Szmodics and Tuanzebe Set For Ops as McKenna Gives Lowdown on Injury Woes
Thursday, 6th Mar 2025 14:54
Town boss Kieran McKenna has revealed forward Sammie Szmodics and defender Axel Tuanzebe are both set for surgery, while Cameron Burgess is being assessed ahead of Saturday’s trip to Crystal Palace, Kalvin Phillips, Omari Hutchinson and Julio Enciso could all be back in the squad, Christian Walton is expected to return, but Aro Muric is sidelined having had an injection.
Tuanzebe and Burgess were subbed at half-time during Monday night’s FA Cup tie at Nottingham Forest with hamstring and calf injuries respectively, while Szmodics and Conor Chaplin both missed out with recurrences of the ankle and knee injuries they suffered at the turn of the year, while McKenna said afterwards one or two others were ended the game with knocks.
“It's probably a long story, to be fair,” McKenna said when asked about the injury situation from Monday. “We're still in the process of assessing some.
“In terms of those who went off the pitch, Axel won't be available this weekend and Cameron Burgess is still being assessed.
“We have one or two who may be able to rejoin the squad who weren't available on Monday night, and we'll have one or two who were there on Monday night who won't be available. And we've got a few who are still getting assessed tomorrow.
“It's certainly a bit of a tricky period for us at the moment. There's plenty going on and we're trying to make the right decisions and get a competitive squad available for Saturday.”
Tuanzebe’s hamstring injury isn’t as serious as the one he suffered earlier in the season, also at the City Ground, but the Blues will take the opportunity of the DR Congo international not being available for him to have another op on the hand he badly cut while washing up towards the start of the campaign.
“I don't think it's as bad as the last time,” McKenna added. “He has a small muscle injury. He also needs an operation on his thumb from the injury that he had the last time, so he's going to receive an operation in the next couple of days on the thumb.
“So between that, which is going to take a period of recovery, and the muscle injury he has, he won't be available this weekend, and we'll make assessments from there.”
Better news is that on-loan Brighton forward Enciso and key attacker Hutchinson could also be back.
“Julio and Omari are not too far away from the squad, but it's going to be a real decision whether there's any involvement this weekend,” McKenna continued.
“Conor Chaplin is still working by himself. Sam Szmodics is going for an ankle operation, unfortunately, so he's going to be out for an extended period of time for a recurrence of the injury that he's had.
“Honestly, it's a real mixed bag and we've got some who are working on the grass with rehabilitation coaches, some are just starting to integrate with the team and some are not there yet.
“Sam joins the list of players who you know aren't going to see too much of this season, so it's a real mixed bag in the group at the moment.
“Kalvin Phillips [who had been out with a calf problem suffered in the Spurs match] trained today, so he's in a better place again, we make the judgment on how he is going into Saturday.”
Pressed on how lengthy Szmodics’s absence might be, he added: “It’s going to be a significant period. It’s an ankle injury he originally picked up with a tackle in the Fulham game and had a recurrence of it in the Coventry game and then he had a recurrence of it just after the Man United game.
“He’s going to be out for, I don’t know the exact timescale, but it’s certainly going to be a good number of weeks and if we see him this season, it will be in the last couple of fixtures.
“We’re hopeful that we’ll see him before the end of the season, but the exact timescale we can’t be sure.”
Keeper Walton, who has been out since the Liverpool match with a groin injury, looks set to be back on the bench at Selhurst Park, while Muric is now out of action having been involved in squads despite having a shoulder issue.
“Christian’s going to be in the squad this weekend, hopefully,” McKenna said. “On the list of things, Aro has had an injection in his shoulder. He’s done really well to be available for the team over the last couple of weeks, he’s been carrying a shoulder injury and he’s made himself available for the bench if we needed him to play.
“But it’s got to the point where he needed to get it addressed, so he’s had an injection in his shoulder, so he won’t be available for this weekend and if Christian gets through the next 48 hours, he’ll come back into the squad.”
Quizzed on why he believes Town have suffered quite so many injuries this season, he reflected: “I think on the why, there's never one reason. There's always going to be a multitude of them, not all of them we'll reflect or share publicly but, of course, we'll do that internally.
“I think there are a lot of different factors. Always in football, you have a run of injuries and luck plays a part in it we've had maybe one stroke two in the last three and a half years.
“I remember in my first full season in League One, a period in the autumn time where we had seven, eight, nine, ten injuries and we didn't work any different than we did the six months previous or the two years.
“I think a lot of injuries at the moment, Wes Burns, Chiedozie Ogbene, they’re really injuries that no one's really got a crystal ball for, achilles injuries and cruciates. If anyone did, they wouldn't happen because they're the most serious injuries almost in football now.
“Sam Szmodics is the tackle and Omari Hutchinson is missing from a tackle, Conor Chaplin is an innocuous injury from his knee blocking a shot. We've had quite a lot of injuries like that.
“We haven't had a very high proportion of muscle injuries which are ones that you always reflect on a little bit more to see is there and that can be adapted.
“We've adapted the training schedule as the season went on, as we always do, to work at an appropriate level. We've had some unlucky ones, like an Axel one
“I think it's a multitude of different things, but I also think the reality is that we're competing in the most physical league in the world. We've got very, very few players who've competed at this level in recent ever or for a lot of games in recent times.
“If you come into a season with that as the make up of your group and the group works very hard and competes every week as they do, then that's also a factor and you're probably going to pick up more injuries than you have playing at levels that the players have competed at previously.
“There are a lot of different factors and, of course, it's made it more of a challenge. We'll always reflect on things that we can change and that we can improve, which I'm sure there are a few.
“But I also think there are a lot of different factors that we're not in control of and it's about making the best of the situation which I think many times this season the group has done, and we're going to have to do it between now and the end of the season as well.”
Photo: Action Images via Reuters/Peter Cziborra
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OldFart71 added 15:06 - Mar 6
I don't know what it is with players today they get far fewer games to play, far less heavy pitches to encounter and yet so many bad injuries. Perhaps it's actually this rotation thing and players coming on with 20 minutes to go that is the problem as in the Premier League they get fewer matches than the Championship and Cup games are usually played by those that are in the squad as subs or not getting regular game time.||
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Alphawhiskey added 15:06 - Mar 6
Not good then....I wish them all speedy recoveries.Hopefully we have the minerals to get the wins and points to keep us in this league.Time will tell.COYB!||
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