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Marcus Forss admission after Middlesbrough forward returns to squad at West Brom
MARCUS FORSS might have returned to Middlesbrough’s matchday squad last night, but the Finnish forward will have to build up his match sharpness away from the first team before being considered for a return to senior action.
Forss has been sidelined since suffering a serious muscular injury in mid-March and was not involved in any of Boro’s pre-season work.
He has been back in full training for a couple of weeks, and was an unused substitute as Michael Carrick’s side won at West Brom yesterday evening.
However, he is understandably lacking match fitness, and is set to feature in a combination of Under-21 matches and behind-closed-doors training games before he is considered for a first-team outing.
“It’s been a long time for him (Forss),” said Carrick, whose side head to Watford on Saturday for their final game before the international break. “I’ll be honest, and Marcus knows this, he’s not really ready to play just yet.
“We wanted him back in and around the group but he needs minutes. How he gets the minutes is to be determined. Whether it’s been with the (Under) 21s, training games or whatever.
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“So, there is a little bit to go on Marcus, but it was still fantastic to have him back. He’s trained really well and it was great to have him.”
While Rav van den Berg returned to the starting side at the Hawthorns, Boro were still without a number of senior players.
Matt Clarke and Tommy Conway were both absent, having also missed last weekend’s home win over Stoke City. Dael Fry and Darragh Lenihan are longer-term absentees and have not been involved in any senior action all season.
Fry and Lenihan will definitely miss the trip to Vicarage Road, with Conway also expected to be sidelined until the end of the international break. Clarke has a better chance of featuring against Watford, although the centre-half will have to step up his recovery significantly in the next couple of days to be considered for Saturday’s game.
“Neither were touch and go to be that close (for the game at West Brom), really,” admitted Carrick. “Clarkey (was) a little bit closer, so we’ll have to see for the weekend. We’ve got a few days yet and we’ll see how it goes.”
