Ipswich Town’s injury list is growing, with the news Dominic Ball and Tyreece John-Jules face significant spells on the sidelines.
Here, Andy Warren looks at how long the Blues will need to be without their injured stars and assesses the impact their absences have and will have on the club’s promotion challenge.
Lee Evans – knee – six weeks
The Welsh midfielder had been in excellent form before leaving Town’s televised victory over Derby on October 21 with a knee problem.
The hope is now for a return at the end of December.
"I'm not sure on the exact timescales for that. It's in and around the Christmas period,” manager Kieran McKenna said.
"He's still in the brace, so it's about letting the ligament in his knee heal at the moment. We don't know how fast that will accelerate."
Impact rating – major: Evans was flying before suffering with injury, forming an extremely solid pairing with Sam Morsy in the middle of midfield.
The duo have a bit of everything and work together extremely well, with Evans’ passing ability and tendency to land on loose balls vital to an Ipswich side who crave and then dominate possession. He can sweep the ball around the field and work laterally, stretching teams by helping to bring Town’s wide players into the game, taking the opposition by surprise.
Cover is there but Town don’t have anybody else able to do that in the same way. Fortunately, a return is just about on the horizon now.
Dominic Ball – knee – season-ending
Town’s latest injury blow sees former QPR man Ball likely ruled out for the rest of the season, with a knee injury suffered at Charlton but seemingly made worse by an appearance at Bracknell in the FA Cup.
“He picked it up really innocuously in the Charlton game and didn’t feel quite right in the Bracknell game, and is now going to need quite a complicated surgery on his meniscus,” McKenna said.
"I'm extremely disappointed for him, first and foremost, because I think he was primed to be a really big player for us and kick on in his career.
"Knowing the character he is he'll bounce back from it."
Impact rating – major: With Evans already out, losing Ball for almost certainly the entire season is a major blow for Ipswich.
He was brought in for a reason, to add toughness to a midfield lacking that over the course of several years, and there is no like-for-like replacement.
Fortunately, though, Cameron Humphreys has emerged to become a bona-fide first-team midfielder during the early months of this season and Panutche Camara is a versatile body in the centre of the pitch.
None of them, though, have the attributes Ball does and his absence will put that little bit more on the shoulders of captain Sam Morsy. Town can cover for Ball in-house, but there are certainly going to be games where we feel like Ipswich are missing him during the final months of the campaign.
Tyreece John-Jules – hamstring - ‘matter of months’
The Arsenal loanee has missed the last two matches with a hamstring problem which, sadly, may require surgery.
McKenna said: “His hamstring injury is more severe than we hoped, so he’s again getting a specialist’s opinion whether he needs a surgical repair, but it’s going to be a matter of months rather than weeks.”
Impact rating – major: Ball’s likely season-ending injury grabbed the headlines at the weekend, but the fact John-Jules could well be out for several months is just as big a blow right now. If not more so.
With Gassan Ahadme (he’s up next) out and Kayden Jackson used in wide roles of late, the Arsenal man has almost exclusively shared central striking duties with Freddie Ladapo. He’s been effective, too, earning great praise from McKenna.
He brings a bit more invention than Ladapo does and could certainly have proved useful in the closing stages of Saturday’s draw with Cheltenham.
Ladapo is going to have to carry the burden from here, certainly until Ahadme is up –and-running, but could John-Jules' injury force Ipswich into action in the January window?
Gassan Ahadme – foot fracture – two weeks
The former Burton striker’s career at Ipswich has never really gotten going, due to the foot fracture he suffered at Plymouth at the end of September.
But he’s close to a return, with a possible involvement against Buxton on November 27 pencilled in.
“Thankfully it’s a very, very small fracture but he’s going to need some time with load off the foot and will be out for a while,” McKenna said at the time of the injury.
“That’s very disappointing for him, because he’s just settling into the team, and also very disappointing for the squad because he was an addition for us who would have been an important player for us.”
Impact rating – manageable: Town have managed without Ahadme this season – that's because it’s difficult to miss someone you’ve never really had.
The striker’s Portman Road career hasn’t really started yet and that’s a real shame, but he may just be returning at the right time, given John-Jules' absence.
He brings physicality, mobility and a real enthusiasm. All good qualities.
Like a new signing, you might say.
Greg Leigh – leg fracture – two weeks
A late knock against Sheffield Wednesday at the end of September has ultimately kept the left-back out for a couple of months, with a fracture in his leg.
He is close to a return, though, with a return to first-team training imminent.
“I think he’s very close to starting some work on the grass and can be in-and-around training before the end of this month,” McKenna said a little over a week ago.
“It was one of those injuries where we needed to see how the bone healed and the timescale wasn’t clear right away, so it will be good to have him back.”
Impact rating – manageable: When Leigh was first ruled out, I really feared for Ipswich and what his absence might mean.
Not many sides can list their ‘back-up’ left-back as being a vital member of the side but Leigh truly was/is for Ipswich. He brings central defensive qualities while also getting up and down the left flank well, offering valuable support for Leif Davis and proving extremely useful in tight games where kitchen sinks begin to be thrown by the opposition.
Davis, during Leigh’s time out, has been one of Ipswich’s best performers, though, winning the club’s player-of-the-month award for October in the process. That’s helped mask Leigh’s absence well.
But, saying that, Leigh may well have been able to stop George Dobson from equalising for Charlton at the death, when Davis was beaten in the air deep into added time.
Thankfully, though, he’s ahead of schedule in his return and could be back in the next couple of weeks.
Sone Aluko – knee – six weeks
We haven’t seen the experienced campaigner since August, when he suffered a relatively nasty knee injury during the 6-0 Papa John’s Trophy victory over Northampton.
"He’s getting along OK and everything’s on schedule,” McKenna said of Aluko recently. “He’s working very hard here at the training ground.
“At the moment we’re hoping it will be around the Christmas period before he’ll be back in full training and ready to compete in matches. But he’s stepping up his rehab work here at the training ground.”
Impact rating - major: In the days and weeks after Aluko’s injury, you could certainly argue Ipswich didn’t really miss him.
Town’s leading attacking midfielders, Conor Chaplin and Marcus Harness, were scoring at a rate of knots and were the Blues’ most dangerous players in front of goal. They were producing numbers we haven’t seen Aluko manage during his time at the club, but that’s not to say the team didn’t miss the veteran’s calm approach, ability to keep the ball expertly and provide control in a league which can produce some hectic football.
But, as time has gone on, I’d argue Ipswich have started to miss him more and more. Chaplin and Harness aren’t in scoring form anymore – netting just once between them in the last two months – and Aluko would have been an excellent alternative at this point.
He’s still a little way away from returning, sadly.
Janoi Donacien – ‘tightness' - unknown
The right-back's game ended after just 15 minutes against Cheltenham, leaving the field as a precautionary measure.
“Janoi was just tight,” McKenna said. “He felt some tightness in the warm-up and he felt that tightness continue as the game went on.
“Hopefully it’s nothing major but it was probably the right decision at this moment to put his hand up and come off before there was any more damage.”
Impact rating - minimal: The suggestion here is that Donacien may not miss any time at all due to his tightness, which was dealt with quickly.
Kane Vincent-Young is ideal cover in the short-term, should he not be ready to face Exeter this weekend.
Nick Hayes – ankle - months
Young goalkeeper Hayes suffered an ankle injury while playing for Town’s Under 21s recently, prompting the Blues to bring in free agent Joel Coleman to act as cover.
The latter’s deal runs until January, with Hayes out until that point, given he likely requires surgery.
Impact rating - minimal: Town have quickly addressed this issue and, while it’s a shame for Hayes, it shouldn’t cause Town any problems at all.
The big picture
Town are stretched. We’ve started to see that in recent weeks, though thankfully Cameron Burgess and Panutche Camara are back in the fold after their own injuries.
Ipswich’s squad is their main strength. This is no one-man band - the squad has been built very carefully by McKenna and Mark Ashton to have plenty of depth but also plenty of variety.
They’ve been robbed of both depth and variety of late, with benches looking that little less threatening than they did earlier in the campaign, where five-man units were sent on in waves to either control or change games.
Town can’t quite do that anymore, with each of those absent right now possessing individual qualities which would prove useful.
The Blues do, though, still have a group of players almost every other side in the division would love to have at their disposal.
Another big strength, and something McKenna has spoken about at length, is his desire for his team to be adaptable.
And that adaptability, both in terms of players on the pitch and a tactical approach from the sidelines, is why you would hope Ipswich can negotiate their injury issues without them becoming insurmountable.
“It’s quite a really strange period, to be honest,” McKenna said at the weekend.
“We’ve had a very unusual amount of surgeries, a very unusual amount of contact injuries and bizarre falls, and like Dominic’s injury, Greg Leigh’s injury or Sone’s injury where it’s a major joint injury without any contact.
“We’ve only had two muscular injuries in the whole season, Wes Burns, who missed around 10 days, and now Tyreece.
“Other than that, no muscle injuries which is, of course, what you usually look at and analyse as a group of staff.
“Usually, you attribute contact injuries, or in our case a lot of the time non-contact injuries, which are the most-hard to avoid and plan for and we seem to have had a very large number of them.
“Probably another area where the rub of the green hasn’t been on our side, but we have to stay really strong as a group of players, as a staff.
“The boys are fighting, I don’t think anyone can question for one second the attitude or commitment of the players on the match pitch, certainly not on the training ground and I’ve full belief in this group to keep performing and keep picking up results.”
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