Suarez Injury Update, Questioning the King, and Other Tuesday Notes

By: Noel | November 14th, 2011

Two weeks without club football? Check. The potential for the club’s most important players to pick up injuries? Check. All the time in the world to stew over a bad performance leading into the break? Check. A fully functioning liver? That might depend on how many Liverpool players go to sleep Tuesday night without having picked up an injury between now and then…

* Internationals have dominated the news over the last few days for Liverpool fans, and most of that focus has been on Luis Suarez, who went from third best player in the world after a four goal display against Chile to nursing a back injury to declaring himself fit to face Italy. Over the longer term, that he picked up a knock against Chile could still end up being a cause for concern for Liverpool, but with all signs pointing to the player being well enough to play were the match against Italy anything but a meaningless friendly, Uruguay manager Oscar Tabarez deciding it’s in everybody’s best interest to keep Suarez out of it completely has to be considered good news:

Suarez took a knock against Chile and is not in the best shape. He is getting better, but for the player, and for his club, it would make no sense to risk an injury, that is the way we see things.

So, knock bad. But probably not serious knock and not playing against Italy good. Or something. In any case, Italy v. Uruguay still looks like an appealing match for the casual viewer, but from a Liverpool point of view it at least makes the choice between it and Germany v. the Netherlands at 7:45PM GMT an easier one.

* Over the weekend, former Liverpool goalkeeper and England goalkeeping coach Ray Clemence fell ill and was taken to hospital. The Liverpool legend, who made 665 appearances over more than a decade of service from the 1960s through 1981’s European Cup final victory over Real Madrid, remains hospitalised with almost no information available. The club, and Liverpool fans everywhere, will be hoping that it’s not as serious as the extended stay would suggest and that he’s able to get back to his job with the English national team soon.

* For Liverpool on the pitch so far this season, things have been decidedly okay. They’ve hardly been great, at least not based on what the fans, owners, and anyone else with the slightest involvement with the club would have hoped for. But with only three points separating them from Chelsea in fourth, the overall results certainly haven’t been a disaster. Most have been willing to acknowledge the problems, but in general there has been patience with this badly misfiring side’s manager that wouldn’t have been afforded were he not named Kenny Dalglish. This isn’t a bad thing, of course, but it does reflect a very real predicament for the average fan: How to fairly judge a living legend of a manager in an attempt to hold him to the same standards that would be expected of any other while still granting him the degree of respect he long ago earned.

And if that’s a predicament for the average person watching from afar, then, as Simon Clancy sets out in the Anfield Wrap, it’s an even bigger potential dilemma for Liverpool’s owners—particularly if Dalglish and the coaching staff can’t sort out the myriad issues hindering the squad so far this campaign. Clancy suggests that it’s in fact a situation that John Henry and FSG would have been well aware of in advance of installing Dalglish, and as such it may be at the root of why it took them 85 days with a clearly misfiring and poorly suited Roy Hodgson in charge to finally pull the trigger—especially after it had taken them mere days to sack the coaching staff in Boston when they bought that storied institution.

But I digress. This isn’t about wanting a change, of course it isn’t. It’s more about facing up to a problem that I’m pretty certain Messrs Henry and Werner have considered; if it all goes tits up, how on earth do we remove the King from the Castle? We may well go on a winning streak the like of which has never been seen before. We may see Andy Carroll scoring like there’s no tomorrow, Stewart Downing performing like a man possessed and Charlie Adam just performing. If that happens then let’s rejoice for many reasons. One of which will be that after a decade of being essentially a one man team—hi Steve—we won’t be committing the cardinal sin of relying on another player to carry the can for the rest—hi Luis. Kenny will be safe, fans will be happy and idiots like me think of other nonsense to write.

After how well the squad played under Dalglish last season, with the misfiring odds and ends that Roy Hodgson couldn’t push past mid-table suddenly discovering flowing, pass and move football—with the odd stroke of tactical genius sprinkled in—this season’s less fluid 4222 stocked with what seem to be square pegs in round holes can’t help but be worrying, no matter how much you want to see Dalglish succeed. In any case, here’s to hoping that in a few weeks idiots like us won’t have cause to still be questioning Charlie Adam, Stewart Downing, defensive lines, formations, and all the rest.

We’ll be back if if any breaking news, er, breaks. But in the meantime, while you hope that Daniel Agger’s ligaments survive the afternoon and that by the end of the season disappointments like Swansea and Norwich seem like crazy outliers, just remember, it could always be worse…

Some Related Liverpool Posts:

Category: International Duty, Miscellaneous, Premier League, Team News

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Purify_the_body

On the Kenny point, there's really no trouble for the owners whatsoever. People forget that what did Hodgson in with Henry and Werner was the empty seats at Anfield. Kenny was hired to give them 2-3 years breathing space to do the new stadium deal, and it's working.

We are currently headed for a 6th-7th place finish with Kenny making a lot of mistakes, and most fans are preaching patience, to be positive, etc., whereas previously with Rafa it was the end of the world for a big chunk of LFC fans to be this low in the table.

No matter what happens, Kenny will prove his worth this month. Picking up some points and/or defeating Chelsea in the cup would make the fans love him all the more; losing out will just prompt the fans to circle the wagons around the King for the easy run of games in December. Either way the owners are buffered and safe.

The really interesting thing will be how much money is available for players in January and next summer.
Thomas Hoppe

I just watched Germany handle Netherlands and I am little depressed that Thomas Muller and Mats Hummels are probably never going to be Liverpool players. Thomas Muller could do wonders on the right hand side for LFC. And Hummels, my gosh he is an incredibly polished defender for being so young.
Could someone please do me a favor and cook up some Edinson Cavani, Gaston Ramirez, Lucas Rodrigues Moura De Silva, Stevan Jovetic, Thomas Muller, Moussa Sissoko and Mats Hummels rumours because this formation talk with Charlie Adam behind the strikers is really depressing me
redtrev73

Here you go TH....Apparently Cavani and Jovetic have Liverbird tattoos on their arses and Hummels has a Scouse granny that once went out with Muller's grandad. In other wild and pointless rumour mongering Gerrard has been passed free of all injury EVER and I have been given a six-figure advance on my photographic book about the naked female form...

Alternatively, we can talk about the "depressing" likelihood that Kenny won't just abandon Chaz and his fellow newbies (much as we may wish he would) and at least entertain ourselves with idle speculation on how they might be more gainfully employed...or y'know, the tattoos and grannies...
Thomas Hoppe

thank you sir, you hit a touchdown on that one
JPR

I have to say I'm feeling it. Like 'blanca's idea of the 4312 and Trev's personnel implementation. Bring 3 mids, add Spearo for some steel, and put Hendo on the right. Hendo showed me some real athleticism against Iceland's U21's. Hadn't noticed that in the EPL. Maybe Ice's U21's made my eyes play tricks on me. Like moving Adam up the pitch behind Stevie (in the depth chart) and the strikers when on the pitch. Don't ask an old dog to learn new tricks or to grow wings and fly. Kuyt & Luis up front. With Maxi, Bellers, Carroll or Stewpot as impact subs.

I'm also thinking I'll probably see Jesus before I see Spearo start or Maxi on the pitch in a real match. Oh well.

Always look on the bright side of life....

Saw the England/Spain friendly. IMHO Stewie was OK. Played some decent balls. Stayed wide right and came into the play bit. England was just trying to keep some possession when they would finally get the ball. Thought Stewie made a tactical decision to receive the ball then try to keep it, find help, lay it off and maintain possession. The running with the ball on the wings against Spain is never going to work. They contest possession fiercely, mark off ball players well and shift players around the ball to outnumber the attackers. If Ronaldo (the fake one) can't run with the ball at Real against Barca, I don't expect Stewie to be able to do it with England against Spain.

I was very happy to see that even Luis's dentist subconsciously included (NG, NA, $20mil) Stewie in his 443 lineup by adding an extra midfielder. Howard Webb, if he's reffing, probably won't notice, anyway. So it's worth a shot.

You come from nothing, you go back to nothing. What have you lost? Nothing!!
Latortillablanca

anyone notice how effective uruguay was with that formation?

workhorse mid 3 and stout CBs giving a platform to the front 3 and attacking fullbacks to do their thing.

any combination of spearo/adam/lucas/hendo/steven together in the middle of the park with a front 3 from downing/suarez/carroll/kuyt/bellers/maxi.

or even more interesting considering our pieces - throw the trequartista wrinkle into it for the 4312 with either adam or gerrard taking that role and the pit bull lineup of spearo/hendo/lucas behind em and the aforementioned options for the 2 up front. with out full backs, our centerbacks it just seems like such a sturdier foundation than that soft underbellied, lopsided, at times amorphous 4222 we're trying to work out...
nic

playing 4312 would definitely suit the less defensively stable Adam and free him up to push forward.

I prefer, the 5 at the back according to reftrev74

Hendo - Lucas - Gerrard/Downing [depending if Stevie is fit]

--------Adam----------

Kuyt/Carroll--Suarez

I do think Suarez's dentist as well as having a hefty amount of work to do on those 2 front teeth :) is being a little harsh on Stewie, his game has dropped the last few weeks but that can be said for a few of the players and i seem to remember that the no goals, no assists is partly down to the poor finishing of the team in general.

Although I am with the dentist on the 'one-man-team' stuff, world class players do that for teams, they win a game that the team doesn't deserve to win - so many times, that blue scouser over at Man scum does it, Lampard/Drogba did it for Chelski, Henry and Bergkamp for Arsenal but without the team i can't see gerrard winning much on his own
redtrev73

Dear The King,

Against Chavski and Citeh may we see the mythical 4-3-1-2 line out as follows?

Reina

Kelly/Jonno Carra Agger Enrique

Hendo Lucas Spearo

Gerrard/Adam

Kuyt/Carroll Suarez

To the best of my knowledge Marshy's Academy kids and Rodolfo and Pep's Next Gen group and the Reserves are playing the 4-3-1-2 with a view to emulating the first team and yet that system has been abandoned by Kenny in order to accommodate the new boys.

Consider the above mix of strength and creativity. Dirky could play right of the three instead of Hendo, (as could Stevie if The King wanted to keep the defensively-poor Adam in). Stewpot could have an impact left of the three or just off the top 2, although a little fluidity could see him wide left. Bellers and Maxi as go-to guys on the bench. This system with these personnel would be solid and yet possess flair. Just sayin'.

Yours,

Angsty Mc Fan
Ed

Maxi as one of the go-to guys on the bench is a terrific idea...if it would actually happen. One sub appearance this season--on in the 76th with Liverpool leading Bolton 3-0--is not even close to good enough.

Every week he doesn't play, I remember him being even better.
Luis Suarez dentist

Every week that I watch Downing play I remember Maxi been even better....
ejbauer11

Truth. Quite frankly, wouldn't mind Maxi starting and Downing coming off the bench. Might help spur him on to some better performances.
Waiting for Sterling

If I'm not mistaken he did start the Norwich game and scored. Also, he came in the Stoke loss and made a pretty big impact. At trev, I would love to see that 4-3-1-2 with Debbie Downing as one of the CM's (as he's played before) or right off the front 2 using whatever space he wants. I think this could also free up space for enrique and johnson to do their magic on the wings. Enrique as an attacking fullback is doing better than Downing has on the wing in terms of bringing the stats home (i.e. we really don't even need downing as I see it to have a fully functioning left side attack). It could be different if big Andy was on form.
Waiting for Sterling

I was thinking of bellamy, my bad.
redtrev73

Yeah...By next season, if the wee Argentinian remains, you and I will be convinced that he could have won the ballon d'or while writing The Great American Novel and solving the economic meltdown in the Western world...if only Kenny would pick him
Luis Suarez Dentist

I agree. Unfortunately I suspect that King Kenny is sticking with the 4-4-2 to try and keep Downing and Carroll in the team. However surely £20 million Downing (no goals, no assists) will have to make way soon and a more fluent 4-4-3 (4-5-1 when defending) can be tried. As for the old Gerrard one man team that Noel has mentioned YAWN! What a load of Sky-sports created garbage! Yes Gerrard has been inspirational and is already a Liverpool legend but a one man team? Never. Are we going to ignore the impact that Pepe, Carra, Hyypia, T****s, Xabi, Masc, Lucas and many more have made over the same period?Against Chelsea I would like to see the following line-up.ReinaKelly, Carra Agger EnriqueLucas, SpearingHenderson (Gerrard when fit)Kuyt Suarez Maxi