Injuries show cost of success
Chelsea's John Terry is just one of several key players to have been in the wars this season
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Many pundits are slating this season as boring because we have the prospect of only two teams being capable of winning three trophies in a few weeks' time. InTheNews' Alistair Potter thinks it has the potential to be one of the greatest season climaxes of all time. |  |
Tuesday, 24, Apr 2007 05:34
Manchester United and Chelsea may have the pleasure of remaining in the hunt for all three trophies left this season, but it is clear that both are also now paying the price for this success.
Both clubs' squads are now beginning to crack (in some cases, quite literally) under the weight of a growing injury list which threatens to derail their challenge on all fronts.
At the rate that the overworked players from both clubs are dropping out of contention for first-team starts, the highly-touted first FA Cup final at Wembley between the best teams in the country could well be between the reserve teams of the nation's top two.
While obviously the chance to scoop more than one trophy in a season is not a prospect that will be sniffed at by any professional player, there must also be the thought in the back of their minds that it means a significant and tiring end-of-season run-in which could end with a serious injury.
Already members of Manchester United's back line are dropping faster than a French garrison's rifles and in just the last few days, doubts have been raised over the fitness of several key Chelsea stars, including centre-back Ricardo Carvalho and midfielder Michael Ballack.
The absence of both of these players is compounded by the existing shortage of players at Stamford Bridge. Summer signing Kalid Boulahrouz is still out, and has been for a while, and with Michael Essien suspended, Jose Mourinho is almost as short of first-team defensive talent as Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford.
In Manchester though, the situation is unequivocally worse.
Gabriel Heinze and Wes Brown are the only two full-fit specialist defenders on the books, with Darren Fletcher and utility man John O'Shea set to deputise in defence. Patrice Evra may be forced into action, coming off the bench if necessary, and all this because another first-choice starter – Rio Ferdinand – was forced back from a groin injury too soon and, almost inevitably, ended up tweaking it.
With Mikael Silvestre and Nemanja Vidic out with broken bones, neither will be back until at least the last couple of games of the season, leaving Ferguson painfully short of cover for the next time one of his over-played players goes down injured.
Success in one competition often depends in large part on being knocked out early from another.
Liverpool's Champions League victory in 2005 was coupled with their challenge for the Premiership being over well before the end of the season, allowing them to concentrate solely on European competition.
And Tottenham's push for the Champions League places last season, when they fell one victory (and arguably one good meal) short of holding off Arsenal in the race for fourth place, was helped by elimination in their first game in both the FA Cup and League Cup.
Many may also say that the only reason Spurs were able to keep pace with the Gunners last season was because Arsenal's focus was on the Champions League rather than the Premiership – proving that it is difficult to maintain a challenge on two fronts, let alone three or four, in modern football.
This makes any multi-trophy-winning season an amazing achievement and one which is almost within the grasp of both United and Chelsea. But it is not too late for injuries to effectively end any chance either team has of winning a treble or even a quadruple.
What all this means is essentially that the two best full-strength sides left in the Champions League could well miss out on arguably the most prestigious of the three prizes left to them. And all because they are down to what Ferguson has called the "bare bones of the squad".
Add to this the fact that, if the worst should happen, the worldwide audience for what should have been a classic, full-blooded FA Cup encounter between two hard-working and physical sides will be treated to a lame duck game between two exhausted teams.
Alistair Potter