Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has ruled out Daniel Sturridge’s claim that he is fit to play and confirmed he will not include the striker in the playing eleven against Sunderland.
Sturridge tweeted on Saturday that he is “good to go”, after completing a training session by himself following his latest injury setback.
Perfect gift for Christmas from the boys getting a win. On a sidenote I’m back training and good to go!! #Lfc #redordead
— Daniel Sturridge (@DanielSturridge) December 26, 2015
The injury-plagued attacker had just returned from a major knee injury when he sustained a hamstring problem on 6th December against Newcastle.
But Liverpool boss Klopp made it clear the 26-year-old striker will not play against Sunderland on Wednesday. The German told the reporters: “This is the same thing that Daniel said four weeks ago and we let him play and he was injured again.
“He says this, you ask him and he says he’s good. I know he is good but he has to train. We can’t change the situation, he has to train now.”
Klopp had earlier implied Sturridge was too soft by urging him to realise ‘What is pain and what is real pain’.
But the German manager is keen on helping his No 1 striker finally get over the injury prone nature which has plagued him for the last 18 months.
Sturridge had to seat out three matches in his latest setback due to a hamstring strain and this is his third lay-off since Klopp came in 16 games ago.
He also said: “We have to wait.
“We have to train, we have to give the body the right information and if he can do this, then maybe we can change something.
“Otherwise we always have to stay here in this situation for the next ten years and always talk about ‘Where is Daniel Sturridge, can you play him?
“We have to try to change something, we have tried everything else, so we must try this now.
“We can’t say ‘Come on Daniel, now you look good so you can play’.
“I don’t want to see him in training because everybody sees him training and they think ‘Oh, come on, bring him into the team, we need his quality’.
“No. We really, really, have to be patient now.”
Sturridge has only played five Premier League matches this term and scored a brace against Aston Villa in September. He also netted twice in a Capital One Cup victory over Southampton on 2nd December.
It was thought that a timely return for Sturridge would be welcomed by Jurgen Klopp, who watched his main striker Divock Origi forced out of the pitch after a hamstring injury in the first half on Saturday. His replacement, Christian Benteke managed to score the only goal of the match.