Blog: Celebrating the non-celebrator

After Sunday afternoon's strike against Chelsea, Daniel Sturridge has now scored two Liverpool goals at the Kop end. He's only celebrated one of them, though.

Sturridge resembled a coiled spring when bursting into the action against the club he left in January.

He set up Steven Gerrard within seconds of coming on, he then hit the post from distance before firing home his side's equaliser to complete a quite remarkable entrance, and all within seven minutes.

However, out of respect for his former club - and despite later admitting that he was even more determined to do well than usual - Sturridge didn't celebrate his goal in an exuberant manner. There was none of the trademark dancing that we've seen accompanying some of his other strikes since he joined the club, such as his other goal in front of the Kop in January's 5-0 win over Norwich City.

Whilst he was dancing then, we have seen such a muted reaction to one of his goals before, of course.

When Sturridge expertly fired the Reds level at the Etihad Stadium in the 2-2 draw in February there was barely a flicker of emotion on the face of a forward who had just cracked home an unstoppable shot from distance, and against a goalkeeper of the quality of his England teammate Joe Hart.

What would any of us have done had we scored a goal that good in a match against the reigning champions? There would be laps of honour.

But, of course, a calm, respectful celebration when finding the net against your former club is nothing new.

This season has seen Cristiano Ronaldo in an almost apologetic mood after scoring for Real Madrid against Manchester United in the Champions League, whilst Glen Johnson and Joe Cole also kept things low-key when they struck for the Reds in December's 3-2 win at West Ham, the club where both players spent their formative years.

There are of course many more examples, and the fact that Sturridge has become the latest to add to them says a lot about the character of a player who has certainly impressed since joining the Reds.

Despite no doubt feeling like he had the confidence to take on the world when he turned home Luis Suarez's cross to equalise in such a big game on Sunday, Sturridge kept things calm and instead focused on the job in hand.

Ultimately he played a decisive role in the late strike that earned the Reds a point, and with that calmness and maturity - both key elements of his performances in a Liverpool shirt so far - things only look like getting better for him.

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Six goals in 12 appearances for Liverpool since the move from Chelsea is a terrific platform for Sturridge to build upon, but arguably it is other aspects of his performances which have impressed more than the goals.

These aspects can be identified in the respectful decisions not to celebrate those goals against City and Chelsea, but perhaps more so in his involvement in the Reds' build-up play and his constant movement and ability to pop up in different positions.

Clearly Brendan Rodgers has always been a huge fan of his and it is easy to see why, and whereas Reds supporters were always used to seeing Sturridge play a bit-part role at his previous clubs, they have quickly taken their newest forward to their hearts.

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Now in a position where he knows he'll get game-time under a manager who believes in him, Sturridge could well kick on from these early signs of promise and become a mainstay in this Liverpool team.

Reds fans will certainly hope so anyway, and they'll hope that Sturridge can stick around and continue what appears to be a rapid rise in fans' affections.

In future those fans won't want to see him not celebrating a goal he's scored against Liverpool, put it that way.