Ferdinand Yet To Be Impressed By Liverpool's Prolific Strike Force

Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand believes that Liverpool's in-form striker Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge still have plenty of work to do before they can be considered one of the Premier League's best ever strike partnership.

The Liverpool strikers have scored 10 goals in the four games they have played together this season, leading to comparisons with some of the league's great strike partnerships.

Both players were at the peak of their powers in the 4-1 win over West Brom last weekend as Suarez struck a memorable hat-trick, while Sturridge produced a sumptuous chip which left goalkeeper Boaz Myhill completely stranded.

One of the main comparisons, not just because of their SAS acronym, has been with Chris Sutton and Alan Shearer who combined to lead Blackburn Rovers to a memorable league title under Kenny Dalglish.

Liverpool's current duo are very different players and Ferdinand believes they will have to score many more goals over a long period of time to truly be considered as one of the best partnerships.

"In this country and in football in general I think we build people up too quickly," Ferdinand told BT Sport.

"That's not to say they're not a great partnership - they're proven at the moment. They're on top of their game and they're playing very, very well. They've scored some great goals.

"But I think you judge partnerships over a period of time. Look at [Dwight] Yorke and [Andy] Cole, [Teddy] Sheringham and Shearer. These types of partnerships aren't developed overnight over a course of part of a season, it's over a period of time. So I think it's better to give these people time."

Manchester United have their own feared strike partnership in the form of Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie, but it has been the two Liverpool forwards who are dominating the goal scoring charts.

Sturridge and Suarez have fired 14 league goals in 13 games this season while Rooney and Van Persie have found the back of the net on nine occasions in 16 appearances.