Manchester United have today revealed the dreadful news that we will be without captain Nemanja Vidic for two months.
“Nemanja Vidic has had a meniscus operation on his right knee and will be out for around eight weeks,” read a club statement. “Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson rested Vidic as a precautionary measure at the weekend after he complained of tightness in his knee. However, further medical investigation revealed the underlying problem. The central defender was operated on this week and will be sidelined for about eight weeks.”
Man Utd News 24/7
Why am I even surprised?
First – oh and oh shit!!!!
Dreadful news indeed. With Jonny only recently back, and Rio taking knocks while putting in big performances, we will be lucky not to see Keane or Carrick starting a CH in the Premiership over the the next 8 weeks.
Are the players getting weaker, are the tackles rougher or is our medical team getting more incompetent each season?
I’m not even surprised anymore. That’s how sad this is.
Wow….just what we fucking needed. I have to say i am really annoyed at ferguson this year. I never criticize him but fucking hell man we should have gone into the summer market for a temporary cover. I mean they must know that a knee injury like his at that age is bound to have some long Term effects and limit contribution. It’s astounding that we are effectively going to relive past seasons mistakes.
Can’t say I am surprised. I said it in the summer. In some cases we are putting our faith in the wrong personnel. On and off the pitch.
all i will say is FUCK
@sushi
mate we have always played with 8 defenders in the squad. now we have eight. if we sign it will be impossible to keep everyone happy
It’s just so frustrating what’s the point of
Handicapping yourself? Y can’t we just for once do shit the easy way.
COME ON MICHAEL KEANE AND TOM THORPE AND SCOT WOOTON
I know we have 8 but we knew in the summer that Evans and jones had issues plus I can’t even remember last time smalling played. Just seems like poor planning.
Sushi, I get so sick hearing we should have bought in the summer. We have 5 very good centre backs you can’t just keep buying more backs in case 3/4 of them get injured. Just bad luck. Would have been a great chance to get jones and smalling getting some time in. My only concern is will vidic every recover from these injuries. Shame we let go of oshea, he was always very useful in these predicaments
@sushi
there is a squad limit of 25 we can pack our side with defenders
sorry cant pack
@Simon I get so sick of hearing that our defensive injuries are ‘bad luck’. It’s happened every year for 3-4 years now. As an analogy, if you had a team of 11 Owen Hargreaves’ would it be ‘bad luck’ if they were all injured at the same time?
@sam
mate if somebody tears his meniscus like vidic and jones and somebody fractures his toe like smalling then its ROTTEN BAD LUCK.evra hardly ever gets injured.
If you had a team of 11 Owen Hargreaves you would expect that they would all be injured for about the same amount of time that Owen Hargreaves would.
Fortunately we don’t have ANY Owen Hargreaves, so his likely injury record is moot.
lame
It’s a real shame that Hargreaves joined City last year. If he hadn’t joined one of our bitter rivals, maybe people would have taken some of his comments at the time a lot more seriously.
Don’t worry Mancheater united fans. Referees will make up for Vidic’s absence..
Glory glory..
What I meant with my analogy is that a series of injuries is not ‘bad luck’ if the players concerned are injury prone. The fact that we have suffered repeated injury crises at centre half suggests that our players in this position are injury prone (or, as Costas says, that our medical department is rubbish).
I would suggest that it is a combination of the two. Vidic (previously calf, now knee) and Ferdinand (back) should be regarded as injury prone. Evans also suffers his fair share of calf injuries. With regard to Jones and Smalling, they are still young and growing. As such, they are more susceptible to injuries (much like the twins).
Added to this, there have obviously been failings in our medical department in terms of diagnosing the extent of injuries and ensuriing that the proper treatment is put in place.
@costas
mate i am a doctor
owen hargraeves had tendonintis which is a very very complex condition that never realy goes away.to be honest it was surprising that we bought him.PLS REMEMBER ONE THING EVRY ONE.manchester united have had so much success in the last 2 decades under sir alex and that would not have happened with a poor medical team.JESUS CHRIST ITS FOOLISH TO BLAME THE MEDICAL TEAM FOR INJURIES. fletcher has ulcerative colitis now is that due to the medical team as well.
@Costas
A bit of clear thinking on the Carrington theory:
http://sportwitness.ning.com/forum/topics/the-not-so-shocking-truth-about-manchester-untied-s-continual-inj
Getting ridiculous this injuries,but anyone saying or insinuatong our loyal and hard working medics are shit is just as ridiculous..smalling should be back by 7th of oct,jones around 20th is the news.as someone mentioned above,just bad luck all this,i can imagine how sir Alex feel now.hopefully we get through this and get bodies back ASAP.
This was bound to happen, vidic has been out for so long, recurrence of injury was bound to happen. Never understood why the medical gets blames, they’re all competent, they wouldn’t be employed if they weren’t. injuries happen, it’s part of the game.
costas – hagreaves is just bitter. His knees were already fucked before he signed for united. Bayern must have laughed all the way to the bank. I don’t see how educated medics are to blame for natural injuries, that holds no grounds.
Frankly Im not surprised, it’s very common to have recurring meniscus or cartilage issues in a knee that’s been surgically repaired especially when the player tried to come back to play so soon. ACLs used to be a full year+ before full activity resumed but now with HGH, hyperbaric chambers and other therapy players attempt full activity within 6 months and while sometimes it works out, many times they have followup proceedures to clean up the area.
Thnx for the link @kalcheskis
I just can’t stand some people on this website,they know it all,blame the club for every and find negatives all the time.petrov his nowhere near football(sadly)yet fletcher(with a more serious illness)is back playing,our medics is shit.don’t need to defend them,they are doing all they can,who would?(Working for the biggest club in the world).i just try to stay away from this site lately,too many crap.imagine someone saying sir alex shldnt be afforded blind faith(he shld every min of everyday)when kenny dalglish is worshiped by the scousers for not even half of fergie’s success.I’m out
Who wouldnt*
@ARUN
Hargreaves blamed the way we handled his medical issue. Which isn’t a stretch of the imagination since injections are known to make matters worse over a long period of time. Just like it’s not a stretch of the imagination to assume that in certain cases, the medical team just doesn’t know what to do. Hence why a nember of players (Nani, Anderson and VDS) have seeked opinions from different doctors about their problems.
I am not just blaming the medical team. It’s a team effort and the blame also has to go to the training methods as well as the fact that we are relying on players with a track record of injuries. Take Smalling for example. H’s suffered 9-10 injuries in the 2 years he’s been at the club. That’s bad luck? Anyway, we can debate about it all we want. But in my opinion, Fergie hasn’t surrounded himself with an adequate staff. Whether it’s doctors, coaches or assistants. And it’s something that’s clearly obvious these days when you look at cetrain aspects of our performances or the injury situation.
@kanchelskis
Cheers. A couple of good points, but too naive for my liking.
Scot Wooton has got the go ahead for a start tomorrow.
@Samuel
We didn’t make matters any better with his knees in 07-08. That’s what he said. I agree he’s bitter, but that doesn’t mean that we didn’t make mistakes that season. We kept looking at the short picture by giving him injections.
Ok,Hargreaves came 2 united carrying d injury and stil passed his medical.dat just shows how competent our medical team is.hw many teams in d PL suffer d amount of injury we have every season?
And I will reiterate what I said in the past. Blind faith is foolish. Whether it’s for Fergie (as great as he is) or God himself.
costas – you’re reading far more into it than its needed, i doubt trained and qualified medics would get into a situation of not knowing what to do, the medicals at united can’t be expert at every type of injuries, there are specialists with experience out there, why not consult them. I don’t think that indicates incompetency.
and secondly, it’s a physical game, every single player plying their trade will carry some form of injuries throughout their careers.
costas – we probably tried to squeeze as much as possible from a train wreck like hagreaves as he barely got on the pitch and rightly so as.united paid 18million for him, bayern ripped united off and they knew it. Injections or not, i don’t think hargreaves was ever going to stay fit, he’s fucked.
Can’t even be arsed to be pissed about this. Saw this coming a mile away.
I thought it’d be smart to do a little transfer business in the summer. Ah well we move on. We played most of last season without him anyway so we better just get on with it.
Best thing I’ve seen all season was Stevie me’s face at analfield. Footy has been bog standard. A breath of fresh air needed all round I think
I think its time where Sir alex gradually integrates Thorpe,Wooton and Keane. I mean it. We have quality youngsters why not give them chances. WHo knows they may do better job. Instaed of playing Carrick or giggs in defence it would be better to give a proper defender a chance.
Get well soon Vida! Who would ever guess…… injuries to our defense are so rare
@Samuel
Yes, but some of those injuries weren’t anything complicated. Van Der Sar’s for example. I remember Fergie saying they couldn’t get to the bottom of it. He went to consult his Dutch doctor and he was back within a month.
No doubt it’s a physical game. I wouldn’t have had any complaints if our players got injured like the 2 Liverpool defenders did on Sunday. But there’s a lot of mystery in our injuries. Smalling and Jones (twice each) and Young didn’t pick up their injuries during a game. Of course like I’ve said in the past, that’s not the medical team’s responsibility. I am aware about that. That’s why I am not only blaming them, but the entire staff.
D’GING€r PrinC€ – stoke’s medical failed demba ba but he’s playing regularly for Newcastle, so what point are you trying to make?. you can still pass a medical.. Hargreaves wasn’t totally fucked when he signed, he just returned from the world cup but as time passed, his real physical state revealed. That does not show competency. Manchester united, a world renowned club would not employ muppets to run its medical department.
@Samuel
As for Hargreaves, I tend to agree actually. He was probably going to turn into Ledley King or Michael Owen eventually. And as a United fan, I can selfishly say that I was glad we got so much use out of him in his first season. He played a key role in our success. But it was also what led to the following 4 seasons of inactivity.
This will force sir alex to bring the reserves into the fray. Wooten and Kean has done quite well this season, so I hope they will be given a run out against newcastle.
Looks like Carrick is set to become our first choice CB for the next 2 months unless the Gaffer decides to introduce the youngsters such as Wooton, Keane, Thorpe into the first team.
Why am I not surprised. Sir Alex would not have left Vidic out if it was something serious.
We know our future pairing will be Evans & Smalling, but Vidic is still the most important defender we have at the moment. Rio & Evans had better stay fit for the next 2 months. We have games against Arsenal & Chelsea in there. Hopefully Vidic can be back for the busy Christmas period
*Sir Alex would not have left Vidic out if it wasnt something serious
I was guessing Vidic would play tomorrow. Now obviously not. With this in the offing,
News that Phil Jones was out for 8 weeks broke on Sept 8 so he isn’t involved and Smalling is still Crocked.
Given this senario, Uniteds title potential is really at risk. That said, I think we have to get some of the younger players involved as they may have to be called on if things become dire.
Michael Keane maybe the most likely along with Rio would be my guess. Fullbacks should be Frederick Veseli and Büttner.
Hope to the gods we don’t use Carrick as CB. That is how he got injured several years ago under similar circumstances. CB need to really jump. Carrick is better closer to the ground.
My 2 pence
Wooten.
Whatt? “ohh hail mary full of grace, i pray for the protection of our remaining defenders. Amen!”
Real bad news this one.
Without going all apocalyptic, if its the same knee, you must begin to worry the best days of Vid are behind us.
Probably much more of a concern is quite how many injuries we keep on having year after year.
Fair enough, an injury can happen to anyone, at any time, but eventually when its continuous on the scale we are seeing, over years now, you must wonder about the quality of our medical staff.
we need a solid, stable, young ish, injury proof bunch of defenders
@Utd4life – exactly! Michael Keane ? What for, we have Michael Carrick.
i have criticized evra so many times over last 2 seasons but one thing i have to admire about him his is astonishing fitness!!!!i don’t think he’s ever had a serious injury.and i hardly remember him missing even 2 games in a row…SAF is surely aware that evra isn’t the same player he once was but at least as long as he’s there SAF doesn’t have to worry about whom to play at LB before every game whereas our players at all the other positions pick up knocks even while walking!!!!
i actually cant believe we have another injury. i really hope keane or wootton get a run in the first team, preferably in the cup games
Jesus christ. How on earth has this happened? He was doing fine against Galatasaray just a few days ago and all of a sudden this happened? Someone just does not like us.
Okay everyone.. let’s just give up now. We can concede every game in every competition and rest everyone up for next season . Who’s with me? Good all those who are with me on that please step into that room over there, I’ll be in shortly. Yes that one right there ( all whiners , chicken littles and doomsayers file into the room). Is that everyone (pause) …oh a couple more, okay , yes right over there. Another pause….Is that everyone? Good. Thank You. I walk over to the door of that room and LOCK IT from the outside!!
Okay all the rest of us here still have competitions to plays and trophies to win, let’s get back to preparing.
Maybe it’s not that bad and the old fox is playing mind games . Sadly not the case. I’m surprised he didn’t allow longer with the recovery process
I started to doubt how medical stuff is doing as well as their advice when we played Rooney in beryen munchen
game,the lad played while injured
The club must review the medical stuff and training system soon as possible…there is something behind this is not normal aiseee.
I didn’t realize it was “Blame The medical Staff Day” . I missed the memo sorry. I think we should string one medical staff member up by the short and curlies everytime one of our players gets hurt and stays hurt. Especially if it’s a defender. These injuries they cause must be stopped and they obvously are the cause.
Other Prem teams pay their staff to mend and care for players. We pay our medical staff to do the opposite and that must stop. It’s a conspiracy, that’s what it is.
Gutted for Vidic, but step up Keane, Wooton, Carrick and whoever the fuck else we can bring into defence until Smalling and Jones return.
I do understand the despair of fans, its fair enough, but thats why a no-nonsense hard bastard like Fergie is in charge. No time for wallowing or laying blame, and I can’t imagine Vidic looking for sympathy. We have to get on with it simple as that. League Cup should be reserved for our youngsters anyway so we should be grateful theres a match tomorrow. Assuming Evans does have a knock he’ll hopefully be rested so he’s ready for Spurs at the weekend.
But whatever happens in the next two games our senior lads have to be clinical with our chances. Nani, Hernandez, RVP, Valencia, Welbeck… all our lads have to start putting games to bed. I love Rafa but with our defence back to being a bit dodgy we can’t rely on our fullbacks bombing forward all the time. The whole Squad has to pull together to grind out results, and lets be honest we do have the players to plug the gap at CB.
Keane and Wooton might not be veterans like Vidic but their journey has to start somewhere. Meanwhile – Rafa Rio Evans Evra – thats hardly a bad back four ffs. Gutted for Vidic but hopefully he’ll be back before the end of the season. Until then the Squad have to rise to the challenge, starting with Ba and Cisse tomorrow. Typical.
No need to be so precious about Rob Swire and his crew. They have every right to be critisized just like we all are when we fail to do our job properly.
@ Costas Legitimate questions must ,of course, be raised and answered ! I am not saying they are absolved from any blame, I am saying do not just convict them immediately as many here are doing. The medical staff rarely gets praised for getting it right. By virtue of their job we are mostly aware of what they get wrong.
Costas says:
“Fergie hasn’t surrounded himself with an adequate staff. Whether it’s doctors, coaches or assistants. And it’s something that’s clearly obvious these days when you look at cetrain aspects of our performances or the injury situation”
Agree. Can’t say I didn’t see that coming. I would be surprised not to see Ferdinand out in the next month as well. We need to integrate the youngsters asap even when and let them play with Vidic while he’s still around to learn the trade. I’d rather get some young blood in the back then moving Carrick in there which is what will happen.
Its the same knee btw, so you really have to wonder if it is going to have any long term effects
I’m all for integrating youth into the team but fuck me this isn’t the time for it. Arsenal Chelsea coming up, CL fixtures midweek, newcastle in the league. We don’t just throw our youngsters into the deep end and shatter their confidence if they mess up in such big matches now do we?
FUCK VIDA WHERE ARE YOU.
This is so Fucked up…. God jeez! 3-4 seasons same thing, what is going on with our medical team this just cant be bad luck for sure. I am just hoping this is one of those because if we get another long term injury to another major player we will result in make shift.
Anyway where I come from we have a culture of being optimists so i still think we will somehow be okay and get better.
it’s not a surprise for me, as i had doubt on the medical team currently looking after our players, and with valencia also reported to be injured following the clash where both agger and johnson went for him in the liverpool game, it could be yet another important player to miss a few games. may be also time for saf to consider give the likes of veseli and co. from the reserves a run-out in the first team
@LonestarRed
I agree and I’ve tried to stress often enough that I am not blaming everything on the medical team. They did a good job with Vidic (as well as Valencia 2 years ago). After the recovery is over, if these players get injured again, the blame lies elsewhere. And that’s why I am sceptical about Fergie’s staff in general. I just find it weird that Fergie is ruthless with his players, but seems to overlook any incompetence from his associates. That being said, the fact that we will introduce that new medical facility at Carrington this fall, indicates that maybe the club thought that our methods had become outdated. Pity it didn’t happen sooner.
@Adam
Absolutely. Time to start trusting youth again. We’ve reached the point where recycling Carrick, Scholes and Giggs in midfield and depending only on Rio and Vidic won’t solve much. FFS, Rio is 34 and Vida is 31 and he just suffered a serious injury. They can’t be the first choice defensive duo anymore.
Is the meniscus tear present befor or after his return , if before , I’m dubious he should gave started. If so, why was it not picked up?. Maybe someone better informed on such matters could enlighten me. Bad luck lads
Personally , throw the youngsters at this competition . If they get dumped out it’s still a great experience for them .
No Vidic for two months is a massive loss to United. Who thinks Fergie should enter the transfer market and sign a central defender?