Luis Suárez

[Sarb]

The worst thing I've heard about the Suarez thing so far is from Carragher - him saying he's seen a sea change in his attitude and effort is worrying for the whole team. Its bad enough in work in the real world when you have a moaning ****er going on about leaving all the time or **** management, let alone when they're in a goldfish bowl and heavily reliant on said moaner for their job own satisfaction.

He has to go. He's the personification of the mercenary talent with a sense of entitlement.

Dom King indicated that the issue was causing a divisionin the squad. May just be sensationalising it or could be Coates v The Rest

[Daniel 7]

Rooney looks like a saint compared to Luis - I used to think Rooney was the worst human ever born, bu he has handled his situation admirably. Neville has alluded to it too, that was interesting.

[Chazza]

Liverpool and Manchester United unite to wage war on player power

Whether by accident or design, two of the Premier League’s biggest clubs find themselves waging a battle against player power.

Luis Suárez is demanding to leave Liverpool for Arsenal; Wayne Rooney has told Manchester United manager David Moyes he wants to join Chelsea.
In response, United and Liverpool’s public statements could not have been clearer: neither player is for sale under any circumstances.

Time will tell if the hard-line stance of Liverpool’s principal owner John W Henry, in particular, is unequivocal. Once the transfer window closes on Sept 2 he will be either vindicated or proven to be a hard-nosed businessman who was simply trying to drive the best deal for his club.

The former scenario appears far, far more likely to be the case given how much of his reputation Henry has placed on the line-in-the-sand statement that Suárez is not for sale this summer, and certainly not to Arsenal. The Glazer family, principally through Joel Glazer, have had similar conversations with the United hierarchy and Moyes.

Rooney, wanted by Chelsea and desperate to go there, is not for sale and has also been injured. The test for both clubs is how far either player will push the issue. Rooney, United dispute, has not shown a similar attitude to Suárez in training and the fear is the Uruguayan’s behaviour may force Liverpool to act. Senior figures are appalled at his conduct.

But the bottom line is that for both Liverpool and United it makes no sense to strengthen a direct rival while weakening your own prospects.
There is a new reasoning at the heart of this approach and it is also one, to some extent, that has been adopted by Tottenham Hotspur chairman Daniel Levy over the sale of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid.

Levy suggested during Luka Modric’s efforts to also join Chelsea two years ago that the days of his club selling to big Premier League rivals — the loss of Michael Carrick and Dimitar Berbatov to United – were over especially when those players have years left on their contracts.

Beyond that Spurs have also made it clear that, especially at this stage of the transfer window, gaining a huge fee is not in their interests. It is too late. Money in the bank is one thing but if it means weakening the team on the pitch then its value is less.

Although Spurs are reluctantly prepared to trade neither United nor Liverpool are — or insist they will not – and if they succeed then it will add further doubt to the now questionable notion that not only do footballers hold the power but that you cannot keep a player who is determined to leave.

Liverpool’s tactics are partly fuelled by the saga that led to Fernando Torres leaving in January 2011. A £50 million fee was gained from Chelsea but the deadline day move panicked Liverpool into then spending £35 million for Andy Carroll, money which was largely wasted. Liverpool, and Henry, do not want that scenario to be replicated.

There is also a credibility issue for Liverpool as also outlined by Henry.
The club finished seventh last season, well adrift of Champions League qualification which is a minimum requirement both financially and in terms of sporting ambition for Liverpool. Arsenal finished in that fourth spot.
How can they then sell their principal striker to a team they are desperate to overhaul?

Again that attitude could change should Atletico Madrid relent and sell them the Brazilian striker Diego Costa.

Liverpool’s hand has further been strengthened by the simple fact that there is only one bidder: Arsenal. Despite Suárez’s ability no official inquiry has been fielded from any of Europe’s elite. There remains the suspicion that Pep Guardiola, coach of Bayern Munich, might make a move but that would go down badly in Bavaria given Suárez’s agent is the Spaniard’s brother.

Maybe Real, should they fail to land Bale, might act but it is already the middle of August and the price for Suárez, even if Liverpool agreed to trade, will be far higher than had the Spanish club made an offer in June

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/liverpool/10235278/Liverpool-and-Manchester-United-unite-to-wage-war-on-player-power.html

[ChesterDave]

I don't want to defend the granny-shagging grotesque man-beast that is Rooney but his situation is nothing like that of Suarez. Has he not pretty much been told he is needed only as back up?

He has a short career, too short to waste knowing he is going to be a bench warmer.

[Barnyard]

Hello Barny how are you? I thought you were an ST man?

Coutinho aside what did you see today that gave signs for encouragement that makes you think we can challenge and break into the top 4? This wasn't even Celtics first team that we couldn't break down.

As I said I know it was a friendly but change Wisdom for Agger and hopefully Downing ****ing off this is probably the team that starts against Stoke

:laugh: Hi mate, I am but I'm 'On a break'.

I missed today's game sadly, but I was more making the point that preseason results are not always accurate barometers. If you look at this years summer results, we're going to win the league... Which is unlikely.

I'm more concerned with the football we play and the consistency throughout all the squad in playing style. Then Rodgers can live or die by his management.

[TheElephantMan]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23653350

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers has told striker Luis Suarez he must apologise for his recent conduct.
Suarez, 26, has been training alone after attempting to engineer a move away from Anfield this summer.
The Suarez saga

"Initially there will be a recognition that [there needs to be] an apology to his team-mates and the club," said Rodgers when asked what the striker needs to do next.
Arsenal have had two bids rejected for the Uruguayan.
"I have seen him over a period of time. I know it is not the Luis Suarez we know and I have to protect the fans and the players because they deserve more than that," added Rodgers.
The Liverpool boss was speaking after his side, without Suarez, lost 1-0 to Celtic in their final pre-season friendly.
"He has spent some days working on his own," said Rodgers, who will be without Suarez this week as he travels to Japan with Uruguay. "The group has been separate to that and working very hard.
"When he is back from his international trip we will assess it from there."
The latest blow to Suarez's hopes of concluding a move away from Anfield comes just a day after the Reds boss urged him to accept that he is going nowhere.
"There will come a point where he'll recognise the club is not going to sell," Rodgers said on Friday.
There has been no further move from Arsenal since they bid £40,000,001 for the former Ajax striker on 24 July.

The Gunners expected the bid to trigger a release clause in Suarez's contract, but his club insist it does not do so.
Suarez then told both the Guardian and the Daily Telegraph he had been promised he could leave Liverpool this summer if they did not qualify for the Champions League.
Both Rodgers and and club owner John W Henry dismissed the claims.
Suarez was banned for eight matches in December 2011 after the FA found him guilty of racially abusing Manchester United's Patrice Evra and he is currently serving a 10-match ban for biting Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic.
"There are sections of fans who are unhappy with him and if he stays he will have to apologise to them," said Jim Boardman, a contributor to the online fanzine Anfield Wrap.
"I am sure he can say he's sorry and make it sound like he genuinely means it."

[rodo]

In the course of the next nine months, the football managers of England will prattle a stream of pretentious platitudes. But as they clear their throats and prepare to break their summer silences, they know Brendan Rodgers has delivered a pre-emptive strike.
Rummaging through his ragbag of all-purpose cliches, the Liverpool manager produced this selection: ‘There has been total disrespect of a club that has given him everything… We have a standard at Liverpool and I will fight for my life to retain it. The Liverpool Way is all about being committed to the cause and fighting for the shirt. It’s also about dignity and being dignified in how you speak about the club. And it’s about unity.’
One by one, the boxes were ticked: respect, dignity, unity and our old friend, The Liverpool Way. The person who provoked the outburst was, of course, Luis Suarez. There is something about the little chap that pushes even the sanest of managers to the brink of self-parody. And as Rodgers launched his rant, you could imagine an unrepentant smile spreading across the player’s features as he trotted off to train in solitary confinement.



The manager’s criticisms were clearly justified, since Suarez is a manipulative chancer whose antics over the past couple of years have brought both his club and his sport into deep disrepute. If he were an ordinary footballer, then Liverpool would have marched him off the premises many months ago. But he is not ordinary. He is an original talent; brave, audacious and gloriously inventive. He is capable of transforming a club and shaping a season. Such people are consistently accommodated; their failings dismissed as foibles, their excesses reduced to eccentricities. Which brings us back to Brendan Rodgers.
When Kenny Dalglish was dismissed as Liverpool manager in May 2012, his treatment of Suarez was widely regarded as a contributory factor. The picture of Dalglish and his squad wearing Suarez T-shirts after the player had been found guilty of racially abusing Manchester United’s Patrice Evra became the defining image of his brief and unimpressive tenure. When Rodgers succeeded, two weeks later, it seemed inconceivable that he would be guilty of similarly misplaced tolerance.
So let us consider the evidence: In late September 2012, he complained that Suarez was being denied valid penalty appeals. ‘He hasn’t dived, they’ve been legitimate, and he’s actually got booked,’ said Rodgers. ‘It would be a shame if players who respect the rules, and managers who are asking players to stay on their feet and not dive, are not getting the decisions because of it.’
A week on, after winning at Norwich, the theme was the same: ‘He now has a reputation for going down easily… He doesn’t get the rub of the green from officials, there’s absolutely no question.’
A further week, after a match against Stoke, his conviction had hardened: ‘There seems to be one set of rules for Luis and another set for everyone else… the vilification of Luis is both wrong and unfair.’
Three months later, the ‘vilified’ Suarez helpfully admitted he had in fact dived ‘because we were drawing at home and we needed anything to win it’.


It was around this time that Suarez scored against Everton and flung himself into a coy, celebratory dive. His manager beamed at the witless prank. In January this year, Suarez clearly handled before scoring in an FA Cup tie at Mansfield. Rodgers watched the damning replay, declined to criticise the cheating and concluded: ‘It’s not deliberate, as it’s pushed up and hit his hand. It’s up to the officials to decide. That’s why they get paid as officials.’
Then in March, Rodgers announced that Suarez had changed for the better as a player and a person. ‘This is a guy who is trying to turn around his life and adapt to the culture,’ he said.
A month later, the reformed character sunk his teeth into the Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic. Rodgers was ‘bitterly disappointed’, but not by the offence. ‘It’s the severity of the ban that has hurt most,’ he said. And he added: ‘If you look at South American players, they do whatever it takes to win. This is the way they have been brought up. To fight for their lives.’ It was a pathetic performance; a series of managerial humiliations, willingly borne because the player was just too valuable to lose.
And Rodgers knew he had the bulk of the Liverpool following firmly alongside him, because they, too, recognised the striker’s worth.

But then Suarez went a step too far. Diving, cheating, abusing referees, racial insults, biting opponents: the fans could swallow hard and overlook these trivial character flaws. But demanding to leave Liverpool was something else, something so heinous that forgiveness was rendered impossible.
And so the manager launched that outpouring of transparent tosh about The Liverpool Way and fighting for the shirt, while taking care not to cut the ties with his most valuable asset.
That Suarez has behaved shabbily will surprise nobody, since that is his nature. But his behaviour has been wilfully abetted by the endless indulgence of his manager. We thought Brendan Rodgers was better than that. It seems we were wrong.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/foo...#ixzz2bdZYRMOC
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[EwarWoo]

That's a bit or an hatchet piece to say the least.

[ChesterDave]

Its a dreadful article. I would say I am amazed an editor allowed its publication but it is in the Mail, so Im not

[RichC]

The title should tell you all you need to know about this piece

[ChesterDave]

I looked at the titles of other pieces by him. The football ones are almost entirely negative. Except the Chelsea related articles. I wonder why

[RichC]

funny that

How anyone can knock Rodgers on his handling of this! Typical journalist, screwing every last bit of revenue from a story

[RichC]

Excuse the source but quite a good article from Kenny

Kenny Dalglish column on Suarez: I hope he stays at Liverpool and certainly can't see Arsenal transfer happening - Kenny Dalglish - Mirror Online

I know that positions have become entrenched and a lot has been said by both sides but I don’t think it’s too late for Luis Suarez to return to the fold at Liverpool.

Put it this way: I can’t see a player like Luis taking the pitch in front of 40,000 Liverpool fans and not giving his all.

That’s the type of man the Uruguay striker is. He has a relentless determination to be the best he can be and to perform for the crowd.

I understand the points that people are making about the loyalty the club has shown him in the past, and they are right to make those points.

I have no wish to revisit past controversies, but we showed loyalty to him because we believed he had a case. We did not attempt to defend the indefensible out of some blind loyalty to Luis.

We did what we thought was right at the time.

The Liverpool owner, John W Henry, stated this week that Luis is not for sale and I hope that remains the case.

But it is also worth pointing out that transfers are part of the fabric of football.

Players come and players go - I would never have arrived at Liverpool if it were not for the transfer system - the club is the important thing. It is the club, and the supporters, that remain.

I have read all the stuff about clauses in his contract and a bid over £40m triggering negotiations in good faith.

I have no idea at all of the truth of that, but there is one point I’d make: If that form of words is there, does bidding £1 over the price constitute ‘good faith’?

Again, I hope Luis stays.

But if he is sold, I don’t think there is any way in this world that he will be sold to Arsenal.

Liverpool can’t afford to do that.

One of the club’s main ambitions this season is to qualify for the Champions League, and selling Luis to the Gunners would weaken Liverpool and strengthen one of our closest rivals.

I just can’t see it being allowed to happen.

As the owner suggested, he will do everything in his power to stop him being sold there.

Look at what happened to Arsenal last season when they did something similar with Robin van Persie - they sold him to Manchester United and United won the title with his goals.

They ran away with the league.
If Arsenal had had even half his goals, think how different their season could have been.


Title decider? Where would Arsenal have been last season with Van Persie?

The danger for Liverpool is that clubs who want to sign Luis will leave it as late as possible, so he can serve part of his remaining six-match ban while he is still at Anfield.

There is a worry that a suitor might try to take the transfer down to the wire - deadline day - and sign Luis then.

That’s another reason why what the owner said on Thursday made sense.

It has already got to the point where Liverpool will find it very hard to replace Luis for this season, even if he were to be sold tomorrow.

Although it is well-nigh impossible to replace a player like Luis man-for-man anyway - you would have to get two or three players in to make up for his loss.

I think there’s still room for optimism about the situation as far as Liverpool are concerned - as I said earlier, I cannot see Luis pulling on a Liverpool shirt and not giving everything in his body for the club.

I’d like to see the club and the player call it quits and try to thrash something out for everyone’s benefit.

I don’t think it’s too late, but time will tell.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/kenny-dalglish-column-suarez-hope-2145253

[Exiled_red]

The mirror are linking him with a move to Spurs once Bale goes to Madrid

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/footba...-swoop-2150794

[doogle]

The mirror are linking him with a move to Spurs once Bale goes to Madrid

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/footba...-swoop-2150794

journalists have it so easy