He is good enough to carry us.
Mario has missed a hell of a lot of chances. There's been a huge push recently to try and make Mario not the scapegoat, and it's valid to an extent - but make no mistake, Mario has had a hell of a lot of chances. With Daniel in the team, we would have got +2 against Everton, +3 against Villa, +2 against Hull, and you know what, I'd have backed us to get the three against West Ham (at 2-1 down) as well, with Daniel in the team. And maybe even more points against Chelsea/Newcastle, but you can't say really.
Mario has missed a hell of a lot of chances, and Sturridge would have put 75% of those sitters away at least. He's a supreme, thoroughbred goalscorer Daniel. He'll give us a massive, massive boost. As for papering over the cracks - 3 points are 3 points, and we desperately need 3 points. Sturridge is good enough to make everything else (our dire midfield, and awful CB partnership mainly) an irrelevance.
'Pop it in the back of the net and we'll discuss your options later'.