So is Dalglish right to protect him? Let us not forget, Liverpool’s ‘star’ players of recent years have been dogged by consistent injury problems. Indeed, Suarez was replaced by one, as Steven Gerrard made his latest return from injury. The man Suarez himself replaced at Anfield, Fernando Torres, was also no stranger to the treatment table, and without him in the side (before his last season) Liverpool struggled. Is Dalglish just ensuring the same mistakes are not made with Liverpool’s latest diamond? Lest we forget, Suarez is also coming into this season without a full break in two years. His summer of 2010 was taken up by the World Cup, whilst last summer he helped fire Uruguay to victory in the Copa America. The fear of his early burn-out must weigh heavily on Liverpool’s coaching staff. If Suarez was to suffer injury which could be avoided (Liverpool now have more quality cover upfront) then Dalglish would be held accountable.
A similar parallel is running down at Tottenham Hotspur. The enigmatic Rafael van der Vaart is also a player who’s found himself making-way more often than not, before 90-minutes is up. It has led to speculation that he is unhappy with the managers handling of his career, even though the player has a poor injury record and consistency issues. The Dutchman has even been quoted by a colleague inferring that he has a contract ‘which states that you are only allowed to play 70 minutes in each match’, a clear dig at Harry Redknapp’s substitution policy.
So, do fans think managers are right to ‘protect’ their better players in fear of burn-out or injury? Or is it simply over-protection, and these players should be left on the pitch whilst fit and performing, to cause as much havoc as possible?
The article was written by Jimmy Areabi for FootballFancast.com. Make sure to check out the latest news, blogs and podcasts at FFC – ed.
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It’s difficult balancing act for managers, on the one hand they have trainers and physicians advising them how long a player should play in each game and then you have players who just wanna play as much as possible and maybe show their irritation at being substituted at the heat of the moment, but after a little while and once the manager has explained his logic to the player, I’m sure the player would then understand that it was in his best interests.
I dont think kenny was protecting him, quite simple who else could he take of? we can rule out Reina and the back four, Kuyt had come on early as a sub so we can rule him out along with Downing as then we would have nobody to play on the left. Which leaves us with Suarez, Carroll, Adam and Lucas. We can rule out Lucas as he is a defensive mid and Wolves were fighting for a draw. Perhaps Adam could have gone off but since Gerrards fitness is still not 100% it would be a gamble which could have cost us. As for Carroll he had his best game in a red shirt and he is currently low on confidence and completing the full 90 mins will have been good for him also he is able to contribute more defensively to the game than his strike partner. that only leaves us with Suarez who had a great game but to me seems the best choice to be taken off at that stage of the game.
It was 10 minutes, its not like he missed a lot of the game! Get over it.
i think we are supppose to be treasuring this guy. he had a great game and i don’t see why he had to be replaced. adam should gone off for gerrard. he had a bad game plus swapping him for a midfielder makes sense.
if the guy ends up being unhappy we would end up loosing the best and probably the only stand out player in the team. frankly speaking the rest are just pure garbage. i’m not being sceptic, but our chances of reaching top 4 is close to impossible with the bunch average players we have right now.
it kills me wathcing adam and hendo starting every game when these guys could at best be a fulham or bolton player
If taking him off was meant to be a way of protecting him then I dont know how valuable a 10 minute rest is considering he had been played in a carling cup game, a competition where all other big teams rest their key players. He could have been rested the whole 90 minutes then or come on maybe in the last 10-15 midweek to afford him a proper break.
The one getting a proper break is the one Maxi Rodriguez who is now a Carling cup player despite contributing 10 goals last season sparked by an on pitch understanding with Suarez and the other bench warmer, Kuyt who was our top scorer.
I maybe over-analysing the situation but for me some selections are defying logic as well as the standard substitutions around 70minutes when clearly some players are not up to task.
I have my reservations about Mourinho but at least when he sees a player is not up to task even before half time, he subs him and usually his teams improve immediately.
If Kenny really wanted to protect Suarez in fear of burn-out or injury, then why did he play him in the Carling Cup against Exeter and Brighton?
Because they would probably beat us!?
He’s immature like most South Americans!
thanks pete. Anybody that watches suarez closely will realize he is also improving game by game despite the fact that he is already a top player. And dalglish’s ideal of protecting him will only hinder his progress besides while can’t he protect carol, lucas, or adam. Suarez is a player that wants an improvement game by game and should not be discourage or you will end up being his enemy.
he’s not protecting him at all he’s only making the stupid managerial decision that force meireless out of the club and blame it on lack of loyalty. He has done the same to likes of maxi, spearing, kuyt. What does those players have to prove to him again before he can be handling them 90min of play time in every game. Soon they all will leave and we will be left with our average and lazy players.