The Soccer Blog: Steven Gerrard Out, Segura to Coach Reserves, and Other Friday Notes

Saturday, 12 March 2011

Steven Gerrard Out, Segura to Coach Reserves, and Other Friday Notes

By: Noel | March 11th, 2011
Tweet Gerrard Watches

Liverpool has at least four weeks of Gerrard
watching from the stands to look forward to

Right, so it’s the Friday news and notes, coming at you faster than a rabid chipmunk on crystal methamphet- amine. Of course, given the vagaries of time zones, the prime blogging time of just after lunch in the eastern half of North America means all the cool kids across the pond are getting ready to head out and eyeball vodka, so assuming they can still see when a night of debauchery is said and done one would expect this to end up more a Saturday morning news and notes, consumed alongside a full English in the hopes that the grease will help pave over the previous evening’s excesses. And meanwhile over in the Land of Oz the sun hasn’t quite risen on a new day, but since we’re talking Australians here they’re probably already out wrestling Great White Land Sharkodiles in the sun baked outback (and even if it’s still dark outside the outback is sunbaked). Or something. What I’m saying is that I’m fairly sure everybody in Australia is Chuck Norris, including the ladies and your beard is incredibly sexy ma’am please don’t punch my throat out.

In any case, I guess this is the news and notes for whenever you get to it…

* Right off the top we have an unfortunate news story so brief that 67% of it fits into the the header at the official site, a passage short enough to comfortably fit in a 140 character Tweet:

LFC can today confirm that Steven Gerrard has undergone successful surgery on his groin and will be out for up to four weeks.

Well, so much for any hope of having him back next week to help with Liverpool’s painful lack of depth and a goal deficit in the Europa tie. In less painful news, you should probably follow the Liverpool Offside’s mostly updated by Ed but occasionally by Noel where he annoyingly refers to himself in the third person to try to avoid too much confusion, because Noel’s just awesome like that, Twitter account. We plan on using it to shortly begin a fundraiser to fly Jan-Jan the Hammer Man in from Holland to help Gerrard with his recovery.

* Meanwhile, the reserves are in the news again, as up until now u18 coach Pep Segura will step in to manage both groups until the end of the season, with John McMahon being let go. We’ve talked before about the role former Barcelona youth coach Segura has had with the new group of young talents since joining, and though it’s only speculation, it would seem odd to let McMahon go before the end of the season if there wasn’t some intent to move Segura to coach the reserves permanently come the end of the season. It would make some sense to move the coach along with the players as more and more of the promising youngsters like Conor Coady, Jack Robinson, Suso, and Raheen Sterling take the step up into the reserve level and inch closer towards roles in the first team in a couple of years, but for now nobody seems to know exactly what it means for the club’s youth set up going forward.

* And from the reserves, let’s keep moving down to the u18s, who will still have Segura in the technical area when they face off against Manchester United in the FA Youth Cup quarter-finals at Anfield on Sunday. It may not be first team football, but with all the hype surrounding the young wave of talent at the club there’s likely to be more familiarity and interest than might have existed in years past. For those with access, the match will be shown live at noon GMT (which means the rather uncomfortable 7AM on a Sunday morning in New York, or the rather more comfortable but still a touch awkward 11PM in Sydney) on both LFCTV and whatever the United equivalent is if you have access to those stations somewhere on your 897 channel digital package. It will also be available online to those with an e-season ticket.

[Addendum: And sometimes I can be a bit thick, since as Guthmate points out in the comments, Josep Segura was the academy technical director and has now added temporary Reserves coach to his duties, while Rodolfo Borrell has been the u18 coach all along and will not be changing his duties in the coming days.]

In the meantime, while you try to figure out if it’s socially acceptable to start drinking in your time zone yet…

Some Related Liverpool Posts:Tactics, Spanish Goalkeepers, and Other Friday NotesHappy Birthday Kenny Dalglish, Redeveloping Anfield, and Other Friday NotesThe Inconsistent Brilliance of Steven GerrardRehabilitating Rafa, and Other Friday NotesEpic Swindles, Endless Injuries, and Other Friday Notes

Category: Premier League, Team News

Tags: Causes of Alcoholism, FA Youth Cup, Links!, Manchester United, Premier League, Reserves, Steven Gerrard, Team News
Tweet « A Certain Lack of Depth | Home | YannHere in Melbourne it’s late morning and even with a few hours of shuteye, I’m probably still well over the legal blood alcohol limit and can barely see straight enough to read Ed’s gospel without it blurring. My magnificent Collingwood Magpies (GO! you good thing) last night beat our arch rivals in the final to win the preseason competition and they look in ominous form for the new AFL season which starts in two weeks. In amongst the 45,00 strong crowd, cheering and singing, I had a moment, like hitting some kind of void, where I thought sad for my beloved Liverpool and how diabolical things have been these past few years. And then this rash epiphany hit me – it’s all cool, no need to fret, we’re going to lift the Premiership in 2011/12. And then I sank another beer for the Reds.EdApparently no need for Noel to use Twitter in order for me to get credit.

Have another for us all, and roll on 2011-2012, when Liverpool become Premiers once again.GuthmateThe coach of the u18 team is Rodolfo Borrel not Segura. Segura is the Academy Technical Manager and now the temporary manager the reserve team.NoelCan I claim it was all a test to see how long it would take somebody to notice I'd screwed up?

Thanks for the heads-up, Guthmate.GuthmateYou're welcome. Thanks for the correction.SignalflashThanks for informing/entertaining us between games. As far as Pep Segura goes, there appears to be things going on we're not likely to see explained later on. I like to think they have a plan, and I hope it includes Kenny and Steve Clarke. BTW, any comment about why Fernando can't stop telling everyone why he likes Chelsea so much more? And people like Ashley Cole and John Terry are more professional than the players we root for?EdMy response to the Torres comments is just sort of whatever and stuff. He was probably asked about why he left Liverpool again, and like Noel said, repeated the same stock lines he'd already rehearsed.

Or, he can fuck off. But there's no middle ground.NoelIt crossed my mind, but it seemed mostly same old-same old on the Torres front--he hasn't scored and he's still saying exactly the same things he did the week after his transfer.

As for Segura, I rather doubt they're grooming him to replace Kenny and Clarke--unless it's about grooming him to replace Kenny in four or five years, mirroring a certain other Pep with Barcelona connections. I'm pretty comfortable in my assumptions that Dalglish has the full time job if he wants it and holding off on the signatures and announcements is little more than saving a little good PR for a rainy day/when they think the club needs it for a boost.Red2deathWell maybe he does like Chelsea so much more.

Just like Gary Neville loves Utd so much more than Liverpool, and Roy Hodgson truly believes in hoofball.

Good for him.EdNoel should just use the Twitter regularly so Ed can take credit for the clever things he says.NoelThat sounds like an exceptionally bad idea, as he'd probably just start following dozens of z-list celebrities and mindlessly retweet their mindless tweets.blog comments powered by Disqus