Liverpool Going To Turkey Without Star Players
Milan Jovanovic, the Serbian striker is going to miss Liverpools trip to Turkey to face Trabzonspor in the second match of the Europa league; the other players missing the trip are Fernando Torres, Daniel Agger, Maxi Rodriguez and Steven Gerrard.
Milan Jovanovic is expected to be back with Liverpool for their home match, which is the Premier League tie against West Brom. While Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres are expected to return with Jovanovic.
Jovanovic was left out of the Turkey trip because he was suffering from fatigue and has been working on adapting to the pace and style of playing of the English game.
Hodgson explained in an interview that the Serbian player is “very, very tired.” He continued to say that the player has been pushing himself to the limit; Milan Jovanovic has played every match with more minutes than any other player in the team and now needs to rest. He also said that it would end up being like Fernando Torres’s case which would have been very risky.
It has also been confirmed that ‘The Reds’ captain Steven Gerrard was ruled out of the squad going to Turkey. Gerrard has a back problem, and as far as Fernando Torres is concerned, it had been decided before hand that he would not play three consecutive games in a row as he just returned from injury recovery.
Another player being omitted from Liverpool’s next game is Daniel Agger, he received a concussion in the match against Arsenal. Maxi Rodriguez was also ruled out of the team going to play the next match because of a stomach virus.
Hodgson commented on Steven Gerrard’s condition by saying that he had a reappearance of the back problems he gets from time to time and hopes that the pain would be gone before the next match approaches.
He also said that he hopes the same for Agger, as he hopes to have his players back before the next match. He went on to say that Agger was advised not to play in the last match and it was foolish of the club to let him play. He was even feeling sick after the game and this was all because of his concussion.
When asked about Maxi, Hodgson replied by saying that considering Maxi was completely out of the question as he has been prescribed bed rest and is sick with gastroenteritis.
Hodgson also said that they have decided not to push Fernando Torres too much at this point in the season especially with him having made such a quick recovery. They are thus not going to make him play the third game in a row.
Now the remaining Red’s squad faces a hostile and tough tie against Trabzonspor in Turkey. This has been documented to be a very difficult place to play at and with Trabzonspor being one of the leading teams in the Turkish league, the Red's will have a tough game ahead of them.
Though Liverpool had many opportunities to kill the tie at Anfield they could not achieve this, even when Joe Cole was given a penalty shot.
Trabzonspor could not score any away goals and now if Liverpool does manage to score a goal, the game will be forced to open more and hopefully ‘The Reds’ will be able to exploit this move.
Hodgson commented on the matter by saying, that they missed a “Golden Opportunity” to finish the match at Anfield and now it is going to be very difficult.
He said that the Turkish league is of a very high standard and Trabzonspor is one of the best in their league. Also everyone says that it is very difficult to play football in Trabzon, as it’s a difficult field and has a very hostile crowd.
Tags: