When Kieron Dyer was at Newcastle, his repeated hamstring injuries were discussed almost weekly during his absences by the local media - and indeed by the club's coaching staff - it was either down to lifestyle choices, his running style (research suggested he ran wrong) or it was because he was being over-conditioned. Like all professional footballers, he was unreasonably expected to be 100% for almost 40 weeks a year, when other athletes only went through conditioning just before fights or races, and it was inevitably taking its toll. The question of over-conditioning, and the dangers of pressing players too hard on the training ground has reared its head again this week, as Newcastle continue to lose players to injury away from matches. It's a little easier to take injuries when they happen in plain view - as Coloccini's did against West Brom - but when the problems occur during preparation, it is inevitably frustrating. That much is clearly true for Alan Pardew too, who saw Steven Taylor injured in training ahead of the Baggies game and who set up a meeting with staff to identify and confront the problems behind the injuries. In order to stop those injuries happening, Pardew says the club has a plan:
We suffered injuries in training this week and I was a bit disappointed with that. I met my staff today and we are going to change one or two things. But we are pushing these players to the limit, we are trying to get the maximum we can. If you do that then you are going to lose players here and there."
Clearly, over-stretching players in the hope that they are at peak condition is completely counter-productive, especially in a smaller squad, and that cannot remain the same. Thankfully, yet another international break brings some respite, which will be particularly key to get Fabricio Coloccini and Steven Taylor back - though Paul Dummett proved a more than able replacement on Sunday. Pardew says he hopes Taylor will be back for QPR in two weeks, along with Coloccini, and that Emmanuel Riviere should also make it. Presumably, that will only be to the bench with Ayoze Perez in such fine form.