Daniel Sturridge says he is 'playing on instinct' at Liverpool

England striker relishing the freedom at Anfield

Daniel Sturridge (R) of Liverpool is congratulated by teammate Luis Suarez of Liverpool after scoring the opening goal in a match against West Bromich Albion (Getty Images)

Liverpool’s Daniel Sturridge has described how his move to the Anfield club has let him begin to play “on instinct” and respond to opportunities so rapidly that he has later had to watch a video of his goals to understand how he has scored them.

Sturridge’s opening goal at West Bromwich Albion on Sunday was his 14th in as many Premier League games and in a revealing interview with the Anfield Wrap magazine, he has given a sense of how liberated he feels after days at Chelsea when he played intermittently and “was over-thinking it because I wasn’t used to doing it.

Sturridge said: “I was never sure if I’d play as a striker [at Chelsea] because people didn’t believe in me. I was often asked to play in a different position and to do a job for the team but, having been a striker and then being asked to just flick a switch and play on the wing was always going to be difficult, because mentally you’re going to play the way you always have and I play on instinct.

“I think that now I’m just playing the way that I did as a kid but I’d never had the chance to do that. When I was playing as a winger at Chelsea I was overthinking it because I wasn’t used to doing it. It’s about that split second when you have to decide whether you do this or do that whereas now I’m just playing on instinct,” he added.

“I’m just doing the natural thing, playing my natural game and doing things off the cuff. Like the goal against Aston Villa, it happened so fast that I had to watch a video of it afterwards to see what I’d done. ”