Surprise! Daniel Sturridge quotes are taken out of context

We here at We Ain't Got No History headquarters have a somewhat fractious relationship with football media, and the latest reportage from Guardian writer Jamie Jackson has only embellished this rocky kinship.

That's a fairly intriguing headline, one that plainly achieves it's purpose in drawing in the reader who would be interested in any possible acrimony between Sturridge and Chelsea. Let's see what Jamie Jackson has managed to dig up from a discussion with the English striker.

Asked if he would be a 20-goal forward if given a run in the Chelsea side, Sturridge said: "I'd hope so. It's always difficult to say I'd score 20 goals a season. But if any player's given a regular run then you'd hope that if they're playing at a top club and given opportunities to score goals they'd be able to do that. I do believe I'm a centre-forward, I do believe I'd be able to help the team win games. Whether I can do that by scoring goals, making assists, just being there, being a physical presence - whatever I can do to help the team win I'll try and do that."

Hang on...

Asked if he would be a 20-goal forward if given a run in the Chelsea side, Sturridge said: "I'd hope so. It's always difficult to say I'd score 20 goals a season.

Oh dear. Given that the rest of the piece involves Sturridge discussing his England prospects and his love of Didier Drogba (no big surprise there), it's quite clear this is the quote the Guardian is using to exaggerate any possible tension.

Sturridge is quite obviously the victim of the media's disregard for actual quotes in favour of page clicks. The headline suggests Sturridge thinks poorly of Di Matteo because the Italian isn't allowing him to become one of the top strikers in the league, but rather Sturridge is, at best, pointing out the virtues of regular playing time, something that he hasn't had this season largely because he's been injured, a convenient fact most journalists are preferring to ignore.

It's no surprise that Sturridge's words are being twisted to represent something else entirely, but it doesn't make it any less annoying. This is a classic example of why players are so wary to talk about anything to the media, because it can be easily twisted to represent something else entirely.