Duology: Suarez and Sturridge

All the world is a stage, but Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge were more than merely players. In 2013/14, their only full season together, the two combined to produce sheer theatre of the sort rarely seen before on a football pitch: Suarez the anti-hero, Sturridge the flawed genius. Ultimately it was not an Achilles Heel but an Achilles tendon that brought the latter down, while the Uruguayan left for Barcelona without a Premier League medal and with yet another scandal hanging over him – it transpired that the campaign was destined, in the end, to be a Greek tragedy. However, though the partnership collapsed, the memories endure; Liverpool has seen some truly wonderful footballers in its long history, but Suarez and Sturridge can stake a claim as two of the greatest ever.

It is tempting, with hindsight, to diminish the impact of Sturridge in the whirlwind 13/14 campaign. This would be to do a gross disservice both to Sturridge as an individual and to the near-telepathic connection that the two built up. Suarez, of course, is one of the most gifted forwards ever to grace a football pitch, but without Sturridge there would be no title charge about which to reminisce. The English forward led the line himself in Suarez’s enforced absence at the start of the campaign; he scored all three goals in three consecutive 1-0 wins, clearly laying out his credentials as a world class striker in his own right. His subsequent terrible injury luck has clouded the memory of many, but make no mistake: the undisputed best English centre-forward at the time plied his trade at Anfield.

The results of throwing a volatile South American into the mix were predictably seismic. Each was equally capable of picking the other out or taking on their marker with consummate ease, and the movement was simply impossible to defend against – a visibly less-than-fit Suarez returned from his ban against Sunderland, and managed to score two goals simply by virtue of getting on the end of Sturridge passes. Many frustrating minutes wasted out on the wing at Chelsea came to fruition in these moments, as Sturridge effortlessly drifted to the byline before instinctively picking out Suarez in the middle. Despite having just half of the previous season to get acquainted, the pair seemed to intuitively occupy the same wavelength: this was an enviable gift indeed, and defenders were certainly rarely able to enjoy similar premonitions as to what was coming next from either of them. Countless established defenders and goalkeepers were made to look foolish over the course of the season – there was little to be done when the pair descended upon a back line. Sure enough, while Sunderland were occupied with Luis Suarez at the back post at a corner, Sturridge added a goal to his two assists in the 3-1 win at the Stadium of Light. This two-man show proved to be a sign of things to come.

Part of the beauty of the partnership that came to be known as ‘SAS’ was the way in which it harnessed a certain volatility to such deadly effect. The two strikers undeniably struck a chord, but it was at times a jarring one – scoring was the currency of both forwards, and a kind of rivalry developed. If one decided to go up a level, the other instantly responded with a refusal to be outdone. A game against West Bromwich Albion sticks particularly firmly in the mind. Suarez had wrapped the result up almost on his own. He opened the scoring with a trademark winding run through the entire defence, followed by a powerful finish into the corner. The second was just as admirable; a fairly average cross meant that Suarez had to meet the ball at a near stand-still, but he somehow managed to generate enough power on his header to beat the goalkeeper. The hattrick was completed with a second header, a delicate glance into the far post from a corner. A visible change came over Sturridge, as he started to play entirely off pure goal-scorer’s instinct; he was not going to fail to get a goal on a day when his partner had managed three. Sure enough, he found his way on to the scoresheet by upstaging all of Suarez’ strikes – he went on a powerful run of his own before lifting the ball delightfully over Ben Foster from twenty yards out. Cue the ‘wriggly arms’, an enduring image from Sturridge’s time at the pinnacle of the game. Very few players would have even spotted the keeper marginally off his line; the technique to execute the chip to perfection was simply outrageous, and ensured that Sturridge shared the headlines.

That is not to say that the pair were selfish, or at least not overly so. They were undeniably single-minded, and would never pass up a goal when presented with the opportunity, but this is what made them so good – the reason these chances came along with such regularity in the first place is that Suarez and Sturridge kept laying them on for one another. Many classic partnerships have had a playmaker and a finisher, or some variation on the ‘big man, little man’ approach that so dominated the thinking of English coaches in the 1990s: not these two. They were both complete forwards, equally adept at producing something out of nothing and converting the chances when they came.

Indeed, the partnership that developed was almost transactional – an assist created more than a goal, it created a debt. It merited a response in kind, often an immediate one: in away matches at Stoke and Cardiff, in which Liverpool scored a combined eleven goals, Sturridge laid on goals for the Uruguayan only to be presented with tap-ins of his own later in the same games. Invariably, this would prompt a celebration almost as iconic as the wriggly arms: Sturridge would turn and point at the provider, who would be pointing back at him with a look of unbridled joy etched on his face. The elation was about a goal for the team, of course, but beyond that it was about the restoration of equilibrium between the strikers.

There was no such parity by the end of the season in terms of goal and assist tallies – Suarez ultimately found a level with which even Sturridge was not quite on par, finishing with an astounding 31 goals and 13 assists despite missing the start of the campaign. He was second only to Steven Gerrard in assists, and led the second-highest scorer by ten clear goals. Who was this second-placed man? Daniel Sturridge. These statistics make it all the more remarkable that Liverpool did not win the league; it is a historical anomaly, and one that does a disservice to a front two who are almost unrivalled across the entire Premier League era in their brilliance. Suarez had thrown absolutely everything he had into the campaign, and his tears after Crystal Palace were those of a man who has done everything within his power but still fallen short. Even before the unpleasant side of his utter single-mindedness reared its head at the World Cup in the form of a bite on Giorgio Chiellini, a move away from Anfield seemed inevitable.

This same World Cup provided one fitting last act in the Suarez and Sturridge relationship. England were drawn in the same group as Uruguay, which meant that the two forwards who had thrived so much together would now have to do battle on the biggest stage. Again, this was almost irresistible theatre: the two men had just endured the pain of falling short in the Premier League together, and now it fell to one of them to inflict a final blow on the other.  It was Suarez who would emerge victorious, scoring twice to eliminate Sturridge and England from the competition. This final severance of the ever-unsteady bond between the two signified the end of a partnership that burned bright but ultimately burned out.

Sturridge remained at Liverpool in 2014/15, but a combination of awful misfortune with injuries and the club’s utter failure to adequately replace Suarez cruelly limited the influence he could exert – all that was left of the SAS was a memory. It is inevitable that this casts a shadow over the partnership, but it would be an immense shame if the pair were lost from the archives of the best footballing duos in history. Circumstance transpired to bring them together in a team that was otherwise simply not equipped to push for the league, and they were ultimately dragged down, but this cannot erase the mesmerising connection shared by the two strikers. Who can forget Suarez’s remarkable four-goal haul against Norwich, or Sturridge’s delicate chip over an onrushing Tim Howard in the derby? These are the things that fans pay to go and see: it cannot be denied that Suarez and Sturridge were the ultimate crowd-pleasers. This, and not the circumstances in which it all fell apart, should be their legacy.

First published on These Football Times as part of the Duology series: https://thesefootballtimes.co/category/duology-footballs-greatest-partnerships/

Follow me on Twitter @JamesMartin013

Duology: Gerrard and Torres

Steven Gerrard, more than most, is familiar with Liverpool’s revolving door of strikers. His illustrious career saw him take to the pitch with Robbie Fowler, Michael Owen and Luis Suarez, along with many more who cannot claim to be such household names. One by one, each came and went – the captain remained, doggedly turning in performance after performance even as the team around him was in constant flux.

The same fate would ultimately befall the partnership that Gerrard struck up with another forward to come to Anfield; he, like the supporters, could only watch on in horror as Fernando Torres departed for Stamford Bridge in January 2011. However, in the three and a half years prior to this frustratingly familiar end, Gerrard and Torres created something altogether unfamiliar. The unique partnership between the English midfielder and the Spanish forward is still revered on the Kop to this day.

There was huge optimism at Liverpool from the moment Torres signed in the summer of 2007. The 22-year-old had been top scorer at Atletico Madrid for each of their last five La Liga seasons, and had been entrusted with the captaincy since 19. Excitement on Merseyside reached fever pitch when his captain’s armband came loose one game to reveal four words on the inside: You’ll Never Walk Alone. In fact, this had little to do with Liverpool’s anthem, instead referring to the motto that he and a group of friends had adopted, but it reinforced the feeling that Torres belonged at Anfield.

This feeling would only grow following the Spaniard’s start to life at the club. It was immediately apparent that this was the player Gerrard had been crying out for – the instantaneous understanding between the pair was almost beyond belief. As early as his home debut against Chelsea, Torres profited from his first Gerrard assist; the captain set him free with a typically inch-perfect pass, and the striker ghosted beyond Tal Ben Haim before curling the ball effortlessly beyond Petr Cech.

This was a sight to which Liverpool fans would become accustomed. Perhaps the greatest passer of a generation working in tandem with a forward whose movement terrified defences was enough to undo almost any opponent in the path of Benitez’ side; it would take just a month for Torres to complete his first hattrick for the club. Who should set him free of the entire Reading back line for the crowning third goal? Steven Gerrard, of course. In many ways it is hard to pick out the highlights of this pairing, because so many of the great goals were almost carbon copies – even after these first few weeks defences knew exactly what they could expect, but they were helpless to prevent it.

Premier League, Europe, it didn’t matter. The duo was all-conquering: Torres scored his first Champions League goals in a crucial meeting with Porto, converting a Gerrard corner early on before slotting away another chance in the 78^th minute. This highlighted his double-threat; few players have been able to boast such a lethal right foot as well as a major aerial presence. Gerrard himself scored from the spot and registered another assist, this time for Crouch, on the way to a 4-1 victory. Together, the pair dragged Liverpool through a tricky group stage. All too regularly it would fall to the duo to deliver results on their own, but more often than not they managed to do so.

It would be a mistake solely to cast Gerrard as the provider and Torres as the finisher. Amongst his array of talents, Gerrard was a consummate goal-scorer in his prime: El Niño was not often the one laying on goals for others, but when he did do so it was invariably the captain steaming in to apply the finishing touch. This is reflected in the numbers from their debut season together, where the two combined to score a remarkable 54 times. This was enough for 4^th in the league as well as an eventual run to the Champions League semi-finals.

Ultimately, this was an era in which Liverpool were destined to continually fall just short of glory. In the following campaign, 2008/09, Gerrard and Torres came agonisingly close to the Premier League title that their partnership warranted, but the side could only manage second behind Manchester United despite amassing 86 points. It was cruel that injuries restricted the number of games the pair could play together – the two of them featured in the same starting line-up just twelve times. In a season where the title slipped away as a result of too many frustrating draws, the trophy would surely have found its way to Anfield had the duo been able to play together on even a few more occasions.

As it is, there is no silverware to commemorate the time Gerrard and Torres shared at Liverpool. Off-the-pitch problems at the club began to bubble to the surface in 2009/10 – Xabi Alonso’s departure ended up being the first of many over the course of the next two years, as an array of talent flocked away from what was turning out to be a sinking ship. An ownership dispute that ultimately had to be settled in court sent the club into chaos.

Despite all of this, El Niño managed 22 goals; Gerrard, meanwhile, contributed twelve goals and thirteen assists. It is testament to their partnership that they could produce these figures essentially on their own, at a time when the team around them was collapsing in on itself. Even these two greats did not have the capabilities to deliver trophies at such a turbulent time in Liverpool’s history, but they continued to deliver memories that last to this day.

One goal in particular that is embedded in the minds of supporters came against Everton: it was Gerrard who scored it, charging on to the end of a delightfully improvised flick from Torres to fire past the keeper at his near post. This epitomised the telepathy between the pair – each knew where the other was going, and they were both blessed with the ability to pick the pass. This has since led Torres to declare that Gerrard was “by far the best player [he has] ever played with”. The feeling is mutual: Gerrard has called the Spaniard “an absolute joy and pleasure to play behind”. Though they may have come together at the wrong time in the club’s history, the fact that they came together at all is something worthy of celebrating.

For some, even the memories are now tarnished. The tale of Gerard and Torres cannot be told without reference to the sudden and acrimonious split of January 2011 – murmurings in the background exploded into harsh reality on deadline day, as Torres completed a move to Chelsea. That the switch was to a team which he had repeatedly helped put to the sword was particularly painful: in the context of Liverpool’s bitter rivalry with Chelsea in the preceding few years, this felt like a final concession of defeat. In a cruel twist of fate, the move ultimately signalled the start of a torrid spell for both Torres and Liverpool – El Niño never recreated anything like his best form in London, while his former employers underwent a testing rebuilding phase that is only now truly coming to fruition.

A majority of fans have now made their peace with Torres. Much as it was too painful to admit at the time, nobody could be blamed for wanting to leave the club in that period – the circumstances surrounding the move were far from ideal, and certainly left a sour taste, but such things are sometimes unavoidable. It would be a shame to erase from the history books the sheer joy of the partnership that he struck up with Steven Gerrard; he took one of the greatest midfielders of all time and allowed him to reach new levels, and the result was a privilege to witness. No matter where he has been since, he will always be Fernando Torres, Liverpool’s Number 9.

There was one last bow for the duo at Gerrard’s testimonial in 2016. Anfield rose to welcome back the man who was once a favourite son; all is not quite forgotten, but is mostly forgiven. The connection was still there for all to see – Torres twice flicked the ball through to a rampaging Gerrard in a manner almost painfully reminiscent of that goal against Everton more than seven years previously. The match also brought to the fore the haunting thought of what might have been; Luis Suarez, who had also happily taken up the invitation to return to Anfield to honour Gerrard’s phenomenal career, wreaked havoc alongside Torres. The last decade has seen some exceptional talent at Liverpool, but rarely all together in one place.

Gerrard and Torres, though, did hit their primes together at Liverpool. Had the union occurred a couple of years earlier or later, who knows what might have been for the side; it is foolish to dwell on these hypotheticals, however, when the football actually produced by the pair was magical in its own right. Torres did ultimately end up as another striker through the revolving door, but in all Gerrard’s seventeen years at the club he never had a better partner.

First published on These Football Times as part of the Duology series: https://thesefootballtimes.co/category/duology-footballs-greatest-partnerships/

Follow me on Twitter @JamesMartin013

See my Colossus Bets round-ups of the past two weeks in football here:
https://blog.colossusbets.com/28082019/

https://blog.colossusbets.com/kane-breaks-the-august-curse-its-7-points-in-7-days/