Deulofeu an early doubt for season opener

So 2-3 minimum weeks for the injury to heal followed by another 2 weeks to get up to fitness. So he'll probably miss the first 3 games of the season.

Awesome news and great start to the season!

Yet another hamstring injury – we've had far too many of these for it to be just bad luck.

Hammys tend to happen to quick sprinters and if you compare our players to the ones we had 5 to 10 years back, I'd say we have an awful lot more quick sprinters now (which has coincided with a lot more hanstring injuries). So I'm not sure I share your thoughts, Denis.

So many players with dodgy hamstrings at Finch Farm, we either need to re-think the training or ensure we have the right equipment and backroom staff to ensure the players are receiving the best. The cloud from the previous disappearance of the medical team still lingers.

It doesn't seem feasible that an increasing number of our players are incurring the same injury.

Sort it out coaches and physios.

OBJECTIVES:

To assess in a single team of Australian Rules football players the effect of a specific intervention program on the incidence and consequence of hamstring muscle strain injuries.

METHOD:

A prospective study was performed with a single team being followed for four playing seasons for hamstring injury. Magnetic resonance imaging was used to confirm the diagnosis of hamstring muscle injury. After two playing seasons an intervention program was implemented with the number of athletes with hamstring injury, competition days missed, and incidence of hamstring match injuries per 1000 h of playing time being compared pre- and post-intervention. The intervention program involved stretching whilst fatigued, sport specific training drills, and an emphasis on increasing the amount of high intensity anaerobic interval training.

RESULTS:

In the seasons prior to the intervention, nine and 11 athletes sustained hamstring injury compared to two and four following intervention. Competition days missed reduced from 31 and 38 to 5 and 16 following intervention and match incidence decreased from 4.7 to 1.3 per 1000 h of playing time. A beneficial effect was demonstrated with a smaller number of players having hamstring injuries (p = 0.05), a lower number of competition games missed being recorded (p < 0.001), and a decrease in hamstring strain incidence per 1000 h of playing time (p = 0.01) following the intervention program.CONCLUSIONS:

Increasing the amount of anaerobic interval training, stretching whilst the muscle is fatigued, and implementing sport specific training drills resulted in a significant reduction in the number and consequences of hamstring muscle strain injuries.

Poor timing.

Wow, feckin rocket science that mate, that even the biggest meathead at the gym understands. So why can our probably overpaid and definitely lacking in knowledge staff not work that one out??

"Our medics and or Martinez either did not see the lads problem or deliberately chose to ignore it. In either case, it was a stupid decision."

A stupid decision that they did not see the problem? Did they decide not to see it?

Can we not just go out and buy Ospina in goal, and buy Lennon, Nolito and Charlie Austin while we are at it???

Oh forget it, I will wake up soon.

I've only skimmed the full article but it doesn't sound like warm down but stretches during breaks in playing and training (etc).

I just find it hard to believe that our (and other) clubs' staff don't appear to know this!

Jesus, I was hoping it might get better after last season.

It's just dumb luck isn't it?

I accept words may have seemed to suggest Martinez or our medics deliberately allowed Del to exacerbate an injury. Dels reaction clearly showed he felt something go in the area of his right hammy. From that point, it affected him for the remainder of the half.

I could not fathom why he had not immediately been subbed. I could only conclude the injury had not been noticed by those responsible or it was thought not to be serious. It is a mystery to me plus other commentators that Martinez nor any of his assistants did not take action.

These days I am entirely dependent on TV for my viewing. In that regard I am fortunate to have live screening of any PL game that I fancy. During games, I see a huge amount of communication constantly occurring twixt most managers and their assistants... except that is between Martinez and his bench. He stands aloof from all potential advisors and I wonder if they are under orders not to interfere with his train of thought.

Just a quick note. I've been watching rugby league through the summer, not a hamstring problem in sight. Going from standstill to full sprint more often than not with a player hanging onto his shorts, sometimes two. If someone can explain the difference, go for it.

Oh, how many games did Del miss through this kind of injury last season in Spain?

Here's a list of Everton players who've had an hamstring injury since Martinez & Co arrived;

Jagielka, Baines, Distin, Coleman, Pienaar, Mirallas, Naismith, Oviedo, Lukaku, McCarthy, Besic, Atsu, Deulofeu, Traore, McGeady, Garbutt.

Even Martinez himself said in January that he'd revamped the medical department after we'd had 20 (TWENTY!) hamstring injuries in just the first 18 months of his management. Obviously that has yet to happen since we've had at least half-a-dozen more since then.

There is something very suspicious with all these injuries given they are happening to almost every player we have and not concentrated to a few. Granted hammys normally happen to sprinter types but you can hardly describe Naismith or McCarthy as 'sprinters'!

'A unifying theme throughout the season has been a consistent lack of fitness in the first-team squad and a major injury crisis, including a rise in soft-tissue injuries, which has deprived the team of key players for extended periods. As Bellew noted, in Bellow's time at Everton "they got virtually no soft tissue injuries during that time, which are the issues that you get when players are over or under-worked."

So Martinez only believes in doing fitness work that involves a ball -- which all the main Everton medical staff that were there before he came disagreed with, hence they are now gone... and we've had a shed load of injuries and an unfit squad since, with the manager bemoaning said injuries.

Unfortunately I'm not sure if there's been any significant change here. If Martinez won't even let the medical team and trainers condition the players properly, then we're going to have the same issue as last season.

I still don't know how this guy managed to talk himself into any kind of football managerial job. I expect the Finch Farm physio room to be working overtime again this season... we already have Baines, McCarthy, Besic, Oviedo and now Deulofeu injured.

Thanks for that link. Very interesting.

I have been wondering if the training surfaces at Finch Farm contribute also. I know Arsenal have looked into something similar at their London Colney training ground.

It is true though that we were under-cooked in pre-season last year. I can possibly understand Martinez's mindset, because we were facing games in the Europa League as well last year, so he maybe wanted to keep us as fresh as possible so that we didn't tire later in the season. I also suspect that is why he kept chopping and changing the team so much. However, I never understood why Lukaku and Mirallas didn't get a minute in pre-season. They were only bit-part players in a Belgian team that reached the quarter finals!

In any case, we don't have any of that this time round, so there can't be any excuses this time. Big season coming up...