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Posts Tagged ‘injury’

• Lampard travels for ‘placenta treatment’ in Serbia
• Arsène Wenger supports alternative therapies

Frank Lampard has become the latest Premier League player to visit the Serbian doctor Marijana Kovacevic as he tries to speed his recovery from the thigh tear suffered while on England duty.

The midfielder had initially been ruled out for around three weeks after sustaining the injury in Qatar but flew to Belgrade, accompanied by the Chelsea club doctor, Bryan English, on Thursday for treatment on the injury in the hope that the 31-year-old might yet be fit for the critical top of the table game with Arsenal at the Emirates on 29 November.

Kovacevic’s alternative techniques made waves this week when it was revealed that one of her treatments involved massaging fluid from a horse placenta into the injured area. Robin van Persie has been undergoing that therapy in Serbia after damaging his ankle ligaments during Holland’s 0-0 draw with Italy last Saturday, with the secretive Kovacevic having also treated Manchester City’s Vincent Kompany and Pablo Zabaleta and the Liverpool trio of Yossi Benayoun, Glen Johnson and Albert Riera. All three of those players trained yesterday ahead of City’s visit to Anfield this afternoon.

Lampard, who is due back in London today, has not been undergoing the placenta treatment with Kovacevic – who specialises in muscular injuries – having instead utilised standard massage oils in addressing his thigh complaint. English spoke to the Serbian doctor last week and recognised there would be some merit in the midfielder travelling to Belgrade to be assessed with the treatment to complement that currently being undertaken. Chelsea’s Slobodan Rajkovic, the Serb defender who has spent the last two seasons on loan at FC Twente in Holland, has visited Kovacevic in the past.

The Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger, admitted to being sceptical when it comes to alternative medicine, though he recognised the psychological benefits such a treatment may have on an injured player. The Frenchman, who had not previously been aware of Dr Kovacevic, expects his Dutch striker back in the country tomorrow to continue more conventional treatment at London Colney.

“I asked my medical people if there was any danger to the treatment and, when they said there wasn’t, I was happy to let him go,” said Wenger. “Van Persie wanted to go. It’s sometimes psychological as well, for the players to feel that they can be helped. It can be a problem of confidence. But since I’ve been in sport a muscle problem takes 21 days [to heal], a damaged ligament is four weeks, and I’ve never seen it any shorter. You can only play with injections and there’s always a recurrence of the muscle injury.”

“We heard about her about 15 days ago and the information we got was very positive,” added the Liverpool manager, Rafael Benítez. “She is a doctor with a degree in pharmacology and is really good with muscle injuries. If a player is supposed to be out for four weeks and he is back available within two or three days, and everything is clear, they are natural products, then why not? It’s curative. It’s not trying to improve the performance of the player, it’s trying to cure him. We had some players that were injured, and with natural products and treatments they are available, and that’s surely a positive.”

ChelseaArsenalArsène WengerLiverpoolRafael BenítezPremier LeagueDominic Fifieldguardian.co.uk

• ‘Maybe it was not a penalty,’ says Benítez of dive
• ‘I was nowhere near him. It’s a joke,’ says Carsley

The Liverpool striker David Ngog was accused of indulging in “an embarrassing case of cheating” last night as a controversial penalty salvaged a draw against Birmingham City but left Rafael Benítez’s team seventh in the Premier League and 11 points behind leaders, Chelsea.

Liverpool were dominant but trailing 2-1 with 20 minutes remaining when the former Paris St Germain forward dived over a challenge from Lee Carsley and the referee, Peter Walton, pointed to the spot. Steven Gerrard, making his first appearance in five matches following an adductor problem, duly converted but Ngog’s theatrics prompted a furious response from Birmingham and Benítez admitted the award was dubious having spoken to the 20-year-old in the dressing room.

“I was absolutely nowhere near him. It’s a joke,” said Carsley, the former Everton midfielder. “I know I didn’t touch him and I said to the referee to book me or send me off. That would have made me feel better. I’m sure he has got a family but, if I went home having done that, I’d be embarrassed. You are supposed to be teaching your kids an example and this is just an embarrassing case of cheating. But the lad has taken a chance and got his team a point, so I’m sure they’ll be patting him on the back.”

Ngog, in for the injured Fernando Torres, had given Liverpool a merited lead until Christian Benítez’s and Cameron Jerome’s first league goals of the season transformed the contest. The home side put Joe Hart’s goal under relentless pressure in the second half but beat the Birmingham goalkeeper thanks only to the game’s incendiary incident.

“He is a top referee,” said Alex McLeish, the City manager, “but he didn’t get that one right and I’m sure when he looks at it again he’ll see that Ngog dived. It was a terrific dive. Sometimes there is a debate over a penalty when there is contact but there was none here. It was not even close to being a penalty.”

Liverpool have now won only once in nine matches and their injury problems continued last night with both Albert Riera and Yossi Benayoun suffering hamstring injuries. The international break gives Liverpool respite on the injury front, with Torres to receive intensive treatment on a hernia over the next fortnight, but the result brought fresh frustration for Benítez.

“We have to be disappointed with a draw at home,” said the Liverpool manager. “The performance of the team was pretty good for me. We had plenty of possession, a lot of attempts and showed character until the end. Everyone in the stadium thought we would get a third goal but we just couldn’t do it.

“It was a pity to score with a penalty that maybe wasn’t a penalty. It is not fair sometimes but we have had a lot of things go against us this season and we deserved more from this game. It turned out to be positive for us. We attacked and attacked and we deserved to win but maybe it wasn’t a penalty.”

Benítez revealed he had questioned Ngog on the legitimacy of the penalty award. “I asked him about the penalty and he said maybe it wasn’t. I haven’t seen a replay but I spoke to him about it,” he said. The Liverpool manager also suspected Benayoun and Riera had torn their hamstrings, although a full diagnosis will be made today. He added: “Riera has the same problem and so does Yossi now. Also [Daniel] Agger felt something in his back. It is not serious but he felt it again.”

“Fernando had no confidence and so we started his treatment yesterday. We are not talking about an operation. He has to work with the physios and we will treat him properly. He will spend two or three weeks working with the physios and we will see how he reacts every day.”

Premier LeagueLiverpoolBirmingham CityAndy Hunterguardian.co.uk

Let the beachball gags continue. Photograph: Nigel Roddis/Reuters

Nevermind Beachballgate, Liverpool’s Champions League hopes will also be up in the air if they lose to Lyon. You can follow the action with Paul from around 7.15pm (kick-off is 7.45pm).

In the meantime, there’s mixed news on the injury front: Steven Gerrard will return tonight, but Fernando Torres is still missing through injury.