Jordan's 'quarantine' revealed
Mike Marsh has revealed how Jordan Henderson was so unwell prior to Liverpool's clash against QPR that the midfielder was kept in a separate room to his teammates while last-minute tactical orders were conveyed to him through an open door.
On the field, the 22-year-old was one of the Reds' best players during the 64 minutes before his substitution, providing an assist for Luis Suarez's first goal and adding energy to the Liverpool attack.
And the Reds' first-team coach has given an insight into what went on behind the scenes in the changing rooms at Loftus Road prior to the impressive 3-0 victory.
"I got a phone call early in the morning from the doctor to ask if I was well," Marsh told Liverpoolfc.com. "He was ringing round to have a bit of a roll call and I said I was fine.
"About 20 minutes later, he rang me back and said: 'Others aren't, so you're going to have to come downstairs'. I went down and he told me that Jordan had stayed up in his room and he would stay there during pre-match to see how he progressed.
"He told me Brad [Jones] wasn't well. He was isolated in his room as well until he left on the train. There were one or two others who were unwell as well.
"Then we got to the ground. At QPR, there is a shower room and a changing room and the two are very, very tight together. We kept Jordan in the shower room until it was absolutely necessary that he came out. We relayed any information through an open door until we actually got outside.
"It was no real hardship, though. Everyone knows the job and when they got out on the pitch, they were fine.
"Jordan was then fantastic in the game and I think he showed us just how much he wants to play for the football club. He was certainly under the weather and you could see that from the colour of his face - he was pasty white.
"But he was willing to give it a go and he wanted to play. He said that he would see how he was in the warm up. After the warm up, he didn't feel too bad. He lasted an hour and for that hour, I thought he was outstanding."
The Reds flew out of the blocks at Loftus Road; passing and moving, they put three past QPR to effectively seal the victory within 27 minutes of play.
And while Marsh was briefly concerned as to what impact the absence of manager Brendan Rodgers might have on the side, he was confident the groundwork had already been laid by the boss and his assistant Colin Pascoe.
"All the preparations had been made before hand, so by the time the game day comes around, we're all set and ready to go," he continued.
"Barring one or two people being unwell and having to travel home, including the gaffer, we were all set to go for the game.
"Not a lot changed other than some of the personnel.
"We had the pre-match meeting the night before - we don't give too much information out on the day of the game anyway. We like the players to concentrate on the game.
"The manager not being there is always going to be a minus, but it didn't affect the players and it shows just how professional they are.
"Colin ran through the presentation beforehand but then when we got into the game, he wasn't allowed into the dressing room due to the fact that he was carrying some kind of bug which was contagious, so we had to keep him away.
"What he was doing on the bench next to me, I'm not sure about! But I've managed to avoid what Colin has got so far.
"We'll always come in at half-time and have a chat amongst ourselves and the manager will go out and tell players where they are going wrong and where they can improve. I had a pretty similar conversation with Colin and then relayed those messages to the players."