Season Review - Fitness Check
For those that follow my weekly Late Fitness Check column you will already ready know that I have a particular penchant for all things injury related – particularly when it comes to the British Premier League – and I love this time of year! Not only does it allow for some much needed rest and recovery but I get the opportunity to collate season long data to see how individual teams and players have performed – in terms of injury - throughout the campaign.
Often referred to as the League that nobody likes to win I have been compiling data for the last 10 years and records highlight everything from the plain old obvious – Newcastle losing the most days – to outright astonishing – Manchester United paid Angel di Maria around $3 million just for sitting in the treatment room.
Without any further ado …………
As I mentioned previously history will often serve as a good indicator of what we can expect to find come May and for those who play season long platforms combined with limited transfers - player availability is the KEY to success.
The 2014/15 BPL season was no exception in that a number of the usual suspects featured prominently on the table although this year I opted for a move away from the fairly primitive MOST wins scenario to give a truer insight and fairer reflection!
A good example of this would be to take a look at Arsenal who lost a mammoth 1645 days to injury [second only to Newcastle – 1995]. Now is it fair to compare Arsenal directly with a team like West Ham who ranked in the bottom half of the league having lost just over 1k days? In short NO …. The reason! Arsenal played 12 more competitive matches and statistically research has proven that players are 5x more likely to be injured during a game.*
Therefore minutes per injury is a better performance indicator in this instance and using the two teams in question Arsenal drop down to 7th [one injury for every 118 minutes played] while West Ham have one the worst with injuries affecting their players once in every 97 minutes.
Overall Chelsea continued their impressive record with another solid set of numbers [Days Lost – 550 / Average Days per Injury 18 / Mins per Injury 118] which was enough to see the Pensioners placed within the bottom two – in 3 from 4 performance indicators – however there was a new kid on the block as Tottenham benefitted greatly from the phenomena known as the Pochettino Effect. London rivals Spurs sit soundly in the bottom 4 in all areas as the Argentine instils his own particular brand of high pressing, high energy football at White Hart Lane. Spurs cover on average 7km more per game this season – the biggest improvement of any club over the past 9 months - while Southampton have dropped by more than 4km in each match. Christian Eriksen tops the Lilywhites running charts amassing 415.33km putting him third overall in the league behind Scott Arfield, Burnley [417.31km] and George Boyd, Burnley [416.61].**
Other stand-out stats include an eye watering 55 separate recorded injuries for Man Utd – comfortably the highest in the division while their player withdrawal rates due to injury – 1 every 72 minutes of competitive play – is unsurprisingly the worst. ***
Burnley have been confined to at least one season in the Championship as the Clarets finish in the bottom 3 but Sean Dyche will be pleased with the data associated with his side’s performance throughout the campaign. Burnley are amongst the fittest in the division and barring two serious knee injuries [ACL] – Kevin Long and Dean Marney – the Clarets excelled in two key areas - lowest number of injuries [20] and best minutes per injury [185 minutes].
At the opposite end Newcastle cap a truly awful season but I suppose the silver lining is a trophy of sorts; United were walk away Champions of the Injury League with each of their 41 injuries taking on average 49 days to heal. A small squad and mounting pressure forced Alan Pardew into unnecessary risks; rushing players back against medical advice. “Yes, I was advised not to but he [Rolando Aarons] did a little bit yesterday in training that I thought warranted him forty five minutes.” The young winger spent the next 6 months sidelined following a recurrence of his hamstring strain plus numerous setbacks while Papiss Cisse was another thrown into the mix “Fortunately the doctor was on a course this week so he didn’t get a say.” If the problem wasn’t so serious it would be laughable. Supporters will also point to the likes of Siem de Jong who was thrashed during pre-season despite arriving on the back of a serious injury. The Dutch playmaker made just one BPL start following a ruptured thigh muscle and collapsed lung. Clubs have a care of duty, they need to protect players. This is not the sole responsibility of the medical department but needs to be addressed as a collective to ensure preventative and rehab protocol are stringently adhered to.
For Hull life in the top flight was always going to be tough and survival was made even harder following the loss of key players. Manager Steve Bruce will point to $10 million summer signing Robert Snodgrass who was stretchered off on the opening day after 40 minutes; the midfielder dislocated his knee and faces a race to start the next campaign. A persistent knee problem – which required surgery - restricted Nikica Jelavic to just 21 starts and the striker only managed to complete 90 minutes on 12 occasions. Despite this the Croatian was still his side’s top goalscorer and a fully fit Jelavic would’ve made a big difference. Not excuses just facts!
Injuries to the thigh accounted for over a quarter [26%] of all injuries as the hamstring continues to dominate muscular tears - more than a third were attributed to the posterior aspect although anterior tears to the quadriceps were also commonplace due to the very nature of the sport. Massive loads during eccentric – lengthening - muscle contraction when sprinting, jumping and kicking are the primary cause of injury.
Spare a thought for goalkeeper Fraser Forster, the Southampton stopper was in the running for the Golden Glove until a patellar tendon rupture ended his season back in March. The Saints No.1 kept 13 clean-sheets but missed the final 9-games allowing Joe Hart to pinch it at the death following a 2-nil home win over – you guessed it – Southampton.
Ashley Williams was absent for the final day trip to Selhurst Park and in doing so the Swansea captain forfeited his ever-present record. However three other outfield players were able to lay claim to all 3420 minutes of BPL football this season - Aaron Cresswell [West Ham] and Ahmed El Mohamady [Hull City] were joined by John Terry who became only the second player in BPL history not to miss a minute for the Championship winning side [Gary Pallister being the other – Man Utd – back in 1992/93].
But for now a welcome break awaits – to reflect and recharge – however before I go I’ll leave you with a few injury factoids to help you on your way ………
8 players were substituted because of injury in the 26th minute, more than at any other time.
59% of all head trauma injuries were attributed to defenders.
Players of Belgian heritage spent less time injured when compared to other nationalities.
Midfielders accounted for 40% of all reported injuries last season. Defenders were next.
At 44 years Brad Friedel became the oldest player on this season’s injury table.
Enjoy the summer and see you again soon!
Cristiano Eirale and Jan Ekstrand: Aspetor Journal of Sport Medicine, 2013.
** British Premier League, May 2015 http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/news/news/2014-15/may/230515-matchweek-38-pre-match-pre-match-tracking-data.html
*** Ben Dinnery: Premier Injuries LTD. End of Season Review 2014/15
