What If Our Season Hinges On Two Players Made Out Of Paper Mache?

As always with us, the injury news is the lead. We can't seem to get a straight answer as to how long Daniel Agger will be out, and how many ribs he's cracked. The clubs say two weeks and one rib, his agents says a couple ribs and more than a month. It's broken ribs, I'm going with the month. And quite frankly, i can't think of a more unpleasant injury as it just about hurts to breathe when carrying one of those.

And it seems silly to pile on Agger for a cracked rib, as that's not the type of injury that signals fragility or not (maybe if you hadn't drank enough milk as a kid, I don't know). But it's always something with Agger, isn't it? And because the only central defender brought in over the summer is Sebastien Coates, this is a problem. Coates is going to be a thing when he grows up, but a 20 year old who just arrived in the country is going to be something of a project. That leaves Martin Skrtel and Jamie Carragher to man the stations, and that doesn't exactly fill me with confidence. Skrtel is a much better player when alongside the much more assured and vocal Agger. He gets just as jittery as we all do watching Carra these days. As for Carragher, I had hoped there would be a brief revival from the clown/gong show of much of last year. But there hasn't been, has there? I keep waiting for penalties to be given away, and with United, City, and Chelsea coming over the next few weeks, I may just build a shelter behind the couch. It's unlikely that Kenny is going to toss Martin Kelly out there in the middle, even though that may be his future, considering how gun shy he has been to put John Flanagan out again after one bad performance. Danny Wilson can probably forget it.

Farther up the pitch, it's not much better. No one seems to have any idea when Steven Gerrard is going to actually return. Could be tomorrow, could be Saturday, could be November. No one can get an answer. Considering the length of this absence, what exactly can we count on Gerrard for? Is he ever going to be 100%? Because now with Meireles and Aquilani gone, Liverpool not only need Gerrard to take up a spot, they need the match-winner he was and might not be anymore. Can he be that? One has to wonder. And the club knew back in August that this was an injury that was taking its time, why was Meireles sold? Even if he hands in a request, whatever the policy may be, you tell him to go screw and we'll revisit in January when cover can be brought in.

It's no panic time, not even worry time. And I would feel a lot better if Charlie Adam could look as useful against a Top 10 side as he does against the Bolton's and Sunderland's of the world. But that hasn't happened his whole career, has it?