Liverpool and their teething troubles

In the 21st century, it is extremely rare to find people descending to cannibalism even in the remotest parts of the world, much less so on a top-flight football league field. And yet, we find one such exception in Luis Suarez, the Uruguayan who’s had a taste of Serbian defender Branislav Ivanovic’s delightfully juicy right arm, in the Premier League clash against Chelsea. The incident was rightfully met with severe chastisement and shock across the footballing community, with Suarez himself rendering a private and public apology to Ivanovic and his own employers, Liverpool, and having accepted violence charges which were pressed by the Football Association. However, the ball of resentment and apology began unravelling soon enough, as both the club and chief accused claimed “a three match ban would be enough punishment” for the incident. Strange are times when the guilty parties get to decide on validity of an upcoming punishment to be meted out by the rightful authorities. Much to the surprise of none but Liverpool FC, Luis Suarez was handed much more than a three match ban. The ten game ban handed to him rules him out of not only the remaining four games of the season, but also the opening six games of next season of the Premier League. If Liverpool decide it is time to cash in on the striker, his ban would follow him to whichever league he was to find himself in, much like Joey Barton found out at Marseille. The question though is, should Liverpool get rid of the constant nuisance that is their mercurial No.7?

Paragraphs of ramblings about how it would be the ‘moral’ thing to do et al, would hardly be out of place here. However, English football has long lost its morals. The Ivanovic bite wasn’t one isolated incident of insubordinate behaviour. It is another in a long list which Suarez has kept filling up. If they were to sell him, they should have done so immediately after he was found guilty of racially abusing Patrice Evra, and then subsequently failing to shake his hand, and then also showing Fulham fans ‘the finger’ at a Premier League game. His club stood by him then and they stand by him now; dream employers, for someone who courts controversy as often as Suarez.

However, clubs must stand back and watch in awe and disbelief at what is the continued tolerance of one the greatest Premier League clubs with one of the most ill-behaved and irresponsible players in the world. It is even more shocking when some of the most respected players of the club, like Pepe Reina almost condone such behaviour, by blaming his ban on his “nationality” and “past demeanour”. The talk of nationality is absurd. Utterly so. But that of the latter is hardly out of place. And come to think of it, the FA has every right to single him out for repeated offences, especially when the past offence is as grave as racial abuse of a fellow player. His ban isn’t a revoke of his previous ban, but rather an indicator from the FA which is slowly running out of patience with a player who has antagonised many in the Premier League itself, after having antagonised several in the Dutch Eredivisie during his time with Ajax, and several in the national football circles, after deciding to take on the role of the Uruguayan team’s goalkeeper, in the presence of Fernando Muslera on the field, denying Ghana the chance to rightfully move on into the semi-finals of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Undoubtedly one of the best players in football at the moment, Suarez has set the Premier League alight with his footballing skills, and yet, much like Mario Balotelli, he brings more attention with his insidious activities, rather than purely his fleet footed football. His club has been put in sticky situations time after time, and now have been put in a false position, where they debate whether they retain the services of Suarez or not. He is their best player, by a country mile, and they would have been nowhere near the Europa League without him. He has carried them on their own, and understandably, Liverpool have their apprehensions about selling him. But, at the very least, the club needs to step forward and take some measure of retrospective action. The buck has been carried by the FA for far too long in matters involving players like Suarez. This time, Liverpool, John W.Henry, and Managing Director Ian Ayre would do well to discuss matters with each other at the boardroom level, and find a solution to this problem, thus setting a precedent for others to follow. It would also do their severely dented off-field reputation a world of good.

If they do sell him though, they’d find several buyers, not least of whom would be the EPL‘s own Manchester City and Qatar Investment Authority owned Paris Saint-Germain. But, who’d replace Luis Suarez? Will they risk building a team round a new player, when this one has just begun taking the semblance of shape? Pertinent questions the club need to find urgent answers to. This wasn’t the first time Suarez “took a bite” out of someone (sounds scary, does it not?), and dangerously, may not be the last time. The question is, how much are Liverpool willing to sacrifice by hanging on to the grip of the man’s teeth?