According to the recent reports coming out from the English camp which is due to play Switzerland in their EURO Qualifier, Daniel Sturridge is out injured for at-least 3 weeks due to the injury which the Liverpool player sustained in training. While Brendan Rodgers would be furious with Roy Hodgson, the Northern Irishman has every right to sting as it is the 2nd time in that Sturridge will be returning to Merseyside on clutches. However, unlike the last time where Liverpool always had a Suarez to do his job of scoring goals, this time the water is muddy as Liverpool will look to new signings to do that task.
#454417068 / gettyimages.com
Liverpool have to play 3 weeks in the absence of Daniel Sturridge, The fixtures in the absence of Sturridge includes: Aston Villa, Ludogorets, West Ham and Middlesbrough.
While the next 3 weeks includes fixtures Liverpool might feel they can get the most of from, this thinking might back-fire in the absence of their most prolific striker now. After a relatively good start to the Premier League season which includes 6 points from possible 9, Liverpool have now a headache to solve this mystery lying above them.
While every-thing is looking doom and gloom for Liverpool striking department, it is not bad as they have 1 English and 2 Italian Internationals in their squad to fill the ranks. Above all, it is the Balotelli factor, Liverpool will be hoping to rely on in the absence of Sturridge. But as they say the World is round, Balotelli might have to face the task he was running from, at AC Milan.
‘’Balotelli is not a leader, at Liverpool he will feel more comfortable as Gerrard is playing that role here’’ Balotelli agent.
At AC Milan Balotelli had his company with EL Sharaaway who wasn’t a quite prominent figure off and on the pitch and especially, amongst the media. Similar is his case at Anfield as in Sturridge absence, he has to play with 2 strikers one of which was un-wanted while the other is still finding his shooting boots at Liverpool. Rickie Lambert might have scored and assisted in double figures last season but still a penalty miss followed by a barren spell in non-competitive matches might have done little to get his confidence on the higher side. The price tag is nuts for the English-man but it is his age factor that left some fraction of the Liverpool fans to ignore the ‘’boyhood-dream’’ story.
Balotelli has to play with 2 strikers at Liverpool now, one of which was un-wanted while the other is still finding shooting boots at Anfield.
Fabio Borini on the other hand will be thinking that this might be his time to justify his decision of staying. In a scene which is not seen more-often in the modern football where a player wants to stay while the club intends to make him depart, Brendon Rodgers might be thanking GOD that the Italian stayed three weeks from now.
Rodgers might be thanking his good deeds that enabled Borini to stay despite the club’s insistence to sell him.
Still, the limelight now will be on Balotelli as he is a magnet for English media. Liverpool played a closed-door friendly and suddenly it seemed Balotelli have kicked someone in a news that was later nullified by the Wolves boss himself. From there you can understand that if the social media can create such hype from an incident that hasn’t happened, what they will do on his every tackle and every scream when more than 44 thousand eyes will be watching around the Italian at Anfield.
Balotelli arrival has created the stir that not even the arrival of Suarez, Fowler or even Kenny Dalglish can match.
So one thing is for certain that not for the 1st time in his rough career, Balotelli has the chance to put his reputation amongst the clubs’ faithful, and even if he doesn’t score enough but keeps his boots afloat in testing situations that are bound to come in the later stages of this season, Liverpool might feel they have got a bargain of the once ‘’Young Player of the Year’’ in Europe.
Amir Bashir follow him on Twitter.
No comments