Has anyone seen the film "Unbreakable"? (If not, don't watch the vids below!) It stars Bruce Willis and Samuel L Jackson and is about a guy with a bone disease (Jackson) trying to find a man who can't be hurt (Willis). Jackson's character "Elijah" has a disease that means his bones are very brittle and the slightest impact means they break; he walks with a cane or is wheelchair bound and spends a lot of time in hospital, as a child Elijah was taunted by his friends and called "Mr. Glass". The character must have been based on Philipp Degan!!!
Now we've had some injury prone players in my time: Jamie "Long, Skinny Tie" Redknapp, Paddy "My Mum's Favourite" Berger, Vegard "Meg 'um" Heggam and so on and so on, but this Degan chap takes the biscuit. He was injured in pre-season; he recovered and played in the Carling Cup tie against Cardiff where he broke 2 ribs. Another lay off ensued but he returned again to face Spurs on Wednesday where, you guessed it, he was injured again. This is ridiculous. Not even Darren Anderton; Mr Sicknote himself, got injured in every game he played. OK, Kevin Gallagher broke his leg for Blackburn on his return form... a broken leg but to mind I've seen him finish a match.
The annoying thing is that we actually need Degan now. Nobody gave a damn when we signed him; it was only when we sold Steve Finnan that I took any notice of him. Arbeloa gets an early season suspension due to his penchant for picking up stupid bookings and when we need Mr. Glass to step into the fray where is he? On the treatment table of course. Now it's not Degan's fault, he obviously doesn't injure himself and it's daft to lay blame at his door (because he'd trip over it and be out for 6 weeks) but why has Benitez bought a player who spent most of last year injured and sold "Mr Reliable" Steve Finnan. When it comes to full backs Rafa isn't so astute.