The Prophet

Big fan of Delap, he's a proper throwback. For the sake of his career though, he needs to play for a club where he'll be first choice.

Comfortable A.

Not at the moment we don't. Botman is class, he doesn't require huge amounts of pace because his reading of the game is second to none. We were warned that the road to recovery could be quite a long one, it's not like he's breaking down with soft tissue injuries all of the time. It also shows it's worth waiting to have a decent amount of information before playing the blame game, no matter how frustrating these things can be.

Minor surgery to clear out some fluid and then potentially back before the end of the season. I'd just make sure he's spot on for pre-season at this point. Seems this kind of injury comes with the territory for an ACL recovery.

Hope: "Newcastle will not take any risks with Sven Botman during the remainder of this season, and only after knee surgery will the extent of his absence be known. Mail Sport revealed this week that the defender is set for an operation after seeing a specialist on Tuesday, and that will rule him out of the Carabao Cup final on March 16. Botman will no doubt be determined to return before the end of May, especially as the issue is not thought to be too serious and is not connected to the ACL injury that kept him out for 10 months before his return in January. That is the good news. However, the 25-year-old’s season could yet be over if medical staff decide the risk outweighs the reward in him playing before the end of the campaign. That is a consideration for down the line. Botman was outstanding after his comeback in January, but he has not been seen since limping out of the 2-0 Carabao Cup semi-final second leg win over Arsenal a month ago. It was hoped he would have returned by now, but this week’s specialist opinion has advised that surgery is the best way forward."

Kyle Walker-Peters though would be a lovely old pick up though.

Lads, we're winning it.

TBG strikes again.

He does, but it doesn't necessarily mean it's too serious. Sounds like he could be back this season, but we may well start preparing him for preseason.

I'm not on expert on ACL injuries and I have no idea what his rehab was, so I'll have to pass on that. Seems like finger pointing for the sake of it though.

That's a bit of a reach mind.

If he needs keyhole surgery to remove bone fragments, it'll be relatively minor surgery.

I think it seems worse than it is. We only have three injuries.

Surely even if he recovers quickly, we'll hold him back until the start of next season to make sure he's alright?

Fair, we'll definitely agree to disagree on this one because I can't get my head round it It was in a different thread, but at the time my explanation was: "Playing Spurs gives us a better chance of lifting the trophy, so them please."

Hopefully PSG can take it to ET.

Hope: "This problem is thought to be on his opposite knee and there is hope that it is not as serious an issue."

Was he "rushed back"?

They were still the league leaders back then and Spurs were even worse. It was still as puzzling.

Poor geezer hasn't had much luck with injury. Hopefully he can get a full preseason under his belt and return next season.

I still can't believe there were fans out there who wanted to play Liverpool rather thsn Spurs because they'd rather we not be favourites. Astonishing.

Fucking hell...

Yep. It's a mess on and off the pitch.

Agreed, but Arsenal run them close these days.