Suarez bite won’t outweigh merits of a genius

SO, that’s that then. Luis Suarez is out for the rest of the season and is going to miss the first 6 games of next season as well.

A number of opinions have been going back and forth regarding how inconsistent the FA’s sentencing is these days. Especially given the same man was banned for 8 matches when found guilty of racial abuse.

Maybe it is a transition, with the FA getting more strict with disciplinary issues on and off the pitch, or perhaps Brendan Rodgers is correct in saying it’s the man who’s been punished instead of his action.

Either way, last Sunday crossed a bit of a line from Suarez’s point. It was absolutely uncalled for to bite Ivanovic in the first place. Biting was an incredibly spoilt and childish thing to do.

This man gives his heart and soul on the pitch and it’s very much appreciated but there’s no place for constantly acting as if the world’s against you when the referee doesn’t give a decision your way. It only negates everyone else’ opinion of you and probably stemmed from the penalty decision awarded against him.

Many a player has accidentally had the ball flick off his hand when completely unaware of it, but if you have a reputation of someone who’s admitted to trying to con the referee, then people tend to be stricter with you – if nothing else, just overcompensation but impossible to tangibly prove.

Then after admitting to the bite, there is no place to start challenging the FA’s statement of a 3 game ban being perhaps not enough. When you’re in the wrong, just keep your lips sealed. It oozed arrogance and it’s probably got the decision makers at the FA (who’ve already proved themselves to be extremely uptight as it is) decide on a much harsher ban.
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It’s behaviour like this that reminds you of the sharp contrasts of Zinedine Zidane’s genius and his flash temper, or even another Frenchman, Eric Cantona. Hopefully, Suarez will be able to achieve the other end of the scale in terms of trophies as well, and fingers crossed, may it be with Liverpool.

For the time being though, he’s restricted to the sidelines so it’s up to the rest of the quad to step up. Daniel Sturridge has showed he’s clearly up to the task from the moment he came on against Chelsea, then following up with another impressive performance v Newcastle.

Question is, can he naturally produce that week in, week out. Could he terrify defenders the way Suarez does in his sleep, and can he do that effectively.

Only time will tell.

As for our no. 7’s future at Anfield, yes it was a disciplinary disaster and absolutely shameful, but it doesn’t undo the fact that the Uruguayan has been instrumental in every game Liverpool have won, and when they haven’t, he’s been one of the few who’s still had a good game.

Greatness like that tends to come with some baggage; hopefully it won’t outweigh the merits of the legend in the making that he is.
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