Sheffield United may have gotten back to winning ways on Saturday with a 2-0 win over West Bromwich Albion, but they didn’t come away from the Hawthorns unscathed.
Just past the hour mark, the Blades made their first substitution with Rhian Brewster replacing John Fleck. Twelve minutes into Brewster’s game, he picked up a hamstring injury when attempting to sprint past the halfway line.
The 22-year-old joins Rhys Norrington-Davies and Max Lowe on the treatment table for hamstring tears. So, why are United picking up so many hamstring injuries?
Paul Heckingbottom explained why that is the case to Yorkshire Live:
“The nature of the game, how it is, explosive players. People are prone to certain ones. When you look across football, there has been a lot more. What is beginning to be apparent is the nature of muscle injuries on these more high-speed, high-power-producing players. They are tending to be really big ones. We see the game has changed. I remember looking back in 2010 at data and sprint distance, the number of sprints had more than doubled in 10 years”
It’s yet another devastating hamstring injury for Rhian Brewster after suffering one earlier this year which ruled him out of the back end of last season. Right when Brewster looks like he’s about to get into some sort of rhythm, he picks up an injury.
The former Liverpool man has had a tough time at Sheffield United, and it is fair to say that it’s not worked out for him, but there is still time for him to turn that around.
For United, it is getting to the stage where it seems like they are picking up an injury per game, which is not what you want to see right when they have only just gotten back several key players from injuries.