Does anyone actually think...

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He was fit for the last two months of last season and he wasn't an automatic starter, so it's not really a question worth asking as we already know the answer, Origi, Firmino and Sturridge will get picked dependent on who suits the game plan for the particular opponent.
 
I just cant think of Sturridge as a player fit and strong for long periods. It would be very interesting to see if he managed to make that position his own if he actually managed to stay fit, but I just cant turn my brain into that mode.
 
No - He is 2nd choice number 9 behind Origi for me, and even then in the top away games it seems like Klopp prefers to play a false 9. Against mid table/low table teams, we could see a return to 4-4-2 with Sturridge in the line up though.
 
Sturridge is an automatic starter this season if and when fit?

I don't.

I've been saying for a while we should sell him and I don't think he's 100% a Klopp player.

Hard to get past his goals but he's just never fit enough of the time.

I think we won't see that much of him this season.
 
As Admiral Akbar sez, this is obviously a trap to snare the unwary who think you have a best 11 (Ryan's single biggest bugbear). This thread is like Donald Trump asking you whether you think Mexicans should be able to wander freely into the U.S.
 
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Not as such but if he gets fit, stays fit and shows he's fit he'll score the goals that will make him difficult to leave out irrespective of the opposition and circumstance.
 
If he stays fit from Say the end of August to may, you know he will score 20 league games and win us countless matches with individual moments of skill.

He may also start 8 matches and score 4 between now.

The latter is more likely but I don't think we can afford to have a fit Sturridge on the bench
 
Sturridge is an automatic starter this season if and when fit?

I don't.

I don't think he is an automatic starter, no. But he is one of our best players and should play most of the time when fit. Like I said many times before, I consider him an attacking midfielder rather than a striker in Klopp's system, I don't think he is interchangeable with Origi, because he can't lead the line like Origi, but he is interchangeable with Firmino and Lallana. And having an AM capable of scoring 20+ goals in a season is fucking great.
 
I don't think he is an automatic starter, no. But he is one of our best players and should play most of the time when fit. Like I said many times before, I consider him an attacking midfielder rather than a striker in Klopp's system, I don't think he is interchangeable with Origi, because he can't lead the line like Origi, but he is interchangeable with Firmino and Lallana. And having an AM capable of scoring 20+ goals in a season is fucking great.

Firmino seems to get a lot of games up front so regardless of how you classify their roles it would seem that Sturridge, Origi and Firmino are in competition for a place in the side.
 
Nope. But I'm sure he knows his physical limitations and may well settle for a somewhat reduced role.
 
As Admiral Akbar sez, this is obviously a trap to snare the unwary who think you have a best 11 (Ryan's single biggest bugbear). This thread is like Donald Trump asking you whether you think Mexicans should be able to wander freely into the U.S.

Nah, no trap.

Just interested in whether anyone else shares the view I've got that he may well be sitting on the bench quite a bit this season.

I could be wrong, but IMO he's probably 3rd choice right now, and this is a stretch - but I'm not sure Klopp's that big a fan of him. Clearly on ability he'd walk into the team just about every week, but there's something about his attitude and endeavour that I'm not sure Klopp's altogether sold on.

We'll see.
 
I could be wrong, but IMO he's probably 3rd choice right now, and this is a stretch - but I'm not sure Klopp's that big a fan of him. Clearly on ability he'd walk into the team just about every week, but there's something about his attitude and endeavour that I'm not sure Klopp's altogether sold on.

We'll see.

And yet he does appear to be sold on Firmino for reasons I cannot understand. Apart from running about more, there is nothing he is better at than a fit Sturridge. So maybe it does boil down to attitude and endeavour.
 
And yet he does appear to be sold on Firmino for reasons I cannot understand. Apart from running about more, there is nothing he is better at than a fit Sturridge. So maybe it does boil down to attitude and endeavour.
Actually Firmino is pretty much better than Sturridge at all of the team player traits that Klopp loves, since he is continually stressing team over the individual. Firmino knits the team together and still has a very decent goal-scoring / assist rate last season (ca. every 165 mins, which edges Coutinho though as far as goals is concerned is far behind (at 306 mins) Sturridge - goal every 135mins - and Origi - goal every 164 mins). That said Firmino averaged a goal or assist every match when playing at CF last season and even Sturridge doesn't match that (goal or assist every 113 mins).

Brilliant though Sturridge is (and I wouldn't sell him for the peanuts we'd get) he has always come across as a loner/greedy/individual player, even from his Chelsea days and when Suarez was here.
 
The best strikers usually are greedy, selfish and arrogant. And surley the best contribution a striker can make to the team is to score...which Sturridge has done at an astonishing rate in his years with Liverpool.

If it's a fit Sturridge v Firmino for a place in the team there's only ever going to be one winner for me.
 
My biggest bug bear in footy fans has long been people screaming at strikers for being greedy when a move doesn't come off.

The best strikers always take chances when there's a sniff at goal, sometimes they don't come off. When they do & they go in that's the difference between them & most average strikers.
 
Studge is good and clinical but the others are more able physically to perform at a good level for 90mins. I tend to agree that Klopp does not think the same way about him as he does the others mainly because daniel gives the vibe that he should be able to just walk into the team. I think he got the measure of him when he was injured last season and would say ' yeah i am fit for this game....' giving the manager a fuck up situation to do his planning.
 
The best strikers usually are greedy, selfish and arrogant. And surley the best contribution a striker can make to the team is to score...which Sturridge has done at an astonishing rate in his years with Liverpool.

If it's a fit Sturridge v Firmino for a place in the team there's only ever going to be one winner for me.

Not that black and white though is it?

I think Klopp views Firmino as adding more to the team than Sturridge. It's not a straight toss up between the two - cos as you say, Sturridge is s better striker - it's who helps the team perform better, and Klopp would put Firmino ahead there.

FWIW, I think Firmino links better and more quickly with teammates than Sturridge. Clearly he's not gonna carry the same individual goal threat, but the manager thinks that gets offset by what he adds to the sum of the parts.
 
I personally think this should be our attacking line-up when all is ready for selection:

.......................Wijnaldum..............................
............................Coutinho...........................
Mané.....................Sturridge.............Firmino

With Firmino and Sturridge swapping positions as we go.
 
What complicates things even more with Studge is that he's such a fluid forward player, drifting all over the place, so he needs to build up a really good understanding with everyone else in an attacking position, otherwise when everyone else is settled and you add him to the mix for a few games it can be chaos. When he had a really good run in the team with Suarez, Sterling and others, they interlinked superbly. When he's out for a long period then you're introducing someone who seems like a free spirit in an otherwise closely-knit group, and that can short-circuit the whole system unless you're lucky. He's still way off from developing any good understanding with Firmino - they often just end up looking at each other incredulously when a move breaks down - and obviously he has yet to do the same with the new recruits, so it's not just a case of getting him fit, it's also blending him into a pattern of play.
 
The best strikers usually are greedy, selfish and arrogant. And surley the best contribution a striker can make to the team is to score...which Sturridge has done at an astonishing rate in his years with Liverpool.

If it's a fit Sturridge v Firmino for a place in the team there's only ever going to be one winner for me.
Which is what I said/did in the pre-Arsenal thread, time and again. However the point I was making is what Firmino brings to the team which you state time and again you fail to see.
 
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