‘Think the unthinkable’: Liverpool should set Raheem Sterling up front ahead of Daniel Sturridge

Richard Jolly urges Brendan Rodgers to trust his instinct to be 'unorthodox so often' and demote Daniel Sturridge in favour of Raheem Sterling as a striker against Manchester United.

Raheem Sterling has six goals and seven assists in 27 Premier League games for Liverpool this season. Adam Davy / PA

Few things enhance a player's reputation quite like his absence from a struggling side, and when Liverpool last met Manchester United, Daniel Sturridge's standing was sky-high.

He had not played for three-and-a-half months, in which time Liverpool's centre-forwards had contributed a solitary Premier League goal. Manager Brendan Rodgers appeared to have exhausted his attacking options and given up on his specialist strikers.

It was a vote of no confidence in Mario Balotelli, Rickie Lambert and Fabio Borini that Raheem Sterling was chosen to lead the line at Old Trafford. He duly missed several chances. Liverpool lost 3-0.

They were 10 points behind Manchester United. The pendulum of power between these two great clubs seemed to have swung decisively away from Rodgers's team.

Yet as they approach the rematch, the situation has changed drastically, and not just because a win would take Liverpool above United. Sturridge is available again, for starters, but the supposed saviour has not been particularly productive.

He has scored three goals in 12 games since returning to fitness. Liverpool’s less incisive performances, against Besiktas, Blackburn Rovers and Swansea City, have tended to coincide with his presence in the starting 11.

It is time for Rodgers, so unorthodox so often, to think the unthinkable and to demote Sturridge.

Liverpool’s prowess last season, including two wins over United, was built from the front, based on the prowess and prolific returns of Sturridge and Luis Suarez, whose combined haul amounted to 52 league goals. Sterling will never be as clinical.

His entire career has brought fewer goals than Sturridge scored last season alone. He responded to his December misses – or, more accurately, David de Gea’s series of saves – by studying the videos. He has delivered six goals since then. It is a respectable return, but not a remarkable one.

Yet the team is best served by selecting Sterling as a striker, especially as Rodgers has a strange reluctance to pick Sterling, 20, as one of his inside-forwards in his recalibrated 3-4-2-1 formation. He seems to the central attacker or out on the flanks, and he is wasted as a wing-back.

He is that rarity, a footballer who alternates between two such different positions.

But the initial choice of Sterling as a striker, which seemed to be made in desperation, provided evidence of inspiration. Young, quick and mobile, the Englishman has personified Liverpool’s recovery during the last three months.

Tellingly, perhaps their best performance in that time came against Manchester City, when Sterling started in Sturridge’s stead. Sterling was the sacrificial speedster, buzzing around relentlessly, occupying defenders and freeing up space for the twin No 10s.

Philippe Coutinho has been Liverpool’s most influential player in the last three months. The creator could be forgiven for privately hoping Sterling gets the nod in attack; he fashions more space for the Brazilian.

And he is the potential trump card. United have a fine deep-lying distributor in Michael Carrick, but he is essentially a constructive presence, not a destructive one. If Liverpool can liberate Coutinho and Adam Lallana, it is one route to victory.

Another issue is the United centre-backs, who stifled Harry Kane last week. A recurring theme is that British defenders struggle when up against a striker who does not think like a striker, whether a false nine or a Sterling-style roving runner.

It adds up to a case for Rodgers to consider – to omit his most potent striker, Sturridge, for a must-win match.

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