“Not great...” - Sheffield United man rocked by cruel injury blow with teammate’s absence set to continue v Hull City
“Not great...” - Sheffield United man rocked by cruel injury blow with teammate’s absence set to continue v Hull City
Sheffield United’s fears over the severity of Tahith Chong’s cruel injury have been realised after the new boy was potentially ruled out until the middle of next month. The former Luton Town man, who joined United late in the summer transfer window, was set to make his first Blades start recently at Oxford United.
But he suffered an injury in the warm-up at the Kassam Stadium and was subsequently sent for a scan, which revealed damage to the cartilage in his knee and will keep him out for at least a month.
It is a cruel blow for a player who has suffered with injury in recent times, missing a chunk of pre-season earlier this summer with the Hatters with a groin injury before he made the move to Bramall Lane. His appearances since have been limited, coming off the bench three times and playing twice for Curacao this term.
Speaking ahead of Saturday’s trip to Hull City, Wilder said of Chong: “Unfortunately he’s not great. He tore a meniscus cartilage in his knee in the warm-up, so that's going to be four to six weeks. So it’s not as bad as what it could have been.
“But unfortunately we’re missing a player who would have been involved at Oxford and would have been involved obviously for the up-and-coming game. So, in a way, the international break comes at the right time. He might miss a couple of the games just after the international break, but fingers crossed he won't be out for too long.”
“Not great...” - Sheffield United man rocked by cruel injury blow with teammate’s absence set to continue v Hull City
Wilder confirmed that defender Ben Godfrey remains “unavailable for us” after missing the Blades’ last two games because of undisclosed personal reasons while United reported no physical after-effects of Tuesday night’s defeat at home to Southampton.
That defeat featured a superb return from injury from midfielder Tom Davies and could have ended in a deserved point for the Blades had Sydie Peck’s late header been allowed to stand, as it looked like it should before referee Adam Herczeg spotted an apparent foul moments earlier.
“We’re delighted with Tom’s contribution. I thought he settled Sydie down as well. That was Sydie’s best game so far. Playing the two of them in midfield gave us the balance that we wanted. I thought Tyrese [Campbell] scored a great goal.
“He’ll possibly be a bit disappointed in terms of another couple of opportunities that he had, but I thought his performance was a lot better. Gus [Hamer] played the full hit as well, which is key as well; getting back to Gus, from a physical point of view.
“I think everybody understands when you're physically in and around your peak and where you should be, then you see clearer pictures. You're not tired and you don't make poor decisions. So getting Gus back there as well is key.
“I thought defensively, second half, there was no great pressure that we were under. We dealt with the majority of things in the first half, pretty comfortable. When Coops had to make a save, he had to make a save, but I didn't see him making a lot of saves. It's just really at the top of the pitch, that final bit, which is always the most difficult thing to get right. But we will do, in time.”