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Poyet expects Altidore to be healthy enough to train upon return to Sunderland

JozyAltidoreSunderland2-CarlisleUnited (Getty)

By FRANCO PANIZO

If Sunderland manager Gus Poyet is to be believed, Jozy Altidore will be recovered from his hamstring injury in time to partake in the start of the club’s preseason.

Poyet told Sunderland’s website Thursday that he expects Altidore to be healthy enough to practice with the team when the forward returns from his summer break. The 24-year-old Altidore suffered a Grade 2 tear in his left hamstring in the U.S. Men’s National Team’s World Cup opener against Ghana on June 16, and missed the remainder of the Americans’ stay in Brazil.

Altidore’s absence from the rest of the tournament left some observers to wonder how long he would be sidelined for, but Poyet is confident that Altidore will be ready to train with the rest of the Black Cats squad soon.

“I am sure, if nothing goes wrong, that when Jozy is back with us for preseason he is going to be fit to start training without any problems,” said Poyet.

Poyet’s comments also seem to downplay the notion that Altidore would leave Sunderland this summer. Altidore endured a rough first season at the club, and many fans and pundits questioned whether he would stick around for a second campaign.

I appears that will be the case, according to Poyet.

“We know hamstring injuries are tricky and that you have to be careful not to come back too quickly,” said Poyet. “Jozy deserves his holidays now. We have an agreement as to how many days he will have after finishing in the World Cup (before returning).”

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What do you make of this development? Should Altidore rest a little longer? Think it would be a good move for him to tough it out at Sunderland?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. It is kind of sad that our top striker, whom we rely upon so heavily, has gone from being one of the top scorers in the Eredivisie to a non-first division, non-first XI player so quickly…

    Reply
      • And Sunderland is awful, played a lone striker, and had garbage midfielders who provided no service. Jozy needs another striker he can play 1-2 with, he’ll win the deep ball and make a good pass and a good run. It would be nice if the pass wasn’t 10 behind him to a bad midfielder.

    • He is a first division player. Something that can be debated about his time at AZ (second tier league) Premier league is top notch, he may not be a starting XI player right now though. That remains to be seen.

      Reply
      • Eredivisie is just kind of living off what it once was. Probably below Championship or MLS at this point.

      • Stupid comment documenting the fact you don’t know what you are talking about.

        UEFA club coefficient ranks show 11 NED teams ranked, 9 each for BEL and NOR. The best rank for NED is 26, the worst is 184. The best rank for BEL is 43 the worst is 193. The best rank for NOR is 136 the worst is 342.

        The average for NED is 111, the average for BEL is 120, the average for NOR is 243.

        NED teams peak higher are on average better, and are more competitive than the two non-second division european leagues you mentioned.

  2. dammit, i totally forgot jozy’s going back to sunderland next season. is it out of the question that he transfer to a team that doesn’t use him as a lone striker? that would be cool.

    Reply
      • Down the stretch he was on bench every game, except for those occasions, like the League Cup final, where he wasn’t even in the 18. He needs to move somewhere else rather than riding the pine with this sorry club.

      • Is the league cup where they played City? Because i remember him being listed as injured for that game

      • Or he could work his but off, put away a few more of his chances than last year and force his way into the lineup. It’s not like he got benched while playing well, Wickham came back from loan and was scoring goals. I feel like Jozy has a big bounce back season in him.

      • look at his total playing time stats from last season. he not only played in, but started in the majority of games and only towards the end did he ride the bench or not even make the 18. look at how many minutes he played last season. that’s one of the reasons his 2 total goals stat is even worse.

      • hard to blame playing time as the issue. He had lots of chance under all 3 coaches. He just didn’t shine and didn’t finish chances.

      • Jozy had 38 appearances across all competitions for Sunderland last season.

        To put that in context Dempsey averaged 42 appearances/season across all competitions for Fulham when he was a regular for them.

        Low to mid 40’s is about right for a regular starter for a mid to low table club like Fulham or Sunderland. Regulars at top four clubs do about 50+/season.

        Jozy had his ups and down but he got plenty of playing time so he must have been doing something right.

    • Jozy played a lot of games last season. look at his total minutes played, games started, and games played. his issue was playing well.

      Reply
    • Honestly a loan to the Championship for a season wouldn’t be so bad for him. It might be cool if he and Brek were picked up by someone like Bolton.

      Reply
      • Jozy should be playing Champions League, not Championship. You are undervaluing our guy here…Had Jozy not gotten hurt he was primed for a big World Cup. Klinsmann basically created that team for Jozy’s power forward skillset. Like most of the USMNT players, their stock is up after this World Cup, and I would assume, Jozy’s would have been up too had he been able to play. No more loans for Jozy. Poyet would be smart to build his team around Jozy just like Klinsmann attempted to do. And in my opinion, Klinsmann was right. Jozy would have destroyed Portgual’ s central defense and would have definitely opened things up for us against Belgium. Sorry, at this stage of his career, Jozy is too good for Championship or MLS for that matter…

      • I’m a Jozy fan, I just don’t think it would be the worst thing to take a year and really adjust to the style of play in England. We all kind of forget that he’s still only 24. Altidore has all the skills to make it in the EPL but sometimes he needs to just put his head down and make a run. Also just getting away from Sunderland for awhile, even at a lower level wouldn’t be so bad.

      • I’m just saying at 24, 1 year in the Championship wouldn’t kill him if it’d help him have 5 or 6 solid seasons in the EPL.

      • It’s not like that. The Championship is not a training ground, a AAA , for the EPL.

        Lots of guys who play in Championship teams never see the EPL or maybe get just a few minutes.

        Bony of Swansea and Ivory Coast and Suarez of Liverpool and Uruguay both did well in the EPL after coming over directly from Holland.

        It may take him longer but no reason why Jozy can’t do the same, if Sunderland improves the team..

      • You can’t really compare what Bony and Suarez did in the Eredivisie. Jozy scored 23 which is good but Suarez scored 35 the season before he left to the EPL . Bony scored 31 and that’s after missing a month for the cup of nations.

      • Jack,

        If you don’t like those two then go back and pick any one of the many strikers that Holland has produced over the years who have done well in the EPL and elsewhere.

        I’ll bet you find a lot more of them coming out of Holland than you will coming out of the Championship.

      • Strikers tend to have their best years, especially as finishers, in their mid to late 20s. It’s reasonable to think Jozy will improve over the next 4 years, particularly in his ability to read the game and position himself to score.

    • He needs to give his manager a reason to play him. Who the Hell is going to play a forward that never scores? Not many. With the NATs he has JK singing praises to his name and his starting position virtually handed to him. At Sunderland, apparently his coach doesnt see it quite the same way

      His timely WC injury took the spotlight off his long term lack of production. Had he not been hurt and not had a good cup, this would be a whole different discussion. Facts are we scored more at that level without him then we probably would have had he not been injured. Getting out of the group has extended both Jozy and JKs timeline.

      Reply
      • “Facts are we scored more at that level without him then we probably wouldnion of Jozy;s skill. have had he not been injured.”

        That is not “facts”. That is speculation based on your low opinion of Jozy.

      • Facts are that during the runup, with Jozy in there, we had trouble scoring goals against lesser competition.

        My low opinion is based on the fact that he produces little for either his club or his country and I wonder just how long JK will stick with this plan if it continues? Im tired of hearing about “hold up play.” We need scoring options. As we saw in the WC, there was no ‘Plan B’ Going into the next cycle, I certainly hope JK looks for other options.

        On another note, it has to be very obvious at this point exactly who was responsible for turning Germany’s program around at this point. His initials are not JK

      • Why is it obviously not JK? Wasn’t he the guy who started the trend to go with youth and point the program in the direction it is at now?

        You seem to like making a lot of observations and claiming them as facts.

      • “Facts are that during the runup, with Jozy in there, we had trouble scoring goals against lesser competition.”

        Care to explain how that was Jozy’s fault?

    • Totally agree. Terrence Boyd needs some real consideration and play time in the upcoming friendly against Czech Republic in September and the Gold Cup next summer. Klinsmann messed up big time by not bringing him as a replacement for Jozy in this World Cup. Not only did we not have a like for like substitute for Altidore and the entire US system of using a lone stricker, but Boyd also could have obtained invaluable experience in Brazil.

      Reply
      • Agree, T-Boyd never got much of a chance to show what he could do on the field, a lot of mop up duty. I’m a big fan of his and love his personality. I think he has the skill and charisma to be a line and team leader going into this next cycle…here’s hoping we get to see the Cyclops early and often!

    • Id love to see us run the 532. We have the wingers to do it, and JK likes having a DMid stay back anyway. Cant be so reliant on Jozy who is not a world beater anyway.

      Reply
    • Exactly – new season, new cycle, plus Sunderland do not have a large first team. Jozy will get plenty of opportunity to play. Mix scored today for Rosenburg in Europa qualifier. Season off to a good start already.

      Reply
  3. Let’s hope he can make more of his opportunity there in combination with getting more service that he can do something with. Its never just one or the other.

    Reply
  4. Perfect timing- just when I was mourning the loss of long WC-related comment threads on SBI, a Jozy/Sunderland article comes back into the fray.

    Reply
    • I’m fine with him staying at Sunderland because at Sunderland he’ll learn to fight for his position which will ultimately make him a better player. Jozy, in the past, has had a tendency to leave teams that have proved too difficult for him to breakthrough. AZ is the only club where it came easy to him.

      Sunderland won’t be the team they were last year. And Doyle proved that while you can blame some of Jozy’s misfortune on the squad, that’s not the whole story. Doyle came in and created his own chances, made those around him more confident, and worked his butt off.

      Jozy has an uphill battle now to surpass Doyle. Let’s hope he’s up for it.

      Reply

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