Suarez bites back

Luis Suarez has hit the headlines again this week, however, this time it was for all the right reasons after two goals in a week helped Liverpool climb to the top of the Premier League, albeit for probably only 24 hours with Arsenal and Tottenham yet to play this weekend.

It was the Uruguayans first Premier League appearance at Anfield since April after serving a ten match ban for biting the arm of Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic, nevertheless, Suarez continued his impressive form this season by netting in the 16th minute as Liverpool swept past a sinking Crystal Palace ship.

In a one sided first half it was the 'SAS' partnership of Suarez and Sturridge who tore the Eagles apart, before captain Steven Gerrard crashed home his 99th Premier League goal from the penalty spot to give Brendan Rodgers's side a unassailable 3-0 lead at the break.

Coincidentally in Suarez's last fixture at Anfield it was against a London side (Chelsea) and both him and Sturridge were on the score sheet, of course this game didn't see Suarez chomp on the arm of a player, despite him looking hungry for goals.

Liverpool will also be boosted by the return of their King Kenny, who on Friday announced he was returning to the club as a Non-exec director. The sight of Kenny Dalglish back at Anfield brings about immense happiness to the fans of the red side of Merseyside, even more so while they sit at the top of the Premier League.

Suarez has shown two impressive performances in the Premier League against Sunderland and Crystal Palace and despite bigger tests to come, there is a real belief amongst supporters that he is back to his best and he has put the past behind him.

One Liverpool fan told Everything Sport that Suarez was 'firing on all cylinders again'.

"Luis is the best striker in the Premier League. I know it's only been two games but he is firing on all cylinders again and he is putting in a shift for the team."

Despite a growing belief that the damaged love affair between Suarez and Liverpool is coming to an end, newspaper rumours wont go away that the striker is waiting on a move to Real Madrid in January.

That speculation was fired even more on Saturday morning as Suarez's Uruguay teammate Edinson Cavani said Suarez was 'still hoping for a move to Madrid.' Whether or not Liverpool would sell or in fact if Suarez will go remains unclear, however, the striker is back to his best and alongside Sturridge, Liverpool could remain in the title hunt for some time yet.

Is Suarez back to his best? Are Sturridge and Suarez the best Premier League partnership? And will Suarez leave Liverpool in January and join Real Madrid? Let us know your thoughts by commenting below or tweeting @RyanDay100

Top two? Your having a laugh........surely?

This week Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers claimed that the club should be looking to finish higher than fourth and instead should be chasing Manchester City in second.

Those comments came just one day before Liverpool crashed to an humiliating 3-1 home defeat to Aston Villa who before the clash at Anfield found themselves struggling in 17th place in this seasons Premier League. So what can Liverpool fans really expect for the remainder of the 2012-2013 season?

It has been a difficult few years now for the Reds on and off the field of play and most Liverpool fans want stability at the club, but is that enough? Rodgers took over the reigns of one of the biggest clubs in Europe who appeared to be on their last legs. Liverpool had finished eighth the previous season and even club legend Kenny Dalglish could not provide the magic spark to blast the sleeping giants into good form.

Many fans argue that Dalglish was making a difference and a League Cup last season was proof of that argument, however that sits uneasy with me as Liverpool just were not performing in the league and an eighth placed finish was not good enough. Another disappointment during the second coming of Dalglish was his willingness to spend large amounts of money on average players. £35 Million on Andy Carroll and £20 Million on Jordan Henderson clear proof.

So what has Rodgers done differently? In all honestly not a lot. Liverpool have endured their worst start to a Premier League season and still find themselves in the bottom half of the table as we approach Christmas. Rodgers has no right to demand his side chase second place and should firmly set his sights on ensuring his side qualify for European football next season.

I am not knocking Rodgers for showing a bit of outward belief in himself and his players and in fact it should be applauded that he has the courage to make such bold statements, however he is only adding pressure to his already broad shoulders as Liverpool fans have a tendency to get carried away, something I fear Rodgers latest comments could spark, however Saturdays defeat at home to Villa would have brought some Liverpool fans back to earth rather swiftly.

Rodgers must buy in the January window, but he must buy players that will perform in the Premier League and the likes of Fernando Llorente, Daniel Sturridge and Darren Bent all fit into that bracket. Liverpool need to rebuild quickly, defensively they are fine, the midfield could do with some adjustments although not much, however it is up front where Rodgers must relieve some of the pressure that is currently being carried by top goal scorer Luis Suarez.

Liverpool fans expect every season for their team to be challenging at the top end of the Premier League table and it saddens me at this current time in its history that some fans still expect that, even though it is not on the horizon anytime soon. With the right reinforcements in January, Rodgers can guide Liverpool to a top six finish this season and then look to build upon it next season, however his comments last week will mean the Reds fans will expect more and sadly that wont be possible this season.

Let me know what you think. Will Liverpool challenge for a top four finish or will Rodgers and co have to settle for a top ten finish?

FA should focus on players feet rather than tweets

Today the Football Association stooped to a new low as they decided to charge Ashley Cole for an abusive tweet aimed at them while choosing to ignore the actions of Robert Huth, Cheik Tiote and Manchester United’s Robin Van Persie on the pitch.  

Cole who tweeted last week “Hahahahaa, well done £fa I lied did I, £BUNCHOFT****” was today charged and could face a fine in excess of £50,000 after the FA decided to ignore the Chelsea left back apology after deleting the tweet just hours after it was posted.

Cole is not the first to land himself in trouble with the FA over the John Terry racism row after Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand was found guilty and fined £45,000 for an abusive tweet earlier in the summer which labelled Cole as a ‘Choc Ice’. Terry’s race row has dominated the back pages for nearly a year now and the FA will be keen to see the saga come to an end.

The news that Cole has been charged will come as no surprise to most football fans who have now began to lose faith in the games governing body as they seem intent on kicking out criticism of themselves rather than violent conduct on the pitch, racism and homophobia within the game.

This weekend saw three incidents on the pitch which should have seen the FA use their powers to eradicate poor behaviour on the field rather than focusing their attentions on tweets off it. The first incident which the FA should have intervened took place at Anfield as Stoke defender Robert Huth violently stamped on Liverpool striker Luis Suarez.

The other two incidents both took place at St James Park in Sunday afternoon’s late kick off. Firstly Newcastle midfielder Cheik Tiote was lucky to not see red as he dived in with a two footed lunge and only escaped with a yellow card. The second incident took place minutes later as Robin Van Persie was clearly seen swiping an elbow in the face of Toon midfielder Yohan Cabaye.

It is disappointing that the games governing body has refused to intervene in any of these incidents when clearly if any of them were to take place in the street by me or you we would be serving a prison sentence for GBH.

The FA clearly needs to re-evaluate what their role is within the game of football. They must begin to learn how to take criticism and should probably accept that tweeting and social media now is a vital part of player interaction with media and fans.  The FA must focus on eradicating incidents that took place on the field at Anfield and St James Park this weekend.

Were the FA right to charge Cole but not Huth, Tiote or Van Persie?

As always let me know your opinion. 

Sulky Suarez Saves Liverpool.....Just

In what can only be described as an emotional week for Liverpool FC, it took a Luis Suarez 70^th minute equaliser against Sunderland to earn the Reds just their second point of the campaign; however the draw fails to cover over the major cracks that are forming over the red side of Merseyside.

This week the families of the 96 that tragically lost their lives on the 15^th April 1989 in the Hillsborough disaster received some justice as it was revealed that the Liverpool fans were no way at fault for their own deaths, however it was a major cover up from the police who changed 116 official documents to make it seem that fan behaviour was to blame.

While the families have received at least some justice, one man on Merseyside is certainly not getting any justice from his players who he works closely with to try and restore the glory days to Anfield, however after four games Brendan Rodgers is not getting the performances neither he or the fans expect.

Against Sunderland, Liverpool were confident on the ball but yet again lacked any attacking penetration as the decision to allow Andy Carroll to leave Liverpool on loan looked even more peculiar as an ineffective Fabio Borini struggled while a stroppy Suarez offered little other than a neatly taken goal to level the game.

Worryingly for Rodgers even the likes of Steven Gerrard were unable to drag Liverpool out of their slump and while he remains Liverpool’s most influential player, the club cannot continue to expect their very own legend to lead them out of their dark days.

Luis Suarez again looked uninterested for the majority of the game and even threw himself to the floor in a pathetic way to try and earn a penalty which rightly lead to the striker being yellow carded.

No one ever said that Rodgers had an easy task when taking on the role as manager of Liverpool, however four games in and with no league win, the task is becoming increasingly tougher for Rodgers.

I for one hope that after the emotion of this week has passed the club will be able to look ahead to establishing themselves back amongst the big teams in Europe.

Let me know what you think. Will Liverpool and Rodgers get it right this season or should Liverpool accept for now that they are a long way from Europe’s top table?  

The FA must 'shake-up' the pre-match routine to save respect

Having read lots of articles and blogs on the subject of whether the FA should abolish the pre-match hand-shake after the refusal of Luis Suarez to shake the hand of Patrice Evra (the man he was found guilty of racially abusing) in the Liverpool-United clash at Old Trafford last weekend I thought I would share my thoughts.

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said after the game that Suarez could have caused a riot, slightly over the top; however, Fergie continued that Suarez was “A disgrace to Liverpool and English football”. This I completely agree with. Suarez had the opportunity to put the whole thing to bed by a simple shake of the hand, but could the FA have done more by abolishing the pre-match handshake before the game?

I personally see the handshake as nothing more than a pre-match marketing tool where sponsors on shirts get extra coverage meanwhile TV broadcasters use the hand-shake to go to advert breaks. Rightly the FA will argue that the hand-shake shows respect between the two sides, however I argue that if the players genuinely respected each other we wouldn’t see some of the awful challenges that we see on the field and we certainly wouldn’t see scenes such as Evra’s pathetic celebration after the game in the face of Suarez which in Ferguson’s own words ‘Could have caused a riot’ in itself.

The FA already undermined their ‘respect’ campaign weeks ago when they decided to abandon the pre-match hand-shake between QPR and Chelsea players in the wake of the John Terry and Anton Ferdinand racial abuse accusations. The removal of that hand-shake appeared to have removed the tension between the two sides and a clean game was played between the two.

Where to go from here? In all honesty the FA must abandon the pre match hand-shake as soon as possible. The players don’t need to prove their respect for the other players before a game, their actions on the field should show that. It is nothing more than a PR stunt from the FA and must be scrapped. If they insist on keeping it then it should be moved to the end of the game after the players have finished. By moving it to after the game not only are the players showing respect to their opponents they are also teaching younger players to lose and win graciously as well as putting an end to the childish behaviour we saw from Evra and his team-mates after Manchester United’s win against Liverpool.

What do you think? Should the hand-shake be scrapped or does it promote respect?

As always let me know. 

Carroll exit could be the only way forward for Liverpool

Five goals in 28 appearances simply isn’t good enough for any striker, especially when they cost £35 million. So is it time Liverpool cut their losses and sell Andy Carroll in the summer?

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish continues to throw his full support behind the former Newcastle striker, however, there is no doubt that the Scotsman is becoming fed up with his striker, not that Dalglish would admit that in the media.

With the return of Luis Suarez to first team after serving his eight game suspension for being found guilty of racially abusing Manchester United defender Patrice Evra, Carroll could find himself on the bench in the coming weeks especially with the continued success of Craig Bellamy in the absence of Suarez.

People argue that Carroll brings to the side so much more than goals, however, at the moment he isn’t even bring assists to the team as Liverpool continue to struggle to find the net. Liverpool’s performance against Tottenham on Monday evening was frightfully poor in an attacking sense for the Liverpool fans at Anfield and those watching at home on TV. Despite having Carroll up top Liverpool still looked inept to understand that balls floated on to the 6’3 strikers head is the best way to use the 23 year old.  Instead Liverpool still insist on playing beautiful football on the floor while trying to zip balls into the middle, all very well if you have a striker that is quick and has good movement, the problem is Carroll is anything but.

The striker enjoyed his time at St James Park because the Toon knew how to use him and they played to their strengths, however Liverpool continue to remain stubborn and cling onto the belief that they are a top four club and playing beautiful football along the floor is the only way to win games, unfortunately with Carroll in the team, playing ugly and playing to their strengths is the only way they will win some games.

Liverpool and Kenny Dalglish may well decide to keep Carroll on the books although that would mean altering the way the team play and no one at Liverpool seems ready to admit to that meaning it is more than likely the club will sell the 23 year old in the summer.

Should Liverpool sell Carroll? Would Newcastle take him back?

Is the King of Anfield about to be dethroned?

It’s just over a year since ‘King Kenny’ returned to Anfield with the belief that he would be the man to lead the Merseyside club to the League title or European football at the very least, forward to today and Liverpool’s 0-0 draw at home to Stoke left the ‘Reds’ five points behind fourth placed Chelsea and a massive 13 points behind league leaders Man City who have played a game less.

The one thing that will worry many Liverpool fans is that a win for Newcastle against QPR on Sunday would see the ‘Toon’ move above Liverpool into sixth placed and leave Dalglish’s men languishing in seventh, outside of any European spaces available.  There is no doubt that Liverpool do have a better squad than when Roy Hodgson departed, however, that can only increase the calls for Dalglish to fix Liverpool’s stuttering season or face the consequences.

With Luis Suarez banned for a further six games after being found guilty of racially abusing Patrice Evra and Andy Carroll struggling to score goals Liverpool are struggling for both goals and points with the club having only scored 24 league goals so far this term which could prove costly for Dalglish soon. The January transfer window could prove vital as to whether Dalglish will be in charge next time the window opens on 1^st June. Should Liverpool spend and rise to the heights of fourth and above then Dalglish will remain, should the club not make European football for the second year in succession the kings reign may come to a sour end.

Draws against Blackburn, Stoke, Norwich, Swansea, Wigan and Sunderland while defeats at Fulham and Tottenham have left the pressure on Dalglish but will the Scotsman get the boot? Like Sir Alex at Manchester United the Liverpool fans love their boss, however, with results continually disappointing for Liverpool I seriously think his honeymoon period has come to an end and patience is beginning to wear thin throughout Merseyside.

However hard it is to imagine I don’t think we should be too surprised if in the coming months we see ‘King Kenny’ removed from his position.

What do you think? Would Liverpool sack Kenny Dalglish? How can he turn Liverpool’s season around or do you think he is doing a good job? As always let me know.

The unEXpected goalscorer

Fernando Torres, Raul Meireles and Nicolas Anelka were all lining up against their former club Liverpool this afternoon hoping to grab a goal that would help Chelsea avoid a second consecutive home defeat in nine years, however it was a former Blue now playing for the Reds who scored to condemn Villas-Boas’s side to a second home defeat in a row.

Glen Johnson of all players on the field was the man to score against his former side after playing at Stamford Bridge between 2003 and 2007 as he swept home a fine goal to send the travelling supporters delirious as they claimed their second win at Chelsea in two seasons as well as recording their third straight win against the London side.

This defeat will of course add to the disgruntled noises that are currently rumbling out of Stamford Bridge. Club officials rubbished reports of a rift in the relationship between AVB and owner Roman Abramovich as ‘Total nonsense’, this result would suggest otherwise.

Torres, a £50 Million pound buy last January from Liverpool started the game on the bench and was lacklustre when he did rear his head above the pit in what was a feisty encounter. Torres defendants will say that the man himself never claimed to be worth that amazing figure so he shouldn’t be kept be judged by it, however, money in football has spiralled out of control so when fans see their club pay that much for a player with the money that supporters pay to watch after a long week at work then I feel it is fair for Chelsea fans to begin so much for from their ‘star striker’.

As for Liverpool this was a superb win and ironically they earned it with their massive signings on the bench. Andy Carroll (£35 Million), Stewart Downing (£19 Million) and Jordan Henderson (£20 Million) were all rested as Kenny Dalglish threw the likes of Maxi, Suarez, Lucas and Johnson into the mix.

These two sides will be expecting to challenge for the title this term, however the grim reality for the pair is that they both sit 12 points behind league leaders Manchester City. Dalglish will be happy with the win whereas AVB will be aware the pressure is building on the 33 year old and despite many hoping that he will be given the chance to turn it around, knowing the way Abramovich does things it could be that AVB could be gone before Christmas.

What do you think? Did Chelsea deserve to lose? Will AVB sacked before Christmas? Can Liverpool build on this win and push for the title?

As always let me know. 

Has racism been shown the red card yet?

‘Let’s kick racism out of football’ was set up in 1993 to do exactly that, but in this blog I pose the question, has racism been kicked out of English football?

The Premier League is currently investigating two cases of racism after Manchester United defender Patrice Evra accused Liverpool striker Luis Suarez of abusing him in their 1-1 clash at Anfield two weeks ago. Last week saw Chelsea defender John Terry also accused of racially abusing QPR’s Anton Ferdinand.

It would be wrong for me to suggest that either of the two alleged players are racists until the full reports are published, but quite frankly I find the fact that allegations like this are even being made in 2011 is sickening.  The Premier League currently has its highest percentage of foreign and black players in its 10 year history and it brands itself as the world’s biggest league, if that’s the case then any proof of racism should be met with the heaviest sanctions.

But are we right to assume that eradicating racism from football is possible? Bearing in mind we live in a society where people are quick to judge and mindless thugs continue to wander the streets of our ‘Great Britain’. John Barnes, racially abused while playing for England in the 80’s said recently that we were silly to believe that racism had been kicked out of football and he himself questioned whether it ever would be.

Contradicting that view though was manager of Manchester United now for 25 years, Sir Alex Ferguson. Sir Alex said he was ‘surprised’ that there were two cases being investigated, and ‘hoped’ there would never be a third.

It is clear that some western European countries still struggle at large with racism in football. Spain and Russia have received heavy sanctions from FIFA in years gone by as ‘punishment’ for their part in racist taunts, but is England in danger of slipping back to the dark days of the 80’s when black England players were abused by their own fans?

Thankfully I think we are not set to slip back to them ways. We are a nation that has currently possess some great black footballers, as well as having the most entertaining league in the world that involves some of the greatest foreign players of the modern era, and losing that over racism would be ridiculous, suicidal and damn right pathetic.

I hope that in both cases being investigated that both alleged offenders are found not guilty for the sake of the image of English football. It is true that England leads the way in the fight against racism; however, I fear that if Terry or Suarez are found guilty then our image as a nation is tarnished.

Do you agree? Is racism still happening in our game today or do you think we have ‘kicked it out’? If found guilty, how should Terry or Suarez be dealt with?

As always let me know.