Sturridge has 'mountain to climb'

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp expects Daniel Sturridge to shine this season despite demoting the England striker to the bench for the 1-1 draw with Tottenham.

Sturridge expressed his frustration at playing in a wide role during the 2-0 defeat at Burnley last Saturday but at White Hart Lane he was omitted from the starting line-up altogether.

When it came to replacing Philippe Coutinho, Divock Origi was chosen - with Sturridge confined to a limited supporting role in the closing stages.

Former Liverpool captain Graeme Souness stated the injury-prone England marksman has a "mountain to climb" to win his place back in the team due to the quality in the squad, but Klopp insists he will play regularly.

"Daniel Sturridge is a wonderfully skilled player, but I made the decision based on the kind of defending that was important for Tottenham," Klopp said.

"When we last played Tottenham, at home, he had an outstanding game. But I can only pick 11 players to start and I never make a decision like this against one player.

"I'm really happy that we have him. He will play and he will score and all will be good.

"He didn't have a perfect pre-season, other players have played more together in pre-season and that's an advantage.

"We brought Origi on because it made sense to bring someone on for the counter attack, but we didn't find him.

"It's early in the season. A few players have rhythm, a few don't. There's no big mountain for him, Daniel.

"It's a good team so hopefully we'll choose different line-ups for different games."