There’s been lots to admire about Luis Suarez this season, he’s got to be in the running for Player Of The Year, not just for Liverpool but for the Premier League. In fact he’s been so good I think you’d have to say he’s become indispensable to us. Which is why the fact that he’s on eight yellow cards for the season worries me greatly.
If he reaches ten bookings he’ll get an automatic two match ban, and we can’t afford to lose him for that. We’ve still got Chelsea, Spurs and Everton to come to Anfield and we need every option available for these games, we can’t afford a suspension for our key player. Yes, Sturridge has looked the part, five goals and two assists in seven games is impressive, but it’s Suarez who makes our team unpredictable and hard to play against.
I only remember our number seven committing a couple of fouls of any note this season (against Everton and Wigan) and taking one dive (vs Stoke) so I’d have to conclude that the majority of his bookings have been completely avoidable. Sarcastically clapping the ref against West Brom was daft and unnecessary and I’d hope the club have taken some sort of internal action against the player, as they should against anyone who gets so needlessly cautioned.
I do think though that he sometimes gets punished for his reputation, he was booked in two of our early games for gesturing at linesmen when it was really necessary to yellow card him. We’ve seen several players (including one example I’m sure springs to all of your minds immediately) clearly telling a referee to ‘f**k off’ repeatedly when decisions go against them and they don’t seem to receive a booking. But however harsh some of Suarez’ yellows might be, if he doesn’t give the ref the option in the first place then he won’t be booked.
His goalscoring record this season has been impressive, his general play has at times been magnificent and his fighting spirit has been unstoppable. He’s a key player for us, he’s fast becoming a world superstar, he just needs learn when to close his eyes and count to ten. If he does miss another couple of games this season it will make three in total, which is probably a couple of goals he will have missed out on scoring. Remember the bigger picture Luis, we just can’t get enough of you, we don’t want you missing any more games.
Even more so with Borini injury I can't help thinking that rather than this mindset of every one talking about way if and how well struggle be good to introduce a mind set of you've got an oppourtunity to prove yourself and not talk about it as a club fair enough have a word in his ear But let's not hear it in post match or pre match media circus I hate to use them as an example but that manceda guy at man u u could say he won them the title or perhaps the ref who disallowed stevie s free kick against wolves my point is that some1 could get the chance to stake a
ReplyDeleteclaim or even just be a hero( Neil mellor arsenal )Big up these players for wat they are not compare them to who there replacing!
I think with Sturridge, Shelvey, Downing, Coutinho and Sterling we've got enough players who could be given the responsibility for a game or two and see if they step up, but we still need Suarez to calm down on the needless bookings as we don't want him missing big matches because he's sarcastically clapped a ref, he's too good and too important for that.
ReplyDeleteI cannot agree more with this word of caution.
ReplyDeleteFor all the magic LS brings to almost every match, he does ruin part of it with his reactions to ref. decisions.
Sturridge could maybe "just" hold the fort for us, but I agree that it is going to be difficult without the LS element of creativity and unpredictability/vision, but the fact that we now have a player with the style of Coutinho to pair up, it just may work.
Unfortunately Downing continues to be an issue for me, even with LS on the pitch. I would not have him on if LS was out.
All I see in the lad(Downing) is good pace, but no vision at all or capacity for real team play.
I tend to see him as a frustrated player that wants to score every time but never can, therefore plays an exceedingly selfish game without the quality to justify it.
Example: Never seen him participate in a layoff with Suarez if he is not the final receiver, he will blatantly avoid the pass and I am always fuming when he does it over and over again.
Hernan.
I agree Sturridge and Coutinho could cover for Suarez for a game or two, but if it turned out that he missed the game against Chelsea, Everton or Spurs it would be harder than if he missed games against QPR or Wigan for example. He may learn from his bookings and not receive any more this season, you never know, he's unpredictable..
DeleteAs for what you say about Downing, I think there's no doubt he hasn't been as good as we'd hoped, he's an average Premier League player who doesn't really win games by himself but lately he's been playing his position better, allowing the rest of the team to function around him. By staying close to the touchline he creates space centrally for the likes of Sturridge and Suarez to exploit. I think if we'd paid £5 or £6 million for him nobody would really criticise but the fact is we paid a lot and want more for our money. It's no secret he will be sold if we find a buyer and a replacement though. It has to be said he's not been one of the club's better purchases.