Written By Tyler Rowlinson.
Lee Bowyer sat down with the media on Thursday morning to discuss the current matters heading into today’s game against Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United.
One of the major talking points of the press conference was player fitness and the Charlton boss provided an update on the injuries within the squad – some of them being more positive than others.
There were questions marks over Jason Pearce, who was replaced by Naby Sarr in last week’s defeat against Wigan Athletic. But Bowyer was quick to inform us that the centre back is 100% fit.
“Jason Pearce was available last week but we had to be careful with him because he hardly trained last week, but he’s trained fully this week. so yeah he’s up for selection properly. Again, we have to be careful because we’ve got Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday.
“Some players can’t do that Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday and that’s something I’ve got to be mindful of.”
However, there was no positive news on Lyle Taylor, who is still in a brace after picking up an injury whilst on international duty with Montserrat.
“Lyle Taylor is no closer, he’s still in a brace. He’s maybe going to be in that for another couple of weeks and then we’ll have more of an idea. But until then, Lyle will just keep hobbling around.”
The only other player Bowyer spoke about was summer signing Beram Kayal, who’s suffered a groin injury and will be out for some time.
“Beram Kayal is going to be out for a couple of weeks, he had to go for a scan and he’s got something wrong with his groin, so he’s had to have an injection in there. It’s going to be a couple of weeks before he’s back training.
“Everyone else is fit, some of the lads in the week got 90 minutes against Ipswich [U23s], Chuks [Aneke] got 75 in him. Adam Matthews is coming along nicely, he created two goals on Monday. He’s getting fitter and stronger, which is good because we’ve only got Chris Solly there and he’s going to need some help. So he’ll be available for next week.”
This update confirms that Lewis Page, Beram Kayal and Lyle Taylor are the only injury concerns for the Addicks, with Adam Matthews fast approaching his first appearance for the team.
However, Taylor’s injury has proved to be a massive blow for Charlton, as they’ve put in two poor performances against Birmingham and Wigan, with our attacking threat being non-existent.
We’ll be looking to put those games behind us against a strong, in-form Leeds side. Let’s hope the boys can pull off a brilliant result!