Video courtesy of BeanymanSports
Even though he tried to sound as emphatic as possible, Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers couldn’t hide his obvious disappointment at Daniel Sturridge returning from England duty injured again. This, of course, isn’t the first time that Roy Hodgson has sent the player back from an international break all crocked up and the Reds manager let the “experts” and “sport scientists” know that the Anfield outfit knows their player better than they do.
“Here we look at the individual player,” said the Northern Irishman when expanding on how he belives Sturridge got injured in the first place. “Think of Daniel’s week. He plays a high-level game at Tottenham on Sunday, goes away and meets up with the [England] squad on Monday. I believe on the Tuesday they did a session which he was involved in. Then he played a second game on the Wednesday. On the Friday it would be an active recovery for us. After the game, 48 hours later, is critical for recovery.”
The striker, who has since been ruled out for at least three weeks with a thigh injury, will now miss a number of high profile matches for Liverpool — including their first Champions League match since 2009 when they meet Bulgarian side PFC Ludogrets at Anfield on Tuesday.
“I think clubs work differently at times to international teams. It’s more the recovery strategy. When we look at our players here, we look at them individually in terms of what their needs are” he continued before confirming that the England set-up know exactly how Liverpool work in terms of training and recovery. “The players go there and tell the associations how they work. Of course it’s always up to the manager of the association. And on that second day they can do tactical work but for us and the methods of how we work, that can only be low to moderate intensity in small spaces, or you get injuries.”
