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Raphael Borges Rodrigues was the first. Ben Sheaf was next. Next up was poor Tatsuhiro Sakamoto, who had to miss the next game after hobbling out of the CBS Arena against Norwich while wearing a protective ankle boot. He was also carted off the field after only ten minutes against Blackburn Rovers due to a serious gash on his knee.
Subsequently, Jamie Allen had a significant ligament injury after his knee gave way against Swansea. Most recently, Jake Bidwell hobbled off against Sheffield Wednesday due to a crunching tackle that left the robust full-back with a knee ligament injury.
In recent years, the Sky Blues have had at least one first team player in the recovery room: Jamie Allen suffered a fractured cheekbone after a heart scare, Callum O’Hare missed nine months due to an ACL tear, Fabio Tavares missed a year due to a ruptured Achilles tendon, Sakamoto missed three months due to a broken back. The list is endless.
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Even without O’Hare, City was still able to go to the Championship play-off final in 2023 and, last season, make it back to Wembley for an unforgettable FA Cup semi-final matchup against Manchester United—this time without its Japanese wing wizard.
However, just as Mark Robins is about to have his entire roster of players available and at his disposal, there is still another setback in store. Of all, it’s all part of the fun, and during the course of a protracted and demanding Championship campaign, a setback of any size, short- or long-term, is never that far away.
While injuries are a given in football, teams focus a great deal of attention and energy into minimizing the blows that players must endure. Pre-hab can help minimize muscle-related injuries, but clubs are unable to stop impact injuries or shield players from the unfortunate consequences of ligament setbacks, which typically require months rather than weeks of recovery.
In Allen’s instance, the initial prognosis for his medial collateral ligament injury was eight to ten weeks to recuperate. The highly motivated midfield player is not expected to return to the field for another three weeks, according to Robins, but if all goes according to plan, he may be close to playing on matchday when City hosts Cardiff on November 30 or, in the event that he is unable to, the following week when they travel to Millwall on December 7.
The manager stated that Bidwell will be “out for a little while,” but it’s unclear when he will be back. All we know is that he opened his knee and had a “knee ligament injury of some sort and some severity.” In the best case, later this month, he will be back on the grass and prepared to go again.
The good news is that Sakamoto, who needed eight stitches for his knee, is expected to resume training during the current international break. He will most likely do so on Monday, when he will get ready with his teammates for the Preston North End match the following weekend.
Raphael remains an additional unknown quantity. The youthful winger, who joined the team in the summer from Australian A-League side Macarthur FC, tore his thigh in his first preseason game and hasn’t played in a match since. When asked about the right-sided player’s progress a few weeks ago, Robins replied, “There’s progress but it’s very slow going.”
The fact that it’s not a precise science presents a challenge. People might become unstable when you push them too hard. With the knowing that he is growing stronger, the medical and sports science departments are handling him with child gloves in the hopes that they won’t break him.
All we need to do is exercise caution around him. He’s likely to break down again if I seize hold of him and try to get him out on the grass and moving too fast. However, in order to pursue a career in the game, he must develop muscle. Even if it’s disheartening, he must be in terrible pain and be quite frustrated because he came to this place expecting to succeed right away.
In reference to his Brazilian father and former professional striker Cristiano dos Santos Rodrigues, the player wants to be known simply as “Raphael.” Robins is undoubtedly expecting that he will be like having a new player.