Steven Taylor out for 3 months.
Posted on July 29th, 2010 | 45 Comments |
It’s a huge blow for both the player and the team as Newcastle look to use this season to consolidate their place in the Premier League, although the signing of Sol Campbell has cushioned the blow a bit, for me anyway.
This is the latest setback for Taylor in what is turning out to be his ‘annus horribilis’. It all started back in January when he injured his knee against West Brom which forced him to miss most the remainer of the season. Then there was the infamous ‘Glassjawgate’ affair in which Taylor allegedly recieved a broken jaw in a training ground dust-up, now add this latest injury to the list and we have a central defender that has only made two appearances this year due to this horrendously bad luck with injuries.
“It’s a big blow for us,” Hughton told the Gazette. “I think, personally for us, we’ve lost a very good player, and somebody else who has Premier League experience.”
“It’s a vital position at centre-back, and, for him, a massive blow, because he missed a big chunk of last season. He came back in good shape, and it was conscience effort from him to do so. He worked so well in the summer, and it was a really unfortunate injury that can happen.”
This may well be why Sol Campbell was brought in to the club, and it’s a bloody good job he was fairness. Now we have Campbell I am less alarmed by the length of time Taylor will be out for. Don’t get me wrong, we will miss Taylor, but what I mean is that I feel more confident that we have a player very capable of covering in the shape of Campbell.
“It was vital that we brought in Sol, and it was vital that we moved so quickly. When you look at the quality of strikers in the Premier League, you need strength, and we’ve got somebody in that can deal with that,” Hughton said.
It is expected that Taylor will be out until sometime in October having undergone surgery. He won’t be rushed back though and will be allowed to make a full and proper recovery before returning to first-team action.
It’s a blow, but it’s a blow that has been softened by the arrival of Sol Campbell. Speaking of which, the timing of the two announcements was pretty canny wasn’t it? At least now that we have Campbell there will be no clamour to rush Taylor back and cut corners in his rehabilitation.
A real shame…
Collo, Campbell, Williamson, Kadar, and Perch in an emergency should be adequate cover.