The good news for Jose Enrique is that his manager may not be getting ready to shove him out the door any more. The bad news is that he won't be able to even begin training again for at least seven to ten more days.
As if being called out by his new manager wasn't bad enough for Jose Enrique, the Liverpool left back who has found himself out of favour while struggling to return from a persistent knee injury faces at least another week on the trainer's table before he even has the chance to return to action.
"Hopefully within the next week to 10 days he'll be back out on the training field," was Brendan Rodgers' take on Enrique's situation before adding that he hoped there would be no negative reaction to the current treatment regimen that could see the Spaniard out for even longer.
"He hasn't been [available for selection] the last couple of weeks. It's unfortunate—he's got a pain in his knee that he was struggling with. We've been trying to treat it conservatively."
There's still a chance that on that timeline he could be available to face Reading following the international break, but with much of the squad either away with their national teams or working of further implementing Rodgers' system, every day that Enrique misses is another chance to fall further behind in the eyes of his manager.
About the only good news for the fullback might be that while discussing his situation, Rodgers took the chance to paint the player in a rather more flattering light than when he talked about Enrique being a potential January departure alongside the under-performing Stewart Downing at the end of September.
"He's a terrific player," said Rodgers, in what represents a softening of his tone when it comes to the fit and out of form fullback, "and he has got great qualities. We hope we can get him back sooner rather than later."
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