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Major injury blow for Boro as first-team star faces lengthy lay-off with knee problem
MIDDLESBROUGH have suffered a major injury blow, with Rav van den Berg set to be sidelined for a “number of weeks” with a knee problem.
Van den Berg twisted his knee in training last week, and was not involved in the squad for the weekend home defeat to Coventry City.
The injury has been assessed, and the Dutch centre-half has been ruled out of both tomorrow night’s game at QPR and the weekend home meeting with Luton Town.
His recuperation period will span the forthcoming international break, and it remains to be seen if he is able to return before the end of the month or whether his comeback will be closer to the end of the year.
“Rav’s not available unfortunately, and he’s going to be out for a number of weeks because he’s twisted his knee,” said Boro boss Michael Carrick. “He literally just planted his knee in training, and there’s a bit of a twist there.
“The international break will help us, in terms of him missing games. Hopefully, we’ll get him back at some point after that, but it’ll probably be a number of weeks.”
While Van den Berg will not be involved at Loftus Road as Boro look to bounce back from their weekend setback, Ben Doak should be able to return to the starting line-up in west London.
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The Liverpool loanee was another absentee at the weekend, but was only missing because of a minor hamstring problem.
Having been rested on Saturday, Doak has returned to training and is expected to be available to line up in his usual wide-attacking role on the right against QPR. That would mean Isaiah Jones dropping out of the side that started against Coventry.
“Ben’s in and around it,” said Carrick. “It was a fatigue thing really, as much as anything, and he just felt a tight hamstring. We’ll make a call on Ben as we travel down and see how things are looking tomorrow. Other than that, we’re alright.”
Hayden Hackney is suspended for the QPR game following his dismissal in the first half of the loss to Coventry, but Marcus Forss should return to the squad at Loftus Road.
Forss was not in the matchday squad of 20 at the weekend, but his absence from the substitutes’ bench was a result of Neto Borges complaining of a minor illness in the build-up to the game.
With Borges having felt unwell on Friday evening, Carrick felt compelled to name George McCormick on the bench to ensure some left-back cover, which meant Forss had to drop out.
“Marcus is fine,” explained Carrick. “Neto wasn’t feeling too good on the night before the game (against Coventry), so we just felt that we needed George on the bench as cover for Neto. It wasn’t a case of there being anything wrong with Marcus, and he’s travelling down to London with us.”
