Daniel Sturridge

[BLionheart 516]

If sturridge doesn't make it to the top as a winger , then he will never make it !! he will never be a great striker , it's that simple. he doesn't have the attributes for a great ST , his finishing isn't the best and his heading is awful , he is weak physically and his best attribute (pace) won't be best utilized as striker.

Sturridge should be our 1st choice substitute next year for the forward line , i hope we can have two new wingers and sturridge can be rotated with them . while mata off-course will be deployed as a CAM behind them .

I know it's really sickening to watch Torres lead our forward line , but sturridge will be just an average player there . a new CF to lead the line should be 2nd priority next year after a winger .

[zolayes 14,489]

I'm starting to think maybe we need to use Lukaku more in readiness for next season

[DYC. 7,542]

If sturridge doesn't make it to the top as a winger , then he will never make it !! he will never be a great striker , it's that simple. he doesn't have the attributes for a great ST , his finishing isn't the best and his heading is awful , he is weak physically and his best attribute (pace) won't be best utilized as striker.

Sturridge should be our 1st choice substitute next year for the forward line , i hope we can have two new wingers and sturridge can be rotated with them . while mata off-course will be deployed as a CAM behind them .

I know it's really sickening to watch Torres lead our forward line , but sturridge will be just an average player there . a new CF to lead the line should be 2nd priority next year after a winger .

Henry, Torres, Pato, Eto'o?

And he's no Drogba but he's not weak at all, he never gets pushed around and holds up quite well to strong defenders. I wonder how you find his heading awful though when his heading ability has hardly been on display (I'd understand if you said he doesn't carry a aerial threat).

Completely disagree with your post. He showed at Bolton that he's a striker. He's fast, agile, knows hows to get past a man (not only by speed but also by using trickery and imagination) plus he's very sharp to react, which he has shown by getting on the end of crosses quite a lot even though he plays on the sides so he's got a poacher in him. And most importantly, he has a knack of scoring goals.

He does need to work on his finishing though he seems worse than he actually is due to to the fact that he likes to shoot from very ambitious positions. I hope AVB will address him on that.

But I think you're forgetting about the fact that he's only been playing regular first-team football for just over year now. He's still very inexperienced so he's still raw and he has a lot to learn. Before the '10/11 season, our alleged target Cavani for example was considered somewhat of a flop and look at him now..

He definitely has a lot of potential, I'm not saying he's the new Henry though, and is better suited to the CF position for sure.

[Las7 951]

I think he is missing Drogba when playing on the right wing, Drogba in the team allows Sturridge more space when he is cutting in instead of getting crowded. But I'm still pissed off we didn't sign a right winger, Sturridge or Lukaku should have been given opportunities to play up top but who exactly are we going to play on the right?

Torres should be sold/loaned to whoever can afford him to free up wage money and hopefully recoup a bit of his transfer fee, as bad as Sturridge is playing right now at least he didn't financially cripple us and "if" we sell him we would make a profit.

I personally want to see him succeed as our main striker but he won't if he isn't given opportunities.

I completely disagree about failing on the right wing argument; if Rooney was marooned on the left wing like Theo Walcott he would also turned to shit. These players train their whole youth as a particular position and not all players are like Essien and can play whatever position their coach deems needed - that's why players who play equally well on both wings or behind the striker are so rare and valuable. But you need particular traits to succeed every where and Sturridge because of his striker greed will be hampered in most positions. If you stick a guy to play out of position he will quickly loose the qualities that first made you sign him unless he is extremely gifted as good as Sturridge he is very ill suited to the right wing - the left I could understand but the right is a horrible fit. Left footed wingers train a lot in order to play on the right and that's what makes em so dangerous because they know what defenders expect and they have trained their whole life to do the opposite.

[laura90 556]

I don't rate Sturridge very much. In spite the fact that he is our best striker, I don't like his attitude. I consider him selfish football player Malouda-like, arrogant, lousy team player, and "glory hunter" on the pitch.

But I'm aware of the fact that many Chelsea fans rate him very much and I respect that. And I want him to succeed here rather than in Liverpool. Therefore I believe bringing another top striker, many of you are craving for, would put Sturridge career here in jeopardy. I believe that only way Sturridge career here can progress is by giving him chance as our main striker during this or at least next season.

Why?

- At this stage I find that opposition teams are handling him better because they have learnt more about him. The more time pass, his liabilities as a winger will come to light. He has much to learn and improve, but will he be willing to?

- He does not want to be a winger.

- Only player who can have his qualities and become fantastic footballer is a striker.

- And because he has more potential to become world class striker than natural winger.

[BLionheart 516]

Henry, Torres, Pato, Eto'o?

And he's no Drogba but he's not weak at all, he never gets pushed around and holds up quite well to strong defenders. I wonder how you find his heading awful though when his heading ability has hardly been on display (I'd understand if you said he doesn't carry a aerial threat).

Completely disagree with your post. He showed at Bolton that he's a striker. He's fast, agile, knows hows to get past a man (not only by speed but also by using trickery and imagination) plus he's very sharp to react, which he has shown by getting on the end of crosses quite a lot even though he plays on the sides so he's got a poacher in him. And most importantly, he has a knack of scoring goals.

He does need to work on his finishing though he seems worse than he actually is due to to the fact that he likes to shoot from very ambitious positions. I hope AVB will address him on that.

But I think you're forgetting about the fact that he's only been playing regular first-team football for just over year now. He's still very inexperienced so he's still raw and he has a lot to learn. Before the '10/11 season, our alleged target Cavani for example was considered somewhat of a flop and look at him now..

He definitely has a lot of potential, I'm not saying he's the new Henry though, and is better suited to the CF position for sure.

Well , you got it right about that aerial threat argument but his heading was tested in long balls and in some other rare occasions and he can't win an aerial battle against any strong CB , and when he does his heading is not good .

Henry , Torres , Eto are definitely stronger than sturridge , and more importantly they have better balance , they can hold off opponents and protect their ball but sturridge's balance isn't that impressive and i have certainly watched him on several occasions going easily to the ground due to the slightest of pushes or contact from opponents.

Sturridge's all round game is nowhere near those you mentioned , his link up play is awful and he can't play with his back to goal , he is not a clinical finisher as well. and while his pace , agility and dribbling is his best attributes , they won't be best utilized in the lone striker role as he will easily get crowded in the center of the defense .

I know a lot here will disagree with me and they might think that sturridge can be a top class striker but unfortunately i can't see it happening for him .

[DYC. 7,542]

Well , you got it right about that aerial threat argument but his heading was tested in long balls and in some other rare occasions and he can't win an aerial battle against any strong CB , and when he does his heading is not good .

Henry , Torres , Eto are definitely stronger than sturridge , and more importantly they have better balance , they can hold off opponents and protect their ball but sturridge's balance isn't that impressive and i have certainly watched him on several occasions going easily to the ground due to the slightest of pushes or contact from opponents.

Sturridge's all round game is nowhere near those you mentioned , his link up play is awful and he can't play with his back to goal , he is not a clinical finisher as well. and while his pace , agility and dribbling is his best attributes , they won't be best utilized in the lone striker role as he will easily get crowded in the center of the defense .

I know a lot here will disagree with me and they might think that sturridge can be a top class striker but unfortunately i can't see it happening for him .

Well I still don't recall him getting any good opportunities to score with his head really. When you call someone's heading ability awful, it would mean that the player fails to put in free headers a lot. But yeah, he's not strong in the air. But then again, Van Persie, the best CF in the league by a mile, isn't good in the air either.

I never said his balance was better than Henry, Eto'o and Torres though he's similar to Torres in terms of balance. I'm surprised you say that about Sturridge, he really does have good balance. These are just examples but check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxqWZTnY6Xo&feature=fvwrel

(0:45, against Djourou)

(4:53, against Song)

Going down easily sometimes is not the same as being weak. For years Drogba had a tendency of going down easily and I don't have to tell you anything about Drogba's strength.

Again, I never said his link-up play is good (not a necesity in a striker's game though) and that he can play with his back to the goal. I even said that he needs to learn to play with his back to the goal a few months ago if the coach is still planning on turning Chelsea into a possession football team. But he can learn all that. Torres was terrible with his back to the goal when he first joined, the same with his link-up play. This season he's actually been decent in those two areas, even pretty good at times.

And only Ronaldo was a clinical finisher at a similar stage of his career. 6 months(!) has Sturridge played regular football as a striker in his career due to him playing for clubs where they don't take time to nurture youngsters. Add the fact that he played on the wings in his second season at Chelsea, hardly if any as a starter, and plays on the wings now too.

Really, you can only expect all the things you mentioned from some superstar striker you bought for 50 mil..

Hmm that depends on your definition of a top class striker. If you mean him becoming the next Henry or Van Nistelrooy then no, I don't expect him to reach such a level. But I can see Sturridge scoring around 20 goals in the PL regularly with time and a good team behind him (without him suffering too many injuries). If it wasn't for his injury, he'd probably have around 11 or 12 goals in the league already.

I guess we just disagree on this one .

[BLionheart 516]

Well I still don't recall him getting any good opportunities to score with his head really. When you call someone's heading ability awful, it would mean that the player fails to put in free headers a lot. But yeah, he's not strong in the air. But then again, Van Persie, the best CF in the league by a mile, isn't good in the air either.

I never said his balance was better than Henry, Eto'o and Torres though he's similar to Torres in terms of balance. I'm surprised you say that about Sturridge, he really does have good balance. These are just examples but check this out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxqWZTnY6Xo&feature=fvwrel

(0:45, against Djourou)

(4:53, against Song)

Going down easily sometimes is not the same as being weak. For years Drogba had a tendency of going down easily and I don't have to tell you anything about Drogba's strength.

Again, I never said his link-up play is good (not a necesity in a striker's game though) and that he can play with his back to the goal. I even said that he needs to learn to play with his back to the goal a few months ago if the coach is still planning on turning Chelsea into a possession football team. But he can learn all that. Torres was terrible with his back to the goal when he first joined, the same with his link-up play. This season he's actually been decent in those two areas, even pretty good at times.

And only Ronaldo was a clinical finisher at a similar stage of his career. 6 months(!) has Sturridge played regular football as a striker in his career due to him playing for clubs where they don't take time to nurture youngsters. Add the fact that he played on the wings in his second season at Chelsea, hardly if any as a starter, and plays on the wings now too.

Really, you can only expect all the things you mentioned from some superstar striker you bought for 50 mil..

Hmm that depends on your definition of a top class striker. If you mean him becoming the next Henry or Van Nistelrooy then no, I don't expect him to reach such a level. But I can see Sturridge scoring around 20 goals in the PL regularly with time and a good team behind him (without him suffering too many injuries). If it wasn't for his injury, he'd probably have around 11 or 12 goals in the league already.

I guess we just disagree on this one .

We do agree then , the only difference is that I think having a top class striker like Henry , Torres , Drogba , Eto , Rooney , etc. is vital to win the EPL or UCL ... many have stressed this season on how we would benefit if we had a Van persie like striker doing what he is going in Arsenal.

I wouldn't like our main man and supposedly biggest threat to be just above average , i want him to be on the same level as those mentioned players whom existence was vital to make their teams along the best in the world.

[eldo 868]

Just as much you need a top striker to win the league you need a very good back up for him.

[manpe 10,861]

Sturridge will get better. A slump in form was always expected and it's important we don't start writing him off (which would be typical of us really). Rejecting him for his current faults would be a big mistake, City already regret and see the potential they let go. If he was the age of Malouda, then I would understand, but he's on the right side of 20s. I would be satisfied if we got a proper winger and let Sturridge be back-up for striker next season and start the more easy games.

If Torres is still here next season, then I see no problem why they can't split time between the three of them (Lukaku, Daniel and Torres).. Sturridge would take the CF spot left by Drogba and we get a new winger to replace him. Also his heading ability is not that important, because with the new possession philosophy we need players with great feet, not great head... for that job, if needed, we'll have Lukaku ready to step up. Sturridge will also be able to cover for the wing 'cause of the experience he's getting this season, making him more universal.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

4-4-2 with Sturridge and Drogba/Lukaku please. Ta.

[DYC. 7,542]

We do agree then , the only difference is that I think having a top class striker like Henry , Torres , Drogba , Eto , Rooney , etc. is vital to win the EPL or UCL ... many have stressed this season on how we would benefit if we had a Van persie like striker doing what he is going in Arsenal.

I wouldn't like our main man and supposedly biggest threat to be just above average , i want him to be on the same level as those mentioned players whom existence was vital to make their teams along the best in the world.

Who says your striker has to be your main man? Torres never won a major title, Henry never won the CL in his prime, Rooney wasn't Utd's main man when they won the CL and was only their main man in their recent won PL title and Eto'o, despite his greatness, was always outshone by another player (Ronaldinho and Messi). Lampard was our main man in winning the league titltes 04-06, it wasn't until 09/10 that he really lead us to titles. Drogba only twice managed to score 20+ goals in the league.and we never won the CL with him.

No matter how good you are as a striker you need a great team and a bit of luck behind you to win things, ask Ronaldo (never won the CL).

And while I don't expect him to become such a great, who expected that Eto'o, Van Nistelrooy, Henry etc. would become the strikers they eventually became?

[CHOULO19 24,332]

I'm not sure if anyone has noticed this, but with Anelka gone and Kalou in the ACoN, if Sturridge gets injured, we have absolutely no one to play on the right wing! ( I shudder to think that we may have to play bossingwa there)

[5354 204]

I'm not sure if anyone has noticed this, but with Anelka gone and Kalou in the ACoN, if Sturridge gets injured, we have absolutely no one to play on the right wing! ( I shudder to think that we may have to play bossingwa there)

Didn't Ramires star in that position before? or we will shift Mata to the right and play Flopluda on the left

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Didn't Ramires star in that position before? or we will shift Mata to the right and play Flopluda on the left

Yes Ramires played very well there, but he remains injured for a couple of weeks. So at the moment, Danial is our only option on the right wing.

[BLionheart 516]

Who says your striker has to be your main man? Torres never won a major title, Henry never won the CL in his prime, Rooney wasn't Utd's main man when they won the CL and was only their main man in their recent won PL title and Eto'o, despite his greatness, was always outshone by another player (Ronaldinho and Messi). Lampard was our main man in winning the league titltes 04-06, it wasn't until 09/10 that he really lead us to titles. Drogba only twice managed to score 20+ goals in the league.and we never won the CL with him.

No matter how good you are as a striker you need a great team and a bit of luck behind you to win things, ask Ronaldo (never won the CL).

And while I don't expect him to become such a great, who expected that Eto'o, Van Nistelrooy, Henry etc. would become the strikers they eventually became?

Those players were more than able to be the main man in their teams , but as you said they were outshone by the likes of ronaldinho , ronaldo , messi and lampard ..

So them not being the main men in their teams is not because they are not capable of being those main men , while in sturridge's case he doesn't show the promise to be anywhere near that level.

[DYC. 7,542]

Those players were more than able to be the main man in their teams , but as you said they were outshone by the likes of ronaldinho , ronaldo , messi and lampard ..

So them not being the main men in their teams is not because they are not capable of being those main men , while in sturridge's case he doesn't show the promise to be anywhere near that level.

The point is your strikers don't have to be your main men.

He doesn't? 17 goals in 25 starts (two sub appearances) in the PL in 2011, pretty decent return if you ask me.

I don't think we're getting anywhere with this discussion . So it's best to end it right now.

[AmpersandConway 0]

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