The spotlight has been on Suarez a lot for the past year or so after the whole Patrice Evra racism affair, Suarez has claimed his innocence ever since the incident claiming it as a 'cultural misunderstanding' (which is still debated due to Evra's testimony inwhich he claims Suarez called him a 'negro' five times) - which is understandable, if in Uruguay you can call someone a 'nigretto' as Suarez claims, and it's not construde as racist or offensive then that's all well and good, but we are not in Uruguay, we are in England where racism has been a problem that's been highlighted for a while, especially in football. The issues with Anton Ferdinand & John Terry has exclaimed the point that the 'Kick It Out' campaign, while being well meaning, hasn't really quite nailed home the idea of the campaign which was to get racism out of football. Rio Ferdinand and Jason Roberts recent refusal against the campaign by not wearing the t-shirts is further evidence that the campaign hasn't quite worked as the FA had hoped. The problem surrounding Serbia in recent weeks following Danny Rose's sending off after his reaction to racial abuse to the England U-21's squad has shown that it is not just a problem in England but in Europe as a whole.
Suarez's career has been blotted with sour incidents though, not just the Evra saga; the many times he's been criticised for diving and unsportmanship - the many dives he's been booked for or fouls that haven't been given in his favour due to him being seen as the boy who cried wolf, not to mention the shocking dive he performed against Stoke in a 0 - 0 draw a few weeks ago, the mock dive celebration this weekend against Everton after David Moyes' comments in midweek & Suarez also received a seven-game ban in 2010 for biting PSV Eindhoven midfielder Otman Bakkal's shoulder, at the time Suarez also had a one-game suspended ban hanging over his head following a red card in July 2010's Dutch season opener - the Johan Cruyff Bowl.
Now I would like to concentrate on Suarez's footballing aspects because there is no doubting he is a world class footballer. He is probably Liverpool's most effective and dangerous player going forward, his playing style is fast, powerful and he is a direct player who likes to make things happen. His creativity and unpredictability make him one of the toughest players to face but he has one fatal flaw in his game, his conversion rate for chances since he joined Liverpool has been pretty poor. He has scored 29 goals in 65 games for Liverpool but had his ability to take chances been better, that number could be a lot greater. He has the versatility to play behind the target-man or as a lone striker, but for me Suarez would be a player who could be greater utilised as a winger, because of his low-centre of gravity and ability to beat opponents with consummate ease with pace and trickery. If Liverpool could sign a striker with an outstanding eye for goal, it could be the perfect catalyst for Suarez and Liverpool to hit the dizzying heights of old. He also has a manager who can utilise his style of play in Brendan Rodgers, Rodgers being a manager whose philosophy is to play the ball on the floor and build up play as well as the fast counter-attacking play everyone witnessed from his time at Swansea, which suits Suarez down to the ground. The players around Suarez are varied in talent, on the down side you have players like the ineffective Stewart Downing and overpriced Jordan Henderson, but if Liverpool could build their team around good, solid players such as Joe Allen, Raheem Sterling and their centre-back pairing then they have the potential to challenge once again.
If Suarez can cut out the negativity which seems to follow him on a football pitch and Liverpool can make more signings to suit and compliment him while playing then Liverpool have every chance of challenging, and Suarez could have the potential of being the best player in the league.
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