LUIS SUAREZ : A HUNGRY MAN ?

Has Suarez done it again ? That is the question now haunting football.

Way back in the mists of time, actually just over a year ago, Luis Suarez was seen to bite an opponent. After an inquiry, the FA decided on a 10 match ban for the Uruguayan, their decision no doubt influenced to some degree by the fact that he had been banned for 7 matches by the Dutch football authorities after a similar incident in November 2010. Now, he's being accused of biting an Italian player, Giorgio Chiellini, in yesterday's final game in World Cup group D and FIFA are investigating.

What the outcome of FIFA's enquiries will be is anyone's guess; they may try to brush it all under the carpet to avoid tarnishing the tournament too badly, or they may land on Suarez like the proverbial 'tonne of bricks' in order to demonstrate how tough they are. Whatever their approach, if Suarez is found to have bitten a third player surely his career should be brought to an end. One such incident may be considered the result of hot-headedness, a second put down to treatable mental instability, but 3 surely indicates a man completely devoid of normal human decency and morality.

If, and I emphasise *IF*, he's found guilty of a third offence, his continued presence in the Premier League with Liverpool, notwithstanding his brilliance as a player, must surely be an impossibility, while which other great clubs would wish to spend the suggested £70m on buying a player with such cannibalistic tendencies ?

WHEN WILL TOTTENHAM RID THEMSELVES OF LEVY & AVB ?

Since Tottenham were soundly thrashed by Manchester City, they've had a very easy time of it. Two matches against third rate European opposition, both of which they won, 2 league matches against teams in the lower reaches of the Premier League, Fulham and Sunderland, which they also won, and a game against a misfiring Manchester United which they managed to draw. The media and assorted footballing experts have pronounced that the crisis is over and 'Spurs are back on track'.

 

Watching their efforts against Liverpool this afternoon, it is very clear that the 'experts' don't know their collective arses from their collective elbows. In the first half, Tottenham were every bit as hopeless as they have been all season against decent opposition - no bite at the front, midfield far too slow and outplayed, and defence at 6s and 7s and frequently non-existent. The second half saw Tottenham press much more, but by then, Liverpool were sitting on a 2 goal lead and content to protect it. Tottenham had more of the match and made a few chances but were still unable to convert possession and territory into goals; at the other end, Liverpool continued to run rings round an inept defence and took their chances. To add insult to injury, the usually brilliant Paulinho was sent off for a late challenge on Luis Suarez which was probably more worthy of a simple yellow card. In the end, Tottenham were completely overrun by a far better team and lost at home, again, this time by 5-0, but the worst thing is that they never looked remotely as good as the opposition. In fact, they were pathetic.

 

This team has oodles of talent and yet is performing woefully when up against proper opposition. Once Manchester United get their act together, which they will, and with Newcastle showing real form, Tottenham will slide backwards into the middle of the table. There is nowhere else for a team of their obvious talent but with no real plan; they will enter the next season with no European matches to worry about and few hopes of achieving anything other than another mid-table result..

 

While talent is owned by players, the plan is something evolved by the manager and his staff. If we accept that the players *do* have talent, the failure must be with the manager and this has now gone on for too long. Additionally, the manager was appointed by chairman Daniel Levy, whose record at appointing managers is about as poor as that of any chairman of any club in history.

 

GET RID OF BOTH OF THEM - NOW ! 

FA UNFAIR TO SUAREZ, SAYS HIS BOSS.

The appalling and disgusting behaviour of Liverpool's Luis Suarez has been matched by the utterly self-serving responses from a number of other footballng figures.

 

Among others, the Liverpool manager, Brendan Rodgers, has expressed his unhappiness with the punishment handed out by the FA for Suarez's actions. A 10-match ban, says Rodgers, is punishment "against the man rather than the incident". He's gone on to add the "We have a punishment with no intention of helping behaviour". What planet this moron lives on is open to debate but I suggest it's one inhabited by those whose entire world is ruled by football and footballers, rather than one in which the rest of society lives.

 

Suarez was not guilty of making a bad tackle and nor was he provoked into throwing a punch; he very deliberately and wholly gratuitously took hold of an opponent's arm and bit it. Shockingly, this was not the first time he's done such a thing and his previous punishment was a 7-match ban. Subsequent to that incident, he was found guilty of 'racially abusing' an opponent, an offence for which he received an 8-match ban. Along the way, he seems to have been more than happy to cheat, Maradonna-style, by using his hands in the penalty area.

 

For Rodgers and others to claim that the FA is now being 'unfair' is risible. Suarez has more than enough 'previous' to demonstrate that fines and talkings-to have no effect; of course the FA is punishing him, it was, after all, he who perpetrated his disgusting action and to suggest that the offender and the offence can somehow be separated and treated differently is incomprehensible. It is also a natural course for second and subsequent offences to be punished more harshly than the first and this is what the FA has done.

 

The behaviour of Suarez was a shocking disgrace and, in my view, he should be banned for good. The behaviour of those such as his manager in claiming that his actions were pretty minor and not worthy of serious punishment sends a message to younger supporters that this type of violence is acceptable; how long will it be before little Jimmy takes a lump out of the arm of young Bobby in the local park ? When Jimmy tells his dad that he only did what Suarez did and it wasn't really serious, what will his dad say ? What will Bobby's dad say when Jimmy's dad tells him it wasn't serious and he should forget it ?

 

Football may be our principal national sport but it's not beyond the laws of the country nor the morality of society, even if many of its players and representatives believe it to be so. It is time for proper action to be taken to correct this flawed view.

ANIMAL SUAREZ MUST BE BANNED

Fottball reached a new low point yesterday when the Liverpool player, Luis Suarez, tokk a bite out of the arm of one of his Chelsea opponents, Branislav Ivanovic. That this is not the first time Suarez has acted in this way makes it all the more shocking.

 

After the incident, the reaction from TV pundits was mixed with one, the former Liverpool player Alan Hansen, effectively saying that while Suarez behaviour was wrong, no one had really been hurt and doing anything serious about it would be excessive. How he could suggest 'brushing the act under the carpet' in such cavalier fashion escapes me.

 

Suarez behaviour was disgusting and bestial. He may be a very clever player but behaviour such as his cannot be excused or ignored and it certainly needs much greater sanction than an apology broadcast over 'Twitter'. If Liverpool FC have any claims to run a decent club, Suarez should never play for them again. If football as a whole wishes to be seen as anything but organised warfare, Suarez should also be ostracized by clubs worldwide and FIFA should ban him from all competition for a substantial period of time.

 

That none of this will happen is my only expectation. Football, and players like Suarez, are considered far too important for any normal standards of human behaviour to apply. While referees 'book' players for 'diving', acts like those of Suarez are well beyond the ability of anyone in the footballing hierarchy to deal with. No wonder that our children, many of whom worship animals such as Suarez, are so out of control.