Heskey and Henchoz out: http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=reu-liverpoolinjuries&prov=reuters&type=lgns LIVERPOOL, England, March 5 (Reuters) - Liverpool suffered a double injury blow on Wednesday when defender Stephane Henchoz and striker Emile Heskey were ruled out of action for several weeks. Swiss defender Henchoz will be sidelined for four to six weeks because he needs a minor operation on his left calf, Liverpool's official website reported. England striker Heskey is out for two weeks with a hamstring strain picked up in Sunday's 2-0 League Cup final win over Manchester United. Both will miss the first leg of Liverpool's all-British UEFA Cup quarter-final against Celtic on March 13. Henchoz also misses the second leg at Anfield on March 20, and Heskey faces a battle to be fit for that game. French defender Djimi Traore is Henchoz's likely replacement while Czech striker Milan Baros should step in for Heskey.
An awful turn of events. So I guess Traore will go into the middle, Riise to the left back, Baros for Heskey, and . . . Smicer to left mid? Isn't that the second time Henchoz has had serious calf problems this season? ----
Being without Heskey concerns me less than losing Henchoz, especially with the length of time Henchoz is expected to be out (basically the remainder of the season). The reason for this is that losing Henchoz means that Riise will likely be used exclusively in the back line, and I like having Riise on the left side of midfield (or at least the option of that). Any chance Babbel is ready to go? Of course, I did like the set-up used against ManU, or maybe I just like that we won. Anyway, having Baros get a run of games (or even Mellor seeing some first team action) while Heskey is out is fine by me. Still being in the UEFA cup means we still have plenty of matches and you never like to have your options limited and your depth diminished.
Agree on Riise completely. Much better to have him in the midfield. And yeah, where IS Markus Babbel, anyway? ----
Just when I was feeling good about the team's fortunes.... It's one thing if there was an adquate backup that could be put in Henchoz's spot, but when you start moving players around...
Shows you what a hero Stephane is. He had this injury and went 90 to beat the scum. We'll just have to cope.
Don't think so; subs were: Baros (Heskey, 60), Smicer (Baros, 88), Biscan (Diouf, 90) http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/match/last_match/ ----