Paul Lambert is hoping Darren Bent will be fit to play a part in Saturday's pre-season clash at Nottingham Forest.Lambert revealed Bent is making good progress as he battles back from the thigh strain he picked up training on the USA Tour.And the boss is eager to see him compete at the City Ground this weekend.Lambert also revealed that Gabby Agbonlahor [knee], Richard Dunne [groin] and Marc Albrighton [foot] will all miss the start of the season through injury.Agbonlahor is out for four-five weeks while Dunne is likely to be absent for six-eight weeks.Lambert told AVTV: "Darren will be fine. He got a thigh injury in the USA and he will not be too far away from Saturday, depending on how he's feeling. But he's fine."Gabby is a bit longer. It's his knee and he will miss the start of the season."Richard will miss the start of the season. Marc will miss the start of the season. It's a blow but that's football at times. You just have to pick yourself up and go again."Lambert accepted that while it was frustrating to see three senior stars sidelined, it also presented an opportunity for his other players to make an impact as the new campaign starts.He added: "I have great belief in the players.They will give it everything they've got and at the end of the day that's all you can ask."
...hopefully this season will be different.
Whilst I'm pretty impressed with the quality of signings recently, if the mantra is going to be one in, one out, then I'm far from convinced the squad will be strong enough.We need more bodies in, but not necessarily with people moving out.
injuries give chances to others though. huge chance for ciaran clark to be a regular at centre half with 2 months or so to bed down a partnership with vlaar.
Quote from: brontebilly on August 02, 2012, 02:44:50 PMinjuries give chances to others though. huge chance for ciaran clark to be a regular at centre half with 2 months or so to bed down a partnership with vlaar.But what worries me is what happens if one of those two gets injured? With Vlaar's supposed history of injuries and the fact that Clark missed a fair bit of last season with injury, it's not totally out of the question.
Quote from: Chipsticks on August 02, 2012, 02:51:39 PMQuote from: brontebilly on August 02, 2012, 02:44:50 PMinjuries give chances to others though. huge chance for ciaran clark to be a regular at centre half with 2 months or so to bed down a partnership with vlaar.But what worries me is what happens if one of those two gets injured? With Vlaar's supposed history of injuries and the fact that Clark missed a fair bit of last season with injury, it's not totally out of the question.Personally, I have no problem with Baker playing!
Quote from: Concrete John on August 02, 2012, 03:04:29 PMQuote from: Chipsticks on August 02, 2012, 02:51:39 PMQuote from: brontebilly on August 02, 2012, 02:44:50 PMinjuries give chances to others though. huge chance for ciaran clark to be a regular at centre half with 2 months or so to bed down a partnership with vlaar.But what worries me is what happens if one of those two gets injured? With Vlaar's supposed history of injuries and the fact that Clark missed a fair bit of last season with injury, it's not totally out of the question.Personally, I have no problem with Baker playing!I think he has potential, but I wasn't 100% impressed with his performances last season - particularly in the Chelsea game, in which you could blame him for two of their goals.
Quote from: Chipsticks on August 02, 2012, 03:06:16 PMQuote from: Concrete John on August 02, 2012, 03:04:29 PMQuote from: Chipsticks on August 02, 2012, 02:51:39 PMQuote from: brontebilly on August 02, 2012, 02:44:50 PMinjuries give chances to others though. huge chance for ciaran clark to be a regular at centre half with 2 months or so to bed down a partnership with vlaar.But what worries me is what happens if one of those two gets injured? With Vlaar's supposed history of injuries and the fact that Clark missed a fair bit of last season with injury, it's not totally out of the question.Personally, I have no problem with Baker playing!I think he has potential, but I wasn't 100% impressed with his performances last season - particularly in the Chelsea game, in which you could blame him for two of their goals.I think that's the only game where he really struggled for me, it was also a game where we simply refused to keep the ball, I can't see many teams having that level of sustained pressure against us this season. He's probably a risk to start regularly at the minute but he's more than capable as backup and should only improve from here.