It's been mentioned many times over the last few weeks, particularly by Steve Claridge on the Monday Night Club (BBC Radio 5 Live Sport), that in football, perception can mean a lot more than reality. This is, of course, true. I have been interested to note, therefore, the perception of Luis Suarez that is arising within the media and has been backed up by the Monday Night Club and, in particular, Ian McGarry. The story being concocted and proliferated is that Suarez is a "dirty player" or, as people in the game now say, a "cheat", and it is now virtually impossible to get through a Liverpool match or an episode of the Monday Night Club without some reference to this perception being made. Now, as far as I can tell,there are three main instances that are being used to furnish this belief, namely: the handball on the line against Ghana, Jack Rodwell's red card in the Merseyside derby and the penalty given against Jagielka in the same game. There were also instances that arose from the Utd game but I shall deal with them in due course.
Firstly, I can understand from Ghana's perspective how heartbroken they must have been to go out of the World Cup in the way that they did. I can also understand that from a neutral's perspective why some may have felt that they were cheated out of a place in the semi final. However in response to Ian McGarry's statement, "this is a man who put Ghana out of the World Cup with a handball and then went back to Uruguay and celebrated", meant as an indication that Suarez is of bad character, I'd like to make a number of points. Suarez is neither from Ghana, nor is he a neutral in anyway-he was a member of the Uruguay team and, as such, determined to do everything that he could to give his team/country the chance to progress in the finals. Following the handball Gyan had the chance from 12 yards to put Ghana through to the next round, the fact that he failed is not down to Suarez. The World Cup comes round every four years only and is the greatest and most important competiton on earth, he wouldn't be the first, nor even the 12th to bend the rules in order to give his team a better chance of progressing, remember Schumacher? What about Owen's dive in 2002 against Argentina? Then there's the Bilic vs Blanc incident from 1998, and there are countless other examples. As it is, Suarez made an instinctive reaction and batted the ball away with his hands, many others have done exactly the same in the past, he took his red card, sacrificing his place in a possible semi final in order to give his team a chance of progressing. As for celebrating, well who wouldn't? Uruguay finished third in the World Cup, pretty good for a team that nobody really fancied and he played a massive part in that, not just with the handball, but with his trickery, his skill, his determination and his goals. Why on earth shouldn't he celebrate? I would suggest that Suarez is of good character and plays the game the way it should be played, with a will to win, a determination to test himself against the best and absolute commitment. In contrast the player he denied on that evening in South Africa, Asamoah Gyan, came from the World Cup, signed for a Premiership club, played on and off for about a season, decided that he couldn't be bothered and set sale for a an Arab Sultanate with a vastly lower standard of football but astronomically high wages.
Concerning Jack Rodwell's red card in the Merseyside derby, to my mind, having seen the incident more than a dozen times, it's purely down to Martin Atkinson. I've seen his position, you have, we all have, he's right on top of it, and the red card is out practically before Suarez hits the ground. In response to Ian McGarrys comment "Suarez goes down like he's been shot, when in fact, no contact has been made", I urge you to look again Ian, because a blind man can see that while the Everton player's leading leg takes the ball cleanly, his trailing leg clearly comes through and catches Suarez with some force. Admittedly Suarez goes down a little theatrically, but so do all players nowadays (see Barcelona). The decision to send Rodwell off was purely down to Martin Atkinson, what he saw or thought he saw, and his interpretation of the rules and instructions given to him by the FA. Was it the correct decision? No. Was it Suarez's fault? No.
The penalty incident involving Jagielka in the same game, well, it was a pen, no question. Suarez sees the ball coming, nips in front of Jagielka and get's kicked. It's as simple as that. Jagielka was annoyed but Suarez was too quick for him, Suarez knows exactly what will happen and is waiting for it, but it does happen and it is a penalty, are we to condemn players for being clever and reading the game well now. I don't think so. Jason Roberts said recently on 5 Live Sport, "there is a massive difference between a player diving and a player going down easily", that is from the horse's mouth. Suarez doesn't dive, there is always contact, and to criticise him for going down easily is ridiculous, all players do, most of the time they have to, because if they don't, refs rarely give free kicks, and more importantly, penalties. It's my contention that defenders and managers are having a pop at Suarez publicly because he's too much for them. Their comments have been repeated in the media and this is creating a negative perception. In actual fact, the alertness that he displays and his undying energy together with his pace and skill make him a defender's worst nightmare, they can't afford to switch off for even a tenth of a second against him, and this wears them down. Rather than being criticised for upsetting defender's, his determination, desire and workrate should be applauded, isn't that what we want more of in the game?
The Man Utd allegations, I can't really comment on the racism claim, other than to say that Evra has made these claims before and they've turned out to be unproven, as I understand it. The referee didn't hear the alleged abuse and nobody has come forward to corroborate Evra's version of events. What I can say is that Suarez gave the Man Utd back four, incuding Evra, a torrid time, and in fact, ran them ragged. By the nature of the way Suarez plays the game, his speed, his close control, his ability to turn on a sixpence, his dribbling, he is naturally going to draw a numerous fouls (Woodgate resorted to rugby tackling him during the game at Stoke in the Carling Cup), so we shouldn't be surprised if he goes down a lot. As for Sir Alex Ferguson's comments concerning Suarez "diving all over the place", he know's exactly what he's doing by making that remark. He's adding to the perception that's been forming in the media, he's adding fuel to the fire, and hoping that referee's will think twice before awarding a decision in Suarez's favour in the future. It's worth remembering that this is the same man who defended Cristiano Ronaldo for all those seasons.
In conclusion, I'd like to point out that Luis Suarez is not only one of the finest players in the Premier League but also on the World stage. He played a major role in Uruguay attaining 3rd place in the 2010 World Cup, he was player of the tournament, scoring four goals, as Uruguay overcame their rivals to win the Copa America earlier this year. His performances and disciplinary record since joining Liverpool have been exemplary. Suarez brings something special to the game, the Barclays Premier League and to Liverpool, it is not only his talent that impresses, but his enthusiasm for the game, his determination, his will to win, his sheer exuberance and passion. He possesses what most don't, the ability to galvanise, inspire and lift a team to the next level, to peaks yet unclimbed. There is one player in my lifetime, that stands out for me as possessing these same qualities, played the game in the same way, with the same child like spirit, the comparisons do not end there, this player was also from South America, and coincidentally, caused a huge furore when he handled the ball at the World Cup. That was in Mexico in 1986, and he, was God!
No comments:
Post a Comment