Rodgers slams England over Sturridge treatment

Brendan Rodgers has spoken in greater detail about why he feels Daniel Sturridge’s injury - sustained on international duty with England - could have been avoided.

A clearly irritated Rodgers claims that Sturridge was injured on what would usually have been a “rest day” had the striker been with his club rather than his country. Furthermore, not only was Sturridge training on that day (Friday), he was playing a full intensity 11 a side game less than 48 hours after playing the full ninety minutes of England’s 1-0 win over Norway on Wednesday night.

You don’t need a sports science degree to know that a player with a history of muscular problems should not be overworked like that.

And as if that wasn’t bad enough, Rodgers also revealed that Sturridge warned the England staff he was at risk of being injured if his specialist training routine was disrupted. Those warnings were ignored, and lo and behold Sturridge was injured. Still, he’s due back for England’s next international, so no harm done eh Roy?

These are quotes from Rodgers in today’s Daily Telegraph

“From images I’ve seen Daniel’s actually sprinted with the ball nearly 50 yards, three-quarters of the pitch, to shoot and that’s when he pulls up. That’s where the issues are. We’re obviously disappointed because we feel it was an injury which could have been prevented.

 

“Here we look at the individual player. 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.

 

“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. Fast players would have a second day’s recovery, while other players can work on that day. When you are that type of quick player like Daniel Sturridge, Raheem Sterling and boys like Danny Welbeck, you need to recover them. Sturridge has worked so hard over pre-season and looked very fit and strong in our last game against Tottenham."

 

Asked if the England team were made aware of Sturridge’s particular training programme, Rodgers said:

 

“Absolutely. 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.

 

“I have good relations with Roy [Hodgson]. We speak, I give him the run-down on all our young players, their positioning, and all that. I’m one who is very pro the national teams. I am an Irishman and 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, 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.”

The worst part of it all is that there is absolutely nothing to prevent this happening again next time. Liverpool’s players have their own individually tailored training programmes but when they go and join up with their countries (not just England) that goes out of the window.

It seems farcical that clubs pay these players such vast amounts of money but have no control over what happens when they join up with their countries.If Roy Hodgson wants to “test a player’s resolve” by making him play when he’s injured, there’s nothing in place to stop him. If he wants to dismiss the advice of Liverpool’s medical people and ignore the concerns of a player who knows his own body much better than the England staff could possibly do, there’s nothing to stop him.

This isn't the first time it's happened, and you can be sure it won't be the last either.