Agger out for a month

Rib facture sidelines Agger | Liverpool Football Club News, Fixtures, Results, Gossip

Liverpool defender Daniel Agger could be out for up to four weeks after fracturing a rib in Sunday's 4-0 Barclays Premier League defeat at Tottenham.

The Denmark international sustained the injury when he fell heavily in the first half and had to be substituted before half-time.

Evidently Daglish is down-playing the injury. Regardless, Liverpool can't continue to play center-backs out wide. None of Carragher, Skrtel or Agger have the pace for the role as was shown so starkly this weekend.

However, this doesn't have to be an issue. Even with Glen Johnson and Martin Kelly injured (hamstrings), Daglish still has youngsters John Flanagan and Jack Robinson able to play the position. And he hasn't been shy about using them in the past.

At home to Wolves this weekend, I would hope that he plays Flanagan at right back. That would be great for fantasy managers as well as Flanagan is listed at 3.96 in the Y! game. Right now I have Boyata (@Arsenal) as an enabler and while I can't move to Flanagan, I would definitely explore the option.

Season Preview - Liverpool

Quick Reminder, Real Life

What a crazy season it was for the Reds. To do it justice you’d probably have to write a book (and I hear Jeremy thinking to himself that this preview is entirely likely to turn into one the way I write). In the quick version we find the first half low-lighted by poor performances, the disasterous Joe Cole signing, Roy Hodgson being in over his head, a contentious change of ownership between two groups of Americans, and numerous debates online and in the press wondering whether Liverpool could possibly go down under the weight of all of the above.

As bad as the first half was, the second half was that good. New owners, back office staff, and manager made the bold move of selling off star Fernando Torres and replacing him with the excellent-so-far Luis Suarez and full-of-potential-but-overpriced Andy Carroll. The results improved dramatically and Raul Meireles proved to be more than adequate cover for oft-injured captain Steven Gerrard. All the drama aside, Liverpool had two major weaknesses last season - their left back position and playing away from Anfield where they could neither score nor keep the ball out of the net.

Quick Reminder, Fantasy

As crazy a season as it was for Liverpool on and off the pitch, it was no different for fantasy managers trying to figure this team out. Reina’s fortunes mimicked those of the club (bad early, better late). Meireles and Suarez had excellent second halves of the season while Carroll had a great first half while playing for Newcastle but injury dragged down his second half pretty badly. Finally, out of almost nowhere, Maxi Rodriguez had an absolutely amazing last two weeks which saw him get about a third of his overall output for the season. On the defensive side of the ball Martin Skertl was ever-present and had an OK season but the rest of the defenders were seemingly on a carousel due to injuries and general mediocrity.

Summer Changes

Reds duo suffer injuries

Caption contest?

Reds duo suffer injuries - Yahoo! Eurosport

Our contractually-obligated daily Liverpool posting.

Dirk Kuyt and Daniel Agger have been injured on international duty giving Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson more to worry about ahead of the Merseyside derby on Sunday.

Kuyt's injury could be the more serious as he lasted only 29 minutes of Holland's game against Sweden before leaving with what appeared to be a bad ankle injury.

Agger, making his comeback from a groin problem, lasted only 39 minutes of Denmark's game against Cyprus.

In a subsequent article, Yahoo!UK continues:

Premier League Round-Up

Liverpool duo head home

Liverpool's injured duo Martin Skrtel and Nabil El Zhar will fly home from the Far East on Thursday to have potentially serious injuries assessed in the UK.

Both players were injured in Wednesday's 1-1 friendly draw with Thailand in Bangkok... Central defender Skrtel has a hamstring problem while midfielder El Zhar damaged a knee ligament.

Skrtel's is potentially the most serious injury and it is feared he could miss the start of the season.

Neither Agger (9.17) or Carragher (9.20) are cheap, but if they're your nailed on starters they might be worth a look. Especially Agger who loves a shot from distance!

Elsewhere...

Injury blow for Kapo

Wigan midfielder Olivier Kapo is likely to miss the start of the Barclays Premier League campaign after damaging knee ligaments on the club's pre-season tour of Austria.

Wenger expects Eduardo to figure

Arsene Wenger has eased concerns over Eduardo's fitness by confirming the Arsenal striker is in line to make his pre-season bow in Monday's match at Szombathelyi Haladas.

Bouma boost for Villa

Villa, though, are optimistic the 31-year-old could feature in their first game of the Premier League, at home to Wigan on 15th August, after he was included in a 26-man squad for pre-season fixtures in Spain.

Tottenham captain King held on assault charge
Spurs sign Blades duo
Walker going back to Blades
Spurs face early season injury crisis

Tottenham Hotspur are facing a central defensive crisis for the start of the Premier League season after confirming a trio of injuries on Thursday.

Injury-plagued Jonathan Woodgate has a groin problem and has flown to the United States for treatment, captain Ledley King has not kicked a ball in pre-season and Michael Dawson has damaged his Achilles.

Assuming King will play (He never practices with the team anyway, so why should we expect him to play in pre-season? And these legal matters never seem to impact a player's availability.) the logical move is Corluka coming inside and Hutton or new boy Naughton at right back. If it is the latter, and rumours are that Hutton is going to Everton, he could be a nice early season pick-up in defence.