Liverpool’s head of fitness and conditioning Darren Burgess was apoplectic after Steven Gerrard was injured in England’s friendly with France last night. He wrote on twitter:
“Unbelievable from all associated with England and English FA with regard to Steven Gerrard’s injury. Completely ignored agreement and past history. Completely amateurish and now we pay for their incompetence. Absolutely disgraceful.”
Liverpool’s Head Doctor Peter Brukner has since confirmed that the Reds captain will be out for approximately a month with a hamstring injury. Although it is a blow for Liverpool, I think it gives the rest of the Reds squad the opportunity to prove they are capable of stepping up to the plate without Steven Gerrard playing. It will also be interesting to see how Roy Hodgson copes without his talisman as Stevie has dragged Roy’s struggling team kicking and screaming a couple times this season when the rest of the side have failed to perform.
It will especially be interesting to see how Liverpool perform against a struggling West Ham at home on Saturday. Even without Steven Gerrard, we should win the game quite comfortably but if the team slips back into a “Blackpool style” of performance then Roy’s Anfield future could be on the line again. With Fernando Torres, Dirk Kuyt, Martin Skrtel and Glen Johnson all returning to full fitness though, there really can be no excuses for the Reds to win the match.
Over the next month, with the absence of Gerrard, the Reds will have some challenging games, including the Hammers, Tottenham away, Steaua Bucharest away, Aston Villa at home and Newcastle away. They are all going to be competitive matches and with no Gerrard to make commanding forward runs or defence splitting through balls, the creative edge will have to come from other quarters. In this regard I believe Raul Meireles and Joe Cole will be crucial to making the Reds a threat in the final third.
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With Lucas suspended and Stevie and Joe Cole out injured, our only options in the centre of midfield are Poulsen and Meireles. I doubt Hodgson will risk either Shelvey or Spearing so it’s quite likely that Poulsen will start alongside Meireles in the middle of the park. Poulsen has to up his game and his mindset has to be more offensive when we play West Ham at home. Maxi should continue on the right unless Hodgson is willing to push Johnson further up the field. Kuyt will play off Torres and on the left it will either be Jovanovich or Babel. We won’t have many options on the bench since three of our main men are out but I’d like to see Dani Pacheco given a chance, especially with Stevie and Joe Cole out.
meireles and cole are too similar to play together in the centre. spearing now injured. lucas suspended. this weekend got to be poulson and meireles. i’m hoping glen on the right of midfield, kelly behind him. maxi left, kuyt and nando up front.
now gerrard is out it’s a chance for cole to shine in the centre. also a chance that meireles and poulson can prove they are worthy of the shirt, which i hope they do.