Anfield medics set standard - Well done the reds, onwards an upwards.
Posted: Fri Apr 22, 2011 2:57 pmLiverpool medical team ahead of the game after piling resources into player recovery and training at Anfield.
From Australian rules football to Simply Red, Liverpool have scoured the world to create probably the most advanced and comprehensive medical and sports science departments in the Premier League.
Back again: Andy Carroll's return to action surprised many after he was initially expected to miss the majority of the season
By Jason Burt, Deputy Football Correspondent 7:00AM BST 22 Apr 2011
It is not just on the pitch that Liverpool are starting to get things right. A spate of injuries two years ago prompted a complete overhaul off it also.
Three ‘soft tissue’ injuries suffered during the 2-2 draw against Birmingham City in November 2009 took the number of players who were ruled out to a staggering 15 and led to a summit meeting between the then manager, Rafael Benítez, and the then managing director, Christian Purslow.
“Liverpool saw there was an issue, didn’t necessarily understand why, but saw that something needed to change,” said Michael Davison, an expert in sports science, who was then part of a five-month investigation into how the club needed to overhaul their medical department.
It has led to a phenomenal amount of recruitment, led by the arrival of the Australian Dr Peter Brukner, as the head of sports science, and includes masseur Sylvan Richardson, who has worked with British Cycling and who was a guitarist with Simply Red during the 1980s.
“They now have more senior clinicians,” Davison said.
“So if three or four players come off the training pitch injured you can 'man-mark' them. They have more capacity to deal with injuries.
"Previously at clubs it was often part-time but now what is being recognised is that if you have a squad of 17 different nationalities and have gone around the world to recruit players then you need to do the same with those who treat them.
“Australian rules football is regarded as the gold standard of applying sports science in the world because there is a salary cap and they have to make the most of their assets.
So they invest as much around the player support as they do the coaching and the player wages themselves. That’s why so many eminent people in sports science come from Australia.”
Liverpool have suffered a spate of injuries of late — Steven Gerrard, Daniel Agger, Martin Kelly, Glen Johnson and Fabio Aurelio have all been out — which may appear to undermine Davison’s argument.
But the speed with which Jamie Carragher returned in record time from a shoulder dislocation earlier this season meant the club did not have to dip into the January transfer market to sign another defender.
The department justified its existence with that one episode alone.
Later, record signing Andy Carroll recovered far more quickly than expected from his thigh problem.
The tables show, also, that the number of games missed by Liverpool players this campaign has been dramatically reduced while even Fernando Torres — now of Chelsea — has not suffered injury as regularly compared with recent seasons.
Interestingly Chelsea, with their large group of thirty something players, are regarded as the other club with the most advanced approach to medicine in the league.
From Australian rules football to Simply Red, Liverpool have scoured the world to create probably the most advanced and comprehensive medical and sports science departments in the Premier League.
Back again: Andy Carroll's return to action surprised many after he was initially expected to miss the majority of the season
By Jason Burt, Deputy Football Correspondent 7:00AM BST 22 Apr 2011
It is not just on the pitch that Liverpool are starting to get things right. A spate of injuries two years ago prompted a complete overhaul off it also.
Three ‘soft tissue’ injuries suffered during the 2-2 draw against Birmingham City in November 2009 took the number of players who were ruled out to a staggering 15 and led to a summit meeting between the then manager, Rafael Benítez, and the then managing director, Christian Purslow.
“Liverpool saw there was an issue, didn’t necessarily understand why, but saw that something needed to change,” said Michael Davison, an expert in sports science, who was then part of a five-month investigation into how the club needed to overhaul their medical department.
It has led to a phenomenal amount of recruitment, led by the arrival of the Australian Dr Peter Brukner, as the head of sports science, and includes masseur Sylvan Richardson, who has worked with British Cycling and who was a guitarist with Simply Red during the 1980s.
“They now have more senior clinicians,” Davison said.
“So if three or four players come off the training pitch injured you can 'man-mark' them. They have more capacity to deal with injuries.
"Previously at clubs it was often part-time but now what is being recognised is that if you have a squad of 17 different nationalities and have gone around the world to recruit players then you need to do the same with those who treat them.
“Australian rules football is regarded as the gold standard of applying sports science in the world because there is a salary cap and they have to make the most of their assets.
So they invest as much around the player support as they do the coaching and the player wages themselves. That’s why so many eminent people in sports science come from Australia.”
Liverpool have suffered a spate of injuries of late — Steven Gerrard, Daniel Agger, Martin Kelly, Glen Johnson and Fabio Aurelio have all been out — which may appear to undermine Davison’s argument.
But the speed with which Jamie Carragher returned in record time from a shoulder dislocation earlier this season meant the club did not have to dip into the January transfer market to sign another defender.
The department justified its existence with that one episode alone.
Later, record signing Andy Carroll recovered far more quickly than expected from his thigh problem.
The tables show, also, that the number of games missed by Liverpool players this campaign has been dramatically reduced while even Fernando Torres — now of Chelsea — has not suffered injury as regularly compared with recent seasons.
Interestingly Chelsea, with their large group of thirty something players, are regarded as the other club with the most advanced approach to medicine in the league.