having lived in Italy a bit off and on, it didn't sound so dramatic to me. Italians can be a bit... uh... floral in their footie writing and I read it a bit more positive about McKennie and grudgingly allowing Allegri might not be completely without merit, but hard to tell for sure without large context. It is funny to see how pervasive the "Wes is a lazy fatty" rep extended, to where it's kind of a founding myth now.
Apparently, Wes went back to Turin early die to injury from T&T game. Hopefully he will be ok for next week. Moretti and Locatelli left international duty with injuries as well... Juve midfield is in trouble. Rebiot and Nicolussi-Caviglia are the only healthy CM as things stand.
I wish someone made a study of how many serious injuries happen during national team duty. It seems to me the number is very high, considering players only have a handful of such games per year. Maybe it's better they're not making a study. It'd give ammunition to the clubs to stop their players from going.
Yes, Wes is experiencing knee tendinopathy. Hopefully not too severe. Takes rest and PT for it to go away completely.
I don’t think it’s the planes. I’m 6’7 and I feel great flying business class between LAX and Europe each year. But have me run around getting kicked for 90 minutes after I arrive and I might not feel so great anymore.
This is totally anecdotal but back when I played Sunday geezer ball, I had to commute every other week to be at work on Monday AM for a few months. I didn't want to miss my game so I'd basically play, drive home, shower and get on a plane. I never pulled so many muscles in my life. Lifting a water glass, scratching my neck... So who knows, but man that play then fly thing was painful.
I played basketball and tennis for years and never strained anything. Plane or no plane. Genetics I guess. Edit: I did tear thumb ligaments while playing volleyball in Cornwall once. Forgot about that. But I was only in a cast for two weeks so I’m more McKennie than O’Brien I think.
I just saw a number from a recent study. Let me try to look it up. https://www.howdengroupholdings.com/news/howden-2022-23-mens-european-football-injury-index Take it with a grain of salt, I have no idea how solid Howden Group's research is.
I wonder if there are more injuries in certain confederations than others. If this becomes proven perhaps refereeing can be improved by threat of holding out those players (or the players themselves being very judicious) until things improve. Wes and Aaronson were hacked at will. Wes, luckily, has some wolverine blood so I'm not too worried but Aaronson must have a tone of patience because as much as Dest was rough housed and clutched and grabbed Aaronson had much worse. I think he got hacked about 6-8 times in the second game. I think it does cause players to play a bit differently because the opponent doesn't have the same risk to their career / $$$ as most US players do. Shouldn't be that way.
There were 42 total fouls in the recent Brazil vs Argentina match with 3 yellows and 1 red. Commentators said it was a blood bath.
It certainly was something to behold. Say nothing that it started in the stands before Kick Off. What's more it was Brazil that were the antagonizers in the hacking.
I have a weird conjecture about it. We're all soccer fans, so I'll share. I know it may sound outlandish, but IMO still merits research. Representing your country is a bigger stressor than just playing for your club. The latter is your job. The former, well, if you do poorly enough, even your family will be somehow affected. The more stressed you are, the more vulnerable you are to cramps, sprains, soft tissue injures, muscular issues, tendonitis, and even more severe conditions like tears and breaks of your tendons and muscles. Also, defenders playing for national honor may come into it with a lot more purpose, tackling harder, trying to prove themselves, their love for their homeland, trying to beat the rivals (who may be seen as enemies, even).
Knee tendinopathy is more of an overuse injury causing pain than getting whacked. Knees and hips not aligned/supporting contribute to it as does playing on hard surfaces. I had it and sitting for duration was painful. Just did a lot of PT and took awhile, but one day the pain was just gone. Took way too many NSAIDs, though.
and were the fans entertained? Was that what they really wanted to see among two very skillful teams? Of course with a rival game it will be intense but a few early yellows and that would have toned the rough tough down.
Starting... ⚪⚫ How we line up for tonight’s #JuveInter 📋⤵️ pic.twitter.com/lbEuT2y58V— JuventusFC 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@juventusfcen) November 26, 2023
Poor game for Wes. He doesn't have the most cultured touch but has gotten better over the years. Although every once in a while he has a game where it just seems like every pass is a tad off and today was that game. Still... coach plays him the full 90 and Juve end up getting the draw. All in all, not a bad result given the opponent.
He was on the same side with Cambiaso and Gatti defending an unrelenting Inter that was hammering that side. I'm going to cut him some slack for his defensive work today, but in attack he was inaccurate. He must have missed half of his passes. As I noted in the PBP, after this weekend I think Dest has surpassed him as our most in-form guy in Europe.* ---- * At a high level. I'm sure some American kid is tearing it up in the Israel or Finland fourth division, but those don't count.
it was a highly technical and tactically game. Wes has decent technique but he ain't the one with perfect technical skills. But he fights hard and reads the game OK.
Post game analysts were of somewhat differing opinions, tho no one gave Wes a particularly rave. He got a team-low 4 from one for lack of any meaningful involvement, got a team average/slightly below average 6 for "working hard" and a few other "not much to mention" reports, fwiw.
He often does one touch passes when being pressed. When they work, they can really unlock a defense. But when they don’t, as is usually the case and was again today, I always wonder why he doesn’t play within his abilities, take one more touch and maintain possession.
Was always going to be a difficult match against an inform Inter. It absolutely did not help with having Hans as the Regista, was the clear weak link on the field. The team was much better once Locatelli came on. HNC is good for depth, teams need those, just not in matches against last years CL finalists... I was fine with Wes' contributions, especially on the defensive side. To keep Mkhy, Thuram, and DiMarco mostly quiet. As others pointed out, he was a bit off the mark going forward, he and Cambiaso just don't have any chemistry to combine meaning the left being the only viable option to threaten. Hopefully Weah can get off the physio table to move Cambiaso back to the LWB spot, its just not working with Wes.