by Toffeehater » Wed Dec 26, 2007 3:08 pm
AFAEL BENITEZ is pondering bringing Daniel Agger back for his first game in three months at Derby County today.
The Danish defender has made slow progress in his recovery since sustaining a broken metatarsal at Portsmouth on September 15 and has had to change his regular boots to ensure he doesn’t suffer a recurrence.
With the Liverpool manager wary of the strains the schedule of four games in 12 days could have on Sami Hyypia, he will assess Agger ahead of the trip to Pride Park before making a decision.
But Benitez is also keen to avoid a similar situation to Xabi Alonso’s, when the midfielder came back from his metatarsal break against Arsenal at the end of October but aggravated it again and didn’t play again until last week’s Carling Cup defeat at Chelsea.
“He (Agger) is very close but I can’t say which game it will be,” said Benitez.
“With Xabi Alonso, he was ready for playing against Arsenal but then we needed to start again.
“So with Agger we want to go slowly and be sure that he’ll be okay. He changed the boots the last time, and I was talking with the doctor and they told me he’s okay.
“He’s kicking the ball much better than before because he had some problems. With training it was okay, but with boots he had some problems.
“It depends on where you put your weight in the foot so the sole of the boots needs to change. It depends if he is comfortable.
“Now with the new boots he’s been using the ball and maybe in the next days we should see a very good situation with him.”
If Agger isn’t deemed fit to return, Jack Hobbs could step back in to enable Hyypia to rest against a side who only have seven points and lie bottom of the Premier League table.
With a key clash against fourth-placed Manchester City at Eastlands on Sunday, Benitez is also considering changes in other areas from the side that beat Portsmouth 4-1 at Anfield on Saturday.
Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres were still feeling the after-effects of the stomach bugs that sidelined them at Chelsea, although Peter Crouch serving the second of a three-game ban for his sending off in that tie lessens Benitez’s options.
But he is confident that he has the quality throughout the squad to emerge from the Christmas programme with 12 points even if it means implementing the rotation system once again.
“The team is playing well but sometimes you can see some players really tire,” added Benitez. “On Saturday Steven Gerrard, after the stomach problems he had, was a little bit tired at the end, and Torres could be more or less the same. Sometimes you don’t know. Players like Sami can be fit in two or three days but maybe they need more. We will check during the week.
“Sami had some problem in his hamstring the other day but we had to protect him and at 34 it’s very difficult. We need to think about who will play in these positions. If we need to change players it’s not a problem, because you can see the level of Lucas or Xabi Alonso. We can use players with enough quality.”
Meanwhile Dirk Kuyt is looking to take maximum points from the festive period.
“We have to win our next three now at Derby, Manchester City and at home to Wigan and if we can get nine points from those games I think we will get closer to the other teams,” said Kuyt.
“We want to go on a run. Every defeat in the league is big one for us because you just want to win and compete with Arsenal, Man United and Chelsea so we can’t afford to lose many more.”
Meanwhile Liverpool’s Premier League match against Aston Villa at Anfield has been moved from Saturday January 19, to Monday, January 21, for live TV coverage by Setanta Sports.
Good news i hope that agger starts tonight , want to see him get his match fitness back , esp with city against us this weekend
, shame its not the 90th min.
