On Tuesday night Liverpool squeezed by League One side Notts County 4-2, after extra-time, in the second round of the League Cup.
And although Brendan Rodgers’ side were delighted to avoid a potential banana skin, it came at a cost.
Three Liverpool stars were injured as Joe Allen and new signing Aly Cissokho limped off and new central defender Kolo Toure was stretched off the field after a nasty looking groin injury.
Liverpool face bitter rivals Manchester United on Sunday in a huge Premier League clash, and Rodgers’ decision to field a strong lineup against lower-league opposition in the League Cup has come back to bite him.
(MORE: Toure makes Premier League Team of the Week for week 2 - Video)
Toure’s injury could see the Ivorian spend a lengthy period on the sidelines.
“Kolo Toure, we need to assess it,” Rodgers said. “His groin opened up a wee bit. He overstretched his groin and it doesn’t look so good, to be honest.”
While the injuries to Allen and Cissokho may not be as severe, as the latter lasted just five minutes of his Liverpool debut before awkwardly twisting his left ankle after a pretty innocuous looking challenge from County’s Jamal Campbell-Ryce.
Those two aside, the injury to 32-year-old Toure is a huge blow to Liverpool. They signed the Ivorian international on a free transfer from Manchester City this summer and the former Arsenal defender had put in two sterling displays during his first outings for the Reds.
Toure’s form was a huge factor in Liverpool recording back-to-back shutouts to start the campaign and this injury will knock him back after impressing in the 1-0 win over Aston Villa on Saturday. Toure rolled back the years at Villa Park as he handled the threat of Christian Benteke superbly, showing he hadn’t lost his physical prowess and reading of the game after a disrupted few years in and out of the team at Man City.
Many fans and pundits were lauding the signing of Toure as one of the best bits of business this summer, as Rodgers aimed to replace the experience and nous of Jamie Carragher after the Liverpool legend hung up his cleats at the end of last season. Toure has done that and more already, galvanizing Liverpool’s backline and looking just like the player City spent $21 million to buy from Arsenal in 2009.
However that nasty incident against Notts County on Tuesday night has put Liverpool in a bit of a pickle at the back as injuries mount up.
Liverpool will need Martin Skrtel back fit for the clash with United and the Slovakian international should be ready to step into Toure’s place in the team. Skrtel has been recovering from a knee injury and won’t be 100 percent for perhaps the biggest games of the season at Anfield this season.
But what choice does Rodgers have?
His other backup central defender, Sebastián Coates, is out for the season and youngster Andre Wisdom is too inexperienced to throw into such a big occasion. Uruguayan international Coates, 22, has knee ligament damage and will miss the rest of this season so out of Liverpool’s four center backs, only Daniel Agger is fully-fit. This could be a huge problem for the Reds on Sunday against a fired up Manchester United.
Rodgers will no doubt be working hard to bring in some defensive cover between now and the transfer deadline on Monday September 2. Liverpool certainly need it if they’re going to make a concerted effort to break into the top four this season.
