Daniel Sturridge Hurt Again, Will Reportedly Miss Month

Daniel Sturridge will be out for another month after injuring his calf in training. That's not a cruel joke, although I wish it was. We've been so desperate to see Liverpool's star man back on the pitch, and now just days before his return he's gotten injured again. It hurts from a fan perspective, but Sturridge must be in knots on the inside as he'll have to miss Liverpool's highly anticipated Champions League encounter with Real Madrid.

According to the Echo, Brendan Rodgers said, "He's looking at being out for another two to four weeks.

"It's a big blow as we were looking forward to welcoming Daniel back. He has worked tirelessly.

"But we have other players training hard and working hard and we will turn to them. It's why we bulked up the squad in the summer."

Rodgers will turn to Mario Balotelli with the hope that the Italian striker steps up his goal production. It's likely that Liverpool will deploy either Fabio Borini or Rickie Lambert alongside Balotelli so that Super Mario's tendency to drop deep doesn't disrupt the rest of the attack. However, there's also the possibility that Lambert starts on his own up top against QPR after his impressive performance against West Brom.

This is terrible news for Liverpool, and not only because of its short term implications. As the list of leg problems mounts for Sturridge it's hard not to think about the downward spiral of Fernando Torres after his string of knee injuries. Sturridge relies on his pace, and all of the wear and tear on his legs puts his future into question.