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In case you couldn't tell, we're fairly excited to admit our wrongness about Daniel Sturridge. Selfish, distinterested, and temperamental, he seemed to be exactly the wrong player to bring into Liverpool's squad, both when Brendan Rodgers first pursued him last summer and when a deal was ultimately agreed early in the January window of 2013. Through gritted teeth we accepted him as a Liverpool player, with hopes that he would eventually prove us wrong and become a serviceable player to complement Luis Suarez.
Fast forward seven and a half months and, with Suarez banned and possibly headed for an exit, it's Sturridge leading Liverpool's attack as the main man, and Sturridge that we're talking about as needing players to complement him. Two matches into his first full season in a Liverpool shirt with two tremendous match-winning strikes under his belt, with .
It's clear he's less than 100%, a fact both he and his manager have been quick to mention, which makes it hard to exercise restraint when considering the possibilities for a Liverpool attack with Daniel Sturridge as the point of reference. That's a far cry from our expectations when he was officially brought aboard in January, but his comments in the post-match today reflect a player who appears to have both the quality and humility necessary to succeed as an individual and as a part of an improving Liverpool side:
"I just want to win - it doesn't matter if I score or not. I work every day, I work very hard with the team. We try to win as a team and if we lose, we lose as a team - that's what it's all about. We defend as a team. If I have to be in the full-back position, so be it. It's all about winning games, and we're all delighted. I'm just playing my normal game, to be honest. I've probably matured a little bit with my confidence with being in the first team. I've not played as a centre-forward as much as I would have liked to in the past but this is how I have been as a kid - and now I'm being given an opportunity to do it in a first-team environment."
There's plenty left for Daniel Sturridge to accomplish, but with another hard-working, match-winning display on Saturday evening against Aston Villa, he continues to remind us of just how fun it can be to find out you're completely and utterly wrong.
Video by MostarLFC