Of late, I have been reading articles by so called ‘neutral’ sport journalists vilifying Luis Suarez and what they perceive as his tendency to go down too easily. Over the weekend, Suarez was subjected to ‘boos’ from the away supporters every time he touched the ball. We all know the racism charge he is facing as well as the charge for showing the Fulham fans the middle finger. Has Suarez become the most hated player in the premier league? I believe he is certainly in the top five, and I do not think it is fair. Luis Suarez does go down a lot, but no more than any other player in the world. There is no right for him to be singled out. Personally, as a former defender who moulded my game on the aggressive tackling of Psycho, Vinnie Jones, Tony Adam, Graham Souness etc, I am annoyed and disgusted when is see players spending more time crawling on the floor that a toddler. It is not good for the game. The old term ‘sportsmanship’ is replaced by the term ‘gamesmanship’ (Gamesmanship- adjective. The intent to try and deceive the referee. A nice way of saying trying to cheat)
Does Luis Suarez use ‘gamesmanship’ – yes. Do I like it- no. Do I approve- Definitely! If every other player in the world is trying to con the referee, then why not we? I watched the Clasico between Real and Barca. Sergio Ramos tapped Alexis Sanchez on the heel, only for the Chilean to throw himself to the floor and roll around like he was demonstrating the stop-drop-roll technique to put out burning clothes. It was embarrassing. But more upsetting for me was the penalty Tottenham won on Sunday. Modric did not go down easily. He dived. The defender pulled his foot away before contact was made and he dived as if competing with Seb Larson from two weeks ago in distance and style. Yet not much condemnation about it. Not even Christiano “I am on my back more times that a worker in the Amsterdam Red light district” Ronaldo received as much criticism as our Luis Suarez. Didier Drogba is another. So why Suarez? Is it because he is wearing the 7 of Liverpool and not the 7 of United? Luis Suarez is the most exciting player in the EPL in my opinion (only Silva and Aguero come close). He is skilful, aggressive and passionate. I became a fan of Suarez the day he became a villain to many. The semi finals of the World Cup when he handled the ball on the line, preventing Gyan from scoring and Ghana entering the semi-finals. While others cursed him around me, I praised his action. Was it cheating? Yes it was, and he was red carded for it. But what I saw was a player putting the interests of his team ahead of his own. He knew he would see red and miss the semi final and perhaps the final if he did it. He did it anyway. He sacrificed his personal glory for his team. That is something I respect and something I want from a player pulling on the Red Shirt of Liverpool.
Again, do not assume that I am encouraging ‘gamesmanship.’ That is not the case at all. What I am saying is that if it is being done by almost every player in world football, then why not by us? I want to stop the cheating-period and believe that the FA should review every match and penalise players who have conned or attempted to con the ref. This is the only way to stop it. But until then, why is Luis Suarez being targeted? I think his critics should have a coke and a smile and hold their tongue.
This all really started with Slur Red Nose calling him a diver, there wasn’t really a problem until then. One of the games that followed the Man U game was Vs Norwich. Luis Suarez was brought down 29 times in that game, not one was deemed a foul????
Football is full of “Cheets”, from the simple act of player from both teams putting their hand up when the ball goes out of play, they know who’s ball it should be. THIS IS CHEETING PLAIN AND SIMPLE, yet I don’t hear people screaming about this one. To the diving mentioned above, some of which young Tom Daly would find it hard to beat.
Personnally I think the mind games certain managers play is borderline cheeting, especially when they are actually talking to the refs. Slur Red Nose is a master of this, but nothing ever really sticks to him.
I don’t like players asking for a card by waving an imaginary one at the ref, these players should get “you asked for one so here it is for you”, this includes Luis Suarez. if refs acually had the bottle to do this it the practice would stop overnight.
I think though the good bit of Luis Suarez far out weighs the bad bits and if the Premiership want to actract players like this then they need some protection.
Not to worry, the storm will be over in afew weeks time. Luis Suarez will then be an icon in EPL.Media will find another scapegoat soon.
I think he does this because he needs to be hate or love, he become stronger when you talk about him, when you look at thim, he needs eyes to shine, more than a lot of players he plays for the public, he wants to see his public become crazy and opponent’s public become mad and upset. He needs to never walk alone more than anyone
Totally agree Billy. We call him the pink lobster and he started it all, as usual. As soon as he opened his trap the words diver and cheat started being associated with Luis.
i am just disgusted that not one referee will give Suarez the benefit of the doubt when he gets taken down in every game we play. Ronaldo & Nani dived more than i could keep up with for United but every dive was considered a “foul” and the opposing team was penalised, sometimes harshy, and mostly for nothing, yet Luis never gets a decision in his favour. is this because he plays under Kenny and not Fergie…hell yes! i believe he is well within his right to be frustrated with every game he plays because he always gets the bad end of the stick when it comes to reffing decisions made against him. it’s disappointing that the FA has not picked this up by now and if they have, its even more disappointing that they’re doing nothing about it.
You have to believe that Fergi has a big influence in FA and all referees. I blame Kenny for let Fergi get away with that kind of slur.
Fergi should have been confronted straight away. How dare he come to Anfield and accuse our key player as a cheat…..
why don’t liverpool bring new mildfiedler players.do they contented what they have?