As a striker, you know you’ve had a mare when you’re hooked at half-time. That’s exactly what happened to Daniel Sturridge yesterday away at Red Star Belgrade. The English striker played out an abysmal 45 minutes, missed a sitter and was hooked as Jurgen Klopp opted to bring on Roberto Firmino.
It was certainly an evening to forget for Sturridge. In previous weeks and after games which he’s performed in you often find Liverpool fans taking to Twitter to shout their mouths off about how Sturridge is better than Harry Kane, although, after yesterday’s horror show, there’s been none of that whatsoever and The Reds that have taken to Twitter this morning have been throwing their 29-year-old frontman under the bus.
At the start of the season, it looked like Klopp was going to utilise Sturridge and have him as a more direct option to come off the bench and give Firmino a break when needed. That has worked up to a point and Sturridge has so far bagged himself four goals in 12 appearances, although if he looks as sluggish in future matches as he did yesterday then Klopp will have to reevaluate his options as Sturridge’s six successful passes and zero out of three shots on target didn’t make pretty viewing for the Kopites.
You can read the Reds’ verdict on Sturridge here:
Wages doesn’t mean nothing lfc forwards are looking awful atm sturridge missed that sitter in first half not having shaquiri last night was one of our biggest loss and who’d of thought we’d be saying that before the transfer window!!
— kyle hogan (@kyleahogan92) November 7, 2018
I love Jurgen but he’s to blame for last night..when trying to qualify in C.L you don’t mess with your best starting 11. Lallana, sturridge & matip were shocking. But if this is our little bad patch of the season then I’m cool with that
— FUTUREBOUND VIPER (@FutureboundLFC) November 7, 2018
We are #LFC, we do it the hard way and I'm confident we can progress.
A thought on the lineup last night though is that we can't play Lallana and Sturridge at the same time because we lose too much of that edge. Yesterday was seriously poor from everyone
— Shareef (@86Shareef) November 7, 2018
https://twitter.com/RedRoos07610289/status/1060126878235795456
Yes I am devastated never seen us play so bad. No one was on their game our defence was shocking. Sturridge looked like he couldn’t be bothered. I still believe we will get through though.
— Vicky (@queenie_lfc) 7 November 2018
Why start Matip ahead of Lovren and Gomez?I don't like this squad rotation of a thing. There was no creative midfielder in the park. Is Keita now a bench warmer?Mane extremely poor and Salah wasteful. Sturridge is the most selfish player on planet earth. Klopp's lineup was a joke
— engrsamy (@chimeremochi) November 7, 2018
Time to give Bobby a break?
Firmino has played in 69 games since the start of last season, more than any other player in the Premier League. Even Mo Salah has played two fewer…
But who can we bring in? Sturridge is not the answer and neither is Origi. #LFC #Liverpool pic.twitter.com/JtZDMGgIeX
— Liverpoolzy** (@Liverpool_zy) November 7, 2018
https://twitter.com/AndyRobboIsBoss/status/1060102008236134400
The Reds are decided on Sturridge and would much prefer to have a more mobile centre-forward, even if the ex-Chelsea man does score goals here and there.
