19 Sept 2014

Agony & Ecstasy: £29m boost for LFC, but shock blow for 'sensational' Reds star

With six players currently recovering on the sidelines, Liverpool are enduring a mini-injury crisis at the moment, but Reds boss Brendan Rodgers has confirmed that Daniel Sturridge is close to a comeback, which is great news for LFC.

In his pre-West Ham press conference on Thursday, Rodgers seemed confident that £29m-rated Sturridge will be available for next week's Merseyside derby. He told reporters:

“Daniel’s out on the field and hopefully at the beginning of next week he’ll be back in first-team training,”

When specifically asked whether Sturridge will be available for the Everton game, Rodgers added:

“Yes. We wouldn’t rush him back because of one game. Unless he’s fit enough to produce for us then I wouldn’t rush it.”

Liverpool need Sturridge back ASAP, but I'd rather see the club take a cautious approach. There's no sense in rushing his recovery, and if it takes another 2-3 weeks for Sturridge to be be 100% fully-fit, then so be it.

Joe Allen, Glen Johnson, and Emre Can also remain injured, and Rodgers also revealed some bad news about 'sensational' Reds defender Jon Flanagan:

“Jon will probably be out for up to three months,” said the Liverpool manager. He’s had his knee cleared out. The initial thinking was six weeks or so but it’s going to take a bit longer"

This is a huge blow for Flanagan, who seemed to be nearing a return to action. Flanoo nailed down a first-team place last season, and would've almost certainly featured heavily this year; unfortunately for him, Manquillo and Moreno will now capitalise on his misfortune, and cement their places in the team, which will make it harder for Flanagan to win his place back in the future.

The injury issues are a worry, but that's what the squad is for, and over the next few weeks, the strength of Rodgers' squad - and it is his squad now - will really be tested.

If the last two games are anything to go by, the squad isn't really that much stronger than last season.

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13 comments:

  1. As long as Rodgers does not go with two holding midfielders and plays two upfront then we should be fine.

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  2. Then thank Christ for our new full backs; looking like very smart signings indeed and for me the one overwhelming positive from the season so far.

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  3. You need a minimum of ten games to really get a feel for how you're squad is doing. A Liverpool team with Sturridge and Sterling in it is a different proposition altogether than one without it. We badly miss Sturridge and dare I say it, Joe Allen

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  4. Agree they've been a revelation

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  5. We can't judge the strength of a squad after 4 games, especially when it counts 9 new players. One positive already is that we can see promise in each signing so far (granted maybe not for Lallana and Lovren yet but one's recovering from injury and the other is asked to be the leader of a defense that was pretty shambolic last year, while playing in an unfamiliar position)

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  6. West ham 2 Liverpool 0 - were lost without Suarez

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  7. Liverpool 1 Middlesboro 1 - Penalties to decide

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  8. Yeah couldn't agree more. Surely BR wouldn't drop Manquilo to put Johnson straight back in when fit, would he????

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  9. has someone made a bid for sturridge £29 million ?

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  10. Please read the article properly. The £29m figure is a hyperlink that leads to the CIS football observatory ranking of footballer valuations, and Sturridge is valued at £29m.

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  11. It was good to see Mario Balotelli score against Ludogorets but he vacated the area of the pitch he should be playing in too often.If he's the only striker that starts he needs to hold position.
    When Sturridge is playing he can move about more freely because if one goes wide the other striker can fill the space centrally.I think Balotelli's trying to work hard defensively and get involved in games which pulls him out of position.
    Daniel Sturridge gives our forward line a nice balance.

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  12. The transfer value doesn't really have any context with his injury and more to with a click bate headline to find out who this £29m player is right which is fair enough as its all part of the game.

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