Drozdz back for Belle Vue after crash in early season
DAMIAN Drozdz has been declared fit to return to active duty for Belle Vue following a brief injury lay-off and will take his place at No.2 for their home meeting against Somerset on Monday.
The 21-year-old suffered a fractured scapula in only his second appearance for the Rentruck Aces in the away leg of their Charity Shield clash against Swindon after coming down hard in his second ride.
The club acted swiftly to sign Paul Starke on a temporary 28-day contract to replace Drozdz.
Director of speedway Mark Lemon said: “We would like to place on record our sincere thanks to Paul Starke for his efforts and contributions to Belle Vue during the short time he has been with us.
“We’re grateful to him for his commitment to the club and we wish him all the very best for the season.
“At the same time, we are delighted to welcome back Damian Drozdz to the team.
“It was a cruel blow for him to pick up such an injury in only his second meeting here in the UK.
“But he’s fully recovered now and he’s eager to get his season back on track with Belle Vue on Monday.”
Current world champion Jason Doyle is in town on Monday when the Rentruck Aces tackle the Somerset Rebels, while the Cool Running Colts head south to Eastbourne tomorrow.
Tickets for next week’s Premiership home fixture are now available atbellevueaces.co and at the stadium box office on race night. PEP Guardiola was seen as being disrespectful to Tottenham when he described them as the ‘Harry Kane team,’ when in fact it was more of a compliment to the England striker.
He would be within his rights, given recent events, to call Liverpool the ‘Mo Salah team,’ with even more relevance.
And while Liverpool have got stronger as the season has progressed, and have started to look like a real threat to City’s dominance next season, reliance on Salah could be their Achilles heel. New stats have underlined why the Blues will head into next season as firm favourites to lift the Premier League crown again. Many pundits, Craig Bellamy the latest, are tipping the Scousers to build on their successful Champions League campaign this season and launch an assault on City’s throne.
With Virgil van Dijk shoring up a defence that was previously leaky, and Naby Keita due to arrive in the summer, Liverpool will have a far more balanced and solid look to them.
But the area where they have to start matching City is in the number of options when it comes to the final third of the pitch.
The stats paint a picture of Liverpool as a team over-reliant on the mercurial Egyptian when it comes to the business end of games … both in terms of finishing and creating chances.
Salah has not missed a game through injury since December 2016, a remarkable record – and one which is sure to end at some time.
City’s figures show they are a team which spreads the burden of making and scoring goals, which means they are less susceptible to the problems of individual injury or loss of form.
Salah is Liverpool’s top man for goals, assists, making chances, shots and shooting accuracy according to data from EA Sports.
But for the Blues, Aguero remains top dog when it comes to putting the ball in the net most frequently, but he is backed up by Gabriel Jesus, who has been the deadliest finisher.
And they have Kevin de Bruyne as the main creative influence. Of course, Liverpool have other good players, but the nub of the issue comes when you delve beneath the top stats.
City have a far broader wealth of players, both in terms of scoring and creating goals. In Premier League terms, Liverpool’s next best goal-scorers are Roberto Firmino (15), Sadio Mane (10), the departed Philippe Coutinho (7) and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (3). That list tails off dramatically, while City have a more democratic spread of goals with Raheem Sterling (18), Jesus (11), Leroy Sane (9), David Silva (9) and De Bruyne (8) all making significant contributions. It is the same picture with assists, where De Bruyne (15), Sane (12), and Silva (11) all have more than Salah, who heads the Liverpool chart with nine. In terms of chances created, De Bruyne again dwarfs the ‘Egyptian Messi’ with 104 to 57. And that pattern continues down the ranks, with Silva (60), Sterling (50), Sane (48) and Aguero (40) topping Firmino (53), Mane (42), Coutinho (40) and Oxlade-Chamberlain (34). Data Courtesy of EA SPORTS, the lead partner of the Premier League