Daniel Sturridge's Fitness Will Still Determine Liverpool's Entire Season

It was only 14 months ago, though it seems a lot longer, that Liverpool were on the brink of becoming champions of England for the first time in 24 years. 

By the end of April 2014 Liverpool were on a run of 11 consecutive wins and on the verge of winning their first Premier League title. 

Brendan Rodgers’ side had played some wonderful, thrilling football, destroying Arsenal 5-1, Manchester United 3-0 and Tottenham Hotspur 4-0, and they would score a total of 101 league goals throughout the whole season.

But ultimately it would end in disappointment, with Liverpool stumbling in sight of the finish line and ending up as runners-up to Manchester City.

The four main protagonists of this title challenge, Luis Suarez, Raheem Sterling, Daniel Sturridge and Steven Gerrard, scored 74 league goals between them during that season. 

Just over a year later, Sturridge cuts a lonely figure at Anfield as the only member of this stellar quartet still at the club.

Ahead of the new season, Sturridge has thus become even more important to Rodgers, but the problem is he is currently out injured and won’t be playing again until October.

This is a major concern for Liverpool after the last two seasons have shown how Sturridge’s fitness directly impacts on their fortunes.

In that emotionally charged 2013/14 season, Sturridge was fit and healthy and contributed 21 goals in the Premier League alone.

Sturridge provided a focal point up front and a reassurance that Liverpool could always scare the opposition with pace and movement.

Liverpool had what every team craves: a striker who guaranteed goals.  

But last season injury would limit Sturridge to just seven starts in the league, which brought just four goals.

In Sturridge’s absence, Mario Balotelli, Rickie Lambert and Fabio Borini proved not fit for purpose, the goals dried up and Liverpool slid down the table to a disappointing sixth-placed finish.

Throughout the season, each bulletin of a further injury setback to Sturridge would plunge Liverpool into more despair.

Jon Super/Associated Press

The belief took hold that no Sturridge meant no chance.

To compensate for those three heavyweight departures, Liverpool have added a long list of new signings over the last 14 months.

Last summer’s batch, including Balotelli, Lambert, Adam Lallana and Lazar Markovic, provided mostly frustration and disappointment.

This summer’s purchases seem to have been made with greater thought, but they still represent a drop in quality from the 2013/14 squad.

Aged 22 and estimated to cost around £6 million, Danny Ings was certainly worth a punt this summer.

Ings showed enough quality in his first season in the Premier League with Burnley to suggest he could forge a career at this level and possibly higher up the table with a more established club.

Sakchai Lalit/Associated Press

Ings has potential and, above all, is hungry, but he remains raw and unproven at this level. He is a risk but certainly one worth taking.

The Brazilian striker Roberto Firmino, signed for a rather more hefty £29 million from Hoffenheim, offers the potential of excitement but few guarantees. 

As a South American, and having never played in the Premier League, he will almost certainly require time to settle.

His new team-mate and compatriot Lucas Leiva recognises this truth, and he told the club’s own website: “I think it will be hard straight away and it will just be a case of him having to adapt to the club, the language and the way the manager wants us to play.”

And Firmino is far from prolific, reaching double figures in league goals only once in his career and managing just seven in 33 games in the Bundesliga last season.

So where will Liverpool’s goals come from this season?

At the time of writing, as reported by the BBC, Liverpool are trying to address this by concluding a deal to sign the Aston Villa striker Christian Benteke for £32.5 million. He has the advantage of greater Premier League experience than Firmino and Ings and an impressive record of 49 goals in 100 games at Villa Park. 

But doubts persist about the Belgian, such as how he will cope with the step up to playing at Anfield and whether, with the system Rodgers employs, Liverpool are actually well suited to get the best out of him. 

There is quality in this Liverpool side, but without Sturridge, there are simply not the goals to have them challenging for the title again.

Kirsty Wigglesworth/Associated Press

Liverpool are a completely different proposition with a fit Sturridge, who has so far scored 40 goals in 66 games for the club. 

If Liverpool can start the season well and are in a healthy position when they welcome back Sturridge in October, his return could very well provide them with some real momentum for the rest of the season.

As Rodgers told the Guardian: “We have to hope with Daniel...he can come back super-fit and super-strong because he has an immense talent. You can’t argue with that. He can be as good as any striker in the world with his talent.”

It might be that the most important moment of Liverpool's year came inside a hospital in New York where Sturridge underwent surgery to address the problems with his hip in May, rather than any business they have since done in the transfer market.

Liverpool’s season will still stand or fall on Sturridge’s fitness.