Mina injury typifies Everton season – yet again

In his pre-match press conference Everton boss Frank Lampard confirmed our worst fears with the news that Yerry Mina will be out for eight to ten weeks.

This must rank, given the sitution the team is currently in, as one of the most depressing bits of news Everton fans have had in a campaign full of awful moments, bad luck and relentless injury problems.

Obviously, every team suffers injuries but I defy anyone to find another Premier League club that has the kind of injury issues the Toffees have to deal with on such a consistent basis.

Last season every first-team player was hurt at some point and now this time round so many players have been out again it’s difficult to keep track of them all once more.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin (for almost the entire season) Abdoulaye Doucoure, Allan, Tom Davies, Andre Gomes, Richarlison and now Demarai Gray, Ben Godfrey and Mina, for the second time. Have I missed anyone?

Lampard came in on transfer deadline day, and there was a real sense of renewed optimism about things after the pall of depression that hung over the club in Rafa Benitez’s last days as everyone waited for his inevitable end.

I wanted him and the club to bring in a defensive midfielder and if possible a centre-back before the window shut, but they didn’t. Now, that decision might come back to haunt them.

The ex-Chelsea legend got a new manager bounce in his first game against Brentford last Saturday. But, while the win was welcome and enjoyable, once again the injury jinx hit as Godfrey was hurt and had to be replaced early in the first half.

The player who replaced him of course was Mina just back from yet another excursion to South America for international duty.

One thing to note is that Mina always appears healthy enough to turn out for Colombia but then doing so makes it seem more likely that he will get hurt when he’s back in an Everton shirt.

And, having prematurely replaced Godfrey the former Barcelona centre-back then had to start another match just three days later as the Blues travelled to Newcastle on Tuesday night.

Inevitably, that proved to be too much for his strangely fragile physique and he broke down once more leaving the field with the Toffees in dire need of his leadership and defensive nous.

That game was of course lost 3-1 and Everton today face the latest crunch encounter as they host Leeds United in a match they cannot afford to lose.

The last time these two sides met back in August, Mina had a superb game, being particularly fierce in his personal battle against Leeds’ striker Patrick Bamford and provided the sort of inspirational commitment so often absent from this group of players.

It’s exactly the sort of qualities that are going to be so badly needed by this mediocre team over the next few weeks and months as Everton fight an increasingly desperate battle against relegation.

Once again though this side will have to do without the big Colombian defender for at least two months and knowing him and this team’s luck, probably longer.

I said in my match reviews of the Newcastle defeat that I thought injuries could well decide the outcome of the season. After this news I think it’s even more likely that will be the case.

It seems fairly clear that if the Toffees could call upon a fully fit squad for the rest of the season then there would be no danger of them being relegated.

However, if the Blues do go down at the end of this season there will be plenty of potential scapegoats to choose from.

First of all of course, the owner and board for so little apparent football strategy, so many failed managerial decisions and so much wasted transfer spending.

Those managers themselves who must take their fair share of blame, especially the most recent whose stubborn tactics and team selections compounded the problems as the team sank down the table. Although, let’s not forget that Benitez wouldn’t have been anywhere near the Everton job if Carlo Ancelotti hadn’t abruptly walked away from the club last summer.

But, despite all that, injuries have played a big part in undermining both their efforts over the last two campaigns.

You could also argue, as I have done, that these problems have sabotaged the team for even longer, with Marco Silva ultimately suffering the consequences in part because his key 2019 midfield signing Jean-Philippe Gbamin was out hurt for virtually his entire Everton career.

It will be small comfort though if it is to be relegation, to realise that if this club had enjoyed a bit more luck with injuries, particularly now when thy need it most of all, the team would almost certainly have stayed up comfortably.

Let’s hope that somehow this surviving group of players can find what it takes to pull away and it doesn’t get to that stage. And, so to Leeds this afternoon.