Blood and guts hero Schindler earns plaudits
MICHAEL Carrick has said he suffered with depression following Manchester United’s Champions League final defeat to Barcelona in 2009.
The 37-year-old former Reds midfielder gave the ball away in the build-up to Samuel Eto’o’s opener as the Catalan club denied Sir Alex Ferguson’s side back-to-back victories in Europe’s premier club competition.
Carrick described the defeat as the ‘biggest low’ of his career and said he kept the issue to himself rather than opening up to his team-mates.
He told the Times: “It was the biggest low of my career by quite some way and I don’t really know why. I thought I’d let myself down in the biggest game of my career. I had won the Champions League the year before but that was totally irrelevant.
“It felt like I was depressed. I was really down. I imagine that is what depression is. I describe it as depression because it wasn’t a one-off thing.
“I felt bad or terrible after some games but then you get over it in the next couple of days – but that one I just couldn’t shrug off. It was a strange feeling. I beat myself up over that goal. I kept asking myself ‘Why did I do that?’ and then it snowballed from there.
“It was a tough year after that. It lingered for a long time.
“I kept it to myself most of the time. Even my family didn’t know the full extent of it. It’s not something that’s really spoken about in football. I have not spoken about it before.
“For the lads that I have played with that are reading this, this will be the first time that they know.” SKY Sports pundit Phil Thompson was full of praise for Huddersfield Town centre-back Christopher Schindler after his performance against Burnley at the weekend.
The Terriers earned a point at Turf Moor after Schindler’s second-half header cancelled out Sam Vokes’ earlier nodded effort.
The German defender was in the thick of the action in Lancashire, requiring treatment shortly after his maiden Premier League goal due to a collision with the Welsh striker.
Replays show Vokes caught LIVERPOOL’S unbeaten Premier League campaign continues following their draw with Manchester City.
Jurgen Klopp’s side are joint top with Chelsea and City on 20 points as they go into the international break.
Their next action in the Premier Schindler with a stray elbow in Burnley, but referee Chris Kavanagh saw no wrong-doing in the incident.
On Schindler’s performance and bravery in returning to the pitch following the gory injury, Thompson told the Soccer Saturday panel: “Absolutely fantastic. Him and [Mathias] Jorgensen were absolutely brilliant at the back.
“But there was one moment. A high ball comes into the box, Vokes goes up with him and his elbow catches him right on the eye.
“Then a shot comes in just after it and he doesn’t go down first of all, he stands up and the ball comes straight down at him and he heads League is a trip to Huddersfield Town for the 5.30pm kick-off on Saturday week, October 20.
It’s been a busy start to the campaign for Liverpool, who have lost only to Napoli in the Champions League and Chelsea in the Carabao Cup.
In the Premier League they have conceded only three goals in eight outings, but there are injury worries at Anfield and the front three are yet it. I think it gets even more of it on his face.
“There’s blood everywhere, he’s down for a good five or six minutes and I’m thinking ‘this boy’s going to go off, they are really having to work hard and they’ve got a stretcher down there.’
“There’s blood all down the back of his head and all down the front of his face.
“But they clean him up, he goes off and then he goes back on. It was fantastic because a couple of minutes earlier he had brought them level and Huddersfield fully deserved it. They bossed this game.
“That was the great thing; maybe because they packed that midfield area with a lot of players and they keep possession it flatters them a bit because they don’t get enough people in the box.
“When the ball’s coming in there to Depoitre there’s not enough support for him, and he’s not the best of goalscorers.
“But, all in all, they thoroughly to find the form of last season.
So what changes might there be to Klopp’s line-up against Town?
Connor Dunn from the Liverpool Echo provides some insight: Dejan Lovren was brought into the side against City and, a clumsy tackle on Aguero aside, performed well with Joe Gomez making the switch to right-back following Trent Alexander-Arnold being dropped deserved this point.” Host Jeff Stelling went on to ask the Liverpudlian whether buying a striker in January could solve the Terriers’ problems in front of goal. The former England defender said: “You know what, it would be worth a chance. “Maybe somebody with a bit of pace who’s got a few goals in the Championship or something like that. Nobody comes to mind at the moment. “But just to stretch teams; to maybe just run around. “Depoitre is a willing runner. He actually gets booked – it’s an absolutely dreadful dive. “Chris Kavanagh I think is one of the best up and coming young referees we’ve got and he spots it straight away. It’s an embarrassing dive. “But they just don’t have enough there. “They had some great play, but they are just not getting the amount of goals to give them a little bit of pressure. “But today the defence I thought were a lot better.”
There’s blood all down his head and face. But they clean him up and he goes back on
after a poor display against Napoli.
Despite the 20-year-old being demoted to the bench that should not totally mar his other performances this season in a backline that has played extremely well together.
That in itself could see the rightback staking a claim to regain his place.