14 May 2013

'He blew it' - Hansen in scathing attack on 'failed' boss. Suarez warning for BR...?

Liverpool legend Alan Hansen just loves sticking the knife into Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini. In April, Hansen argued that the Italian boss should've been sacked for overseeing City's 'totally unacceptable' capitulation this season, and now, the former Liverpool captain is at it again, claiming that the Italian's sacking was 'inevitable'.

In his column for The Telegraph, Hansen:

* Accused Mancini of 'failing' at Man City

* Slammed his 'inexcusable' performance in last summer's transfer market.

* Blamed City's inconsistency on Mancini's lax approach to Mario Balotelli.

Additionally, he scathed:

"City have stood still and not improved. The players Mancini did sign have had little or no impact and that is inexcusable when you have just won a title.

"He had his chance and he failed. It may look a harsh decision, but by failing to build on what he had already achieved I am afraid it [Sacking] was always going to happen"


Hansen is (arguably) being unduly harsh here, but it just goes to show that money doesn't always buy sustained success. The quality of the manager is the most important thing, which is why Alex Ferguson remained at the top for so long.

On the Balotelli issue, Hansen had a lot to say:

"Mancini allowed the Balotelli issue to fester and it is one of the factors that [will] cost him his job. Balotelli was a total distraction on and off the field and Mancini did not resolve it quickly enough. When you have a player behaving like that it breeds complacency in the dressing room. Other players think, “Well if he got away with it, why can’t I?”

Clearly, the irony is lost on Hansen here, but I would draw an obvious comparison between Mancini's handling of Balotelli, and Rodgers' handling of Luis Suarez. Everything Hansen says above should also apply to Suarez, yet you never hear him saying the same things about the Uruguayan.

Rodgers has allowed Suarez to get away with murder this season (stamps/cheating/deliberate handball/admitting to cheating in public etc) and not once has he taken decisive action. How is that any different to Mancini's laissez-faire approach to Balotelli?

Additionally, it's entirely conceivable that the Ivanovic bite incident may not have happened if Rodgers/LFC had taken a harsher stance on Suarez *earlier* in the season.

Going back even further, the same applies during the Dalglish era: If the club had taken a stronger stance on Suarez during the Evra debacle, things may have been different this season. Instead, Dalglish et al acted like Suarez and the club were the victims, and this basically enabled Suarez further.

At least Mancini didn't add insult to injury by constantly eulogising Balotelli as if he's some kind of godlike figure, something that implicitly condones and enables bad behaviour.

There are lessons to be learned here for LFC. Dalglish's one-eyed support for Luis Suarez arguably cost him his job, and the same could happen with Rodgers if his cloying hero-worship continues next season.



NOTE: Please stick to the Comment Policy (Click to read)


69 comments:

  1. what do you want suarez to leave ? , the manager has criticized suarez when he wanted or needed to , the big difference between balotelli and suarez is suarez does not disrupt the dressing room, gets along with his team mates and gives 100 % every game.something balotelli rarely gave

    so I don't think your point is valid as it is pretty biased to suit your agenda which is to attack suarez at every oppertuanity like you did yesterday.

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  2. In terms of buys for the summer what do you think if we spent big money like 2 seasons ago on players like benteke,ben arfa,eriksen,williams ,de vridj , mc carthy thoose signings seem like the fans choice.

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  3. There is only one God and Luis is his prophet

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  4. Don't bother Shakirr, JK has a bit of an obsession with Luis the Prophet. I think it's because he'd rather have Vlad Smicer back as our 7. Nice guy Smicer. Crap player. Nice guy though.

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  5. As for Mancini, Hansen is of course 100% correct. If you get the transfer budgets he got, you cannot go from a title winning season to a getting kicked out of the CL by Ajax, losing the title with 10 games to go (ish) and losing the cup final to Wigan one. He spent over 40 million in the summer and that should be enough to strengthen a squad that has already won the title. You only need one or two players after all. He said he needed to improve midfield yet he bought Rodwell and Garcia. Not bad players but I don't see how they are a step up from what was already there. Justfied sacking if ever there was one.

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  6. Hansen has always had plenty to say about Balotelli, he saw in the player a disturbing approach to team football. The thing is that Suarez, as much trouble as he can be, is not the same disrupting force to the team. Players and staff both continue to respect Suarez as a footballer and he's very well liked. Balotelli was an entirely different package and it seems a very disruptive character, both on and off the field. While you clearly don't like aspects of what Suarez brings to the team, there is no question that when it comes to the footballing aspect of things Suarez always gives 100% to his team. That wasn't the case with Balotelli and plenty of analysis from the pundits who seem to have much to say on the player will confirm that.


    I don't personally think it likely that Balotelli would take time to apologise to his team mates for his infractions. His actions almost never had the support of his manager, not in the media reports or the questions directed to him. The only thing that Mancini could do was sell the player, there was no path to reform or change. He was thought to be unpopular in the dressing room and hardly set an example with his work ethic or attitude on the pitch. You simply can't say those same things of Suarez and for that reason I don't think it's a worthwhile comparison. Balotelli was the kind of trouble that had an overall negative impact on the team and their performance and that's what the pundits picked up on. With Suarez there is just no evidence of that. When he's in the side he works hard and plays a team game. When he's not he trains hard and it seems the team is capable of coping in his absence.

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  7. it is different to balotelli because all of suarezs misdemenaours have been to try and get the team to win...not saying its justified...balotellis misdemenours woould not have helped ghis team mates--i.e letting of fireworks or training ground bust ups with his OWN team mates

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  8. I am confused, is this article entitled "Alan Hansen blasts Mancini for failing at Man City" something to do with Suarez, ??? .

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  9. Why don't you leave luis alone? You have had an agenda against him since last season, which included attacks on club legend dalglish. You can't help yourself. He didnt invent cheating??? If it wasnt for luis we'd be bottom six

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  10. Wow...If only Rodgers can fail in the same way (win the league)...(!)

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  11. Yarha yarha yarha same old swipe @ suarez again,just indirectly,watta joker u are JK.lol

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  12. Mancini should have been dumped last year, when he said, Tevez will never play for him again, and then done a U-turn and played him. He had no man management skills, a waster with all the money he desired to bring in the best players worldwide, and ends up with zero honours this season. A complete waster. A typical Fantasy manager would have done better.

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  13. It would be wrong for BR to be sacked because he didn't "handle" Suarez well enough. He should be judged by the owners based on where he taken LFC as a club in terms of progression. If he fails to secure top 4 next season, I'm sure FSG will sack BR.

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  14. I guess the main difference between Balotelli and Suarez, was that whilst Suarez was acting up, he was still playing outstanding, whereas Balotelli wasn't. I bet if Balotelli was scoring loads of goals, Mancini wouldn't have sold him.

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  15. Mr. Point Of View7:54 am, May 14, 2013

    so it prove $ cant buy trophy? i think is his ego killing him .....

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  16. balotelli is not in suarez,s league, yes he,s done wrong but do not compare the 2 balotelli was bad in everygame he played...sent off loads of time..he never helped his team. suarez did without him brendon would of been sacked allready,( he knows that too) he is are best player by a mile...did fergie out cantona? nope.. and if he,s classed as a great manager. which he is...why should brendon?..

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  17. I think Rodgers is no fool and he won't let too many players go. Obviously the likes of Skrtel and Downing may want more playing time next year but the easy thing for them would be to let them go. What is good for them is not necessarily good for us though. I think you'll see some fringe players leave with Coates probably being the highest profile and the current loanees too. So I expect our current squad to stay largely intact and a few quality signings to improve it. One CB, one LB, one DM, one AM and possibly one striker. We need to replace Carra, competition for Enrique, improvement on Lucas, cover for Gerrard and cover for SAS II. Digne 5, Alderweireld 8, Wanyama 10, Mkytharian 12 and hopefully Higuain 20 will be covered with Carrol, 10, Coates 5, Spearing 3, Pacheco, Agoo etc 2. Net spend 35 million.

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  18. U really do have a problem with Suarez dont u?
    Our best player at the club a player who will do anything for his team to win . 110% every week . Yes he has a bad side to him because of his total desire to win at any cost. I'm afraid we would be a hell of a lot worse of without him so be careful wht u wish for. Cos not many players could have the same quality to replace him. Especially ones who won't want to play champions league ! Balotelli and Suarez are nothing alike Udon't hear about Luis private life at all not once its always what he does in the pitch. He dont cause rifts in the dressing the room he trains better than most everyday. Never missed a session even after being around the world. Think u need to be gratefull to what we have which is a genuine world class player in the top 5 in the world if not the top 3 . How many teams can say that !!!! ???????????????Madness

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  19. Well said brilliant !! Even when he's talking about bloody man city some joe Luis name even comes up !! Dont worry Luis we love you and our proud we have u

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  20. I'm not trying to defend Suarez here Jaimie however you cant compare him to Balottelli. Balottelli's problems were both on and off the pitch. He was surrounded by controversy 24/7 whereas Suarez is just an utter menace on the field you hear nothing about him making an absolute cluster of his personal life.

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  21. Because of the nature of that City job, I don't see it as a harsh decision. Tough group or not, two consecutive seasons of failing to get out of CL group stage for a team of that quality and investment is not on. Mancini's wishy-washy use of the 3-man defence system this season was so amateurish at times that it smacked of desperation. For a team of that quality and investment, they shouldn't have to resort to Plan Yaya to bail them out of trouble as much as Mancini has used it, whilst he struggles to get Silva and Nasri to play consistently well. I felt he was somewhat lucky at Inter, due to the circumstances in Serie A at the time as well as having a plan that was nothing special which was to rely on the width of Maicon and the attacking prowess of Ibra (to be fair, Jose wasn't that much different in his first season as the two wingers he bought were flops so midway he resorted to Maicon-Ibra plan) (first Serie A title won without Ibra by Mancini but was a gift due to Juve & Milan being punished). He was very poor with Inter in CL too. Definitely a decent manager but has been quite a bit lucky and he is nothing special. But his CV looks decent I guess.

    JK makes a point about Balo/Suarez, which I agree with to an extent in terms of handling, although Balo had a lot of other baggage too and he was raw as a player, which makes him even more of a liability than Suarez.

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  22. I don't think that City would go far wrong if they appointed Benitez. Now that would be interesting, Benitez with a squad of that quality playing in the Champions League. I think they'd go further than just the group stages.

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  23. Yeah and he would finally get his favourite player Gareth Barry

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  24. Never been a big fan of Hansen's punditry. He is the same guy who will laud Man Utd for giving Ferguson time. I disagree with your statement saying not once has Rodgers taken decisive action, Suarez clearly has improved on his diving and Rodgers has clearly worked on this behind closed doors, what was that forgotten phrase again....The Liverpool way? I don't recall a deliberate handball, although it is clearly not beyond him.

    The problem for us has been that we have a inexperienced manager with little street cred at a club that doesn't have European football and a bad mannered star player. Rodgers had to keep him onside to ensure his own success but now the excellent form of those around him now mean Suarez is not in such a position of power over the club.

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  25. Your obsession with Luis Suarez really is boring now

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  26. You cant compare the two suarez has Passion and effort two things both you and mario lack

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  27. There are no similarities between Suarez and Balotelli. despite his shortcomings, Luis Suarez still performs brilliantly on the pitch and has no issues with his own team mates off it. Balotelli was an average striker who underperformed and underachieved, he fell out with a fair majority of his team mates and was a non-enitity on the pitch. Whoever wrote this article is an absolute fool.

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  28. Unfair if u ask me..?? Since when did managers have to become thearipsts..?? ffs their only human too. It aint thier fault if a quaility player has a fookd up personality.. Although he didnt improve the squad is valid. He did complain about the midfield being weak, yet got rid of De jong and bought Rodwell, I suppose 4 that alone he deserved what he got...???

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  29. Maybe I should send my FF CV to Citeh then? I'll take the 7 million payoff if they sack me next summer as well of course.

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  30. Has anyone even stopped to think what poor Dave Platt is going to do now?

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  31. did hansen mention suarez i do not think so ,so why are we talking about him again lol,and you say your not obsessed i hope suarez as not got a rabbit poor bunny

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  32. You obviously don't get the finer nuances of constructing a relevant argument. It's quite clear why I brought up Suarez, and the link drawn between Mancini's handling of Balotelli and Rodgers/Suarez is valid, whether you or anyone else likes it or not.

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  33. i do jaimie i get it ,its called a red herring bring up manchini,and ballotelli ,and then lead it into the main story suarez

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  34. I understand im looking at something that doesnt really have anything to do with this article but you mentioned it quickly and i would like to know peoples opinion on it.
    Mentioning "admitting to cheating in public".
    I understand the cheating is the problem but is owning up to it shouldnt be considered a bad thing IMO.
    He shouldnt have dove in the first place but owning up to it is surely better then "There was contact" or "I Dove to avoid injury".
    anyone have an opinion on this?

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  35. lol i do most of your storys start of with a headline but thats not the real story their is quite often a sum plot usually involving suarez,like if someone dose a blatent dive at the weekend ,lets say giggs the headline will be something like,,, giggs blatent dive ,at his age he could have done himself a mischief but when you click onto the story they will be 4or5 clips of suarez diving hence the red herring

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  36. jk,s been ban from anfield its part of the injunction suarez as had to take out for his own safety hes not aloud within two miles of suarez;-)

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  37. this is a Liverpool site, regardless of the headline surely you expect there to be links/comparisons to LFC in the content of the article? Otherwise it would just be BBC news ;)

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  38. i do expect a link but why always suarez also they have been stories that have nothing to do with lfc ,also there are plenty of other things we could be talking about eg carraghers last game ect ,and no jaimie i,am not telling you what and what not to post its your site

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  39. jaimie though, honestly. you talk all the time about suarez harming the club this and that, when really and truly its clear that suarez is contreversial. but its not like hes contreversial and hes a crap player, hes the 3rd best player in the world. YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE means alot to our club and you clearly want suarez to walk on his own as you seek to put him down at every given oppurtunity. this is not good jaimie, and if you think wisely to yourself its not the Liverpool Way. we must support suarez through his ban as fans as he does his all for us when hes out there on the field. despite all his faults, remember everybody is human and suarez makes mistakes just as you do. so give it a rest on suarez now jaimie until maybe he actually does something again. #YNWA

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  40. Give me a break with all this 'you'll never walk alone' stuff. You're twisting the club's motto to fit a situation that doesn't apply. If Suarez murdered someone you'd probably still apply the YNWA concept.

    Anything that brings persistent negative publicity to the club is not, IMO, 'The Liverpool Way'.

    Players do not get a pass for every negative thing they do just because the club's motto is YNWA.

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  41. lol I got half way down and the Suarez bashing started, im going to do a tally on just how many articles have him mentions you obsessed any way to have a go at him or anything to do with him . Try really hard Jaimie to not use the word Suarez for a day, you will fail

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  42. ok fair enough but he hasnt murdered someone. and no matter what suarez does he brings negative publicity. look at the mansfield handball, that wernt deliberate but he still got slated for that.


    all im saying jaimie is be more supportive of suarez as hes nothing like balotelli. he dont cause problems in the dressing room or fight team mates. matter fact, his team mates love him as luis is a lovely guy and world class player.


    theres a word in our motto that says NEVER, so regardless of the circumstances we must not let suarez walk alone. we must support him Jaimie, stop being indenial

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  43. oh but i do i get it perfectly and when you do not like it you delete it,on what grounds was it deleted because it differs from your view and you are always right lol

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  44. lol lets stop and delete the posts because they do not agree with you,you should add it to your comments policy there was nothing in that post that could have warrented deleting except it went against what you posted

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  45. kb can you see why the post was deleted was it offensive or abusive or was it a fair comment i would like your opinion

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  46. phil_more_babb_than_thompson1:48 pm, May 14, 2013

    and what about Ferguson's management of Cantona and Keane?. You eulogise over Ferguson's quality as a manager yet he stood by Cantona and Keane in much the same way as Rodgers is doing with Suraez. Mancini deserves some stick as he's been given so much money yet appeared apathetic over the way Mancity have capitulated, even openly discussing that he had discussions with 8 different clubs with a view to managing them last summer. You get given the money Mancini has and time will not be on your side. Have a manager who needs to manage the club's funds and playing staff more carefully and the board should support them. I'm not convinced by BR yet,but I hope he gets time and I hope we move forward under his management. As Liverpool fans, we need to support the management and team and not hammer them, particularly when viewing opposition managers through rose tinted spectacles. You claim Hansen is being unduly harsh but you are being unduly harsh to Rodgers by claiming Ferguson was such a strong manager yet he overlooked both Cantona's and Keane's idiosyncrasies and bullied officials until he got his own way. If you want to use a manager as being a strong influence, you ought to put forward the quiet and unassuming greatness of Mr Bob Paisley - 3 time European Cup winner - now he was a strong man. Or put another way, stop banging on about Manyoo, we've got plenty of greatness in our past and present to be proud of.

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  47. I don't see sponsors running away from the club nor do I see empty stands at Anfield so what is the negative effect for LFC really? Some people who already didn't like us, still don't like us. Big deal.

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  48. lol i obviousley dont thats why you keep deleting my posts

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  49. jaimie do not reply to my posts as you cannot take the replies its a bit perfetic really

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  50. Is this your way of now having a go at Rodgers, someone you reckoned was the right person for the job and who you wanted to manage LFC? If indeed it is Rodgers fault for letting Suarez get away with too much, surely more of your angst should be aimed towards him instead of constantly using Suarez as your scapegoat for all that is wrong with the game. Never once heard you mention the elbow wielding Fellaini who exhibits dangerous play in every game he plays in. It's worrying how obsessed you have become with Suarez, steering virtually every article in his direction. This original article is about Hansen's view on Mancini and nothing more.

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  51. Nah - Nicolas Bendtner and Joey Barton are the two best players. Suarez, Ronnie and Messi make up 3,4 and 5 - though not respectively!

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  52. Jeez, it's amazing how people endlessly come out with the same old cliched responses. Change the record already:

    * It's perfectly possible to support someone/something and still be critical. It's interesting how fans only ever accept that when the criticism is something they *agree* with. When they disagree, everything suddenly has to be 100% black and white: i.e. total support, or total criticism.

    * Why should I talk about Fellaini?! Does he pay for Liverpool? Do his actions affect the club's reputation? NO.

    * Don't tell me what the article is about. I wrote it, so I know what it's about, and you completely missed the point. I'm drawing a comparison between Mancini's handling of a problem player, and Rodgers handling of a problem player. It's a perfectly valid comparison of *managers*, not players, and I've used Hansen's views as a way into my overall point (and to illustrate mild hypocrisy).

    If you or anyone else posts anything else moaning about irrelevant stuff, those posts will be deleted. Attack the actual argument I've made, or don't bother at all.

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  53. I don't think it's a big deal, only because it was so blatantly obvious that he dove already. There wasn't any contact whatsoever, and his theatrics were completely unnatural.


    All it did was confirm what people already knew.


    The bigger problem I had with it (and Jaimie alludes to this below) is he essentially admitted he'd do it again if it meant gaining an advantage.


    Credit should go to Brendan though for then calling him out about it when Suarez admitted to diving. Suarez didn't dive since.

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  54. the cast is a bit short on male actors at the moment the only one left is hayley!

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  55. dude like seriously man you write liverpool articles then slate your own team. just exactly how was br supposed to handle suarez???

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  56. liverpool4life5655:56 pm, May 14, 2013

    Your going to defend your players also Rodgers fined Suarez twice, for the dive claim and the biting same as balotelli was fined for his behaviour. So both managers done there part. So your wrong about neither managers haven't done enough. You don't sell your best players that's complete nonsense

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  57. lol she he she he sorry meant te he te he

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  58. there is no comparison JK...a lot a balo problems with mancini where due to his lack of effort on and off the pitch.....suarez sweats blood for the cause.....every game no matter who its against.........i think we get it jaimie you dont like the guy but to keep bringing him up in every other thread is bordering on obsessive.....no one on this site as far as i can see gives him god like status which you claim ....i appreciate him because he gives his all and gets stuck in ...thats it ...and most liverpool fans are the same ...hes no worse than felleni and his manager has just been given the utd job so go figure

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  59. its not valid jaimie ...in what universe has hansen offering a critique on mancini got to do with suarez ....with that logic you can relate anything to anyone

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  60. okay then ...eric cantonna did a kung foo kick hes french and liverpool have had a french manger so suarez is to blame.....so what

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  61. Suarez and Telli's problems were entirely different, Balotelli's problems were off the pitch, Suarez's on the pitch.

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  62. Balotelli's misbehavior was off-field and caused team discontent whereas Suarez off-field behavior is non disruptive to team morale, completely different to on field

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  63. I agree, BR should have said something to the player after the actual incident, it would have solved a few problems and hopefully let suarez know he needs to settle down a little.
    But lets face it, Managers are always going to try defend there players.

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  64. Mike Aitcheson2:09 pm, May 15, 2013

    No quick response to this from JK I see

    *tumbleweed*

    Jamie, on this thread you have opined that you see the same 'endless tired responses' Well your propensity to relate much of what goes on to Suarez and BR's treatment of him could be legitimately described in the same way.

    As has been pointed out, you have praise SAF for his managerial quality, but can you find me a quote from him which condemns Cantona? I've looked, but there is little, if any, statements from him regarding one of his players assaulting a spectator, albeit a repulsive one.

    The best I could find was:

    "Over the years since then I have never been able to elicit an explanation of the episode from Eric, but my own feeling is that anger at himself over the ordering-off and resentment of the referee's earlier inaction combined to take him over the brink"

    For a KUNG FU KICK ON A SUPPORTER !!

    Suarez though, should have been 'got rid of' for not shaking Evra's hand...

    Cantona was convicted of assault, and initially sentenced to prison, reduced on appeal. But still convicted. Ferguson had no problems making him Captain on his return.

    Care to speculate if I could find any Ferguson quotes praising Cantona post Kung Fu?
    Now, I know you have criticise Ferguson previously for his hypocrisy. But you also laud him for his ability as a Manager.
    As far as Suarez bringing 'persistent negative publicity ' to the club, well I dispute the level of harm this has actually done to the club. No sponsors have dropped us. No protests from the fans in any measurable quantity. many have , like me ,wished that Suarez would just keep his head down. But Rodgers has done nothing substantially different in handling his errant player than any other manager in the PL.

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  65. Surely if everyone else thinks the link is irrelevant then is in fact invalid. Using the word "nuances" does not strengthen your feeble argument.

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  66. The logic of this article is.
    A chicken crossed the road. Mario Balotelli blew it up with fireworks. It is Luis Suarez's fault. Brendan Rogers is going to get the sack. QED

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  67. Yes, it is. It's the past participle of the word 'scathe'.

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  68. Scathed means to harm or injure, which is not what you meant.

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