Sturridge still helps team even when he doesn't score, insists Reds boss Klopp
Daniel Sturridge may be Liverpool's only fit striker, but manager Jurgen Klopp does not expect him to carry the goalscoring burden alone.
The England international has three goals in his last four matches and his strike in Wednesday's Merseyside derby took him to 50 for the club in just 87 matches.
That is the fourth quickest in the club's history in the post-war era, beating the likes of Luis Suarez, Robbie Fowler and Michael Owen.
With Divock Origi out for at least a few weeks with ankle ligament problems - Klopp refused to rule him out for the rest of the season - the responsibility falls on Sturridge.
When he does not score the 26-year-old often attracts criticism for his overall performance, but Klopp insisted that was not justified.
"I think most of the time this side of the table (the media) are not interested in performance," he said.
"If someone scored four goals would you say, 'Ah, but between these four goals he didn't play too well?' I don't think anyone wrote this ever in his life.
"Of course the first job of a striker is to score goals, but you cannot score in each game.
"Even Gerd Muller, the most famous and best German striker we ever had, scored something like 600, but there were a few games where he didn't score.
"Of course you have to work, but it is not about defending like I don't know what.
"It is about smart behaviour in the right position, closing gaps. That is not too difficult and the game is 95 minutes, so you need to be in the game for this to help the team all the time.
"Daniel has scored goals in the last few games and he had some more wonderful moments when he was a real threat to other teams.
"At Bournemouth (last Sunday) things were really outstanding, so he is able to create his own moments, he doesn't always need an assist so that is good.
"When Daniel was fit I was always happy with his performance. I am not interested in public opinions."
Klopp has to decide whether to start with Sturridge for the visit of Newcastle, and the return of Liverpool's Champions League-winning manager Rafael Benitez, on Saturday or pick the higher-energy Roberto Firmino as nominal centre-forward.
Benitez has told his Newcastle players they could still be heroes even if they play for only a few minutes as he attempts to steer the club clear of relegation danger.
The Magpies have at least given themselves a chance of preserving their Barclays Premier League status with a return of four points from home games against Swansea and Manchester City, but travel to the Spaniard's former club Liverpool on Saturday still deep in trouble.
Benitez made big decisions ahead of those two games, leaving B#12million January signing Jonjo Shelvey sitting on the bench for both and leading scorer Georginio Wijnaldum among the substitutes against City on Tuesday evening.
However, the 56-year-old wants all his players ready to perform to their best wherever they start a game, just as he did during his time at Anfield.
He said: "Jonjo or Gini [Wijnaldum] when you talk about them not playing, their reaction has been good. They are key players, they are working hard and they have to compete, and that's positive for the team as it brings the best from the team.
"I use the example of Vladimir Smicer. At Liverpool, he was not playing too many games and I said to the players who weren't playing too many games, 'You have to be ready and fit, you never know when you will be important'.
"And he was. He came in and he was massive for us in the Champions League final.
"Gini came on [against City] and he could have won the game in the last five minutes, so the players have to know how important they are because in the end, they can make the difference. They have to be ready."
Benitez is held in warm affection on the red half of Merseyside after that famous 2005 Champions League success in Istanbul, but he faces a very different challenge this time around.
Newcastle remain two points adrift of safety with just four games remaining and have not won a league game at Liverpool since April 1994.
Source: PAR
