Why Hasn’t Suarez Been More Prolific In Red?

BACK in the mid to late 90’s there was a striker within the English game who polarised opinion like no other. His detractors would claim that it would take him 10 opportunities to find the net once. His supporters would simply point to his scoring record in defence. That man of course was Andy Cole, who somehow became the butt of many footballing based jokes despite his impressive statistics.

At the moment Luis Suarez is polarising opinion to some extent. Since his arrival at Liverpool from Ajax in January 2011, his performances on the pitch have produced a Jekyll and Hyde figure, many times capable of exceptional quality, but often without leading to a favourable outcome. Sometimes this is down to a lack of quality from teammates, other times down to Suarez failing to execute the final ball or shot properly.

A record of 21 goals in 54 appearances in all competitions for the club isn’t too shoddy, but it is in the League where the goals have been a little sparse for the Uruguayan. 15 goals in 45 Premiership matches points to a figure of exactly one goal in every three games. Again, not bad, but considering the club’s ambition, the main goalscoring threat needs to be hitting the target more often than that.

Just like Andy Cole, it could be suggested that Suarez needs several opportunities before finding the net. Or in other words, can be guilty of wasting a number of glorious opportunities.

One of the many differences between the two players is that Suarez creates many chances for himself. Cole, an out and out striker was usually supplied with a copious amount of inviting balls from team mates. Suarez does not really play like an out and out striker, poaching goals from within the six yard box, but prefers to drop deep or wide, wriggle his way through impossible spaces before pulling the trigger.

However, we have been forced to see Suarez as by far and away our main goal threat. This can be put down to a few factors, including his pedigree. His record in Dutch football was superb, scoring 111 goals in 156 games for Ajax. However, we all know that scoring goals in the Eredevisie and then scoring goals in the Premiership is a completely different matter (see Afonso Alves, Mateja Kezman and to a certain extent, Dirk Kuyt).

When Suarez signed at Anfield alongside Andy Carroll, I for one believed that the pair could form a formidable partnership. Little and large; Suarez buzzing around, and the almighty presence of the big Geordie to feed on his lay-offs, a la Toshack and Keegan. As we know, that dream hasn’t worked out and under the new regime, a new style of play is being introduced, further alienating Carroll, yet seemingly playing into the hands of Suarez. Whether Carroll can fit into Rodgers’ plans, considering the manager’s use of Danny Graham at Swansea, is a different matter, but particularly with a fresh contract signed, Liverpool clearly have a lot of faith in Luis Suarez.

In these early stages of Rodgers’ reign, it is difficult to tell whether he sees Suarez or Fabio Borini as his main ‘centre forward’. Either way, in order for Liverpool to have a successful season, both men are likely to need to reach double figures.
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That could be key for our number 7. If others in a red shirt start to chip in with their fair share of goals too then he may feel an easing of pressure, relax and start to do what came naturally to him in Holland. In his second season with Ajax, after Klaas Jan Huntelaar’s departure, Suarez carried the team in terms of scoring goals, being the only player to reach double figures in the League (22), as Ajax suffered a disappointing season.

A year later in 2009-10, others started to chip in, with three of his teammates reaching double figures in the League. This allowed Suarez to be at his most prolific, scoring an incredible 35 goals in just 33 Eredivisie games and an outstanding 49 goals in 48 games in all competitions. This train of thought could also be applied to his situation with his National team. Suarez has an impressive record of 1 goal in every 2 games for Uruguay and the country’s recent success in the sport has been aided by the fact that the goals are shared abundantly between Suarez, Diego Forlan, Sebastian Abreu and Edinson Cavani.

Despite the fact that defences in the Premiership are stronger than those in the Dutch League, Suarez often has no problem in making a mockery out of opposition defenders. He has shown his ability to make chances for himself and others out of absolutely nothing with amazing skill and trickery. Last season, Liverpool were famed for not taking their chances, and had the third worst chance conversion rate in the League, with this League season beginning in a similar vein after the opening day defeat at West Brom. After carving out the better chances early on, Liverpool and particularly Suarez were guilty of failing to make them count.

As Suarez is getting chances there appears to be no problem with his movement, link-up play or ability to outwit defenders. It could well be a mental hindrance that is preventing the Uruguayan from finding the net in two out of every three games. The goals and nets are no smaller here than they are in Holland so the question is does he have it in his locker to be the major goalscorer for a club of Liverpool’s size? Or are we doing him a disservice by not having an out and out striker for him to play with, set up and feed off? We know he has the skill to flummox defenders and create opportunities out of the tightest of situations, but can he produce ice in his veins when clear cut chances come around?

Hopefully this season we will see various players chipping in with far more goals than they did last season and in turn boost Liverpool’s miserable ‘goals for’ column of just 47, take the weight off the shoulders of Suarez and maybe allow him to relax and produce similar improvements to those seen in his third season at Ajax.
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