Henderson: Daniel has got the lot
Jordan Henderson has heaped praise on unstoppable Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge after the England international increased his tally for 2013-14 to eight with a goal against Crystal Palace.
Despite missing much of pre-season with an ankle injury, the No.15 has made a flying start to the campaign, firing half-a-dozen goals in the Barclays Premier League and two more in the Capital One Cup.
Such scintillating form is no surprise to Henderson, who shared a dressing room with Sturridge for England U21s before the forward joined Liverpool, and the midfielder expects far more to come.
"Daniel's always been a confident lad," Henderson told the Liverpool Echo. "Even in the U21s he was always wanting the ball all the time, doing his skills and getting his shots away.
"But now he's been given the opportunity to play as a striker every week in the Premier League and I think he has benefited from that.
"He's come here and the manager has put great confidence and belief in him. And he's shown what he can do and can give back.
"His form is outstanding and he's improving all the time with his awareness, his touch and his finishing. He's got the lot really.
"I think he can be brilliant for England. There's obviously two big games coming up and he can contribute a lot in those two games. He's been sharp and getting goals. I think he'll play a big part."
Sturridge has formed a lethal partnership with Luis Suarez since the Uruguayan returned from suspension last month, scoring five of the Reds' six goals between them in their last two fixtures.
[OTPA_WIDGET_CONTENT]
From his position behind the creative duo, Henderson could see at close hand exactly how the combination flourishes - and he outlined why it will be so important for Liverpool's season.
He continued: "There's a lot of fluidity in the team at the moment with the formation. They can sort of wander about up front and go down the channels.
"The two of them were fantastic. Their link-up play and one-twos were brilliant and they do that all the time in training. Hopefully they can keep working on that, keep improving and keep getting the goals.
"They played a few games together before Luis got the ban and since Luis has come back in they've fitted together perfectly.
"They know where each other's going to be and they've been outstanding. They can be a massive factor for us this season. As a team we just need to make sure that we shut the door at the back and we're nice and compact.
"Dominating the ball and keeping good possession of the ball is something we need to get better at. But going forward I think we are as good as anyone really."
Although the victory over Palace lifted his team into joint-first with Arsenal in the Premier League standings, manager Brendan Rogers insisted afterwards that there is much room for improvement.
The No.14 echoed those sentiments: "Obviously it's frustrating when you see in training how good we are as a group. We've got a lot of good players and he wants us to perform at our best every single game.
"At half-time he wanted us to go out and win by four or five goals and play like we did in the first half. Obviously that didn't happen and so he is going to be frustrated.
"We were all disappointed with the way we came out in the second half because we wanted to be even better and get more goals.
"It didn't quite happen but the most important thing was the three points. We wanted to go into the international break with a win and we did that, but there is a lot of improvement for us as a team."