Football Update: Liverpool’s Fernando Torres set to miss Everton derby
The problems for Liverpool just don’t seem to end, after a shock defeat at the hands of Blackpool over the weekend, now the news has come that their ace marksman Fernando Torres would not be able to feature in the all important Mersey side derby against
Everton on 17th of October. A statement by the club confirmed that the Spaniard had a strained muscle in his groin.
The world cup winning forward was on the pitch against Blackpool for just 10 minutes and had to be withdrawn due to the same injury. Torres was later also left out of the Spanish national squad for the Euro 2012 qualifiers against Lithuania and Scotland.
Dr Peter Brukner the head of sports and sciences at Liverpool said that, "He will have intensive treatment over the next couple of weeks."
"Fernando was assessed at Melwood [training ground] and underwent a scan,"
added Dr Brukner. "But it is too early to say if he will be fit for the game against Everton."
The injury is nothing new to Torres; he suffered almost an identical problem while playing for Spain in the world cup final in South Africa. The injury forced him to miss start of the season, and since then has not been able to find his form and has looked
a shadow of himself in the Red jersey of Liverpool.
Last season for Torres was also not free from problems, he did manage to end the season as the club’s top scorer but he underwent a knee surgery, missed a good chunk of the season and made just 32 appearances.
The news of Torres not being picked for Spanish side for the Euro qualifiers may actually have come as a relief for the Liverpool manager. Roy Hodgson had shown his concern over Fernando and said that he should be given proper rest and time to get back in
shape and find his form for club and country.
Hodgson had earlier requested the Spanish team coach Vicente del Bosque to leave out Torres for the international matches against Liechtenstein and Argentina in September.
Torres did play for Spain against Liechtenstein and managed to score twice in the 4-0 win. However, he has only been able to score one goal for Liverpool so far this season, and the manager is still hoping and waiting for him to shrug off the injuries and
get back to scoring goals for them.
Hodgson said, "We had no awareness there were any problems in the groin area, it happened early in the game, which came as a surprise to us. I don't know if it happened when he stretched for the ball. I don't really know."
The next match for Liverpool is a feisty Mersey side affair where they take on the age old rivals Everton. The match could not have come at a worse time for the reds, as they are currently in the 18th position which represents their worst start
to the season since 1953, that is when they were relegated from the top division.
Things are not much better for Everton, after a disappointing start to the season the Toffees also find themselves just one place above the drop zone. Everton and Liverpool are currently level on points and the blue team from Mersey side have the edge just
on goal difference.
At start of the season, Liverpool had a new manager and some players who were on the brink of leaving the club in the summers. Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard were the 2 big names rumoured to be leaving Anfield. Roy Hodgson after taking over did hold
extensive talks with his senior players and managed to convince them to stay. Torres before the season had admitted that he had thought about leaving the club but the manager convinced him to stay. However if things do not improve, the Spaniard may be on his
way out along with couple of other big names as soon as January.
Tags: