Darron Gibson

[wonder88]

Confirmation of the bad news from King today. Hope he makes a full recovery, but it looks like this season is gone for him, and he has had a lot of injury problems in his career already. You could tell last night how devestated he was.

[DeLorean]

He was in some pain the poor guy, he had his hands wrapped around one of the other Irish player's feet for comfort. Cruciate injuries amongst soccer players seem relatively uncommon these days, compared to Gaelic Footballers where it seems a serious issue for some reason.

It's a long road back for him but hopefully he comes back strong. There are no silver linings really but at least he won't miss anything significant as far as we're concerned. James Mac should be more assured of his place in the Everton midfield as well but I'm just clutching at straws now really.

[Stuttgart88]

Another year of Whelan! In fairness he looks comfortable in a 3 man midfield.

[DeLorean]

The next boss might not fancy him at all, especially if he remains out of favour at Stoke. Hendrick will be back from injury over the next few weeks and will present another option. Having said that, I'd say the majority would see Whelan's experience as valuable alongside McCarthy.

[Charlie Darwin]

I reckon the next manager might regard him as second-choice (as King seemingly did) but he'll be in or around squads even if Hendrick is included. He was probably our most consistent player over the two games and, outside of Forde, probably our best performer in Koln.

[DeLorean]

God yeah, I wouldn't even discard him from the squad myself.

[brine3]

Whelan is decent enough in a three man midfield. He was seriously shown up for pace in Trap's kamikaze midfield.

The injury Gibson has would have been career ending 15 or 20 years ago. He will be out for a while, perhaps the rest of the season. However, medical treatment has come on his injury is probably pretty similar to Van Nistelrooy's one that delayed his signing for Man Utd for a year. And we all know that Van Nistelrooy did fairly well for Man Utd in the end.

Hopefully nobody will ever question Gibson's commitment for Ireland again. The guy injured himself going full out for his country in a nothing match.

Maybe if we didn't play football on a rugby pitch, then these things would be less likely to happen.

[Charlie Darwin]

Speaking of the pitch, what was the story with (what looked like) all the dead grass down the north end?

[Stuttgart88]

According to Kerr's column today it was because of a recent Roger Waters concert.

[Charlie Darwin]

Ah, I should have guessed considering I was at it.

[brine3]

Waters dried out the pitch?

[SwanVsDalton]

The next boss might not fancy him at all, especially if he remains out of favour at Stoke. Hendrick will be back from injury over the next few weeks and will present another option. Having said that, I'd say the majority would see Whelan's experience as valuable alongside McCarthy.

Bring back Keith Andrews!

Aside from that it does represent any number from Hendrick, David Meyler and Stephen Quinn to get in there. They'd have to fancy their chances of putting Whelan under pressure, particularly if he isn't getting a game.

[DannyInvincible]

Hopefully nobody will ever question Gibson's commitment for Ireland again. The guy injured himself going full out for his country in a nothing match.

King acknowledged the same: http://www.thescore.ie/darron-gibson...32443-Oct2013/

He played against Germany and maybe people will say he came back too soon but I don’t know, I think he was fit and ready to play. He played for his club before he came in.

I feel very bad for him because he did give everything he had. He’s a fine talent and he really, really could be one of the players that Ireland could build around in the coming years depending on the way they play

Maybe if we didn't play football on a rugby pitch, then these things would be less likely to happen.

I was wondering what the huge yellow patch down the north end was all about myself. When was the last rugby game on the pitch, by the way? Could it have been a factor? To be honest, it's hard to gauge as it just looks like he placed his landing foot in an awkward position before his weight came down on it.



Wouldn't the pitch be re-laid anyway after a rugby game with an upcoming football international?

Actually, on second thoughts, I'm blaming Charlie!

[Charlie Darwin]

It seemed like a good idea at the time

[geysir]

Actually, on second thoughts, I'm blaming Charlie!

[gastric]

I don't believe there have been any rugby games on the pitch this season. Cruciate ligament injuries are the curse of the AFL and are often very innocuous. Gibson has two choices, the traditional way which would certainly keep him out of the game for a year or he could undergo LARS treatment, which is new and revolutionary and can have players back in three months playing. There was initial scepticism about LARS treatment, but the AFL players who have had it seem to cope fine with it. The actual damage done determines the best way forward.

[liamoo11]

He was in some pain the poor guy, he had his hands wrapped around one of the other Irish player's feet for comfort. Cruciate injuries amongst soccer players seem relatively uncommon these days, compared to Gaelic Footballers where it seems a serious issue for some reason.

It's a long road back for him but hopefully he comes back strong. There are no silver linings really but at least he won't miss anything significant as far as we're concerned. James Mac should be more assured of his place in the Everton midfield as well but I'm just clutching at straws now really.

Unfortunately not in female sport over 3 times more likely to do your cruciate and have other knee injuries than males. Men are *******s

[liamoo11]

I don't believe there have been any rugby games on the pitch this season. Cruciate ligament injuries are the curse of the AFL and are often very innocuous. Gibson has two choices, the traditional way which would certainly keep him out of the game for a year or he could undergo LARS treatment, which is new and revolutionary and can have players back in three months playing. There was initial scepticism about LARS treatment, but the AFL players who have had it seem to cope fine with it. The actual damage done determines the best way forward.

The LARs is artificial so you can push the rehab full on from early while the traditional hamstring/patella tendon repair needs healing time and rehab has to be more conservative to respect the biological principles of healing. The big question with the LARs is the abscence of proprioceptive feedback that an artificial structure will provide compared to an organic structure which has propriocetive receptors whose job it is to help the knee reposition itself to prevent injuries.

[DeLorean]

Martinez seemed very upbeat about the injury, saying that they had feared the worst initially... the worst presumably being a year out. He said the basic structure of the knee is perfect. He seems to have more or less written of this season though but was confident that he'd return with no repercussions.

[DannyInvincible]

Positive news on the Gibson injury front: http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/s...rs-247486.html

Everton boss Roberto Martinez has offered an upbeat assessment of the outcome of Tuesday’s operation on Darron Gibson’s knee following the anterior cruciate ligament injury he sustained against Kazakhstan.

“The surgery was really successful,” said the Toffees boss. “So we are starting to count the days down now on Darron to come back. The news there is all positive.”

I thought that sort of injury would keep a player out for months, but we can expect Darron to be back in days? Not all that precise, but I'm guessing Martinez means around a month or two surely?