Luis Suárez

[Daniel 7]

I wonder what the forums would have looked like when Keegan was leaving.

[McDermotX]

I wonder what the forums would have looked like when Keegan was leaving.

Would have been much more fun anyway....

[Norbs]

Pre-January, the sale of Suarez would have been thought of as terminal blow to a team in decline; however, the astute signings of Sturridge and Countinho has tempered that. As pointed out above, Suarez likes to get involved in every aspect of forward play. This year he was phenomenal and pivotal to us finishing where we did but who wasn't frustrated when he felt he had to take one too many players on?

One of the conundrums for the upcoming season was going to be how do we accommodate Suarez, Sturridge and Countinho in the same starting eleven? Countinho has flourished in the number ten role, Sturridge also as the central striker with arguably his strengths being a better complement to Countinho than Suarez's. With Suarez back, Countinho may again be shunted out wide where he is less effective and Sturridge as a wide forward which although he is adept at, he is much more suited as the central striker. Also other players such as Henderson came more to the fore in the absence of Suarez and Gerrard.

Goal scoring was not an issue this season and although there was only a small sample matches without Suarez we continued to score. The issues this season were resilience, set-up of our midfield and our defence. Perhaps the loss of our current most talented player may although a more rounded to be formed if the mooted funds are well invested.

In regards to the timing, it's not like Torres sulking for months and then jumping ship when going got tough, that would have been equated to Suarez leaving last season. He gave everything this season but it wasn't good enough to get us higher. Although the press harassment is a convenient excuse it surely didn't help keep a player who wants desperately to win. The silver lining is that we have been more clever in negotiations recently and with him tied to a long contract we can hopefully expect a fair price.

Excellent comments

[Tee]

I wonder what the forums would have looked like when Keegan was leaving.

[Neil Young]

One of the imponderables here is that we have no way of knowing how prolific our attack will be when Sturridge and Coutinho are played as our main threats over enough matches so that opponents can work out ways to negate them.

Losing Suárez is a risk for our attacking play, there's no getting away from it.

[Rowan]

He is our Messi. Aside from Gerrard he is the best player we have had in the last 15 years

We absolutely must keep him. There is no deal to sell, no buyer at this stage and he has a long contract. He will just have to keep quiet and get on with it. The press will move on to another villain soon enough

Totally agree. Selling him would be a massive blow. He's in the top 5 players in the world and we couldn't replace that. I don't see the money really enabling us to do any business we weren't already planning on doing anyway with the sole exception that we'd be replacing Suarez himself with an inferior player.

And I think he's sort of got a point. There is a disproportionate public reaction to him when he does something stupid to others (see Terry, Defoe, Hazard etc) but he hasn't helped by making himself an easy target. Maybe the whole press thing is an elaborate quadruple bluff to get a bit off leeway next season . When they next go off it at him we'd be able to pull the 'this is what loooo eeez was talking about with you lot' card.

But alas. I fear he's off. What a ****ter!

[el matador]

Pre-January, the sale of Suarez would have been thought of as terminal blow to a team in decline; however, the astute signings of Sturridge and Countinho has tempered that. As pointed out above, Suarez likes to get involved in every aspect of forward play. This year he was phenomenal and pivotal to us finishing where we did but who wasn't frustrated when he felt he had to take one too many players on?

One of the conundrums for the upcoming season was going to be how do we accommodate Suarez, Sturridge and Countinho in the same starting eleven? Countinho has flourished in the number ten role, Sturridge also as the central striker with arguably his strengths being a better complement to Countinho than Suarez's. With Suarez back, Countinho may again be shunted out wide where he is less effective and Sturridge as a wide forward which although he is adept at, he is much more suited as the central striker. Also other players such as Henderson came more to the fore in the absence of Suarez and Gerrard.

Goal scoring was not an issue this season and although there was only a small sample matches without Suarez we continued to score. The issues this season were resilience, set-up of our midfield and our defence. Perhaps the loss of our current most talented player may although a more rounded to be formed if the mooted funds are well invested.

In regards to the timing, it's not like Torres sulking for months and then jumping ship when going got tough, that would have been equated to Suarez leaving last season. He gave everything this season but it wasn't good enough to get us higher. Although the press harassment is a convenient excuse it surely didn't help keep a player who wants desperately to win. The silver lining is that we have been more clever in negotiations recently and with him tied to a long contract we can hopefully expect a fair price.

both coutinho and sturridge look made for each other like torres and gerrard were.

what sturridge does that suarez doesnt is that he is looking to run in behind defences onto through balls all the time. he plays on the shoulder of defenders looking for balls through or over the top so effectively he's stretching the gap between the opposition midfield and defence.

this is the space which coutinho thrives in and when suarez plays up front he's always looking to come short which has the opposite effect of compressing the space in between the two lines. this doesnt suit coutinho at all as it wouldnt any creative talent.

but as long as we can keep both coutinho and sturridge fit it looks like torres-gerrard II.

[Norbs]

In response to the old dog

No one could also predict how Suarez would be if forced to stay somewhere where he didn't want to be. Either way we'll find out soon and we're also going to bring in replacements who'll have the unknown quality.

Suarez slowed down our attacking play in many games because he alway wanted that extra couple of touches. He had to be a genius otherwise he'd have been a waste of time in any team. With Coutinho and Sturridge the attacks are far more direct and defence splitting.

[Neil Young]

Hmm, maybe so but that doesn't address the issue I raised. But then it's not answerable to any reliable degree.

I think there's an awful lot of wishful thinking going on in this thread, and not just from Nigey (although he's the worst offender and must be banned ).

LFC will continue and, who knows, it may all work out well. Perhaps Rodgers will make the most of it - that is what he's paid a million a year for.

The future is always uncertain but it's more uncertain when a player as good as Suárez leaves. We can soothe ourselves with optimism and there's no point prophesying doom, not least because it's a slim chance that the worst will happen, but it's all based on the hope that a lot of assumptions will turn out to have been justified.

[TheElephantMan]

There's nothing wrong with being optimistic and besides we didn't do too badly when Suarez wasn't available last season.

[DeeTheDog]

Hmm, maybe so but that doesn't address the issue I raised. But then it's not answerable to any reliable degree.

I think there's an awful lot of wishful thinking going on in this thread, and not just from Nigey (although he's the worst offender and must be banned ).

LFC will continue and, who knows, it may all work out well. Perhaps Rodgers will make the most of it - that is what he's paid a million a year for.

The future is always uncertain but it's more uncertain when a player as good as Suárez leaves. We can soothe ourselves with optimism and there's no point prophesying doom, not least because it's a slim chance that the worst will happen, but it's all based on the hope that a lot of assumptions will turn out to have been justified.

No one is questioning that the loss of Suarez is huge but unlike when Owen left, we are in a position to command a fee that could, if invested correctly make the team more balanced and better equipped to advance in the league. Suarez has been immense for us but the two full seasons he has been here we have finished 8th & 7th. Further, to use further shades of history, when Rush left we replaced his goal threat with Aldridge, Barnes, Beardsley & Hughton (I know it's a different era and there was overlapping and players did not all join together but the point is about strengthening the team)

You mention the imponderable, yet as mentioned before we do have a small sample to extrapolate from? Who's to say that with a full pre-season behind them Countinho and Sturridge won't reach greater heights aided by a more solid team. It is just as imponderable to believe Suarez would have maintained his form this season (after missing the first six games) or whether another moment of madness would engulf him.

[kev776]

Nobody apart from some crappy translations has said he is leaving, club says no, agent says nothing has happened.

I didn't worry when Keegan left, Kenny came in, when Rushie left, Aldo, Beardsley and Barnes came in, Torres left, Suarez arrived.

We evolve, life goes on.

[Neil Young]

No one is questioning that the loss of Suarez is huge but unlike when Owen left, we are in a position to command a fee that could, if invested correctly make the team more balanced and better equipped to advance in the league. Suarez has been immense for us but the two full seasons he has been here we have finished 8th & 7th. Further, to use further shades of history, when Rush left we replaced his goal threat with Aldridge, Barnes, Beardsley & Hughton (I know it's a different era and there was overlapping and players did not all join together but the point is about strengthening the team)

You mention the imponderable, yet as mentioned before we do have a small sample to extrapolate from? Who's to say that with a full pre-season behind them Countinho and Sturridge won't reach greater heights aided by a more solid team. It is just as imponderable to believe Suarez would have maintained his form this season (after missing the first six games) or whether another moment of madness would engulf him.

The size of the sample is exactly why it's not a reliable guide to extrapolate from, not because it's small per se but because it's too small for opponents to have worked out exactly what might work.

As for the rest, of course, as I said, it could work out, just as the value of shares can go up as well as down.

And why reference Owen (no fee so that means we're in a better position) but not Torres (fee that was largely wasted)? Either both are relevant or neither.

There's no point selectively seizing on qualitative datasets that can't take the strain you seek to put on them. You're hoping it might work out, as do I. I think Rodgers has a decent chance of making it work. All I'm saying is let's not pretend there's any reliable way to predict that's probably what will happen, just like Nige's optimism that Suárez was misquoted now sadly looks like an unanswered prayer.

[kingfunk]

@lastofadying1: Me mates just sent me this regarding Suarez #SumsItUp #JFT96 http://t.co/4pcpmgt48i

[G]

He is our Messi. Aside from Gerrard he is the best player we have had in the last 15 years

We absolutely must keep him. There is no deal to sell, no buyer at this stage and he has a long contract. He will just have to keep quiet and get on with it. The press will move on to another villain soon enough

They already were,and then he bit someone.He keeps giving them ammo