Liverpool’s scoring duo take aim at another milestone

Liverpool still have eight Premier League games remaining but strikers Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge have already mustered as many goals as the entire team did in the 2011/12 campaign, writes Richard Jolly.

Liverpool's Daniel Sturridge, right, celebrates scoring a goal with Luis Suarez during their English Premier League match against Cardiff City in Cardiff, Wales, March 22, 2014. Rebecca Naden / Reuters
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The Merseybeat was in full swing. Suddenly, thanks to The Beatles, Liverpool was at the centre of a radical, irreversible change in music. If the world took note, the city had a secondary, substantial attraction, a free-scoring football team.

It was half a century ago, a very different time, but a year when Liverpool were propelled to the title by their two strikers.

Roger Hunt scored 31 league goals and Ian St John chipped in with 21 as Bill Shankly’s side were officially England’s finest in 1963/64.

It was the last time two Liverpool players reached 20 league goals in a season. Subsequent great pairings, whether Kevin Keegan and John Toshack, Kenny Dalglish and Ian Rush or Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres, never managed it.

So it bodes well for the current, title-chasing team that Luis Suarez has already managed 28 goals and Daniel Sturridge is on 19.

They are on the brink of a landmark achievement. Indeed, they are close to several. For all the speed, skill and style of the “SAS”, the statistics are equally striking: Liverpool still have eight Premier League games remaining yet between them, the two strikers have already mustered as many goals as the entire team did in the 2011/12 campaign.

Their 47-goal partnership puts them third in the division’s history. Only Blackburn Rovers’ Alan Shearer and Chris Sutton (49) and the Newcastle United duo of Peter Beardsley and Andy Cole (55) are ahead of them.

Given the irresistible momentum Liverpool seem to have acquired, both 1990s strike partnerships should soon be swept up. The Rovers duo could be passed on Wednesday night at Anfield against Sunderland. Suarez, with two, and Sturridge already have a combined total of three goals against the visitors this season.

Inevitably, Suarez’s rehabilitation has brought him the lion’s share of the attention. The Uruguayan started the season suspended, for biting Branislav Ivanovic, and under a cloud after asking to leave. He has already equalled the record for most Premier League goals in a season without penalties.

“He is exceptional,” said his sidekick Sturridge, speaking to promote Liverpool sponsor Standard Chartered’s charitable initiative Seeing Is Believing. It is an alliance where their similarities and their differences are equally beneficial.

“We both love to win, we both love to score and we both love to assist,” added the Englishman. “We complement each other’s game. I like to run in behind [defences] and he likes to come short and dribble.”

That said, Suarez illustrated his ability to spring offside traps in Saturday’s surreal 6-3 win at Cardiff City, which was garnished by his hat trick. Sturridge was briefly reinvented as a left winger as part of manager Brendan Rodgers’s constant experiments to find the best shape to accommodate his prolific forwards.

“Tactically, he is probably the best I have worked with,” said Sturridge. Rodgers has now devised a system with a midfield diamond and raiding front men which, in its three-game lifetime, has produced 12 Liverpool goals. His impact goes beyond strategic planning, according to Sturridge.

“From a man-management point of view, he helps me a lot,” said Sturridge. “He is always pushing me to my limits. He has helped me out so much in my career. I will have to repay him as much as I can.”

With 33 goals in 42 games under the Northern Irishman, Sturridge has swiftly repaid his £12 million (Dh72.7m) transfer fee.

His arrival, however, was notable for Rodgers’ suggestion that, after inconclusive spells at Manchester City and Chelsea, Liverpool represented his final opportunity at a big club. Sturridge demurs.

“I certainly don’t feel it was the last chance,” he said of his move from Chelsea in January 2013. “I am 24, I’m still young and I have got time. Every day I want to keep improving. It is important that I fulfil the potential I had as a kid. A lot of players have potential and don’t fulfil it and I don’t want to fall into that trap.”

With Liverpool exceeding all expectations and Sturridge the second highest scorer in the division, it is safe to say he hasn’t. Instead, the question is whether they can reach highs few predicted, whether a century of league goals or a first title in 24 years.

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