EPL News: Gary Caldwell’s injury dooms Birmingham into, look towards Hleb for help
Wigan’s manager, Roberto Martinez has come out and confirmed that his defender Gary Caldwell might be preparing to face a lengthy period on the sidelines as he suffered a thigh injury in Wigan’s last league match in the Premier League
against West Bromwich Albion. A match that eventually ended in a one nil win for the Latics had its side effects as well as Caldwell’s injury might keep him out of regular action for the Premier League side for over a month.
Martinez spoke about Gary’s injury as he said, "It's a tear in his quadriceps and we're still assessing the extent of the injury but with these injuries you always fear the worse which could rule him out between 4-6 weeks. Hopefully though
it will reveal to be a small tear and Gary could be back playing sooner, but we'll find out over the next week. It's a big shame for Gary because you could see that game-by-game he was adding to his game. His mobility has been good, he's a leader on the pitch
and has been reading games very well."
On the other hand, Wigan have also been taken aback by an injury to James McCarthy. James who has recently undergone ankle surgery to address his fitness issues will be back in action for the Latics in sometime around January of 2011.
McCarthy picked up the injury in question way back in October, 2010 against Bolton Wanderers in an English Premier League encounter.
Martinez also remarked on James’s recovery process in his interview to the media as he stated, "James (McCarthy) has progressed a lot over the last few days in his post surgery phase. The ankle has reacted very well to the treatment which
we're delighted with. It's too difficult to say exactly when he'll return but I'm looking at around the third week in January as a guide. At the moment we're working day-to-day and making sure things are strengthening as they should."
In other news, Barcelona’s on-loan midfielder Alexander Hleb at Birmingham City has found it hard to adapt to life in the English league after coming to the English club in the summer as a part of the loan deal between Birmingham City
and Barcelona F.C. Hleb previously played for Arsenal in the Premiership before making his move to Spanish giants, Barcelona.
Speaking about Alexander Hleb, Alex McLeish commented, "Alex is a player with a huge reputation and the challenge for Alex is to maintain that reputation. He's a top player but he's not fully fit and that's why in the last couple of games
I've had to re-adjust the side. We are working hard on him with the fitness coach. Obviously with Alex it's the psychological side of things too coming from Arsenal and Barcelona to Birmingham and we're looking for him to be a star for us. There's that little
bit extra pressure on him but top players love that challenge and I'm backing him to bring to the team what we're expecting of a player of his character.”
Hleb has been having fatigue and fitness issues since his loan move to Birmingham City; therefore he was left out of Birmingham’s starting line up in for their last match in the Premiership against Manchester City. Alex spoke about Hleb’s
situation at the club as he said, "He wasn't happy at not playing and I was delighted he wasn't happy, I'd hate to think that a player of his calibre at this stage of his career doesn't want to make an impact any more. He should be striving to maintain his
reputation as a top-class player, a world-class player. He started to look like the player we know he can be when he came on at Man City."
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