I feel like Sturridge was so much better when Lambert came on alongside him. I really feel we get the best out of Sturridge if we played Balotelli with two up top in a diamond.
In fairness, if we go two up top it really should be Lambert from the start.
Three reasons why, trying to use Brendan's own words and not my own speculation and insight:
1) Meritocracy - Brendan has always preached performances warrant starts (although if ruthlessly true, it begs the question what Glen has done to/for Brendan in his personal life to overlook the meritocracy dynamic). Lambert's played MAYBE 30 minutes for us combined and has been involved in 2 goals, almost a 3rd.
2) Fitness - Brendan mentioned Mario only having had played 3 45-minute games during his AC Milan preseason, so give Lambert the start and bring on Mario with a half-hour to go (or even at half-time depending) and help build his match fitness up
3) Tactical Understanding - One's been at the club for over a month, the only barely a week. Enough said. However I wouldn't be surprised to see us stick with the 4-3-3 with Sterling and Markovic either side of Danny (which IF Brendan wants to go with the 4-3-3, which I'm not for but that is irrelevant really, then I'd prefer that front 3 to almost any other we have right now).
Caveat: With the international break coming after this weekend's fixtures, I'd also like to see Lambert start as he is less likely to play in the 1st international match, therefore he can put in a energetic shift for us and not have to worry about pulling something from over-exertion come midweek next week. By the same token, Mario could get 30ish minutes for us, then still be fresh to start Italy (which is relatively likely he'll start). This would not only reduce the risk of an overexertion injury (see Sakho's versus Chelsea and Gerrard's vs West Ham last season to see the impact of too many minutes too fast) for Mario but only allow him to get more minutes under his belt.
