ANGRY RAFA UP FOUR A SCRAP; LIVERPOOL KOP'S NERVOUS BREAKDOWN.Byline: DAVID David, in the Bible David, d. c.970 B.C., king of ancient Israel (c.1010–970 B.C.), successor of Saul. The Book of First Samuel introduces him as the youngest of eight sons who is anointed king by Samuel to replace Saul, who had been deemed a failure. MADDOCK FRUSTRATED Rafa Benitez is on collision course collision course n. A course, as of moving objects or opposing philosophies, that will end in a collision or conflict if left unchanged: two planes on a collision course; dissidents on a collision course with the regime. with FOUR national teams amid injury fears over his Liverpool stars. The Anfield boss received mixed news yesterday about the condition of key players Steven Gerrard Steven George Gerrard MBE (IPA: ['stiːvn 'dʒɛɹɑːd]) (born 30 May, 1980, Whiston, Merseyside) is an English football player. He is the captain of Liverpool, where he wears the number 8 shirt. , Fernando Torres Fernando José Torres Sanz (born March 20, 1984) is a Spanish football player currently playing for Liverpool. He was born in Fuenlabrada, a large suburban town south of Madrid and was the youngest player to play for Atlético Madrid and the youngest to become captain (at age 19). , Dirk Kuyt Dirk Kuyt, officially spelled Dirk Kuijt[1] ( (helpinfo)), (born July 22 1980, in Katwijk aan Zee) is a Dutch professional football player, who currently plays for English club Liverpool FC. and Daniel Agger Daniel Munthe Agger (born 12 December 1984 in Hvidovre) is a Danish professional footballer who currently plays as a central defender for English club Liverpool. He started his senior career at Danish club Brøndby IF in July 2004, with whom he won the 2005 Danish Superliga , who all had fitness concerns in international games at the weekend. Gerrard, Torres and Kuyt were all substituted early in their matches because of injury - and Benitez is angry because all three players were diagnosed with the same injuries earlier in the week. Torres had been forced to sit out training with Spain, but was then pitched in from the start in their World Cup qualifier against Armenia, only to be taken off after 58 minutes with a groin strain. The same happened to Kuyt, who travelled all the way to Australia with Holland. He sat out most training days with an ankle problem only to be pitched into the friendly before hobbling off. Gerrard too, has been struggling with a groin problem for a while, and he was taken off at half-time during England's defeat in the Ukraine. He could be out for two weeks. Agger played a full 90 minutes for Denmark on Saturday even though he has yet to make a senior appearance for Liverpool this season due to back problems. And Benitez believes he will not be fit enough to play another game so soon, with his country facing Hungary tomorrow. It left the Reds boss busily contacting the four national teams yesterday for an update. He feels that with Spain, England and Denmark now all qualified for the World Cup finals they can easily afford to release players with injury worries hanging over them. England have already sent Wayne Rooney home, but plan to keep Gerrard with them for the match against Belarus, even though the midfielder is unlikely to play. That has angered the Merseyside club, because it smacks of preferential treatment to Manchester United. Spain too, want to keep Torres even though he won't start in the midweek game against Bosnia and despite the fact that coach Vicente Del Bosque has already allowed Carles Puyol, Carlos Marchena, Xavi, Dani Guiza and Cesc Fabregas to leave his squad. The Spain boss spoke to his Liverpool counterpart last night, and offered reassurance that Torres will not be put into any risky situation. He said: "I told Benitez that we will treat Torres as if he was at Liverpool. "If the boy is well and wants to play, he will play against Bosnia. And if he has any problem, he will not play. It's that simple." Benitez will also speak to Holland coach Bert van Marjwick about his decision to play Kuyt from the start of the friendly in Australia, even though the forward had been struggling so badly with an ankle problem. The Dutchman is now a major doubt for the Reds' visit to Sunderland on Saturday. CAPTION(S): ANFIELD AGONY Rafa Benitez is fuming about injuries to his internationals DOUBT Groin injury could keep Steven Gerrard out for several weeks DOUBT Fernando Torres may miss Spain's World Cup tie tomorrow DOUBT Daniel Agger may miss Denmark's game through a back injury DOUBT Dirk Kuyt picked up an injury while playing in Australia |
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