Daniel Sturridge is “scared” to let loose through fear of injury, says Aldridge

Former Liverpool favourite John Aldridge believes that Daniel Sturridge is still suffering from his previous injury problems, which he claims have caused him to think twice about every movement he makes on the pitch.

Sturridge has suffered yet another injury-hit campaign and has been resigned to just seven appearances in the Premier League all season, having managed 12 in 2014/15.

Every time he looked like returning to full fitness he would end up aggravating another part of his body and subsequently be ruled out of action once again, and it’s only until recently that he’s started to string a number of games together.

But despite successfully steering clear of further physical problems over the past few weeks, Aldridge thinks it’s easy to see that Sturridge is “scared” to go 100% on the pitch through fear of doing further damage.

''Daniel Sturridge’s quality was there for all to see at St Mary’s with a very good goal. But I do think we also saw that he’s still scared to go full blast with his body,” he wrote in his Liverpool Echo column.

''When he’s on the pitch you can see what he can do but the manager demands the work rate of players from the 60s, 70s and 80s, that you chase everything and that’s not something that Daniel Sturridge does and it’s not something that Christian Benteke does. He has got to get them into his way of thinking.

''Daniel looks like he is worried about something going twang but hopefully he will grow more confident as he gets more games under his belt which is what you’d normally expect to happen.”

Klopp has lost a number of key players to injury in his short reign as Reds boss, and some could be put down to his demanding managerial style both on the pitch and on the training ground, which Aldridge reckons Sturridge still needs to adjust to.

The centre-forward has scored in his last two Premier League outings against Aston Villa and Southampton, and has been rewarded for his fine return to form with a place in Roy Hodgson’s England squad for upcoming friendlies against Germany and the Netherlands.

But with Christian Benteke underperforming and Divock Origi still relatively untried, Klopp will be sweating over the fitness of his star striker ahead of next Saturday’s top flight clash with Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield.