Alan Smith sustains horrific injury

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson expects Alan Smith to be out for a long time after he suffered an horrific leg break against Liverpool.

Smith collapsed in agony after he tried to block a John Arne Riise free-kick in United's 1-0 defeat in the FA Cup.

A grim-faced Ferguson said: "It's one of the worst I've seen. He's broken his leg and there's a dislocation of the ankle joint.

"It's a very long-term injury - we're all behind him as he's a brave lad."

The game was delayed by five minutes as Smith received treatment and was given oxygen as he was stretchered off.

United's medical team were given help by Liverpool club doctor Mark Waller as the midfielder waited to be carried off.

Ferguson added: "I wasn't aware of what had happened because I was following the path of the ball, but you saw the reaction of the players round about Alan and you knew it was a bad one.

"It is another bad blow for us and it sums up our season."

Ferguson's counterpart, Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez, was quick to offer his sympathy to Smith.

"We're all so sorry and we can only wish him all the best for the future," he said.

I hope he has a speedy recovery, but unfortunately he is almost definetely out of contention for the World Cup because of the severity of the injury.

Yeah hope he recovers. It looked bad on one of the replays. Motty and Lawro weren't sure what kind of injury it was but on a replay you could clearly see his leg below the knee was at a wrong angle compared to his upper leg. Once I saw that I knew it was a broken leg. It was really bad, bad enough for Liverpool to send on their doctor and physios to help out.

It was also nice to see the Kop applaud Smith as he went off, it was an important match for both teams, both extreme rivals and so that made the applause from both sets of fans really appreciated.

Utd's injury list is getting to the point of dire, and with Keane leaving we were beaten in the midfield by Liverpool. Of course our injury crisis is not important considering Smith's injury.

Yeh i wish him a speedy recovery it looked awful on TV... Motty and Lawro where going on about the force of the ball causing the injury but it was obvious his leg just completely collapsed and it was broken. Looked hideous tbh.
Will be out for anything up to 8/9 months i think.....a decent year of football out the window for him and he misses yet another World Cup :S

As a Liverpool fan I was really enjoying the game, but things like that put sport into perspective. I think everyone who witnessed it, either there or on TV, wishes him a speedy recovery.

alex ferguson has a short memory, david busst's was much worse. But of course he wouldn't mention something commited by his own players. To be honest though, it's smith's own fault for cheating and charging down the free kick. Of course it's not nice that it's happened though (even though I admittedly think smith is an idiot).

H E L L O

it's horrible to be involved in a play where someone gets hurt, when I was 15 I was right next to a guy who got his leg broken in the play, the bone connecting his ankle was above the foot .

I remember when safri broke healy's leg - the crack was the loudest thing I ever heard. It sounded like a gunshot!

H E L L O

Daniel Knott Wrote:
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> To be honest though, it's smith's own fault for cheating
> and charging down the free kick. Of course it's
> not nice that it's happened though (even though I
> admittedly think smith is an idiot).

:\ I mean... yeah, he shouldn't have done it, but the worst you should expect is a ball in the goolies and a yellow card... not the risk of amputation, having to be carried off on a stretcher using an oxygen mask. I can't help but feel nothing but sorry for the bloke, however it occured. Poor sod.

Well yer, of course it's sad, though I was just tryiing to be truthful what I thought. It's not good that it's happened obviously, and i wish him less pain and a good recovery. He wouldn't have got a yellow card though, they all get away with charging down freekicks and stuff like that.

H E L L O

He's one of United's only players who are red throuigh and through, he plays with his heart on his sleeve, gives everything when he plays. He should have been playing from the start anyway imo.


Just an awful, awful injury....I hope the rumours of possible amputation are unfounded because that would be too tragic. I hope its fixable and we'll see him play again in a red shirt

Get well soon alan!

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She says brief things, her love’s a pony
My love’s subliminal

-qwerty- Wrote:
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> Just an awful, awful injury....I hope the rumours
> of possible amputation are unfounded because that
> would be too tragic. I hope its fixable and we'll
> see him play again in a red shirt

If that's based on my comment (unlikely, I know), then I was just being hypothetical. It's a potential scenario in this sort of situation - but then I've heard nothing to this end, so I expect he'll be OK. Whether he plays again or not is a different matter.

Hope he gets better soon, He could surprise people and come back pretty early, Cisse did the same for Liverpool, he suffered a horrific leg break against Blackburn and was back in about 6 months. Although from what the likes of Alex Ferguson have said I'm guessing this may be more of a serious one.

gav, no I've heard it elsewhere too, but I'm not lending any supoport to it because its such a horrible thought.

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She says brief things, her love’s a pony
My love’s subliminal

It's nonsense wherever you heard it. His ankle has been put back into the socket, and he's having surgery on his leg today. They're saying it doesn't look career threatening. He should be back for the start of next season if everything goes well.

Daniel Knott Wrote:
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> alex ferguson has a short memory, david busst's
> was much worse.

That's what came to my mind when I heard that he made that comment.

yer but of course nobody cares about that cos he isn't a man u player. And that was a career ending one too.

H E L L O

Daniel Knott Wrote:
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> yer but of course nobody cares about that cos he
> isn't a man u player. And that was a career ending
> one too.

And Busst had to have 17 operations.

But he did say "one of the", not definatively the worst.

On the Busst thing, Schmeichel had to have counsiling didnt he?

Feel sorry for Smith, he's such a player that just doesnt get the games at United. I sincerly wish him the best recovery possible.

markko Wrote:
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> But he did say "one of the", not definatively the
> worst.
>
> On the Busst thing, Schmeichel had to have
> counsiling didnt he?

Yep.

David has now had 17 operations on his damaged leg, and not surprisingly, has been forced to give up the game, although the club stood by David and kept his contract active till the end of this season, even though there was really no hope of him kicking a football again in anger.

Busst's was horrific...truly disgusting.

And i guess this is why Schmeichel needed conselling

Play was held up for nine minutes, partly to allow groundstaff and United keeper Peter Schmeichel to clean up a dark patch of blood in the goalmouth.

No offence Wirah but how do you remember it you would have been what 3/4 years old?

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