Source: Daily_Mail
Steven Gerrard is ruled out for a month as Liverpool ready £500k bill for FA
Furious Liverpool bosses yesterday were coming to terms with losing inspirational skipper Steven Gerrard for up to a month. [LNB]Dismay at an apparent broken promise regarding his England involvement against France turned to anger as the consequences of the hamstring injury he suffered late in the game became apparent. Liverpool are now expected to claim £500,000 compensation from the FA to cover his wages. [LNB] Head in hands: the Liverpool captain is set for a spell on the sidelines [LNB]Gerrard stayed on beyond the agreed hour mark of Wednesday's 2-1 defeat at Wembley and paid for trying to drive his team on, hobbling off with what was confirmed last night as a grade two hamstring tear. [LNB]SO, WHO IS THIS TWEETER BURGESS?Sydney-born Darren Burgess joined Liverpool as head of fitness and conditioning in the summer after three years in a similar role with Australia. He said he was 'absolutely stoked to work for Liverpool' after staying up all night to watch Premier League games Down Under. His role includes 'trying to prevent injuries happening', which may explain his anger at Gerrard's hamstring tear.[LNB]Given his history of muscle injuries if asked to play three games ina week, Liverpool are up in arms. Their mood was captured in apost-match tweet by head of fitness and conditioning, Darren Burgess,who described Gerrard's prolonged involvement as 'unbelievable' and'absolutely disgraceful', before later deleting the message. [LNB]Burgessphoned the FA on Thursday to express regret at the tone of his postbut, pointedly, there was no apology from the former Australia fitnesscoach, or the club, over the sentiment. [LNB]Agony: Gerrard is set to miss a crucial period for Liverpool [LNB]Gerrard will miss not only tomorrow's must-win game against Aston Villa. [LNB]Manager Roy Hodgson is seething at the loss of his midfielder for a critical sequence of games, particularly after repeatedly resting him in the Europa League. [LNB]Capello added to the tension by revealing that he would contact Hodgson to explain his actions but not to say sorry. [LNB]Pressed on whether there would be an apology, the England manager insisted Gerrard had to stay on after the half-time withdrawal of Rio Ferdinand and Gareth Barry.[LNB] He added: 'I will speak with him (Hodgson) to explain. When youplay, like this evening, with a lot of young players and do not have alot of old players, senior players, with experience... he is thecaptain, OK. 'I will speak with him. After, he will be happy or nothappy. But I know that Steven is a really important player, a reallygood player, captain of the team. If he played, he was OK. Butsometimes the injuries come when you don't expect them. You have toremember we did not have a lot of midfielders. If I decide to put theplayers on, if we are losing, to try to win, and Steven is a captain,he is really important.' [LNB]Peter Crouch, scorer of England'sgoal against France, has expressed his frustration at being so low inCapello's pecking order. Andy Carroll and even Jay Bothroyd werepreferred to the Spurs striker, who has now scored 22 goals in 42internationals. [LNB] Last resort: Crouch has expressed his disappointment at being so far down England's pecking order [LNB]'Throughout my England career it's been the same,' said Crouch. 'I always seem to be the last resort. All I can do when given minutes on the pitch is to try to make an impact and hopefully I've done that and given the manager something to think about.' [LNB] Liverpool fear four weeks without Steven Gerrard after broken deal with EnglandTime for the FA to pay! Pulis leads call for compensation after Gerrard blowYou disgrace! Liverpool attack Capello after Gerrard injured in England flopLIVERPOOL FC
