I’VE no desire to tempt fate or anything but, unless he sprains a wrist rehearsing his goal celebration or arm-wrestling Jose Enrique, we will soon welcome Daniel Sturridge back into the Liverpool first team. God, it’s been a long time.
As eagerly-awaited returns go, it takes some beating. And it’s not like there’s been a dearth of competition on that front recently, either. I mean, in the last few months alone we’ve seen Kate Bush bring her floaty splendour to the stage for the first time in 35 years, watched Fernando Torres trigger mass selective amnesia in Atletico Madrid fans looking to rekindle old flames, and shed tears of horrible joy to celebrate the resurrection of ‘Twin Peaks’. Might just be me, that last one, to be fair.
Still, the re-instatement of Sturridge to a Liverpool frontline that has misfired on too many occasions can’t happen a moment too soon.
He has been sorely missed. In his absence, we went from being a team that can score more than 100 goals in a season, a team that routinely kills games off within the first 20 minutes by way of a smothering, high-tempo attacking approach, to a team that barely registered a decent shot on goal, match after match. It was a remarkable, troubling transformation.
Only in the last month or so has there been any kind of improvement. This has co-incided with Brendan Rodgers restructuring the shape of the team and, for the most part, abandoning the notion of a fixed target man as the arrowhead around whom the attacking play can coalesce. The options available have so far lacked either mobility or quality, or both, neutering the creative hub that performed with such freedom in the spring. Instead, he has reverted to a system that allows the most dynamic players (Sterling, Coutinho, Lallana, Markovic) the opportunity to express themselves.
Slowly, surely, and in full acknowledgement of the continuing vulnerability at the back, we’ve got better. We’ve started to make things happen again. Add Daniel Sturridge to the mix and there’s room for cautious optimism.
The absence of Sturridge couldn’t really have come at a worse time. It’s clear that the club as a whole (and that includes, unequivocally, the supporters) was scarred by the psychological fall-out from last season’s devastating climax. At the same time, it had to come to terms with the loss of its pivotal performer, its focal point, its totem. And it had to do all this while bedding in a horde of new signings and simultaneously attempting to reproduce the results of the previous campaign. Some kind of fall-off was always on the cards.
But this was undoubtedly exacerbated by Daniel Sturridge’s frustrating propensity to pick up semi-serious injuries. He was the main reason we felt assured we could cope with the trauma of Suarez leaving. His goalscoring record (21 in 29 league games last season) led us to believe that any transitional period would be manageable. Taking both Suarez and Sturridge out of the team is like remaking Taxi Driver without Scorsese and De Niro. You lose your inspiration and your vision.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT-rbSg3VLM
As a result, the things that made us such an irresistible prospect last time round, to the extent that any existing structural weaknesses were generally masked, have remained stubbornly absent for long periods. For the first few months of the season we were, essentially, a team without an attacking threat. In that context, Sturridge’s return instantly improves us, if only because it ensures we finally have a striker on the pitch who possesses some basic understanding of what being a striker entails and the ability to put that knowledge, that undefinable game intelligence, into practice. Harsh? Maybe. Hear me out.
We’ve missed someone with that natural striker’s instinct, someone who can sniff out a goal from nothing simply by knowing where to stand or anticipating where the ball is likely to end up. We’ve missed someone with the awareness to make runs beyond the defensive line and to know when to pull wide, stretching the opposition defence. We’ve missed having someone that defenders need to be worried about. That’s a big thing. It’s a thing we haven’t had since Sturridge got injured. Not till Raheem Sterling was moved higher up the pitch, at any rate.
If I was a Madrid or Chelsea, or even a Newcastle or Hull, defender seeing the Liverpool teamsheet prior to taking the field, I’d have been made up. Because it was hard to see anything there that was going to hurt me. There was Mario Balotelli. On his own. A man with the conviction, awareness and anticipation of a sideboard. A man who couldn’t be less of a fit for the system Liverpool refined last year if he sported a comedy pony-tail and spoke with a broad Geordie twang.
We’ve also had Rickie Lambert. Who, with the best will in the world, has failed to show he can get anywhere near the level we expect a Liverpool striker to reach. And whose painful lack of pace and mobility undermines any claim he may have to a place in the team.
And we’ve had Fabio Borini. Whose much-vaunted movement fails to compensate for the fact that he’s just not that great with a football at his feet.
The three of them, combined, have conjured up one league goal. Now, I’m as sceptical of statistical over-analysis as the next ageing Luddite, but that’s pretty damning.
In contrast, Sturridge complements our main creative outlets. He links well with Sterling’s short, sharp passing game. He provides the runs that Coutinho thrives on. He’ll allow us to get the ball forward quicker. He brings us some of the unpredictability we have been crying out for, the foundation of last season’s success.
With Sturridge back, we know exactly what we’re getting and we know that it makes us a more effective unit. Hurrah for that!
Obvious though it may be, however, Daniel Sturridge does not solve all the team’s problems. Not on his own. Not unless he’s going to play in goal, and in the centre of the defence, and in the heart of the midfield, and give the half-time team-talk, and nip into the Kop to bang a few heads together and, when he’s done all that, score the goals we’re crying out for.
As we’re all aware, a number of significant issues have impacted on our performance level since the season began. A lack of trust at the back, amplified by a goalkeeper with all the assertiveness of Bagpuss; a failure to adequately address the question of how to optimise Gerrard’s contribution; an on-going proclivity for carelessness and individual errors; the virtual abandonment of any kind of pressing game; a marked decline in creativity and attacking verve. Confidence.
Recent performances have seen us improve in each area, to varying degrees. The different strands of a football team are interlinked. When one section performs better, there’s a fair chance of a knock-on effect throughout the side. While it’d be foolish to ignore the ongoing deficiencies, and unwise to pin our hopes on Sturridge to cure all ills, his return should help to galvanise both the team and the supporters as we look to climb the table.
It’s highly unlikely that we’ll immediately revert to the illogical, free-scoring, ‘Tricky Reds’ of last season, mind. Football seldom abides by such neat narratives. The need for patience, frustrating as it inevitably may be, is vital.
The most important thing is simply to get into the habit of winning games. Win one, then win another, then win again. Having Sturridge in the team undoubtedly gives you a better chance of doing just that. Once the momentum starts to build, and the confidence increases, we might see this Liverpool team play the way we want it to. And then there’s a good chance that Sturridge and Sterling and Coutinho and Lallana will flourish.
Just don’t expect too much too soon. And cross your fingers, toes and any other organ with the requisite bendiness, that Daniel Sturridge can avoid injury for the remainder of the season. Because the alternative will see more heads explode than a season finale of ‘The Walking Dead.’
Now, does anyone know where Flanno’s got to?
Pics: David Rawcliffe/Propaganda
One point of contention… and even then, it’s just a technicality.
Did last season’s anticlimactic ending sting? Yeah, absolutely. And I’m sure it affected some more than others. For instance, it almost certainly sealed the deal for Suarez leaving and it definitely broke something inside Stevie.
Let’s be fair, though. We played against So’ton, and beat them. The scoreline for the City game – played aT Etihad, at that – is deceiving. City took advantage of two of our mistakes to win an otherwise rather even game. They didn’t so much outplay us as field a team of experienced stars capable of exploiting a 22-year-old fullback’s errors in his second official game in the Premier League. And we crushed the Spurs.
Sorry, scarred and affected to the point of not continuing our winning ways following last season’s tragedy we most definitely were not. With Dan, there’s no way we lose to Villa. We might lose to Hammers because it’s a way and because they play a frustrating game, but we don’t concede a draw versus Everton, we certainly don’t go without scoring against Hull, and we almost certainly don’t lose to Newcastle while Pardue is trying to save his job. We may very well have had a lingering sense of, “Oh, wow, what if!” but if anything we could have been looking better through our first 10 fixtures than we did last year.
It’s not about the money we didn’t spend. Lots of smarter people than myself have already written tons of great stuff about why we can’t afford the signings everyone wants. It’s about us failing to sign the players that made sense for our style of play and philosophy. You nailed it about Rickie and Mario. I’m not going to beat a dead horse.
It’s why I keep saying, if Dan can just stay healthy… don’t call it a comeback. Again, this team showed exactly what it’s capable of in the first three fixtures. It’s why I simply couldn’t digest the article from a few days ago that argued there’s no hope of fourth. It featured great analysis, but forgot the most basic bit: it didn’t compare like with like.
Suarez was off regardless of winning the league – or not. He has been desperate to get to Spain before he even set foot in Europe. FSG gave him a new contract to allow for an expensive escape. Both parties were happy with the deal. FSG didn’t need to pay a player over £200,000 a week, got a large boost for their books, and Suarez finally got to live where he’s been dreaming of for many years.
For sure, we were a stepping stone and nothing else. It’s fair enough like. Suarez wanted to win the league for us (and him) before he went but there’s no question it was his last season.
Like I said, “almost certainly.” :)
All the same, I reserve the right to believe that winning the league – against all odds and against the prevailing “spend big” wisdom – could have changed Suarez’s mind.
Excellent write up…. Enjoyed watching Daniel Sturridge goals over and over again. It does remind you of what we have been missing. I can’t wait for a healthy and fully fit Daniel to come back for Liverpool…… Thanks for the video of his goals.
A few days ago I asked some other Liverpool fans where they reckoned we’d be sitting right now in the league if we had Sturridge fit for the season to date.
Every single one of them said top 4….some saying 3rd, some saying 4th and I gotta agree.
That’s how much we have missed Sturridge or indeed another adequate striker this season so far.
Makes it all the more frustrating that we bought Balotelli and Lambert.
Cautious optimism? It an effing cert mate.
The only way I can describe how I feel is to liken it to that feeling when you’re sitting in the office looking around thinking, can’t believe in a few weeks I’ll swap motorways and meetings for a swim in the Med before breakfast and absolutely nothing I have to do for a fortnight. It’s almost impossible to imagine that day will actually come, and soon.
You’re absolutely right about the team. Well not necessarily, what I mean by that is I absolutely feel the same way and can relate to it. Earlier we had a scared defence who can’t pass the ball, in front of them we had good but frustrated midfielders who had no one ahead on their wave length and up front, well, we might as well have had nothing. In fairness to Rodgers he has probably worked out the best formation for those players. Sakho and Can can play the ball to the midfield and they can find the forwards. It just looks so much more fluid and good. Bring Sturridge in for Borini in that first half against Sunderland and it’s 3-0. I can understand Neil Atkinson saying we saw the game out well. I always enjoy it because it’s what good sides do. That said, against Sunderland I was so tense that every time they had a corner it felt like a bad idea to see it out. An equaliser would have been hugely deflating. But, we held on so nothing but praise now. We won’t have that problem soon. I’m convinced we’re the team with momentum. 7/1 Friday, 5/1 today for 4th.
The most exciting thing in all this is Rodgers comments last week. The ones about finally getting to the bottom of Sturridges injury problems. I’ll be honest, I’d almost got to the point where I thought he’d only be a luxury player for 15 games a season or so. If that could possibly be true we’d be laughing. It would have been worthwhile in some ways.
Quite simply must sign another striker or bring in Divock, to not do so is as negligent of not signing a sweeper keeper in the summer. The others are not reliable and can not put it all on Raheem, even is Studge doesn’t breakdown, anything can happen with the Shawcrosses, Valeski’s n Cattermoles of this world.
Prof Yaffel for goalkeeping coach, better than achtenberg… still harping
This couldnt be more timely with so many games coming up. IF he can stay fit our attacking options suddenly become very impressive. I’d expect the Coutinho of the last couple of months to go up another level or two with Sturridge in front of him. He become almost mythical, I just keep thinking of his cameo at Stoke coming back after injury. How we’ve missed not just the goals but also the impromptu head tennis and audacious flicked assists.
With you on Twin Peaks by the way. That was a ‘damn fine’ announcement
Nice post! Refreshing to not delve deep into the loss of Suarez but instead that Studge (obviously) was our mainstay and key player. We have certainly missed a striker’s instinct as you so correctly mentioned; if Dan were fit, we may have qualified for the CL round of 16 as well (such poor finishing from Borini, but not sure I should complain given the lack of game time).
And thank you for the snapshot of Daniel’s goals. Fingers, toes all crossed. Just waiting to see him in a red shirt (and not a freaky tux!!) on the field.
I had just been watching the Sturridge goals a few days back (hardly a coincidence, considering), and in virtually any other season the quality, invention, and variety of his goals would have made him a superstar. With Suarez around, he somehow became almost an afterthought who couldn’t even get a his own song out of the Kop.
Media geniuses everywhere – and plenty of Reds – feel like last season was Suarez and his backup band, and that Rodgers was nothing more than a crack that Suarez papered over. In previous seasons, particularly under Dalglish, it did feel like he had to score goals on his own. But last season was also a long series of breathtaking assists. And a whole lot of Sturridge.
Rodgers brought in several intelligent midfield technicians and strikers who like to play off a second pacy, mobile forward. Sturridge not only brings his own goal threat, he accentuates the talents of the players around him. Even if he doesn’t score in his first few games, I expect that we will see an immediate boost in the playing of the other 10 men on the pitch.
In light of how unprecedented it would be (see LIVERPOOL: HOW REALISTIC IS A TOP FOUR FINISH? from 8 January), and in light of the fact that we were missing such a key player and dealing with so much other adversity… should Liverpool finishing 4th place Rodgers in contention for the League Manager of the Year award again?
Woy will be delighted.
“We’ve missed someone with that natural striker’s instinct, someone who can sniff out a goal from nothing simply by knowing where to stand or anticipating where the ball is likely to end up. We’ve missed someone with the awareness to make runs beyond the defensive line and to know when to pull wide, stretching the opposition defence.”
This. All of it. People call Balotelli lazy but laziness isn’t his problem. It’s his lack of football intelligence and/ or instinct. The ability to anticipate the run of play and position himself accordingly. He make have all the movement of a traffic on the pitch but that’s not out of laziness, merely a lack of game intelligence.
The laziness is a reflection of that.
And while some might say that getting a natural goalscorer probably won’t solve all our problems, I’d hazard that it will solve a great many of them. Because the whole point of football is to score goals, your entire gameplan plays toward that and when you lack that, your gameplan falls apart, even all the way from the back
Great article Gotta say though Sturridge played a massive part last season and was really undervalued by fans and journo’s alike.
Finger’s crossed Yeah The thought of him playing as striker in new formation is reason for optimism.
I saw an interesting stat – if Liverpool win all their remaining games, they would still not have the same points total as last season.
Lets just hope everyone else is poor too