Every striker wants to score. I have never come across one who doesn’t, if they are out there, then they shouldn’t be playing as strikers!
This season, Daniel Sturridge has been finding the back of the net regularly, he already has 8 Premier League goals out of 11 games. Against Fulham on Saturday, the Liverpool striker failed to find the back of the net in a game which was easy for the Reds. You would have expected Sturridge to be on the scoresheet but instead Suarez grabbed a brace. In the grander scheme of things, it really does not matter who scores, just as long as the three points are in the bag.
Brendan Rodgers decided to take Sturridge off in the 76th minute and replace him with Victor Moses. As Sturridge was coming off, you could see he was disappointed and that got some people saying that he was upset at being taken off.
Former Liverpool striker John Aldridge has spoken out about this incident and highlighted that as a striker, you are always disappointed and coming off if you have not scored.
Aldridge said in the Liverpool Daily Post:
Daniel Sturridge was desperate to score at Anfield on Saturday.
He was very disappointed when he came off having not registered in Liverpool’s win over Fulham.
But don’t mistake his frustration for a bad attitude.
Sturridge is a goalscorer who wants to score goals.
He has been brilliant since coming to Liverpool and his goals-to-games ratio is tremendous.
And it is testament to his desire that he wants to add to that record.
Sturridge cannot get too down-hearted about not scoring, but I understand his frustrations because I used to be like that.
Following the Fulham game, Brendan Rodgers also pointed out that Sturridge picked up a knock during the game and as a result may miss England’s friendlies. Which could also have played part in him being taken off in early in the match.
“They are going to have a look at Daniel, too. He has some soreness and actually hurt his foot against Fulham,” said Rodgers.
“I just have to see how he is with the medical guys.”
So we should not read too much into a players body language when he is being subbed off, especially when it comes to strikers as it is their job to score and when they do not do so, they get more disappointed than we the fans.