulgrew gets hurts. Ward and Downing centre halfs? Not too convincing. I really think it is time to give Wharton a go. Hopefully we can use the method of the best form of defence is attack. Surely come January a hardened centre half has to be bought. I am a fan of Lenihan. Disappointed to hear this. 

I maybe wrong but didnt Williams play centre half for Bristol ?

[AJW]

@#/? ...the fact that he and Mulgrew are still Blackburn players after the window had shut filled me with a great deal of confidence .. Now he's out for "several" months just feels like we had sold him ?

[USABlue]

Very strange situation indeed.  Can't for the life of me come up with a why.  perhaps had they made it public knowledge bids would have stopped coming when what we wanted was to find out how much we could get for him so needed bids to keep coming.  Is this why Sheff U turned their attentions to the lad we wanted.  Oooooooh maybe a swap deal is on the cards.  Now there's a conspiracy.

[Tugay's Right Foot]

15 minutes ago, MGPensioner said:

This is a blatant cover up by the club.

Only plausible reason is it would clearly put us in the desperate category and prices for targets would go up ?

As it is we only got our third choice nobody at the eleventh hour.

 

What is fact is this happened on the opening day and they have kept it quiet until the window closed...

In fact isn't it only Lenihan himself who has let the cat out the bag ? No comment from the club as yet...

And some people wonder why MOST of the fans mistrust everything that comes out of Ewood.

 

It wouldn't surprise me if a deal with Sheff Utd for January has already been done.

Unfortunately it means we have to carry an extra wage which no doubt Mike is paying for with his Wonga Loan.

 

 

with all due respect, Sir:

https://www.rovers.co.uk/news/2017/september/injury-blow-for-darragh/

 

in my opinion, I don't think a player would collude with a club like that for an injury like this, but that's just my opinion. we would never know, would we?

[Parsonblue]

A blow for Darragh but a chance for the likes of Platt and Wharton to get involved at senior level which, in fairness, is why we have spent money on developing them through the Academy and Under-23 teams.  Mulgrew, Ward and Downing have enough experience between them to fill the two centre-back positions more than adequately with Williams, Wharton and Platt being the backups.

[Tugay's Right Foot]

1 minute ago, Parsonblue said:

A blow for Darragh but a chance for the likes of Platt and Wharton to get involved at senior level which, in fairness, is why we have spent money on developing them through the Academy and Under-23 teams.  Mulgrew, Ward and Downing have enough experience between them to fill the two centre-back positions more than adequately with Williams, Wharton and Platt being the backups.

I too would like to see us trying out Matty Platt

[JHRover]

13 minutes ago, Parsonblue said:

A blow for Darragh but a chance for the likes of Platt and Wharton to get involved at senior level which, in fairness, is why we have spent money on developing them through the Academy and Under-23 teams.  Mulgrew, Ward and Downing have enough experience between them to fill the two centre-back positions more than adequately with Williams, Wharton and Platt being the backups.

My worry is that with Wharton's injury issues and previous reluctance to trust him with a starting spot then if the need arises Mowbray will instead revert to his favoured back 3 of Nyambe, Mulgrew/Ward and Williams. Not sure deploying either Nyambe or Williams as CBs or the 3 CB system works.

[RV Blue]

Can't foot fractures be really difficult to diagnose as they often don't show up on an x-ray? Maybe the swelling didn't go down so they have done a more comprehensive scan and have found the fracture. We should still be ok for centre backs with Mulgrew, Ward, Downing, Williams, Wharton and Platt, so I'm not too worried yet.

[arbitro]

15 minutes ago, Parsonblue said:

A blow for Darragh but a chance for the likes of Platt and Wharton to get involved at senior level which, in fairness, is why we have spent money on developing them through the Academy and Under-23 teams.  Mulgrew, Ward and Downing have enough experience between them to fill the two centre-back positions more than adequately with Williams, Wharton and Platt being the backups.

In terms of numbers we look fine but when you break it down it doesn't look as good. Two are inexperienced, one is a makeshift, one only just signed and has to get up to speed, two are susceptible to injury and one of them prone to errors. I think we are really exposed in this position and I sincerely hope this doesn't become our Achilles Heel and costs us the chance of promotion. And if Mowbray wants to play three at the back it could make us even more vulnerable.

If the Lenihan injury had been correctly diagnosed earlier there could have been a more permanent fix put in place. As it stands I believe we are vulnerable despite the numbers.

[Eddie]

It's not good news, but it isn't half as bad as some are making out. 

We've done ok without him (albeit a short sample size). 

We've brought in that new defender who is hopefully good enough. Time will tell, but until we have seen him, we can't judge him. 

We've brought in a leftback, which means, if he is good enough (again time will tell), that Williams can be used at centreback, which I think is his better position anyway. 

Assuming the two defenders we brought in are good enough (which is an assumption, but one we have to make until shown otherwise) then we have enough quality and enough strength in depth. 

[arbitro]

9 minutes ago, RV Blue said:

Can't foot fractures be really difficult to diagnose as they often don't show up on an x-ray? Maybe the swelling didn't go down so they have done a more comprehensive scan and have found the fracture. We should still be ok for centre backs with Mulgrew, Ward, Downing, Williams, Wharton and Platt, so I'm not too worried yet.

I remember Beckham and Rooney having similar injuries prior to major tournaments and these were diagnosed pretty much immediately. It's only speculation I know but it seems somebody has missed this and if true that is bordering on scandalous.

[RV Blue]

Just now, arbitro said:

I remember Beckham and Rooney having similar injuries prior to major tournaments and these were diagnosed pretty much immediately. It's only speculation I know but it seems somebody has missed this and if true that is bordering on scandalous.

Every injury is different I suppose.