Daniel Sturridge’s injury is due to England inflexibility, claims Rodgers

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/sep/11/daniel-sturridge-england-brendan-rodgers-liverpool

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Liverpool are seething at England’s treatment of Daniel Sturridge after the striker had a request rejected for a recovery training session on the day he suffered his thigh injury.

Brendan Rodgers will be without his leading forward for up to three weeks, with a problem sustained while training at St George’s Park last Friday.

“We certainly feel it could have been prevented,” said the Liverpool manager who, with Emre Can out for six weeks with an ankle injury collected playing for Germany Under-21s and Joe Allen jarring a knee playing for Wales, is counting a high cost from the international break.

Liverpool are to make a complaint to the Football Association over Sturridge’s latest injury on international duty, which occurred less than 48 hours after he played 89 minutes of England’s friendly against Norway.

Rodgers believes the issue could have been avoided had the manager, Roy Hodgson, and his backroom staff followed Sturridge’s individual recovery programme at club level, details of which England had, although the FA would argue the management must maximise the limited time they get with the player.

“These types of players you have to recover individually,” said Rodgers. “You can’t just throw a blanket over them and think one recovery fits everyone because it doesn’t.”

Normally, the 25-year-old has an active recovery session two days after a match – a low-to-moderate-intensity routine designed to avoid muscle problems. Sturridge asked England’s coaching team for such a session last Friday but though Gary Cahill sat out training that day with a fitness problem, the Liverpool striker was instructed to take part in regular training instead. He subsequently pulled up with the thigh injury and missed England’s Euro 2016 qualifying win over Switzerland on Monday when his replacement, Danny Welbeck, scored twice.

Rodgers did not blame Hodgson directly for the striker’s setback but said: “Here we look at the individual player. Forty-eight hours after a game is critical for recovery. Think of Daniel’s week last week. He plays a high-level game at Tottenham on Sunday and produces arguably one of his best games ever for Liverpool. He goes away and meets up with the England squad on Monday, and it’s a recovery then on the second day. If you ask most players, that’s when they really feel it, although some are obviously different.

“Luis Suárez needed to work and would come out of a session halfway through. Others do more active work but the intensity would be low and it would be in small space, because the muscles are still recovering. That’s allowed us over the last couple of years to maximise availability for players to play.

“I believe on the Tuesday they did a session which he was involved in. Then he played a second game on the Wednesday and recovers Thursday. Then on the Friday, what would be an active recovery for us on the second day, from images I’ve seen he’s sprinted with the ball nearly 50 yards, on three-quarters of the pitch, to shoot, and that’s when he pulls up. That’s where the issues are.”

Rodgers confirmed Liverpool provide all national associations with analysis of their players on international duty. “Absolutely,” he said. “The players tell the associations how they work. Of course, it’s always up to the manager of the association. On that second day you can still 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.”

With a three-week absence Sturridge would miss games against Aston Villa, West Ham United, Everton and West Bromwich in the league, Ludogorets and Basel in the Champions League, and Middlesbrough in the Capital One Cup. Ironically he should be fit for England’s next fixtures, against San Marino and Estonia next month.

Rodgers criticised the Liverpool striker for aggravating a thigh injury playing for England against Germany last November, when Hodgson played Sturridge despite being aware of the problem. “I might have been guilty of putting that resolve to the test but I don’t apologise for it,” the England manager said at the time. The Liverpool manager felt Sturridge should have insisted on his recovery routine before Germany. Now he has done only to be over-ruled by England.

“I have good relations with Roy, I give him the run-down on all our young players,” added Rodgers. “I’m one who is very pro-national teams and for an Irishman I actually want to help England. The core of our team is based around that. Look at Jordan Henderson the other night, playing in a diamond and he’s very fluid because he knows how to work it. Look at Raheem Sterling, he knows how to work it. We want to help them but this doesn’t help them and certainly doesn’t help us, especially when they know how we work.”