Manager Kieran McKenna says Axel Tuanzebe will be out for a few months having undergone hand surgery and that Dara O’Shea will be assessed ahead of Saturday’s home game against Everton due to a back injury, while giving updates on the fitness of Jens Cajuste, Massimo Luongo, Ali Al-Hamadi and Cieran Slicker.

Tuanzebe missed the West Ham match having cut his hand on a broken glass while washing up, a freak accident which required surgery with the defender having been in danger of losing his thumb.

“Some of the details came out of how he did it, it was a household accident, very unfortunate but very, very serious, very close to losing his thumb,” McKenna said.

“He’s had surgery to repair the tendons and everything in the thumb that was damaged, he’s recovering from that surgery now, I think the recovery’s going pretty well, but it’s a long-term injury.

“As much as it seems like a pretty innocuous body part in the game of football, it’s a pretty important body part in human anatomy and he needs to let it recover.

“Of course, he’s a loss and a miss, it shows how quickly things can change in football and in life.

“Thankfully, he’s recovering well and we have to adapt and improve as a team and we look forward to having him back when he’s ready again.”

Asked how long the 26-year-old DR Congo international might be sidelined for, he added: “It’s not definitely set yet. It could be anything from a few months, maybe a little bit less if the recovery goes well and that’s something we’re in dialogue with different specialists on.”

Regarding Cajuste (knee) and Luongo (ankle), he added: “Jens is not fit yet but will hopefully train with the group next week or have some part to play next week.

“Massimo picked up an injury in the Aston Villa game, so he’s also unavailable for this game and probably for the next period of games, and we have some other issues as well that we’re assessing currently and seeing where we’re at going into the weekend and beyond.”

Al-Hamadi missed out on international duty with Iraq having undergone adductor issue on which he underwent surgery early in the summer.

“Ali missed the international break, had a further injection in his groin area, it’s been a really complicated injury and issue for him,” McKenna, no stranger to injuries in that area during his own playing career, continued.

“Of course, when you have an injury in that area, it isn’t always necessarily one site, it’s a really small margin between what classifies as a hernia, an adductor, a hip flexor, deep abdominal muscle, hip joint, there’s a lot of things in that.

“He’s doing OK, he’s been back training in the last couple of days. We hope now he’ll get a really clear run at it, he has been training but he’s probably not been fully free of pain as he’d like to be, but he’s felt good over these last few days and he’s available for tomorrow, if we need him and he’s hopefully going to get a run now over the next couple of weeks of training well with a clean bill of health, which will make him in a stronger position.”

O’Shea was subbed while playing for the Republic of Ireland and McKenna confirmed that that was do do with a fitness problem.

“He had an issue in his back that is having to be assessed, so we’ll have to see how that goes over the next couple of days,” he said.

Keeper Slicker is on the way back from his hand injury: “Cieran Slicker’s not with the group, he’s I think just starting some handling work with the medical team, so I think he’s another few weeks away.”

McKenna was pleased to see Nathan Broadhead play his first competitive football of the season as a sub for Wales as they beat Montenegro 1-0 in midweek having suffered a hamstring injury in July.

“It was good to see him get some minutes,” McKenna added. “He’s trained now for a couple of weeks, is training well and not having any problems

“He knows there’s big depth in the forward positions at the moment and we’ve pretty much a clean bill of health in those areas, so he’s coming from behind in terms of missing the whole pre-season and not having had any games, but he’s getting stronger with the training and we know the qualities that he can bring when the opportunity comes, which I’m sure it will do.”

Photo: Matchday Images

Whos_blue added 14:45 - Oct 18 Jeez. That's harsh on Axel. What a freak accident. I supoose the only good thing is that he should be able to maintain a reasonable level fitness while he's recovering.
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Radlett_blue added 14:47 - Oct 18 Indeed, Axel should be free to do non contact running & gym work so he should be physically fit, if not match fit, once his hand is OK.
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ArnieM added 14:48 - Oct 18 A fes injuries for us as well as Everton then. Not feeling good about our defensive injuries though.... back up players nowhere near as strong in my view.
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baxterbasics added 14:55 - Oct 18 A few *months* sheesh! He's going to be missed, been so solid for us this year.
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TimmyH added 15:00 - Oct 18 Jeez! that's bad luck on our and Axel's behalf. Hope the RB coverage (whoever that is) steps up but sadly I feel we'll be lacking in this area, Ben Johnson maybe with more game time will improve.
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PortmanTerrorist added 15:06 - Oct 18 So sad for Axel, clearly world class defending. However, the run of games coming up require us to take a bit more of the initiative and try to get points from winnable games, and would always say a fully fit Harry Clarke (which we did not see at all last season) would be my preferred option anyway in these circumstances. Get well Axel, as we will need you, but step up Harry....your time is NOW !

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Suffolkboy added 15:11 - Oct 18 We’ve come so far ,done so well,and sustained performance throughout so it’s now a real shame and a test at the ‘top’ level to be disadvantaged in these ways. Thankfully ITFC is well placed with a superb Manager / coach who knows exactly how difficult this is for the players ,and remains determined and generous in his outlook ,so that individuals will not be rushed back but brought to full fitness with proper care! We shall look now to see others step up to the mark ,in terms of performance and flexibility to cover . KM will succeed ; just can’t envisage any sort of undue ‘panic’ only professional adjustment and even greater technical input to the team ! COYB

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Karlosfandangal added 15:22 - Oct 18 Interesting to see the Woofie and Greaves partnership. Greaves looks nailed on and a straight fight with Woofie and O’Shea. Hope Johnson starts to play better as he has the experience and with West Ham wanting him to sign he has the talent just needs to get use to the system.
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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 15:53 - Oct 18 Woolfie in and O'Shea at RB? (He played there for Ireland.) Axel out is a big blow, but we have to deal with it. Other teams will also have injuries.
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Linkboy13 added 16:16 - Oct 18 Wolfy and Greaves was undoubtedly the better partnership Greaves hasn't looked the same player since Wolfy was dropped. The right back position has been a problem for a while now then Tuanzebe seems to have solved it and gets injured. Maybe letting Edmundson go out on loan was a mistake he could have easily played at right back being very mobile and technically good.

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gosblue added 17:43 - Oct 18 Time to step up and take your chance boys. Whoever comes in should be up to fitness and know the system. Johnson, Clarke,Woolfenden, or Burgess should all be decent replacements.
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Gazelle added 20:58 - Oct 18 Not too worried about Woolfy coming in, he was brilliant against Fulham
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