It has now been, remarkably, 27 seasons since Liverpool FC last won the English top flight – indeed it was that long ago, it was the old ‘Division One’ – a few seasons before the Premier League came into existence.
Since then, they have finished second 4 times, but have an average finishing position of fifth (4.66 to be precise) – and for a club that previous to the League winning season of 1989/90 had only finished out of the top two places once in 19 seasons, this has been a very bitter pill to swallow – especially for their faithful fans.
It is now quite common place for non-Liverpool fans to tease them by saying mockingly ‘this is our season’…but sooner or later, it will be Liverpool’s season, and as with every pre season, eternal faith and optimism is growing amongst not just the Anfield faithful, but the team players and manager Jurgen Klopp….and that is down to two words :
Daniel…..Sturridge
According to teammate Adam Lallana, Sturridge is looking pretty good, as he told the Telegraph after the win over Hertha Berlin on Saturday, in which Sturridge played 45 minutes : “Studge has been absolutely brilliant in pre-season so far, you couldn’t put a price on him.”
“He is a world class player. He has come back from the summer looking absolutely brilliant, so fit. He is going to be a massive player for us this season. I can feel it.
“He is looking really sharp and to have him firing on all cylinders would be like having two new signings if we can keep on the pitch and get him scoring goals”
Sturridge has become an integral piece of the Liverpool jigsaw – so much so that Klopp has put an absolute block on him leaving the club, as it was rumoured he was considering a move, which would have put many top class sides on red alert. But Klopp moved to snuff that out, saying that to replace Sturridge would ‘cost too much’.
Since his move from Chelsea for £12 million back in 2013, Sturridge has made ‘just’ 89 league appearances for the Reds – but has scored 46 goals in that time. A stunning ratio. Indeed across all appearances for Liverpool, Sturridge averages better than a goal every two games.
If, and it is a big if, Liverpool can, for once, get a full season out of ‘Studge’ and he can maintain the goals per game ratio shown to date, then his goals could well be the difference between Liverpool winning the League…or having to suffer another round of ‘next year…definitely our year then’ from the rest of England.
DANIEL STURRIDGE – LIVERPOOL CAREER TO DATE (ALL COMPETITIONS)
- 2012/13 : 16 appearances, 11 goals
- 2013/14 : 33 appearances, 24 goals
- 2014/15 : 18 appearances , 5 goals
- 2015/16 : 25 appearances, 13 goals
- 2016/17 : 27 appearances, 7 goals
- Total : 119 appearances, 60 goals (1 goal every 1.98 games)
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