Luis Suárez

[Neil Young]

At least they won't just sack him.

[rudedog]

What happens if a player has a blinding season and is then ****? Does their weekly wage scale back down again?

You'd need to ask Sterling.

[Yozza]

Hoo-****ing-ray....


Why is Suarez the 'filthy' arch-villain yet Bale is protected? We choose to vilify the foreigner, but a cheat is a cheat...

The moment the supremely accomplished British footballer Gareth Bale falls over an imaginary leg during a match, it sparks outbreaks of copycat behaviour right across the land.

Not on our football pitches, but in the nation's television studios and press boxes as pundits trip over themselves, too, in a desperate hunt to find excuses for the player’s behaviour.

Rather than condemn Bale as* a cheat and a diver, every euphemism in the lexicon of Footballspeak is dutifully offered up in an attempt to excuse his deeds.

Accordingly, we are informed that the Spurs player:
a) Goes down easily.
b) Travels at such speed the slightest contact can affect him.
c) Is often merely trying to avoid injury.
d) Has an inner ear infection that causes him to lose his balance.
e) Was momentarily caught out by the rotation of the Earth.

The ITV pundits examining Tottenham Hotspur’s victory over Inter Milan called on a selection of these alibis, but the remarks essentially amounted to little more than an admission that while Bale might be a diver, nobody wanted to call him a cheat out loud because he’s a pleasant lad and he scores marvellous goals.

But no such courtesies are accorded to Uruguayan Luis Suarez. When he tumbles over nothing and waves his arms about appealing for a foul, he’s slated as a cheat. Not with any subtlety, either, but in great big headlines usually proceeded by the word ‘filthy’ and followed by an exclamation mark.

Even when excuses are offered up for his behaviour, phrases such as ‘he dives because he’s adjusting to the Premier League’ are usually wheeled out.

The subtext here is Suarez only cheats because he’s a foreigner. The chap’s from Uruguay, you see? I mean, you could probably stand around for long enough in South America and see people doing that sort of thing on the streets. Those pesky Latinos just don’t understand the British game.

It is a lousy argument. Suarez isn’t doing anything different to Bale. There is no ‘cultural divide’ on diving. Even if Bale dispatches himself over an invisible boot and forms a very British queue of
one in front of the official to politely insist a molecule of air brushed his ankle and caused his personage to topple over, it is still cheating.

We just treat the players differently. We choose to vilify the foreigner.

When Suarez and Bale meet on Sunday at Anfield, there is a distinct possibility it could resemble an episode of the primetime show Splash! if the pair parade their least admirable skills.

But it is worth pointing out that while they are playing at a level right now that puts them in contention for the Player of the Year award, only one of them has made an effort to clean up their act.

Suarez is no longer the arch-villain of the Premier League. As things stand — and it certainly makes a pleasant change when he does — the Uruguayan appears to have heeded the entreaties of his manager Brendan Rodgers and senior figures in the Liverpool dressing room to cut out the antics and concentrate on applying his talents.

Bale, however, continues to try his luck and the patience of officials.

His yellow card in the Europa League tie against Inter was the sixth he has collected for diving in the past 15 months and the fourth this season.

I doubt there has been a player in the game that has had half a dozen cautions for ‘simulation’ in that space of time, not even Cristiano Ronaldo during his formative ‘showpony’ years.

But Spurs manager Andre Villas-Boas admitted he was pleased Bale was booked. This meant he was clear of cautions for the competition’s latter stages, and he added: ‘With this result we would have asked him to get the yellow card to be clean and ready for the last eight.’

Yes, the manager was glad his player cheated.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/art...#ixzz2N1MicUIB
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[Yozza]

If Bale's dive had been Suarez we'd never hear the end of it, says Rodgers

Brendan Rodgers has hit out at the treatment of Luis Suarez by claiming Liverpool’s star striker has been heavily criticised for diving because he is not British.
Liverpool’s showdown with Tottenham on Sunday will be dominated by the clash between two of the outstanding PFA Player of the Year candidates in Suarez and Gareth Bale and the Wales forward will step out at Anfield having just picked up his fourth booking of the season for diving.
Suarez, by contrast, has been shown a yellow card twice in the past year for simulation – they came against Sunderland in September and Aston Villa last April – yet the exposure the Uruguayan has received on the matter has dwarfed the focus that has been given to Bale.

Rodgers came down hard on Suarez in January when the Uruguayan admitted in an interview with Argentine TV that he had dived during a game against Stoke and, since then, his behaviour on the pitch has improved, but the changes he has made have made scant difference to how he is perceived.
Bale, for instance, was feted for his display against Inter Milan yet his booking was not mentioned. Suarez, on the other hand, faced questions on whether he would be punished for violent conduct by UEFA after an accidental collision against Zenit St Petersburg following a similarly brilliant display.
Rodgers said: ‘I know if that had been Luis, I would have been sat there answering questions for about half an hour.

‘That’s why I defend Luis. If players or people are judging him on his football then he’s been consistently the best player right the way through the season.
‘If they are going to judge him on things outside of football, then they won’t be just judging him (on his ability) and they can’t just judge him (on reputation), because there have been misdemeanours by other players. But that’s a part of life and football.
‘We hope we are judging him by his qualities on the field and those have been in evident. I can only protect my player and judge him from what we see. I’ve said before it’s something that is quite clear. I don’t think it’s just with Luis. There are other foreign players it can happen to.

‘It’s funny and quite enjoyable when it happens to a British player but when it’ s a foreign player it’s different. You can clearly see with Luis that he has taken on board everything, speaks with his team-mates and you can see that change in him.
‘I have given him responsibility on the field as one of my main guys and you can see that maturity in his performance. His football is outstanding and hopefully it continues.’
A Liverpool win against Tottenham would put them into the top six for the first time this season and the game will see Jamie Carragher notch up the latest landmark of his glittering career when he becomes only the eighth man to play 500 Premier League

Carragher, who has emphasised that he will not reverse his decision to retire at the end of the season, is adamant that Suarez has done more than enough to win one of the Footballer of the Year gongs.
‘I would go with Luis,’ said Carragher. ‘He’s the top scorer in the league but he’s not just a goal scorer.
'That’s not me being biased; I genuinely believe he’ s the best player in the league. Gareth Bale is an outstanding player but I’ve said for the past 18 months I wouldn’t swap Luis for anyone.’


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/foo...#ixzz2N1OpZel3
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[EwarWoo]

Why is Suarez the 'filthy' arch-villain yet Bale is protected? We choose to vilify the foreigner, but a cheat is a cheat...

Bloody good article.

Seems unusual for The Mirror to be ballsy enough to go against perceived opinion, but credit to 'em.

[cannotmakeit]

Bloody good article.

Seems unusual for The Mirror to be ballsy enough to go against perceived opinion, but credit to 'em.

It is unusual, it from the Daily Mail

[Bender]

It is unusual, it from the Daily Mail

[EwarWoo]

Lol, I dunno how I read that as the mirror. Doh!

[Tee]

Loving the way BR stands up for Luis. Reckon Luis loves it as well.

[Reece]

Loving the way BR stands up for Luis. Reckon Luis loves it as well.

He's spot on too.

[RichC]

It's good to see that there has been, albeit slow change of opinion in Luis, there is more and more talk of his brilliance on the pitch than the other stuff they used to try and focus on, won't happen with all hacks( I'm thinking of Martin Samuel here) but they have their agendas I guess!

[dom9]

Maybe the change in perceived opinion has been brought about by the change in perceived behaviour? That's the implication of the article.

[rodo]

that des kelly is just tryin to be all oooo look at me slagging off gareth bale arent i controversial

[Mostar]

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