Sheffield Wednesday vs Swansea: While Premier League gets acquainted with Carlos Carvalhal and his metaphors, Wednesday are battling an injury crises of epic proportions
Owls host Swans on Saturday in the FA Cup and welcome back former manager to Hillsborough
DID you hear the one about the midfielder that got sent off, had his card rescinded and then got injured in training?
Well welcome to Jos Luhukay’s life at Sheffield Wednesday at the moment. Possibly the most injured team in the country.
In a season that has been so far away from expectations that the Owls are fighting a relegation battle rather than challenging for promotion, it was no surprise to hear aggrieved fans calling for Carlos Carvalhal’s head towards the end of last year.
However, while the Premier League gets acquainted with Carlos and his metaphors, Wednesday are battling an injury crises of epic proportions as Luhukay looks to steady the ship after a rough few months at Hillsborough.
Sure, Wednesday have spent money – a lot of it – and should be challenging the top teams for a spot in the Premier League, but even the most sceptical fan can see that the injury situation up at S6 is not just a case of ‘making excuses’.
The situation with Marco Matias recently was the cherry on the top, though.
Wrongly sent off against Birmingham, there was good news for Luhukay as it was decided that his card would be taken back and his ban uplifted.
Excellent news, right? Wrong.
He then got injured and faces three weeks on the sidelines, joining half of his team-mates on the list of those unavailable.
You could actually make a starting XI of the players that have played 20 games or less this season due to injury . . .
Kieren Westwood, Jack Hunt, Tom Lees, Glenn Loovens, Daniel Pudil, Marco Matias, Kieran Lee, Sam Hutchinson, Almen Abdi, Fernando Forestieri and Steven Fletcher.
That’s a decent team, isn’t it? You can then add Gary Hooper, Barry Bannan, George Boyd, Joost van Aken, David Jones and Jacob Butterfield into the equation too.