Friday 4 December 2015

Sturridge A Problem Or The Solution

     When Sturridge missed yet another game with a foot injury, I, like almost wverybody else, was incredibly frustrated, I remember some of the goals he scored whilst alongside Suarez, I knew he was good but to be honest I had forgotten how good he was and I think after reading my Twitter timeline so had many others.  Enough is enough, we need to get rid, get what cash we can for him and farm him out, he is no longer worth the wages, we must get rid, he has become a liability were all comments posted by Liverpool fans and you can certainly see why people were this frustrated injury after injury, constant stories that Sturridge has broken down again, returns to the team only to break down again after only a couple of starts and then this time injured before he even got back on he pitch, it did start to feel like we were paying him for nothing.  Then Klopp worked his magic and Sturridge was encouraged back on to the pitch and within a half had two goals and had inspired Liverpool to a 6-1 win away to Southampton and we all remembered why we love him.

      For most of this season we have been lacking in goals, with only Benteke and Coutinho looking to me like they could get a goal, certainly on a regular basis, far to many draws were the outcome of not having a player  who can tuck the ball away on a regular basis.  It took 45 minutes for us to realise what we were missing not only a goalscorer but a player who can create space, who makes intelligent runs, who lifts the rest of the team who can do the simplest yet most difficult task and put the ball in the net, a player who can turn those draws into wins and who could just possibly turn our dreams into reality.

     Nobody single player is more important than any other, but a striker is responsible for scoring goals and if you as a team don't score you don't win its that simple.  I can't think of any championship winning team woo it a top quality striker, without somebody who can turn those draws into wins, who can break the deadlock when it seems the goal is never going to come.  We have strikers and I am reasonably hopeful that Benteke will turn out to be a good signing for us, Ings had looked like he was finding form just before a season ending injury and Origi despite his three goals recently still has a long way to go despite looking like he may have the potential to achieve but not one of them can compete with Sturridge for goal scoring, match wining ability.

     So yes that statement is always there, "if we can keep him fit" Sturridge is the key man to us challenging for and yes we can dream, winning the title. Not a problem, not a waste of money, we should pay anything for a chance, just a chance that our dreams may come true.  So it turns out that Sturridge may be the solution to our problems the solution we have been waiting for.


@lfclumo


Thursday 3 December 2015

We are coming !


Jurgen Klopp has turned us into something special already and we have so much more to come 3-1 away at Chelsea, 4-1 away at Manchester City and now 6-1 away at Southampton, results that have made everybody sit up and take notice, we are in the semi finals of the league cup, have qualified from the group stages in the UEFA league and are only six points of the top of the league and have played everybody, all the top teams away from home, they all need to come to us.  We are coming and they all know it.  

We have achieved this following having a bad enough start to force the sacking of a manager, Klopp has arrived and made an immediate impact but there is so much more to come from him he has only been working with the players for a few weeks as time passes his messages and tactics will develop the team will get better able to respond to difficult situations.  His management style seems to be bringing the best out of the players, he is certainly instilling confidence in them and they want to play for him they want to achieve, just look at the big soft smiles he can get just from giving one of his famous hugs.  Every player seems to have improved since Klopp took over imagine how much he can achieve and where we could be in three months time.  

We still have huge injury issues our squad and team can only get better as players return Sakho, Gomes, Ings all out at the moment with Henderson, Sturridge and Coutinho all just returning now, our squad can only get better.  At the start of the season Henderson, Sturridge and Coutinho were our three most important players, Sakho our best defender, Gomes looks like our best young signing for years and Ings was breaking into the first eleven when his injury cut him down, any other team would have really suffered with there three best players missing, we have gone through this and are still challenging on all fronts, seriously challenging.

Klopp asked the supporters to believe, he has said he felt alone when supporters left early, he has told Sturridge to learn to tell the difference between pain and real pain, he is sorting out the issues at the club we do believe or are starting to we are not so anxious in the ground heads don't go down when the team falls behind and we can see it in the players we are coming from behind and can hold on to leads, supporters are staying in the ground we all want to create an atmosphere to please the manager and within four days of Klopps comment Sturridge was back on the pitch playing and scoring when he had been mostly injured for a year and a half.  The manager gets his own way and his way is working.

When Liverpool beat Chelsea we were told Chelsea were out of form, struggling, players like Costa, Hazzard, Fabregas and Terry were playing badly, it wasn't Liverpool doing well it was Chelsea doing badly.  When we destroyed Man City again City had had an off day, Silva was injured and Aguero was only just returning and unfit so again no credit to Liverpool despite several of our first team players not playing due to injury, then we mullered Southampton a full strength Southampton whilst reintroducing injured players,meeting star players and blooding youngsters and did it at their ground after falling behind after only 41 seconds 

They know we are coming and we are most defiantly a threat, we are on the verge of another serious title challenge and will challenge in the cups, nobody wants to play Liverpool and I don't think anybody is ready for Klopp.  We have to show we can get the big results at home and learn how to break teams down when they come for a draw but would you bet against Klopp sorting this, I wouldn't, he will sort it and we are coming so get ready for exciting times, Liverpool only ever know one way it will be a roller coaster, it will be exciting and it could just end in glory.

@lfclumo