Head of Medical and Sports Science Stijn Vandenbroucke issues an update – in association with Spire Roding Hospical...
Hello everyone and welcome to From the Treatment Room – 24 hours earlier than usual due to our FA Cup sixth-round replay with Manchester United on Wednesday evening.
The Medical and Sports Science department were delighted to see Andy Carroll score a fantastic hat-trick against Arsenal on Saturday, when the team played some very good football which we all enjoyed.
We all know that when he is on top of his game that he is unplayable and, as a staff, we like to see any player who has had an injury history on the pitch and on top of his form.
A further positive was that we did not pick up any injuries from the game. The players were a little fatigued by the end, so we rested, recovered on the pitch on Monday and trained fully on Tuesday ahead of Man United.
We welcomed back James Collins, James Tomkins and Sam Byram back to full training. Unfortunately Sam is cup-tied but we hope to have all three of them back in first-team contention soon.
West Ham is becoming a top team at all levels – Stadium, training ground, the players we have signed – and a top team has a high number of games so we all have to rise to the challenge.
We hope that this intensity and busy fixture list is going to sustain into next season because we are playing in the UEFA Europa League or even the UEFA Champions League, and also have two good domestic cup runs.
I and a number of my staff have worked at clubs which have progressed into European competition previously and I can assure you that the staff relish the adventure like the supporters do.
We work seven days a week anyway, so it is nice for the staff if this work includes travelling in Europe. It’s good, and the amount of games is not a problem because if you weren’t playing matches, you would be training hard anyway. It doesn’t make a difference.
With Ginge, Tonks and Sam back in training, we have just the one injury at present, and that is Diafra Sakho.
Diaf picked up a minor right knee injury in training on Friday and we hope to see him back on the pitch either at the end of the week or the beginning of next week.
Looking ahead to Wednesday’s game, I was part of the Medical and Sports Science department when we went to Wembley for the 2012 Play-Off final and I would love to take my team back there to work in the semi-finals and final.
We have a young, educated and motivated staff here at West Ham United and are as eager as the players to achieve more.
Stijn Vandenbroucke
Head of Medical and Sports Science