The bad news about Johan Djourou's knee means that he is going to be out of action for around 6 months. I suspect the problem with Johan's knee is an osteochondral defect, I shall try to explain this to those of you without the medical knowledge. An osteochondral defect means an area where the smooth joint lining, the cartilage, has been damaged, this is different to the meniscus of the knee which is the cup shaped bits which are made of fibrocartilage.
If Johan had torn his meniscus then one would expect him to have it tidied up with key hole surgery and he'd be back relatively quickly. Either he is having a repair to his meniscus which would take a lot longer to get back to football from, or he has an area of damaged cartilage, an osteochondral defect. There are different treatments for osteochondral defects and none of them are perfect by any means. One can try to regrow a sort of cartilage in the hole by 'microfracture' treatment, one can transplant cartilage from the patient or from elsewhere, plus there are some emerging stem cell treatments. All require a substantial period of rehabilitation to allow the new cartilage to bed down as it were. Good luck and a speedy recovery Johan, it's a shame to lose such a talented young player when he was showing such signs of developing into a very solid centre back.
Who watched Wayne 'honest' Rooney win the penalty for England against Slovenia last night? The media's silence since speaks volume for the inconsistent way in which they deal with these kind of incidents. Rooney and the defender yanked at each other's shirts, Rooney then kicked the defender, not only that but Rooney appealed for a penalty when he clearly knew that he had done more fouling then being fouled, the referee obliged. Rooney quite clearly and dishonestly conned the referee, could this be cheating? Could it heck. Mr Bendtner scored a cracker for Denmark yesterday and for me he looks like a natural central striker, playing him wide is not really making the best use of his abilities is it?
The BBC have responded to a number of our complaints about the rude and abrupt manner of Alan Green as he shouted and cut off a polite and reasonable caller the other day who had the great audacity to suggest that Wayne Rooney may have dived:
"Thanks for your e-mail.I understand that you were unhappy with the way that Alan Green dealt with a caller to 6-0-6 on BBC Radio 5 Live on Saturday 29th August after the Manchester United v Arsenal match.The caller was comparing Eduardo's alleged 'dive' during the Celtic game earlier in the week to the challenge that led to Wayne Rooney's penalty. The resulting exchange between Alan and the listener was indeed fiery and reflected Alan's passion for the game. Alan is a well respected commentator who is popular with our listeners and is known for his forthright opinions.I am sorry that you felt that on this occasion Alan's manner was abrasive. Many thanks for contacting us. Regards"
I have replied to the BBC indicating that I am quite unhappy with their inadequate response. Alan Green's one way tirade was no 'exchange' and it was not just that I 'felt' it was abrasive, it was downright rude and offensive from a man who is meant to be working for a public sector broadcaster. Alan Green should apologise live on air for his behaviour. I would urge anyone who has received this BBC response to write again to complain about the inadequacy of the response, I would also write to Ofcom to complain about the incident as if enough people write they shall be obliged to act.
