The Suarez and Sturridge Partnership

When Luis Suarez was purchased from AFC Ajax during the Winter Transfer window back in 2011, the plan was to link him along with Fernando Torres up front. But then two things happened. 1) Roy Hodgson got fired and Kenny Dalglish took over. 2) Torres wanted to leave and he did so after Chelsea triggered his release clause by paying Liverpool 50 million Pounds. So much for that partnership then. Then Suarez paired up with Bellamy or Kuyt and then eventually went on to take charge of the front line virtually all by himself. He never truly had a striker as a partner up front. Brendan Rodgers, noticing this, clearly had the plan to beef up Liverpool's striking options, especially when Suarez was hinting that he was unhappy at Liverpool.

That's where Daniel Sturridge entered into the picture. Sturridge, who was playing for Chelsea at that time, was someone who was well known around the soccer community but was not really a household name. He had a really good loan spell at Bolton Wanderers back when they were in the Premiership and scored a good amount of goals there. While Sturridge was not quite the finished product, he did have a lot of upside and was quite young. Which makes it even more strange as why Chelsea were willing to let him go and join Liverpool for a sum of around 12 million pounds. Sturridge looked locked in as soon as he joined the side. He scored his first ever Hat-trick against Fulham and scored his first Liverpool goal within 7 minutes on his debut. Unfortunately, he could not play with Suarez for a lot of matches that season because for one, Sturridge was not an established starter quite yet and Suarez got into another one of his ridiculous and stupid incidents, this time biting Ivanovic.

Sturridge's Chip Shot Goal vs WBA

Then the offseason came and it was a preconceived notion that Sturridge and Suarez would pair up front for Liverpool. Suarez still had about 6 matches of suspension left so Sturridge started to steal the show. In Liverpool's first 3 premier league games, they won all 3 of them by a score of 1-0 and Sturridge scored all 3 of those goals. Once Suarez's suspension was over, Liverpool fans finally had the chance to see both of them starting up front against Manchester United in the League Cup. But the duo started to show how potent they can be when they faced Sunderland. Suarez did most of the work to cut through the wide areas of the frontline of the pitch while Sturridge used to get in the right place at the right time. The duo's performance against West Brom was the best to date so far. Suarez scored a hat-Trick with two assists from Sturridge himself.

The return of Coutinho is vital for Liverpool

But for people who were getting carried away with this team too fast, todays game against Arsenal gave Liverpool fans a harsh reality check. While Suarez, Sturridge and Coutiniho are quality players with so much upside, they still need time to develop that partnership. We can all see how good this combination can be, but we can also see that they need time to stay potent on a consistent basis. With Gerrard's days of being a force in the Midfield unfortunately coming to its final days, Jordan Henderson, Philippe Coutinho and Lucas Leiva are the midfield trio for the future. And if Liverpool invest on a left or right wide midfielder (hopefully not someone like Downing), it will go on to be a formidable midfield to supply Suarez and Sturridge enough ammunition for the partnership to thrive. While it is a work in progress, it is a good one that shows a lot of promise for years to come.

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About Aditya Sriwasth

Aditya is the Founder, President, and Publisher of SportsKop. His favorite sports teams are the Oakland Athletics, San Jose Sharks, San Francisco 49ers, and most importantly, Liverpool FC. He is a student of the game, who has mastered the rules of the sports he covers, and brings passion, humor, and a fan’s perspective to the writing he contributes. He never really fared too well as a baseball player and therefore called it quits and decided to just mumble about sports. He's fat and obsessed with Steven Gerrard and Bryce Harper, and also has a massive celebrity crush on Kate Upton.

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