Graeme Murty delivers triple Sunderland injury update as Jake Waters nears return but Luke Bell faces long lay-off
Sunderland U21s lead coach Graeme Murty has delivered a sobering injury update on three of his young players, including a devastating blow for centre-back Luke Bell.
Bell, who made major progress last season and had established himself as a first-choice defender, has suffered what Murty described as a “traumatic injury” to his knee while training with the first team. The setback is expected to keep him sidelined for a lengthy spell.
“Luke Bell unfortunately suffered a traumatic injury to his knee, and he's going to be out for an extended period, so we're supporting Luke in his journey,” Murty explained. “It’s a real shame because we were training with the first team on that day, one thing that all of our players want to do.
“It was right at the end of the session. It's just one of those injuries that happen, and he's going to miss a significant chunk of time, but our support staff, our medical staff, our sports science staff are fully geared up and fully ready to support his journey back to fitness.”
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There was brighter news on striker Jake Waters, however. The boyhood Sunderland fan has endured two serious knee injuries, the most recent coming against Liverpool in the early stages of last season after returning from an 18-month lay-off. Now, Murty says the forward is close to resuming full-contact training.
“Jake Waters is getting back; he will be going into full contact soon, which is really good,” Murty confirmed when asked about the striker following Sunderland’s 5-3 loss to Tottenham in the Premier League 2. “It’s been a long path for him, but he hopefully will be going into full contact soon.”
As for striker Marcus Neil, who impressed for Sunderland’s U18s against former club Liverpool, Murty confirmed he is currently out with an ankle issue. “Marcus Neil rolled his ankle. I'm not sure as to the ins and outs of that, but we'll just base his on his pain level and treat that as an acute injury,” Murty said.
Murty delivers verdict on Sunderland’s loss to Tottenham Hotspur
On the game, Murty added on the 5-3 loss: “The first 30 minutes were unacceptable for the standards that we've set so far. We were far too passive, far too reactive. We didn't organise the shape of the press. We weren't clean enough on the ball.
“Having said that, we still could have been level when we were smooth and clean with the ball, but it was far too easy to score against. That, I think, is a really good example for our young players that if we are reactive to a team who are really dynamic like that, you're going to find yourself on the back foot and chasing shadows. And I thought for the first 30 minutes it would look that way, but they showed really good resilience once again.
“They took on the information at half-time well. And I thought in the second half, I thought there was only one team in it. But then we work ever so hard to get back within touching distance and give a soft call away because players can't be bothered to do the simple things or the hard things, and deny space to our opponents. And unfortunately, we are then left ruing the multiple missed chances that we had.”
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