Southern given injury relief
Blackpool legend Keith Southern has been given some good news after a scan revealed his knee injury is not as bad as first thought.
Southern went down holding his knee during the pre-season defeat at Bristol City. He had to be carried from the field at the time and the amount of pain he seemed to be in would have led members of the Blackpool staff to fear the worst.
However, the scan showed that there was no serious damage to ligaments in his knee and he will be missing out on Blackpool's season for a matter of weeks and not months as first feared.
This will be a tremendous relief to Blackpool fans because they will need every single member of their squad to play some part during the course of the season. Southern is a very experienced player and has a number of attributes. However, the news means Blackpool could well lose a couple of games this season early on.
The positives
Southern is a key member of the club and a very popular figure. He's played 267 games for Blackpool and scored on 23 occasions. This shows he is one of the team's more consistent players and he uses his experience to account for his lack of pace and agility.
Southern is the sort of midfield player that does not mind getting stuck in to another team. This means he gets booked more often than other players but these tactics can stop influential players in the opposition team that Blackpool are playing.
He is probably at the peak of his career at the moment, being 29 years old. He has a few years left to play and will physically be at his strongest for the club when he does start playing games again.
He said: "I had a scan (on Monday) and I was fearing the worst, not only my medial ligament but my cruciate ligament as well. I had a bit of good news last night and it's neither, I've torn a muscle, or a retinaculum, that attaches to the knee cap so I'm still going to be out a little while. The scan was really reassuring and hopefully I'll see a knee specialist this week and he'll be able to advise me."
The negatives
The biggest negative is the fact that Southern will not be able to play in the first six to eight weeks of the season. He is the glue that holds the Blackpool midfield together and they will have to find someone else who can come in and do a similar job.
Blackpool have a very thin squad and this injury will not have helped. If other players get injured then the rest of the squad is going to become even thinner. This could mean playing youth players and this could lead to some embarrassing defeats for the team.
Southern added: "Early indications are that I probably won't need surgery, he'll just put me in a knee brace for a certain number of weeks and I'll be back sooner rather than later. I'm very hopeful that I'll be back in the next couple of months."
Betting advice
Blackpool are favourites to be relegated from the Premier League because of their thin squad and the fact they have not made many additions over the course of the season. What will hurt the club the most is that one of their club legends will not be able to play at the start of the Premier League season.
Southern should add a little more strength to the Blackpool team when he returns so back off from betting on them to win until he's in the side.
Tags: