Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has played down fears that egos could get in the way of a potential lethal partnership developing between strike duo Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez.
Sturridge has become one of the fan-favourites at Anfield scoring three times already this season and also winning August’s player of the month competition, but there are fears that he could collide with former-star man Suarez, when the Uruguayan returns from his lengthy suspension.
Suarez will become available for Liverpool later this month and there are some doubts whether or not Sturridge and Suarez could develop a partnership together up front, but Rodgers is adamant that the team must come first, rather than their own personal goals.
‘Liverpool isn’t that type of club,’ he said. ‘It’s a club where players get told where to play. We don’t mollycoddle them, they are expected to come in and do a job. If they want to be the superstar, if they want to be the individual, they can forget it.
‘It’s about the team and whatever they can bring to the team, they will do. We know what strikers are like, what they want. But I don’t think it’s an issue in this case.’
‘Neither of them will be the main man. This is based around a team,’ said the straight-talking Liverpool manager. ‘People were talking about Suarez being a one-man team last year, I kept saying we’re not and if you look at the results since, clearly we weren’t.
‘I see them both as people. I was exactly the same at Chelsea, the boys there like John Terry will tell you that.’
‘Sturridge has this myth around him that he was a real arrogant sort, a difficult boy. He’s actually one of the nicest boys I’ve met.’
Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt
