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ESPN staff 10y

Liverpool's Brendan Rodgers blames England for Daniel Sturridge injury

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers hinted that England should shoulder the responsibility for Daniel Sturridge's injury when revealing the striker will be out for up to two weeks after being injured on international duty.

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Sturridge, 25, played 88 minutes of England's 1-0 friendly win over Norway last week before being replaced by Rickie Lambert. But he then suffered a thigh strain in training on Friday morning and missed the Euro 2016 qualifying victory in Switzerland.

"He's one to two weeks away [from playing again]," Rodgers told talkSPORT. "It's disappointing for him because he's worked so hard in preseason and looked very fit and strong in the last game against Tottenham."

And Rodgers believes the injury to his star striker, who scored 24 goals last season, "could have been prevented" had Roy Hodgson and his staff handled the player differently in the days following the Norway match.

He suggested that Sturridge should not have trained on Friday, and instead been given an extra day's recovery.

"The only disappointment for us was Daniel Sturridge coming back injured as he had started the season very well," Rodgers added. "We're obviously disappointed because we feel it was an injury which could have been prevented.

"He has worked so hard over preseason and looked very fit and strong in our last game against Tottenham.

"I think clubs work differently at times to international teams. It's more the recovery strategy. When we look at our players here we look at them individually in terms of what their needs are.

"Fast players would have a second day recovery while other players can work on that day.

"When you are that type of quick player like Daniel Sturridge, Raheem Sterling and boys like Danny Welbeck you need to recover them."

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