"No autobiography can be more provoking to a young footballer than Pele's,'' asserted Sturridge."
"We have plenty of time to kill travelling to away games and reading a tale like his is a way to pass the time.''
As they journey to Germany for Thu.'s Uefa Cup quarter-final first leg, Robinho should ask to borrow Pele's book from Sturridge.

It provides vivid explanation the best Brazilians deliver in troublesome away venues as well as at home, a vital art that Robinho has still to master. Definitely a skilled ball-user, a technical talent whose abilities can take the breath away, Robinho keeps vanishing during away games.

He impressed at Blackburn Rovers, especially when Sturridge came on, and, to a level, at Liverpool but otherwise he's been a discontent away from Eastlands.

He also wore the cloak of anonymity at Stoke Town , arms depot and Chelsea. For all his bigger wealth, Robinho will never be in Pele's class as a footballer but he could at least take a leaf out of El Rey's autobiography and work diligently away from home. Pele never hid, even if taking a battering off opposing defenders, even if stepping out in intimidating arenas.

The top players, like Pele, Diego Maradona, Johan Cruyff and George Best, relished the challenge of a forbidding setting and bruising markers. The perception is that Robinho favors the comforts of home. Robinho has barely grabbed the initiative, shriveling as the season has progressed.
Robinho's reputation lessens by the week and, presuming Hughes looks for someone that contributes more solidly, it is tough see who will need the Brazilian in the summertime. His main suitor, Luiz Felipe Scolari, has left Chelsea and his poor performance-to-wages proportion would put off most others at home and away.

Perhaps if he snuck a look within Sturridge's book on Town's plane, Robinho could stop being a passenger.

Anyone that has ever encountered Walter Smith is right away struck by the integrity of the person.
There's a substance to the Scot as a human as well as a boss. By sending out a message that such audacity can't be endured, Smith has not only done Scottish soccer a great service but all of Brit soccer.