Liverpool and England clash over Steven Gerrard injury
Liverpool staff were fuming last night after Reds skipper Steven Gerrard picked up a hamstring injury on international duty.
Gerrard pulled up just five minutes from the end of England’s 2-1 defeat to France at Wembley, a match he was still playing in despite England boss Fabio Capello promising the Reds that their captain would be withdrawn after an hour.
The midfielder is now out of Liverpool’s Anfield clash with West Ham on Saturday, and will face up to four weeks on the sidelines.
Within minutes of the injury, two members of the Liverpool medical staff were venting their anger on social networking website Twitter.
Head of Fitness Darren Burgess laid into the Football Association for ignoring their agreement with the Reds, tweeting: “Unbelievable from all associated with England and English FA with regard to SGs [Steven Gerrard's] injury. Completely ignored agreement and past history.
“Completely amateurish and now we pay for their incompetence. Absolutely disgraceful,” added the Australian.
With Fernando Torres, Dirk Kuyt and Daniel Agger also aggravating injuries whilst on international duty recently, Reds physio Chris Morgan added: “Stevie getting injured... more evidence if it was needed of why I hate internationals.”
Both men’s comments were swiftly deleted from the website last night, but Capello appeared to be in an unequivocal mood after in his post-match interview at Wembley.
“I told Liverpool he would play for an hour if possible,” he said. “But with Gareth Barry and Rio Ferdinand's injuries we needed a senior player on the pitch. I'm upset about Gerrard."
“They asked that he can play one hour if it's possible. They can't decide how long a player plays with the national team. If it's possible, he'd have played an hour.
“I understand why they're upset and I'm also upset.”
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