Daniel Sturridge

[Tribute]

Interesting that he took number 15, leaving 9 + 10 free...

I'd love it if there was something to read into that.

...suppose with Carroll being the current #9, would be a bit final to reassign it to someone while he's still officially on loan at another club...

[Daniel 7]

We did it with Aquilani and Meireles. The loan out is only delaying the inevitable isn't it?

[Tee]

Carroll will be back to wear his No.9 shirt and we can probably get Owen back as well for the No.10. Sorted.

[Tribute]

Plays off Cavani for Uruguay too. I think it's his best position so I've no problem with this.

He'll still score and will assist more often hopefully. As long as Daniel gets his fair share we should get an increase in goals from the forward line.

...also think it'll now be more challenging for the opposition's gameplan, as they won't know where the hell Suarez is most of the time... expecting him to be down the middle as usual until Sturridge's arrival

[Tribute]

Carroll will be back to wear his No.9 shirt and we can probably get Owen back as well for the No.10. Sorted.

...would rather have the current grey-haired Terry Mc back instead of Owen...

[marcus50bucks]

Plays off Cavani for Uruguay too. I think it's his best position so I've no problem with this.

He'll still score and will assist more often hopefully. As long as Daniel gets his fair share we should get an increase in goals from the forward line.

Whether he played in "The Sunday League Of Euro Football" as someone on another forum described the dutch league, the fact remains Suarez didn't play as a central striker at Ajax when Huntelaar was there or when he left, he also doesn't play as a central striker for his country and still bagged goals. His first goal against Sunderland and his second against QPR is an example of a player who doesn't stay central. He'll continue to float and vacate space for Sturridge to run into.

[BigChief]

That shows his talent doesnt it

Suarez was moved out onto the left for Ajax, and scored shedloads of goals whilst simultaneously improving Huntelaars form at Milan

Not forgetting the international debt owed to him by Forlan.

[Mark79]

Interesting that he took number 15, leaving 9 + 10 free...

I'd love it if there was something to read into that.

He wore 15 at Bolton too, maybe just his preferred number.

[baronvonskidmark]

Do you know who the centre forward was and what his record was like?

It's incidental though really. Just shows how incredible Suarez is.

Looking solely at the wiki page for Ajax 2009-10, it looks like it might be Marko Pantelic, basing this on apps/goals.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009–10_AFC_Ajax_season

[el matador]

So you think we will abandon the 4-3-3 based formations? I think that is quite unlikely. I think you can imagine Suarez fitting into a new system in a similar way to how Villa did initially at Barcelona - a deeper/wider forward role but with clear intent to move centrally whenever possible.

To me the statement by Rodgers seems more like saying - I'll use the stupider player in the simpler tactical position and give Suarez greater freedom. It's not as if he is forced to stick with what he says either.

as good as luis is, i dont think he's a brilliant no.10 in a conventional 4231 - ie the role gerrard played with torres. his passing is good but not at the level of a gerrard or a silva. he;s a brilliant dribbler but i dont think he'd get enough assists in that role for me.

I think his best position is as on the left of the 4231 or 433 - probably better in the 433 imo where he';s much closer to the central positions and can still get his shots off.

genuis though.

[el matador]

repeat

[RichC]

as good as luis is, i dont think he's a brilliant no.10 in a conventional 4231 - ie the role gerrard played with torres. his passing is good but not at the level of a gerrard or a silva. he;s a brilliant dribbler but i dont think he'd get enough assists in that role for me.

I think his best position is as on the left of the 4231 or 433 - probably better in the 433 imo where he';s much closer to the central positions and can still get his shots off.

genuis though.

9 assists this season and 15 last season tells me he gets lots of assists

[Robbie-9-Fowler]

9 assists this season and 15 last season tells me he gets lots of assists

Yeah and the touch off to Sterling vs Sunderland should have been another!

[Slinky Skills]

So you think we will abandon the 4-3-3 based formations? I think that is quite unlikely. I think you can imagine Suarez fitting into a new system in a similar way to how Villa did initially at Barcelona - a deeper/wider forward role but with clear intent to move centrally whenever possible.

To me the statement by Rodgers seems more like saying - I'll use the stupider player in the simpler tactical position and give Suarez greater freedom. It's not as if he is forced to stick with what he says either.

[marcus50bucks]

Daniel Sturridge: Talented & Hungry, Opportunity Awaits Alongside Suárez at Liverpool

By Grant James on January 4, 2013 in Analysis



ARROGANT, selfish and an inflated sense of self-worth. All these things have been leveled at Daniel Sturridge in recent times, but even more so after reports started that his 3 and a half year spell at Chelsea was to come to an end, with a £12m move to Liverpool. Are these tags fair? And just how good is the left footed forward?
When news broke that Liverpool were to sign another young British player for a significant transfer fee, several ex-players and media pundits had their say on the matter. Stan Collymore used his newspaper column to state his belief that Sturridge is not the answer to Liverpool’s goalscoring problems, and Steve Nicol told ESPN that he did not think Sturridge was the right player for Liverpool to target. Both felt that a pure number 9 in the mould of Darren Bent would be more suitable. Let’s take a look at Sturridge’s career this far, his suitability to Liverpool’s football, and whether all the pre-conceptions about him have any merit.

After coming through the ranks at Manchester City, he left the club at the end of his contract to join Chelsea. He always maintained it was because he saw his first-team chances at City being limited by the imminent arrival of numerous big-name strikers. This did not ring true to many, especially as Chelsea had a strong striking pool, but the club had not generally been spending big money since the second summer under Mourinho, and Sturridge arrived at Chelsea as the third choice central striker. ”Studge” had to bide his time under Carlo Ancelotti in that first season, making only 6 starts in all competitions. He did, however, score 4 goals in the 3 FA Cup games he started as the centre forward, and ended the season with 5 goals in total. In his second season at the club, he only started 3 games in the first half of the season, one being in the League Cup and the two others in the Champions League. He scored in both of those Champions League starts. With Fernando Torres’ £50m move to the club in January, Sturridge departed on loan to Bolton. 8 league goals arrived in just 12 appearances (11 starts), and he appeared to grow up as a player. This meant that in two seasons, Sturridge had scored 15 goals in just 20 starts. What he really needed was a chance to play regularly, and that arrived under André Villas-Boas, who used Sturridge as an inverted winger on the right flank – a role similar to the one Hulk had played for Villas-Boas at Porto. The young left-footer responded to the confidence shown in him.

In his first 19 games of last season, Sturridge scored 10 goals in just 1322 minutes.

That’s a goal every 1.5 games on average, which is a fantastic return from the right flank.

9 of those goals came in the Premier League, so it’s not as if his total was inflated by goals in the Carling Cup.

He scored 7 of those 10 goals away from home.

His goals came against Sunderland (A), Bolton (A), Everton (H), Everton (A), Wolves (H), Newcastle (A), Liverpool (H), Wigan (A) and Tottenham (A). He was scoring goals against strong opposition.

Of those 10 goals, 2 were equalisers, 3 were the first goal in games, and 2 proved to be the match winning goals. Again, he was not scoring the the 4′th or 5′th goal in a comfortable win.

After this, with the side struggling, Villas-Boas changed tactics. He switched to a much deeper defensive line, no pressing high up the pitch, and asked the wide players to drop far deeper, instead of pressing the opposition fullbacks as before. This was not a role that suited Sturridge, and his goals unsurprisingly dried up. After Roberto Di Matteo took over as manager, the wide players were required to do even more defensive work. Sturridge lost his place in the first-choice XI. Although he started 10 games under the Italian, it was usually wide on the left, and in a completely changed lineup as Chelsea rested players for the Champions League. Sturridge ended the season with 13 goals and 9 assists. He was Chelsea’s top scorer in all competitions from open-play. This was despite only playing 45 minutes as a central striker all season. That start was at Blackburn in the league, but he was moved back to the flank at half-time after Florent Malouda’s poor performance. Faith was instead shown in Fernando Torres, despite a 25-hour run without a goal.



Although he has always been an extremely direct player, often dribbling or shooting instead of passing, his reputation appeared to reach a tipping point after an FA Cup game against Leicester. With Chelsea cruising to victory, Sturridge spent the last 30 minutes shooting from every angle, and ignoring better placed teammates. Although this is something that had been seen on occasion in the past, a raft of “Sturridge is selfish” articles and blog posts were published after the game. What people did not realise was that Sturridge had been wearing a “Pray 4 Muamba” shirt and had been desperate to score to pay tribute to his friend. No matter, the damage to his reputation was irreversible.

If people bothered to delve a bit deeper, they would remember his superb wing-play to beat Gaël Clichy and then Patrice Evra to set up goals in crucial home games against the Manchester clubs.

Off the field, Sturridge is an excellent professional who has had a good upbringing. In 2010, he made it clear in an interview that he prefers quiet evenings with his girlfriend rather than going out partying:

“My girlfriend is a drama student so I rehearse lines with her. We go to watch a lot of shows together. I’m not like everyone else. I only have one girlfriend, I don’t go out to clubs and go drinking.

This season has practically been a write-off for him after a severe case of Meningitis meant he had no real preseason before the Olympics. He had the occasional appearance from the substitutes bench, but only one start in the Capital One Cup. After coming on in the league defeat at West Brom, Sturridge missed a couple of gilt-edge chances. However, his absolutely sublime movement impressed everyone, and he appeared in line to start the crucial Champions League fixture in Turin against Juventus. However, he injured his hamstring the day before the game and was ruled out for a number of weeks. This was his second serious hamstring injury of the season - hardly surprising considering his lack of preseason training.

Where will Sturridge fit in at Liverpool?

Luis Suárez tends to favour the right channel. Many forwards prefer to work the left channel, as it allows them to pick the ball up and go towards goal, with the ball on their stronger right foot, and their left arm holding off their opponent. The ball is on the furthest foot from the player attempting to tackle them, and this also allows the attacker to shoot with their stronger foot. Suárez is a different beast. He prefers to work the right channel, even though the ball is technically being controlled by the foot closest to his opponent, and protecting the ball would require him to use his right arm. It’s obvious this is not ideal as it is less easy to balance, whilst also not allowing the attacker to shoot on their strongest foot. Yet somehow Suárez is exceptionally dangerous in this situation, often looking to nutmeg opponents, or feint left and take the the ball to the right, before reversing passed his opponent. This is a fairly unique talent that the Uruguayan possesses. It almost requires the attacker to be extra inventive, especially with taking shots. Suárez often uses the outside of his foot from very acute angles. He also tends to attack areas that are too narrow for the left fullback to defend, but wide enough to draw the left central defender out of the middle. Cut backs, and crosses fired across the box are a regular sight. If Raheem Sterling can develop a little more composure in front of goal, he could score a lot more goals. Both Sterling goals this season have come from Suárez playing the diminutive winger through on goal from a deeper positions. Sturridge’s pace will be a massive threat from these types of passes. Suárez has created the most clear-cut chances (sitters) in the Premier League this season according to EPL Index, with 10. He was also only behind Lionel Messi in 2012 for “attempts to beat an opponent” with just 5 less attempts.

Brendan Rodgers has said that he expects a fluid front 3 with Sturridge often in central positions. This will suit him very well. His box movement and timing of runs when the ball is in the wide areas is fantastic. If he lines up on the right, he arrives at the back post with a striker’s mentality. He scored goals last season by arriving late on the blindside of Leighton Baines, José Enrique and Benoît Assou-Ekotto. Rodgers had the following to say on the pair’s future positions:

“Daniel’s best position is as a central striker, and I think the best role for him will be straight through the middle, with his pace. Where will Luis play then? He’ll play for the common good of the team.

Wherever Luis plays, he will make the same movements and find the space, because he is a world class player. There is not just one way to play 4-3-3. You can have one up and two wingers, a floating nine like Luis. Or you can have one like Daniel playing central, two in and around him narrow, with the full-backs bombing on.

When Luis was at Ajax he played in behind as a number 10, in between the lines, and he played as a reverse winger from the left.

Whichever route Rodgers takes, Sturridge will undoubtedly add far more firepower to the Liverpool side, whether that be with assists or left footed shots when playing from the right, or goals from running in behind or arriving to meet passes in the box, when in central positions. He is a player of immense technical talent, as well as searing pace. He is almost an un-English player in his sheer audacity and self-confidence. Let’s hope that the old school English mentality of demanding passes in to the channels and flick-ons from the attackers, doesn’t have an effect on Sturridge, and he plays his natural game whilst still improving his decision making. Rodgers appears the perfect hands-on coach to help Studge reach his potential. Top scoring from open play last season is as much as he could have done in terms of taking his chance at Chelsea. It makes you wonder what the next young English player will need to produce to remain in the first team.

You can view Sturridge’s very impressive and well-spoken first interview with Liverpool below:

[ame]http://youtu.be/WE9Vue8aus4[/ame]

You can view a video of all of Sturridge’s touches in his only Chelsea start this season, against Manchester United, here.

You can also see a compilation of Sturridge’s goals and best assists last season below. Look out for his superb movement at the back post when the ball is on the left, and his 1v1 ability in beating Clichy and Evra.

[ame]http://youtu.be/UxbkvG9lleA[/ame]

Chelsea have allowed an exceptional talent to go, and will instead hand continued opportunities to Fernando Torres. It’s such a pity that Sturridge did not get the opportunities he deserved. Liverpool have got a top player, who has massive belief in himself and the talent to back it up. Well done, Brendan Rodgers.

http://www.football-analysis.com/daniel-sturridge-talented-hungry-opportunity-awaits-alongside-suarez-at-liverpool/2/