Pilkington

[Juggy 0]

Have we just seen a huge gamble on the fitness and health of this player go wrong?

He went to see Ireland doctors and was determined to be injured and so unable to play for them on 15th November and 19th November.

Four days after that second fixture he is fit enough to travel from Norwich to Newcastle and start.

Is he just the new Darren Anderton or are putting this players career in jeopardy by constantly playing him injured?

This player clearly has an underlying issue somewhere which needs a prolonged period of rest and treatment, yet he seems to be pulling out of every Ireland squad and then starting for us.

I don''t like the sound of it I really don''t, the failure to bring in a replacement for the injured Elliott Bennett is a Hughton/McNally failure - would hate to think we were risking a talent of Pilkington''s calibre because of that.

Well he looks buggered now, we won''t see him for months, and we are down to one fit winger. Not signing a winger to replace Bennett was a huge mistake.

[City 2nd 191]

Good question LJ, makes you wonder for sure, but he has been a sick-note type player since arriving here, in fact was injured when he arrived.

I really don''t see that they would put him at risk though, otherwise wouldn''t RVW be playing too if we were that desperate?

[SeattleCanary 0]

Unfortunately for Pilks it seems he is made of glass. We''d need to loan in another winger of a decent standard if he really needed a long time on the sidelines. We are either having awful luck with the players this season, or there is something wrong with the fitness regime.

[basil brush 0]

One thing that is absolutely clear is overall the squad is not as fit when compared to the previous regime. It seems Hughton favours technical ability rather than hard graft and fitness. The former is not necessarily better than the latter.

[Absent Friend 0]

[quote user="SeattleCanary"]Unfortunately for Pilks it seems he is made of glass. We''d need to loan in another winger of a decent standard if he really needed a long time on the sidelines. We are either having awful luck with the players this season, or there is something wrong with the fitness regime.[/quote]

 

He suffered a dislocated left ankle and a broken fibula 6 months before he joined us.  Nothing to do with being "made of glass" or, as others have called him, being a "sick note".  He has simply been very unlucky.

He''s done extremely well to have had a career in the Premiership at all since then and I suspect he''s achieved that by a combination of skilled medics and his own sheer bloody-minded hard work and determination.

Many playrs drop down a division or two after an injury like that; he jumped up two.

Dion Dublin on BBC website seemed to suggest it was his determination to get to the ball that caused him to overstretch today.  Perhaps at times that''s the problem - he has tried too hard. But f he gets the "sick note" insult for that imagine what stick he would get if he tried to protect himself instead of showing the sort of commitment we expect.

An injury as serious as his when you are trying to mix with very strong and fit athletes at the top level of a sport must have a knock-on effect as to how you run, train etc. as you try to cope with the after effects of it.  And that leads to other stresses and strains you might otherwise avoid.

I feel very sorry for the guy with the injuries he''s had  and hope he can recover from the latest one and get back to his best sooner rather than later.

[Syteanric 1]

Pilks is one of my favourite players, but the guy is having so many injury issues it might just be time to cut our losses i''m sorry to say

[Move Klose 303]

To be fair he is a sick note,

[CDMullins 436]

Im sick of him, his attidue stinkz! Got far too big for his boots, he needa to remwmber we took a massive gamble on him whilst he was playinh for Hudderafield.

Hes spent all this season throwing his hands in the air pisaing and moaning at wveryone else.

As one of our senior pros he shouls be leading by example.

Hea created norhing for us this season.

Any talk of fitness issues is rediculous. If he wasnt fit he wouldnt play

[TIL 1010 4,721]

Darren Anderton Mark 2.

[Gingerpele 0]

Couldn''t disagree with you more CDMullins.

The last two home games, the first time Pilks got the ball he created something. He rarely gets the ball, Snodgrass is the main attacking focus.

Pilks creates chances, his crossing is much better, he cuts inside and shoot dangerously. But the ball is so often down the right and he doesn''t even get a chance. When he does, he nearly always does something exciting.

[Gingerpele 0]

And he clearly has played, many times, carrying a knock. Against West Ham he stayed on the pitch for quite a while after getting injured. We all saw when it happened. A sick note, surely would just go off?

He wasn''t fit enough to play for Ireland. He almost certainly wasn''t 100% today. A sick note wouldn''t play. You need the right attitude to be able to play through injury. Bassong did last season, a great example.

[Redders Right Foot 22]

Think it''s fair to say CD is pssed out of his mind. However it was no more jibberish than he normally posts.

[pliff 4]

He is a winger ffs has he ever beaten a full back for pace seems he cant open his legs too much in case his ego drops out not quick enough and good enough for Prem imo

[Juggy 0]

You don''t have to have bags of pace to be a good wide midfielder.

Ask Neil Adams, or if you want to level up on him.... David Beckham.

Pilkington is a class act, just a crock.

[Yellow Wal 314]

None of our wide players need to beat a fullback for pace as they almost every time come inside, close the game up, narrow the defence and then either shoot or put a ''cross'' in with the wrong foot.

Yes, Beckham''s pace was never good, but when did you ever see him come inside and deliver a ball to the heart of a defence?

He would cross, with devastating effect, behind a defence and quite often early.

The only goal RvW has scored, which he did very well, was from an early cross from Whittaker''s right foot, from the right wing (unfortunately I think it was a shot gone wrong) showing where the ball should be delivered from and to.