Injury update: Clough & D.Johnson press conf, Tue 7 Feb

[Martin Shaw]

[MTFCMusings]

Pretty terrible news on the injury front.

[Conker]

Few more and it will unravel rapidly.

[MTFCMusings]

The Reed and Oates injuries are coverable but the Johnson one is annoying.

[STAGS FOR LIFE]

This as come back to haunt us again , just through the window again .
We said another couple signings where needed.
Lets hope in the next few matches nothing else happens .

[PEAR CIDER]

This is pretty significant.

The positive news is that the signings made are here for next season.

Use the rest of the Season to gel, couple of tweaks in the summer and we'll win the league next season

[Richard Cranium]

fgs. If Maris gets injured we are fecked. Might aswell go 433 with the amount of forwards we've got available. Any update on Lewis Page fitness?

[MHStag]

As much as I like Oates, DJ and Swan are more than good enough to cover - arguably they should be starting ahead of him anyway.

Reed is annoying because he looks very tidy but at least we have cover.

Johnson is a big blow and we probably have to change shape as a result. Thinking 4 at the back with Hewitt RB.

Out of curiosity, has Wallace ever had a go at playing LB? Seems like a position he could fill in for (more so than Bowery/Akins who have done it in the past..)

[Richard Cranium]

Go to a back 4.

Hewitt, Kilgour, Harbottle, Perch on Saturday and then as soon as Macca is fit replace him with Perch and it's still a capable back 4 that

[BH_Stag]

Have to go to a back 4 now in light of the Johnson injury. We do not have the depth to continue with a back 5. Need Macca back ASAP. This is exactly why I thought it was a bad idea to let Gordon go without a replacement - you have to have a bit of cover but now we will have to move Hewitt out of the back 3. When you run that bit lighter 1 injury can have a knock on effect of 2 or 3 positions.

Think we can cover the Oates injury fine especially as now have Dunn and kept Johnson - we’ve been without him for most of the season so nothing new really, we’re just better equipped to deal with it now.

The Reed one is a huge blow and doesn’t leave us with much slack if we pick up any more injuries, which isn’t a great place to be in when Clarke and Boateng are made of glass and Quinn is 36.

Terrible timing for it as well. Gills in form, and then Carlisle A, Tranmere A, Salford H, Wimbledon A, Orient H, Northampton A, Stockport A all in the next 6 weeks. It really doesn’t get much tougher than that - a season defining period now has just got so much more difficult.

[bobbystagsfan]

Knew we should have signed more

[yorkstag]

I don’t think you can legislate for losing three players in 30 minutes.

[martinf]

O'Toole could slot in where Reed was sitting previous in front of the back three/four/five? and Wallace, for me that left back position is the most worrying that we dont have cover for.

[Rob]

Knew we should have signed more

Well we should have done, but these three injuries are pretty bad luck, unlike the Macca one. I don't think it necessarily means we'll go 4 at the back, I can see him playing Kilgour, Perch and Harbottle at CB, Hewitt at RWB and either Bowery or Wallace at LWB. You can then have Maris, Quinn, Clarke or DKD in midfield with Akins and Swan up front. The failure to sign a left sided defender may cost us as much as not signing CBs in the summer window, fingers crossed Macca is back soon.

[geoffhill]

You forgot to mention Boateng.

[Cleveland_Stag]

Pretty terrible news. Especially with the incredibly tough run of fixtures we’ve got that these three players will now miss.

5 injuries in the last two games. We’ll pick up a few more injuries the next few games too. Finishing in the playoffs just became a lot, lot more difficult task.

Selling Gordon was a bad move in hindsight now. So was not signing an extra defender.

[Martin Shaw]

fingers crossed Macca is back soon.

Out for 3-4 weeks for anyone who missed that news on Saturday

[Marky Mark]

Absolutely cursed.

[BH_Stag]

O'Toole could slot in where Reed was sitting previous in front of the back three/four/five? and Wallace, for me that left back position is the most worrying that we dont have cover for.

O’toole is a carthorse now unfortunately. Doesn’t have the mobility required to play in midfield, particularly with Quinn to one side of him. Simply doesn’t have the capability to cover enough ground.

Say you did play JJ in midfield, you’d have him sitting, Quinn to the left of him, Wallace behind Quinn, and Perch next to Wallace. Would be the slowest left hand side in the history of football

With Johnson and Macca now out for a month you cannot continue with wing backs. To play that formation effectively they have to be 2 of your best players.

[HitchcocksShins]

AIDS

[Chris M]

This time last year O’Toole was one of the first names on the team sheet. On a long contract too I recall. Any chance of a return to first team duties?

[bellwhiff]

How many times is a failure to provide a squad depth allowed before it becomes a systemic failure of management?

[Cleveland_Stag]

Clough’s somehow going to keep playing with wing backs isn’t he

[Cleveland_Stag]

I wonder how many more injuries we’ll pick up before Macca, Johnson, Reed and Oates return?

We may just be able to get by now, but we pick up an injury or two every game we play. We’ll be even more threadbare in a few weeks time most likely. With this also coinciding with a very tough run of fixtures for our next eight games… the playoffs seem like a long shot, despite currently being in them.

[Tippy Tappy Football]

Our squad has not been deep enough all season especially in defence. It was the same at the start of last season. You need a bigger squad with the transfer windows. You cannot expect players to play 46 league games per season. You need to plan for a certain percentage of injuries during the season.