Hull City star makes honest injury admission after recovering from knee surgery
The Tigers are back in action this weekend when Southampton visit the MKM Stadium
Defender Cyrus Christie admits his desire to play for Hull City may have proved to be his downfall during an intense pre-season campaign.
Christie missed the closing weeks of last season with a knee injury he sustained at Bristol City in late February. But he returned in the summer and played a key role during the build-up to the new Championship campaign – he even bagged a goal in the memorable 4-3 comeback win against Galatasaray at the Kocaeli Stadium.
His knee injury flared up again and saw him struggle for fitness in the early weeks of the season before regaining his place at right-back in recent weeks after skipper Lewie Coyle picked up an injury of his own.
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Now fully fit, Christie says he has confidence back in his right knee and is keen to help the Tigers continue their quest to become one of this season’s play-off challengers when second-tier action resumes on Saturday with the visit of Southampton to the MKM Stadium.
“It was tough mentally. I felt like I was in a good place and I was playing well and when you’re on the sideline, you want to be out there as much as possible to help the team. It was frustrating. I’d done my knee a month before that and carried on playing, pushing through and it was very annoying how it happened, but that’s part and parcel of football,” the experienced Republic of Ireland international explains in conversation with Hull Live.
“Mentally it was tough. In the summer I didn’t have a break, I spent the whole time pushing myself to make sure that I got back. Maybe I pushed myself a bit too hard. It was definitely a mental hurdle I had to get over and it was frustrating when I came back because I knew my knee wasn’t in the place I wanted it to be.
“You want to push yourself to come back as early as possible. No one wants to be injured. I’d done my knee before and the rehab was so smooth I ended up coming back in advance without any issues. This time rehab went well in the summer, I pushed myself and it was fine. It was just that the loads became a bit too much. My knee was still getting used to a new environment. When they went into my knee, they found more damage than first appeared. It was a new environment for my knee to transition into and get used to.
“They had to take out the cartilage so a lot of it was bone on bone. My bone was chipped so they had to shave a few things down and it was a bit more damaged than we thought at first. It was just to get the body back to how it was.
“I should have managed it better myself but you want to be out there, you want to prove yourself and train every day. You want to be able to push yourself to the limit. Sometimes in football, we maybe don’t use our brains too much in that sense because you want to be out there, you want to play football. That’s what we came here to do. When you’re injured, it is that frustration, you want to be out there and prove yourself and be the best version of yourself. Sometimes less is more when you’re injured. Even at my age, it was a learning curve for me.
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