Footballers have many changes in fortune through their careers and Liverpool’s Martin Kelly will have surely rued his luck when the injury curse struck him again earlier last season. Earlier in his career, Kelly suffered a back injury which kept him out for two years, hindering his development as a player at a crucial time, but he fought back from this misfortune, and forced his way into Rafa Benitez’s thinking when the team was struggling with injuries earlier on last campaign. Picked to start his first match for Liverpool at just 19, he was brought in to play out of position (he is normally a centre back) at right back in an important Champions League match at Anfield against Lyon.
Kelly excelled in his position during the match, making excellent runs forward from the right hand side. It was a performance that belied his years and demonstrated both his versatility and all round talent. Through out the match he cut out balls, tackled opponents and played in two fantastic crosses into the box for Fabio Aurelio and David Ngog, both of whom should have done better with their finishing. The display certainly impressed the Anfield crowd and those watching back at home on TV as he was named man of the match for his performance. The game was however cut short for him as he injured his groin trying to prevent Lyon from scoring.
His injury curse however struck again as after one brief substitute appearance in the Europa League against Unirea Urziceni in February, he tore his meniscus knee ligament in training 24 hours before being part of the squad to play Sunderland in the league. The injury ruled Kelly out for the rest of the season, and with Rafa Benitez now having left Anfield, the young defender must be worried what the future holds for him.
As always, a new manager has new ideas as well as his own opinion on players. With both his injury and his relatively young stature in the squad, any new manager may choose to overlook the player’s abilities, seeing him be consigned to playing reserve team football. If he keeps playing to the standard he set himself in that match against Lyon though, then Kelly will surely impress any manager.
His injuries have certainly hampered his career so far, but if he can stay fit for more than a few months, and work hard both in training and in reserve matches to impress whoever the new manager maybe, I am sure he will get his chance in the first team not long into the future. In my opinion, Kelly has the ability to be Glen Johnson’s understudy at right back, and with his versatility to be able to play all along the back four, he could well be an ideal squad member for next season when any new manager will have tight resources and will mostly likely lack depth in the squad.
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He looks to more than an understudy for Johnson – he looks better!
brush ur daft as a brush
no kelly looks good and i’d like to see him get ten games with him and glen on the right both are fast martin looks better a fullback glen should play in front and drop back with a few give and go’s
Gee, you sure know how to exaggerate where your writing is concerned.