18 Nov 2014

Breaking News: Injury disaster as £29m LFC star 'limps' out of training. Scan results expected 'tomorrow'

More bad news for Liverpool FC tonight - with Daniel Sturridge only a few days away from a probable comeback, the fragile striker has picked up yet another injury, which probably means he'll miss this weekend's Premie League clash with Crystal Palace.

A few minutes ago, the Liverpool Echo reported:

"Daniel Sturridge's hopes of a comeback dashed by new thigh injury.

"It's the same thigh that kept him out earlier this season. Limped out of training session. Scan results expected tomorrow".


This comes as absolutely no surprise - £29m-rated Sturridge is injury prone; he is the new Daniel Agger, and this is the TENTH injury of his short Liverpool career.

I argued last week that Liverpool may ultimately have to consider replacing him, and I maintain that view. Sturridge is an amazing striker, but he is unreliable, and this may have a knock-on impact on his future LFC career:

* If the regular injuries continue, LFC may be forced to sign another, more reliable striker, which could lead to Sturridge falling down the pecking order. Given his superb goals/assists rate, I'd hate to see that happen, but the team has to come first, and if Sturridge can't remain consistently fit, then the issue should be addressed.

* It's hard to build a team around a player who is constantly injured, and if Sturridge is not careful, he could go the same way as Agger, who was gradually phased out of the team. Granted, the Dane's form is one of the reasons he's no longer at the club, but his atrocious injury record is another major reason.

* The club may also decide to cash-in on Sturridge at some point to take advantage of his high transfer value, rather than watching his value decline as a result of repeated injuries.

Again, Agger is a good comparison here. In August 2012, Liverpool rejected a £20m bid from Man City, which the club obviously should've accepted. Fast-forward two years, and Liverpool scraped in a paltry £3m for the defender, which represents a major retrospective financial loss.

As such, the club surely has to learn from the Agger situation, and Sturridge could ultimately become a victim of a more prudent and pre-emptive approach to transfers relating to injured-plagued players.

There's no room for sentiment: Rodgers relied on Sturridge this season, and look what happened; Liverpool are in 11th place in the league, and in danger of missing out on Champions League qualification.

The problem needs to be solved, and if that means signing another first-choice striker (who moves ahead of Sturridge in the striker hierarchy), then so be it.

Author:


58 comments:

  1. Nevergonnacrackthecode9:18 pm, November 18, 2014

    Feel sorry for him
    he clearly wants to succeed and is so talented
    we have to write him off for this season and get a top quality number 9 like martinez

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  2. If it is true it will be a big blow.DS was our big hope for a much needed restart of the season.Nothing is going right for our team and crucial games are coming in the next weeks.

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  3. Also write off our season- Lambert and Borini to score the goals - no chance esp if he plays 1 of them up front- by Jan we will be too far behind

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  4. is this why he good get a game at chelski and why they sold him to us....

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  5. Nevergonnacrackthecode9:26 pm, November 18, 2014

    I dont know about you but i gave up on this season after west ham
    midtable would be awesome right now we have no goalscorer
    the most important position it don't matter if we play two up front or one we have no goals


    our last hope is taht sterling is some sort of sick striker but he dont know it yet

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  6. *I mean could'nt...not good.

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  7. Nevergonnacrackthecode9:27 pm, November 18, 2014

    no his injury problems have increased massively since then
    before it was the odd niggle

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  8. We will have to play like Barca used to with no strikers but now we have no strikers and no defence- how's our midfield- oh no

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  9. dont worry we have a great keeper.......oh wait.

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  10. I got tougher fine bone china... fast becoming a bigger liability than the other three strikers...
    Gutted for him though, but this is not a good sign for LFC's future if Sturridge is the go to guy for goals...

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  11. hopefully it's a twinge and went off as a precaution....think I'm clutching at straws though

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  12. On a happier note Johnson offered new 2 yr contract tho half the money- that noise you hear is my screaming

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  13. some how i feel this latest injury is good, at least we get to see how Rodgers will set up the team now. It looked like he was intentionally playing stupid tactics till sturridge came back, well now let see how good a manager he is and I hope he gets it right because he will get sacked if we don't make top 4.

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  14. oh for god sake...you've got to be kidding

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  15. hope it keeps him out for no more than this weekend.

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  16. Because it's only half he might decide to leave- with any luck

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  17. I don't want him to be injured or out for a long period of time obviously, but if he is out for the rest of the year at least FSG and Rodgers can't claim having him back is like a new signing and use his return as an excuse not to try and sign a worthwhile striker in January.

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  18. Another England match and Sturridge gets injured again. You know who I blame ......

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  19. I really can't believed it. How can you always be injured if you never play? This is a huge setback and it'll need to be addressed in January

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  20. Ok, I'm just as dissapointed like most of you and his injury situation is becoming a joke, but let's not throw the white flag just yet!
    Palace, Ludogorets, Stoke, Leicester, Sunderland, and Basel. All games that are very winnable and would more than kickstart our season before a big one in Manchester that could be pivitol. If we can get the balance right and the lads playing well together (that mean's two up front for a start BR!), then who knows what we can achieve
    I'm also a realist and know that if we drop significant points in these games our fourth place and CL hopes are done.
    Last I checked we were LFC and last I checked we were once 3-0 down to one of the best teams in the history of the game, found a way to grind back into the game, and win it against all odds. This run of games is our second half in Istanbul and we have a chance to shock the league and get the KOP bouncing again. I'm still hopeful we have what it takes to do it and I pray that our boys do to....YNWA!

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  21. Agree, injured and not even playing, he's had more rest than anyone this season and still gets injured after a week back. Now I know injuries happen, when I was competing in my chosen sport I was v.injury prone and didn't have physiotherapists, coach's or nutritionists but I could get healed n get a while between injuries. My point come down to all the people he has at hand to help him get to 100% and it doesn't work, either the staff at Melwood are absolutely terrible or Danny isn't adhering to advice when outside of Melwood, its just not normal for this to happen or did wee Brendan get desperate and bring him back before ready. Either way something isn't right here, I need someone to blame arrrrrrgh! Shudder to think of the result at the weekend.

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  22. Liverpool have to sign a quality striker in January, there is no way around it. We can say that the club "should" be able to move on from Suarez and Sturridge but the reality is that strikers score goals and when you take out your two best strikers it's no surprise that the goals dry up. Liverpool have good depth in other areas of the pitch but Lambert seems to be nothing more than a bit part player, Borini should have left and Mario is taking a long time to show his quality. It doesn't matter if we end up with too many strikers, the club simply won't succeed without some reliable quality up front. Not Origi, not Borini or Lambert, not a cast off from another team like Arsenal have with Welbeck. Liverpool need a top class striker who can come in an influence games and play up front by themselves if needed. If Sturridge eventually gets fit and is ready to play then he can compete with Balotelli for the second spot and if either player ends up spending most of the season on the bench then maybe they can be sold in the summer. The time to be sentimental is long gone. Buy a quality striker in January or the club almost certainly won't get into the top 4.

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  23. Looks like the beginning of the end for Sturridge's promising footballing career... Goodbye Melwood and Welcome Pinewood!! Good luck with the acting career!!

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  24. Sturridge back isnt the solution for LFC, with him being so injury prone he should not be the striker we rely on.We need to get Benteke plus one more, that should take some pressure off sturridge and hopefully we can have him fit for longer spells.

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  25. How the hell can he be an athlete if he is SO INJURY PRONE!?

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  26. He is injured precisely because he's an athlete. Those guys push the human body beyond what it's normally supposed to do. That's the point of elite sport. Some athletes are just extreme examples and can do that without getting hurt but it seems as if Sturridge has an elite athlete's level of performance and a normal person's susceptibility to injury. I think we often underestimate just how intense and difficult it is to be a modern athlete at the top of your game because they make it look easy.

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  27. Wait what what what???????????? Bye Bye to this season............Have to buy a Striker in Jan so that we can atleast finish in top 10

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  28. I think Sturridge pushes the limit whenever he engages in any motion.

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  29. I always thought football was a shite sport anyway.

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  30. Obviously they are not handling his injuries properly at the club i remember a lot of Kewells injuries were down to mismanagement.
    I think Sturridge needs to go on an alternate training regime ala Agger as his body obviously cannot handle it.
    I actually wonder as to whether they rushed him back too soon due to the situation the team finds its self in.

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  31. My question was rather, how the hell has he made it as an athlete while being so injury prone-despite his talent. Being an athlete definitely is about pushing the body beyond its limits, hence the need for strength and conditioning science, but it seems like his body just can't cope with it. The guy injures himself simply just from doing training drills. I can't remember the last time a player's injury come back has been put back two times in a row.


    One must ask, is he genuinely badly injured, or is he just a f***ing girl that can't play through injury?

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  32. My god, grey clouds over here. Gave up on this season after the West Ham game? Must be easy to only have to watch the first third of a season. Whilst I completely respect your way of supporting, I'll stick with watching the team play and hoping for great performances. Peace, YNWA

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  33. True, he always did seem to have a niggle though, now that I think about it. I could be wrong though.... Definitely gotten worse (injury wise) in a huge way since he transferred.

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  34. I'm not sure he will, I think it would take a disastrous season (lower than say 7th) to get him sacked, but FSG could surprise me. Personally though, I can't see a good side to this injury, not even a little bit. Sturridge = goals. Maybe not season saving, but definitely season improving. I hope to god that Balo/Fabio can step it up, otherwise we might be in trouble. The midfield also need to start really chipping in with goals. Hendo, Sterling and Cou have to be around the box when chances fall and really lace up their boots.

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  35. I was outraged by your cumment until I realised that I had completely misread that and didnt see the 'no'. Agreed

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  36. Refreshing post mate, love your work. These are winnable games that we've got coming up, I feel like they represent a golden chance for the guys to prove that we can still compete and that the last few weeks have been a bit of a hangover of sorts.
    Cheers for reminding me about Istanbul, can't think about it without smiling. Peace, YNWA

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  37. True, but I feel like as soon as we put a big strong CF on, we resort to hoofing the ball up to him. I'm not so sure about Benteke, but agreed we need a quality forward

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  38. Clearly referring to Aussie Rules yeah?

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  39. O noooooo!...... I hope we don't have the same o - same o discussion this weekend on why Mario was alone up front..... Sad to hear this injury propping up again.

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  40. It's the same injury as last time, so clearly it's a recurrence, meaning he was pushed/pushed himself too hard in his comeback, or wasn't pushed hard enough in the pre-training ground phase to his rehab.

    Muscle injuries of this sort are often indicative of a body that can't keep up with its own speed, through no or little fault of the athlete.

    Let's not forget that Sturridge was on a specialised programme and his original injury this season came when Roy Hodgson decided to ignore LFC's medical advice and overtrain Sturridge. A lower-body injury wrecks your body's balance, particularly when you're an athlete that relies so much on speed, agility and poise. This can result in overloading of other muscle groups and associated tendons and ligaments, which often flies under the radar during rehab and fitness tests.

    On a separate note, it seems that LFC sometimes rush certain players back from injury. Lucas Leiva came back too soon from the ACL (his knee had recovered but the rest of his body wasn't yet string enough); Samed Yesil came back way too soon, so much so that he ruptured his ACL again. Of course, this might not apply to Sturridge, but aggravations should be avoided. Play it safe.

    This article offers an interesting explanation for why some athletes seem to be more prone to soft tissue injuries than others, by analysing Theo Walcott's ACL tear: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/08/sports/soccer/for-theo-walcott-too-much-speed-to-burn.html?WT.mc_id=AD-D-E-OTB-INTSP-0114&WT.mc_ev=click&WT.mc_c=__CAMP_UID__&bicmp=AD&bicmlukp=WT.mc_id&bicmst=1388552400000&bicmet=1420088400000&_r=1

    The salient point in that article is probably this: "And it sometimes can appear to be a corollary of sports that quick muscles are vulnerable muscles".

    Suarez is much slower than Sturridge, so maybe that's partly why the Uruguayan is less susceptible to these injuries.

    Aguero, on the other hand, is explosive, and has a worse injury record than Sturridge in recent years.

    As an ACL victim myself and someone whose game relied a lot on pace and strength, I get how one's body just can't keep up with itself sometimes. It's annoying because you do everything you're told to do and work extra hard in the gym and on the training ground, only for something to snap when you make a tiny error of movement. It's possible to play through the pain of a mere muscle strain or mild tear, but you're at less than full tilt so you're doing your team and yourself no favours.


    I feel for Sturridge (despite his wealth), and we shouldn't consider selling him, as when he is fit he is devastating, and I would rather have him available sometimes than see him line up against us sometimes.


    We should sign another good striker in any case, especially if Rodgers continue to show no faith in Borini and Lambert.


    Gutting all round.

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  41. Yes; sorry, if I had seen your post I would have desisted from posting a long-winded version of it which is now under moderation.

    Mismanagement is certainly a possibility, and Sturridge was definitely mismanaged by Roy Hodgson before his first injury, which seems to have led to the others.

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  42. Injury prone mark 2...

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  43. Just serves to highlight the poor transfer business that was done in the summer. How can a top team with aspirations of competing for the Premier league and European cup go into the season with a strike force of Sturridge, Borini, Lambert and Balotelli? It's Rodgers own fault.

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  44. There weren't one of the best sides to play the game; a great club, yes, but that team wasn't.

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  45. Mate... Cafu, Nesta, Maldini, Shevchenko, Rui costa, Inzaghi, Crespo, Gatusso, Dida, Stam, Kaka, Sedorf... That was their second best in history, and they have some history... Led by one the best coaches in the game. At that time they had domestic refs in the pocket and were solely. focusing on Europe, and they were strooong..

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  46. Not one of the best of all time? Lets go through their roster (keep in mind I'm refering to how good the players were in 2005):
    Cafu is a bonafide brazilian legend and could be the best right back ever; Stam is still loved at UTD and would probably go down as one of the best holland has produced, Maldini and Nesta are two of the best center back pairings ever and Italian legends; Pirlo, Gattuso, Seedorf, and Kaka might be one of the most balanced midfield combinations ever. Considering this team played down the middle, this midfield was the perfect mix to execute those tactics. Then the frighening duo of Crespo and Schevchenko. Everyone remembers their Chelsea stints that didnt work out but at AC they were the SAS of their day. If Shevi wasnt scoring (which was and average of 25 goals a season), Crespo was as we saw that night in Istanbul.
    You can differ, and I'd love to hear your counter, but I honestly think you'd be hard pressed not to acknowledge how good a team this was. That's why the victory will go down in history, obviously because of the great comeback, but also because it was a comeback against one of the best teams of all time.
    Still dont believe me? Try counting all their awards

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  47. B Rodgers needs some serious backing in January:


    Yeah he spent £112m in summer, but he brought in £85m on player sales in summer also ( L Suarez, P Reina, D Agger and C Coady)


    So B Rodgers net spend was : £27-£30M


    Man United spent £149M and brought in £25M on sales: £124M Net spend


    B Rodgers needs to ship out these 5 average dead wood players in January:

    GK: B Jones(32) CB: K Toure(33) RB: G Johnson(30)


    DM: L Leiva(27) FD: F Borini(23)


    And whatever B Rodgers can bring on those sales, he should be allowed to use plus £80m




    To bring in these 6 additions:


    The Main Priorities: Three must be players needed:


    Commanding Reliable GK: A Begovic(27) Of Stoke for £8-£12M


    Mobile Tough Tackling DM: C Tiote(28) Of Newcastle for £8-£12M


    Class Creative / Goal scoring CM: Y Cabaye(28) Of PSG for £15-£18M






    Owners need to give B Rodgers the equivalent of what Man United spent on Two world class attacking players in summer: Di Maria(26) and Falcao(28) £65.7M (£59.7 on Di Maria / £6M loan deal of Falcao)


    B Rodgers should be given £60M to spend on these three top class quality attackers:


    4: RWF / LWF: Pedro(27) Of Barcelona for £22-£27M
    5: RW /LW: K Bellarabi(24) Of Bayer Leverkusen for £10-£15M
    6: FD: L Adriano(27) Of Shakhtar Donesk for £12-£18M

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  48. Build a team around that "handle with care" player? That's the craziest thing and one aimed at a mid table finish, nothing more.
    He's scored goals but he's no Luis Suarez, who carried a mediocre team to a title challenge. All your stats pointing otherwise is good for stats & fan fiction. The fact is the points table doesn't lie. A team which couldn't defend against Palace, Suarez knew it that he was done. And anybody with the least of life experience could say that he was gone. It was his last season & our best shot at the first league title in a generation slipping down the field.

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  49. Realistically, the season never started for us. We were out of the "League" after that shameful performance against Palace last season.

    Nevertheless, this team ain't gonna play any amazing football. I ain't wasting my time watching them.

    And it hurts, but, we must say good bye to CL again. And who knows how many years this time round.

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  50. Imagine how much energy he must exert when eating a candy bar...


    I mean the unwrapping, the lifting the of the arm, the biting, the chewing, the swallowing, the lowering of the arm... and repeat that however many times until he has to throw the wrapper away.


    I'm getting tired just thinking about it.

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  51. Not sure what you're on about re: the refs there orne. During that time the italians always played a good honest game! * cough cough juve cough* :)

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  52. Appreciate it mate. Just want to remind people the fat lady hasnt sung quite yet, and even then, we have a pretty good track record of still fighting on

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  53. I reckon we just cut our losses and do him in as part of an insurance scam.

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  54. Take that financial fair play! Ha!

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  55. After 40+ years of supporting LFC gallows humour comes naturally

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  56. Well that's depressing. All good if that's how you feel but I couldn't imagine missing a game, even if I have to get up at 3am for cl games.

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  57. The reliable defence will surely make sure the ball doesn't get to the keeper....doh!

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