When Barcelona announced that they have signed Luis Suarez, most Liverpool fans left bewildered by how fast their star player managed to leave the club.
Before his infamous ‘bite’ on Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini, the Anfield faithful were talking up a title challenge and that with Suarez leading the line only a few things needed fixing before Liverpool became a great team again.
But now it feels like they’re in need of rebuilding, despite having made three major signings in Rickie Lambert, Adam Lallana, and Emre Can.
Lazar Markovic from Benfica looks likely to be their fourth signing and he could be the one to soften the pain of losing Luis Suarez.
Here are FIVE REASONS to be excited about this new Liverpool signing.
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5. Style of Play
Brendan Rodgers is a huge fan of the 4-3-3, and last season used it to great success with Suarez, Daniel Sturridge, and Raheem Sterling as the top three. The trio would exchange positions when attacking, and it was extremely difficult to defend against.
Markovic is perfect for the system, as he’s able to play in all three attacking positions. Naturally a right-winger, the Serbian can drift into the middle or play on the left.
4. Work Ethic
Now a trait that is becoming more common in attacking players, Markovic is an extremely hard worker and is what is required in Rodgers’ pressing style of play.
Once Liverpool lose the ball, the Reds will hustle until they get it back, something that attacking players were not always trained to do. Markovic doesn’t need the training, he’ll slot right in and contribute defensively.
3. Fantastic Technique
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Markovic is known for his fantastic dribbling ability. The now former Benfica man is quick, tricky, and full of drive. It will be difficult with this type of player running at your defence, and it will create space which team-mates can exploit.
His touches also ooze class, the same feeling when you see Dmitar Berbatov pull the ball down from the air, and he’s a decent finisher. He will be a joy to watch for any neutral, let alone Reds fans.
2. Markovic is only 20
Along with Emre Can, Liverpool now seem as if they are buying class talent for the future in Markovic. If any of his performances with Benfica can be repeated in front of the Anfield faithful, then Luis Suarez might just become a distant memory.
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And at just 20 he already has four league trophies: Three Serbian League titles and last season’s Portuguese Primera Liga. He is no stranger to competition, and his desire to win will be a big boost to Liverpool.
1. Markovic has the X factor
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Markovic has that ‘spark’. He may not be scoring 20 or so goals in his youth, but the starlet has the ability to break down stubborn defences and be the player a team turns to when they need an answer.
There is a reason Liverpool paid £19.8 million for a youngster. Former Chelsea boss Avram Grant, during his time at Markovic’s first club Partizan Belgrade, stated that the Serbian is “one of the best players I’ve ever seen after Ronaldo and Messi.” There is no compliment greater than that in today’s world of football, and Markovic could light up the Premier League for years to come.
Manchester United are set to win the race to sign Malaga’s young midfielder Isco for £16 million.
The 20-year-old has been compared to United legend Paul Scholes and Alex Ferguson’s confident he can land the youngster to replace his veteran midfielder.
Arsenal, Liverpool and Tottenham are all also interested in signing the Spaniard but the Daily Star believes that Manchester United is his preferred destination.
Malaga are going to struggle to keep hold of their highly talented prodigy as the club continues to experience financial problems as they initially forked out huge amounts of money to provide Champions League football for the southern Spain side.
The club have been forced to sell Santi Cazorla and Salomon Randon and Isco could well follow them out of the club in January.
Isco has already been compared to fellow Spaniard Cesc Fabregas and could be seen as the ideal remedy to the stuttering United midfield, but will face stiff competition as there are plenty of teams chasing the Spanish under-21 star.
The midfielder was a key part for the team as they secured Champions League football for the first time in their history and has been even more effective so far this campaign.
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Malaga currently sit in second place with just the one defeat in nine games. It’s Isco’s form in Europe which has caught the eye of many suitors as the Spanish club have won their first three games.
When Antoine Griezmann confirmed that he is staying at Atletico Madrid on Thursday despite being linked to Barcelona, not many would have automatically thought of how the news would affect Tottenham Hotspur.Numerous media outlets, including Sport English, have suggested that Christian Eriksen will be next on Barca’s list.The Spanish giants are looking for a marquee signing, which would have ben Griezmann, but since the attacker confirmed via video that he is going nowhere, Barcelona have to start again.Eriksen is not a like-for-like replacement for the Atletico star as he plays in a midfield role for Tottenham, but he could potentially come in for the recently-departed Andres Iniesta.[brid autoplay=”true” video=”255610″ player=”12034″ title=”Watch Five England World Cup games you totally forgot happened”]The Denmark international had a stellar season for the North London outfit in the 2017-18 campaign as he scored 14 goals and created 11 assists in all competitions.Eriksen has not indicated that he wants to leave Spurs, and the fans are desperate for the midfielder to sign a new contract.Since Griezmann made his intentions known, Tottenham supporters speculated on Reddit and Twitter about Barcelona potentially moving for Eriksen, but not many are worried.
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The majority of Newcastle United fans have expressed relief in reports that the club failed to sign goalkeeper Joe Hart during the January transfer window.
According to The Mirror, the Magpies launched a late move for the England number one, who is currently on loan at West Ham United from Manchester City.
The report claims that manager Rafael Benitez offered the Hammers one of Newcastle’s reserve keepers, but the bid was rejected as David Moyes feels that he may need Hart as the season progresses.
A few years ago, the shot-stopper was a solid number one for City, competing at the top level and challenging for silverware.
Following Pep Guardiola’s arrival as manager, the 30-year-old was shipped out to Roma on loan.
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Last summer, Hart joined West Ham on another temporary deal, and he has since lost his number one spot to Adrian.
In the end, Newcastle recruited Martin Dubravka from Sparta Prague on loan, and it seems that most of the club’s fanbase are pleased that Hart never came through the welcome gates at St James’ Park.
Steven Gerrard believes the emotional strain with intensify as the Reds close in on their first league title in 24 years, after dedicating Sunday’s 3-2 win over Manchester City to the victims of the Hillsborough disaster, reports the Telegraph.
The Reds captain was reduced to tears at the final whistle of Sunday’s crucial 3-2 win over Manchester City, a result that left Liverpool top of the table and in need of four more wins to secure a first Premier League title.
Gerrard says his emotional reaction at the final whistle was intensified as the occasion was just two days before the 25th anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster, in which 96 Liverpool fans lost their lives.
The annual service to honour the victims is being held at Anfield today, and beforehand Gerrard took time to dedicate their fantastic victory to the 96 and their friends and families.
“The reason I was so emotional was because of when this game fell,” Gerrard said.
“It wasn’t just because it was a big match in our season, it was because this week is always about more than football for everyone associated with Liverpool. It’s emotional for so many people.
“I’m speaking on behalf of everyone when I say the win was dedicated to the victims and families of Hillsborough. All the squad will be present at the service to pay our respects as we should. I think it was just a release at the end. It is a tough week, preparing for these matches.
“There are long days going into them. Everyone knows personally how much I want it. I’ve just got to stay calm and relax. I’m trying to do that but it’s difficult to control my emotions.
“I’m just trying to do different things. In my spare time, I’m not sitting around thinking about it. I’m watching the TV, spending time with my kids and my friends to take my mind off it.
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“I want the games to come every day, not every week. I’d love to play the remaining four games in the next four days but it is not possible. I have to manage the time well and make sure that I’m not getting anxious and wasting unnecessary energy.”
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Swansea recorded their first win in six Premier League games with goals from Pablo Hernandez and Michu enough to see off Wigan at the Liberty Stadium.
The Spanish duo scored within two minutes of each other in the second half to stop the rot for Michael Laudrup’s side and prolong the misery of the visitors who find themselves in familiar territory at the wrong end of the table. Roberto Martinez will be cursing his sides luck after Arouna Kone was denied a late equaliser by the offside flag.
It leaves the Latics without a top-flight win since 25th August although they will be wondering how they didn’t leave South Wales with at least a point to show for their efforts.
Clear goalscoring opportunities were few and far between during a tedious first half with Michu going closest for the home side with a volley that sailed narrowly wide in the 18th minute. Jonathan de Guzman then curled wide from 20-yards before Michel Vorm denied Shaun Maloney from close range at the other end.
Thankfully the second half provided more entertainment value for the supporters and they were treated to three goals in four minutes just after the hour mark. Firstly Hernandez was on hand to break the deadlock in the 65th minute and notch his first Swans goal, scoring with a low effort after fine work from Wayne Routledge.
Two minutes later and Michu had doubled the home sides lead, taking advantage of some lax Wigan defending to head home unmarked from a corner. Emmerson Boyce then set up a tantalising final 20 minutes with an outrageous flicked effort that caught Vorm out in the Swansea goal.
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Wigan thought they’d snatched a point only for Kone’s effort to be chalked off for offside before goalkeeper Ali Al-Habsi was sensationally denied by Vorm at the death after meeting a corner with a firm header.
According to reports from The Guardian, Liverpool have joined the race to sign Stoke City midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri following the club’s relegation which has triggered a release clause in his contract.
There’s no debating the Switzerland international’s natural ability or the fact last season was his best to date in the Premier League, finishing up with eight goals and seven assists despite his side tumbling out of the top flight.
But is he the right fit for the Reds and would the 26-year-old represent money well spent? Football FanCast take a look at the potential consequences, some positive and some negative, of a Shaqiri switch to Anfield this summer.
Liverpool’s high press loses its intensity
Shaqiri’s a fantastical natural talent with real pedigree but to say he’s a little workshy would be putting it modestly. In fairness, he’s simply not the kind of player cut out for relegation battles, but he has a worrying knack for drifting in and out of games rather than consistently grabbing them by the scruff of the neck. That’s largely due to his limited energy and work-rate, despite boasting a powerful and stocky frame, and Jurgen Klopp needs to consider how that will affect Liverpool’s philosophy.
The Reds have become synonymous with pressing high under the former Dortmund boss, who used the same tactic with great success at Westfalenstadion too, but Shaqiri isn’t naturally suited to that style of defending from the front – he simply doesn’t have the appetite for it. That could take away much of Liverpool’s intensity in the final third, and some of the verve that makes this Reds team such a feared proposition – especially for high-quality opposition.
Woodburn and Wilson’s development takes a hit
Squad depth was a serious issue for Klopp last season and one can only speculate how Liverpool’s Champions League final would have panned out had there been a better replacement for Mohamed Salah than Adam Lallana. The forward line is particularly shallow and Shaqiri, albeit not the fastest of attackers, has the versatility to plug up gaps on the wide berths when necessary.
He’d certainly be an improvement on what Klopp already has to bring on from the bench, but signing a proven senior player always makes it that bit harder for some of the youngsters a little lower down the pecking order. In this instance, Harry Wilson – who grabbed seven goals in 13 Championship appearances for Hull last season – and 18-year-old Ben Woodburn, one of Liverpool’s most exciting young talents, are the likeliest to feel the pinch in terms of game-time, which will inevitably hamper their development.
And in some ways it’s a question of what suits Klopp best. Yes, Shaqiri is a decent addition to the squad, but the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson have highlighted the impact the Liverpool boss often has on young players. Not giving Woodburn and Wilson the chance to step up could prove to be a real mistake.
Reds start to unlock water-tight defences
Probably Liverpool’s most frustrating problem over the last five years, preceding Klopp’s arrival, has been their recurring inability to break down physical teams with deep-sitting, organised defences. Even last season, Liverpool failed to beat Burnley, Newcastle, West Brom, Swansea and Stoke, almost all of whom were far closer to the relegation battle than the top six come the end of the campaign.
The Reds’ inability to unlock those kinds of defensive blocks became even more prevalent after Philippe Coutinho’s departure to Barcelona in January, but Shaqiri could be the perfect candidate to arrest that issue.
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The 69-cap international is capable of working in tight spaces, providing that killer pass or scoring an absolute belter from long-range, the latter of which makes deep-lying defensive setups almost irrelevant. In addition to depth, that’s probably the greatest quality Shaqiri would bring to this Liverpool side.
So, Liverpool fans, would you back a swoop for Shaqiri? Let us know by voting below…
[brid autoplay=”true” video=”253213″ player=”12034″ title=”Watch Three reasons for Liverpool fans to be cheerful”]
As reported by The Scottish Sun, Rangers had to fend off interest from Crystal Palace in order to secure new signing Greg Docherty from Hamilton.
What’s the story?
The Ibrox side confirmed the capture of Docherty on Thursday evening after a week of speculation that he was set to make his move to the Light Blues.
However, it appears that the transfer was more complicated than first thought, with an English Premier League side hoping to scupper the transfer as late as Wednesday night.
The Scottish Sun say that Crystal Palace signalled their intent to make a bid for the Scotland U21 international, only to be told that he was already on his way to his boyhood heroes for a fee of £680,000.
The paper reckon that while Docherty would have been open to a move to London, Rangers was always his preferred destination.
It seems that the Scottish Premiership side got their business done in the nick of time.
Stopping the talent drain
Rangers fans will be the first to point out that the club have missed out on a raft of young Scottish talents over the last half decade plus, seeing many of them either end up at Celtic or make a move to the top two English divisions.
It’s imperative that the Ibrox side ensure they’re in the running to sign the best homegrown talents around, especially those that grew up ardent Rangers supporters like Greg Docherty.
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A potential future Scotland international, Docherty has the tools to be an excellent first team player at Ibrox and ensuring they were decisive in making their move for the midfielder is evidence that business is starting to be done right at the club.
The 31st of January. Just another day in the football calendar, albeit one without any actual football, save Southend United vs. Newport County.
Distinguished slightly by the ending of the mid-term period allotted to register new players but little more than a logistical failsafe to cross the i’s and dot the t’s and make sure all the cumbersome bureaucratic paperwork is completed before we exit the first month of the New Year.
WRONG Bitches! For this is Sky’s Super Awesome Magic Transfer Deadline Day Bonanz-O-rama! Only the most bed soilingly Bangerang day of the year. Like Christmas crossed with New Year sprinkled with your 21st birthday, only not your 21st birthday, you worthless boring peasant, your 21st birthday if you were one of the Beckhams or the Osbournes only featuring Jim White – That’s right, JIM WHITE! THE JIM WHITE!! (Actually no, not the Jim White, he plays snooker.) The country’s SECOND MOST NOTABLE JIM WHITE! – That bloke you might recognise off Sky Sports News if you watch it enough accompanied by an interchangeable collection of tits, both figurative and literal!
If Sky’s overly dramatic Nolan-esque promo is anything to go by, this years festivities will be scored by Hans Zimmer and take place in Aaron Sorkin’s Newsroom Universe. It’s only a matter of time before they’re numbered and sponsored. With that in mind, what can we mere mortals expect to get for our subscription fees from the 20th Biannual Sky Deadline Day Bonanza in conjunction with EDF Energy & Wimpy?
REPORTERS STANDING OUTSIDE, IN FRONT OF THINGS
Reporters often stand outside, in front of things. Standing outside in front of things is an important pre-requisite of what reporters do. Standing inside, behind things is far too easy, and probably comfortable, and reporters should never be comfortable inside of things, lest we cotton on to how easy their jobs actually are.
I once watched a report on the dire effects of the cold snap on hospital admissions, which required the intrepid reporter on scene to stand outside, in front of the hospital in question. All the way across the road from it in fact, so it was nicely in view, interviewing its chief resident doctor in the snow on a traffic island in the middle of a busy intersection. Ironically this both increased their chances of getting ill and diminished their ability to get to the hospital.
Often reporters are made to stand outside in front of important landmarks that have nothing relevant to do with the story they’re discussing, but merely to prove they’re in a place and “looking busy.” We can expect to see a lot of this kind of pointless behaviour as reporters stand idly about in front of Stamford Bridge or The Etihad despite the actual negotiations taking place in Portugal or Belize and not in the middle of the Fulham Road. Or perched at the end of a country road that leads to a training ground they’re not allowed near, all just to reassure us plebs they’re not merely sitting at home checking their Twitter feeds like the rest of us.
This is almost always accompanied by…
SPURCHINS… AND OTHER ANIMALS
If Reality TV has taught us anything (and it hasn’t) it’s that everyone wants to be on television. Being on television, however fleetingly or ignominiously is the status signifier of the 21st century, along with Twitter followers and pretending to like Ryan Gosling films. As soon as a reporter is stationed outside in front of a thing, it’s only a matter of time before a curious throng of dubious specimens begin to gather, enraptured moth like by the bright lights and the promise of nationwide exposure.
More often than not they manifest as urchin-like children, escaped from parental attention (providing their parents aren’t watching Sky Sports News) and determined to spend their youthful freedom staring gormlessly into the dark lens of the soul. This tends to make the reporter look a bit like Fagin, or a dowdy pied piper, harnessing the evil power of transfer speculation to lure the nation’s children out of their homes to do his bidding.
EX PLAYERS SITTING INSIDE CUPBOARDS
While reporters are rightly treated like the roaming cattle they are, former players are treated with a modicum more respect by the transfer speculation express. When discussing the possibility of a player’s transfer from one club to the other, it is of course vital to have the opinion of someone who has – at one time or another – played for one club, or the other. This player will likely have no knowledge of the current inner workings of the club, or indeed football itself, having stopped playing in the early 80s and never gotten closer to the game than a celebrity golf tournament since.
Yet his opinion will lend gravitas to whatever story it is he’s commenting on and he’ll be available. Former players are almost always interviewed in two ways; via satellite from a celebrity golf tournament, or in a cupboard full of monitors. The second allows said former player to view footage of said transfer and rattle off insightful phrases like. “…which is what he’ll bring to the table” and “a whole new dimension.” If he’s really lucky he’ll be able to slip in an anecdote about his time at Fulham in 1981 before he’s allowed to return to his life of golf and bankruptcy.
REPORTERS REPORTING ON OTHER REPORTERS
Whether standing outside in front of things, or sitting indoors behind things, or merely trapped in limbo on their way to do things, Sky will leave no stone unturned in their efforts to cannibalise their own reporting and eat up those precious viewing hours. Enter Jim White, the sort of self-created deadline Deity cum dancing transfer monkey of Sky Sports News who’s projected image is used as the headline act in the network’s deluded promotion of the event.
Jim’s whereabouts will be reported on throughout the day by other reporters as if he’s a transfer himself, in an act of almost Zen satire entirely lost on the protagonists. His grinning visage will also appear routinely on the sidebar alongside whichever news-tits he’s scheduled to anchor with, like a sort of monstrous inter-gender boxing card. Those in the know say this year he’ll wear a cape and enter on a runway of dry ice to the strains of Headline News by Weird Al Yankovic.
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CARS & SUNGLASSES
Cars form a crucially important part of transfer speculation. Most footballers these days drive cars of course, and most of these are inappropriately large, expensive things with tinted windows that all inexplicably look the same. This makes for the perfect visual filler in virtually any story. As rolling news trundles on in its constant desperation for something to happen, such footage will be replayed endlessly as the hapless roving reporter informs us that “we’ve heard nothing yet, but he arrived at training this morning as usual.”
Occasionally, to the unbridled joy of the huddled, wild outdoor newsmen, a car will stop and converse with the mass of hungry reporters. Frequently however, this conversation will yield no interesting information, and ‘Arry will simply be asking if anyone knows the form for the 3:40 at Lingfield.
When, against all the odds, a transfer actually is happening, footage of cars simply won’t cut it anymore and only footage of players walking around airports with wheeled suitcases dressed like diamond encrusted clowns will suffice. This is a must for your more personal rolling news filler, and will mandatorily require the player in question to be wearing sunglasses, despite the fact he’s in England, in the winter and most significantly indoors, contravening Rule 4 of the official people’s guide to not being a giant tool. (See also: Scarves) If one thing can be said for super Jim and his merry band of excitables, they’ve never needed sunglasses.
The prospect of a long and ultimately debilitating injuring list, is one that every club in the Premier League will have to deal with at some point this term. But after a season in which they found themselves with the most atrocious injury record in the division, it appears that Manchester United are looking to take things into their own hands.
Work is well under way at the Red Devils’ Carrington training ground to develop a new £13million, state-of-the-art medical facility, in partnership with Japanese technology giant Toshiba. According to The Telegraph, the facility’s remit is to produce quicker and more private injury diagnosis on site, rather than rely on nearby hospitals in the region, encompassing MRI scanners and the like to boot.
But such was the damning nature of last season’s injury statistics, the timing of this development, set to open before the end of the year, doesn’t seem to be a coincidence.
Last season saw United pick up 39 injuries that lasted for duration of two weeks or more. The Premier League average is around 20. With United already suffering a defensive injury crisis at the start of the season – in which Michael Carrick had to play centre half – that would have most other teams baulking, the new facility couldn’t open fast enough.
Although United’s training ground remains one of the most advanced facilities in the country, 12 years have since passed since Carrington’s opening and in the world of medical advancement and sports science, that’s quite a long time. There’s nothing more to suggest that the current facelift to their medical department is anything more than an upgrade, rather than a dramatic reinvention.
But this isn’t the first time that United, or indeed the realms of English football, have come under fire for their track record with injury and injury prevention.
When Owen Hargreaves ended his injury-ravaged spell at United and moved to rivals Manchester City in 2011, he aimed a parting shot at the medical staff at his former club. Hargreaves made a series of startling claims, suggesting that the prolotherapy injections he was administered for his tendinitis issues equated to ‘guinea pig’ treatment. But perhaps more concerning, was the claim that he was made to star his final game against Wolves, when he made the medical staff well aware of a hamstring complaint. A hamstring that subsequently gave way after five minutes.
Of course, Hargreaves’ chronic knee issues are an extremely rare and difficult problem to manage, but it certainly gave an interesting insight into the medical travails at United.
Because similarly with Hargreaves, the long-term and often terrible injuries such as the knee ligament damage that Nemaja Vidic suffered last season, are relatively rare. A club can do little to prevent someone breaking their leg or the chronic bowel condition that Darren Fletcher has fought back from. But the majority of their 39 ‘significant’ problems, weren’t a series of cruciate ligament ruptures; they were muscles strains and pulls.
According to the Daily Mail, this is something that the Fergie has not been best pleased with and is perhaps an area in which both his side and several others in the country, could do well to improve on.
Dutch fitness coach Raymond Verheijen, famous to most on these shores as the former assistant to the late former Wales boss, Gary Speed, has been an outspoken critic of English training regimes. But his pedigree within the game goes a lot further than his work with the Welsh national side, and he’s been employed by Frank Rijkaard during his time at Barcelona, Guus Hiddink during his spell with Chelsea and a host of international tournaments with the Netherlands, Russia and South Korea respectively. He believes that many clubs are failing in the preparation of their training and that by overworking players and ignoring their previous injury records, they are catalysing disaster.
Indeed, Verheijen points to the change in his countryman Arjen Robben’s fortunes when he switched Real Madrid to Bayern Munich, following a reputation as something of a ‘man of glass’, during his time with Chelsea.
“What they did [with Robben] was reduce his training volume and all of a sudden, he was not injured anymore. The question is, ‘Was he a player of glass or was he trained by coaches of glass? Robben and all the other explosive players like Robin van Persie, when they make an action they use more energy than other players.
“If they train the same volume as the other players their energy expenditure is twice as high as the other players. So you have to reduce the training volume by 50 per cent, which is what Bayern Munich did with his programme.”
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Verheijen’s ideology is that fatigue due to overtraining, is the cause of many muscle related injuries and that a player’s injury history, style of play and body composition, should all be considered when devising a training routine. His methods, coined with a typically Dutch phrase in Periodisation, can be controversial and his claim that 80% of injuries could be nullified by doing so, are open to scrutiny. But his beliefs certainly offer some food for thought.
Because the facilities of a medical facility are only as good as the methods in which they are being utilised. Some have suggested that the influx of investment at United can bring their facilities up to a par with AC Milan’s fabled Milanello complex. But Milanello is more a laboratory, than just a series of expensive medical instruments. It’s there to prevent injury, to achieve ultimate physical performance, in complete tandem with managerial selection.
Manchester United will be looking to scratch something of a very irritating itch indeed, when their new medical facility opens. But the ethos needs to be centred around preventing injury – not just addressing it.
Do you believe anything can be done to stop the incessant flow of injuries at Old Trafford? Just bad luck or something a little deeper? Let me know how you feel on Twitter: follow @samuel_antrobus and tell me what you think.