OOOOOOH.
A Suarez has bit someone think piece.
Easy these.
There might as well be a billion of them; at the time of writing there is at least a million. But let’s make it a million and one. On the off chance it means or adds anything. Here’s the gist of my Suarez has bitten someone think piece:
It very much looks like Suarez has bit someone.
He should be banned for a while.
It is entirely uncomplicated. Shall we repeat it for those at the back?
Luis Suarez has bitten an opposing player.
He should be banned for a few games.
Is there more to say?
While the above should be the end of the matter across the board, there probably is. Firstly, I’m not embarrassed. Why would I be? Why would anybody who isn’t Luis Suarez be? And whether or not he is is his own decision. Secondly, I’m not defending him. Why would I? Why would anyone? Looks to me like he bit the lad. He should be banned for a few games. This isn’t a moral thing. Morality doesn’t come into it. He’s transgressed and there should be consequences. No more than a dreadful leg-breaking tackle. The proponent of a bite or a dreadful tackle should be banned. There are a set of rules. You transgress, you get punished. He should be banned.
Those games should be Uruguay games. They shouldn’t be Liverpool games. Just as when he last bit a lad playing for Liverpool he was banned for Liverpool games, not Uruguay games. There are a set of rules.
He could very much do with packing in biting people. Uncontroversial I know. I’d rather he broke people’s legs or jaws if he is going to get retrospective punishment. Biting people doesn’t have that “ending the opponent’s game” vibe. They just wonder, not unreasonable, what the fucking hell is going on. Still there’s going to be the lack of an element of surprise soon. Graeme Souness in 1984 as per Tony Evans’s terrific book on the season broke the jaw of the Dinamo Bucharest captain Lica Movila with a punch. That sort of thing should result in retrospective punishment. Souness didn’t even get a ban. He went to Bucharest and played, his socks torn to ribbons at half time.
However generally speaking Luis Suarez could do without doing anything at all that leads to retrospective punishment whether playing for Uruguay or Liverpool. Mostly because he’s far more dangerous to opposing players playing the football rather than watching it. Partially because I don’t like to see jaws broken or shoulders bitten.
There’s a conversation to be had about his intensity within the game. His desire to win. And what that can boil over into. I’d generally speaking rather let the professionals converse on mental health but as this is a think-piece…
Had Godin scored minutes earlier the bite doesn’t happen. You know it. I know it. So if we know this then what can we extrapolate from it?
Ultimately, I’ve not seen a player wear a football match as much as Suarez does in my life. Not one. But not only does he wear it, he appears, from the outside, as a man who has never met him nor knows much about him bar watching him, he appears to be worn by one. He needs them to go his way and if they don’t he gradually falls apart. Sometimes he falls apart and the ball ends up in the back of the net. Sometimes he falls apart and he tries to do everything on his own. His need to win is this profound. It is supernatural. It aches within him and therefore his inherent ability to make them single-handedly go his way is both a blessing and a curse. You name the game and Suarez knows he can win it. He knows he can, by virtue of his presence, ensure his team comes out on top. And he is right in this assessment. He’s one of the best three players on the planet. Watching him, watching this profound need is entralling. He may not be quite the best on the planet but there’s no one I’d rather watch. Everything you love about football is present here. He is us on our best day. He is us on our worst. We’ve discussed this before but Suarez is chaos, Suarez splinters everything into bits. On the pitch Suarez is football in its purest form. He is enthralling. He is spellbinding. He is compelling. He isn’t nice. He isn’t pleasant. He isn’t genteel. But then nor is football. Love him. Hate him. Think whatever you want. Write your own think-piece thinking it. But if football was primeval then Suarez is the essence of what was in the swamp. What would Bill Shankly think? I reckon it would be “I’ll have another ten of you.” As this is a Suarez think-piece I don’t need to support that but if I did I’d mention Ian St John getting himself sent off three times back when you had to work hard to get sent and there weren’t cameras everywhere for retrospective action. And no player was more Shankly than St John. If there was it might have been Keegan. And he had a fight with Billy Bremner in the Charity Shield. Football. It isn’t nice. It isn’t pleasant. It isn’t genteel. And there was no golden age when it was.
I’d much rather Luis Suarez wasn’t biting people. I’d much rather he wasn’t getting himself involved in anything that detracts/distracts from what he can do with the football. And for the last ten months at Liverpool, he hasn’t. He’s been astonishingly well behaved, focussed on his game and ours, not on anything else. He’s been an even better player for that. A far more productive footballer. None of his intensity has waned in the slightest. So this isn’t a “if you take that away from his game…” thing.
Take it away from his game if you can. Please do. Ban him for a few games for certain. Take it away and ban him.
He’ll still be enthralling. He’ll still be compelling. In this most remarkable of World Cups it has only been tonight I’ve craved watching Brendan Rodgers’s Tricky Reds. Craved seeing all those lads back together led by this crazed, glorious maniac. What does that say about me?
Regardless, let me refer you to the top of this Luis Suarez think-piece. I’m not embarrassed by Luis Suarez. Nor am I defending Luis Suarez. But I remain utterly spellbound by Luis Suarez. I want two months to pass and I want to see what he does next. I’m thirty three years old. I suspect I have one more year of watching him play for my team and I suspect I will never see his like again. I want it to be the best year of my life and suddenly, still up at midnight suddenly, not going to sleep any time soon suddenly, energised by the cant of opposing supporters suddenly, provoked by a bite of all things suddenly and considering rewatching the season review suddenly, I can’t wait for it to start.
Season review? I want to watch Istanbul. Couldn’t agree with you more, well done.
Bear in mind I’m mightily pissed off that I’ve just lost a comment I posted to the podcast thread because the feckin’ captcha code was wrong, but I still think I’d write this anyway:
Sell him. Not because what he did is the worst crime ever committed by a footballer ever, nor because I’m embarrassed, or because I’ve stopped loving watching him, but because LFC deserves better. You know, I know, we all know, he’ll do this – or something like it – again. It might take 12 months or longer, it might take 12 minutes into the first game against Southampton, but it *will* happen. Like it or not, the fact this was Uruguay at the World Cup does not insulate LFC. This will affect us and our continued support for him will inform others in their perception of our club. Part of me says “fuck ’em”, but the larger part of me thinks we could do without another period where LFC fills the sports pages for all the wrong reasons.
I don’t think UEFA or the EPL have any jurisdiction and any punishment meted out to Suarez ought to affect his representation for Uruguay alone, which means he remains an attractive proposition for Real, Barca, etc.. Get maximum value now before his next transgression makes him untouchable by the world’s elite clubs and use the funds to buy 2 or 3 world-class replacements (insofar as he can be ‘replaced’).
Fail to do this, and it’s a question of when we come to regret it, not if.
Nice one, Neil. He’s a nutter, but we’ll miss him when he’s gone.
Liverpool should sell Suarez. The one proviso should be that he has to go abroad.
He’s a brilliant footballer and a reprehensible individual. I’m ashamed he wears a Liverpool shirt. If we’d won the Premiership last season it would have been forever tainted by knowing that he played a contributing factor.
Flog him abroad and shore up the defence. Yes we’ll miss his goals but that ought to be counter-balanced by the goals we ought not to concede with better players defending. We may face him in the Champions League but that’s how it goes.
All this of course presumes that there are clubs desperate and shameless enough to want him but in the age of ‘money talks’ and ‘win at all costs’ it hopefully won’t be too difficult to find buyers.
Brownie – I think the Captcha has a time limit. I did the same myself ages ago – never again! Now I always type in Notepad then if Captcha cocks up I can copy & paste the Notepad text again.
“If we’d won the Premiership last season it would have been forever tainted by knowing that he played a contributing factor.”
Jesus. That really is soft lad. If we’d have gotten over the line last season it would have been because of him and his magnificence.
Living in Buenos Aires, Argentina there is a natural bias towards Uruguay over any European team, and while there’s been shock/surprise at what our Luis has done, there’s none of the moral highground judgement that’s being dished out the British press. Suarez has made a mistake and should get a ban. End of.
How can biting someone be worse than breaking somone’s jaw/leg? My little 2-year-old does it in kindergarden once a week and my 6-year-old was bizarrely bitten in school last week after winning a game (the other girl’s dad is Uruguayan) but in terms of physical injury it was alll over in a couple of hours. Compare that to a broken jaw.
We should not sell Suarez as he’s the greatest thing that’s happened to our club in years. He pushes things to the limit and then some to win. That’s his choice and he should get penalised accordingly as in the last World Cup. Turn off talkshite and don’t follow the gospel of the tabloids. He’s only bitten someone.
The kindergarten analogy is about right. He has all the emotional intelligence and tact of a 5 year old.
Couldn’t disagree more with the previous comments. Both were spoken like true non-athletes. This is a consummate family man off the pitch we’re talking about here, not a “reprehensible human being” as softlad put it. Yes brownie, he most definitely will do something like this again, and if that puts off other teams and the media then I will bloody well will say “Fuck Em”. I’ll have this man on my team until he’s 40 if he plays with the same fire he does today, suspensions and all. Every person I’ve been involved with in sport has had a moment like this. Maybe they didn’t act on it, maybe they did, but in the heat of battle (and don’t think Luis looks at it in any other manner) testosterone can make an man do things he normally wouldn’t. Clearly when Luis get’s angry he bites people, it probably stems from his childhood or some sexual fetish I don’t want to know about. He should have about 1,000 meetings with Dr. Peters to make sure it doesn’t happen again, but if it does, I want him in a Liverpool shirt. Not because of his goals or his assists, but because in world football today, no player wants to win a match more than Luis Suarez.
a mate’s partner is into rugby. they see horrific things each week, real attempts to harm someone badly. They can’t stand the way footballers roll around on the ground and is amazed that they’re in uproar because a player has bitten someone.
The fact is football is in a rather bizarre world which is fair enough I suppose. But it makes the judging and moralising completely moronic. Danny Mills, Shearer and all those twats should go boil their heads.
Personally, I can’t believe how good Luis is to watch. I don’t think we’ll see better. Also, I can’t get as worked up about a bite as the wankers in the meda.
#
However, FSG may not want a toxic asset on their books if their sponsors don’t like it. Swap for Sanchez and Pedro? I’d take it.
Interesting little piece on it from Vice:
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/luis-suarez-why-humans-bite-humans?utm_source=vicefbanz
As long as he has another season for LFC like the last one i honestly dont give that much of a shit other than the fact that he needs some sort of help to stop him reacting like he does.
the same kind of help that others need when they react by punching, headbutting or kicking anyone on a serial basis.
Is right.
I’m shocked by the associated pictures, as that’s the first time i spotted Chiellini on his feet and not rolling round on the floor holding his face. I guess if you cry wolf enough times one will turn up and bite you.
On a side note, Suarez is obviously a little bit mental.
I said this when he refused to shake Evra’s hand, SELL HIM. He has no honour, he brings the club the wrong sort of fame, namely infamy. Have Liverpool Football Club not simply had enough of being the basket case nobody can fix? It’s almost as if we court the reputation, after 25 years of Hillsborough, the shame of Heysel, and countless other whitelinesniffing incidents why are we doing it to ourselves?! This seems masacistic, and damaged and I for one don’t enjoy seeing us constantly acting out in this broken state of mind.
Let’s get back to good, solid, no-nonsense, honest skillful football and stop desparately hanging on to this nutcase Suarez. WE DON’T need him….get the defence boxed off and give the job to Dstudge and Lambo.
of being the basket case nobody can fix? It’s almost as if we court the reputation, after 25 years of Hillsborough…
Would you care to enlighten us on what Hillsborough has to do this with? as it appears you are suggesting … the fight to bring justice to the 96 who died and the injustice meted out by the authorities and the media are something that contributes to us being a ‘basket case that no-one can fix’ rather than a true definition of honour, fighting against wrong and standing for what is right no matter what the odds stacked against you. That is a definition of honour, not shaking hands with an odious little shit.
I am giving you the benefit of the doubt about your claim to be a Liverpool fan, i think you may be just another weary troll but i will await your explanation.
Hmmm, strange how “fighting against wrong and standing for what is right no matter what the odds stacked against you.” hasn’t quite extended to when Suarez racially abuses another player?
Tell me what exactly was done to fight against that and stand for what is right? Oh yes, training in supportive t-shirts and on your part, calling the victim an odious little shit as if to dismiss any suffering on his part.
Honour is not permanent and inflexible, you can lose it very quickly.
To the original comment, why anybody needs to draw a comparison between this and Hillsborough is beyond me, they have nothing in common! It cheapens the human tragedy that was Hillsborough to lump it in with Heysel and other Suarez incidents.
Suarez probably is an alright guy off the pitch, that doesn’t make up for what he does on the pitch. As Kipling wrote, “If you can keep your head when all about you, Are losing theirs and blaming it on you . . .” could equally apply to Suarez and the media fuss created, but either way, no-one comes out looking pretty.
Suarez did not racially abuse Evra and it is not a matter of one man’s word against another. Evra’s account of multiple abuse requires a chain of events that is totally implausible, including Evra not reacting to cases 1,2,3,5,6 but going ballistic at no. 4, (2) 40,000 spectators, 35 cameras plus players and officials failing to pick it up and 3) Evra having a good reason for changing his story several times. As for the interpretation of negro, the FA was so keen on a fair trial they bought in experts in Colombian Spanish. What Suarez was claimed to have said doesn’t even exist in his language.
Suarez did, however, bite someone 3 times and has to cop what he has to cop. Personally, don’t really see what who he was playing for at the time has to do with it. A better punishment would have been to have some of the sentence suspended. As for whether it is better or worse than an elbow to the jaw, I think the spitting analogy is a good one. I was once spat at in a game – worse than having someone trying to break my leg. The ref, despite seeing the spit, only gave the bloke a yellow. The only thing that saved me in the red mist was not being sure whether to deck the player or the ref!
how about selling him to manu, park ji sung?
#Just can’t seem to get enough
Sell him because of this!? Preposterous! He’s box office, good and bad. Fortunately, mostly good. Liverpool is waiting with open arms for when he comes back, to give him a big hug and tell him everything is going to be ok. Your home now boy.
Excellently written Neil and agree with every word.
But to Softlad. You’re ashamed of him in a liverpool shirt? Have a word with yourself. Jan Molby did 3 months inside for flipping his car whilst drunk, no ones ashamed of him being a player of ours. Luis might be a bit screw loose in the head type, but he’s not out there endagering lives and careers is he. He’s just a bit mental at times when it’s not going his way.
And who would Brownie and softlad like to sell him to now at this moment in time. Because you know we tied him up to a new contract with a watertight release clause, right? We’re not going to sell him for a pittance, abroad, because a) none of them will want him again after this and b) we’re not idiots.
THis could work in our favour (bare with me here) Yet another “scandal” for him. But this should mean that he now doesn’t play again in the world cup and can fully recover for the pre-season and up coming season ahead with us. And he’s going to need to prove people wrong yet again, just like last season. Except this season he’s the mad genius who bit some italian bloke AND put england out of the world cup. You thought the xenophobic, vitriolic abuse was bad before, you wait.
And that’s when he does his magic. The more they boo him, the more the villify him in the press, the better he plays.
League and CL double next year lads. Nailed on!
I generally agree with the op but…….
What is not factored into the equation is the “money men”. The sponsors. At the end of the day do they want their brand represented in this manner? And that will affect any decision making, specially the transatlantic discussions that are reportedly going to take place today.
I believe that JWH would have tried everything to keep Luis prior to this incident. Will that be the case now? Answers on a postcard.
I think not being arsed is an acceptable standpoint.
Well, if you are totally vacuous, then yes.
I can’t be arsed with this nonsense again. It’s sullied a wonderful World Cup thus far for me and made me dread, not look forward to the season opener.
Sick of the attention, the photoshops, the media, the shite. Fucking sick of it.
You’ve hit the nail on the head with this. The guy is absolutely mental but as long as it doesn’t come back to haunt Liverpool through a ban or as a form-destroying distraction I don’t even mind. He’s one of the best players I’ve ever seen and I’m happy to have him, even with his strange vices.
This is being written while not knowing the extent of the action FIFA might take, there is legislative scope for a total football ban, even if that might seem unlikely.
One has to consider the positions of all the players (the er stakeholders!), the club as represented primarily by John W henry and Tom Werner, the club CEO Ian Ayre, the manager Brendan Rodgers and finally the player Luis Suarez. Any some or all could decide that its time to move him along. The owners, CEO and manager will no doubt be wondering just how much time and energy they wasted last summer on his failed rehabilitation and just how much more time and energy they could expel this summer on same.
The owners might decide that all thing considered the value of keeping him no longer outweighs the his possibly monetary value. While the release clause value is about 3 times what Liverpool purchased Suarez for the players written down book value after three and a half years of an initial 4.5 year contract is no more than 5 million pounds so its not as if Liverpool have not got pretty good value out of him already . Even as a ‘damaged’ high risk player he can still fetch a handsome amount if not the release clause amount and the club might happy enough
to sell rather than get the maximum possible. One could even make a case that if the ban is at international level only and it extends over 1 year or more that Suarez will be fresher for his club (whichever it may be) and so is worth the clause valuation.
Speaking of clauses had I been LFC I’d have inserted a NO BITING provision which if invoked would allow the club or cancel a contract without prejudice or to sell an asset to whoever for whatever amount. At least LFC would have some option for speedy and cost free action if the very worst happened and a total ban occurred.
Once, I can forgive an incident like this. Twice, I think that he needs psycholgical help. Three times? No. Not a chance. Had this been Roy Keane or Gazza they’d have locked him up and thrown away the key. I love passionate footballers but there is no excuse for this. Shankly would’ve shipped him off to Leeds. I haven’t forgotten that he’s a racist either.
except even the FA report said that he wasn’t a racist.
And there was no proof to support Evra’s accusations.
He’s clearly not racist and i have my doubts you are actually a liverpool fan. Watch the way sterling jumps into his arms after he scores a goal and watch suarez’s reaction and tell me that doesn’t say a lot more about his attitude to race than some dickhead from a rival club trying to get him banned.
As for his biting, I can’t deny that it is strange. But we can all get into some pretty strange habits from time to time. Don’t see how it is any worse then getting frustrated and elbowing someone in the head or diving into a tackle though. He shouldn’t let his tensions build up to that level but I think he feels pretty shit about it afterwards. I just wished he would own up to it and say “sorry, I don’t really know what the fuck happened” instead of pretending like it didn’t.
roy keane? ‘wild tackles, stamping on players, elbowing etc.’ roy keane??? ‘trying to injured a fellow pro intentionally’ roy keane?
paul gascoine? the ‘self abusive addict’ gascoine? ‘the wife beating’ gascoine?
they faced fines, cautions, match bans. not locked up.
all i’m seeing from this issue are how hypocrite the brits are…
p.s. you might want to read the fa report. a bit long, yes, but at least it will stop you looking stupid with that kind of comment.
Fantastic piece. Can’t wait either.
Great piece, Neil. Just reading the comments, you can really tell those who take on board what’s written in the press, on Twitter and by opposing fans and those who don’t.
Spot on, Neil. I love this guy. He’s mental. Liverpool is mental. Bitter twats preaching all around. Ban him. Couldnt care less. He’s our No.7 and I wouldnt swap him for anyone on earth.
Hang on. You’re vacuous if you’re not arsed? Where have you got that from?
Look at the facts. Man bites man. Man gets banned.
It ends there.
Forgive me for not engaging in the saccharine process of hand-wringing and mock outrage. No one’s ‘that’ arsed. People are disappointed in his behaviour because he plays for us – I get that – but being compared with ‘rape apologists’, calling for deportation etc? Jesus. He bit someone. He’ll do the crime. We move on.
People are sleeping fine. They’re only ‘appalled’ because it makes them feel good to have a dig at Liverpool. I’m not engaging with people like that. It comes back to the same points I made at the start of this post.
I got told to ‘hang my head in shame’ over this. Why?
Luis Suarez is a bit (ha!) of a prick.We get it. He’ll do his time. That’s it. Everything else is joyful fingerpointing and mock horror.
Sometimes being not arsed is fine. You don’t have to have an opinion either way.
vacuous
1. having or showing a lack of thought or intelligence; mindless.
“Sometimes being not arsed is fine. You don’t have to have an opinion either way.”
You’re vacuous because you display wilful ignorance and a total lack of nuance in your thought. No wonder you were so clueless about Brendan Rodgers, too.
“Look at the facts. Man bites man. Man gets banned.
It ends there.”
Proper philosopher you.
I’m not a LFC fan, but my brother is a season ticket holder and sent me the link to this blog a while back. Always an interesting read and I think the author has got it spot on. I also think the array of different opinions makes sense. I feel sorry for Liverpool on this one. It’s not their fault and yet come September Suarez will be harangued wherever he goes. More worrying, he’s as serial offender so he WILL do it or something similar again. Imagine it happens in the extreme tension of a Champions League knock out match and he is subsequently banned. You need all your best players on the pitch as I suspect Uruguay will soon find out despite their protestations. I’d cash in now, lots of good talent on show in Brazil. Go shopping!
Ah, you just wanted to pursue an agenda.
Carry on.
None of it really matters.
He’s a Barcelona player now and we get Alexis Sanchez, who I believe has never bitten anyone.
Let’s hope so.
Suarez’ should be banned at least 10 games from international football. That being said, I know why he does it, to him not being allowed to win is a personal offense, not a profesional competition.
Football got him out the streets of Montevideo and was his means to reunite with his boyhood love, Sofia, who moved to Barcelona when Luis played for Nacional youth team (and was the typical lazy talent who woudn’t make it).
La pelota gave him a chance in life, to the family and to the friends he has today and without excusing his mistakes I believe it is fair to say his desperate reactions come from trauma in his formative years, where failing in football would mean going back to sweeping the streets and washing dishes in taverns for a few coins and no hope of ever seeing Sofia or the Balbi family (who helped him before moving to Europe) again.
He can’t lose football matches since this feeling is so engraved and pierced in the back of his mind, as he has declared before.
And just for the sake of my emotional state: Barry Brooks are you for real!?
Even Evra, the FA and the kick it out campaign president said he wasn’t a racist you sad s*n-reading bum!
A point that appears to be being overlooked is what happened immediately after the biting incident took place. There was the usual rolling about on the floor which is just written off as being part of the game today but there was also the clutching of his mouth and the check he made on his teeth. He bit the bloke. Everyone in this thread would appear to agree on that point even his supporters. Not Suarez though. After the match away from the heat of battle he was translated by BBC News as saying either “I collided with his shoulder. It drove me a little crazy too but these things happen on the pitch” or “He struck me with his shoulder and hit me in the eye.” Either statement show the man is also a liar and a cheat. And when it comes to things happening on the pitch, there’s only one player with a known record for for biting – Suarez.
‘Fan’ is short for fanatic and there’s lots of football fans about. In the same way that there is no reasoning with a religious fanatic so it is with football fanatics. There are plenty of Liverpool fans who don’t want Suarez to go under any circumstances because he’s such a fantastic footballer. Try reasoning with them re his previous abhorrent behaviour and you might as well talk to the wall. One fan reaction has been that his extreme behaviour is seen as being an example of his commitment to winning. Bobby Moore evidently had it all wrong – the slacker.
Being a supporter, as opposed to a fan, I can see that Suarez is talented beyond belief but I can also see how he tarnishes the club with his carry-on, whether that behaviour is with Liverpool or Uruguay. He made it embarrassingly clear he wanted away last year and then realised that his stock was rapidly falling due to his attitude and past misdemeanours. If others wish to make out that he stayed on due to some sort of loyalty to the club then let them have their fan delusion.
Sully – you’ve no idea if I’m an athlete or not. Further to that, a person doesn’t need to have ANY sporting background to know that biting people is wrong. His having a wife and a child doesn’t have any baring on the point at hand. I stated he was a “reprehensible individual” but you’ve somehow managed to make that ‘’reprehensible human being”. Why, with copy & paste readily available to all, I don’t know.
“He should have about 1,000 meetings with Dr. Peters to make sure it doesn’t happen again, but if it does, I want him in a Liverpool shirt.” Spoken like a true fan.
Phil Skyrme – “.…no ones ashamed of him being a player of ours.” Really? It’s interesting that you feel that you can speak with authority for all the people that follow LFC. Your post that is fan talk from beginning to end.
Win at all costs is the fans mantra, the fans who cannot see the wood for the trees.
I’m made up with anyone who has said he’s ‘ruined’ this World Cup for them because it’s weeded you out as someone who doesn’t deserve to enjoy this World Cup in the first place. In his two games we’ve seen the best and worst of him and all he’s done in the grand scheme of things is add to what’s been the most entertaining World Cup I can ever remember watching. I wish he’d have just done something less discreet like Alex Song’s mad elbow. Equally as funny, a red, only a 3 match ban and it doesn’t give a load of idiots in a studio an excuse to not talk about the state of England’s performance in this tournament and the manager’s culpability.
Anyone who has said he’s ‘disgraced the club’ for them is having their opinion influenced by Chiles and Winter, Shearer and Holt, Wright and Cross, and doesn’t deserve the jubilation the rest of us will feel when he scores 35 goals in 38 games to a league title next season.
He’s this generation’s Maradona, not Messi: handball off the line rather than over Shilton’s head, bites a few people rather than being a fat coke head. And he plays for Liverpool.
I agree with Neil. Ronaldo and Messi have done Suarez’s last season over and over again in terms of goals and influence but never with that breakneck excitement. He’s Dalglish talent with Souness maniacal intensity. He’s a one off and you’ll regret not enjoying him while you still can.
To answer your first question “Is there more to say?”.
Yes. Just add “for the third time” to the end of this sentence “Luis Suarez has bitten an opposing player”.
Context matters.
It didn’t even break the skin of Chiellini FFS – shouldn’t have done it, did do it, so what?
Rijkard spat in Voller’s hair at least twice, Zidane hedbutted a bloke in the chest in the final, Michael Owen dived to win us a penalty against Argentina – spitting, assault and lying all bad along with biting (although he didn’t break the skin so its more a nibble) ban him the jnext game and move on.
Oh and Sanchez…yes please…
I’ve been thinking, perhaps LFC should mould a life size Ivanovic out of nougat and place it in the dressing room pre-match, sit it on the bench during games and force him to have a little nibble at half time. I love the mad b*stard but he’s not going to stop biting people so we need to give him something else to munch on.
Also, if we make the nougat mannequin infused with brittle sugary pieces we could call him Brandysnap Ivanovic and sell miniature versions to kids on match days… could be a real money spinner. I hope you’re reading this Ayre, make it happen.
The faux outrage from the media in this country makes me laugh. I can understand it from rival fans I would probably be the same but the righteous indignation from the English media is a joke. Talkshite are the worst that Mark Saggers goes all 1950’s headmaster over shit like this.
To Barry Brooks (and the other Man Utd supporters urging proposing Suarez should be sold):
Either you haven’t fully understood how good Suarez actually is, or you have. As Neil rightly pointed out in his article, morality doesn’t come into this. Luis once again lost his self-control after a full season of good, mature behaviour. He’s kept his wild behaviour caged up for quite some time, probably with a lot of help from Steve Peters. But it’s undeniable that it’s the same wild beast within Suarez that makes him such a phenomenal, sublime player, unlike any other.
Suarez should be punished for what he did playing for Uruguay against Italy, there’s no doubt about that. But it should have nothing to do with his future Liverpool career, however long or short that may prove to be.
Incisive.
Here all week, try the Meat Loaf.
Loved that Craig, I would buy one of them. In addition to many sessions with Dr Peters, or Spanish speaking equivalent, I think LFC should reach out to Mike Tyson for advice/help/empathy
If LFC play this right, can be a blessing in disguise, get him help, stand by him, watch repay loyalty in spades, also incident should put off ‘circling’ Barca and Real who will be concerned with their image.
Columbia will also be happy.
I was at the Dinamo Bucharest game when Souness chinned the guy. The guy deserved it for the crap he was dishing out. I was glad that one of our world class players could take care of himself and the rest of the lads, although that team of ours was as hard as nails. I watched Souey throughout his Liverpool career and he certainly dished out some absolutely dreadful tackles. But he was our player and we loved him. As for Luis, he has temper issues and could do with having the sorted out. So he gave Chiellini a bite – nasty, silly, emabarrassing, certainly. Worse than Souey’s right hook? No way. Can’t wait to see him next season.
I’m just sick of him at this stage. If any other club is still willing to put crazy money on the table, just take it and run. Move on.
Before this incident, him and his entourage were starting the same transfer noises as last year and you just know he’s going to move as soon as he gets the chance.
Chuff off with yourself say I
You know there are some people (media types included)who swear they saw blood dripping from Ivanovic’ s arm after the last incident.I’m not condoning any of this behaviour;though I’ve always supported him in the past.
According to reports the police visited Ivanovic the following day but saw no evidence of bite marks and Ivanovic declined to press charges.
I’ve been bitten a few times.It’s a bit like being pinched.But your skin is just slightly red after it and you certainly can’t see teeth marks because they disappear rapidly if they appear at all.Believe it or not it’s extremely difficult to bite through human flesh unless you’re a Bengal Tiger or an Alligator.The chances are your teeth would fall out first.
Now I’m not condoning any of this behaviour and I’m more than suspicious about the timing of this incident coming on the back of reports that Suarez is again tired of the British media after they feted him as Footballer of the Year.
But I’ve watched football for donkey’ s years and I’ve seen frustrated players lash out with heads,boots fists and elbows.Mostly there is no visual evidence of injury.
But I can tell you this;when you see the Photoshopped images of Chielini with his shirt pulled down over his shoulder,you see obvious teeth marks.in the time it takes him to complete that gesture any possible teeth marks would have disappeared completely.The only possible alternative would have been his shoulder dripping with blood and Suarez on his hands and knees looking for his missing teeth.
It was stupid gesture on the part of Suarez and not something I condone for a moment.
But come on! Let’s get some perspective here.
Hang on…he has a nibble now and then. What’s all the fucking fuss about? I’d give my eye teeth to……nah that’s not gonna work
Actually, here’s a serious point. Wife came home tonight, starting giving me grief over Suarez. I said what’s worse, Eduardo’s injury or a bite, she dodged. I said what’s worse, broken nose or a bite, dodged again. Eye gouge or a bite, dodged again,,, and kept banging on about biting. Then I remembered she bit me a few years ago when I came home after a really garlicy kebab. On the arse. Mentioned this. Silence.
So context, and more importantly, perspective, is what is really missing here, Chiellini could play tomorrow, Eduardo missed 2 years…Keane ended Hangeland’s career, Irwin ended Busst’s…so if you are banging on about how bad the guy is, I would suggest you weigh the consequences to the injured party against what happened to those guys above, and look at the punishment meted out for what happened to them. Get some perspective people, he didn’t tear an arm off.
And Arsenal didn’t give a shit when he had done it twice, they still offered a king’s ransom for him. So seriously, he’s bit a couple of people…ever see a cauliflower ear? That doesn’t happen naturally. Gonads have been ripped out in rugby matches ffs.
And these captchas are gettiin on my tits.
ferd
Have you ever been spat at? Do you really think a bit of phlegm is worse than a kick in the shins, or a bit of an elbow to the jaw? it shouldn’t be, should it, but it is. It just is. Which is why you can remember Rijkaard spitting at Voeller in Italia ’90 but can’t remember a single bad tackle from the same game.
When I step out on football field there are certain things I either expect to happen (sly kicks and digs) or know I at least run the risk of happening (broken bones, maybe even a black eye), but I don’t expect to be bitten. I don’t expect that on the pitch any more than I expect to be fisted.
So this ‘hierarchy of misdemeanour’ schtick isn’t fooling anybody. It’s like defending the actions of a drunk-driver on the basis he isn’t a rapist. But for the record, I would like to see retrospective action against players who play fast and loose with the careers of their fellow professionals, but it’s possible to think that without the need to hide from the implications of what Suarez has just done. For the third time.
Well, in the interests of consistency, yes, I have been spat at. It’s highly unpleasant, but it’s not life or career threatening. It just isn’t. And why can we remember Rijkaard spitting on Voeller? Well, because it’s been repeated so much on television is one of the reasons why, and because it pushes a button in us…an irrational button, but a button nevertheless. Keane’s “tackle” on Hangeland, Shearer’s attempted booted ‘beheading’ of Neil Lennon, Harte’s kick to Berkovich’s head and hundreds of other incidents which resulted in actual physical damage to the victim, sometimes extremely serious, we don’t see so much, and perhaps it’s just as well considering the reaction that has occured to this non-event.
I like your drunk driver/rapist comparison, but can you not take it a little bit further, because apparently this debate has not seen enough hyperbole yet. I guess my next comparison should probably involve mass murder and Nazis, to take it to its ultimate conclusion, fisting aside.
I guess your ‘hierarchy of misdemeanour’ argument would probably hold water if the concept didn’t actually exist in the real world, because thankfully the justice system outside the football bubble actually considers the consequences of actions when considering punishment. Not convinced? Then consider Craig Bellamy’s £1800 court fine for pushing a woman down a flight of stairs, versus Sol Campbell’s £80000 FA fine for flicking Solskjaer in the face.
I expect the total loss of perspective you appear to have undergone is another one of the things you expect to happen when you “step out” on a football field.
“Well, because it’s been repeated so much on television is one of the reasons why,”
Keep, going, you’re nearly there…and why is it repeated on TV? Because it’s considered beyond the pale, perhaps?
You appear to be a bit confused about my thinking on this leg-breaker versus a bit of biting/spitting thing. I refer you to my comment that made it clear I’d be more than happy to see the career-ending stuff reviewed and retrospective action taken because tend to agree we don’t have our moral compasses calibrated correctly. But even if that were to happen, it would do nothing to change the reaction to the leftfield non-career-threatening stuff – like biting and spitting – that you describe as “irrational”…a strange choice of word given there’s nothing more irrational than for a grown-man playing a physical, professional sport to vent his frustrations by chomping down on his opponent. This is view taken by just about any sport you care to mention, viz Dylan Hartley copping a bigger ban for biting Stephen Ferris (8 weeks) than the 2 weeks he got for punching Rory Best, etc.. So give it a whirl the next Sunday morning league game you play: kick one bloke in the shins in the first half, and in the next spit in the face of another opponent. When the second guys chins you, be sure to tell him about his “loss of perspective”.
Incidentally, I have a mate whose dad was a copper and he had to retire after contracting hepatitis B following a bite from a bloke he was attempting to arrest. I’d call that “career-ending”.
(BTW, criticising an analogy for “hyperbole” because the comparative absolutes are of a different order of magnitude to the referenced subjects means you don’t understand what an analogy is. Indeed, a hyperbolic example is often the best tool to illustrate the point being made, which in this case is that attempting to downplay the actions of Suarez on the basis that he at least didn’t commit something you subjectively determine to be worse, is no argument at all.)
At this point I worry about the reputation of the club and fans before Luis Suarez. Our previous best ever player was a dignified, loyal and canny Scot who earned lifetimes of our love for this respect and compassion for the club. He is rightfully revered as a player and as a man. Now our best player will be remembered for biting (three times), racial abuse, diving, feigning injury, stamping and trying to engineer an exit from the club. This is our new hero. The guy who fills us with pride. The guy who represents our qualities and values. The guy who we show to our children of what it means to be Liverpool. I seriously don’t care what Cantona did 20 years ago, or Roy Keane for that matter. Players come and go but the club remains. We need to define our standards as a club and even if we keep him we should remind ourselves that he is just our employee. A wonderfully talented one but a wonderfully talented employee who would actually prefer working elsewhere. We’ve given him everything but he has refused to accept our standards. If we keep him it’s because we sold our souls to the devil for 30 goals a year. Fair enough, but please please please stop elevating him to hero status or the legacy of the club suffers. Please.
I’m not embarrassed by Luis Suarez – he’s a grown man and responsible for his own actions – but I am embarrassed by some of the comments on this thread, especially the suggestion that anyone who has come to the conclusion that the cons now outweigh the pros is a closet ManU fan or has been swayed by whatever shite the media pack have produced that day. Perish the thought that it might actually be possible to think that enough is enough and STILL have the best interests of the club at heart…and yes, even STILL love the player.
I haven’t seen anyone claim that Suarez is likely to have learned his lesson and that future transgressions are unlikely. There’s universal acceptance that it’s more or less inevitable there’s another shitstorm ahead, it’s just a question of when it hits. Maybe Suarez needs to do something that loses us a game we are winning rather than confirms a defeat before the message hits home? In fact, maybe that’s already happened in the season just gone when, for all his brilliance, his unavailability for our first 5 EPL games may have contributed to us dropping 5 points against Swansea and Southampton, points that would have won us the title? Of course, this is purely hypothetical; we’ll never know whether his presence would have made a difference, and the reason we’ll never know is because he was sat in the stands having bitten an opposition player for the second time in his career. We don’t know, and it’s his fault we don’t know.
I supported Suarez and Kenny over the Evra thing because to this day I cannot fathom how his guilt could be established on the basis of word against word, and I still thought he was worth persevering with after the Ivanovic bite. But I’ve now had my bellyful. My patience would be worn even if this wasn’t a player who tried to engineer a move from LFC last year, will do so again this and, if unsuccessful, will do so again next. Gerrard still cops pelters for his so-called “treachery” for considering a move to Chelsea after the club fucked him about over a new contract but somehow Suarez is entitled to our undying love even when the club’s unstinting support for the player is repaid by yet another act of self-indulgence and another load of cobblers from agents and advisers that he instructs. WTF is that about?
I still love Suarez the player, but I don’t love him more than this club of ours. And if you think “morality doesn’t come into it”, try picturing John Terry in a Liverpool shirt.
Agreed. Whatever side you choose in this argument, and there’s a case for supporting him were he to commit to therapy (he won’t, unless his wife makes him) , its beyond belief that people should question one’s loyalties for having the nerve to hold an opinion. That is the sort of behaviour one expects of totalitarian regimes, not genuine football supporters.
In the end, the people I feel most sorry for are Suarez, and, more particularly his family. Imagine how they must be feeling right now (having heard the judgement I also feel very sorry for Brendan Rodgers and all those who offered support last season).
I think it’s time to sell and move on. As a player, we’ve probably got to see the best of him. It’s just getting embarrassing now, though.
How are we ever going to tell anyone with a straight face that no player is bigger than the club, if he is kept on after this? He doesn’t even want to be here and we were only ever a stepping-stone to one of the two clubs that every South American really dreams of playing for.
An incredible talent – the most naturally talented player we have ever had – but, he’s making us look like a real small time outfit right now. He’s a coward, a liar and a cheat. He never learns because people just fall over themselves to make excuses for him. He’s turned our club into a circus.
In 7 or 8 years, he will have retired. Hopefully, the club will still be going strong hundreds of years from now and will still stand for certain values. Everyone wants to see the world’s best players at Anfield, but not at any price surely?
Some fans are still in denial and this is understandable given the hit we have taken in the last few days. Not only are we going to lose the player, we now probably won’t be compensated for it. However, the new valuation will be the true one. He pulled the wool over the world’s eyes in the last year. We all got suckered-in and have all been made to look a bit foolish.
Time is a great healer though and the club will outlive us all.
I just wanted to add one more thing. When I said that we would not be compensated, I didn’t mean that he is going to leave for nothing. He, obviously, is still going to be seen by certain clubs as still worth spending a vast sum of money on.
I really wish we were able to just sack him though. To end his contract and just let him walk for nothing. Basically, it would be saying to other clubs that he’s not good enough to wear our shirt. If he’s good enough to wear yours, then offer him a job.
For me, that would be a bigger powerplay than winning any trophy. I know there is zero chance that is going to happen and it’s hopeless idealism, but I genuinely wish it could.
Because, it would be pure class – and pure style.
It would be showing the world that we have something that can’t be found anywhere else and it isn’t for sale. Not a player. Players come and go. Something much more. Something they’ll never have. Something they’ll never even truly understand.
The Champions League? They gave one of those pots to Chelsea. You probably remember watching the final. Did you go to bed feeling any differently about them, than when you woke up that day?
Thank you Neil. You always know just what to say. In TAW we trust.
I was dissapointed by Chiellini who came out crying like a baby after the game, whatever happened to the footballl mantra “what happens on the pitch stays on the pitch” and for an italian to be calling another pro “a sneak” well pot and kettle me thinks.
Your article summed up the issue perfectly, COYG
Great piece. Its simple as that, he did wrong, hand down the proper punishment and move on. Theres a culture of witch hunting in todays society. People are calling for a lifetime ban on him. Some saying he should be banned for a whole season domestically. What nonsense. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying hes innocent. Its just I’ve seen players break others noses, legs, assault refs and even fans (eric cantona), no1s called for lifetime bans in those cases.
Let’s be honest here.
I LOVE this story.
WE ALL LOVE this story.
And yes I am speaking on behalf of the entire human population.
Football is drama, this is drama. It sells papers, puts eyeballs on blogs, retweets tweets. We haven’t stopped talking about it and at the end of it all we want to watch this absolute genius and nutcase go again just to see what he’ll do.
Will he score 4 goals, lob the keeper on his line? or will he insert weird shaped fruit into another player while pretending to be injured. I don’t know but I’m sure as hell excited to find out.
He is mental.
And I can’t help finding the situation comical – of all the things he could do he managed to find something that really messes with our heads. Technically not ‘serious’ but a massive taboo that is hard to distinguish from ‘serious’.
I’m not sure ‘selling’ solves the ‘problem’ for us, him or anybody else other than the ‘something must be done about it’ brigade.
Neils is a credible hypothesis, but its just that, a hypothesis. And yes something must be done about it: having said that those best placed to do something about it are Suarez Uruguay and Liverpool.
How broad are our shoulders ? How far does YNWA stretch ? Is this better as somebody else’s problem ?
This is a brilliant article and a brilliant thread. I suppose I’m of the not ‘that’ arsed brigade, but with a twist – I’d already lived the moral outrage bit with the Ivanovich, weirdly because I just decided then and there, that Evra was probably telling the truth – I’m not interested in what can be ‘proved’ etc. with this, I know and spouted all the arguments along with every other red, and it doesn’t even make any logical sense that one incident has any baring on another, but I’m not trying to persuade anyone on it, it’s just a decision I came to in my head, either you believe Suarez on this, or you don’t – and after months of battles with family and friends, I’m from a mixed family, I finally ‘realized’ ‘yes, he probably did say all that nasty shit to Evra, and I’ve never been able to love him since.
Once I was reconciled with who he is – and let me be honest, I was glad that Reds in general were able to love him, because I know that made a difference this season – and I always new, under the right conditions he’s likely to do something mad again, I was not in the least ‘outraged’ on hearing what he’d done. If I’m honest, and I accept this is speaking from a deeply cynical perspective, I was actually quite glad – I thought that it would put off BFC & RM from pursuing him.
I do though like the arguments of those that are arguing ‘against Suarez’, it speak of a bigger LFC that I think somewhere deep down we all aspire to, whether we see it as idealised or not. Special mention to Dee, a poignant and eloquent addition to the debate. Also some need to chill out on the superfan bit, it is possible to be a fervent supporter of LFC and not be ‘backing Suarez’ ones commitment, doesn’t need to be questioned.
Lastly, on the biting thing, I’m a big UFC fan also, and in the 3 ish years I’ve been hooked on it, and with guys literally being put in holds designed to send you unconscious, I don’t know of one biting incident. I don’t think anyone is arguing that biting is ‘worse’ than breaking someone’s jaw, but as Brownie pointed out, it is different. And as so, it is ‘newsworthy’, not as newsworthy as it’s being made out to be, admittedly, but there is no point in any of us trying to diminish the ‘strangeness’ of Suarez habitual biting.
My biggest embarrassment comes from comments from Liverpool fans at this point. We actually don’t need to defend him. We have no obligation to do so. It wasn’t on our watch this time and we’ve bent over backwards to improve his reputation and standing in world football. It’s up to the Uruguayans to defend him and come up with conspiracy theories.
To be honest if he hadn’t bitten the last guy and Real had come in for him last year he wouldn’t even be an employee of Liverpool Football Club right now. He was probably trying to engineer a move away from Liverpool this summer before he bit someone. This only makes it more definite that he’s played his last match for us. It’s close to being someone else’s problem now.
Why must we trifle with our good name to defend him? We don’t and can’t control his behaviour. It’s not in line with the ethos of the club, diving, feigning injury, kicking out, refusing to shake hands, biting. It’s not the behaviour we expect of our club. We have to draw a line without shoehorning other players and other clubs into the debate. There are some infringements which are just… unmanly. Underhand. Bitchy. Spitting, scratching, pinching, biting, its all so un-Liverpool.
Let someone else less noble than us have their club ridiculed while they slavishly search for a convoluted justification or excuse for his behaviour thousands of miles away. He’s not our child, no more so than El-Hadj Diouf was. He’s our employee. If the police come sniffing for an employee you only can support him so far even if he has been one of our best employees ever. And if we decide to keep him on be honest enough to admit that you’re keeping him on due to his ability and not as some noble gesture or as some balance to past issues for other teams.
It’s time for Luis to walk. Alone.
Couldn’t agree more. A fantastic player but where do you draw the line?
Still love him now? The man is an utter disgrace.
Still laughing about it? Thought so.
If the comments above are anything to go by then it might be time to sell. The supporters have finally united after years of acrimony and division, we don’t need this.
No-one player, no matter how exceptional, is bigger than the club. I do, however, accept that its a complex case. Biting is nowhere near as bad as a career ending tackle, but who’s to say that won’t be next? And it is bad. He’s one of the best players I’ve seen in a Liverpool shirt, but he’s in need of serious help. If he commits to that I’d be happy to keep him, rehabilitation is preferable to condemnation after all, (let he who is without sin etc etc) but I don’t think he will, and he’ll always want to play in Spain, so if we can sell him, we should cut our losses. If FSG were smart, they’d have inserted a clause in his contract with regard to behaviour likely to damage the cub.
You’re wrong about Shanks, Neil. He’d have kicked Suarez out last season. He wouldn’t countenance a player flirting with another club. I don’t think he’d have been overly fond of the biting either. He was very protective of the club and the city.
I,m still not sure what to think. He was stupid and needs to be punished. But the sanctimonious UK media piss me off.
In the England team touring down under wasva player who has been banned for eye gouging, biting, punching a player off the ball. WTF? I must have missed that campaign to have him exiled to a desert island. Twats the lot of them
If he plays and scores like he did last season after a ban, he can bite someone every year for all I care.
+1 Murf buries it in the net. Why shouldn’t we also adopt the morals of the press?
When Alpay had that altercation with Beckham years ago, Aston Villa got rid of him asap. No excuses, just got him out. That’s how to do it.
By excusing his previous actions, you already have.
This is probably the best peice I have read on the whole affair so far: http://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/columnists/donal-og-cusack/donal-og-cusack-suarez-is-just-another-crazy-mixed-up-kid-not-a-bad-person-273535.html
Agreed. Thanks for the link.