If someone was counting the number of times a stretcher has come on the pitch this Premier League season, I have a strong suspicion that this would be a record breaking season for all the wrong reasons.

Watching the very physical game between Everton and Fulham this past Sunday was like seeing a boxing match unfold before my eyes. Hefty collisions. Plenty of blood pouring from cuts and fouls galore. It reminded me how this season, particularly the last few months, have seen so many serious injuries on the pitch. In all my years of watching top flight English football, I’ve never seen so many stretchers on the pitch and so much oxygen administered to players.

Take this past weekend just as one example. It was like watching the film “Band Of Brother.” Manchester City goalkeeper Shay Given dislocated his shoulder and is out for the rest of the season. Stoke goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen dislocated his elbow and may miss out on playing for Denmark in the World Cup.

Then there were the injuries from previous weeks. The nasty kick in the face by Tuncay on George Boateng which knocked him unconscious. Of course, we can’t forget the injury that happened to Aaron Ramsey after the foul by Ryan Shawcross. And there have been many more. It just seems that this season more than any other has resulted in so many serious injuries.

But why? Personally, I think it’s because the league is as competitive as it has ever has been and players, week-in week out, know what bonuses are available if they score goals or if their team finishes in a certain position in the league table. There’s more to play for, which means that players are more desperate to win.

It’s also the nature of the English football season for many clubs to “get stuck in” and to try the physical approach to win 50/50 balls and to stop the opposition from advancing. It also doesn’t help when referees are seemingly more lenient to allow certain things to happen without blowing the whistle. Maybe it’s me but it seems that the pushing, shoving and holding are getting worse in the penalty box when corners happen. At this rate, it’ll resemble a rugby scrum before you know it.

The sad result of all of these physical fouls and freak accidents is that the number of players who have been ruled out of this summer’s World Cup is growing. And those who are not injured must feel as if they’ve had chunks taken out of their bodies this season after a very grueling Premier League season. Yes, injuries happen. They always happen, but this season it seems they’ve been happening more frequently.

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Last season, Gerrard and Torres missed substantial chunks of play. And Liverpool suffered for it. When they were both fit, Liverpool hit some astounding results: v. Real Madrid: 4-0; v. Chelsea 2-0; v. Villa 5-0; and @ United 4-1!!! They even managed strong results against big sides with one or the other missing from the starting lineup. Prior to the above results, they beat United, Madrid and Chelsea by slimmer, yet equally satisfying, margins. But few Liverpool supporters could cling to sanity with Gerrard or Torres out for too long. The real nausia was when, without one or both, Liverpool crashed upon the wall of smaller teams who were playing for a draw. In those moments the lack of Gerrard and/or Torres were as missed as the empty space left in one’s chest after you’ve been shot… by a bazooka.

At this point, Gerrard might be the easier one to cover. (Yes, it feels blasphemous to say this, but since no red streak of lighting has come from the heavens to strike me dead, I’ll keep typing). Say Stevie G needs time off due to injury or he sees a straight red card after he shows Drogba what it really takes to go down just outside the box. (And yes, I’m still bitter about the Olympic-quality diving in the last Champions League quarter-finals). Rafa can feasibly put Kuyt, Benayoun or even El Zhar behind Torres. If he needs to. Not ideal, but manageable.

The real problem at this point, would be losing Torres for any amount of time again. In the favored (and effective) 4231 formation, who goes up front? Kuyt alone?  N’Gog alone? Bring back Voronin? (Can you smell that? That’s a writer putting on the breaks. Sorry about that). Babel can do it if absolutely needed, but I am almost certain he’ll be sold before the transfer window ends.

Rafa should bring on a talented striker to cover for Torres. But who would come to play off the bench? If Rafa finds someone as good as he needs, that player is already too good to be a squad player. If N’Gog picked this season to really blossom into greatness, that’d be perfect. He’s young enough to be content come off the bench for a season. Willing to live in El Niño’s shadow for a while. Getting the job done as needed. That’s wishful thinking to the extreme. I know.

What Liverpool needs is one more attacking player with proven goalscoring ability. Rafa has always loved versatile attackers. Luis Garcia. Dirk Kuyt. Ryan Babel. Harry Kewell—whoa, hear me out…

A pre-injury-marathon Kewell would be perfect right now. Rafa inherited Kewell from Gerrard Houllier, but Kewell’s fitness and productivity were apparrently relegated along with Leeds United. Kewell stayed up in the Prem. His footballing went down to the Championship and later League One. It was stashed in a locker at Elland Road for years.

But the potential of Kewell was spectacular. If he’d played for Liverpool like he had at Leeds, he would have been devastating in two or three different positions. Liverpool need to find someone along those lines. Only fit. Ryan Babel came with that potential, but since Riera arrived, Babel just can’t get enough pitch time to flourish.

The ideal purchase would be a starting attacking mid (a Maxi Rodriguez, a David Silva) who can start wide right or wide left and make that spot their own. But they’ve got the finishing quality to move to the middle if Torres comes out. A striker-winger almost. But the dude isn’t competing for place because he’s already a starter. If Torres is out, Dirk Kuyt and Player X can work together in a 4411 or 442, depending on the new player’s specific abilities. Notice how vague I’m staying on Player X. Because who knows what Rafa is thinking right now as he scours the market behind closed doors! If Torres is in (hopefully always), Niño’s got Riera-Gerrard-Player X or Player X-Gerrard-Kuyt behind him. God, I miss Luis García.

The ruts Liverpool hit, as I’ve mentioned, were points dropped against the defense-minded sides. Breaking down the ten-men-behind-the-ball types has not been Liverpool’s forté in quite some time. But with Glen Johnson in and Albert Riera looking up for it, Liverpool can break out the True Width™. Against the sides that stay back, Johnson can get forward, shifting the side into more of a 353, with Kuyt (or Silva, or Rodriguez, or ?) cutting in toward the box to help Gerrard and Torres. The width coming from the back will allow the Reds to spread defenses thin while adding more playmaking in the danger area. They had this in mind last season, but Johnson will be far better at this than Arbeloa.

You could see the frame of this in the 3-2 win at Pompey in Feb. Five starting defenders but Arbeloa and Dossena charged down the wings with three defenders hanging back. Pompey took the lead twice, but didn’t really know how to handle the formation. This wouldn’t work all the time, but it has a lot of potential for breaking down the sides who stay back and play for a draw. And Johnson can always shift to a deeper spot when it isn’t working. Versatility, baby.

Last season was about the best season Liverpool have had in 18 years. If you had told me last August that’s how 08/09 was about go to, I might have asked what medications you were mixing and, more importantly, did you have extra. But the season was mostly fantastic and the title was in sight deeper into the campaign than it’s been in almost two decades. The Reds just need little adjustments. Glen Johnson was one adjustment (if we can call £17m little). I think Liverpool are one more from getting it right.

In 2004, he left Liverpool for Real Madrid in search of Champions League glory. Early on, Madrid mostly shackled him to their bench and later ducked out to Juventus in the first knock-out round. The Liverpool players bounced on the big stage in Istanbul: lifting the trophy without him.

The next season, after Liverpool didn’t take him back, he moved to Newcastle, citing the chance to play alongside the great Alan Shearer as a big part of what drew him to Tyneside. He’d spent much of Shearer’s final season (and most of the next year) out injured.

He was once the most exciting young striker for England. 18 years and 59 days old when he hit the scene. Bursting with pace and invention. A World Cup darling. Now, there’s no room for him in Fabio Capello’s system. He watches his countrymen chase down World Cup qualification from afar.

And as if fate hasn’t laughed at him enough, Newcastle have been relegated.

A striker is supposed to peak around Michael Owen’s age, but diminished pace and a continuious stream of injuries make him seem far older and more faded than his 29 years should suggest.

As his contract with the fallen Magpies is up, rumors of a move inevitably float to the surface of the ever-murky transfer window punditry pool. Aston Villa. Everton. Roma. Reasonable names are batted about.

Either Villa, who flirted with Champions League qualification for much of the past season before sliding at the end, or Everton, who finished 5th and made a thrilling dash to the FA Cup final, might be a good fit for Michael’s ambitions. But Roma… we’ll come back to that.

It may be time for Michael Owen to consider that the aggresive, physical English Premier League is doing him few favors as far as warding off knocks, tears and strains goes. Does he want to spend the rest of his career drifting in and out of the active roster? A change in league might be the best move at this stage.

Look at his former teammate and fellow injury coinnoseur, Harry Kewell:

After a brilliant (and mostly fit) spell at Leeds United, Kewell moved to Anfield where he spent more time with the physios than with his teammates. Recurring injuries kept Kewell from living up to the uncharted potential he’d shown when he first came to England. Regaining his old match fitness seemed an impossible task for Kewell at, you guessed it, age 29.

At the end of the 2007/2008 season, Harry moved to Galatasary S.K. in the Turkish Süper Lig, where he now enjoys regular first team football and seems to have regained a consistent state of fitness.

If Roma’s interest is genuine, Serie A could be a good fit for Michael Owen. The league is less intense and physical than the EPL but still maintains high standards of quality. His creativity would be given room to thrive and his old prolificacy might blossom anew.

If he can stay out of the hospital gown for any length of time, Michael will score plenty more goals and perhaps even fight his way into Capello’s system. At 29, there’s no reason to blow the final whistle on his career. (Although, when it does finally sound, he should be given plenty of injury time.)

Perhaps Michael Owen is cursed. Since he walked out of Liverpool, events beyond his control have block him living up to his once boundless potential. One of the world’s most exciting young talents has struggled with form and place. One hopes it is not too late for Michael Owen to bounce back. But he’d have to find the right environment and take plenty of vitamins to pull it off at this point. Good luck, Michael.