Why Liverpool’s Luis Suarez is still in deadly form

Luis Suarez

Luis Suarez has been a man on fire this season.

The Uruguayan, pilloried and accused from all quarters after his long suspension at the end of last season and the beginning of this, looked almost certain to leave Liverpool at one stage this summer, but fast forward a few months and not only had he set about proving himself the best player in the Premier League, but he’d also signed a new contract with the Anfield club to prolong his stay further.

Providing on-pitch successes are forthcoming, presumably.

Suarez missed the first six domestic games of the present campaign as he served out the rest of his 10-game ban, yet within a matter of months had hit the back of the net enough times to be more prolific by himself than literally half of the Premier League’s teams.

Two goals at Stoke City in a 5-3 win on January 12th gave the No. 7 a return of 22 league goals in just 16 appearances, a rate of almost 1.4 goals every game. His unbelievable strike rate has stopped abruptly since then, with just one goal – in the Merseyside derby against Everton – in the six league games since, but even now he remains with a rate of better than one goal per game, totalling 23 in 22 games.

Variation: Suarez’s goals

Simply put, Suarez remains perhaps the best player in the Premier League and one of the most important players at the club, and there’s just no reason to worry about his goal-scoring form because of everything else he’s bringing to the Liverpool attack.

First and foremost, those goals: he has one in six by a matter of margins. A spectacular dipping volley against Arsenal crashed back off the inside of the post, while a low shot against Fulham a few days later similarly hit the woodwork. A few millimetres in both cases are the difference between one in his last six, and three in six. And 25 league goals for the season. It’s not as though Suarez has stopped getting into positions or stopped being a threat himself; those six most recent league games have still seen him get plenty of shots away. His shots attempted for that run of games reads 4-3-2-4-6-6. Suarez’s shot accuracy for the season stands at 55%, while during these six games it has dipped to 40%.

Suarez’s shots in his last six PL games

A small dip, and in the most recent game against Swansea it was noticeable that he didn’t quite have the conviction in his shooting of earlier in the season, but still largely nothing to worry about.

Elsewhere though he remains unplayable, un-markable, unstoppable.

Suarez tops Liverpool’s chance creation chart with 65 this season, some 14 clear of his nearest rival (and chief set-piece taker) Steven Gerrard. That averages out at just under three chances created per game. Over the last six, Suarez has made 18 chances – exactly three per game. His take-on successes for the season and the last six remain almost unchanged, 39% to 38%, while his pass completion rate has remained exactly the same at 75%.

There has been no dip in form, no shortage of ideas nor a period where Suarez is no longer working hard for the team. He has played through the middle, out on the right side of the front three and then, at the weekend, once more centrally. He links up with Daniel Sturridge, Raheem Sterling and the onrushing midfielders with regularity and with quality, showing great movement and on-the-ball skill to ceaselessly trouble defences.

The goals have stopped flowing quite as quickly, yes. But there has been no shortage of contribution from Suarez elsewhere. In fact, he has claimed four assists in the last six games, taking him to nine for the season in total – joint top for the league, while remaining solely top in the goals scored column.

Nope, nothing to worry about here.

Except if you play in defence for Southampton, obviously.