Liverpool first-team physio Chris Morgan has taken to Twitter to defend the club’s medical and performance department amid the injury issues that have plagued the Reds this season.
With reports on social media on Tuesday that captain Jordan Henderson could become the fourth player to be ruled out for the rest of the season – following Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip – Morgan’s Twitter account received some distasteful messages.
Morgan, who returned to the club last summer after departing in 2016, told supporters not to “confuse correlation with causation [of injuries].”
He explained how injuries that weren’t preventable, for example Virgil van Dijk being taken out by Jordan Pickford, have had a knock-on effect on the ability to prevent injuries to other players.
During his time away from Anfield, Morgan acted as physio at Crystal Palace and Arsenal, and he sought to explain the intricacies of a medical department at an elite football club, saying how “one person is not a medical/performance dept” and listing all 19 of those involved as:
“2 doctors
4/5 physios
3 Soft tissue therapists
1 rehab coach
1 head of recovery
1 sports scientist
1 head of fitness
3 fitness and conditioners
1 head of nutrition
1 Psych
1 radiologist”
https://twitter.com/ChrisMorgan10/status/1364146357406212097
In replying to a fan, Morgan added: “It’s complex and multi factorial mate…the ones [injuries] we can’t prevent (and we’ve had lots) then impact the ability to try to prevent others..we still have to put 11 players on the pitch every 3-4 days after all..”
Liverpool’s fitness and medical department has had quite the turnover in recent times, with three first-team physios departing in the last year (Christopher Rohrbeck, Richie Partridge, Jose Luis Rodriguez), plus club doctor Andy Massey and medical rehab manager Phillip Jacobsen.
In response, Dr Andreas Schlumberger joined the club shortly before the New Year as head of recovery and performance, while Morgan and Steve Lilley arrived as physios last summer.
Dr Jim Moxon was promoted from the academy to the first-team to replace Massey.
Liverpool should be boosted by the return of Fabinho, James Milner and Diogo Jota from injury this week, ahead of Sunday’s trip to Sheffield United.
That would leave only Henderson and the long-term centre-back trio on the sidelines.
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