Sky Sports' Johnny Phillips: Daniel Sturridge just needs the chance to shine at West Brom

Daniel Sturridge was sat in the executive box he had hired for his family in the Centenary Stand at Anfield, overlooking the pitch where he and Luis Suarez had struck up the country’s deadliest strike partnership. One that had propelled Liverpool to the forefront of an exhilarating Premier league title race.

It was the spring of 2014. Along with Sergio Aguero at Manchester City, Sturridge was one of the best three strikers in the league. His close control was exceptional, helping conjure goals from the tightest of situations. A genuine two-footed predator, there was no easy option for defenders looking to put him on his weaker side. From long-range or close in, Sturridge scored every type of goal imaginable.

Sitting down with him, for the best part of an hour, to talk about Liverpool’s unlikely title bid for a programme on Sky Sports that season, Sturridge spoke thoughtfully about his own career trajectory, which had taken a sharp upward turn during the campaign. His potential had never been in doubt but to see it being realised as Brendan Rodgers’ side challenged for the league was particularly exciting. His 21 goals that season left him runner-up to his Uruguayan teammate in the Premier League Golden Boot Award.

Now aged 28, those words are particularly relevant. Sturridge has gone from one of the most sought after forwards in the land to a player who has become marginalised. His loan move to Albion this week could well be the finest bit of transfer business conducted in the window. If Baggies manager Alan Pardew can bring out the best in the player, he will be the key man in helping the club avoid relegation.

On one level, Sturridge has been the victim of his own success. The following season, with Suarez gone, he was plagued by injury problems. There was no other source of goals in his absence. When Jurgen Klopp took over at the club from Rodgers in October 2015 one of the first things he identified was Liverpool’s over-reliance on the player. He built an attack that didn’t make Sturridge a necessity.

There have been times under Klopp when it has looked as if Sturridge remained an important part of the squad, but the decision now to retain Danny Ings’ services for the remainder of the season at Sturridge’s expense is telling. It is the injury problems that have caused most consternation for Liverpool’s manager. He famously said that Sturridge had to learn the difference between “serious pain and only pain”.

Unfair accusations about the player’s stomach for a fight have been bandied about, but there is no doubt his fitness issues have been a problem. Steven Gerrard, in his autobiography, recalled an incident in September 2013 when Sturridge had to be talked into playing against Manchester United. It was the forward’s 24th birthday and he marked the occasion with the winning goal.

There are two ways of looking at it. The critics would say the player was ducking a challenge, but it is also the case that he does not want to let his team down. By playing when he is not totally fit he is not doing himself, or his team, justice. The problem is that footballers are rarely, if ever, 100 per cent fit.

Confidence has always been a big part of Sturridge’s make-up. He credited Rodgers with the single-most important change in his outlook. Admitting to a difficult time at Chelsea, suffering from a lack of confidence, he took up Rodgers’ recommendation to see sports psychiatrist Steve Peters at Anfield. Several players in that Liverpool team had sessions with Peters and credited him with helping their fortunes.

Sturridge is an engaging individual, who speaks about the importance of family. His father Michael was a trainee at Birmingham City who never quite made the grade, but uncles Dean and Simon enjoyed successful careers in the game.

They are a close bunch. At the age of 12 when Sturridge left Coventry City after a difficult time, it looked as if the youngster had hit the buffers, with no options available. But for six months he trained day after day on a local park with just his dad and no-one else until he secured a move to Manchester City’s academy.

That early dedication to his craft has never left him. At Anfield he was often the last player left on the training pitch at the end of a session, working on the talents that he first honed on the park. He looks after himself.

Under Rodgers, he spoke of the freedom his manager gave him. Sturridge is an instinctive player. He is out of kilter with the modern day forward whose job it is to press and press and press. Not all great forwards fall into this category though, and if Pardew can bring the more instinctive parts of Sturridge’s game to the fore, then Albion fans will have someone special to cheer from the stands.

His cameo from the bench against Manchester City in midweek revealed a player who has been short of match action. The squandered chance at the end would have been snapped up by the Sturridge of four years ago. The best thing Pardew can do is start him against Southampton today.

Sturridge is at the age supposed to mark a player’s peak power. There is also the incentive of a World Cup place to fight for ahead of the tournament in Russia this summer, but the player will not be thinking that far ahead. He remains England’s most naturally gifted striker.

All he needs now is a run of games and the chance to prove it.