Luis Suarez and Uruguay will be facing Peru in the Semi-Final of the Copa America and Liverpool’s First Team Coach Steve Clarke anticipates a late return to the Reds first team fold for the striker:
“Now in football you just have to accept that different countries and different continents have different have their own tournaments and their own times. It’s up to the boys to go there and do their best for their countries. When they come back we’ll assess them fitness wise, physically and mentally, then we’ll decide how we fit them into our training schedule. If they are ready to start the season, fine. But if they need a bit of time to recover, that’s why you have a big squad. It will give other people a chance.”
Considering it was always likely that Uruguay would reach the latter stages of the tournament, it could have been anticipated that Suarez would not be fit for Liverpool’s first Premier League match of the season against Sunderland. In fact I feel it is probably likely that the 24 year old will only return to the starting eleven by the end of August.
Although this would be a blow to the Reds, considering we have a big match against Arsenal on the 20th August, I feel that it’s best to give the player an extended rest period before he returns to first team football. For sure, Suarez does have the youth and energy to continue with only a small break between the Copa America and the start of the Premier League campaign, but in the long run I think a longer layoff would be best suited to get the best out of Suarez in the latter stages of the season.
One piece of good news, for Suarez anyway, is that without European football this season, Liverpool will be playing fewer games, and it will afford the Uruguayan longer rest periods than he would otherwise have been afforded. Although, like the rest of the team, Suarez would prefer to be playing in Europe, the reduced number of matches will reduce the chances of burnout, which can certainly occur after having only a small break in the summer due to an international tournament.
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Thyat is the reason we need another striker. What if either Suarez or Carroll are injured…are we to rely for another season on NGOG!!!!!!!!!
Dirk Kuyt Should be able to cope against Sunderland – we arn’t exactly hort of midfielders to take Dirk’s place on the right. However, I would play Suarez against Arsenal and then rest him for Bolton and Stoke, if he needed it, bringing back for the Spurs game.
Hmm.. I don’t agree with this. He doesn’t need 2 weeks to recover to match fitness because he, unlike the others, has been training hard all summer… I am sure he will be ready for the game against Arsenal and knowing him, maybe the one against Sunderland. He had 7 match ban before the new year and played his first game with us without hardly any training. He will be fine 🙂