BRENDAN TO ASSESS DANIEL STURRIDGES FITNESS AHEAD OF LIVERPOOLS TRIP TO BASEL Brendan Rodgers will assess the fitness of Daniel Sturridge ahead of Liverpool FC’s Champions League trip to Basel on Wednesday. The England striker missed Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Everton at Anfield, having failed to recover fully from the thigh injury which had kept him out of the Reds’ previous four games. Rodgers revealed afterwards that Sturridge had not really been close to being involved in the game, and says a decision will be taken today on whether he travels to Switzerland. “He wasn’t really close for this game,” the Reds boss said. “We needed to see if he could train on the Friday, but I got the message on the Thursday night that he would struggle, so he wasn’t really close to playing. “I’ll see how he is (for Basel). He wasn’t far away for Everton, but he certainly wasn’t fit enough to be on the bench.” Liverpool’s next Premier League game, at home to West Bromwich Albion next Saturday, may be viewed as a more realistic return date for Sturridge, with Rodgers admitting his side have missed the 25-year-old in recent weeks. “It helps to have that pace,” he said. “Especially when you are 1-0 up and the opposition has to come on to you. That pace through the middle can help then. “But Daniel is obviously a top talent, whatever part of the game he comes into. And he’s not far away from being back playing. “We want to score goals, but I believe that as the season goes on that will become better and better at that. “I think today was a step towards what we’re working for. It was an excellent performance against a very good side. We were clearly the better team. “And when we bring back the likes of Daniel, who is influential for us, Joe Allen who has never been mentioned but is a huge player for us, and Emre Can, we will get better as the season goes on.” Reproduced from the Liverpool Echo
Posted on: Mon, 29 Sep 2014 15:41:46 +0000
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