Daniel Sturridge has 25 goals in 31 games for Liverpool, the most prolific record from an Englishman since Kevin Phillips in 1999-00. Add another one. He scored against Fulham the other night.

 

 

No one can be in the slightest doubt now that we made a huge gaff and off loaded the wrong striker in January 2013. However, what if he had been given the chance he craved? A run of games at centre-forward. For all his perceived faults, (he's even worse in the air than JFH was), he has staggering self-confidence and more importantly he has that priceless ability that none of our current strikers have....... he scores goals. Lots of them.

 

So if we had showed a little faith and took a punt on him as a starting centre-forward what difference would he have made? Would he have been as successful as he has been at Liverpool? How would he have fitted in with the players we have now ? How would he have adapted to Jose's work ethic?

Edited February 14, 201412 yr by just

The problem is Torres would still be getting game time above him. I really dont want this to turn into a Torres bashing but because we have Torres and have paid so much for him, he gets played a whole lot more than he ever should.

If we didnt have Torres and had kept Studge then those extra points that he wins for Liverpool would have us top for sure.

I think Jose has highlighted this all season, saying that we are missing the final bit of the puzzle which is a goal scorer for kill teams off.

It's difficult, you can easily say if you we had X player who is scoring goals for another team we would win more or score more but obviously you have to factor in that the team they are playing in might be playing a differently to ourselves. 

 

Liverpool are certainly very free-scoring attacking team and for all the plaudits Manchester City are getting this season Liverpool have only scored two goals less than them (in one more game played). 

 

Of their 66 league goals 39 have been scored by Suarez and Sturridge, they're just working extremely well as partnership and so I suppose the question you have to ask is, would Sturridge get the same service playing at Chelsea as he does for Liverpool where their team seems quite happy to (rightly) focus all their attacks through those two strikers.

 

For arguments sake if Sturridge was playing for us right now I do think he would scoring goals but I'm not sure if it would affect the form of the likes of Willian or Hazard as Sturridge is a much more selfish player than say Eto'o.

 

Nothing wrong with selfish strikers, some see it as their job to only score the goals and if, like Sturridge, they keep sticking it in the onion bag who can argue with that? 

The Suarez partnership argument is not decisive. Don't forget Suarez was banned for 10 games and Sturridge was played up top on his own and still scored freely in that period.

 

Personally my biggest doubt is how he would have reacted to the demands of Mourinho. Sturridge doesn't strike me as someone who takes criticism well.

I've always suspected that it was down to more than footballing reasons that he was sold from Chelsea.

 

Obviously it's only paper talk but there was rumours that he didn't get on well with senior members of the Chelsea squad and I remember reading Lampard in particular didn't like his attitude.

 

It's possible he's matured a bit now, apparently he was very much into the money side of being a professional and liked to flash the cash and all that sort of thing.

 

I'm not holding that against him, just something I had read about his time at Chelsea. 

I heard that Lamps didnt like JFH either but that didnt stop Jimmy being a very good striker for us.

I havent heard anything about Studge flashing the cash. If anything its the other way around. He doesnt get caught stumbling out of clubs like Ash does.

It wasn't about being a bad professional but he just apparently spoke about money a lot and was often spending it on luxury items like watches and designer clothes all the time and apparently it and his attitude rubbed players up the wrong way.

 

Could be that it was the egos of the more senior players that was the problem but who knows, it's all hearsay.  

Don't know about win the league but we certainly should've kept him. Far better than both Torres and Ba.

Don't know about win the league but we certainly should've kept him. Far better than both Torres and Ba.

Very true but thats not how things work at Chelsea. Price tag comes into it also. Maybe even Romans favourites come into it as well.

he wanted to go in the end because he was fed up seeing teams being picked on politics not ability...he's a striker, yet started only a couple of games there because of a certain Spaniard...it was a criminal waste of talent, made worse by a section of Chelsea fans who jeered him when he missed a chance yet cheered when torres won a corner...would he have won us the title this season? hard to say...but he would have scored more goals than our highest forward so far - eto'o - who has just six league goals...Torres has just four...

 

as for his attitude...yeah he came across as sulky and pi**ed off, but is that surprising? Given Mourinho's man-management skills, I reckon he would have been able to handle him...Jose would like his pace in pressing opposition defenders, but also a major threat on the counter attack

he wanted to go in the end because he was fed up seeing teams being picked on politics not ability...he's a striker, yet started only a couple of games there because of a certain Spaniard...it was a criminal waste of talent, made worse by a section of Chelsea fans who jeered him when he missed a chance yet cheered when torres won a corner...would he have won us the title this season? hard to say...but he would have scored more goals than our highest forward so far - eto'o - who has just six league goals...Torres has just four...

 

as for his attitude...yeah he came across as sulky and pi**ed off, but is that surprising? Given Mourinho's man-management skills, I reckon he would have been able to handle him...Jose would like his pace in pressing opposition defenders, but also a major threat on the counter attack

 

This is why we need Mourinho to stay for a minimum four years, the longer the better though.

 

The constant change in management means that player power grows because long serving senior squad members are the constant presence and not the manager.

 

I like our current squad mostly because of the age of it, there are a lot of young players who seem willing to learn and get their heads down. I think we are lacking a bit of leadership at times but maybe that's because I've been so used to seeing the likes Drogba, Ballack, Lampard and Terry on a pitch all at the same time. 

 

Mourinho man managing Sturridge would have been interesting, if Sturridge is the type of player willing to listen and learn he would have flourished. 

 

I think the club had good intentions in signing Sturridge but then due mostly to managerial changes didn't have the conviction to see through his development. 

In answer to the question, Yes.

 

And it hurts to think we ousted him in favour of Torres.

 

Let's hope it hurts Roman as much.

 

But don't worry because this summer we'll eclipse any regrets about selling  Sturridge when we purchase TWO prolific strikers, (yes TWO, because I think Lukaku will be sold), as Jose says, "we will see why in the summer".

Signing anyone for 50 million makes them very hard to leave out of the team. Its not the players fault but the board should have cut their losses by now and loaned him out. I hope that this season was his final chance. The shape of the team has changed, we have signed more attacking players, we even brought in his old manager and nothing has worked. Surely its time to say enough is enough we need a striker who will score on a regular basis so we can go on to the next level and win the league and everything else.

I'm not sure managers had much of a say in it...the owner buys a £50m striker, so he plays, simple as that...remember di matteo not starting Torres at Juventus in 2012...he was a goner anyway, but that sealed his fate

In answer to the question, Yes.

And it hurts to think we ousted him in favour of Torres.

Let's hope it hurts Roman as much.

But don't worry because this summer we'll eclipse any regrets about selling Sturridge when we purchase TWO prolific strikers, (yes TWO, because I think Lukaku will be sold), as Jose says, "we will see why in the summer".

Who do you think those two will be? Costa is a very safe bet but who do you think the other will be?

Isnt Drogba out of contract at the end of the season?

Signing anyone for 50 million makes them very hard to leave out of the team. Its not the players fault but the board should have cut their losses by now and loaned him out. I hope that this season was his final chance. The shape of the team has changed, we have signed more attacking players, we even brought in his old manager and nothing has worked. 

 

And we brought in players certain ex-pool players specifically to help Torres, talk about digging yourself in deeper.

Who do you think those two will be? Costa is a very safe bet but who do you think the other will be?

Isnt Drogba out of contract at the end of the season?

 

Hell knows Uno, but I trust Jose to bring in what we need.

I don't think so.

Very true but thats not how things work at Chelsea. Price tag comes into it also. Maybe even Romans favourites come into it as well.

 

It's very annoying. It still hurts to think we could've had Aguero for £10m cheaper than Torres at the time of purchasing him!

It's very annoying. It still hurts to think we could've had Aguero for £10m cheaper than Torres at the time of purchasing him!

It is too painful for me to keep thinking about.

It is too painful for me to keep thinking about.

 

I know. Summer will be interesting, I hope but can't see Torres leaving. Would personally love Drogba back along with an 'elite' striker.

Don't really want this thread to be about the right or wrongs of Torres starting over Sturridge, we all have our own opinions on that and it's history now anyway.

 

It's a hypothetical question on whether or not Sturridge would have, had he been given the chance with us, been as successful as he has been at Victimpool.

 

Lots of things affect that; the players he has around him, the formation, man management etc. And not least his own mindset. I mentioned Sturridge's obvious self-confidence in my opening post, some call that arrogance perhaps rightly so. However, without that Sturridge would not be the same player, IMO he thrives on that personality trait. Another telling factor affecting that is the fan's reaction to him. At pool he is already accepted by the fans as one of their main stars behind only Stevie Me and Suarez. Would he have ever have recieved that same recognition from the fans here?  I am not sure he would as too many had already made their minds up on Sturridge without ever seeing him given a proper go in the position he wanted. Brit is right in the point he makes in his post when comparing the support Torres received from our fans, to that given to Sturridge. He wouldn't have got the benefit of the doubt from many of our fans, he wouldn't have been given the time and that IMO that would have destroyed his self-confidence / arrogance and he wouldn't have been the same player for us that has been for them..

Edited February 14, 201412 yr by just

Where i sat in the east stand he always got a lot of support.

He's respected by the dippers because he's scoring goals doubt they would give him the support he's getting if he didn't hit the ground running. Liverpool are doing great this season but they are going into every game fresh because no European footballl. Let's see how good Rodgers is next season when he only has a day or two to prepare for games that also goes for Sturridge Suarez and co. If Sturridge was in the form he's on with Liverpool with us yes we would win the leauge but I think we will win it anyway

Edited February 14, 201412 yr by bluegraham

Uno, many fans believed he had an attitude problem and had no time at all for Sturridge. I recall he got booed off at one game but can't off the top of my head remember which one.

 

He never got a fair crack of the whip in terms of selection based on form and a large proportion of the match going fans didn't like him anyway and had already made their minds up on him as a player. He never stood a chance and it would never have worked out for him here IMO.