Antonio Valencia... | Will wear #25 shirt from this point onwards by request

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scottish_red said:
he was our best player over the course of a season last year. Cant wait to have him back, he adds another and importantly, consistent dimension to our team.

judging by his character, i have a sneaky he will come back and play at a level not too far from his usual self as well :D
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The big worry is what it did to Alan Smith. If he loses even half a yard of pace then it might be tough for him to be the player he was. Finger crossed....
 
Aye, although Smith had some other problems as well. He was already shifted to midfield before he was injured and let's face it, playing him there showed the lack of quality we had there. Upfront we had Rooney and were doing a bit of reshuffling. He was never really good enough to be more than backup.
 
Amir said:
Aye, although Smith had some other problems as well. He was already shifted to midfield before he was injured and let's face it, playing him there showed the lack of quality we had there. Upfront we had Rooney and were doing a bit of reshuffling. He was never really good enough to be more than backup.
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agreed.

the thing that gives me heart with Valencia however is his rapid recovery, he was initially ruled out for the season lets not forget, so there is hope in that.
 
To be more specific

"Valencia will do a full week's non-contact training with the Reserves then will join up with the first team the week after"
 
Amazing that he has recovered so fast. For some reason with Valencia I don't worry about him coming back as strong as ever if not better you can tell the guy loooks after himself hopefully this will stand him in good stead. My only worry for him is due to his pace defenders are often putting last ditch challenges in and there has been a few times with Valencia I have been worried when he has had a bad tackle that he will end up injured. He seemed to be able to take the hard knocks and get on with it though no doubt everything will be weaker know in his leg just hope he can get his strength back up.
 
Has he ever done an interview for us? Never hear a peep from him. I'd like to hear from him how he's getting on.
 
Excal said:
Before that you numpty :mad:
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Actually right before that he had been kind of off as well. Played well in the Shield and the game at the Aviva Stadium but, his performances weren't up to his normal standards right before he got hurt. Wasn't unsurprising because those first couple appearances he was sparkling and it was right after he was finally fit from the ankle problem that went through the summer.

More aptly - hope he continues in the form of last season and goes from there.
 
Realistically though, is he likely to hit top form again this season? I think it'll be next season before he's back to his best, unfortunately.
 
cina said:
Realistically though, is he likely to hit top form again this season? I think it'll be next season before he's back to his best, unfortunately.
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Spot on. It'll take a few weeks to get to full fitness and we're near March as it is.

I think a sub run out for 10/15 mins will be useful and he could have a slight impact when legs are tiring
 
We have no idea how he'll get back to form. Training with the reserves is a good sign, and I hope to see him be in our first team for the last 5-6 games of the season
 
Twigginater said:
We have no idea how he'll get back to form. Training with the reserves is a good sign, and I hope to see him be in our first team for the last 5-6 games of the season
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Psychology will play a big part too. He seems a confident lad but after so long out it's not just the physical side that gets damaged
 
I don't think it's so unlikely that he'll hit top form this season. He's now fit enough to train and who's to say that in 2 months he won't be back to his best? 2 months is a lot of training, playing and mental rehab.

Having him fully fit and in form for the run in and late stages of major competitions would be a massive bonus.
 
He's been doing physical training for a while now, hasn't he? As in gym work and cardio etc, so its just ball work he's stepping up to now? So his physical fitness shouldn't be too bad, but obviously it's going to take a while to get to match level. Hopefully he'll get a few reserve outings in the next few weeks and we'll get a better idea of where he's up to.
 
cw1984 said:
I don't think it's so unlikely that he'll hit top form this season. He's now fit enough to train and who's to say that in 2 months he won't be back to his best? 2 months is a lot of training, playing and mental rehab.

Having him fully fit and in form for the run in and late stages of major competitions would be a massive bonus.
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I'm with you on this.
 
cw1984 said:
I don't think it's so unlikely that he'll hit top form this season. He's now fit enough to train and who's to say that in 2 months he won't be back to his best? 2 months is a lot of training, playing and mental rehab.

Having him fully fit and in form for the run in and late stages of major competitions would be a massive bonus.
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That's a very optimistic view but let's not forget that there are also chances that Valencia might suffer from minor setbacks here and there.It often happens when a football has been out for a very long time, very rarely he gets back to his physical and football in a matter of 2 months.
I hope I'm wrong of course but I think he won't be at his best this season
 
Maciek said:
The first post in this thread is so wrong...
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I'm loving the stuff on the 1st page about Nani personally, that was about 2 weeks before he started playing like the god he now is.
 
We miss massively miss Valencia in our away games. His hard work and pace gave us great balance between defence and attack.
 
Who was the last player that came back from a serious leg injury and actually regained his form? Look at all the leg break cases in the past 5 years, I honestly can't think of any...
 
Ruud came through a horrific injury. Not a leg break mind.
 
Valencia is a machine.

If anyone can rebound rapidly from a bad injury it's Valency.
 
RedSky At Night said:
Who was the last player that came back from a serious leg injury and actually regained his form? Look at all the leg break cases in the past 5 years, I honestly can't think of any...
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It was a clean break wasn't it? Not sure how much ligament damage there was.

Still believe the psychological battle will be the hardest
 
I would prefer if we don't rely on him for the time being. Let him build up his sharpness with the reserves for a while, and pray Nani stays fit. I would be surprised if Valencia hit the ground running again anyway. He may train like a machine but he's still only human.
 
Raven Blade said:
I would prefer if we don't rely on him for the time being. Let him build up his sharpness with the reserves for a while, and pray Nani stays fit. I would be surprised if Valencia hit the ground running again anyway. He may train like a machine but he's still only human.
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He hit the ground running first few games back after the ankle problem over the summer (suffered in the Spurs game last season) but, like any player coming off a long injury had a dip but, he has shown ability to come back after a long lay off quite well.

When is the next reserve game?
 
kouroux said:
So what does it say about the Greek league ?
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It says that there's no professional footballers playing in it, who is capable of scoring more goals than Djibril Cisse.

In other words, I's say it's highly unlikely that Cisse has been left permanently impaired by breaking his leg twice.
 
Nistelroy injury was a straight forward acl not sure if he had any associated cartilage damage.

As to Valencia - not sure as to the extent of his ligament damage. The players themselves and the physios do push the players hard.

Any contribution that he makes is a bonus and its not something we should rely on as we have seen with Hargo who after his hamstring strain we have not heard anything since!
 
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