Some injury news today:
-Jamie Carragher is out three months. Honestly, I can't remember another time when Carra missed a significant amount of time in his career. Which is saying something. While I deride Carra's abilities these days, playing as he does at central defense and not missing a big chunk of time is impressive. Again, I wouldn't be panicking about this if Daniel Agger were healthy. Agger-Skrtel would be our optimum pairing in the middle, and Agger's actual non-terrified state with the ball at his feet would help our attack. Sadly, this is not the case. In an interesting turn, Danny Wilson will probably pair Menelaus Thursday in Bucharest. While I hesitate to say maybe Wilson should get some league starts, the devil I don't know seems more favorable than the one I do, which would be Skrtel and Kyrgiakos flapping as opposing forwards on their way to Reina's net.
-Steven Gerrard looks set to return in time for the holiday fun. He'll miss the Villa game Monday but be back for Newcastle the following Saturday. This will cause an interesting decision from Hodgson, or it would if he had a trace of balls. Meireles is clearly happier in the middle and playing well. Gerrard has been a force with a free role from the right. If Hodgson wants to maintain this 4-4-2 formation, to me it's worth a shot with Gerrard and Meireles both trying to find the space behind Kuyt and Torres. Just as Alonso and Gerrard did behind Crouch and Cisse when we won the FA Cup in 2006. But this would require actual imagination, and I gave up on seeing that long ago. It would also require Gerrard to not throw a bitch about it, which is even less likely. He seems to forget he was PFA Player of The Year from that spot.
-Joe Cole will return in Bucharest. And that's really all there is to say about that.
-Some rumors about strikers who might be coming in January. Elmander from Bolton seems like a pretty safe choice. A pure center forward who can fill in when Torres is hurt, though I don't know how he's pair with him with two forwards. Honestly, Kuyt is kind of the perfect foil for Torres with two forwards. Antonio Cassano is the sexiest name to be linked, but considering he's straight up nuts and Roy doesn't strike me as the type of manager to willingly take on a headache. But you could play him various places. We'll wait and see.
Loading comments...