Newcastle United have been dealing with an injury crisis all season.
Whether the problems they have endured on that front and the subsequent fatigue that relying on so few players causes are the sole reasons for their malaise is clearly up for debate.
Still, it’s been something even the likes of Jurgen Klopp have noted upon.
The situation has reared its head once more this week. Indeed, Sven Botman is set for knee surgery having suffered another serious injury there, his second of the season.
The Dutchman claimed at the start of the year that he had played on with a knee injury without knowing and then avoided having surgery. To have suffered another problem only months after makes that decision look very strange indeed, albeit Newcastle were reportedly happy for him to go under the knife back then.
While Eddie Howe has admitted to making mistakes when dealing with injured players this season, there’s also been a freakish amount of bad luck. Harvey Barnes, after all, suffered the kind of injury the club’s medical staff had not seen in football before.
Clearly, it’s difficult to suggest that all of Newcastle’s injury problems are down to back luck. Still, the rotten misfortune the club have had cannot be ignored.
Interestingly, former Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere played under Howe at Bournemouth and has recently shared some insight into how the Newcastle head coach deals with injury problems.
Newcastle injury news: What Jack Wilshere has said about Eddie Howe
Speaking on the latest episode of Simon Jordan’s ‘Up Front’ podcast, Wilshere said Howe actually managed to prolong his career, such was his ability to manage the workload of injured players.
“What people don’t see is that they might be managed in the week, or he [players] might miss this day, or he might not do everything in a training session, you know,” he said.
“It was actually Eddie Howe who showed me that that can work.
“I needed to get away from Arsenal, I wasn’t playing, I kept getting injuries and then to go into this environment and be managed by someone who understood that I’ve got a lot of qualities but I need to be managed right in the week.
“Like I said, when I left Arsenal I was probably done, he was probably the one who prolonged my career in that sense.
“I knew I didn’t have to train on a Wednesday, for example. I knew I could just miss that day and be alright for the weekend and that was thanks to him.”
Newcastle injury crisis: Next season needs to be better
Though no team can plan for bad luck on the injury front, questions will need to be asked should the problems continue next season.
We’ve seen the likes of Liverpool, Tottenham and Manchester United endure similar states of injury crisis this season. The reasons for it are unclear of course but Newcastle are not alone in missing so many players, so perhaps the fallout from last winter’s World Cup and the ever-increasing workload on players are having an impact.
However, should the issues persist, the club must be held to account.
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