Two More
After the disappointment of the 0-0 home draw against Millwall came the news of more injury woe for Aston Villa.
Chris Samba left the pitch against Millwall with a suspected hamstring issue.
“He looks like he’s nicked a hamstring, which, if that’s the case, will mean he’s a doubt for next week,” said Villa boss, Steve Bruce, post-match.
An injury that Bruce hinted that Henri Lansbury, who made his first start for a while, had also picked up.
“Lansbury has got one as well. So that’s a disappointment as well,” said Bruce, after discussing Samba’s situation.
We Got This
These two particular injuries shouldn’t be too much of a concern though.
In MOMS’ book, the loss of Chris Samba is potentially covered by either the returning Mile Jedinak, who is on the verge of returning now that he’s back in full training, or Tommy Elphick, who replaced Samba on Saturday.
As we discussed on the latest MOMS Podcast, in almost prophet-like fashion, Tommy Elphick should be able to do a job for Villa in the short-term.
Remember, Elphick was good enough to be centre back and captain of a Championship promotion team when he led Bournemouth to the Premier League, so he doesn’t turn rotten over night.
It’s just a matter of getting his confidence back and to cover two or three games until John Terry returns shouldn’t be too much of a stretch.
Meanwhile, Bruce questioned his own judgement in terms of playing Lansbury ahead of Conor Hourihane, so Villa aren’t going to miss somebody that hasn’t featured for the majority of the season.
Just put Hourihane back in.
Lansbury shouldn’t be out for long, if at all, but his availability at this stage is in strengthening the squad.
There’s a myth now that the ‘Injuries are piling up’, with a sudden influx of fit again players returning to full training, as in the case of Scott Hogan and Jedinak, the situation isn’t too bad now. Only John Terry and Jonathan Kodjia are the key players really missed.
This is not a time to feel sorry for ourselves. Other teams have such injury issues, but not the depth of squad that Villa have.
If we want promotion, it’s time to crack on.
UTV
Has Bruce actually gotten LUCKY with injuries? Listen to the latest MOMS podcast episode:
Just to pick up on your comment if we want promotion, let’s be honest if we do then we have to take 3 points against teams like Millwall especially at home the truth hard as it seems is that we are a million miles away from being a premiership team, and if we keep going like we are we will struggle to stay in the play off places, I’m very dissapointed with the way we are playing, team selection etc, and now we are talking about possibly signing a loan striker who has been at Sunderland on loan and look where they are now. At the moment it’s just not good enough and Derby away next up we are going to have to be a whole lot better than we are now and I’m not sure we have it in us, all we can do is hope for the best but don’t hold your breath.