Having fully ruptured an achilles in the recent past (in my case with no prior injury or warning sign) it's no joke to come back from either.

On Saka’s achilles niggle…

He’s fine. He trained normally today so nothing to report there. Every player has pains or issues. That’s normal in elite sports, but nothing to worry about.

Arteta not concerned.

Reminds me of what Carragher had to say about Daniel Sturridge

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3336957/It-criminal-Jack-Grealish-waste-talent-young-players-need-good-advice-guidance.html

"The one thing I remember most of all from being his team-mate is that he had to feel 100% right mentally and physically in order to play.

"The thing is, with professional football, it’s not often any player will take to the field 100 per cent fit. There is always a knock or something niggling and when that is the case, you just grit your teeth and get through it. But Sturridge’s continued unavailability is presenting Liverpool with a problem now. If they put him up for sale, every top club bar Manchester City would take him over their strikers, but how long can Liverpool wait for him to be ready? Do the club start to think they need to move him on, to get a good fee and save on his big wages?"

Backs up what Qwiss says, these niggles are part and parcel of football. Recently this is what Holding said about White

https://talksport.com/football/1543274/arsenal-rob-holding-ben-white-mentality-monster/

Speaking on Tea With Timbsy, Holding recalled: "The player who has real discomfort and injuries and just cracks on is Ben White. I don’t know how he does it. I have no idea how he does it.

“When we played Newcastle away in the Amazon year (2021/22 season), he would have had a grade two/grade three hamstring injury easily.

"His hamstring was shot to hell and he went out there and played.

“He’s a mentality monster, I don’t know how he does it. It’s mental.

"He’ll be in so much pain but he’ll just trigger into game mode and play. He’s die hard. He’ll run through a brick wall for you.”

    Bench him v PSV (he can come on if needed) in order to be fresh for War on Sunday.

    • naz replied to this.

      He's not going to bench Saka for our first CL game over many years. No chance.

      JazzG players are always injured. They always have some pull, tweak or pain. They’re constantly in pain after games and practice. The physio team just needs to manage them through the season. This isn’t our Sunday morning kick abouts . These guys are playing at the limit.

        Ben Foster's podcast on this subject (can't remember who he was talking to, but it was another footballer) said as much. Basically said footballers are permanently carrying injuries; maybe on matchday 1 they might feel completely injury free but even then not always

        Lots of us are carrying aches and pains we have to manage every day. It's just part of being human. Athletes are no different.

          Coombs I wasn't carrying aches and pains when I was Sakas age. Then again it was really only my liver I was pushing hard in those days.

              Qwiss I was a competitive ski racer, I raced internationally for a decade. Did my knee when I was a teenager and was never the same, but you get on with it, take a painkiller, condition as best you can, etc. The idea you're going to participate in any sport at a high level and stay clear of pain is fanciful. You've got to play to win, I'm not convinced by this idea that you can extend your career by not playing. In reality, you're just spreading a short career over more years, and the real risk is that you miss the moments you could've made if you'd been on the pitch.

              Play. If you regret playing, you're in the wrong line of work. That's how I see it anyway.

                Lulz. He's got a fair bit of catching up to do though.

                8 days later