Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Despite spending £300m on transfers in three years, Brendan Rodgers is still relying on Daniel Sturridge to save Liverpool from perpetual mid-table mediocrity. Given the striker's abject unreliability, Rodgers is playing a dangerous game, but it's easy to see why: when fully fit, Sturridge is fantastic goalscorer, but is he the best in the Premier League? Anfield legend Jamie Carragher doesn't think so.
Speaking to Sky Sports on Monday night, Carra claimed there's one other striker in the league who's superior to Sturridge:
"If Liverpool can get him [Sturridge] firing then there's only really Aguero who's a better striker than him. If you look around the top teams, there's only Aguero you'd have before him."
Is Aguero really a better (i.e. more effective) striker than Sturridge? Let's look at the primary stats by which strikers are (or should be) judged:
Sturridge vs. Aguero: Premier League
Minutes Played
* DS: 4244 (57 games for LFC)
* SA: 9036 (127 games for MC)
Goals
* DS: 38 (1 every 111 mins)
* SA: 79 (1 every 114 mins)
Assists
* DS: 16 (1 every 265 mins)
* SA: 32 (1 every 282 mins)
Goals/Assists Combined
* DS: 54 (1 every 78 mins)
* SA: 114 (1 every 79 mins)
Chances Created
* DS: 74 (1 every 57 mins)
* SA: 172 (1 every 52 mins)
Stats: OPTA
As the stats show, in terms or minutes per goal/assists, Sturridge is more prolific that Aguero in the Premier League. In all competitions, it's the same: Sturridge scores/creates a goal every 76 mins, vs. every 81 mins for Aguero.
A striker's primary role is to score/create goals, and although the margins are small, LFC's main man is out in front, and that makes him (arguably) the best striker in English football.
It would be amazing to have £50m-rated Aguero at Liverpool, but I wouldn't swap him for a consistently fully-fit Sturridge, who, at £12m, is far great value that the Argentine.
Fans and pundits regularly claim that Coutinho is Liverpool's most important player, but I've always maintained that Sturridge - hailed as 'amazing' by Lucas Leiva over the weekend - is for more vital.
59 goals/assists in 69 games proves that, and no one else in LFC's squad comes close to the striker's prodigious (and consistent) creative contribution.
That said, relying on Sturridge is a mistake, and if anything is guaranteed this season, it's that he'll inevitably get injured again at some point.
Author: Jaimie K
Speaking to Sky Sports on Monday night, Carra claimed there's one other striker in the league who's superior to Sturridge:
"If Liverpool can get him [Sturridge] firing then there's only really Aguero who's a better striker than him. If you look around the top teams, there's only Aguero you'd have before him."
Is Aguero really a better (i.e. more effective) striker than Sturridge? Let's look at the primary stats by which strikers are (or should be) judged:
Sturridge vs. Aguero: Premier League
Minutes Played
* DS: 4244 (57 games for LFC)
* SA: 9036 (127 games for MC)
Goals
* DS: 38 (1 every 111 mins)
* SA: 79 (1 every 114 mins)
Assists
* DS: 16 (1 every 265 mins)
* SA: 32 (1 every 282 mins)
Goals/Assists Combined
* DS: 54 (1 every 78 mins)
* SA: 114 (1 every 79 mins)
Chances Created
* DS: 74 (1 every 57 mins)
* SA: 172 (1 every 52 mins)
Stats: OPTA
As the stats show, in terms or minutes per goal/assists, Sturridge is more prolific that Aguero in the Premier League. In all competitions, it's the same: Sturridge scores/creates a goal every 76 mins, vs. every 81 mins for Aguero.
A striker's primary role is to score/create goals, and although the margins are small, LFC's main man is out in front, and that makes him (arguably) the best striker in English football.
It would be amazing to have £50m-rated Aguero at Liverpool, but I wouldn't swap him for a consistently fully-fit Sturridge, who, at £12m, is far great value that the Argentine.
Fans and pundits regularly claim that Coutinho is Liverpool's most important player, but I've always maintained that Sturridge - hailed as 'amazing' by Lucas Leiva over the weekend - is for more vital.
59 goals/assists in 69 games proves that, and no one else in LFC's squad comes close to the striker's prodigious (and consistent) creative contribution.
That said, relying on Sturridge is a mistake, and if anything is guaranteed this season, it's that he'll inevitably get injured again at some point.
Author: Jaimie K
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