Daniel Sturridge Potentially Missing Rest of Season Adds to Liverpool's Probems

Brendan Rodgers' pre-match press conference on Monday morning ahead of his side's trip to face Hull City saw him admit it could be pre-season before Daniel Sturridge returns for Liverpool.

The England centre-forward is currently sidelined with his 15th injury since joining the Reds in January 2013, missing the last three games. He's only started 12 this season.

"We'll see if he's going to be back this season or pre-season," said Rodgers, as per BBC Sport.

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"It's just been one of those seasons for him where it has been very unfortunate. We are going to have to monitor that day by day and see where he's at."

After a dour 0-0 draw against West Bromwich Albion on Saturday, the thought of the final five games of the season without Sturridge adds to Liverpool's woes.

Scoring goals has been the Reds' problem all season and it looks set to continue right to the end.

"We just don't score as many goals, it's as simple as that," said Rodgers after the stalemate as the Hawthorns, per Sky Sports.

"We will look at it in the summer and it's somewhere we will have to do some work on."

Goals

Rodgers noted that after 33 games last season his side had scored 90 goals—this season they have just 47.

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Raheem Sterling is Liverpool's top Premier League goalscorer with a pretty measly seven goals. Only Swansea City, Crystal Palace and Sunderland have a top league scorer on less.

Sterling's total is even less than the target Rodgers set Jordan Henderson back in the summer, let alone the 31 Luis Suarez scored last season.

"I would expect him [Henderson] to be getting upwards of 10 goals this season because he has the quality and the tactical nose to arrive in the area to do that," said Rodgers last August, per The Independent.

This goes to show that it isn't just Liverpool's forwards who haven't delivered this season.

Indeed, sidelined Sturridge has the same amount of goals as regular starter and PFA Young Player of the Year nominee Philippe Coutinho, with four each.

Goals have not been scored from anywhere in this Liverpool side. The problem isn't restricted to their non-scoring forwards of Mario Balotelli, Rickie Lambert and Fabio Borini.

Yes, all three of those have been woefully below par this campaign, but none have been helped by their lack of game time or consistent run in the side. For instance, Borini scored his first Premier League goal at Aston Villa in January—and hasn't started a game since.

System

Liverpool's problems are numerous, from the failures up front to Rodgers' constant tactical tweaking.

Last season the Northern Irishman was rightly lauded for his tactical acumen, changing to a midfield diamond for the Reds' 11-game winning streak that almost saw them land the title.

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This year he's changed formation similarly with success, implementing the 3-4-2-1 system pre-Christmas to change the fortunes of the side. But latterly he's gone between that and his preferred 4-3-3 formation, leaving players as the proverbial round pegs in square holes and the team as a whole lacking fluidity and wholly disjointed.

Mario Balotelli, quite clearly, cannot play as a lone centre-forward, yet Rodgers has rarely given him the opportunity to play alongside a strike partner. Balotelli himself shouldn't be blamed for his problems this season. Liverpool signed a player who doesn't suit their style of play and have refused to deploy a system that might get the best from him.

Against West Brom, the Italian dropped deeper and deeper, leaving Liverpool without a presence up front. It was the same problem back in October and November.

Quite why we've barely seen the midfield diamond formation this campaign—bar the 3-0 win at Tottenham back in August—remains a mystery.

Rodgers needs to find a system and style of play that he wants to use going forward, most likely 4-3-3, then sign players—attacking players—who work within that system.

Sturridge

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The dilemma Rodgers and Liverpool have is that Sturridge himself looks less comfortable in a 4-3-3 formation, and signing another forward leaves Sturridge's role far from clear.

But last summer the Reds naively went into the new season relying too much on Sturridge, this summer they simply cannot make the same mistake.

If the only business that happens at Anfield is the departures of the marginalised trio of Balotelli, Lambert and Borini, with three new strikers arriving in their place, it will be a positive step forward.

Divock Origi will be one of this replacements, while Danny Ings looks likely to be another. A third needs to be a top-quality signing of the ilk that should have been signed last summer—one to rival Sturridge and finally replace Luis Suarez.

It will be a year too late, but only once that player arrives can Liverpool return to their attacking style of play.