Liverpool are through to the third round of the pointless waste of time known as the Crapital One Cup after a 4-2 victory over Notts County, but injuries to Joe Allen, Kolo Toure and Aly Cissokho leave the squad in a precariously threadbare state ahead of this weekend's crunch game with Manchester United.
In his post-match interview, Brendan Rodgers provided an update on LFC's triple injury nightmare. He told reporters:
"It's not good to be honest. Cissokho was devastated, but he shouldn’t be out for too long as he’s just got a nick on his ankle.
"Joe Allen may well be a hamstring., so we’ll have a look at that.
"With Kolo Toure, we need to assess it but his groin has opened up a bit. It wasn’t a good night injury wise".
Hamstrings and groin strains take a good few weeks to heal properly, so I don't think we'll be seeing Toure of Allen against United this weekend.
Rodgers also provided a new transfer update:
"We’re certainly looking to get players in, and that’ll continue right the way up till the end of the window. There’s no number on it – we’re just looking to get quality players in, and if we can do that we’ll be very happy".
Clearly, a new central defender must now be the club's number one priority (!) As for the game itself: a number of positives to take, including:
- Two more goals Sturridge. That's 20 goals and 5 assists in 19 games since arriving at the club. Absolutely fantastic return, and one of the best LFC signings in years.
- Very good performance from Jordon Ibe. Fearless on the ball, and loves to run at defenders, which is great. Loved his hold-up play before releasing the ball for Henderson to score.
- Great goal from Henderson, who's obviously inspired by Luis Suarez's constant nutmegging of players. Hendo had a really good game overall too, and continues to grow in confidence within the team.
- Admirable spirit in the team after going down to 10 men. Good to see the grit and determination to go on and win the game.
On the downside:
- Andre Wisdom showed his positioning inexperience for both goals, but he put in a solid work for the rest of the game.
- Rodgers named a strong team against Notts County, but did he really need to play Toure? Why not rest him and play Agger instead. Granted, the Dane is injury prone, but he's 4 years younger than Toure, who probably needs longer recovery time between games.
- The complacency shown in the second half is a concern, and the same regression in performance also blighted parts of the Reds' first two league games.
The injuries are a concern, but there's definitely no need to panic:
* Liverpool have just one game in the next three weeks, so plenty of time for injury recovery/regrouping.
* Rogers confirmed tonight that Martin Skrtel is fit again, and will be available this weekend. He'll obviously replace Toure, so it's not a major defensive disaster.
* Based on the first two league games, Allen probably wouldn't have started against United anyway, and the same goes for Cissokho. Enrique and Lucas will come back into the team after a whole week's rest.
I'm still hugely confident that Liverpool will beat Man United on Sunday. Roll on the weekend!
Jaimie Kanwar
NOTE: Please stick to the Comment Policy (Click to read)
In his post-match interview, Brendan Rodgers provided an update on LFC's triple injury nightmare. He told reporters:
"It's not good to be honest. Cissokho was devastated, but he shouldn’t be out for too long as he’s just got a nick on his ankle.
"Joe Allen may well be a hamstring., so we’ll have a look at that.
"With Kolo Toure, we need to assess it but his groin has opened up a bit. It wasn’t a good night injury wise".
Hamstrings and groin strains take a good few weeks to heal properly, so I don't think we'll be seeing Toure of Allen against United this weekend.
Rodgers also provided a new transfer update:
"We’re certainly looking to get players in, and that’ll continue right the way up till the end of the window. There’s no number on it – we’re just looking to get quality players in, and if we can do that we’ll be very happy".
Clearly, a new central defender must now be the club's number one priority (!) As for the game itself: a number of positives to take, including:
- Two more goals Sturridge. That's 20 goals and 5 assists in 19 games since arriving at the club. Absolutely fantastic return, and one of the best LFC signings in years.
- Very good performance from Jordon Ibe. Fearless on the ball, and loves to run at defenders, which is great. Loved his hold-up play before releasing the ball for Henderson to score.
- Great goal from Henderson, who's obviously inspired by Luis Suarez's constant nutmegging of players. Hendo had a really good game overall too, and continues to grow in confidence within the team.
- Admirable spirit in the team after going down to 10 men. Good to see the grit and determination to go on and win the game.
On the downside:
- Andre Wisdom showed his positioning inexperience for both goals, but he put in a solid work for the rest of the game.
- Rodgers named a strong team against Notts County, but did he really need to play Toure? Why not rest him and play Agger instead. Granted, the Dane is injury prone, but he's 4 years younger than Toure, who probably needs longer recovery time between games.
- The complacency shown in the second half is a concern, and the same regression in performance also blighted parts of the Reds' first two league games.
The injuries are a concern, but there's definitely no need to panic:
* Liverpool have just one game in the next three weeks, so plenty of time for injury recovery/regrouping.
* Rogers confirmed tonight that Martin Skrtel is fit again, and will be available this weekend. He'll obviously replace Toure, so it's not a major defensive disaster.
* Based on the first two league games, Allen probably wouldn't have started against United anyway, and the same goes for Cissokho. Enrique and Lucas will come back into the team after a whole week's rest.
I'm still hugely confident that Liverpool will beat Man United on Sunday. Roll on the weekend!
Jaimie Kanwar
NOTE: Please stick to the Comment Policy (Click to read)
