Red And Buried?
Lose Torres for a month and Liverpool are done.
Liverpool currently have no less than TWELVE players sidelined through injury. Some may make it back by tomorrow night for the crucial Champions League tie with Lyon, but still, the treatment room is full and Liverpool’s lack of depth may see the results continue to aid an early end to another lost Liverpool title chase. Thanks Rafa, those of us who did NOT want to see Manchester Arabia in the top four are not at all pleased with you pal!
Fernando Torres has a hernia issue that may require surgery after tomorrows game and others on the injury list include Gerrard, Aquilani, Aurelio, Ngog, Skrtel, Cavalieri, Glen Johnson, Agger, Riera, Kelly and Phillip Degen.
Not looking good is it? Liverpool lose tomorrow night and they will be a likely early exit from the competition. Defeat would be their 7th in their last 8 outings and on the back of last weekend’s embarrassing defeat to Fulham to boot. Other notable losses recently include Fiorentina, Lyon, Sunderland (I know, I know) and Chelsea. How long does Rafa actually have? While he cannot be blamed for the injuries, he blew his entire summer budget on 2 players, one of which (Aquilani) arrived crocked and has not made any appearance worth mentioning.
Lose Torres to a hernia operation and at least a month (or two) on the sidelines and Liverpool can kiss any slim hope of recovering for a title challenge or progressing in Europe goodbye. Their lack of depth at key positions has been their achillies heel this year, highlighted by the injuries to key players such as Gerrard, Torres, Riera and Skrtel. The recent crisis has also shown exactly how important to Liverpool Gerrard and Torres actually are.
Currently Liverpool are 9 points away from Premiership leaders Chelsea, out of the League cup, and 3rd in their Champions League group, 6 points from leaders Lyon.
Never mind Rafa, there’s always the FA Cup eh? Liverpool seem to be good in that one, winning the worlds most famous domestic cup competition a whopping 7 times.
Comments
There’s also the issue of why he bought Glen Johnson when Martin Kelly appears to be an actual good player and stuff, and you had Arbeloa there already (who didn’t want to leave until after he was replaced by Johnson). That’s 18.5 million you could’ve spent on, I don’t know…someone else.
Groundbreaking stuff here.
Torres says he does not need surgery, fwiw, he better be right.
38 million when Torres has no quality partner or replacement. No decent CB cover either. Criminal. Good news is that Aquilani can play up front like Kuyt so they’ll be just dandy.
“There’s also the issue of why he bought Glen Johnson when Martin Kelly appears to be an actual good player and stuff, and you had Arbeloa there already”
Well, Arbeloa sucks. Kelly is naturally a CB. And Johnson is English.
@ NN: Aquilani can’t play anywhere until he’s better, which may not be for, what, another two weeks? Last time he came out he got sick, and apparently that’s kept him out a week.
@ Georger: I still think we could’ve found a much more economical right back, but you make three very good points there.
Plus half of the fee was money Pompey owed to us anyway, and frankly I’m glad they did the business that way, because I don’t think we would have been seeing any cash from them last summer the way their finances were.
btw this is the updated squad of available players for tomorrow
Liverpool squad: Reina, Cavalieri, Carragher, Ayala, Darby, Insua, Agger, Kyrgiakos, Kuyt, Lucas, Benayoun, Aquilani, Babel, Mascherano, Spearing, Plessis, Ngog, Voronin, Torres.
So Agger, Aquilani, and Ngog are all available to play. I would expect the first two to start.
Torres needs rest, not surgery. So sayeth that dude.
@MH I was being sarcastic. If they ever put Aquilani up top I may piss my pants in hysteria. Shame whats happening there. So close. 1 step forward and 3 back.
@Georger. 6 of those players are subject to fitness test.
@anonsters — the problem is that Torres needs rest. And it appears Rafa is going to play him anyway because he has no other viable option and this is a “must win” for them (which it is). Instead of letting him rest, he’s going to risk him for the whole season and only get him at 40-60% anyway.
This might not be a popular decision, but they almost need to concede Europe this season and focus on salvaging their domestic campaign. They don’t have the squad to win the CL this season anyway…why risk not qualifying for next season? Even worse is if they finish 3rd in the group and decide to compete for the Europa title and then don’t finish in the top 4. Anyone know the $$ breakdown between the two competitions? Could be disastorous for LFC if they don’t get CL money next season…
If they get knocked to Europa he will only field reserves I would think.
Torres has to play this game, even if he doesn’t start. But after that, rest him until the int. break is over.
all of this being said, LFC barely made it out of the group stages in 04/05 and that turned out pretty well for them in the end
move along folks, nothing to see here, move along
(shoots self in head)
@James T. Sending you some Jan Molby decaled sun glasses.
will they hold in my brains? I just scattered ‘em across my office floor.
@Ned: £38M spent and no replacement for Torres, when there was one out there for-fucking-free… but now he’s with United.
Also, I’m not terribly worried about forth. City aren’t playing well, Spurs and Villa are just as inconsistent, and neither have a better depth situation than pool. It might be close, but they still have the players to finish fourth with a few weeks in the season.
So,if I am reading this correctly, the team trainers should all be replaced because they suck.
TFA: This is about Liverpool, not Arsenal.
“So,if I am reading this correctly, the team trainers should all be replaced because they suck.”
And the manager and….
Get yourselves a real manager. Like ‘Arry. :D
I really hope we get some new money so that we can buy a fucking striker in January.
Fat chance of that happening, though.
Wow, you know it’s bad when Spurs fans start ragging on you. I’d forgotten what tip-top form that team was in!
Actually, I was ragging more on Spurs than ‘Pool. Mainly b/c I don’t really know (and never have known) what to make of Harry Redknapp. Anyway, it’s more fun to make fun of yourself than other people.
New money? Thought you were already owned by Americans. Oh, snap!
I’m talking pentavirate money.