Liverpool medical team ahead of the game after piling resources into player recovery and training at Anfield

It is not just on the pitch that Liverpool are starting to get things right. A spate of injuries two years ago prompted a complete overhaul off it also.

Three ‘soft tissue’ injuries suffered during the 2-2 draw against Birmingham City in November 2009 took the number of players who were ruled out to a staggering 15 and led to a summit meeting between the then manager, Rafael Benítez, and the then managing director, Christian Purslow.

“Liverpool saw there was an issue, didn’t necessarily understand why, but saw that something needed to change,” said Michael Davison, an expert in sports science, who was then part of a five-month investigation into how the club needed to overhaul their medical department.

It has led to a phenomenal amount of recruitment, led by the arrival of the Australian Dr Peter Brukner, as the head of sports science, and includes masseur Sylvan Richardson, who has worked with British Cycling and who was a guitarist with Simply Red during the 1980s.

“They now have more senior clinicians,” Davison said.

“So if three or four players come off the training pitch injured you can 'man-mark' them. They have more capacity to deal with injuries.

"Previously at clubs it was often part-time but now what is being recognised is that if you have a squad of 17 different nationalities and have gone around the world to recruit players then you need to do the same with those who treat them.

“Australian rules football is regarded as the gold standard of applying sports science in the world because there is a salary cap and they have to make the most of their assets.

So they invest as much around the player support as they do the coaching and the player wages themselves. That’s why so many eminent people in sports science come from Australia.”

Liverpool have suffered a spate of injuries of late — Steven Gerrard, Daniel Agger, Martin Kelly, Glen Johnson and Fabio Aurelio have all been out — which may appear to undermine Davison’s argument.

But the speed with which Jamie Carragher returned in record time from a shoulder dislocation earlier this season meant the club did not have to dip into the January transfer market to sign another defender.

The department justified its existence with that one episode alone.

Later, record signing Andy Carroll recovered far more quickly than expected from his thigh problem.

The tables show, also, that the number of games missed by Liverpool players this campaign has been dramatically reduced while even Fernando Torres — now of Chelsea — has not suffered injury as regularly compared with recent seasons.

Interestingly Chelsea, with their large group of thirtysomething players, are regarded as the other club with the most advanced approach to medicine in the league.

LMA considers due diligence process for new managers

The number of managers sacked in the Football League this season has, predictably, reached record levels as panic grips relegation-threatened clubs and those in danger of missing out on promotion, while the financial pressure continues to bite.

Richard Bevan, the chief executive of the League Managers Association, has continually expressed his concern — as is his right. Now there are understood to be discussions taking place as to how to avoid a continuation of what is often knee-jerk reaction.

Bevan has proposed that managers should be treated like everyone else in the workplace and given regular “appraisals” — which prompted the justified response that they are given the ultimate appraisal every week: whether their teams gain three points or not.

But another area that Bevan is examining may prove more fruitful.

It’s understood that he has been talking to Odgers Berndston, a leading firm in executive recruitment. Its clients cover the whole spectrum of industry, business and public sector. But there is also a global sports practice headed by Simon Cummins.

One idea is that the firm can in some way help clubs undertake a process of ‘due diligence’ on potential new managers before offering them contracts.

After all, there is no doubt that certain clubs require a certain type of manager and a more professional and businesslike approach may help everyone. Whether the clubs will agree remains to be seen.

Usmanov in for the long-term at Arsenal

Alisher Usmanov spent another £70,500 earlier this week acquiring six more shares in Arsenal.

It’s a piffling amount considering the £234 million Stan Kroenke has just committed to taking a controlling share of the club which is valued at £731 million but it confirms what sources close to Usmanov have been saying for days.

He is not going to sell his 27 per cent stake to Kroenke.

No way. Instead the Uzbek billionaire will sit tight in the knowledge that he can be a thorn in his rival’s side if he has to be — and also that his investment will only continue to grow in value. It’s a sensible business decision.