Post by Taxigirl on Jan 23, 2006 10:04:19 GMT
www.leedsunited.com
United boss Kevin Blackwell says Leeds have the players to be able to cope with the loss of Matthew Kilgallon after the defender was ruled out for two months.
Kilgallon limped out of Elland Road following United's Carling Cup game with Wigan last Tuesday, and underwent a scan on Thursday afternoon which confirmed the worst.
"Matthew is out for two months - we've had that confirmed now," said Blackwell.
"He did his knee ligaments and hamstring all in one go."
The former England under-21 international had been in superb form recently, earning rave reviews and man of the match awards but Leeds are now forced to do without him.
Blackwell is confident that for the meanwhile Sean Gregan, who took over the role against the Owls on Saturday, will do a decent job at centre-half with Simon Walton providing back-up.
"I thought he had a tremendous game again, he last came in against Millwall and was man of the match there and it looked as if he hadn't been away.
"Full credit to Sean and I hope people do give him that credit.
"He's played 19 games for us this year and we've had something like 11 or 12 clean sheets, and that's why it's particularly harsh on Sean when people are ultra-critical of him.
"The amount of work he gets through in receiving the ball and giving the ball, he's going to make a mistake at some point and you just hope it isn't costly, but that's football."
Blackwell is not considering any immediate forays into the transfer market to bring in another centre-half, but if it appears Kilgallon's injury will take him longer than two months to get over, he will look at the situation again.
"If it's any worse than that I will have to get cover in for Gregan because I think Simon Walton is a little bit too inexperienced to go in there for a long term basis.
"We're carrying a few other knocks at the moment and hopefully the ten days break will give us time to rest and get our players back."
United boss Kevin Blackwell says Leeds have the players to be able to cope with the loss of Matthew Kilgallon after the defender was ruled out for two months.
Kilgallon limped out of Elland Road following United's Carling Cup game with Wigan last Tuesday, and underwent a scan on Thursday afternoon which confirmed the worst.
"Matthew is out for two months - we've had that confirmed now," said Blackwell.
"He did his knee ligaments and hamstring all in one go."
The former England under-21 international had been in superb form recently, earning rave reviews and man of the match awards but Leeds are now forced to do without him.
Blackwell is confident that for the meanwhile Sean Gregan, who took over the role against the Owls on Saturday, will do a decent job at centre-half with Simon Walton providing back-up.
"I thought he had a tremendous game again, he last came in against Millwall and was man of the match there and it looked as if he hadn't been away.
"Full credit to Sean and I hope people do give him that credit.
"He's played 19 games for us this year and we've had something like 11 or 12 clean sheets, and that's why it's particularly harsh on Sean when people are ultra-critical of him.
"The amount of work he gets through in receiving the ball and giving the ball, he's going to make a mistake at some point and you just hope it isn't costly, but that's football."
Blackwell is not considering any immediate forays into the transfer market to bring in another centre-half, but if it appears Kilgallon's injury will take him longer than two months to get over, he will look at the situation again.
"If it's any worse than that I will have to get cover in for Gregan because I think Simon Walton is a little bit too inexperienced to go in there for a long term basis.
"We're carrying a few other knocks at the moment and hopefully the ten days break will give us time to rest and get our players back."