31 Oct 2016 22:43:58
Ed 001, if you've got the time. I know you get these questions a lot, but what was Smicer like as a player?
I'm too young to have seen him play, but have heard good things from my older brother/ dad. Haven't see his name mentioned a lot, so was curious. Thanks in advance, and apologies if it's been asked Bedfordshire.

{Ed001's Note - Smicer was one of those players I liked before he arrived but could never really take to as a Liverpool player because of his injury problems. It was only when I got to talk to some of the staff at the club that I began to have a different appreciation of his issues and how so much was more the fault of the lack of professionalism of the club than anything else. For instance, Liverpool never did dental checks or looked after the player's teeth back then (I will have to ask if they do now as it is something I am not sure if we do thinking about it) and a lot of his injuries turned out to be related to dental problems. Bad teeth or gum problems can cause a lot of injury problems, which is something a physio would only exacerbate, rather than fix.

He was one of those players that was highly skilled but lightweight, so he could often be knocked off the ball by a stronger opponent in English football. However he did have an excellent workrate and a genuine affection for the club, which made him work that little bit harder. One of the things that did endear me to him was that, in the instances I saw of him, he was always happy to talk to fans and sign autographs. He also popped up and scored vital goals, 2005 Champions League final for instance!

It is just a shame that he was never really able to show what he could do with a run of games to settle into the side in the long term.

Oh, you will be glad to know, it has never been asked Bedfordshire before! ;-)

1.) 01 Nov 2016
01 Nov 2016 08:27:31
Hahaha thanks Ed, just checking, you never know!

{Ed001's Note - you are very welcome.}

2.) 01 Nov 2016
01 Nov 2016 08:37:11
That's a joke isn't it. You really think th club are at fault for not arranging dental checks for multimillionaire footballers? Is that a joke. What other work place does that, apart from. provide insurance.

Surely he would of felt something was up with his mouth, even a little but of a sensitivity causes enough pain, let alone problems that are going to affect your entire body.

Not having a go at you ed, just think its ridiculous myself.

Players are paid highly to protect themselves as well as for there skills, its not just a take market. Your provided with everything at the top end of the game to make sure you are 150% each and every day. You can afford the best food, equipment, specialists, professionals, chefs etc etc, you don't have any stress about money problems, certain aswel the club provide people to look after your bills, mortgages etc.

So you literally just have to eat well, train hard and game hard. That's your life.

{Ed001's Note - I am talking about finding hidden problems, which the club should do to protect their highly paid, incredibly expensive assets. If you are paying millions for something, you should check every single aspect to make sure there are no underlying issues. If you think it is ridiculous, let's just drop all medicals then, as they are obviously a waste of time, these footballers are rich so they should sort it all themselves. The ridiculous thing was your comment, which was clearly ill-thought out and just came from bitterness at the riches on offer to players.}

3.) 01 Nov 2016
01 Nov 2016 09:05:28
I understand what your saying supermane players should no and want to take the responsibility on themselves. But what ed is saying is even if the players are doing it all, surely the club should be doing it also even as a double checking. If karius for example said don't worry lfc I've been fully checked no need to check again, are you going to take his word for it or say that's fine we'll just double check to make sure? your spending millions i'd be checking everyday twice a day for that much lol.

4.) 01 Nov 2016
01 Nov 2016 09:13:39
supermane, i would think the thorough medical checkups is to protect the club, its not for the player.

when you buy something, do you make sure it works there and then or bring it back home and see if it works?

a complete medical checkup is crucial to making sure u mitigate as much risks as possible.

5.) 01 Nov 2016
01 Nov 2016 09:47:30
The military provide dental checks, and if you work in counties with no NHS you would be looking at their medical and dental plans. To be honest our well played players taking up the time of NHS dentists is just bad publicity waiting to happen, a young lad moves here and has to settle in to the culture, new club and struggles with the language the club should be taking care of everything. We need to be ultra profesional, the amature way we have run the club in the past has been highlighted by the way UTD have been run in the prem era, and their success because of it.

6.) 01 Nov 2016
01 Nov 2016 09:54:46
This is why firmino keeps so injury free! Great teeth!

7.) 01 Nov 2016
01 Nov 2016 09:58:49
Your all talking about inital medicals, like buying a really expensive millionaire and not checking if he has a acl injury. Yes needed.

Ed critism was Liverpool didn't provide dental. check ups throughout smicers career, after the ibutal medical. My point is that if smicer is getting these injuries, or gor gum problems its his job to make sure he is doing everything he can to be fit.

You can't then say he suffered with injuries and it was liverpoola fault. He was paid highly enough to look after himself.

{Ed001's Note - sorry but that is simply not true. He is an expensive asset that the club should have looked after. French clubs do it, in fact most clubs do, just that English footie is still in the medieval era.}

8.) 01 Nov 2016
01 Nov 2016 10:35:15
This explains why Darren Anderton was such a sick note! And he looked like a horse, so teeth should have been top of the priority list!

9.) 01 Nov 2016
01 Nov 2016 10:59:46
My personal feeling is people act better with responsibility's and having none just makes you irresponsible. Its getting that daft now that if a players house was on fire they would call the clubs liaison officer instead of the fire service.

A player can take himself the dentist, the doctors. If he is struggling with injuries over and over and he has ruled our everything he possibly can then surely you. take yourself to a specialist to see if there's anything you couldn't check.


Noone can no your own body aswel as you, so only you can properly maintain it 150%.

Anyway ed where going to get away from things and your a very busy guy si ill leave that there.

{Ed001's Note - yes he can and does take himself, but dentists are not looking at what will cause injuries. They are looking at leaving things to get worse so they can charge for more work. Whereas someone contracted to the club would be looking at it from a sports injury prevention point of view. It is simple protection of assets. You have a £30m player, in some instances, you have to look after them.}

10.) 01 Nov 2016
01 Nov 2016 11:55:29
Yeah of course you do but they are paid highly enough to look after themselves aswel. All for the club doing there part but no way can I accept a player paid to literally stay fit, blame the club for not preventing injuries with things like not providing a dentist etc.

And not every single dentist was willing to leave it if they saw something to just charge more later, maybe some dicked but not all. There is so much a player who gets paid x amount has access to, some of the best specialist in the world. Not some back street dentist looking to make some extra cash. Lol

Get your point ed more having a go at players here nir you!

{Ed001's Note - I wouldn't know where a good dentist was anywhere I have lived, who does? People just go to the dentist they know, it is very rare people change. So why would you expect a footballer, when they are usually not the most intelligent of people, to know which dentist is good? I am sorry but the clubs should do more, not leave it to chance.}

11.) 01 Nov 2016
01 Nov 2016 13:03:29
I remember Aly Cissokho (the, of FC Porto) not getting signed by AC Milan because he failed a dental test during his medical so Ed is right that English footie is still in the stoneage when it comes to running comprehensive medicals for signings.

{Ed007's Note - Wasn't it discovered that RVP's injury problems at Arsenal stemmed from trouble with his wisdom teeth?}

12.) 01 Nov 2016
01 Nov 2016 14:29:58
I`m not sure about that, Ed. You may be right.

{Ed001's Note - yes, to a large degree it was, luckily Wenger had his teeth checked.}

13.) 01 Nov 2016
01 Nov 2016 16:46:08
I think supermane is missing the point slightly, its not merely about pain prevention i. e. no footballer with an abcess is going to not go and get it treated is he. The issue is finding underlying causes to persistent injury issues which could be linked to dental problems. Your average dentist would not have a scooby about how an underlying dental problem is affecting another part of a persons anatomy from a sports perspective. So of course it is reasonable for a club to invest in specialists in that field to look after their assets. The logic is not rocket science and nothing to do with a players earnings.

14.) 01 Nov 2016
01 Nov 2016 16:54:39
lol i'm glad klopp got sturidge to the dentist in tym. hehe

ed's your football knowledge is someting extrodinary!

{Ed001's Note - thank you.}

15.) 01 Nov 2016
01 Nov 2016 20:01:43
Nothing wrong with Suarez's teeth at Liverpool! 😁🤐.

16.) 02 Nov 2016
02 Nov 2016 02:07:44
Ed01 didn't Gerrard visit a German when he had bad injury spells early in his career and they discovered his wisdom teeth were affecting his posture or something and it cleared everything up? I am sure I read that somewhere at the time I hope I didn't dream it as it would be a freaky dream haha.

{Ed001's Note - there were dental issues and a few other things that he struggled with, but yes, wisdom teeth were a problem. I know one manager was known for always getting his players to have their wisdom teeth taken out, according to popular legend amongst players.}