Sheffield Wednesday figure question Wycombe Wanderers pitch safety - Harry Gray, fitness test in injury latest
Sheffield Wednesday make the trip to Peterborough United on Saturday.
Sheffield Wednesday will look to continue their early season progress at Peterborough United this weekend without a number of players - with manager Henrik Pedersen having questioned the pitch perimeters at Wycombe Wanderers that caused a medium-term injury to Louie Barry.
An absence of up to three months was confirmed by the club on Thursday ahead of Henrik Pedersen’s pre-match press conference and comes as a blow given the new signing’s immense form in a run that has seen the Owls take three wins from their opening four league matches. Barry appeared to roll his ankle on the artificial surface that is laid just inches from the touchline at Adams Park.
On the blow suffered to Barry, who scored his third goal in two games before sustaining ligament damage when rolling his ankle on the touchline surface at Wycombe Wanderers on Tuesday, Pedersen said: “He has been amazing. Of course it's a big, big blow for Louie. He has trained so hard and he has worked so hard.
“And you have seen in the beginning, when is he coming with goals, but Louis has used so much energy to be a part of a team who are working hard against the ball, to be a part of a team who take part of the defensive stuff, take part of the defensive transition when we lose the ball. So his running number is much, much higher. In the last two, three weeks, now he also starts to have energy for the offensive stuff. And then he has been really, really strong. So, of course, it's very, very sad for him. And of course, it's sad for the team.”
Ruling 1.7 of the FA’s Stadium Accreditation Criteria for the FA National League System lays out the requirements on pitch perimeters including the stipulation that ‘artificial turf’ can be utilised in the immediate run-off to the touchline as long as it is ‘professionally laid without trip hazards’ and that the turf is ‘continuous’ along the entire touchline.
Asked on the safety on the lay-out at Adams Park and whether it should be looked at to ensure player safety, Pedersen said: “Of course it is. And I think in this situation, where there is so big difference in the height, and then you can also speak about the quality of the artificial that is around. But of course there should be no difference so close to the pitch, because every time a full-back or winger has action near the sideline, there will be situations like this.
“We cannot have players who have to think about ‘I have to take care now that it's five or six centimetres different in the height.’ It has to be top, and it was not top.”
Elsewhere on the injury front, Leeds United loanee Harry Gray is fit but will miss the trip to Peterborough through concussion protocol after sustaining a knock to his head in the clash with Bradford City on August 20. It will be the final match he will miss in this run of protocols.
Big centre-half Ricardo Santos has been back on the grass and will be the subject of a fitness test on Friday as he looks to battle back from a knock sustained in the 7-2 hammering of Bromley. Sean Fusire has had a groin issue but is close to contention having taken part in full training for the first time this week.
Barry joins Max Lowe, Jordi Liongola and Sil Swinkels in the treatment room while Di’Shon Bernard and George Brown are continuing their rehabilitation from long-term injuries. Asked on whether more can be done to prevent a long injury list and what is being explored going forward, Pedersen said: “We have to evaluate all the process.
“We evaluate how we are training, how we have done it in the gym, how we have done it in the pre-hab. How are we doing everything. Some of them you can call unlucky. I call it unlucky. But of course we are looking behind every injury. To see where there are some patterns, where we can change something to improve something.”