Gerrard out but Torres travels

Mon, 02 Nov 22:11:29 2009

Steven Gerrard has been ruled out of Liverpool's Champions League trip to Lyon, but striker Fernando Torres will be on the plane that heads for France on Tuesday

Although Gerrard has now played just 25 minutes of five matches since he sustained a groin injury while on England duty, boss Rafael Benitez has delayed any decision on whether his captain needs an operation.

Club sources suggest that Benitez is happy that Gerrard's treatment is progressing well and that the player's injury problem is improving. If Gerrard does have an operation on his groin, it will rule him out for a month and he would be unlikely to play again until mid-December.

Liverpool are trying to avoid that eventuality, and Benitez will assess the midfielder's fitness levels again when the Anfield men return from Wednesday's match.

Torres will travel with the party, having been taken off at Fulham on Saturday after a hour to protect his adductor muscle injury.

But £20million Italian midfielder Alberto Aquilani will be available for selection after recovering from a virus.

Benitez said: "Aquilani trained today (Monday) but was a little bit weak. Hopefully in two days' time he will be better.

"Gerrard won't travel to Lyon. He has no chance. He is improving but we have to wait. He has had an injection but we have to wait two or three days and see how he reacts.

Albert Riera (hamstring), Martin Kelly (ankle) and Martin Skrtel (muscle and virus), are also definitely out of the Group E match that Liverpool must win if they want to retain any serious hopes of qualifying for the last 16.

Meanwhile, the Liverpool manager will make late fitness calls on the recovering Daniel Agger (back), Glen Johnson (calf), Fabio Aurelio (calf) and David Ngog (ankle), none of whom travelled to Craven Cottage.

 

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  1. CONVERSATION OVERHEARD IN HMP ATAVAR a short play by­ Stevie O Jay.
    Subplot

    ( Thanks to mattneems­ )

    Fernando Torres
    Robbie Keane
    Ryan Babel
    Xabi­ Alonso­
    Dirk Kuyt
    Albert Riera
    Andrea Dossena
    Peter­ Crouch­
    Lucas Leiva
    Jermaine Pennant
    Martin Skrtel­
    Craig­ Bellamy
    Luis Garcia
    Jose Reina
    Dan Agger­
    Mohammed­ Sissoko
    Fernando Morientes
    Yossi Benayoun­
    Diego­ Cavalieri
    Alvaro Arbeloa
    Sebastian Leto
    Jose­ Miguel­ Gonzalez
    Gabriel Paletta
    Mark Gonzalez
    David­ Ngog­
    Scott Carson
    Mikel San Jose
    David Martin­
    Antonio­ Barragan
    Besian Idrizaj
    Jack Hobbs
    Alex­ Cooper­
    Alexander Kacaniklic
    Krisztian Nemeth
    Andras­ Simon­
    Victor Palsson
    Gary Mackay Steven
    Vitor­ Flora­
    Andriy Voronin
    Nikolay Mihaylov
    Emmanuel­ Mendy­
    Marvin Pourie
    Dani Pacheco
    Nikola Saric­
    Lauri Dalla­ Valle
    Gerardo Bruna
    Hakan Duyan
    Damien­ Plessis­
    Peter Gulacsi
    Charles Itandje
    Philipp Degen­
    Vincent­ Lucas
    Ryan Crowther
    Mihail Alexandrov­
    Robbie Fowler­
    Ryan Wilkie
    Javier Mascherano
    Miki­ Roque
    Nabir El­ Zhar
    Mark Smyth
    Jay Smith
    Stephen­ Darby
    Craig­ Lindfield
    Adam Hammill
    Danny Guthrie­
    Paul Anderson­
    Lee Peltier
    Fabio Aurelio
    Jan­ Kromkamp
    Boudewijn­ Zenden
    Mauricio Pellegrino­
    Godwin Antwi
    Robbie­ Threlfall
    Ryan Flynn
    Calum­ Woods
    Paul Willis
    Danny­ O'Donnell
    Ramon­ Calliste
    Steve Irwin
    Martin­ Kelly
    Ronald Huth­
    Jordy Brouwer
    Francisco Manuel­ Duran
    Emiliano Insua­
    Ray Putterill
    Martin Hansen­
    Jay Spearing
    Dave­ Roberts
    David Mannix
    Antonio­­ Nunez
    ????????????????????????

    From Stevie O Jay, on Mon 2 Nov 8:14PM
  2. CONVERSATION OVERHEARD IN HMP ATAVAR

    Stevie O Jay and­ Marlon King are settling into their new home. There’s a­ bit of friction.

    Stevie O Jay : Pheuuuufff
    Marlon King­ : Whaattt?
    Stevie O Jay : Ah nothin’
    Marlon King :­ What? You’re the one going Pheuuuufff.
    Stevie O Jay :­ Your feet Marlon, your feet, your f*cking feet?
    Marlon­ King : What’s wrong with my feet?
    Stevie O Jay : Can’t­ you smell or something?
    Marlon King : Huh?
    Stevie O Jay­ : Ere lad, your feet stink the place out. Even the­ f*cking screws don’t come in here anymore. I don’t know­ how many times I’ve told you, wash your f*cking­ feet!!
    Marlon King : Oh. Alright then.
    Stevie O Jay :­ Huh, thanks a lot.

    Marlon starts to sort through his­ washbag, gets his favourite soap out, his nice new­ facecloth and begins to give his feet a wipe.

    Marlon­ King : Have you heard the news?
    Stevie O Jay : What­ news?
    Marlon King : About Benny?
    Stevie O Jay : Benny?­ Benny who?
    Marlon King : Benny The Ball Benitez.
    Stevie­ O Jay : What about him?
    Marlon King : They say he’s not­ a real manager.
    Stevie O Jay : Not a real manager ..­ whatdya mean?
    Marlon King : He’s not Benitez.
    Stevie O­ Jay : ( Perplexed ) What!?
    Marlon King : His real­ name’s Benitio. He’s mob.
    Stevie O Jay : Eh?
    Marlon­ King : He’s not Spanish .. he’s Italian.
    Stevie O Jay :­ Whatdya mean he’s not Spanish?
    Marlon King : He’s­ mafioso.

    Marlon cleaning between his toes flicks a­ ball at Stevie.

    Stevie O Jay : F*ck off.
    Marlon King :­ ( He flicks another ball of cheese ) Something to do­ with Capello’s mob. Apparently the football club is a­ front for people trafficing.
    Stevie O Jay : Eh?
    Marlon­ King : Yes, you heard me right, I said people­ trafficing.
    Stevie O Jay : ( Totally confused )­ What?
    Marlon King : The Italian mob were trying to find­ a front for their operation. They tried Loserpool. Do­ you remember when you won the Champions League?
    Stevie­ O Jay : Yeah, great night.
    Marlon King : Well it was­ alright til half time.

    From Stevie O Jay, on Mon 2 Nov 8:14PM
  3. Marlon King : Benitio couldn’t believe his luck when­ you won the Champions League, made him look like he was­ a football manager. It was all luck. He’s knows nothing­ about football. He’s been winging it since then.
    Stevie­ O Jay : ( Taken aback. ) Knows nothing?
    Marlon King :­ Nope. The Italians weren’t too happy though. You­ weren’t supposed to win. Benitio was supposed to throw­ the game.
    Stevie O Jay : No-one told me.
    Marlon King :­ Benitio was supposed to tell you.
    Stevie O Jay : Well­ he didn’t. F*ck!!
    Stevie O Jay : F*ck!!
    Marlon King :­ The Italians weren’t happy bunnies. Anyway, Benitio was­ making so much money trafficing people in and out as­ football players, taking a cut of the fees that it­ saved his life. He paid back the mob and made Capello­ rich. Everybody was happy. But that’s when the American­ mobs wanted a piece of the action.
    Stevie O Jay : How­ do you know all this?
    Marlon King : Ah, ah …... Benitio­ thought he was doing a great job but he hadn’t a clue­ what was really going on. Do you know some people say­ that he thought he was a real football manager? Like­ Alex Ferguson or something?
    Stevie O Jay : I thought­ he was a real manager.
    Marlon King : So does Benitio,­ that’s why it was so sweet.
    Stevie O Jay : So that’s­ why the Americans mob bought the club. It didn’t make­ sense. They didn’t seem to get on ….
    Marlon King :­ ….let’s call it a family disagreement.
    Stevie O Jay :­ They weren’t putting money in, … they were taking money­ out.
    Marlon King : That’s it, who’s a clever boy? Well­ things have gone t*ts up and the Americans want to­ bring in their own man in and I’m afraid that it’s­ ‘Goodbye Mr Benitio’.
    Stevie O Jay : And I thought it­ was the b*autiful game.
    Marlon King : That’s right. (­ Marlon flicking another ball of toe cheese at Stevie ) ­ On yer head.
    Stevie O Jay : Listen, do that one more­ time and I’ll set my ‘patsy ‘ mates on you.
    Marlon King­ : Ha, ha, ha, ha, not in here you won’t. .. ha, ha, ha­ , ha.
    Stevie O Jay : Ha, ha, ha,

    From Stevie O Jay, on Mon 2 Nov 8:13PM
  4. why is it all rafa's fault? u have to blame the­ players at some point, They are all internationals they­ should motovate themselves! We must have 5-6 players­ that have been a captin at some point, carra,­ Mascherano, torres ,Benayoun , kuyt !!!

    From alex s, on Mon 2 Nov 8:07PM
  5. Im also at a loss CHILL. I want to get behind the­ manager and give support but also dont understand how­ sometimes they can perform so brilliantly closing­ everything down and attacking and othertimes apear so­ lacklustre.

    From Andrew, on Mon 2 Nov 7:11PM
  6. GOOD CASE AGAINST RAFA

    All jokes aside, the problem­ at­ anfield is definitely the manager, when you­ consider­ Liverpool can raise their game occasionally­ like they­ did against Man United, so the question the­ owners of­ Liverpool should be asking rafa is ' why­ cant you­ motivate your team to do it every week? '­ obviously­ the talent and quality is there, but only­ seems to come­ out occasionally and that is down to the­ manager for­ failing to motivate his players every week

    From CHILL its just my opinion, on Mon 2 Nov 6:46PM
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