Medical expert claims Brendan Rodgers to blame for James Justin’s injury

Medical expert Ben Dinnery suggests Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers might well be at fault for James Justin’s latest injury setback.

This one certainly won’t go down well with the #RodgersOut brigade. A movement which I am becoming increasingly likely to be a member of. The Northern Irishman needs no extra problems at the moment, especially ones that are arguably of his own doing.

Essentially, Rodgers has been very mildly and tactfully accused of potentially causing further injury to one of his star players. Or, at the least, offering the athlete less care, protection or prudence than could possibly usually be expected. Obviously the Foxes boss receives clear advice from his backroom staff; there is no talk of the LCFC medical team’s instructions being disregarded.

Yet what is alleged by Dinnery – whose background involved medicine and data analysis, and who now overseas the Premier Injuries site – is that Rodgers should not have used Justin so regularly during his comeback.

In addition, Dinnery asserts that the former Liverpool chief may have managed the squad better. Though “risking” the ex-Luton Town man is perhaps partly due to poor Leicester form.

"“It’s not a massive surprise and it’s certainly not uncommon [Justin’s hamstring issue]. We see high instances of soft tissue issues when players are coming back from long-term layoffs.“Ideally, would Brendan Rodgers like to have managed his squad a little bit better? Quite possibly.”Football Insider"

One of the problems at present for the east Midlands side is a lack of choice in certain areas of the pitch. Now that Ricardo Pereira is fit and firing on almost all cylinders, the Portuguese can truly be counted on. Luke Thomas is developing very nicely as a fullback. Not to mention the return of Timothy Castagne to look forward to. Therefore the position wasn’t exactly overflowing with choice for the gaffer.