30 Jul 2021 14:46:14
Hi Ed1, I was wondering about the injuries sustained to VVD and Gomez as bad as they were, do players fully recover or is there always some long-term damage and more care needed e. g. how much they train or how many games they play in the following season (s)? Thanks Vinny.

30 Jul 2021 16:30:36
Alan Shearer was better after his op than before. Hopefully they will both be good as new in time.

30 Jul 2021 16:34:38
I'm no expert but it differs from player to player and also depends on their position.

Football is one of the hardest sports to get back into after an injury like this due to the amount of pressure put on the knees and the need to rapidly change body position and direction of running. Best case scenario is to look at previous players.

Shearer snapped his ACL and then had one of his best seasons after. Roy Keane snapped his and whilst he didn't play particularly well the season after he eventually found his form again. Then you have Ox who didn't recover particularly well and lost a bit of his explosiveness (although seems to have it back) . Vidic (best comparison as same position) never hit the heights as he once did but was still an excellent defender.

It's very difficult however to judge, prior to actually watching them play over a season, how they will react to the injury. I would just say don't expect both to come in and start playing as they did before initially, they haven't played for 9 months and so won't have that match sharpness.

It's very possible that VVD will lose some of his pace but as a player who doesn't rely on pace all that much and a player who reads the game exceptionally well it shouldn't be too much of an issue.

If I'm not mistaken Gomez has had long term injuries before and has come back even better each time, I wouldn't be as concerned about him (he's also young so can adapt his game in the future for complication) .

I think in general you shouldn't be too worried about both VVD and Gomez, I actually thought VVD was very good when he came on, he just miss timed a tackle essentially. Joe also looked rather assured and made many bursts into the midfield (although also at fault for the goal) . I'd reserve judgement until they are fully fit and have match sharpness back.

As for care it requires a lot of specialist treatment (which they've been having for the last 9 months) and will until they are fully fit. You can also play a full season after however there is a chance of little niggles and set backs so I wouldn't bet on VVD playing a full season.

Cheers.

30 Jul 2021 16:49:39
Thanks for the reply lads, I suppose there's also a psychological side of it that they have to overcome. I've seen players with leg breaks from tackles not commiting to tackles due to fear of it happening again.

30 Jul 2021 19:20:06
OP, you can’t really tell cos these outcomes are not an exact science. It depends on the player, how his body reacts to its new way of life, mental recovery of the player which is critical and so on. They may have to reinvent the way they play to adapt to their new body type post injury.

Many players have gone on to have great careers after an ACL or the injury Gomez had. Ings is still balling out. Shevchenko balled out after an ACL injury and Nabil Fekir (multiple knee injuries) is still pulling trees at Betis. We will have to see what happen.