Sturridge unhappy playing out wide for Liverpool
Daniel Sturridge has voiced his frustration at being played as a winger for Liverpool this season.
The 26-year-old, who missed the Premier League season-opening win at Arsenal through injury, returned to the line-up at Burnley last weekend – starting on the right – and was substituted on 65 minutes after failing to make an impact.
He came off the bench in Tuesday’s 5-0 League Cup second-round victory at Burton and was again deployed on the right, but scored twice, and has now spelled out his desire to play up front, saying “everyone knows” it is his best position.
“Of course it is more difficult for me to play wide. I’m a centre-forward,” England international Sturridge said, quoted by several national newspapers.
“In the modern-day game you have to try and be flexible, but everyone knows my best position.
“Everyone knows where I enjoy playing the most. I’m a player who plays on instinct, and in the middle I have clarity on movements and things that I have been doing for years. I am on autopilot there. You just do things because you are used to doing it. But when you are out wide, you have got to worry about different things.
“I have to do a job for the team. That’s not saying I am happy to do it. That’s saying I have got to do a job for the team. It’s a team game. If I am put in that position, I have to play there.”