Liverpool Women Update Injury News On Denise O’Sullivan, Mia Enderby, And Others
The March international break has finally ended for the women’s side of Liverpool FC, and our squad will be back in action this Sunday at St. Helen’s Stadium to face Leicester City in the WSL. There were a number of injury issues heading into the break at the end of February, and manager Gareth Taylor was asked specifically in his pre-match presser on Friday what the updates were on those women, if there were any at all.
“Pretty good. It feels such a long time since, obviously, we spoke with this extended international break,” Taylor told the press.
“Denise [O’Sullivan] came back after game one of the Irish [Republic of Ireland] set-up. We had a bit of an issue with her knee. She’s coming back into training now with the team over the last couple of days, but we’ll wait and leave it in terms of a decision to start her or not for the game on Sunday.
“Mia [Enderby], obviously, the last time we spoke was stretchered off the pitch and that one was cause for concern, but she’s come through really well and she’s trained this week, which has been good.
“Pretty much everybody else is OK. Zara Shaw is back training with us – she will not be considered for this weekend because she needs to get more training time under her belt, but that’s been really positive.“
Zara Shaw coming back is a huge lift to the squad, even if she is still not 100% match ready just yet. Taylor went on to say how happy he was to have some extra time with the squad before they returned to match action for preparations.
“And again, it’s just nice to have a little bit of a slightly different set-up to what you normally get after the international break, where you maybe get one day or two days with the team,” the manager explained.
“This time we’ve managed to have four or five days and that allows us to prepare as best as we possibly can for Sunday.”
Talks then turned back slightly to Enderby, and how it appeared she swerved a more intense and severe injury despite the way she went down and having to be stretchered off back in February during the win against Everton.
“When you see a player [Enderby] stretchered off you fear the worst and particularly when you know the injury is to the knee, I think the first thought on everyone’s mind is the severity of it,” Taylor added.
“But we got it scanned pretty much straight away and it was pretty good that she was able, with the force of [Everton goalkeeper Courtney] Brosnan, to remove her leg from it quite quickly, even though there was a little bit of a jolt.
“We knew within a couple of days, really, that obviously that was going to rule her out of England U23s exposure, but that allowed us to build her up then with that extra week that we had on this break as instead of a two-week it’s a three-week.
“We got an extra week then to work with Mia and get her back into the team. That’s a positive, a real positive.”
Another player that Taylor mentioned was new signing Anna Jøsendal. She joined Liverpool in January and has yet to be featured in a match due to picking up an injury in training, but stayed in Merseyside throughout the break to continue her rehabilitation and potentially looks able to join the squad soon. Any addition will be helpful with the absences of Risa Shimizu and Fuka Nagano making squad selection that much harder.
“Of course, Anna Josendal as well has been with us in this break and she’s really looking good, so we have some good options at the top end of the pitch now to help us,” the manager continud.
“Where we are a little bit light has been in midfield, because obviously the girls going away with the Asia Cup, Risa [Shimizu] and Fuka [Nagano], and obviously that injury to Denise left us a bit light in those areas.
“But we’ve made good inroads, good reservations, for that and also getting Denise a little bit closer to it is going to be really helpful.”
Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com
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