Despite playing 120 minutes against Chelsea on Tuesday, it was still a minor surprise to see club-captain Steven Gerrard missing from today's match-day squad. The skipper will benefit from a much-needed rest, but it appears that his absence was enforced, rather than planned.
Speaking to reporters after Liverpool's impressive 2-0 victory over West Ham, Brendan Rodgers revealed the reason for Gerrard's absence:
"After the game the other night, his [Gerrard's] hamstring was tight.
"We've got a lot of games over the coming months, so we didn't want to risk it when we have other players that are fresh".
Gerrard - Recently hailed by Rodgers as 'outstanding' - seems to be especially susceptible to hamstring issues:
* He suffered a hamstring pull in November in the lead-up to the Champions League away game with Real Madrid.
* Overall, Gerrard has suffered 5 hamstring injuries since December 2011.
* In December 2013, he was out for almost a month with the injury, and depending on the severity of this particular issue, it could take anywhere from 1-3 weeks to recover.
If Gerrard is out for a couple of weeks, then the team can handle it. It's painful to admit, but these days, his absence doesn't really impact the club in a negative way.
The team appears to do just fine without him, so if he's missing for the FA Cup tie against Bolton this week, it won't be too much of a problem.
If there's any doubt about the injury on Wednesday, Rodgers should keep Gerrard on the bench. There's no need to rush him back, and the club has players who can cover.
It'll be a shame for him to miss out playing his 700th game for the club, but there are still plenty of matches left this season for Gerrard to achieve that milestone.
Author: Jaimie K
Speaking to reporters after Liverpool's impressive 2-0 victory over West Ham, Brendan Rodgers revealed the reason for Gerrard's absence:
"After the game the other night, his [Gerrard's] hamstring was tight.
"We've got a lot of games over the coming months, so we didn't want to risk it when we have other players that are fresh".
Gerrard - Recently hailed by Rodgers as 'outstanding' - seems to be especially susceptible to hamstring issues:
* He suffered a hamstring pull in November in the lead-up to the Champions League away game with Real Madrid.
* Overall, Gerrard has suffered 5 hamstring injuries since December 2011.
* In December 2013, he was out for almost a month with the injury, and depending on the severity of this particular issue, it could take anywhere from 1-3 weeks to recover.
If Gerrard is out for a couple of weeks, then the team can handle it. It's painful to admit, but these days, his absence doesn't really impact the club in a negative way.
The team appears to do just fine without him, so if he's missing for the FA Cup tie against Bolton this week, it won't be too much of a problem.
If there's any doubt about the injury on Wednesday, Rodgers should keep Gerrard on the bench. There's no need to rush him back, and the club has players who can cover.
It'll be a shame for him to miss out playing his 700th game for the club, but there are still plenty of matches left this season for Gerrard to achieve that milestone.
Author: Jaimie K
his best days are behind him
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw "Not Again" and "confirms injury blow", my mind went immediately to Sturridge. Sending you the hospital bill, JK.
ReplyDeleteBig call from Rodgers to let him go at the end of the season and it increasingly looks like the right one. I would have hated my lad to remember Stevie as a fading has been had he stayed for another season or two, rather than as arguably the greatest player to ever put on the red shirt.
ReplyDeleteI think Jaimie knows how to pull us in!
ReplyDeleteHe is a super duper. Or is it dupist?
ReplyDeleteTrue, but on the flip side it gives others the chance to grow and it would have been horrible for us to be saying he's past it and only getting picked on reputation. The U.S. is a big opportunity for him, and the warmer climate must help as he gets older.
ReplyDeleteGood point but we are losing a big role model and influence in the dressing room.....
ReplyDeleteImpossible to replace
No comment :-)
ReplyDeleteBecause he's now the fifth choice striker?
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know why balotelli was not in the squad today? Ibe looked good for his short cameo
ReplyDeleteI feel I should thank you for that. It *was* pretty lame.
ReplyDeleteI think that makes sense. Whilst his influence on the wane, I think we'd do well to start with Gerrard in the derby. The level of fear he inspires in the Evertonians is incredible.
ReplyDeleteI watched most of the semi final the next day, and Balotelli played quite well, especially compared to the reactions I read about. On soccer Saturday they played a montage of his errors, and that's how most saw his performance because they're fed up with him. This guy has so much talent and I think Rodgers is encouraging him to add hard work to the equation. He's running out of time clearly, but now that Sturridge is back I'd like to see this partnership given a chance, because it could be something special.
ReplyDeleteBy "majority" he could be indicating that the tea lady, cleaners or doctor's at the club may not mind seeing Steven depart. Daniel did not say "majority of players" want to see Steven leave.
ReplyDeleteI thought we won today.
ReplyDeletei believe this group of players aren't psychologically dependent on Gerard to perform optimally as a team. In fact, I"d go as far as saying that in his absence, most if not all players would relish the opportunity to show the world how good they are without him. Liverpool more often than not perform better without the great man and I believe that the extra motivation in each individual raises te collective performance in an even spread across the ground. Has to be a good thing for LFC, because for too long now Gerard's reputation hadls far outweighed his performance. So it's only fair that the rest of the group get to play ad be acknowledged outside the grest looming shadow. But get get Gerard right, get him a 700th game, get him a cup and top four finish, and get him q wonderful bon voyage parade and let him walk alone to Hollywood. What a great script no Hollywood writer could have imagined. Well done Stevie G, thanks but you must stop blocking Liverpools potential now.
ReplyDeleteYep he was on his sickbed when he scored!
ReplyDeleteJust proves that favourable stats still aren't everything about a goalkeeper
ReplyDeleteNot needed for now it's better that he gets back to full fitness. The area where he is massively missed though are set prices Hendersons attempts were woeful. Training ground I think.
ReplyDeleteHad to watch the highlights. Still in awe over Studge goal. How did that get by the keeper. Wasn't it Lallana that made the pass to Sterling before the combo with Coutinho? Can't believe he's getting slated for his play here.
ReplyDeleteI honestly have no idea why you are here posting this. But I have a couple of minutes, so here's a generic response to your generic attack on the club you supposedly support. And this on a day when several players who owe their careers to Brendan Rodgers excelled in a commanding victory over a club who were above us at the start of the game.
ReplyDelete1. Can, Moreno, Sakho, Sturridge, Coutinho, Markovic, Lallana. More quality added to the squad in two years than in the previous ten. Can, Coutinho, and Sturridge acquired at maybe half their true value or less.
2. The money spent is relatively trivial compared to the real big spenders in the division. It doesn't matter if *you* think X amount of money "should" get you this or that kind of player. The fact is that the market is more difficult and complicated, and inflated, than you appreciate.
3. Just blaming "BR" when it's clear that there's more to scouting and recruitment than the opinions and priorities of just one person is ignorant and needlessly ad hominem.
4. No other club in the division has recruited as many players as successfully for an equivalent amount of money in the last two years.
5. The big money flops at other clubs are much more damaging than Balotelli and Lovren. Sometimes transfers don't work out. It's just a fact of football. Always has been. Accept it.
6. "Allen-crap". That's pathetic. Allen was an important player in his first season particularly. He's suffered injuries, and struggled with the rest of the squad earlier this season. He was outstanding for us in many games last year. He deserves more credit for the honest and tireless work he's done for the club we support.
7. Lallana has produced much of our best football this season and was involved in many of our best moments in the match today, particularly in the first half. He's a brilliant footballer just coming back from injury. Sort yourself out.
I post this in the sure expectation that you have no interest in listening to reasonable arguments, that you aren't going to change your mind, and that you'll be back here with the same vitriolic nonsense again and again -- for reasons only you can understand.
Sterling would have scored that
ReplyDeleteFalse headline to get clicks
ReplyDeleteSave him to tare the blue noses a new one next weekend.
ReplyDeleteVery True. Take him over lambo and balo all day currently...
ReplyDeleteCoutinho was absolutely awesome but Sterling shaded it for me he turned West Ham players inside out and then in again...
ReplyDeleteHaha surely just a sound thrashing will suffice...
ReplyDeleteNot sure about that. He got elbowed in the face that drew blood. I know once you are elbowed you are disorientated for a while before you focus again. I was watching a stream of the game with Tony Gayle commentating who was saying Can was rattled blah blah... It was the most biascommentray ive heared on a game that was not a club broadcasting it. I think he recovered well and played well...
ReplyDeleteI agree with that Hendo was off the boil...
ReplyDeleteWell said.
ReplyDeleteSturridge's goal was just playstation football. The control he used to receive the pass from Coutinho is the unsung hero of that goal. The ball is coming from behind him bobbing up and down, yet he's able to let it hit the outside of his foot like it was hitting a feather pillow, only for him to then somehow sneak it past the keeper at his near post
ReplyDeleteWhat I want to see against Bolton is Balotelli and Studge up front. Just to see how it goes.
ReplyDeleteSince when was Klinsmann are a high possibility?
ReplyDeleteThank you for typing everything I wanted to but couldn't be bothered because of the reasons stated in your last paragraph
ReplyDeleteI read a comment form Downing who said he'd get into LFCs team... Maybe thee under 21's!
ReplyDeleteTrue, I forgot about the derby. I just want to see them tried out in a cup game, if possible.
ReplyDeleteYes a really great display and a introspective response by him in his after match interview..
ReplyDeleteLawro says that Lallana is a 'rhythm' type of player who can't be rotated and needs to play to see the best of him...on this display I tend to agree.
ReplyDeleteI think it would be unwise to risk Sturridge in the FA Cup in the same week as the derby, especially seeing as he's came back from about 5 months injured.
ReplyDeleteI'm eager to see how Mario will fare with Sturridge though.
Fret not, the meek lamb who will supposedly take over the armband is said to be capable of dishing out his very own blah blah, albeit with much less aplomb.
ReplyDeleteYeah two good games thank god this one wasnt the heart stopper the Asian cup was.
ReplyDeleteBalotelli was spotted placing the soiled jerseys of his team mates into a laundry basket after they have left the dressing room.
ReplyDeleteYou guessed? Why are you so unsure?
ReplyDeleteBR will try to catch a fly with chopsticks at his next press conference just to prove he is a man who can do anything.
ReplyDeleteAnd Sterling HAD missed BETTER chances.
ReplyDeleteNah I'm nit having that. He passes well with both feet.
ReplyDeleteSarcasm?
ReplyDeleteAren't Foster (WBA) and Fabianski (Swansea) ahead of him as well as Forster (STN)?
ReplyDeleteEither way, for him to have the same amount of clean sheets as De Gea and Courtois is nothing short of astounding, considering some of the basic errors and terrified demeanor we have seen from him this year.
Was going to say the same thing. Definitely reading to much into his comments...
ReplyDeleteExactly. Was going to say the same thing.
ReplyDeleteSame could be said of lots of players though
ReplyDeleteRobo if you were a woman I would propose.
ReplyDeleteHe still has a really shit pass or two in him
ReplyDeleteEveryone does.
ReplyDeleteSorry but I just don't quite rate Markovic as a great passer yet
ReplyDeleteWe have little or no experience in our team! Sturridge, Skrtel and maybe Coutinho are the only ones who I feel are beyond potential
ReplyDeleteit will do gerrard good as daft as it sounds ...for me he is better coming on as a sub or playing in the front 3 ...but lets be honest tino ,sterling and sturridge are nailed on starters ..add to the mix lallana ( who i rate highly ) and others and its hard to see him starting
ReplyDeleteJust let gerrard and hendo each play for 45 mins of game time on every single game. ez solution lol
ReplyDeleteThey got Roy Keene though
ReplyDelete