Daniel Sturridge identifies ‘big’ factor stopping Liverpool’s Champions League pursuit

Daniel Sturridge believes a lack of identity is the root cause of Liverpool’s Premier League struggles – highlighting a clear lack of cohesion during the drab goalless draw with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday.

The former Anfield forward also insists there is a collective hangover from last season’s 63-game campaign, in which Jurgen Klopp’s side were beaten to Premier League and Champions League success in tough circumstances by Manchester City and Real Madrid.

In West London on Tuesday night, Klopp made six changes from the side that was heavily beaten at the Etihad 72 hours earlier in the hope of injecting fresh life into Liverpool’s late-season rally for a Champions League qualification, but Chelsea flexed their muscle in their first game since Graham Potter’s sacking.

For Liverpool, the draw leaves them seven points adrift of fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur and, ahead of Sunday’s visit of Arsenal, sees their chances of securing a seventh successive season in Europe’s premier competition at serious risk.

Speaking on Sky Sports after the game, Strurridge weighed in on the situation at Anfield and insisted fatigue as well as the transition following the departure of Sadio Mane is one reason for the Reds’ glaring inconsistencies.

“I think it’s the life of a footballer and of a team who have been pushing themselves to the absolute limit for a very long time,” said Sturridge. “They’ve put a lot of great results together over the past many years and won a lot of trophies but now they’re in a bit of a blip, I would like to say, a little bit in the sense that they’ve lost a lot of confidence, mental fatigue I would say is involved as well.

“They’re working with a philosophy that they’ve lost one of their best players in Sadio Mane which was of course at the start of the season, but the team has started to play differently and the identity they had before isn’t necessarily the same now.

“In that one game when they look amazing it’s the old Liverpool, when they see in games like today when they’re not creating chances, things like that, it doesn’t look to me like a team who have been playing together for a long time. They looked today as if they hadn’t played together for a long time and that’s the first time I’ve watched them and thought ‘they don’t look the same team,’ but that’s not to say they can’t turn it around because I think they can.”

Analysing Klopp’s side before kick-off at Stamford Bridge, Sturridge echoed his full-time thoughts, adding: “Mental fatigue is a big, big thing for players at the moment. They’ve been in big moments challenging for the title multiple season after season and it does weigh down on you as a player when you’ve got to continue going.

“When things aren’t going right it’s about sometimes continuing doing the same things you’ve always done but right now things do need to change.”

“Of course the players right now are not performing to the levels the fans and the club are used to seeing, but I do think they can get back to where they want to be providing they do things that people expect in the summer.”