Luis Suárez

[Assassin]

It's easy to manipulate the outcome when Rodgers has turned a couple of players around. Just saying, not wanting to get into a long dialog on the subject

[Rich]

It's easy to manipulate the outcome when Rodgers has turned a couple of players around. Just saying, not wanting to get into a long dialog on the subject

Isn't that the idea - to improve players?

[Yozza]

http://blog.paddypower.com/2013/01/11/joey-barton-what-i-think-of-luis-suarez-liverpool-and-cheating-in-football/

The Philosopher has his say....

Joey Barton: What I think of Luis Suarez, Liverpool and cheating in football

Marseille footballer Joey Barton gives his opinion on Luis Suarez and cheating in football, exclusive for the Paddy Power Blog

Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow.
The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing
– Abraham Lincoln

Luis Suarez’s shadow has been painted in the shape of a ‘diver’ and a ‘cheat’. Suarez’s reputation in England will stick to him like his shadow and there’s not much he can do to change it, this I know.

But he doesn’t need to worry about it because he’s such a good player. There are always going to be people in the game that don’t like him and no matter what he does to change their opinions, he’s doomed to fail. It’s not something he should worry about. If you’re crap at your job nobody bothers with you because you’re not a threat. It’s when you’re good that people try to give you stick, unsettle you and get you off your game. It’s a massive backhanded compliment.

I see it as a sign of respect. People wouldn’t do it unless there was an element of respecting my ability. Luis Suarez must feel the same. He’s happy to let his football do the talking because he’s an outstanding player.

I read plenty of the fallout from the Luis Suarez handball against Mansfield on Twitter, and elsewhere, and saw everyone going berserk about it. It’s one of those reactions where you’re expecting the referee to blow the whistle. You can see the look on Suarez’s face, he’s surprised he got away with it.

Suarez is a bad boy in the media’s eyes. That’s an angle they will push. If it had been Paul Scholes, Michael Carrick, Steven Gerrard or Jonjo Shelvey, or someone the media looks upon favourably, we would have seen a different reaction.

Much of the anti-Suarez sentiment comes from his track record, more than the ‘foreigners ruining our game’ brigade. He’s one of the few truly world-class players we have in the Premier League. He’s been brilliant this season, but it’s live in person that you really appreciate him. His movement is outstanding and having not watched a great deal of English football in the last few months, I’d forgotten just how good it was and how hard he works.

I’ve had a couple of arguments with him on the pitch and he’s not a nice guy once the game begins.

Suarez is an angry man and wants to win for his team. There’s a fine line between being competitive and breaking the rules – which I know a lot about – and it’s playing on that edge that gives Suarez his spikiness and substance as a player. Without that desire to succeed, he wouldn’t be anywhere near as good. He’s a handful to play against and if you ask any defender he’s been up against, they won’t have enjoyed it. He works hard, gets stuck in and does the running of two men for his team.

It’s interesting that every time he has been in trouble, everyone at Liverpool Football Club has rallied around to support him. To me, that’s a testament to what kind of a guy he is. He must be a good person otherwise he wouldn’t be getting that unequivocal support. Even in the aftermath of the Patrice Evra incident – rightly or wrongly – all the players were wearing the infamous Suarez t-shirt for the Wigan game, regardless of their skin colour. It wasn’t just the white players or the English players, it was the whole team. If he was a bad guy, you wouldn’t get that level of solidarity. Certainly I wouldn’t be bothered for someone I didn’t want around.

The commentator, Jon Champion also played a part after the Mansfield incident. He called Suarez a cheat and although ESPN apologised, it was poor. His gut reaction was ‘Suarez is a bad boy’ and maybe he doesn’t like him, but in a position of influence like that, Champion can’t come out instantly and accuse a player like that.

I’ve found plenty of commentators who have opinions about me and prejudged me. Some commentators have an axe to grind with certain players whilst they’ll look favourably on other players and take the more positive angle. That has always been part and parcel of the game, but football commentary has lowered standards recently, so much so that I’ve taken to watching games on mute. I don’t listen to many of them because most commentators talk absolute nonsense. They talk on auto-pilot for the sake of filling time. Martin Tyler springs to mind as the best commentator out there, but without naming names, many of the others are really awful. I could name names, but I won’t.

Suarez has previous when it comes to handball and this fans the flames in everything that involves him. The incident involving Suarez’s handball in the quarter-final of the 2010 World Cup against Ghana was dragged into the debate about last Sunday’s goal. Some people used it as a stick to beat him with, but I would have done the same thing a million times over, one hundred per cent. When it comes to the World Cup, I’d have no problem with it. It made him a national hero. He sacrificed himself for the team and to this day, Maradona’s handball goal against England only added to his god-like popularity in Argentina.

When it comes a preference for ‘winning by cheating’ or ‘losing with integrity’, it’s a tough call. Winning is so central to the life of a professional athlete, you can never be certain how you’ll react until that moment arrives. You spend all week training and winning is what it’s all about. Ideally, you want to ‘win with integrity’, but with the huge stakes involved, sometimes you’ll take drastic measures. No-one dreams of winning by bending the rules or by cheating, but situations arise in the course of a game and people will gain whatever advantage they can.

You can gain a big advantage from testing how far the rules will bend.

As we are seeing with Lance Armstrong and the culture of cheating in cycling that has emerged, where there is huge prize money and huge contracts at stake, people are prepared to bend the rules. Using performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) is one end of the scale and diving or looking to gain an advantage through unfair means is at the other end, but all of it is outside the laws of the game.


But there are good examples out there.

At Highbury in 1997, Robbie Fowler won a penalty after tumbling under a challenge from David Seaman. He pleaded with the ref not to award it. Seaman saved Fowler’s penalty, which Jason McAteer scored on the follow-up, but Robbie ended up winning a UEFA Fair Play award for his honesty.

Then there was also the goal Marc Overmars scored at Highbury in the FA Cup fifth round against Sheffield United in 1999, when a United player needed treatment. In that case Arsenal offered a replay which was accepted and that was fair.

On the basis of that game, without Suarez’s goal against Mansfield, it could have finished 1-1 and Mansfield have an argument. They’re entitled to point out that Arsenal goal as a precedent. If the game went on to finish 4-1 or 5-1, they’ve no leg to stand on, but they’ve got a point. Liverpool could have offered a replay.

I’m not proud of what I did against Manchester City
I cheat when I’m playing FIFA with my mates. Even if it’s just for a fiver or tenner, I’ll take them out on the edge of the box because I want to win.

The closest I’ve came to out-and-out cheating in a real game was at the end of last season for QPR against Manchester City. I knew I was getting sent off and I tried to get one of the City players sent off. I’m not proud of it, but I was thinking ‘this gives us the best opportunity of winning and the best opportunity of staying up.’ It was misguided, but at the time, it was simply doing what I thought was best for the team.

Suarez a big boy and a great player so he’ll be able to handle whatever gets thrown at him. If anything, he’s so mentally strong, it only seems to drive him on and I can’t imagine him getting too bothered by what people are saying about him.

I know the line Luis Suarez walks and it never changes. People never forget it and whenever something happens to him – or even myself – the past always gets dragged into it. It’s just the way it is. It’s the path we walk.

Would Liverpool fans settle for the same result on Sunday against Manchester United at Old Trafford? Damn right.

You’ve got a way to keep me on your side
You give me cause for love that I can’t hide
For you I know I’d even try to turn the tide
Because you’re mine, I walk the line

– Johnny Cash, I Walk The Line

[Marina]

Fair play, Joey. He's not a total gob****e incidentally.

[MrMichael]

Interesting viewpoint - has he? Has he really?

If Henderson keeps progressing and heaven forbid Downing continues to contribute then the number of transfer ****-ups diminishes, no?

Suarez - success
Carroll - failure
Henderson - bags of potential, finally seems to be showing his worth
Adam - failure
Downing - failure (but could the impossible happen? )
Doni - failure
Enrique - mixed bag but seems to be improving
Coates - bags of potential but not playing any games
Bellamy - under used last season?

Now I'm not trying to suggest Comolli was a success - but perhaps his transfer record isn't quite as bad as what is made out.

That's a crazy argument Rich, you haven't once mentioned the fees paid. Carroll for example wasn't simply "a failure", but possibly the most expensive transfer **** up in English football history. Comolli's transfer record at Anfield, when you consider value for money, was simply appalling.

[Frenchie]

http://blog.paddypower.com/2013/01/1...g-in-football/

The Philosopher has his say....

Joey Barton: What I think of Luis Suarez, Liverpool and cheating in football

Marseille footballer Joey Barton gives his opinion on Luis Suarez and cheating in football, exclusive for the Paddy Power Blog

Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow.
The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing
– Abraham Lincoln

Luis Suarez’s shadow has been painted in the shape of a ‘diver’ and a ‘cheat’. Suarez’s reputation in England will stick to him like his shadow and there’s not much he can do to change it, this I know.

But he doesn’t need to worry about it because he’s such a good player. There are always going to be people in the game that don’t like him and no matter what he does to change their opinions, he’s doomed to fail. It’s not something he should worry about. If you’re crap at your job nobody bothers with you because you’re not a threat. It’s when you’re good that people try to give you stick, unsettle you and get you off your game. It’s a massive backhanded compliment.

I see it as a sign of respect. People wouldn’t do it unless there was an element of respecting my ability. Luis Suarez must feel the same. He’s happy to let his football do the talking because he’s an outstanding player.

I read plenty of the fallout from the Luis Suarez handball against Mansfield on Twitter, and elsewhere, and saw everyone going berserk about it. It’s one of those reactions where you’re expecting the referee to blow the whistle. You can see the look on Suarez’s face, he’s surprised he got away with it.

Suarez is a bad boy in the media’s eyes. That’s an angle they will push. If it had been Paul Scholes, Michael Carrick, Steven Gerrard or Jonjo Shelvey, or someone the media looks upon favourably, we would have seen a different reaction.

Much of the anti-Suarez sentiment comes from his track record, more than the ‘foreigners ruining our game’ brigade. He’s one of the few truly world-class players we have in the Premier League. He’s been brilliant this season, but it’s live in person that you really appreciate him. His movement is outstanding and having not watched a great deal of English football in the last few months, I’d forgotten just how good it was and how hard he works.

I’ve had a couple of arguments with him on the pitch and he’s not a nice guy once the game begins.

Suarez is an angry man and wants to win for his team. There’s a fine line between being competitive and breaking the rules – which I know a lot about – and it’s playing on that edge that gives Suarez his spikiness and substance as a player. Without that desire to succeed, he wouldn’t be anywhere near as good. He’s a handful to play against and if you ask any defender he’s been up against, they won’t have enjoyed it. He works hard, gets stuck in and does the running of two men for his team.

It’s interesting that every time he has been in trouble, everyone at Liverpool Football Club has rallied around to support him. To me, that’s a testament to what kind of a guy he is. He must be a good person otherwise he wouldn’t be getting that unequivocal support. Even in the aftermath of the Patrice Evra incident – rightly or wrongly – all the players were wearing the infamous Suarez t-shirt for the Wigan game, regardless of their skin colour. It wasn’t just the white players or the English players, it was the whole team. If he was a bad guy, you wouldn’t get that level of solidarity. Certainly I wouldn’t be bothered for someone I didn’t want around.

The commentator, Jon Champion also played a part after the Mansfield incident. He called Suarez a cheat and although ESPN apologised, it was poor. His gut reaction was ‘Suarez is a bad boy’ and maybe he doesn’t like him, but in a position of influence like that, Champion can’t come out instantly and accuse a player like that.

I’ve found plenty of commentators who have opinions about me and prejudged me. Some commentators have an axe to grind with certain players whilst they’ll look favourably on other players and take the more positive angle. That has always been part and parcel of the game, but football commentary has lowered standards recently, so much so that I’ve taken to watching games on mute. I don’t listen to many of them because most commentators talk absolute nonsense. They talk on auto-pilot for the sake of filling time. Martin Tyler springs to mind as the best commentator out there, but without naming names, many of the others are really awful. I could name names, but I won’t.

Suarez has previous when it comes to handball and this fans the flames in everything that involves him. The incident involving Suarez’s handball in the quarter-final of the 2010 World Cup against Ghana was dragged into the debate about last Sunday’s goal. Some people used it as a stick to beat him with, but I would have done the same thing a million times over, one hundred per cent. When it comes to the World Cup, I’d have no problem with it. It made him a national hero. He sacrificed himself for the team and to this day, Maradona’s handball goal against England only added to his god-like popularity in Argentina.

When it comes a preference for ‘winning by cheating’ or ‘losing with integrity’, it’s a tough call. Winning is so central to the life of a professional athlete, you can never be certain how you’ll react until that moment arrives. You spend all week training and winning is what it’s all about. Ideally, you want to ‘win with integrity’, but with the huge stakes involved, sometimes you’ll take drastic measures. No-one dreams of winning by bending the rules or by cheating, but situations arise in the course of a game and people will gain whatever advantage they can.

You can gain a big advantage from testing how far the rules will bend.

As we are seeing with Lance Armstrong and the culture of cheating in cycling that has emerged, where there is huge prize money and huge contracts at stake, people are prepared to bend the rules. Using performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) is one end of the scale and diving or looking to gain an advantage through unfair means is at the other end, but all of it is outside the laws of the game.


But there are good examples out there.

At Highbury in 1997, Robbie Fowler won a penalty after tumbling under a challenge from David Seaman. He pleaded with the ref not to award it. Seaman saved Fowler’s penalty, which Jason McAteer scored on the follow-up, but Robbie ended up winning a UEFA Fair Play award for his honesty.

Then there was also the goal Marc Overmars scored at Highbury in the FA Cup fifth round against Sheffield United in 1999, when a United player needed treatment. In that case Arsenal offered a replay which was accepted and that was fair.

On the basis of that game, without Suarez’s goal against Mansfield, it could have finished 1-1 and Mansfield have an argument. They’re entitled to point out that Arsenal goal as a precedent. If the game went on to finish 4-1 or 5-1, they’ve no leg to stand on, but they’ve got a point. Liverpool could have offered a replay.

I’m not proud of what I did against Manchester City
I cheat when I’m playing FIFA with my mates. Even if it’s just for a fiver or tenner, I’ll take them out on the edge of the box because I want to win.

The closest I’ve came to out-and-out cheating in a real game was at the end of last season for QPR against Manchester City. I knew I was getting sent off and I tried to get one of the City players sent off. I’m not proud of it, but I was thinking ‘this gives us the best opportunity of winning and the best opportunity of staying up.’ It was misguided, but at the time, it was simply doing what I thought was best for the team.

Suarez a big boy and a great player so he’ll be able to handle whatever gets thrown at him. If anything, he’s so mentally strong, it only seems to drive him on and I can’t imagine him getting too bothered by what people are saying about him.

I know the line Luis Suarez walks and it never changes. People never forget it and whenever something happens to him – or even myself – the past always gets dragged into it. It’s just the way it is. It’s the path we walk.

Would Liverpool fans settle for the same result on Sunday against Manchester United at Old Trafford? Damn right.

You’ve got a way to keep me on your side
You give me cause for love that I can’t hide
For you I know I’d even try to turn the tide
Because you’re mine, I walk the line

– Johnny Cash, I Walk The Line

The last time a cock spoke with great clarity was in the Marquis de Sade's cell.

http://www.anorak.co.uk/264731/tv/ma...re-video.html/ 4 mins 29 seconds in

[Muddled]

Man Utd v Liverpool: Luis Suarez laden with controversy - Ferguson

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson says Luis Suarez is "laden with controversy" ahead of Sunday's meeting with Liverpool.

Suarez heads to Old Trafford having been criticised for using his hand before scoring the Reds' second goal in their 2-1 FA Cup win at Mansfield.

"I don't know whether he enjoys [being controversial], but it is something we hope we don't suffer from ourselves," Ferguson said of Suarez, who was banned for eight games in 2011 for racially abusing United defender Patrice Evra.

Luis Suarez's controversies

• July 2010 - Handles on the line to deny Ghana a winner in the last minute of extra-time in the World Cup quarter-finals. Asamoah Gyan misses the resulting penalty and Uruguay win the shoot-out to reach the semi-finals.
  
• November 2010 - Given seven- match ban for biting PSV Eindhoven's Otman Bakkal on the shoulder while playing for Ajax.
  
• December 2011 - Given eight-match suspension and fined £40,000 for racially abusing Manchester United's Patrice Evra.
  
• February 2012 - Refuses to shake hands with Evra at Old Trafford and is described as a "disgrace" by Sir Alex Ferguson.
  
• October 2012 - Accused of diving by Stoke manager Tony Pulis.
  
• November 2012 - Accused of stamping on Dave Jones by Wigan manager Roberto Martinez.
  
• January 2013 - Mansfield chief executive Carolyn Radford says Suarez "stole" their FA Cup tie when he scored after using his hand.

That incident, for which he was also fined £40,000, occurred during the fierce rivals' 1-1 draw at Anfield.

Suarez subsequently refused to shake hands with Evra before United's 2-1 victory at Old Trafford in February 2012.

In the wake of last weekend's controversy at Field Mill, the Uruguayan was accused of "stealing" the FA Cup tie by Mansfield's chief executive Carolyn Radford.

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has consistently spoken of his belief in Suarez, though, and criticised his treatment by officials and opposing fans.

"I never saw the game last Sunday, so it is difficult to say whether it was a deliberate handball," said Ferguson. "You will always support your own player, I don't think that is surprising from Brendan. "I have done it myself. It is just part of your loyalty to the player and protection for them too.

"I hope we don't suffer from some of the decisions that have gone his way in terms of that. We want it to be a good game on Sunday. Over the years, the Liverpool-Manchester United games have been relatively free of controversy - nothing really sensational in terms of decisions that marred the game, and that is good."

However, former Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler, who scored 183 goals in 369 games for Liverpool, disagreed with Ferguson's comments about Suarez.

"He didn't really need to say too much in my eyes," Fowler told BBC Sport.

"Suarez is a condemned man before he even steps on the pitch. As much as he is getting stick from everyone else, I think it's driving him on and making him a better player. He wants to prove a lot to people wrong and show how good he is."

Fowler added: "Every player will have mishaps in a game. Robin van Persie was accused of elbowing someone earlier in the season. Gareth Bale has been accused of being a diver at times. Luis Suarez does have some misdemeanours in his past but I want to go on the positives. I love him as a player."

Liverpool go into the game having lost seven of their past eight visits to Old Trafford - a memorable 4-1 victory in March 2009 the only positive result.

But Ferguson insists it will never be easy. "Derby games are very tricky affairs, as they always have been," he added. "The previous year we outplayed them in the cup and lost 2-1. You are sitting at the end of the game saying, 'How did that happen?' Derby games are like that. Hopefully we will play well and win."

Ferguson also served a reminder to Liverpool fans that it may be some time before they return to the top of the English game.

"The club at the moment is a hell of a challenge because they haven't won the league for 20 years. It is a long time," he added. "It is difficult to measure any Liverpool side at the moment with any Liverpool side of the past.

"I think it is terrific if the Liverpool fans are prepared to be patient because it is going to require patience. It is a long road back to what they used to be."

Van Persie is likely to be a key player again on Sunday and Ferguson admitted that the Dutchman's decision to join the club had been vital, even in the face of strong interest from other clubs, including Manchester City.

"I wasn't aware of the City thing until he told me himself that he had turned them down," Ferguson added.

Linkage: The Beeb

[Assassin]

DBF has just done the team talk for Luis and the boys

DBF is running scared of Luis

[Maxiedge]

I see Comolli has had his say so hat he can remind everyone he signed Suarez and get some of his reputation back. I hate Comolli and that bit about frontmen reaching their peak 26-27....so why pay 35m now for Carroll. **** off you bull****ter.

[Glenn Hysen]

Whether it's **** or not, which it almost certainly is, it's worth knowing what **** is being circulated...because stuff like this can gather momentum.

Also, unless you're living in complete denial, then we all know that this is going to rear its ugly head sooner or later. He could go to any club in the world and the longer we're languishing in mid-table the more likely it becomes.

If it takes three seconds to figure it out then don't read the rest of it, it's simple. Complaining about it is far more pointless.

True.

I'm just so fed up on the journalism today.

[spanky]

Their not journalists, their cheerleaders. There is sadly very few honest objective journalists around who deal in facts and a genuine desire to be fair and truthful.

[lickedlollipop]

i'd probably hate him more than everyone if he wasn't in lfc.. but hey, he's one of ours, i don't give a ****

[Vermilion]

Their not journalists, their cheerleaders. There is sadly very few honest objective journalists around who deal in facts and a genuine desire to be fair and truthful.

What really pisses me off with them most, is the animosity and hatred they spread with their ****e.

They know all too well there are nutters out there, and yet they seem to revel in writing crap that's irresponsible and likely to incite, never mind the fact that 90% of it is either made up or misrepresenting the truth.

[Neil Young]

I've got a lot of sympathy for that view but then most journalists are now on stupidly short schedules to provide increasingly large amounts of copy about new stories (or "new" stories or new "stories", depending on how you see it).

It doesn't help when a large number of people will lap up whatever liquid crap is pumped out there. There's too much coverage of football, and too much interest in it. One day maybe it'll collapse under the weight of its own effluent.

[Fredo]

I've got a lot of sympathy for that view but then most journalists are now on stupidly short schedules to provide increasingly large amounts of copy about new stories (or "new" stories or new "stories", depending on how you see it).

It doesn't help when a large number of people will lap up whatever liquid crap is pumped out there. There's too much coverage of football, and too much interest in it. One day maybe it'll collapse under the weight of its own effluent.

The interest was always there but now there is a monetary element to exploit with it which wasn't present 30 years ago. Consumerism is the problem, not football.