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As we were reminded in the laborious extra-time victory over Notts County a few weeks ago, the fullback position at Liverpool is and forever will be cursed. Aly Cissokho got hurt almost instantly in his debut, and over the past six-odd seasons we've watched as classy fullbacks have been cursed with injury and stupid fullbacks have been cursed with fitness. Right, left, whatever, Liverpool and fullbacks are not a union meant for this world, or at least not one that's probably ever going to be a thing in our lifetime.
Glen Johnson's been a victim as well, suffering multiple extended layoffs from injury since joining Liverpool in 2009. His most recent setback came in the 1-0 victory over Manchester United at Anfield last Sunday, when he, Patrice Evra, and Lucas all collided on what's being called a crunching tackle just outside the penalty area. Johnson was immediately hobbled and subsequently substituted, with the club reporting after the match that the fullback had a high ankle sprain and would be spending yet another lengthy spell on the trainer's table.
And, if you believe The Mirror reporting stories originating from The Sunday People, things just got a little lengthier, with the club either fearing or discovering that that injury is actually ligament damage in his knee, which would keep him out a full ten weeks. That would make for an awfully high ankle sprain, but one that wouldn't be too surprising given how jarring the tackle that saw him limp off was.
Important to note that we're playing a game of Telephone with two of England's less-reliable publications; it's not that they don't mean well, but they probably don't, it's that they just don't really seem to care whether or not things are based in what's happening in reality. Glen Johnson might have a knee injury, or the writer at The People could have had a twinge in his knee while writing the story and accidentally typed "knee" instead of "ankle." And that might be giving them the benefit of the doubt.
We know that Liverpool and England are going to be without Glen Johnson for awhile, whether or not it's worse than originally feared and etc. We knew that soon after the United win was over, and we'll probably know more from the club shortly. Today's "revelation" doesn't change anything, really, regardless of whether it came from a doctor or a dartboard.