By Goal.com News on Friday, 15 January 2021
Category: Goal.com News

Injuries worry Oduor’s Barnsley manager Ismael ahead of Swansea visit

The Harambee Star could feature especially after two defenders were injured ahead of the weekend's game

Clarke Oduor’s manager at Barnsley, Valerien Ismael, has given an injury update ahead of their Saturday game against Swansea City.

Oduor has been used sparingly by the Championship side and the injury to defenders Liam Kitching and Jordan Williams could hand him a rare start.

“We have bad news with injuries to Kitching and Williams. It’s very frustrating, we feel desperate about Jordan especially because he’d just got back,” Ismael said in his pre-match presser.

“But we don’t think it’s long-term. We hope just two weeks, but I’m afraid to say things because we’ve been close to having him back on more than one occasion before. He’s such a good guy, important to us.

“Liam came with this small groin injury, and we are protecting him. But Aapo Halme is back, so that is good news.

“We have so many games that we can’t take risks with the players, so we must be careful.”

Barnsley will prepare to face Swansea with a good record in as far as Covid-19 tests are concerned after none of their players returned a positive test this week.

“Our Covid-19 tests this week showed more good news, we had no positive cases. It’s good for us because it shows we are all on the same page, all working to our rules in and out of the club,” he added.

"We have to respect the virus and follow our protocols.

“We have another round of testing [on Friday], but hopefully everyone will be negative and we then look forward to the game on Saturday night.”

Swansea emerged winners in their previous game against the Tykes, winning 2-0 in December, but Oduor’s manager isconfident his side has improved since then.

“I think we have improved since this game in Swansea. It was a strange one because of the pitch which was awful to play on,” Valerien explained.

“Swansea played a different kind of football that day which was a surprise. 

“It will be a tough game against a club who are going for the Premier League. But we now know more about them and we will be prepared, more ready on this occasion, however they decide to play.

“We’ll adapt if necessary.”

After struggling when the season started, Barnsley later on improved, especially after the appointment of Ismael, and are now ninth.

The Swansea game comes after Oduor and his teammates qualified for the fourth round of the FA Cup after seeing off Tranmere Rovers.

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Original author: Kiplagat Sang
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