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It was a day to forget for the blue half of Merseyside as a precarious Liverpool side swept apart a weakened Everton side 4-0 on 28th January, 2014. The build-up to the event was marred by injuries on both ends.
Everton were victims of goals from obvious personnel, as Steven Gerrard gave the Reds the lead from an accurate Luis Suárez corner with a thumping header at the Anfield Road End. The Liverpool heartthrob was livid throughout the match, and his celebration showed what the 222nd Merseyside derby meant to him.
Daniel Sturridge doubled the lead with a sublime pass from Philippe Coutinho. He appeared on the score-sheet again, when he lobbed a Kolo Toure long ball from just outside the box into the net, well past a gushing Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard. It brought back memories of his ultra-quality finish against West Brom on 26th October 2013. Luis Suárez increased his season tally to 23, to dismantle Everton, who remained 6th following their complete demolition at Anfield.
It could easily have been 5-0, had it not been for a terrible penalty miss by Sturridge in the second half. Sterling was tripped inside the box by Howard, earning a fair penalty decision. However, Gerrard decided to hand over the penalty kick to Sturridge. Perhaps Gerrard wanted Sturridge to get a feel of how Gerrard felt, when he scored a hat-trick on 13th March 2012, the first person to do so since 1982. However, Sturridge was nowhere near the goal, as his penalty was only good enough for goal in a rugby match.
This was the turning point of the game. There wasn’t any comeback from Everton, but it was an unwelcome sight for the Liverpool fans. Sturridge became desperate to score the hat-trick as he missed several opportunities to put Liverpool further ahead, but he failed to do so. Tempers began to flow, as Sturridge missed an easy chance. Coutinho won the ball in the defence, and burst into the scene with a thunderous run. With only 2 Everton defenders, and ‘SAS’ ahead, it was obvious that Coutinho would play the ball to one of them. He did so, and passed to Sturridge, who ideally should have put into the net. However, he faltered at the last moment. To make matters worse, he chose not to pass to Coutinho or Suárez, who were unmarked. Instead, he chose to trick the defender ultimately lobbing the ball outside the goal.
Coutinho was disappointed. His body language said it all. But Suárez is never devoid of emotions. He was furious that Sturridge failed to pass it to him. He blasted Sturridge after the failure to score. There was a minor altercation on the Anfield turf between ‘SAS’. This is never a good indication, as the morale of the team generally depends on its star players. Ultimately, Brendan Rodgers decided to take matters in his own hands, and thwarted Victor Moses to the scene, in place of an obviously disappointed Sturridge. The level of discontent shown by Sturridge was seen, when he refused to shake hands with Rodgers, after being substituted.
Sturridge not passing the ball to the team has been an observable scenario this season. Apart from the SAS partnership at Sunderland, there were glimpses of Sturridge playing for himself, when Suárez was not present on the field. And even when present, there were very few instances when Sturridge passed the ball.
The question is, is it important to be a team player for a striker? Or is it important that the striker should try his best to score on various occasions? One thing worth noticing is, Sturridge is a striker, whilst Suárez is a forward. The role of a striker is to trick defenders, and position himself in a goal-scoring position. The role of a forward is to score goals, as well as create goals. Sturridge and Suárez perform these roles the best for Liverpool. The problem occurs when they switch their positions, but one of them fails to play the providing role.
Sturridge apologized to the team in the dressing room, and accepted that it was his fault that left Suárez enraged. The level of maturity that Sturridge has developed is commendable. This act has not only sufficed to the team morale, but it also raised the level of respect- learning from one’s mistake is the biggest virtue.
Sturridge has always been the receiver; albeit, the arrival of Suárez from suspension at the start of the season changed the scenario. It is impossible to predict how their partnership prevails in a match. But when it doesn’t, it raises issues. However, their intent to score goals for Liverpool has provided hope for the Liverpool fans, to see Champions League football again. But this is only possible when the two main goal-scorers maintain the morale of the team, and more importantly, their own.
