Daniel Sturridge

[The_weatherman]

...so back to Studge, with his crying at the end of the game, he's either

a) playing to the cameras to show he cares about his football or
b) he's just a pretty emotional young man which goes along with his stance of 'I won't play if I'm not 100% fit'...

Not sure which one?

I'd lean towards b), he seemed shattered physically, he didn't have 120 minutes in his body really so maybe the occasion just got to him, he was limping, exhausted and lost.

[Irishnev]

Its not just the premier league. £50m for a player of David Luiz's abilities should be testament to that.

Ahem.......money laundering........

Mangala is almost as bad as that one - wasn't it in the region of £45m + for him when the third parties were paid also, Porto only had 60% of his rights and that was for £32m for him.

[Harv]

Owen took penalties and had a garbage conversion rate.

re Kompany, yeah he's good, I'm not disputing that. I think we're in an era of poor defenders across the Premier League. I don't think he is better than any of the outstanding central defenders of the last decade or so - for example, Sami, Carragher, Vidic, Terry, Campbell, Ferdinand, Colin Hendry... the list goes on

**** off

[Harv]

Its not just the premier league. £50m for a player of David Luiz's abilities should be testament to that.

That was a shady as **** deal though

[Lecter]

Ian Rush didn't take penalties.

Torres didn't take them either.

Rush took one of the penalties in the 1984 European Cup Final

I seem to remember him taking a few in shoot outs

[redmike65]

Conspicuous lack of bumping of this thread!

I can see trouble ahead, some will be generous and talk of needing a run of matches, or they'll be need to recalibrate his game to work as a lone striker ahead of Larry, Curly and Moe but what is catching my eye is more of a problem - work rate. Its clear he'd just like some slipped balls in behind to run on to and sure he'll continue to get those chances but not nearly as many as previously. There is no suggestion Klopp is going to play two up never mind a diamond formation which would play to Sturridges strengths so he is going to have to learn to run and presses across the opposition 18 yard line in tandem with the others rather than play his own game.

[rodo]

Don`t see a long term future for him under Klopp it looks a very unhappy relationship imo

[RichC]

I'm with Muddled on this, he doesn't look happy and it wouldn't be a massive surprise to see him moved on in the Summer.

It'll be a shame as I think he's incredibly talented but he needs to work harder to be a central part of Klopps plans and can he stay fit ?

[Rich]

We've got to be very careful here, while I'm not going to speak out against anything Klopp decides, there are very, very few strikers with the strikerate of Sturridge, full stop, even fewer affordable.

Personally, I think we need to be pragmatic here and possibly accept slightly less work from him as he 'guarantees' goals. He was proper magic in his boots, a rare gift of being able to score all sorts of goals regularly.

If I were Klopp I'd be looking at complementing Firmino and Sturridge with another highly mobile and speedy wide forward.

[RichC]

We've got to be very careful here, while I'm not going to speak out against anything Klopp decides, there are very, very few strikers with the strikerate of Sturridge, full stop, even fewer affordable.

Personally, I think we need to be pragmatic here and possibly accept slightly less work from him as he 'guarantees' goals. He was proper magic in his boots, a rare gift of being able to score all sorts of goals regularly.

If I were Klopp I'd be looking at complementing Firmino and Sturridge with another highly mobile and speedy wide forward.

I agree, I think Sturridge wants to want to play for us though. I'm not convinced just going by his demeanor that he really wants to be with us anymore, it's almost as if he's mentally checked out.

Hopefully the "tough love" approach Klopp seems to have taken with him will work out in a positive way for us but I'm not convinced it will at the moment.

[Maxiedge]

There is no chance Klopp would want this guy to go if he stays fit, no chance.

Most of our games next season will entail teams parking the bus at Anfield and there's not much better than Sturridge to do a bit of trickery and tight finish.

The only question mark is his fitness.

P.S. I've always found his demeanour to be dis-interested/moody...wouldn't read too much into that.

[Shaggy]

We've got to be very careful here, while I'm not going to speak out against anything Klopp decides, there are very, very few strikers with the strikerate of Sturridge, full stop, even fewer affordable.

Personally, I think we need to be pragmatic here and possibly accept slightly less work from him as he 'guarantees' goals. He was proper magic in his boots, a rare gift of being able to score all sorts of goals regularly.

If I were Klopp I'd be looking at complementing Firmino and Sturridge with another highly mobile and speedy wide forward.

Completely agree.

[Phoenix07]

He's got two months of this season left, so we'll see whether he just needs to adapt, and he bangs in the goals, or whether there is a wider issue.

[The Birdman]

No-one disputes his quality but Ings and especially Origi suit how Klopp wants his CF to play far more than DS, it was really noticeable last night that Sturridge comes short all the time, as soon as Origi came on he's stretching the game in behind, he's done exactly the same when starting v Man City and Palace.

I'd keep Sturridge and it might play into our hands that his body won't hold up to 3 games a week all season, allows him to be left out

[Maxiedge]

No-one disputes his quality but Ings and especially Origi suit how Klopp wants his CF to play far more than DS, it was really noticeable last night that Sturridge comes short all the time, as soon as Origi came on he's stretching the game in behind, he's done exactly the same when starting v Man City and Palace.

I'd keep Sturridge and it might play into our hands that his body won't hold up to 3 games a week all season, allows him to be left out

The game had changed though by the time Origi came on last night which allowed him to use his pace and running into the channels (being fed scraps though it has to be said )

I don't really get any of the doubts that have been raised. The guy is unbelievable and in the top 5 stikers in the world for me. His presence, whether on the pitch or bench just lifts the whole team. Fair enough if I've missed something but this is on par with Clyne needs replacing