After frustration and in some cases ridicule, players who have suffered from injury torment will be desperate to show what they have to offer as a new season gets under wayHarry Redknapp used to be tickled by the notion that top professionals would move clubs primarily for sentimental reasons. Many times he made the sort of quip that he delivered in 2012 when there were suggestions that Carlos Tevez might take a big pay cut to leave Manchester City for Redknapp’s Spurs. “He’s always wanted to play for Tottenham,” said Redknapp, deadpan as you like. “Ever since he was in Argentina he had a picture of Hoddle on the wall and Ricky [Villa] and Ossie [Ardiles]. I want to play...
Laboured effort against Newcastle showed the striker, once among Europe’s best finishers, is now only a back-up option for his manager, Jürgen KloppJust before Daniel Sturridge was withdrawn from proceedings on a grey north‑east afternoon, he could be seen sitting on the turf clutching his left boot and looking in distress. He soon rose to his feet and headed to the bench as Roberto Firmino came on for him as one of two 74th-minute Liverpool substitutions, the striker’s expression turning to glumness as he did so. For those who follow Sturridge’s career it was a poignant moment and for the most pessimistic, further evidence that a player who once shone so brightly so often is slipping further into the darkness...
Liverpool and England striker is a brilliant footballer but also an individualist who undermines himself with his apparent refusal to accept football is a team gameWatching Daniel Sturridge perform his critically panned one-man show against Slovenia on Tuesday, it was impossible not to picture his increasingly exasperated England team-mates as Alan Partridge in the car park. Dan! Dan! Dan! Over here! Look! I’m unmarked! Dan! Give me the ball! Dan! Don’t shoot! Dan! Stop trying to dribble past four defenders! Pass it! Pass it here! I’m in a much better position than you! Dan! Dan?Maybe Sturridge had a point, his selfishness a way of passing comment on his fellow attackers. Dele Alli managed one neat nutmeg but little of any...