stan bowles said:
When I first heard it was 8 weeks I was relieved but now actually feel gutted and annoyed by that cynical tackle of Yanga-Mbiwa which should have been a straight red and has robbed us of one of our most important players for such a crucial period of the season. Nasri has been brilliant this season with his goals , assists, hard work, and skilful passing. I only hope Navas, Milner and Jovetic (if we ever see him) can cover for his absence. With Nasri, Yaya and Silva all on top form I think we could beat anyone and go close in all 4 competitons. Just hope he comes back better than ever.
Yup, pretty much this. If we had Jovetic available I'd be less concerned, but I don't believe there's a cat in hell's chance of that happening this season. Nasri and Silva constitute 90% of our creativity, and I would be very uncomfortable relying on just Silva for the next two months, particularly given the number of games we've got coming up and the likelihood of them becoming increasingly attritional affairs. Merlin has a history of muscle injuries with us, and I think we should certainly look to get someone else in, be it a loan signing or a long term permanent deal. Getting someone of the requisite standard though at this stage of the season would be very difficult. The best I can think of domestically and who might be available to us (and he's not in the same league as Silva or Nas) is Ravel Morrison, but I seem to recall he needed to get out of Manchester for his own good not so long ago.
