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It must be a peculiar to be around Melwood for the last few days, with the club divested of all its international players. Brendan Rodgers has spoken of the difficulty of coping with such periods, pointing out that no real work of benefit can be done with such a restricted group. Players follow their much-vaunted individual programmes, of course, but first team tactics and planning are effectively on-hold.
Training sessions have a peculiarly lop-sided look to them too, and one can see the non-international veterans mucking in with the kids, as unusual five-a-side teams face off against one another. On Thursday just such a game was organised. The Scousers, featuring Jamie Carragher, Adam Morgan and Jack Dunn faced The Rest of the World, featuring Lucas Leiva, Suso and Phillipe Coutinho. Yes, I know, that's exactly what I was thinking too.
At one point, Lucas unceremoniously dumps Adam Morgan on his backside with a clattering tackle. This is a thing we have seen the Brazilian do often. Carragher seems narked about it and has a moan. Of course, were Jamie to not have a moan, that would be newsworthy.
Carragher places the ball and rattles it high into the net with a venom Juninho Pernambucano would be proud of. Of course, Jamie doesn't score much - in the opposition net, at least - and his first reaction is to shout at the LFCTV cameras to make sure they caught it. After training he even asks what time it will be shown. Bless.