11 Nov 2020 20:48:47
Turned on the telly this evening to see Gomez pulls out of England squad with a potential serious knee injury. Matip is made of tissue paper and Gomez was the one we were relying on to be the constant and that in itself is saying something. I feel for the lad I really do and just hope it's not as serious as being reported.

Troy Deeney brought up an interesting point in that why did we allow Gomez to go away with the England squad for a meaningless friendly given our current situation. I am sure if we had turned to Gomez and said sit this one out he wouldn't have kicked up a fuss and Gareth Southgate would have understood but hey hindsight is a wonderful thing.

I said it before but it will take a miracle of Biblical proportions for Matip to go 2 months without an injury so maybe one of the youngsters can stake their claim in the team alongside Fabinho. Thiago coming back will be huge as he can control the game well taking the pressure off the defence.

Other fans said we would crumble once Virgil got injured but we weathered the storm. This is just another storm to weather and if anyone can do it this manager and team can so let's try and stay positive.

11 Nov 2020 22:00:44
Thiago is injury prone too don’t jump the gun.

12 Nov 2020 21:08:21
Strictly speaking, under FIFA rules I don't think we could've refused to allow Gomez, or any other player, join their national squad unless they had some sort of injury before hand. Which Gomez didn't, afaik. Not even a little one.

I suppose we could've asked Southgate to manage his play time, maybe leave him out of the Ireland game altogether, but this happened in training.

We're into the greater conversation about whether it's wise to have International Friendlies and the Nations League in an already congested season.

12 Nov 2020 22:15:08
Alonso, it will only make our title victory the sweetest of them all.