It’s worth noting too, though, that Suarez has played just eight games alongside Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard since he signed for the club, with Gerrard being dogged by his own injury demons.
Having an over-reliance on one player in particular is not necessarily a bad thing, as Arsenal have proven in the case of Robin Van Persie recently, it’s just that it’s not entirely conducive to the sustained success of a side. You may challenge for trophies, but you’re unlikely to win them.
When you factor in that while Suarez is undoubtedly a naturally creative player, he is far from being a natural finisher. He has struck 51 shots in the Premier League this season, the most of any top flight player, yet has just 4 goals to show from it. Suarez most probably created half of those chance himself out of nothing, such is his skill, but his profligate nature in front of goal has mirrored that of the struggles of the rest of the side.
What is clear is that Liverpool haven’t had their fair share of luck. They’ve already struck the woodwork 11 times in the league this season. Had each of those strikes gone in, they would be sitting comfortably in third. They are a side, which barring the Swansea and Spurs fixtures, is creating chances in bundles.
They often say the sign of a good striker is that he finds the space to get on the end of a chance. Well with Liverpool criticised heavily last season for a failure to create, it’s somewhat ironic that just six months later they are being criticised for a failure to finish after creating so much. Their luck will surely turn soon.
What would Liverpool fans kill to have Suarez alongside a fully-fit and in-form Fernando Torres now? As was originally intended before his late move to Chelsea. It’s clear that Suarez, while he will be constant source of productivity for this Liverpool side, lacks the requisite finishing ability to punish opposing teams in the Premier League, on the evidence so far.
To an extent, Liverpool are far too over-reliant on Suarez. What first started out as a rich vein of form which filtered through to his team meats has now crept into the underlying suspicion that he’s the team’s go-to man, particularly in the continued absence of Gerrard.
The true measure of whether a side is especially over-reliant on one individual and in danger of crossing over to that dreaded ‘one-man team’ territory is if you take the player in question out of the side, how would that side then do? With concerns to Liverpool and Suarez, perhaps Michel Vorm has a point.
The article was written by James McManus for FootballFancast.com. Make sure to check out the latest news, blogs and podcasts at FFC – ed.
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