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Sturridge absence means time for others to step up (ESPN article)

by Dave Usher for ESPN

 

I'm sure there are some in the Liverpool camp who will see Wednesday night's home match against Norwich City as an opportunity to make amends for the horror show at Hull last Sunday. They're mistaken, as it will take a lot more than beating Norwich at Anfield to make amends for that completely unacceptable -- not to mention inexplicable -- display against Steve Bruce's men.

 

The Hull defeat means the Reds are at a huge crossroads in their season right now. Having made a good start, Liverpool have recently started to stutter somewhat (taking just eight points from the last six games) and instead of looking up at Arsenal, many fans are now anxiously looking behind at the posse of clubs gathering within a three point radius. With some hugely difficult fixtures on the horizon Liverpool simply cannot afford any more of the kind of slip ups they had last weekend, or they will quickly find themselves back in the kind of position they've occupied for the previous four years.

 

Any team can have a bad day of course, and Liverpool had a truly wretched one at Hull, but good sides bounce back from them immediately and Liverpool could not have wished for a better fixture to do that than at home to Chris Hughton's strugglers. It's imperative that the Reds rediscover some form and collect maximum points, so the visit of Luis Suarez's favourite opponent could not have come at a better time.

 

Suarez has two hat tricks against the Canaries and seven goals from his last three meetings with the Norfolk side. With Daniel Sturridge out the onus is once again on the supremely talented Uruguayan to carry the goal-scoring burden, and while he is more than capable of doing that, it would be nice if others helped him out.

 

What happened last weekend was in stark contrast to what we saw from Liverpool the last time they were rocked by the news that they'd be without one of their star frontmen for an extended period of time. When Suarez was hit with a 10-game ban following his infamous nibble on Branislav Ivanovic, Liverpool didn't feel sorry for themselves, they went up to Newcastle and won 6-0, showing the kind of character and defiance that was sadly missing at Hull.

 

The absence of Sturridge is naturally seen by fans as a huge blow, but within the camp it should be seen by certain players as a huge personal opportunity. Last weekend Victor Moses and Raheem Sterling were both handed the chance to kick-start their season and both failed miserably. They may live to regret that, as with Philippe Coutinho now fit to return it seems likely that one or both of Sterling and Moses will find themselves back on the bench.

 

Rodgers certainly has his work cut out compensating for the absence of Sturridge. There is no obvious solution as -- even at their best -- none of the potential replacements are remotely close to the level of Sturridge, and Iago Aspas is the only one that even plays in the same position. The fact they are all struggling to find any kind of form merely exacerbates the problem. It comes to something when some fans are wondering if it's possible to cut short Fabio Borini's loan at Sunderland.

 

Read the rest of the article here.


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