8 Mar 2013

Super Suarez: Rodgers reveals Luis Suarez injury problem. Irresponsible...?

Liverpool striker Luis Suarez grabbed a superb hat-trick against Wigan last weekend, adding a another three goals to his already impressive tally for the season. The Uruguayan put in another vintage footballing performance overall, and what makes it even better (or worse, depending on your POV) is the fact that Suarez - according to LFC boss Brendan Rodgers - went into the game injured.

In his pre-Spurs press conference this afternoon, Rodgers once again paid tribute to Suarez, and reiterated his desire to see the striker named 'player of the year.

Rodgers also revealed that Suarez played through the pain barrier during the 4-0 thrashing of Wigan Athletic last Saturday. He explained:

"Believe it or not, he [Suarez] was struggling a bit last weekend with an injury. Eight, nine or ten out of ten players wouldn’t have played, but his threshold for pain is so high.

"Everyone’s talking about his hat-trick, but he was injured going into the game, and he wanted to play. To have someone like that in your team gives you great hope because he really wants to win for Liverpool"


Suarez deserves great credit for playing through an injury and still managing to grab a hat-trick, and it just shows his incredible desire and commitment to the LFC cause.

However, isn't it a bit irresponsible of Rodgers and his coaching staff to allow Suarez to play if he's injured? Granted, it went okay this time, but what if things had gone wrong? What if Suarez aggravated the injury and ended up on the sidelines for a few weeks, or - worse still - missed the rest of the season?

What is the state of Suarez's injury (whatever it might be) now? Is he still carrying a niggle? If so, when is it going to heal? Will he be in tip-top shape against Spurs? If Suarez was injured going into the Wigan game, it follows that he's probably still injured now, or at least still recovering.

All's well that ends well I guess, but for me, it just feels a little irresponsible to allow injured players to start tough Premier League games. It's a risk that paid off this time, but it might backfire next time.



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52 comments:

  1. Irresponsible, but then again you have to sometimes take a gamble. Also look at it this way. How many modern footballers would go through pain/injury to put on the Liverpool jersey, because that's how much it means to him to play. Lets say not many, I honestly do think yes it could have been worst if he hurt himself further but at the back of my mind I am also thinking BRAVO to him for doing that.

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  2. if my brother was a girl he'd be my sister

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  3. A player knows himself whether his injury could get worse by playing. So lets not go further blaming anyone. Don't make a mountain out of a mole. JK just stop attacking Liverpool our coach. BR is an intelligent person he knows what he was doing. In fact Jk should stop reporting such issues .

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  4. Get a grip and stop crying.

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  5. Its not really a problem. Years ago I carried on playing with a broken big toe, it hurt but I just wanted to play regardless.

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  6. Another intolerant superfan. This is not an 'attack' on Rodgers at all. As FdotM says below: get a grip. If you can't hack the approach of this site, please do us all a favour and go elsewhere.

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  7. I totally understand playing on - I currently play for an XI a side team, and I've had a persistent calf issue for about three months now. At the level Suarez plays though, I still think it's a bit irresponsible.

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  8. depends on what type of injurey just a knock then no problem im sure the well paid medics at anfield know what therer doing long live King Luis

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  9. its great that you're writing about liverpool and i appreciate that. I know you just be tired of hearing this but then again its something i've waited to say for weeks and weeks. i really only see articles on a negative light on your page. feel free to slate me and delete this comment but it is what it is. 

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  10. LFC was desperate.....3 strikers injured (incl Suarez) and Carroll out, who else could have BR put forth?  He had to play him and it's reached such an important juncture play through the pain.

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  11. You may have noticed that he actually had a couple of fingers taped together so maybe that's what the "injury" is.

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  12. That is irresponsible as it might affect him on the long term. 

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  13. We don't know what the injury is, it may have been something which doesn't get aggravated by playing.  What's the point of speculating when we don't have sufficient information to to draw a conclusion from? 

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  14. I seriously doubt it. Rodgers said '8, 9 or 10 player wouldn't have played'. Taped finger wouldn't keep many (if any) footballers out.

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  15. just goes to show how important suarez is we will miss him if he goes

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  16. I don't know if you recall this, but Hamann played in the CL final of 2005 with a broken toe. He also scored a penalty in the shoot out.
    I know it's a different circumstance, but considering Liverpool finished 5th that season and were fighting for points in the league you might as well say he was reckless.
    And yet, I'm sure you are very happy he was that reckless.

    I much prefer passionate players that might make a wrong decision, which is motivated by that passion, than safe players with no passion to our club.

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  17. How on earth am I attempting 'censor legitimate opinion"? I'm giving an alternative opinion.  Strikes me that you're the one doing the censoring.

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  18. He didn't play Sturridge due to the an injury.

    I'm sure that BR took it all into account when deciding to let Luis play.

    And the fact that we are playing one game a week now since we are no longer in other comps may have played into it as well.

    Like you said Jaimie, all's well that ends well in this case.  But I'm sure that if Luis exacerbated his current injury, we'd all be up in arms.

    Assuming that there was a real risk at hand, we can check this one off as getting lucky.

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  19. With just 10 games left, he is playing as long as he can cope with it and takes into consideration the doc's advice. With the lack of quality options at the time and how important he is, got to be done. He has the summer to rest up but now, all hands on deck in the final third of the season. 

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  20. Best of luck in not letting Luis play football, he would go ballistic.

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  21. Kanwar saying super suarez?! Something is going on
    round here!

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  22. We shouldn't be ashamed of crying. It makes us no less of a man.

    Group hug?

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  23. I've deduced that the tape is in place to stop Suarez pulling a repeat of the two fingered salute he gave Fulham fans last year.

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  24. Well, if we keep on like this, we'll have another Torres or Gerrard on our hands. The sooner we learn to look after players, the better.

    That said, this is probably only a minor issue and Brendan is probably exaggerating and laying on the praise extra thick, as usual.

    'You know he'd had an argument with his wife before the game and watched Titanic, and he still scored a hat-trick. That just shows you the mentality of the lad. His application is fantastic.'

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  25. I heard the argument was over whether Jack really loved Rose.

    Luis argued that he did.

    The wife argued that he didn't.

    Luis slept on the couch. 

    It's a wonder he played at all!

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  26. We don't even know what the injury is.  What if it is a wrist injury and was just painful?  There's a whole lot of useless speculation going on here.  The truth ought to be easy enough to discover...anybody asked him?  Suarez knows that every game is a must win from here on out.  Give him  (and BR) a little bit of slack here.

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  27. 'Listen, it just goes to show what a talented player the boy is, it really does. His movement, his play between the lines- he's got everything. You've got your 2 and the 1 or the 1 and 2, okay? And he can play in any of those roles. He's brilliant. I can't fault him.'

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  28. What's up with this Daniel Carr kid?  Anybody know any stats?  Size, weight, extracurricular problems?

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  29. I think he's got 23 in 23 games and is supposedly lightning quick.

    As for extracurricular problems, I think he has been wrongly accused of the murder of his wife (Carr claims it was the one-armed man) and when informed of Carr's claim of innocence, the investigating officer remarked that he didn't care.

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  30. Mmmm jk  some of the modern day players would cry off with a broken flask

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  31. He broke it during the final, which was after the season had finished, so wouldn't have affected the league results. Also having to take him off would've taken away another substitution, so its understandable he stayed on if it wasn't bothering him.


    Apart from that, youre right its a nice link that shows players can play through the pain barrier. However the adrenaline would be running higher in a final, and it would be easier to ignore.

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  32. suarez is tough as they come despite the old theatricals now and again (fading) he wont miss many games, how many players can you say about that.
    was a game had suarez not played would we have got a result??
    weve cocked plenty of these up in the past.
    good managers take risks, paid off, suarez isn't your average guy anyway.
    would take a broken leg etc to stop him playing the beautiful game.
    literally just cant get enough of him, people must be pleased to pay there hard earned money and see a great talent in our shirt that is luis suarez.

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  33. Let me put my cards on the table. I'm a Uruguay fan, not liverpool. However I don't mind the club (and I dislike ManU) and with Suarez playing I have taken a greater interest.

    So an international week is coming up.

    Rodgers may just be preparing to say "sorry, but Suarez is carrying an injury so we can't release him".

    Maybe I'm being too negative but it wouldn't be the first time a club tries to do this and they do start laying the ground work early.

    So keep that in mind.

    Ps good blog jaimie, I like you non one eyed view on things.

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  34. Have you had a deep tissue massage to strip out all the lactic acid?

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  35. If it was really that much of a concern i'd like to think they would have left him out (atleast i hope the would).
    Speaking of Suarez, did anyone see BR's comment about if Suarez had done was Bale did we'd never head the end of it?
    Nice little tee-up for the weekend

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  36. Yeah, I've had a massage, but only one so far, so maybe I need a few more. I hate being injured!

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  37. It just magnifies the lack of bravery and authority BR has with the senior players. I can understand Suarez's desire to play every game regardless of condition as it has been shown a few times in the past but if the issue was serious enough for 8-10 players in the same position not to have played, then as the manager he should've sat him down and explained to him the risks involved and that (I'm the manager - I decide). This is just another example of letting the star player have his way regardless, in hopes of pleasing him and massaging his ego so that he'll not want to leave etc., including this announcement in the press conference to further highlight how 'great' Suarez is to Liverpool's cause. BR's been praising Suarez non stop for the past few interviews/conferences and it just reeks of desperation on his part.

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  38. I can think of 8, 9  or 10 players who wouldn't have played with injured fingers!

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  39. Good point. This sounds likely.

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  40. Great points, Greg. Totally agree.

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  41. Also, is 'non one eyed view' a two eyed view?

    If so, I expect similar praise.

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  42. My God! Will you stop going on about how you love Greg.

    You're taking after Rodgers.

    I think this shows that JK doesn't have the authority to deal with commenters.

    It reeks of desperation.

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  43. Sorry but just what evidence is there for all this tripe about Rogers lacking authority?
    Not playing Carragher until last couple of months, taking Enrique and Downing to task and getting improved performances, dropping Skrtl for poor form....yeah I can see were your coming from. I'm sick of lazy assumptions with no basis of evidence.
    I heard one of the LFC medical team on the radio recently and he was explaining that as many as 5-6 players a week in the team have some kind of injury. Decisions will always be about the level of risk of playing on. We don't know what injury Suarez might be carrying but its a safe bet that Rogers wouldn't let him carry on if there was a risk of it becoming really serious no matter what the player says. They probably decided that on balance, and with Sturridge out injured, it was worth the risk in playing Suarez. And given he's carried on in such great form how about giving Rogers some credit for being brave enough to take the risk with his most prized asset.    

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  44. Nothing against Carra as he's a legend regardless and he's played well since being back in the side, but the moment he spoke to the media and hinted about possible retirement or moving elsewhere if he continued to be out of the team, the next game Rodgers put him back in the side in place of Skrtel. Sure, it could likely be action against Skrtel's dip in form, but that could also be a convenient opportunity given that Skrtel has already been shit for months but once a club legend makes public his restlessness, then Rodgers acted.
    Sure, taking the risk to play Suarez may be considered brave, but if he had instead rested Suarez for the longer term view and then played another youngster or player in his place etc with the possibility of fans getting on his back for not risking Suarez - that'd have been real bravery.

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  45. I agree with you on the Suarez idea, but I personally think the reasoning behind the Carragher one is pretty thin.

    It is still early days for Rodgers. You look at the way AVB tried to stamp his authority all over Chelsea and just alienated everyone. The fact Rodgers has senior players like Reina backing him all the time is good. Hopefully, by next season when he should be more entrenched, he'll start to firm up with players.

    That said, we don't know what is going on behind closed doors and the public picture may not be representative of his persona behind the scenes.

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  46. think reina has been playin with injured fingers 4 the 3 seasons

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  47. missed out LAST

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  48. While I criticise Rodgers, I still hope he will do well with us because at the end of the day, changing managers often is not a good thing to do in most instances.

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  49. Yep, from what I've seen (basically that one post) your criticism is measured and there is nothing wrong with pointing out legitimate errors made by Rodgers.

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  50. The last time Suarez played injured it was in the WC qualifier against Chile. He got a charlie horse early in the game. The trainers worked on him for 5 min. It looked like he would have to come off. He stayed on and scored FOUR goals in that game.

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  51. Hmm, you have a point there. Yet to lose him for all pre season probably didn't do us good, did it ;-)

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