There's an angle where you see Gerrard in the background and he's absolutely fuming about that. He's fucking braindead sometimes. I couldn't believe it when he did it.
Sturridge
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There's an angle where you see Gerrard in the background and he's absolutely fuming about that. He's fucking braindead sometimes. I couldn't believe it when he did it.
I've often been critical of Lucas on here, and I totally agree about that incident, but I have a smidgeon of sympathy for the guy. When we got him he was a box-to-box player. It was Rafa who decided to turn Lucas into a DM and, when he tackles like this, what I see is a player doing his best in a role he's had to learn from scratch when it wasn't/isn't natural to him.
That's fair enough, but I don't think you lose your attacking instincts that easily, you can make a player a more rounded technician by teaching them different positions, you can also ruin them - granted, but when you see him in the upper part of midfield, he doesn't look that natural at it either. It's not like we started playing him deeper and his attacking inclinations shone through with bursts forward, the occasional eye for goal, the ability to go at players and take them on or him always looking for a pass between the lines.
He looks like exactly what many of us have said he is, a Steady Eddie player who does a job but can be improved upon. Or, as is being shown at present, isn't quite as indispensable as many of his fans would have had us believe. Same with Allen, his form dictates at present that he's a squad player, he's hit and miss and not always needed, because his overall game is lacking the edge to show it regularly and to stamp his mark on the side.
They both have the ability to make a massive difference to a challenging squad, no question, but there's a reason they are so divisive, partly because it's a thankless role, but partly because their limitations and have pushed them into such an unselfish and reward-less position. It's six of one half a dozen of the other. There's certain games where it's essential, and others where it holds us back. Like I said though, both have and will play their part.
Rafa will offer us £25M for Agger and Lucas
He'll be doing both LFC and SCM a great favour. Good man.
Okay, seriously speaking, they're not that bad - they've contributed to our title winning season, so they're heroes in my eyes, even if they've got flaws (like everyone else).
A fun piece by the same guy who wrote about Liverpool seeming like a City on Ecstasy.
Why is Studge the only hipster footballer?:
http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/why-is-daniel-sturridge-the-only-hipster-footballer
Why is Studge the only hipster footballer?:
http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/why-is-daniel-sturridge-the-only-hipster-footballer
Cool your boots there big man.
Fixed.
Is there no end to his talents - he can cook too!
Watch Daniel Sturridge during a match and it is easy to jump to the conclusion that he is a selfish, vain sulker, a player with little regard for his team-mates and manager but plenty for himself. At least, that was the image many people had of him while he was at Chelsea, when he would drive supporters to distraction with his insistence on shooting from ludicrous angles and a demeanour that suggested he was more interested in personal glory than the needs of the team.
Appearances can be deceiving. Listen to Sturridge speak and the Liverpool striker comes across as a driven young man with his head firmly in the right place. Go one step further and listen to his parents and an impression starts to form of the Daniel Sturridge the cameras don't see: focused family man, expert cook, clean-living professional, dorky dancer and, most surprisingly of all, committed and talented dominoes player. "He's very good at dominoes," Sturridge's father, Michael, says with the laugh of a man who has lost to his nimble-fingered son more times than he would care to remember.
There cannot be too many Premier League footballers who play dominoes, with or without their family, but the Sturridges love it and Daniel regularly plays against his grandad. "It's an Afro-Caribbean thing," Michael says. "We have domino tournaments and it's really passionate. He doesn't like losing." What happens if he loses? "He's gutted. He wants to win, he wants to carry on."
Like most professional athletes, Sturridge abhors defeat, whether at dominoes, table tennis or football, though, Michael adds, he wins most things he puts his mind to. That has been the case this season, with Sturridge's partnership with Luis Suárez firing Liverpool to within touching distance of their first title in 24 years. The forward should play against Chelsea having missed his side's last game through a niggling hamstring injury, and he is likely to spearhead England's attack at the World Cup this summer too.
That seemed unlikely when Chelsea lost patience and sold Sturridge to Liverpool for £12m last year. At that point, many wondered whether he had the focus to succeed at the top but Sturridge, 24, has come of age this season.
His father says this is nothing new, that Sturridge has always been level-headed, ever since he used to take him to the park in Birmingham and practise his skills. "We used to dribble round cones," Michael says. "He used to dribble round cones with his left and right foot and practise striking the ball inside and outside the foot. He's been doing that from a very young age."
It helps that Sturridge comes from a footballing family. His uncles, Dean and Simon, played for Derby County and Stoke City respectively and his father was signed by Sir Alf Ramsey for Birmingham City as a schoolboy, before a spell in Finland. Their guidance has been invaluable.
"The first time he has lived away from home was when he moved to Liverpool," Michael says. "So now he's living with his brother and his cousin. They live in Liverpool with him. It's the first time he's been away from the family but we do see him regularly. We watch every home game. I still give him stick for whatever he does wrong. I'm one of his biggest critics.
"Anything he does wrong in the game, we try and look at how he could do it better. But Daniel's hard on himself anyway so he always looks to improve in everything he does in the game, whether it's closing down, working for the team."
Sturridge is a student of the game, poring over clips of his favourite players when he was growing up. "He's always been doing that, since he was eight years old, he's always been watching players," Michael says. "We're talking about VHS. He had loads. And before that, he was watching Betamax. He was watching me, because I played in Finland and he watched me play when I was there.
"He takes the mickey out of me, saying I wasn't a bad player.
"He would study the videos and try to do the things he saw the star players do, whether he was celebrating. He's been celebrating from a very young age. He would imitate a bit of every player. One week he would celebrate this way, the next week he would celebrate a different way. But he had a love for the game. He loved to celebrate and he hated losing. He's very, very competitive."
One thing Sturridge did not get from his parents is the celebration that has become his trademark: the Sturridge dance. "To be honest, I'm wondering where he got it from!" Michael says. "I didn't know he could move like that! But I think he did it for a bit with his cousins and he's just been celebrating like that after doing it once. I think it was something his cousins dared him to do and he's just been doing it ever since."
Earlier Sturridge had been talking about his love of cooking and this seems like the perfect time to find out whether he was telling the truth. Michael says that he is "unbelievable" but a better judge is standing next to him.
"Seriously, he can cook," says his mother, Grace, and she is deadly serious. "He does a lot of healthy cooking at home. He's a dab hand in the kitchen. He can look after himself."
In the kitchen, on the dance floor, on the domino table and on the football pitch.
Watch Daniel Sturridge during a match and it is easy to jump to the conclusion that he is a selfish, vain sulker, a player with little regard for his team-mates and manager but plenty for himself. At least, that was the image many people had of him while he was at Chelsea, when he would drive supporters to distraction with his insistence on shooting from ludicrous angles and a demeanour that suggested he was more interested in personal glory than the needs of the team.
Appearances can be deceiving. Listen to Sturridge speak and the Liverpool striker comes across as a driven young man with his head firmly in the right place. Go one step further and listen to his parents and an impression starts to form of the Daniel Sturridge the cameras don't see: focused family man, expert cook, clean-living professional, dorky dancer and, most surprisingly of all, committed and talented dominoes player. "He's very good at dominoes," Sturridge's father, Michael, says with the laugh of a man who has lost to his nimble-fingered son more times than he would care to remember.
There cannot be too many Premier League footballers who play dominoes, with or without their family, but the Sturridges love it and Daniel regularly plays against his grandad. "It's an Afro-Caribbean thing," Michael says. "We have domino tournaments and it's really passionate. He doesn't like losing." What happens if he loses? "He's gutted. He wants to win, he wants to carry on."
Like most professional athletes, Sturridge abhors defeat, whether at dominoes, table tennis or football, though, Michael adds, he wins most things he puts his mind to. That has been the case this season, with Sturridge's partnership with Luis Suárez firing Liverpool to within touching distance of their first title in 24 years. The forward should play against Chelsea having missed his side's last game through a niggling hamstring injury, and he is likely to spearhead England's attack at the World Cup this summer too.
That seemed unlikely when Chelsea lost patience and sold Sturridge to Liverpool for £12m last year. At that point, many wondered whether he had the focus to succeed at the top but Sturridge, 24, has come of age this season.
His father says this is nothing new, that Sturridge has always been level-headed, ever since he used to take him to the park in Birmingham and practise his skills. "We used to dribble round cones," Michael says. "He used to dribble round cones with his left and right foot and practise striking the ball inside and outside the foot. He's been doing that from a very young age."
It helps that Sturridge comes from a footballing family. His uncles, Dean and Simon, played for Derby County and Stoke City respectively and his father was signed by Sir Alf Ramsey for Birmingham City as a schoolboy, before a spell in Finland. Their guidance has been invaluable.
"The first time he has lived away from home was when he moved to Liverpool," Michael says. "So now he's living with his brother and his cousin. They live in Liverpool with him. It's the first time he's been away from the family but we do see him regularly. We watch every home game. I still give him stick for whatever he does wrong. I'm one of his biggest critics.
"Anything he does wrong in the game, we try and look at how he could do it better. But Daniel's hard on himself anyway so he always looks to improve in everything he does in the game, whether it's closing down, working for the team."
Sturridge is a student of the game, poring over clips of his favourite players when he was growing up. "He's always been doing that, since he was eight years old, he's always been watching players," Michael says. "We're talking about VHS. He had loads. And before that, he was watching Betamax. He was watching me, because I played in Finland and he watched me play when I was there.
"He takes the mickey out of me, saying I wasn't a bad player.
"He would study the videos and try to do the things he saw the star players do, whether he was celebrating. He's been celebrating from a very young age. He would imitate a bit of every player. One week he would celebrate this way, the next week he would celebrate a different way. But he had a love for the game. He loved to celebrate and he hated losing. He's very, very competitive."
One thing Sturridge did not get from his parents is the celebration that has become his trademark: the Sturridge dance. "To be honest, I'm wondering where he got it from!" Michael says. "I didn't know he could move like that! But I think he did it for a bit with his cousins and he's just been celebrating like that after doing it once. I think it was something his cousins dared him to do and he's just been doing it ever since."
Earlier Sturridge had been talking about his love of cooking and this seems like the perfect time to find out whether he was telling the truth. Michael says that he is "unbelievable" but a better judge is standing next to him.
"Seriously, he can cook," says his mother, Grace, and she is deadly serious. "He does a lot of healthy cooking at home. He's a dab hand in the kitchen. He can look after himself."
In the kitchen, on the dance floor, on the domino table and on the football pitch.
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