Cambridge United head coach Garry Monk gives injury update on Zeno Ibsen Rossi and Kell Watts ahead of League One match at Lincoln City on Saturday
Cambridge United head coach Garry Monk has delivered an injury update on Zeno Ibsen Rossi.
The 24-year-old defender damaged his shoulder in the 3-2 League One win over Mansfield last month.
There were fears Ibsen Rossi’s season could be over if he required surgery but that’s not the case and he could feature as the U’s fight for survival.
“Good and bad news,” stated Monk. “The good news is he doesn't need surgery on it.
“The ligaments are in a good enough place, which is good news. But obviously, there's a period with a dislocation where it has to have time to heal.
“That's anywhere between four to six weeks which, again, isn't ideal.
“But it's better than what it could have been when you've had a dislocation. If you need surgery, then that would have been the season done.
“I guess we have to look at it in a positive way, which we try to do with all the situations this year, which are negative.
“Those things happen. You've got to look at it as a challenge and try and overcome it.
“It's not an excuse. Of course, that's going to harm any team, the amount of injuries that we've had.
“But what I mean by that is we're not going to use it as an excuse from within in terms of feeling sorry for ourselves.
“We can't think like that. Whoever's available just has to meet the challenge.”
There was positive news with the return to training of Kell Watts this week following his concussion substitution in the 2-1 defeat at Rotherham.
He’s available for this Saturday’s trip to Lincoln City in League One.
“Kell's trained all week,” confirmed Monk. “He's just about getting his eyesight back in terms of the swelling.
“At a squeeze, he could have maybe made the Wycombe game, but he was really tender still. So, when we came back in at the start of this week, he was back in full training.”
The U’s head to Lincoln eight points from safety with 18 matches left to play.
“All of that we know,” responded Monk. “It’s been highlighted more in recent weeks where that gap's extended a little bit.
“Do we need points? Yeah, it's going to be there every single week for the rest of the season. It's been there for the whole season.
“We already know that so there's no point us really focusing on that. If we're just constantly thinking about that from within, it's taking away focus of what we need to do to correct all that.
“How do we get out of it? It's by performing. Everyone training every day at their highest level and me trying to select the right teams and get the right tactics.
“That's the only way that we feel like you'll perform and you'll get points. That's where all the energy is going.”