Taylor sidelined for the season

Steven Taylor has effectively been ruled out for the season after the club confirmed that the defender will undergo an operation on a damaged Achilles tomorrow.

This is a big blow for the aspirations of Newcastle this season as Taylor had been showing the kind of form he's been capable of since he burst onto the scene as a 17-year-old.

This is a serious injury, make no bones about it. It doesn't look serious in the way that a bone sticking out of a leg does (enjoy your dinner) but it does carry the same kind of recovery time. In fact it's not uncommon for the lay-off to be longer than anticipated although I'm hoping for the best possible outcome.

I've had a rough look at what the injury entails and what sort of timeframe we're looking at, which is a problem as I'm only basing my research on rumours that Taylor has ruptured his Achilles Tendon. If it does turn out to be a rupture then Taylor is looking at 6-8 weeks in a cast followed by physio work to recondition the muscle. The rather vague period of recovery is given as four moths in the best case scenario up to twelve months in the worst case scenario.

I've read the views of a few people who are expressing anger about the situation, especially about our lack of cover in the centre of defence. The fact that we are light in numbers at the back is not a new concept and it's something that pretty much everyone has mentioned at some point, but what I will say is that even if we had signed that fourth defender in the summer we'd still be left with only one fit centre-back at this present moment in time.

As for Taylor, I'm sure we all wish him a speedy and hassle free recovery and hopefully everything goes without complications. It's frustrating as our settled defence has been key to our start to the season but the reality is that there is very little that could have been done about it.

Get well soon Stevie boy!