Jurgen Klopp and Daniel Sturridge have been involved in a war of words over the last few weeks.
The striker recently expressed his dissatisfaction at being asked to play on the wings in the game against Burnley. The match ended as a 2-0 loss for the Liverpool team which started the opening game of the season in brilliant fashion with a 4-3 win over Arsenal. Sturridge’s position in the team has come under threat from the day Klopp came to the club. The German was initially unhappy with the player’s unavailability due to niggling injuries, while he has admitted that the England international possesses a knack of scoring goals.
The debate between the two has continued even into the 2016-17 season. Even though Sturridge expressed his dissatisfaction at his new role,Klopp says that the England star should learn that there are no defined positions in the game anymore. He has pointed out to the example of Portuguese and Real Madrid superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, who started out on the wings and no plays in a free roll across the pitch. Ronaldo is not restricted to a certain position on the pitch and he often gets into the box to score from headers. It remains to be seen if Sturridge will be given a free role underKlopp.
“We don’t have these defined positions in football any more — Cristiano Ronaldo plays on the wing but is always in the box when the ball is in and around it.It’s not about running around all the time. I said I don’t want to make him a marathon runner, why should I? I don’t want to play Daniel on the wing, why should I? It’s not like ‘Go here, go there always.’ It’s no problem to talk about it, but it’s not an issue when a player says ‘It’s not my favourite position’,” said Klopp.