Newcastle Handed Triple Injury Blow As Fitness Concerns Continue To Bite

Newcastle United have been handed a triple injury blow with both Remy Cabella and Emmanuel Riviere set to miss the start of the season - while Fabricio Coloccini is also out of the Magpies' final US tour match. Riviere has flown back to the UK from the States after suffering a knee injury in training, while Cabella did not even travel on the tour after suffering a thigh injury which is likely to rule him out for between six-to-eight weeks. Club captain Coloccini, meanwhile, has missed all three of Newcastle's pre-season games to date with an Achilles problem that will also keep him out of the match against Portland Timbers on Tuesday night (US time)/Wednesday morning (UK time).

Magpies head coach Steve McClaren declared upon signing - and in the recent Fans Forum meeting - that he would aim to put a stop to the injuries that have plagued the Newcastle squad over the past few seasons. In 2014-15 alone, Newcastle succumbed to 30 soft-tissue injuries and the aforementioned trio join the likes of Paul Dummett, Curtis Good and Mehdi Abeid in already having had fitness concerns in pre-season. The early signs of McClaren's new backroom staff sorting out the problem do not look encouraging in the short term, although it is something they remain confident they will rectify in the medium-to-long run. Attacking-midfielder Cabella and forward Riviere, who both signed last summer, endured difficult first seasons on Tyneside and their Magpies futures have been called into question in recent weeks - and these latest injuries will only cast more doubt on whether they'll be plying their trade at St James' Park in 2015-16. Coloccini has just one year remaining on his Magpies contract and he faces being dropped as captain - with McClaren unwilling to confirm who his skipper will be in the long term - as well as the fact he will now begin the season short of match fitness.

Quoted in the Shields Gazette, McClaren said of Coloccini's injury:

€œIt's an Achilles problem, and we've got to take care. "He's 33 years old. He's getting a day's training in, but he's not played as yet. "I think it'll also be difficult in Portland because of the artificial surface. It just gives a chance for Jamaal Lascelles to play and Steven Taylor to come back also."

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