Where does he really fit best at Liverpool FC?
Liverpool looked to have picked up one of the bargains of the January transfer window when they signed Daniel Sturridge from Chelsea, but after an extremely bright start to life at Anfield, he seems to have gone off the boil in recent weeks, with manager Brendan Rodgers seemingly unsure how best to use him, calling into question quite where he fits in the side in the long-term.
Whenever signing for a new club, it’s important to hit the ground running, and if you’re a striker, preferably bag an early goal to prove the doubters wrong and Sturridge did exactly that, getting off the mark in the team’s 2-1 defeat away at Old Trafford before following that up with one more in the 5-0 hammering of Norwich at home, which added to his debut goal in the FA Cup against Mansfield made him the first Liverpool player to score three goals in their first three appearances for the side since Ray Kennedy achieved the same feat in 1974.
Already the talk was centred on what a great deal Rodgers had pulled off and why Chelsea, with just Fernando Torres and the recently signed Demba Ba, felt the need to ditch such a clearly talented player. The question marks over his application and work-rate were dispelled by a series of vibrant attacking displays, full of creativity, awareness and tactical versatility and he seems to be striking up something of a relationship with fellow forward Luis Suarez.
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However, flash forward and there’s a case to be made at the moment that the system has evolved without him during his recent short spells on the sidelines with niggling thigh and hamstring injuries. He’s missed three of the team’s last seven league outings due to injury and during one of those games away at Wigan, Suarez managed to grab a hat-trick.
That can be no coincidence and in his first five appearances, of which the club scored 15 goals, Sturridge recorded an impressive 89% pass completion rate, created 11 chances for his team-mates and scored four goals with a shot accuracy of 62%, all evidence of a player clearly in form.
In his last three outings, the team have picked up four points, scored just four goals and the 23-year-old England international looks to have gone off the boil to a degree, with his pass accuracy dropping to 79%, his shot accuracy way down at 57% and the simple fact that he failed to find the back of the net. Peaks and troughs in form are inevitable consequences of niggling injuries, so it’s effectively difficult to tell which is the Sturridge the club have got on their hands for the next few years, while it can’t be easy to transition to a completely new side mid-season, so in that respect he deserves a great deal of credit.
Nevertheless, it’s his starting position that is the most troubling issue to ponder, because the current Liverpool side looks a lot more balanced without him and starting Philippe Coutinho and Stewart Downing either side of Suarez down the flanks, both looking to drift inside in a role that Rodgers usually refers to as ‘inverted wingers’.
During the game against Southampton, a 3-1 defeat against Mauricio Pochettino’s side who are quickly carving out a reputation for themselves as a team to watch for the future, Liverpool seriously struggled against their high pressing style and weren’t at the races all day, with the back four and midfield both abject in what looked to be the team’s worst performance since Rodgers took over in the summer.
But it’s when you realise that the side switched to something approaching a more traditional 4-4-2 formation, certainly more so than at any other time during Rodgers’ short tenure so far that the situation arises where the team’s shape is being compromised to fit in Sturridge. Coutinho and Downing both started on the flanks again, but much further back than usual, with Joe Allen and Steven Gerrard taking up the central positions.
The result was a disjointed and toothless attacking display, with Suarez unsure of whether to drop off Sturridge or continue to act as the main man in the lone central role through the middle. Whereas before the two dovetailed beautifully, now they were playing like strangers, miles apart from one another and unable to pool together any sort of coherent threat. It was painful to watch.
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With that in mind, considering Suarez is currently the Premier League’s top scorer with 22 goals and is enjoying the finest season of his club career in England, is messing with a system that’s brought the best out of him really the ideal scenario? Would it not be better to fit in Sturridge around him for the time being, possibly taking up a wider role similar to the one he occupied at Chelsea? Much like the midfield conundrum has resulted in something of a mess, Rodgers seems puzzled as how to best integrate him in the side again at the moment.
You have to wonder with little more then local pride still to play for, with a Merseyside derby coming up and David Moyes’ side sat a place above Liverpool in the league, whether it wouldn’t be worth trying Sturridge in a new role. His tactical flexibility after all was one of the main reasons he was targeted in the first place, at least until he finds his feet again in the starting eleven, otherwise he may continue to flounder and frustrate in equal measure.
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