Sturridge the Bridesmaid

So this is it then. This is what it must have felt like 25 years ago. For the Liverpool fans of the 70’s and 80’s, this is what it must have felt like – supporting a winning team with a bullish attitude and a “press them till they give up” work ethic. I love this feeling, and it may just get better.

In my opinion, the man to take us there is Daniel Sturridge.

You see, up to now our fantastic South American hitman has carried us to the watering hole and forced us to drink from the fountain of success, but one man can’t lead millions to the “promised land” He needs his side-kick and in Daniel Sturridge he has a more than capable one.

Daniel has won us some very important games, stolen draws from losing positions and even setting up winning goals; the man has grown into a perfect fail-safe for the team. He runs fast, possesses a thunderous left foot and has the technical ability to rival even our very own sharpshooting Luis. Daniel has an almost telepathic relationship with Luis and even when they seem to be arguing they always seem to deliver the goods.

Since coming to LFC, Daniel Sturridge has enjoyed his best spell in the Barclays Premier League, and he’s delivered on the trust the management has shown in him. He tracks back and makes important contributions from deep, as well as getting onto the end of some expert passing from our demon midfield. But what does he lack? Certainly not the goal-scoring prowess of a league winning forward.  I do believe, however, that he lacks something which, in my opinion, is key to all great forwards: intensity.

That hunger to bite, kick or even headbutt any defender who give gives him grief. But this is deemed “unsportsman-like behaviour”, so let’s leave Daniel Sturridge with the current role he is playing, and that is acting as the “perfect fail-safe” – the goals-machine gun we have locked and loaded at the moment.

When any defence stands on the opposite side of our potent attack, they really only see Luis Suarez and how they don’t want to tackle him or would rather tackle him way up on the half-way line. What they don’t realise is that they often double-up defenders on Luis and this releases miles of open spaces for Daniel Sturridge to creep into and score very, very good goals. He’s reached 18 goals quietly and without really tormenting defences like Luis has.

Still, he’s gone into games and often opened the scoring or finished the game off. Daniel is quietly becoming what Bebeto was for the Brazilian World cup winning team – a bridesmaid to Romario. Although Suarez is the one getting the love and the glitz and glamour of the “bride”, Daniel is very much the bridesmaid making sure the wedding happens.

With LFC going into the last 10 games with confidence and optimism, one can only dream of the possibilities. We have a good team currently, that are having a purple patch and I predict that our defence will have a good spell, of at least 4-5 clean sheets in a row. If they achieve this I think we can achieve the unthinkable, whether that’s 3^rd place, 2nd place… or better.

Currently we can say that Liverpool has their best chance of league honours for a long time and, although its improbable, it’s definitely not impossible. The confidence currently oozing through Liverpool is so contagious that even the ball boys are performing well at Anfield!