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There seems a belief in some quarters that Liverpool fans haven't entirely taken to Daniel Sturridge, largely on account it sometimes seems of the striker not having yet had a song made for him. The excitement that has greeted each of his 18 league goals so far this season would seem to argue otherwise, though, and at the very least he's got a fan in the man who matters most—his manager.
"Daniel is potentially world-class," said Brendan Rodgers when he was asked about Sturridge's qualities. "He has got everything to be a world-class striker. He's been given an opportunity here at a huge club and a lot of people are helping him to implement his talent. He's a boy at 24 years of age who has all the tools—the speed, the power, two great feet, and he's getting better in the air."
Some might quibble over the suggestion Sturridge has two great feet. While his right isn't quite the decorative peg some players' off-foot can be, the striker clearly has a strong preference for his left, and at times he has missed scoring opportunities trying to shift the ball to that favoured foot when simply driving through with his right would have led to an almost certain goal.
Still, he clearly has just about every other tool one would hope for in a striker, and since arriving at Liverpool he's finally been able to put together all the talent and potential that he had for years teased observers with at Chelsea. He's also found himself something of an odd-couple partnership with one of the top five players in world football in Luis Suarez.
At times it seems the pair is either bickering over the other failing to pass when they should have or unselfishly trying to play the ball to their strike partner when a shot seems the better option. Yet the results—the 42 goals and 15 assists—can't be argued with, and neither can the quality of Liverpool's two deadly strikers.
"He still has a lot of improvements to make, but the combination between him and Luis gives us a real threat," said Rodgers, and long may it continue.
