Brendan Rodgers agrees that Daniel Sturridge injury has ruined our season

Brendan Rodgers hopeful that Daniel Sturridge will be back in his team soon…

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has backed Daniel Sturridge to continue his gradual return from injury as he prepares to begin easing the striker back into his squad.

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Sturridge has been sidelined since late August after picking up a knock in an England training session, but is finally closing in on his long awaited comeback.

Asked whether the 25-year-old’s absence from the team had hurt Liverpool this season, Rodgers replied: “No question, I think it’s had a huge impact on our season.”

The Northern Irishman, who was quoted by Liverpool’s official website, added: “You can trace that back to the beginning of the season when we played one of our early games against Tottenham and you could see the reference he was to the team in that match.

“He hasn’t played and the team struggled for a few months, but thankfully we’ve now nailed down a way of working and returned to our football ideals.

“The team is becoming better and better, and when you throw Daniel into that, he shines a different light and adds another dimension. He’s looked very, very good in training today, he was outstanding.

“But we’ll give him another day and I’ll have another chat with him tomorrow just to see where he’s at, but he looks in top-class condition.”

Rodgers implied that Sturridge would not be ready for our upcoming game against West Ham this weekend, but remained positive about getting his key man back on the Anfield turf in the near future.

“As you can imagine, when you’re out for a long time, then you’re just feeling your way back into things, ” explained the Reds boss.

“In the last few days, and in particular this morning, he was brilliant. He’s been really dynamic, fast, strong in the finish and sharp. But we have to be careful with him as well.

“He’s been sidelined for a long while and we can’t put all the pressure on him and say he’s going to be the saving grace when he’s on the pitch again. We’ll definitely be a better team with Dan than without.”