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Given he hadn't trained all week following a rib injury suffered in practice and likely would never have played against Southampton on Saturday if it hadn't been for Liverpool's fullback injury crisis, Daniel Agger's removal in the second half when he complained he was having difficulty drawing breath in retrospect doesn't seem much of a surprise.
With the player continuing to struggle, perhaps what's most surprising is that Brendan Rodgers has suggested there's any chance he could make the squad for tomorrow's League Cup tie against Manchester United at Old Trafford. Despite the injury, though, Rodgers said Agger will be evaluated ahead of the match and remains a possibility.
"We’ll see how he is for the game," said the manager. "He could be a doubt as he has not quite recovered. We wanted to give him time at the weekend, but unfortunately he was struggling with his breathing because he got a knock to his ribs. But we’ll see. He’s a player who makes a good recovery and we’ll see over the next 24 hours how he gets on for the game on Wednesday."
Whatever happens regarding Agger's availability on Wednesday, fans can pencil Jose Enrique in on the left after Rodgers revealed that part of the reason he started on the bench against Southampton was to ensure he'd be good to go mid-week. Continuing to deal with a persistent knee problem has limited his availability, and though it hasn't been enough to sideline him completely it has meant having to manage his minutes.
"We’ve had to taper his load in training because he’s had this niggle now for a few weeks and obviously we’re in a period where we have three games this week," added Rodgers. "We decided to miss him out at the weekend to allow him to be involved over these next couple of games.
"It was just unfortunate that Aly Cissokho was out with injury or else he would have been able to step in and Jose might have been able to rest that wee bit more, but he’s training and he’s fine. We just need to protect his load and the last thing we wanted to do was lose him."