Burger, Phillips, Lawal - Stoke City injury latest ahead of trip to West Bromwich Albion
Wouter Burger will try to manage and recover an ongoing ankle injury as Stoke City boss Mark Robins looks for more from his young midfielder.
Burger, aged 23, has started 23 Championship matches this season but has only completed 90 minutes on seven occasions, partly because of a niggling ankle problem like he picked up in extra-time of an FA Cup win at Sunderland on Saturday.
He has shown glimpses more like his old self in the last couple of weeks, trying to prove he can be a key player for the side in another new chapter.
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“I don’t think (it’s a serious one),” said Robins. “He felt his ankle and came off. I think that’s par for the course at the moment with Wouter because he’s had this problem, this ongoing issue with his ankle, that just sometimes gets tweaked and he has to come off.
“He did ok (against Sunderland). I thought he did ok. There were some really decent moments for him but I’m greedy, I’m still looking for more.”
Robins had to make substitutes at the Stadium of Light to manage players’ minutes either through injury, coming back from injury or after a lot of recent game time – rather than make subs for tactical reasons to try to win the game.
He might have made another too, ideally, as Ashley Phillips played on with a tight calf after Burger was replaced by Emre Tezgel in the final change.
Robins said: “Ash is ok, he’s tight but he’s fine. It’s just one of those things where once you get to know them you can see how much they can cope with but the fact we’ve been getting injuries in the squad, we have to look after players as much as possible.
“I was going to bring Michael Rose on to try to protect that one with Ash so he didn’t get a calf injury but thankfully he was fine – and I did notice when we scored the goal he ran all the way up to the opposite touchline to go and congratulate the goalscorer!”
Ben Gibson had missed out on a place in the squad due to an injury picked up before the trip north. He pulled out of the Leeds game on Boxing Day at half-time due to illness and Phillips and Ben Wilmot have staked their claims in a new centre-half partnership.
Bosun Lawal is hoping to get some under-21s minutes to further his case to be involved after recovering from a back injury, having not started a competitive game since April last year.
Stoke had been hoping the versatile 21-year-old would make a quick recovery from a stress fracture that was flagged in the medical when he signed from Celtic but he was always viewed as a signing for the long-term and they have been prepared to be patient. Clubs at the top end of League One might tempt them with a loan offer this month.
Ben Pearson hasn’t played since last April too when he was laid low by a hamstring injury that needed off-season surgery. The 30-year-old midfielder is now joining in full training more regularly and both he and Lawal could be involved for the under-21s against Manchester City on Friday, unless they are needed for a squad place in the Championship on Saturday at West Brom.
Robins said: “They trained (last week) and at some point they are going to need some more, certainly Bosun is going to need some, under-21s minutes. There’s no doubt, because of the length of time he’s been out, you can’t just step in and expect to hit a level. I think he’ll be fine over time but it’s going to take a bit of time. Really for him it’s about his mentality and I’ll speak to him, like all the players, about the plan for him moving forward. I think he’s got a lot of good attributes and hopefully we can bring them out in the Championship.
“Ben is progressing ok. He’s starting to step things up a little bit now. He’s had a little bit of tightness as you would expect when you’re coming back and that can set you back a little bit. There will be a time that comes when he can push through that and that will be when he’s available to us more permanently. He’s dipping out and out at the moment.”
Enda Stevens came through the best part of an hour as he made his first start for the first time since November.
Robins said: “He gets just about an hour. It was a change for physical reasons rather than tactical reasons. We couldn’t play him for any longer. You can’t risk him getting injured.
“Then our right-sided centre-half Ash Phillips had a tight calf and we were trying to change that out but then Burger went down and we had to change that. We wanted to bring Rose on but had to make a change in midfield.
“It was a change for physical reasons so that’s a bit of a mess but we will get there. It’ll change around and we’ll be able to do things and try to win games from a tactical perspective and give players the help they need to try to win games and turn things around.
“We’ve got to help ourselves as well and be a bit more vocal but, again, they are young players. We’ll get there. It takes time.”
Million Manhoef (knee) is out until around March while Eric Bocat (calf) and Jordan Thompson (groin) also remain in the treatment room.
