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RAFA'S BOOTROOM: DR MARK WALLER
Jimmy Rice 15 July 2008 Liverpoolfc.tv today continues its series of features looking at the men behind the Rafalution. We've heard from a physio, a fitness coach and a technical analyst – now it's the club doctor's turn.
The players are all back in training but I imagine a doctor's work is never done – did you get much of a break over the summer?
This summer was the best for years because normally I have international games in the summer (with England Under-21s). I was able to have 12 days away and that's the first holiday for three years. So, a couple of weeks, then I've been in and out, because we've had one or two players in here this summer. We always have a physio covering during the summer because, even if we haven't got players with long-term injuries, you never know what's going to happen with internationals. We had Ryan Babel this year, who was injured in one of the training sessions before the Euros.
Did Ryan come back to Melwood after that injury, then?
He came back for us to review him. We discussed what his programme was going to be with some of the physio staff from the Dutch team.
There is a running debate about players getting injured while with national teams. I imagine you can see it from both sides, can't you?
With England, we liaise very closely with the staff at clubs because, ultimately, the players belong to the clubs. They are the ones who hold their contracts and pay their wages. I speak to the club doctors and the physios speak to the club physios so there's good dialogue. If a player ends up staying with the national team, we make sure there is regular contact. Unfortunately, this doesn't happen with a lot of the other national teams. It ends up being the players who tell us about injuries. That's a continual frustration from my point of view. Some of the international teams are very good, but some are not.
For us journalists this is the calm before the storm, pre-season. Is it the same for you?
No, this is the storm. It's always a very busy time for us because we need to look at players and what their fitness levels are. We need to assess players as they come in to make sure they haven't picked up a problem during the break. We need to check their weight and fat levels, and we do lots of blood testing. This gives us a good base line and then we decide what we do in response to the results.
I imagine each player comes back at a different level…
Things are very different now than 16 years ago. You look at the lads we've got now and they've looked after themselves extremely well during the summer.
There seems to be a more European mentality now. Would you agree with that?
I'm not sure you'd call it a European mentality or a sensible mentality. Personally, I just think what we do now is professional and sensible. We try to get a balance between the science and football. Being able to play football isn't about being a scientist, it's about having talent and having people behind you who can help you get into optimum condition. And it's not just me: we use physiologists, nutritionists etc. We take advice from people at various university departments; basically just trying to find the best people to help our players get into optimum condition.
He's big, he WAS red, but his feet will now stick out of a different bed... After three seasons, 134 games and 42 goals in a Liverpool shirt Peter Crouch's Anfield career has come to an end.
The towering striker returns to the South coast with former club Portsmouth having overcome a difficult start on Merseyside; going on to enhance his reputation as one of the best centre forwards in the country.
ASSAIN FOR U
As we say a fond farewell to one of football's genuine 'Mr nice guys' Liverpoolfc.tv pays tribute to the tallest player to ever play for the club with a look back at our top five Crouch moments.
1. Breaking his duck
The well known phrase referring to the reliability of 'London buses' could not have been more apt for Peter Crouch as he made his way home from Anfield on the evening of December 3, 2005.
He had endured a difficult first few months in the red of Liverpool after failing to find the net in his first 18 matches for the club; but as the whistle blew on game number 19 he had not only ended 1,229 minutes of frustration in front of goal with one strike - he had actually managed two.
The victims on that famous afternoon were Paul Jewell's Wigan Athletic and as Crouchie looks back on his three-year spell at Anfield he will no doubt reflect upon an aberration from Latics keeper Mike Pollitt as a watershed moment.
It arrived on 19 minutes when Crouch picked the ball up just inside the Wigan half. With options on either side he moved forward purposefully before firing a 25-yard shot at goal that took a wicked deflection off a Latics defender and looped towards the visitors' goal.
Pollitt managed to back pedal to his goal-line and looked all set to tip the ball over his crossbar...
But this time, Crouchie's luck had finally turned.
The keeper had enjoyed a solid start to the match up until that point, but his afternoon soon turned horribly wrong when he somehow contrived to punch the ball into the roof of the net to give Liverpool the lead and spark mass celebrations around Anfield.
Click here to see Crouchie get off the mark>>
A weight had been lifted and there was no small irony that after waiting 18 games to get his first goal for the club, his second arrived just 23 minutes later when he broke the offside trap to race through and coolly lob the ball over the advancing Pollitt.
Crouch just can't stop scoring>>
It set the Reds on the road to a 3-0 victory and perhaps more significantly, gave Crouch the confidence to go on and carve out a successful career with the club.
Jimmy Rice 15 July 2008 Liverpoolfc.tv today continues its series of features looking at the men behind the Rafalution. We've heard from a physio, a fitness coach and a technical analyst – now it's the club doctor's turn.
The players are all back in training but I imagine a doctor's work is never done – did you get much of a break over the summer?
This summer was the best for years because normally I have international games in the summer (with England Under-21s). I was able to have 12 days away and that's the first holiday for three years. So, a couple of weeks, then I've been in and out, because we've had one or two players in here this summer. We always have a physio covering during the summer because, even if we haven't got players with long-term injuries, you never know what's going to happen with internationals. We had Ryan Babel this year, who was injured in one of the training sessions before the Euros.
Did Ryan come back to Melwood after that injury, then?
He came back for us to review him. We discussed what his programme was going to be with some of the physio staff from the Dutch team.
There is a running debate about players getting injured while with national teams. I imagine you can see it from both sides, can't you?
With England, we liaise very closely with the staff at clubs because, ultimately, the players belong to the clubs. They are the ones who hold their contracts and pay their wages. I speak to the club doctors and the physios speak to the club physios so there's good dialogue. If a player ends up staying with the national team, we make sure there is regular contact. Unfortunately, this doesn't happen with a lot of the other national teams. It ends up being the players who tell us about injuries. That's a continual frustration from my point of view. Some of the international teams are very good, but some are not.
For us journalists this is the calm before the storm, pre-season. Is it the same for you?
No, this is the storm. It's always a very busy time for us because we need to look at players and what their fitness levels are. We need to assess players as they come in to make sure they haven't picked up a problem during the break. We need to check their weight and fat levels, and we do lots of blood testing. This gives us a good base line and then we decide what we do in response to the results.
I imagine each player comes back at a different level…
Things are very different now than 16 years ago. You look at the lads we've got now and they've looked after themselves extremely well during the summer.
There seems to be a more European mentality now. Would you agree with that?
I'm not sure you'd call it a European mentality or a sensible mentality. Personally, I just think what we do now is professional and sensible. We try to get a balance between the science and football. Being able to play football isn't about being a scientist, it's about having talent and having people behind you who can help you get into optimum condition. And it's not just me: we use physiologists, nutritionists etc. We take advice from people at various university departments; basically just trying to find the best people to help our players get into optimum condition.
He's big, he WAS red, but his feet will now stick out of a different bed... After three seasons, 134 games and 42 goals in a Liverpool shirt Peter Crouch's Anfield career has come to an end.
The towering striker returns to the South coast with former club Portsmouth having overcome a difficult start on Merseyside; going on to enhance his reputation as one of the best centre forwards in the country.
ASSAIN FOR U
As we say a fond farewell to one of football's genuine 'Mr nice guys' Liverpoolfc.tv pays tribute to the tallest player to ever play for the club with a look back at our top five Crouch moments.
1. Breaking his duck
The well known phrase referring to the reliability of 'London buses' could not have been more apt for Peter Crouch as he made his way home from Anfield on the evening of December 3, 2005.
He had endured a difficult first few months in the red of Liverpool after failing to find the net in his first 18 matches for the club; but as the whistle blew on game number 19 he had not only ended 1,229 minutes of frustration in front of goal with one strike - he had actually managed two.
The victims on that famous afternoon were Paul Jewell's Wigan Athletic and as Crouchie looks back on his three-year spell at Anfield he will no doubt reflect upon an aberration from Latics keeper Mike Pollitt as a watershed moment.
It arrived on 19 minutes when Crouch picked the ball up just inside the Wigan half. With options on either side he moved forward purposefully before firing a 25-yard shot at goal that took a wicked deflection off a Latics defender and looped towards the visitors' goal.
Pollitt managed to back pedal to his goal-line and looked all set to tip the ball over his crossbar...
But this time, Crouchie's luck had finally turned.
The keeper had enjoyed a solid start to the match up until that point, but his afternoon soon turned horribly wrong when he somehow contrived to punch the ball into the roof of the net to give Liverpool the lead and spark mass celebrations around Anfield.
Click here to see Crouchie get off the mark>>
A weight had been lifted and there was no small irony that after waiting 18 games to get his first goal for the club, his second arrived just 23 minutes later when he broke the offside trap to race through and coolly lob the ball over the advancing Pollitt.
Crouch just can't stop scoring>>
It set the Reds on the road to a 3-0 victory and perhaps more significantly, gave Crouch the confidence to go on and carve out a successful career with the club.
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