Sturridge’s Liverpool Career – The Beginning of the End?
Daniel Sturridge is Liverpool’s best player.
I’m not having anyone tell me otherwise.
However, I don’t think he’s going to be Liverpool’s best player for much longer because it looks like both he and the club are about to part ways. That makes me sad.
I don’t think it’ll happen by Wednesday’s transfer window deadline, I think we’re too far down the road for that, but January? Possibly.
Next summer?
I’d say it’s likely.
I might be completely wrong on this, and I really, really, really hope I am, but it just seems like that’s where all of this is heading.
Daniel Sturridge, when fit, could play for practically anyone, so why’s he not getting a game regularly for Liverpool?
Well, the injuries for a start. I think Jurgen Klopp is managing Sturridge’s workload to an extent, which is fair enough, but I don’t think the player will see it that way. He’ll want to play pretty much every game, understandably so.
My own personal view on the matter is that Klopp wants to use Dan Sturridge as the proverbial flat-track bully. He wants him to batter Bournemouth, to hammer Hull, to murder Middlesbrough, which he will do, because he’s great at scoring goals.
However, in the ‘big’ games, Klopp has rarely used him, even when he’s been fit. Roberto Firmino has often played up front, with the manager looking to use his work rate and intelligence to aid the team. Again, that’s understandable, but I can’t see Daniel Sturridge being happy to miss out on big games. No footballer wants that. As much pleasure as he’ll get from putting two in against Hull, he’ll want to be up front at White Hart Lane or Stamford Bridge or wherever.
When Sturridge arrived at the club, he needed Liverpool more than Liverpool needed him. He’d left Manchester City and Chelsea in search of a place where he could become THE man. It was his last-chance saloon.
He’s achieved what he wanted here too. Sure, he was in the shadow of Luis Suarez for a while, but I don’t think anyone has ever underappreciated how good Sturridge’s goalscoring record has been.
He has been THE man too.
For so long, we all kept saying “when Sturridge is back…”, every time we were losing and he was out. If anything, he was THE man more when he wasn’t even playing!
I don’t think Klopp wants anyone to be THE man, and I understand that too. The team is more important than anything else. That’s how it should be.
However, I don’t think that particular philosophy suits Sturridge’s game, I think he has to be the man the team is built for in order for him to succeed. Even under Brendan Rodgers when Liverpool finished second in the league, the then-manager admitted that his team was built around Sturridge and Suarez. Klopp’s not doing that. Not a chance.
Again, it’s not really anybody’s fault. It just seems to me that Dan Sturridge doesn’t really fit in a Jurgen Klopp Liverpool. Neither is particularly to blame, just one’s methods don’t suit the others’. It’s a shame.
It’s like a couple who split up just because they’ve kind of drifted apart. Nobody’s done the dirty on the other, there’s no real blame to be distributed, they’ve kind of just drift apart, realising one isn’t suited to the other.
I can see that happening with Liverpool and Sturridge, and I think it’ll be the player pushing for it to happen as well. Not publicly, I don’t think he’ll do a Raheem Sterling, but behind the scenes, I think he might look to get a move.
I couldn’t blame him either. He can play every game for another big club, health permitting, so why would he be happy being a bit-part for the Reds?
I hope I’m wrong, I really do, but I fear we’re at the beginning of the end of Daniel Sturridge’s Liverpool career.