Liverpool FC Forum

by **stmichael** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 4:22 pm

I know every team suffers injuries and a squad maybe should be capable of covering such eventualities (as it quite clearly wasnt under Houllier). But does anyone feel that Liverpool more than most have suffered due to serious lengthy injuries throughout the past 10 years or so???

Throughout Evans' time in charge we would constantly lose key players during the title race, Fowler, McManaman, Redknapp, Heggem to name a few. All were important players and when out injured (not so much in Macca's case) would be out for at least a few months of a campaign..

When Fowler was out injured it would place a huge burden on the rest of the squad which was very rarely overcome. Then along came Michael Owen who was also prone to lengthy lay offs. Luckily when one was injured the other was normally available. I remember a time under Houllier when both were out and we had to travel to Highbury and Old Trafford with Erik Meijer and Titi Camara up front..despite feeling less than confident we managed to win both games..

Anyway my point is maybe its time our fortune turned, we now have 3 truly world class strikers at our disposal and a couple of options waiting in the wings so that injuries in future should have no heavy cost on the squad. If Man U lost Van Nistlerooy or Arsenal lost Henry both would be struggling and this is where I feel we have a great advantage over our rivals..

The deadwood of the squad is being culled while Benitez has said in the Echo today that he is extremely impressed with the quality in the squad so this surely means the LFC youngsters will help out this season. Injuries could see promising youngsters finally get their chance rather than throwing in a foreign player who looks like a passenger in the game like Cheyrou did, or ones who have you on the "edge of your seat" because they are so bloody clumsy on the ball ala Biscan, Traore and Diao..

Lets hope the time has gone when an injury to a major player would have us writing off yet another season before Christmas...

by **Big Niall** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 4:24 pm

NO

SIMPLY NOT GOOD ENOUGH.

by **blind** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 4:26 pm

last season we had both Baros and owen out at the same time so if either one had played i think we would not have been as far off those in front of us but still not in 3rd spot though.

by **Sean** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 4:36 pm

Remember the Souness era. Our record with injuries was ridiculous.

by **stmichael** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 4:37 pm

injuries shouldn't be used as an excuse, but the simple fact of the matter is that the players who come in as replacements just aren't good enough. arsenal have reyes, edu, parlour, clichy in reserve. they all slot in without any fuss and perform. we have biscan, traore, smicer, diao who do little to nothing when they get the chance. we then get smicer coming out and saying to benitez "please give me another chance". how many chances does he want for god's sake?

a prime example was last season when we played against newcastle at st james' park. we were that obliterrated through injury that our team was as follows.

kirkland

otsemobor hyypia biscan traore

murphy gerrard hamann

le tallec

sinama-pongolle heskey

can those players seriously compete at the highest level?

by **stapo1000** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 4:39 pm

cant blame bad performances on injuries. Liverpool may have had problems with injuries in the past but it didnt stop us from becoming the best club in the world

by **stmichael** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 4:42 pm

stapo1000 wrote:cant blame bad performances on injuries. Liverpool may have had problems with injuries in the past but it didnt stop us from becoming the best club in the world

not blaming bad performances on injuries. i'm just saying that injuries exposed the shortcomings of the players who came in to the side as replacements. obviously playing biscan at centre back and diao as a makeshift right back didn't exactly help.

by **Sean** » Tue Jul 13, 2004 4:46 pm

True. Phil Thompson missed the latter part of the '77 season but it didn't stop us winning the league and european cup. We lost Tommy Smith on the eve of the '78 european cup final but Alan Hansen was there to step in and make a name for himself. We played the 1981 european cup semi-final without our best player, Kenny Dalglish but still had the strength in depth to overcome a fancied Bayern Munich.

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