Friday, July 22, 2011

Jordan Henderson, Stewart Downing And Alexander Doni In Line For LFC Debuts

Kenny Dalglish is considering handing debuts to LFC new boys Stewart Downing, Jordan Henderson and Alexander Doni in tomorrow’s friendly at Hull City.

The trio have all trained at Melwood this week and will be added to the squad which took part in the pre-season tour of the Far East.

Downing and Doni missed the trip as they waited for their respective deals to be completed, while Henderson was granted extra time off following his exertions for England in the Under-21 European Championships.

The Reds boss will assess their fitness prior to deciding who will be in action at the KC Stadium.

“We will have a look at them and decide what’s best,” Dalglish said.

“There is certainly no rush for us to play anyone in these pre-season games.

“Stewart has been training for a fortnight and Jordan only started training on Monday.

“Everyone has trained well this week and the players are looking in good shape. Nowadays they come back looking as fit as they were before the break.

“But some have started back later than others and we have to take that into consideration.”

Pepe Reina is still recovering from a hernia operation, while Glen Johnson, Martin Skrtel and Fabio Aurelio are also hampered by injuries which ruled them out of the Asia tour.

“There are a few knocks but they shouldn’t take too long to clear,” Dalglish added. “We’re certainly not going to take any risks with anyone at this stage. We don’t want to spoil anyone’s chances of being fit for the first game of the season.

“We’ve got plenty of games coming up with the trips to Turkey and Norway after Hull.”

No fewer than 23 players were involved in the game in Malaysia last Saturday and once again there will be plenty of changes.

“It’s a pre-season game and we will treat it as such,” Dalglish said. “We need to use these games to give as much benefit to as many players as we can.

“I’m not sure what the ruling will be in terms of the number of subs we can use. But we will certainly use up our full quota and field as many as possible.”

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