It is never great news when a regular first team player gets injured but I have a feeling that the shoulder injury Jamie Carragher picked up against Tottenham yesterday could be a blessing in disguise for Liverpool. Carragher dislocated his shoulder in the 2-1 loss to Spurs yesterday and there are fears that he could be out of action for a couple of weeks.
Now we are missing our captain and vice captain, that is a blow to any team but with Carragher’s absence now and with Daniel Agger still not fully fit, we are struggling at centre back. Right now it looks like we will be forced to play with Soto and Skrtel in central defence. But then this injury to Carragher could mean that young Danny Wilson may get his crack at the first team.
There is no denying that Carragher brings a wealth of experience to the Liverpool back line but Danny Wilson is the future and if he is able to get a run of games in the first team now due to Carragher being injured, he may just grow from this and turn out to be the new Jamie Carragher. I have a lot of faith in Wilson and I hope Hodgson also has the same amount of faith in him.
With Carragher and Gerrard both out of action now, the captains armband is up for grabs and I hope that Pepe Reina takes over of captain in both their absence.
It is going to be a tough couple of weeks for Liverpool without their captains and star players but I hope this will give other players the chance to step up.
Pepe is certainly in line for long-term captain, but as both Lucas and Kuyt have also had it it’s a bit difficult to predict who’ll take the mantle (I also seem to remember Maxi having it at one point). Granted, Lucas was only captain because he was the longest serving custodian on the pitch at the time… But as to whether Woy will go for Kuyt or Pepe remains to be seen.
My guess is that Pepe will become the club captain in the future, providing we can keep him. As for the next few matches, I think Kuyt will get the nod.
He could always go with Konchesky, just to really get the Dalglish chants going..!
I said the same thing about Carra to someone ealier today that we might just see our defence grow (get better) now that they don’t have him shouting (he should be marshalling) down their necks. martin Kelly must be given the chance if we want to see youth come through.