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Carlos Mendes Gomes will be out of action for six weeks – and Ian Evatt says he has further injury concerns after the international break as his side head to Reading.
The former Luton Town man damaged his hamstring in the 3-0 win against Salford City in the EFL Trophy and is likely to be side-lined until November.
But Evatt has revealed a few other issues concerning international players who returned to the training ground from Tuesday onwards, some having travelled vast distances to play for their countries.
The manager explained: “We have some injuries – a few – which isn’t ideal but we will have a look at how fast and quickly they will recover. But the worst one out of them all is Carlos, who has a more significant hamstring strain than it first looked last Tuesday, I would think he will be out for six weeks or so.
“Other than that the rest are minor stuff. We have had some strange ones, one come back with a thigh strain, another with a nasty infection, it is out of our control when players go out on international duty, we just have to pray they come back healthy – some have, some haven’t.
“I wouldn’t say we are light on numbers but it has affected the depth we have got going into the game. We have to utilise what we have got and pull through the six-game block before the next international break.”
The break came after Wanderers had recorded back-to-back wins in league and cup and would ordinarily have represented a chance to recharge batteries. But the involvement of Josh Sheehan (Wales), Eoin Toal, Dion Charles (both Northern Ireland) and Zac Ashworth (Wales Under-21s) means only half of the squad were able to get the benefit.
“A lot can be made of momentum but we had a lot of games in August and a reset is nice to have sometimes,” Evatt said. “But now we are getting players more into the international fold it isn’t really a rest. Dion and Eoin have done a lot of travelling, almost 16 or 17 hours of flying, which obviously takes a toll – no pun intended – so we will have to re-evaluate and see how they are. With the direction of travel the club is going in, it is something we will have to get more used to.”
Evatt hopes his side can pick up where they left off.
“It has been a decent start to the season and the last league game was a huge result for us,” he said.
“We have some good games coming up, good tests. Reading are a dangerous team who play a slightly strange 4-2-2-2 system with fast, vertical attacks, high press a bit like we do. They are young, energetic, and we have to match that.”
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