25 Apr 2012

Alan Shearer blasts: 'Liverpool FC's problem' is Luis Suarez. Fair...?

Liverpool's goalscoring woes have become something of a running cliche this season, and against West Brom at the weekend, it was the same old story: countless chances wasted as a result of supremely poor finishing. The whole team needs to take the blame for the continued inability to consistently hit the target, but Alan Shearer - the Premier League's all-time top goalscorer - insists that Luis Suarez is more culpable than most for Liverpool's paucity in front of goal.

Analysing the Liverpool-West Brom debacle on Match of the Day, Shearer was astonished by the number of clear-cut chances wasted by Suarez. He argued:

"I think it's quite clear what Liverpool's problem has been this year: Suarez is their top scorer in the league with 8 goals. Yes, he's been excellent at times this year, but he has to start scoring more goals".

It's perhaps a little harsh to solely blame Suarez for Liverpool's goalscoring problems, but at the end of the day, he is the club's main striker, and considering the huge number of chances, Suarez's conversion rate in the league is alarmingly poor:

* 8% conversion rate
* 1 goal every 286 minutes
* Only 44 shots on target this season (in the league)
* That equates to 1.5 shots on target per league game.

Whatever way you look at it, those figures are concerning, and Suarez's profligacy in front of goal is (arguably) one of the main reasons Liverpool are languishing in 8th place in the league.

In the three seasons prior to joining Liverpool, Suarez scored almost 100 goals for Ajax, so his failure to transfer that conversion rate to the Premier League is mystifying.



There's no denying his talent, but the fact is both Nikica Jelavic and Papiss Cisse have scored more league goals than Suarez this season, and they only arrived in January (!)

I would happily sacrifice Suarez for a less-talented striker who scored goals regularly.

Jaimie Kanwar


111 comments:

  1. The conversion figures quoted regarding Suarez are industry standard now - coaches use them as a cornerstone in their assesement of a player's effort and efficiency. The mystery concerning his lack of success since joining LFC is probably best explained by looking at the quality of opposition  out with the top couple of teams in the Netherlands compared to England 

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  2. we are missing a fox in the box, a la ian rush type player.

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  3. as much as i luv watching suarez play, hate to admit i feel the same !! :(... unless v play him in the hole behind a genuine goal scorer

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  4. What you haven't mentioned in your article is that he creates most of his goal scoring chances by himself. So i think it's harsh to criticize him. He is our best player and also he's surrounded by sub-standard players barring Gerrard and Johnson

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  5. I find this opinion very obtuse - It is clear that a player of his quality, if given just 1 second...or half a second more to set up his play or shot that it would make the difference - the lack of high level players supporting a build up play or making space and dragging defenders with them to open the play up is the issue. LFC needs more high level technical players for Suarez to shine as he did/does in all the other teams.
    Fitness? C'mon - no way an issue - he runs his socks off
    Mindset? Probably the strongest on the team
    Physicality? Uruguayan team has enough of that to bowl most over
    PL? There is less difference with La Liga, Serie A than Brits would like to believe - it is faster, I love it, but not a synonym of "better" - I believe he is well and truly up for any league - just needs a high quality partner

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  6. Hmmm .  Am sure the
    reason for LFC failure is not the same as Newcastle failure in 1990’s when they
    were called “ The Entertainers” and went from 2nd in EPL to 13th
    spot after  KK took over from Keagan and  sold their All- time star players like Faustino
    Asprilla, David Ginola, Peter
    Beardsley and brought players like  John Barnes and Ian Rush (combined age over 70
    ) and other players like his useless son- Paul Dalglish
    .

    It could not be that – it must have been Suarez !

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  7. There should be an 'all of the above' option. There is no doubt that Suarez is a good player. He just needs to stop trying so hard. I would bet anyone that next season he outscores Cisse and Jelavic.

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  8. When it comes to down to his finishing and composure in front of goal, there is only so much one can blame on his team mates, as its Suarez who takes the shot, not his team mates.

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  9. Look at Barca - they have technical players everwhere. Look at Liverpool before Meireles and Aquaman were shipped off - there were goals floating from Suarez, Meireles, Aquaman, Maxi - but as KK used 70m£ for 4 british players, there had to be a change. 

    Now - low level of technical quality - poor pasing and first time control = Suarez looks out of space and is in the wrong kind of team.

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  10. Suarez is not Liverpool's main striker. The very poor Andy Carroll is. Pair Suarez up and team him up with quality and he will deliver. Unfortunately, Kenny Dalglish decided to crowd the midfield with very average British players.

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  11. young the Diving diva10:53 am, April 25, 2012

    I think suarez is the only shinning light in own team if gerrard is not playing. What about carroll who missed a sitter for 6 yard out and when ever suarez drilled a ball across the face of the goal carroll was no where to be seen instead it was agger trying to score. I don't understand who is the striker agger or carroll.

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  12. It was Fergie and his squinny mate that ruined this season mid oct. Suarez was to good for them on the field so create a storm off the field. Smart man that Fergie

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  13. When suarez isn't playing we don't even create chances so I think that is very harsh

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  14. Let's blame Suarez for all happening at LFC. Now Comolli is gone we have to find someone to blame. Blame the best player. Just like people blamed Torres and watching him score that goal last night for Chavs. Well don't know what to say really. So problems at LFC has nothing to do with having rubbish players to play with Suarez. If we had better players to play with him than he would deffinetley score more goals.

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  15. Suarez badly needs a quality strike partner. Carroll may well come good eventually, but whilst we are waiting we need somebody who will gel with Suarez at the immediate start of next season and not four or five months or more further down the line. I don't see any one amongst the existing players with the physical or mental ability to create such a partnership . What we need is a duo like Keegan and Toshack not Laurel and Hardy !

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  16. Here we go again! It's neither Suarez nor the quality of our players. Our players can do the business. What's missing is patience, calm and a collective intelligence among our players. The fact that we dominate most teams and have an unprecedented amount of corners means there is absolutely nothing wrong with the quality of our players. The efficiency and beauty they zip the ball around the pitch with is testimony to their work ethic and ability to play.

    We do however deprive ourselves of space to operate within on the pitch. Too often we never have players on our opponents' blind side during attacks. We also tend to be too focused on a flank than to attempt switiching in during an attack when we lay seige to our opponents' goal area. If anytime is the time to pass backwards, it is out of the opponents' 6-yard box to pull defenders out. We never do that. Just count the number of times our players shoot the ball at someone from the other team. Why does it look so natural? Why do we never have the space to shoot that manure ALWAYS does?

    No. The problem is not with our players. It is the way we set up attacks, or rather the way we don't set them up. We just attack. Not good enough.

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  17. Depends who he's playing for

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  18. Expect Shearer to try to cover up for a fellow Geordie.

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  19. While Suarez should score more, to highlight Suarez as Liverpool's main problem with scoring goals and not Andy Carrol is ludicrous.  

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  20. Besides, with respect to attacking play he links the midfield and forward lines than anyone else I've seen in a Liverpool shirt for quite sometime. Maybe since McManaman.  In terms of that Suarez just edges Gerrard in my opinion.  He does need to score more though.

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  21. hey Jamie and everyie, I'm a regular reader of this site but it's my first time posting a comment, I admire how you write about facts rather than trying to sugar coat stuffs. Regarding this matter, well, i read in an article and my oh my, did it mention something really good or what! people shouldn't blame Suarez all the time, I believe he is surrounded by mediocre players, especially his strike partner, and I actually find it unbelievable that people are actually accepting or hoping that Carrol will be of Liverpool's quality! Anyway what i wanted to say about the article, it gave a statistics that ALOT of goals scored by suarez are mainly one touch - two touch goals, for example, he either heads or just receives a good pass, and with some exceptional touches he scores which i doubt Carrol can do. The whole point is, people blaming his poor shot accuracy, well you only have to look at MOST of those chances are created ALL BY HIMSELF, dribbles past 2-3 defenders and by the time he shoots, he either shots way wide or hits the cross bar which can be down to either extreme pressure, trying too hard, or just losing balance. What does that say? you can rely on one player for so much! so stop blaming him all the time, improve the team, look at what Rafa did he created a team around Gerrard and Torres and the rest is history. Dalglish's mistake was trying to make a team around Carrol. why? downing, adam and henderson. As many people say they were last season's highest "chance creators". but the whole point is BS! chance creation as in just simply hitting long balls on the box, and that about it. I just hope whoever the manager is, he rectifies this problem in the next summer window and try to create a team that would compliment Suarez, which meirless max and kuyt did to great effect in the end of last season. And one final thing, no, i won't listen to people saying to shut up and support a LFC player which is andy carrol. no. I only support LFC. no i won't settle for andy to come up good in 3-4 years of time while we falter in the premier league.

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  22. Well...I agree with some, where Suarez is concern. He is Liverpool's best player at present, that is without any doubt! The main problem is KD! He bought sub standard players, and from the offset started those players above the players that had that brilliant run of form at the end of last season! Now Comolli was the one who had to suffer for KD's signings. As Comolli said, he advised KD of better value for money abroad, but he insisted of going British! IMO, KD must go! if Benitez were still in charge, and had that kind of backing from FSG, we would've certainly seen quality forin talent! Sergio Aguero was available, so too Mata. Why didn't he go for them, proven world class players???? The players currently available cannot play the way he wants them to play (Suarez, Bellemy, Gerrard excl)                

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  23. look at the stats

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  24.  Aquilani never played for Liverpool again after his injury blighted first season. He has hardly set Serie A alight either, or else Milan or Juve would have paid the £5mill to sign him.
    He certainly never played with Suarez and never in a competitive game with meireles.

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  25. I agree with Shearer, this guy is supposed to be WORLD class yet we have been chatting about our need for a second striker and blaming our woes on Carroll etc...

    Fact is we HAVE created many chances, our build up play has been at times very good, it is the final third where we have lacked.....

    Suarez has IMO not held up the ball well for us this season, our build up play has very often broken down when the ball is played up to him, he has played more as an individual, more selfish, not linking up too well overall with others, conceding posession esp in the first half for some reason where he seems to play his worst football only to wake up a bit towards the end of the game and look a little more threatening....

    Thats without mentioning his abysmal chance conversion rate in front of goal, im sorry but if this guy is WORLD class then for sure we would have scored more, created more and won more.....simple as that.

    I can understand how difficult it must be for other players in the side dealing with a misfiring striker who isn't firing... he really hasn't done enough to help us esp in the league this season, the confidence of the team HAS been affected, of course it might sound harsh to blame him for all our woes but he has definitely underperformed to the point of it being a pattern during a game, its hardly surprising that we are where we are atm, things could and would have been a lot different in the side had Suarez been playing like we know he can...............

    Im glad we're having this debate, too much emphasis has been projected towards Carroll etc but we all know that our style of football has improved, the simple fact is had Suarez been in form we would probably be sitting comfortably in 4th place.....

    As a WORLD class striker he has more of a responsibilty within the team IMO, naturally a team like Barca will feed off an in form Messi likewise with ANY team, scoring goals and created goals boosts team confidence, if a quality striker at a CLub isn't play too well it WILL affect the confidence of other players.....we have seen all this during the season with Suarez and his effect on the side being quite a negative one IMO.

    Yet we have been relentlessly blaming Carroll etc and defending Suarez.......but how fair is that when this guy who is apparently world class has been piss arsing around in front of goal and losing the ball etc , not scoring and not playing well within the team......???

    I couldn't vote on the poll because there wasn't an option suitable for Suarez IMO, he has underperformed in a big way for us this season, as a LFC supporter for many a year i am very very dissapointed in this guy's attitude and comittment to the Club.....need i say more....

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  26. Do me a favour JK, your unseemly and insidious bias towards Suarez started before he even joined the club!! The festering hatred you have for him is clouding your objectivity and reason because surely, the player who has missed most of the times in our poor run has been the hapless Kuyt.

    3 misses from less than 12 yards vs Arsenal inc a penalty, the clear cut miss vs West Brom and of course the howler from 3 yards vs Villa. It is Dirk Kuyt that needs replacing because he has never been consistently good enough, second touch is a tackle, can't make chances for himself {which is the striker's art}, no left foot, no pace. How many goals all season, a handful.

    Lets have some calm, cleared headed objectivity rather than bile.

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  27. If shallow King Kenny had bought quality instead of average British, Suarez would have scored more. Can you begin to imagine what Liverpool's situation would have been like if Comolli had not signed Suarez?

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  28. It's a horrible statistic that Suarez has but i'm a huge fan of the man for the way he plays football and remember he created most of his opportunities himself. 

    His finishing has been poor but the some of his creative play and skills he's pulled out has been amazing. We all now this guy is capable of scoring goals - the Dutch league is weak compared to PL but Suarez has done it for Uruguay against top teams like Argentina and Brazil.

    Liverpool has got to sign a good forward next season for Suarez to play off.

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  29. yes i totally "agree", put messi in a west brom team and expect them to win the UCL. no seriously. you cant ALWAYS rely on one player to score, look at torres when he was at liverpool, over reliant on him made him go bust. but at least we had good midfield back then, unlike now. and your defense of Carroll. Well why don't you manage the team and get rid of suarez(our best player) and expect liverpool to come anywhere near top 4 with Carroll? Just so you know, rumour it may be, but HIGH chance that KD  actually wanted the swap deal between Carroll and Tevez to happen. What does that say? KD himself is doubting Carroll's ability. And on the side note, i read somewhere else that Carroll is better than Toshack. hah! many ex-players can so such rubbish. no, i can never have footballing knowledge like those past liverpool greats, but what i atleast have is some logic. Those ex-players won't just go all out on Carroll. The reason why they such stuffs is just to show some support to Carroll, nothing else.

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  30. Actually there was an article that looked into Suarez's conversation rate back in his old clubs. The findings were that even though he did score a lot of goals few years back, it was because he took a lot of shots, as his conversation rate was on average around 8 - 12%. The conclusion of the article was that Suarez was more of a chance creator than a prolific goal scorer. That obviously hasn't changed much when he moved to Liverpool. 

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  31. I hardly bother with the stats - Unfortunately, I get to work with Statistics and I know how misleading they can be. Taken to the world of sports, stats certainly do not reflect true quality of play, influence on the team, awareness, anticipation, ability - if you get 2-3 players on a side with a high level of those qualities working together for a period of time, you'll get the goals and forget number crunching results and just be looking at the goal tally. Today - we need those 2-3 players with those characteristics that just aren't there.

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  32. Look, Carroll is not without blame either.....thats not the point, people like you will not concede that Suarez just hasn't been good enough this season and it HAS affected our form in a big way esp in the league.....

    Why do you have such a hard time admitting these things instead of looking for a scapegoat in Carroll...?

    Its so typically blinkered of the fanbase to rally foolishly around Suarez and defend him to the hilt even when he lets the Club and manager down massively re the whole Evra incident and plays like a championship player for most of the season......

    Honest to God, where is the support for the Club? Here we are again trying to discuss our season woes to which Suarez has definitely played his part but his fans will keep backing him and denying that he is ANY way responsible.....

    At least admit that his form has not been good enough and that it really is a case of whether he bloody hits the back of the net or not......

    Carroll has rightly come under much criticism this season, but its bordering on the point of becoming a blinkered obsession for a lot of supporters IMO, attack Carroll defend Suarez no matter what, well its very refreshing IMO to hear Shearer come out and make a very salient point, one that should have been acknowledged and accepted within the
    fanbase by now in that Suarez is very much a part of the problem we have at our Club........

     

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  33. Stats mean sqaut, look an andys' stats b4 he came to LFC, look at Torres stats b4 he left LFC. It is who you are surrounded by. You can see he continually frustrated in games when obvious one two passes are not made. His vision and that of the players around  do not match up, pure and simple.

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  34. Hey you and your stats don't mean shit, why don't you look at Carroll's stats before we bought him so whats his excuse he is English, lives in the country played all his football in the country. So i think stats mean nothing he is the hardest worker in the team and as for Shearer he was a good goal scorer in UK what about any where else in the world. LFC are in 8th place because KK spent a lot of money on real average players, lets not forget that Suarez was brought in to partner Torres not Carroll.

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  35. Why didnt we sign Clint Dempsey ? I said it a year ago and again in January , people laughed at me and now hes scored 20+ goals . I love LFC but the reality is we are in serious trouble . £100 million spend on transfers on 3 flops Downing Henderson Carroll alone.What do we do with them , admit there flops and  try and flog while taking unbelieveable losses. Or contine to play them and the team struggles . Then theres massive wages for the likes of Aqulani ,Cole ,jovanovic . No business in the world can make such finanical mistakes and be competitive . These mistakes will haunt LFC for at least the next ten years . We can look forward to fighting for top ten finishes or worse Its happened before , look at  Leeds Utd Nottingham forest.
    Then theres Daglish he was a LFC legend but not now . He hasnt a clue how to manage in 2012 . Fowler was a legend goal scorer but hes passed it .

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  36. i,ve never read so much utter rubbish.i would get rid of carroll,adam,henderson,downing,kuyt,maxi,carragher.i would build my team around suarez,and play sterling,suso,wisdom etc.i would rip up my season ticket if suarez goes.

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  37. He will be playing for Liverpool FC obviously.

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  38. I will settle for any player who can put the Damn ball in the net. Luis can go for all I care. We want goals. Goals win games . A goal poacher with no skill I will settle for Now. As long as he can score goals week in week out. I long to see an Ian Rush in our forward line now.

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  39. Shearer is a hilarious SOB. It's a team sport, not even C. Ronaldo can carry a team.

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  40. As Shankly said of the great Roger Hunt 'Aye he misses a few but he gets in the position to miss them'

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  41. Wilson Michaelpaul1:39 pm, April 25, 2012

    Ive hammered Suarez on here recently but he must have the patience of a saint when you look at the dross he has around him - he's trying to hard to create his own chances as those brought into the squad for that purpose do not seem capable  - Downing 0 assists and 0 goals in the league for £ 20 million ???  It beggars belief.

    Suarez maybe a lot of things but dont lay our appalling form in front of goal all at his door  - stick him in City or Utd's attacking line up and he'd be on 20+ goals this season.

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  42. Yes he can. Rolldownjoe will dive his way and carry his team. 

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  43. Wilson Michaelpaul1:45 pm, April 25, 2012

    Imagine LFC this season without Suarez ? thats a place thats too dark for me to go to my friend  - without Luis contribution this season we would be were Villa are now  - one defeat above the drop zone  - thats how dire the situation now is .

    Arsenal without RVP wouldnt be in as much trouble as we would be without Suarez .

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  44. Quite true. you cant just create a goal from halfway line every single game. He requires people to deliver form him. Carroll is THE target man. He supposed to bag more goals.

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  45. Alan when we want your opinion on anything we'll ask Lee Dixon

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  46. Angel of Liverpool2:19 pm, April 25, 2012

    We have problems with our midfielders also - don't forget they are scoring very few goals.
    Kenny mistakes - sale of Mereiles and loaning of Joe Cole and Aqua.
    We desperately need a playmaker - Hazard???, right winger - Pedro???, few midfielders like Martines from Bilbao and Tiote from Newcastle, another centre back for Carragher(retirement) - may be Kjaer, another left back - Baines and another two forwards - why not Luuk de Jong and Sterling from Chelsea and a stopper - Al Habib(if Wigan relegated). Sell - Kuyt, Maxi, Bellamy, Adam, Doni, Brad Jones, Glen Jones(if the amount is more than 12-13 mln. Pounds). It's not impossible to catch some of the above mentioned - of course not all of them..
    Also - Suso, Raheem and Morgan must be with the first team, starting from the summer - they don't neet to play with the reserves again. They proved, that are ready for the next level.
    Waiting for F.A. cup - GOOD LUCK, REDS!!!
    Y.W.N.A.
    :)

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  47. you make a very good point, before i say anything, i really like how you present your points without getting angry(which i faced in other forums), so thank you. Now, i'm not saying Carroll should be the only person who is at fault here, everyone is. the tactics, the setup, the players. Yes, Suarez with he racism thing was a big big disgrace. I personally believe is there only one race which is the human race, but lets not get there. I'm just pissed that Shearer comes out to attack Suarez while he is always saying Carroll will come good and etc. Where is the support for Suarez? it is definitely clear that Suarez is a way way better FOOTBALLER than Carroll. I don't know whether you have seen it or not, above i posted a comment, mentioning that most of Suarez's goals were of one or two touch goals, like headers or taking in a passing plus some exceptional one to two touches and scores. While most of those that he hits wayward, just look at the videos carefully, he creates all those chances by dribbling past a lot of defenders and when its time to shoot, he fumbles.  pressure? trying to hard? losing balance? yes. and of course he needs some finishing practice, i won't deny that. This current team was created to compliment Carroll rather than Suarez. You only have to look at the summer signings who according to some statistics had the most number of chances created last season, which to me is more like hoofing the ball on the box, rather than actual incisive passing. why was that? well maybe just to support the 35m pound so as it doesn't look a bad business decision, and it backfired a lot! losing another 40-50m on doing that. I don't know, al i'm concerned is, keeping Suarez is VITAL for next season, and for the love of God, buy some players that would compliment him rather than Carroll. and in general, I'm just pissed at Carroll especially after his attitude towards KD in the newcastle game, the guy who has been saving his sorry a$$ for quite a while now. Lets just hope Liverpool can do well next season.

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  48. The only player involved in a players conversion rate is the player himself.
    In the case of suarez his shooting has not been upto scratch. It seems to me he has a problem with the first rule of shooting, If you are going to shoot always make sure you hit the target if you cant garante this doent shoot.

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  49. "Barring Johnson". Get real pleeeeease. Glen Johnson, along with Dirk Kuyt, Jordan Henderson, Jay Spearing and Stewart Downing are the worst set of players ever to play for Liverpool. They are second rate at the very best and do not belong anywhere near a Liverpool team. They give nothing to the team and as most of them are English internationals, that point will be proven when, once again, England will make a show of themselves in the upcoming Euros.

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  50. Jamie how much have Ferg16  paid you to bring this SUarez campaign again?It will fail you guys OK?

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  51. glen johnson 1 of the worst players to ever play for liverpool? haha, am not even guna use a fraze like look at the stats, watch the game properly, in the last few games johnsons been injured since the carling cup final we have missed him down that right an side something rotten, great player is you keep him fit!

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  52. Glen Johnson's only attribute is he is physical and fit. He doesn't have a football brain, he cannot dribble past a player like every wing player should and he cannot cross a ball in a fit. Oh and he most certainly CANNOT defend. A waste of a jersey.

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  53. strongly disagree...arsenal are next to nothing without vp. the number of games hes popped up and done the business when they were being outplayed this season is mad.they would be at least 15 or 20 points worse off. if suarez could score instead of toe poking from ridicolous angles as he seems to do every week then we would be in a much stronger position. how does he ever expect his passes to be returned when he only seems to make 2 or 3 a game as a last ditch thing. ive said it before on here and ill say every day till this posinous little fellow leaves, hes a one trick pony, very good at turning....terrible at shooting, but seems to think because hes turned hes allowed to shoot from anywhere. yes carroll downing hendo adam etc have not been good this year but they will improve, i think we are seeing the best of suarez and i dont like it. hes out for number one, never the team.

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  54. For a defender, he does do quite well when attacking the opposition's fullback. The problem here is that Johnson can't seem to do right by some people. When he attacked he was criticised for abandoning his defensive duties. He's disciplined himself a bit more now and is careful going forward and he is now being criticised as not having a football brain. Remember, he is not a winger. Give the lad a break.

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  55. how is it £100million?

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  56. Play EL Pistolero with someone and not Carroll and that someone would score 30 goals a season.We supporters would always be honest on judging players because we don't care about being a friend of anyone,we care about results at the club.A Gerrard or Dalglish would be defensive on other people because he knows he would meet them the following day and wants to avoid a banter,which is useless!!!

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  57. Johnson's mistake is the same as Messi or Gerrard missing a penalty or Ronaldo missing a clear cut chance.Glen is one of our stars and it is sad for someone who calls himself a Liverpool supporter to criticise players even on normal things,Gerrard once gave Drogba such a ball,Distin gave it to Suarez and considering the chances we did not convert on that game; there is no point to criticise Glen!! you are right Bomber25!!

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  58. one thing is certain. Suarez is by far the most talented player we have in the team, however whether or not that means he has a future, long term for LFC, I´m not too sure.
     We all know he misses too many chances, that´s not my biggest issue, nor is it the fact that he does not seem to learn anything from his poor behavior. How a professional, an adult can come back from a 8 game ban, justified or not, and instantly proceed to kick an opposition player in the gut, is beyond me.  
    my big issue is with his desicion making, he instinctively seems go for the toughest option he can find. Against West Brom, he twice took a shot from the goal line, neglecting to pick out the two unmarked LFC players in front of goal.
    of course he´s not solely responsible for the horrid season we´re having, he must however accept a significant portion of the blame...

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  59. Things you are talking about are called tactics. And Tactics are devised by manager. Obviously Dalglish has yet not seen the problems you are talking about. A whole season is not enough for him to sort out the same problem of poor chance conversion rate.

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  60. nothink else to write about jamie this is stale news mate shearer mentioned this on motd saturday .lets see how things progress at the end of next season not this campaign

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  61. Jump on the band wagon! Most here agreeing with this pathetic comments!
    He has scored 8, missed 8 games and set up more than most!
    Carroll - Sheerer's golden boy has done jack in comparison!
    Suarez is so exciting to watch and extremely unlucky to not score at least another hand full due to posts or keepers miracles!
    We need a better striker as a partner which will result in more goals!
    He has too often made us look better this year than any other player has!

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  62. and now Torres is surrounded by a team that made CL final - all the while unable to hit a barn door with a cowpat ......what's your point?

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  63. Yikes, took a long time for someone to use bad luck/unlucky reasoning. Surprised me that, the length of time. ;)

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  64. I think he is fine in relation to going forward but defensively, very suspect. Seems to do better at left back in terms of defending

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  65. They're not my stats. Suarz should have scored more if he was playing alongside old Ian St John

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  66. Apparently according to one of your peers on another thread, JK is Ferguson.

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  67. But how many times has he hit the woodwork?! Is that different in the Netherlands too?

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  68. Tbh when it comes to the FA Cup final i would rather have Carroll with the ball at his feet in front of goal than Suarez.....

    Not because i rate Carroll higher in terms of ability..... but because i have lost a lot of faith in Suarez's comittment to score......

    No matter what i say though people will have their own views on our striker "problem" and im sure that you or i won't be changing our p.o.v.s anytime soon....

    In this respect we can agree to disagree.

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  69. Dirk Kuyt was our top scorer last season, and we ended up 6th we can only dream of that this season! - His link up play with Suarez and Mireles was at times superb (remember his hat-trick against Manure?)

    His loss of form at the beginning of this season was due to KD bringing in Hendo (an awful right winger) and demoting Kuyt to the bench. Now he's playing a bit-part role like Bellemy and Maxi, but unlike them he needs a decent run of games to get his form back.

    However, this is never gonna happen for him at LFC, plus he is ageing now, so it is probably time for him to move on...

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  70. Jaimie give it up mate, you're just coming across as a bit of a twat to be honest

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  71. Typical Jaimie- bashing Suarez every week for one reason or another. Give it rest already!

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  72. if surez is truly a world class striker / forward with skill and finess why doesnt he score as much as messi or ronaldo. they are two world class players. players who show immense skill, make their own chances and score. liverpool are missing an alan shearer, someone who scores goals. chances are not what liverpool lack, it is someone who has that chance and scores!

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  73. tbh we have to ask ourselves .. where was suarez playing when he scored all his goals for ajax?? on the right wing... goes without saying he looks great upfront, his skill and his pace but hes nt finishing chances.. has been for 99% of the team... look at carroll hes had a hell of a lot of shots but have been wasteful.. maybe the summer comes and get an out n out striker try suarez on the right wing or on the right of a 3 man strike force

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  74. Very true about missing instinctive scorer.


    The very assumption that Suarez is the main striker really goes a long way to prove the problems lie mostly elsewhere.

    Suarez was initially bought to support Torres who was the main striker.
    The club then pointedly paid £35million for Carroll to be that main
    striker now that Torres left. It is his failure as the main striker that
    has seen Suarez now thought of as the main striker.

    I am sure many remember that Suarez did score a lot of goals in Holland
    but Liverpool was more impressed with his assist rate for the main
    strikers at Ajax such as Huntelaar something that proves he was never
    the main striker at club level.

    Now his problem at Liverpool if you watched most games this season was
    that if Andy Carrol was the main striker, Suarez would be dribbling in
    the box but Andy Carroll has often been deep in midfield or on the wing
    so the assist opportunities have not presented themselves.

    Often Suarez has had too much to do for Liverpool on his own while you
    can see how liberated he is for Uruguay with better players around him.

    He even works well as the main striker for for Uruguay when he doesnt
    have to have many touches of the ball because other players take care of
    this which is why he is not often seen dribbling when playing for his
    country.

    For Uruguay the front line of Suarez, Forlan and Cavani rolls off the
    tongue while at liverpool Forlan is replaced by either Carrol or Kuuyt
    while Cavani often out on the wing is also replaced by either Henderson
    or Kuuyt.Getting a striker who actually does score will help Suarez refine his own game and I think goals will flow for him too. He is presently having to be jack of all trades but not mastering the art of putting it in the net because others simply go hiding but pick up their pay cheques and give us these dreadful interviews after a loss especially Downing when he comes out saying he is down and will do better but now it has been a whole season of him saying that.

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  75. theyre just a few losers that blame suarez

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  76. For Uruguay, he has played plenty as the main striker with Forlan behind and Cavani on the right. Its not a foreign position to him, playing through the middle. He played all across front three line up for Ajax, it was a interchanging one. He is versatile. He was the Copa America best player and he was playing as the main striker. 

    Its all about fluidity for Suarez, in relation to what sort of play he benefits best from in the last attacking third from himself and the attacking players around him. Hence why he does well for Uruguay as the main striker as the likes of Forlan and Cavani are fluid versatile attackers. Whereas here at Liverpool, he doesn't really play in tandem with the likes of Carroll and Downing all that well, which is hardly surprising.

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  77. ------------------reina-------------------
    wan der will-----albiol----agger----enrique
    --------havi martinez-----mascherano-----
    hazard-----------suarez-----------eriksen
    -----------------higuain-----------------

    rafael benitez

    out
    jonson 12
    skrtel   10
    carrager
    aurelio  free
    kuyt     5
    adam    5
    maxi  free
    joe cole  5
    aquiliani  6
    downing  12
    carroll    15
     total  70

    in
    wan der will   10
    albiol             10
    havi martinez  30
    mascherano    15
    hazard      (cole 30)
    eriksen           25
    de jong           12
    elm                 8
    suso
    strering
    flanagan
    robinson
    total  140


     

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  78. The first person to understand what happened... This is exactly it. Look at saurez's stats before the evra incident. The goals he scored in his first 6 months. I remember one goal from the byline that was so good. His stats since the incident have dropped significantly. He and KK say publicly it didn't effect him- but it obviously did. What else publicly is he going to say? " yes the racism event is affecting my game. I can't seem to focus on playing anymore and I feel more pressure". This kind statement will only come after he retires. I'm hoping that a new season will maybe change things but am thinking if he wants to stay in Europe he should go to Spain or Italy where fans and players are constantly getting in trouble for racism. He wouldn't be booed there.... Also if he went to Spain he is south American....so they would take him as there own. Spain has a Terrible rep for racism against the Africans that jump the border.....

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  79. Without reading through all the bile, I am hoping that someone has posted that Suarez was bought in to support Torres. He was never supposed to be the main striker. Carroll as a replacement for Torres has been the problem. A dempsey/Bent/defoe/ or alternative mediocre centre forward would have put us higher up the league, cost a fraction whilst we spent this season searching for a long term option. The problem isn't Suarez.

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  80. Here we go again, let's hammer Suarez again, you say the guy is not world-class, what are you talking about?, where on earth do you think we would be without him and relying on Carroll to get the creative play's going.I just don't understand why when you have a player with his undoubted ability, passion for the game and desire to win every game that some people continue to relentlessly try and knock the crap out of him? WHY???

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  81. You are right on the money my friend!

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  82. Guys, remember when we approached Ajax for Suarez, the idea was to partner him Torres but when Torres informed of his decision to leave, LFC got Carrol...If it would have been Torres, I am sure we would have scored more goals

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  83. It is top and bottom options really, but primarily the first.

    I think he is improving in terms of efficiency. A regular partner will help. Carroll in particular helps create space for him.

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  84. this is just a bait article to get views and clicks.

    this is how the owner of this blog makes money - controversial headlines. 

    I hate myself every time I fall for them...but the owner shouldn't be proud of how he earns his money

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  85. Suarez is to blame for his own shots you can not blame poor players around him or the prem being stronger than the dutch leagues. Suarez has had 116 shots at goal in the prem alone yet converted only 8 goals. That stat is frightening but he has is not alone in this Carroll has had 71 shots and converted 4 in the prem. For a total of 55 million. Yet bellamy with the same players around him has had 39 shots at goal and scored 6 in the prem therefore you can dismiss the idea that the players around them has stopped Carroll and Suarez from scoring.add that to the fact we have created more headed shots at goal in the prem and have created more goal scoring opportunities than almost every team in the league can tell you only one thing the strike duo are both not fit to year the shirt once worn by hunt,rush, Kenny , keegan,fowler and Owen and torres .

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  86. I just want to say that he does way too much work to get those "chances". For instance when he ran past two players, at the edge of the box vs West Brom, and then skied his shot. Its extraordinary that he had the balance to even get a shot off, let alone go past two players. He hasn't had enough of the CONVENIENT chances like how Gerrard set him up vs Wigan, or Rodriguez set him up for Stoke. He needs to get at the end of things, instead of running like a machine through players and miraculously scoring a goal from all the effort. Its even worse for Carroll, because there has been so many times where HE has got passes on a plate to finish off. I'm not saying Suarez is a good finisher, he just needs the team to work on runs in the box more, instead of him doing it all by himself. 

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  87. how many times did we attack on the right and dominate. Hes a good defender with some occasional mistakes. he's only human but people seem to bash him even though there are other humans in the team aswell. What makes Kelly so untouchable? i wonder if all this criticism  from people living in Liverpool that want to see a Liverpudlian take his place instead. 

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  88. horrorfilmshirts.com8:02 am, April 26, 2012

    Totally agree with Rob. Suarez often doesn't have anywhere to go when he's on the ball. The movement of the other players (Carroll especially) is not good enough for them to effectively support his creativitiy. Yes, Suarez should have scored more but we need someone who can find space themselves for an assist by Suarez. What a shame we didn't get Gomez 18 months ago

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  89. ALL THE PROBLEM STARTS WITH MAN CITY. THEY ARE PAYING REDICULUS WAGES. WHO WANTS TO COME TO LIVERPOOL WITHOUT REDICULUS WAGES. ONLY BRITISH WHO KNOWS LIVERPOOL HISTORY WOULD WANT TO DON LIVERPOOL COLORS. SO COMMON, SUPPORT LIVERPOOL WHOLEHEARTEDLY AND DONT CONDAMN UR MANAGER. INSTEAD OF SUPPORT, U ARE PUTTING MORE PRESSURE ON THEM. KENNY HAVE BEEN UR CALL FOR HIM TO COME BACK, NOW HE IS BACK AND U WANT HIM OUT AS SOON. BE A REAL LIVERPOOL SUPPORTED.

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  90. People criticising suarez should be ashamed of themselves. The guy is GENUINE quality and that idiotic manager we have should try to find more players like him instead of the likes of henderson, downing and caroll. Suarez is a freaking genuis of a player. We are lucky to have him. If he were not part of our team we would have been a typical average midtable team without any high profile players. He is the only one raising the standard of the club. All other players are just shit midtable quality at best. How can anyone want him out!? Suarez always gives 100% when he plays. You can see it on his body language and facial expressions. He is always fighting with everyone players, referees etc for the sake of the club because he is a winner, a fighter! You can see the dissappointment on his face when we are losing since he hates to lose unlike those other lazy players we have,  just jogging around the field every matches waiting for their undeserved fat cheques at the end of the week. Suarez is a true RED and the only one who deserves to wear the LFC jersey. If he were surrounded by better players then he would not have to do everything on his own.  The burden of creating chances will be shared. He will then be able to score more goals. Right now he has to run past defenders and dribble by himself. Nobody is smart enough to follow him and link up with quick one twos etc. Its obvious that after dribbling everyone on his own he will get tired and his accuracy will suffer...

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  91. Not been confirmed that (Torres was supposed to bla bla bla) has it?

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  92. Yeah but what about earlier when he passed to kuyt in front of the goal but the latter could not even shoot on target, uh? What about the cross that agger who was to slow to get to the ball, huh?
    Maybe the reason he sometimes try to shoot on his own is not because he is selfish but because he knows that his team mates are not good enough and will just waste the opportunities anyway...

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  93. His point is some players are suited to different team mates/styles of play. Ergo, without the correct surroundings for that individual: a player who looks a world beater in one situation, becomes inferior looking in another; as Torres has at Chelsea (regardless of the overall results of the team the player is present in). 

    You seem to be highlighting your lack of intelligence/ability to follow a simple thread.

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  94. Jaimie Please Dont Sell Suarez11:22 am, April 26, 2012

    NO! Dont sacrifice Luis Suarez. He's the reason why I love football. If football is about winning and winning, then let's just play Football Manager with cheat codes.

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  95. A quid pro quo Monsieur Pseudo regarding my perceived lack of intelligence: There is an old adage that 'People in glass houses, should take their head out of their arses, before playing pitch and putt' - please adhere

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  96. What do we do then ?

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  97. I said a similar thing in January and was labelled an apologist.
    I bet Taggart and the Liar can't believe how well their little ruse worked.And now people will say I'm 'paranoid'.........             !!!!

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  98. Sorry mate I disagree. One of Suarez `s problems is the inability to look up before shooting. Yes he makes some wonderful goals out of nothing, However go and google his shots on goal and I bet you that at least 30 %  of the time there was a  better  pass available by his team mates that should of been converted to a goal. His second problem is  he is not clinical enough yet. Maybe  that will come in time.
    His strength is creating  something out of nothing. His weakness is lack of composure when shooting and not looking up to team mates to assess options on whether to shoot or pass.
    I can think of 4 goals this season were he should of passed but shot and  luckily or happily scored. £ of  them carol was there in a better  position. Even his last goal carol was running in box to assist him. He took the harder option but buried it.

    The thing is you dont know which of him will turn up each match.

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  99. i think liverpool striker/attackin coaches is useless. SACK THEM!!!

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  100. If u believe that ull believe anything. How many one and one chances have torress missed with the ball to  his feet going in on goal with the keeper at chelsea? Did that depend on the people around him that gave him the ball? How many sitters? Stats say alot if measured at a reasonable amount of time. That is why it is important to  measure them on average career. Like cricket batmen and bowlers have their average. Then you know whether  people are under or over performing  if  their average goes up or down in a season.
    Doesnt mean they are crap just they under performed.

    Common sense should  prevail.

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  101. is form not temperory and class is permanent? If Torress took half the chances he was given he would of scored  20 goals this season  easily.

    Fact his form has dipped.

    Lets  buy a goalie to fit  our system !!! lol

    Fact Chelsea`s system and  liverpools are very similar if you care to compare how they played, like for  like and ill  go one step further and say with mata, miereless and benny they have a midfield more suited For Torress.


    El Nino`s form started dipping at  Liverpoool. or did you not notice that. Check the stats.....lol

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  102. you mean  be less selfish? or  check best option? lol  i agree

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  103. Diagree. Fact we creating more chances on average each game than we did under  Hodgson as well as under Rafa. That is a undisputed fact. To argue that  would make me not even reply.
    These created chances are coming from a team of all these crap  players people think and  keep talking about.

    We are definately on average playing better football. More offensive style. This is also a fact. We have played  rubbish in my opinion only around 6 games tops this year.

    Our only problem has been putting  that bloody ball in the net.

    Now u can  blame it on many things and im sure everyone will have their  opinon however Suarez and carol have had the majority of chances and Suarez percentage waste is exstremely high. Nothing to do with  people around  him guys.

    More composure and precision.

    Robbie fowler would of scored  25 league goals this season with this team. easy.....

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  104. If you beat 4 defenders and there is a guy in the box  waiting to tap the ball in and you shoot and  miss or hit the post then who is the fool? who is the team player?

    And for the record Suarez himself has said he enjoys playing with Carol and that it makes it easier for him to play his game. That is a fact. 3 weeks ago.

    Andy Carol when 25 will be Englands number one striker. That is my prediction. Yes he has made mistakes. Missed  easy chances but he will definately come good in my opinion. Easily.

    People that  play his type of game with his height peak at around 27  Look at crouch.What daglish should be doing  him is playing  him and suarez every game to make them gel.

    Liverpool have let down andy in  his supply as much as Carol has let us down.

    If I was manager id of shifted Gerrard out to the right for good delivery and let the midfield take care of themselfs.

    We have to move forward.

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  105. Here is a fact

    Liverpool head the league in the amount of times their players are caught off side this season. 

    Liverpool  112 times  of which Suarez was the chief culprit of 42 times. This says alot about who plays further  up front and  who cant have the intelligence to hold the line.

    2nd place is west brom with 107


    3rd everton           98

    spurs and newcastle  89

    man utd                 86

    arsenal                   82


    thats  up to 30 percent of less missed chances if  got right.

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  106. dempsey and carol would score more goals in a  seasom then suarez and dempsey in my opinion.

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  107. your a very funny man.

    skirtel has been our best defender this season by far.
    ull be lucky to sell joe cole on a free transfer
    and you want  mascherano to wear a liverpool shirt when he   blantantly refused to play a match for us.

    and the icing on the cake is selling carol for 15 mil and dreaming  of landing  harzard.

    conclusion your in coockoo land  lol


    at least you made me smile

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  108. why dont we just swap suarez for falcao?

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