Tony Hibbert today described this week’s international break as coming at the right time, given the squad’s injury problems. What a turnup for the books. The international break has long been among the most maligned weeks on the footballing calendar. Yet in this instance, Hibbert has a point, and it’s not just on the injury front.
Admittedly, virtually every other Premiership club spends internationals week watching the games through cupped hands, terrified that each sliding tackle and trailing leg is going to sideline a critical player and leave the domestic team depleted. Well we don’t have such problems – all of our critical players are already in the treatment room. Ordinarily you’d hope that this reduces the risks of exacerbating their problems, although conversations with Arteta, Jagielka, Anichebe and Vaughn might pore some icy water over this theory.
But the other problems normally instigated by internationals are not such an issue right now. They have been accused of breaking a team’s momentum, disrupting winning streaks so that players must try and rekindle the dressing room atmosphere generated by a confident team playing to its potential. Forgive me for the observation, but one win in eight is hardly a springboard to set our football betting odds alight. Furthermore, with the United match this weekend, a rest for the players before such a demanding game can only be a good thing. Moyes will no doubt have spent this break furiously considering a tactical game plan, so the signs are there, that this time, for once, we might return from Old Trafford with more than some muscle aches.
In other sports betting news, the odds for the Cheltenham Gold Cup are hotting up, so it could be worth your while keeping an eye on them.
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