With only one month left of the season, the race for the Premier League's golden boot is primed to go right down to the wire, with Luis Suarez now just one goal ahead of Manchester United's Robin Van Persie. Both players are strong contenders for the player of the year award, but Ipswich Town legend Paul Mariner is convinced that Suarez is more deserving of the accolade.
Discussing Suarez and Van Persie on ESPN last night, Mariner - who also played for Arsenal and the England national team - enthused:
"Suarez has been the player of the season.
"He's taken the Liverpool team on his back with his goals. The amount of work he does on the field is quite extraordinary.
"For me, it's a two-horse race [with RVP], but Suarez comes out on top"
Liverpool legend Steve Nicol agreed with Mariner, adding:
"They're both superb players, but Suarez is playing in a side that is not as good as the one RVP is playing in. Suarez has been the most influential, and he's done more for his team"
Is it really true that Suarez 'has done more' for Liverpool?
Suarez
* 29 goals/4 assists in 43 apps
* TOTAL: 33 goals/assists in 43 apps
* Goal every 1.5 games
* Goal/Assist every 1.3 games
* PREM: 1 goal every 130 mins
Van Persie
* 25 goals/8 assists in 43 apps
* TOTAL: 33 goals/assists in 43 apps
* Goal every 1.7 games
* Goal/Assist every 1.3 games
* PREM: 1 goal every 127 mins
When it comes to overall contribution to their respective teams, Suarez and Van Persie have practically identical records this year, with Suarez just shading it on goals-per-game.
* Van Persie is ahead when it comes to scoring crucial goals, however: six of his goals this season have won games for Manchester United.
* Suarez has grabbed only two match-winning goals all year.
* Having said that, seven of Suarez's goals have come in draws this season, saving the Reds from dropping 14 points, which would've been catastrophic for the season.
Suarez is in the midst of his second major goal drought of the season (First: 1 goal in 8 games - Nov/Dec 2012), whereas Van Persie has just broken out of his lean spell, and with United practically guaranteed to win the title - mainly because of Van Persie's influence - it seems likely that the Player of the Year award will end up at Old Trafford.
Jaimie Kanwar
NOTE: Please stick to the Comment Policy (Click to read)
Discussing Suarez and Van Persie on ESPN last night, Mariner - who also played for Arsenal and the England national team - enthused:
"Suarez has been the player of the season.
"He's taken the Liverpool team on his back with his goals. The amount of work he does on the field is quite extraordinary.
"For me, it's a two-horse race [with RVP], but Suarez comes out on top"
Liverpool legend Steve Nicol agreed with Mariner, adding:
"They're both superb players, but Suarez is playing in a side that is not as good as the one RVP is playing in. Suarez has been the most influential, and he's done more for his team"
Is it really true that Suarez 'has done more' for Liverpool?
Suarez
* 29 goals/4 assists in 43 apps
* TOTAL: 33 goals/assists in 43 apps
* Goal every 1.5 games
* Goal/Assist every 1.3 games
* PREM: 1 goal every 130 mins
Van Persie
* 25 goals/8 assists in 43 apps
* TOTAL: 33 goals/assists in 43 apps
* Goal every 1.7 games
* Goal/Assist every 1.3 games
* PREM: 1 goal every 127 mins
When it comes to overall contribution to their respective teams, Suarez and Van Persie have practically identical records this year, with Suarez just shading it on goals-per-game.
* Van Persie is ahead when it comes to scoring crucial goals, however: six of his goals this season have won games for Manchester United.
* Suarez has grabbed only two match-winning goals all year.
* Having said that, seven of Suarez's goals have come in draws this season, saving the Reds from dropping 14 points, which would've been catastrophic for the season.
Suarez is in the midst of his second major goal drought of the season (First: 1 goal in 8 games - Nov/Dec 2012), whereas Van Persie has just broken out of his lean spell, and with United practically guaranteed to win the title - mainly because of Van Persie's influence - it seems likely that the Player of the Year award will end up at Old Trafford.
Jaimie Kanwar
NOTE: Please stick to the Comment Policy (Click to read)
suarez deserves it over rvp all day hes carried us this year ,but politics dictate he will not win it,personally suarez i just can,t get enough
ReplyDeleteMost of RVPs goals have been tap ins or penalties whereas all Suarezs goals have been wonder goals in which hes created by himself.RVP plays in the most creative team with the biggest squad and gets chance after chance put on a plate for him.Suarez only has Gerrard in the side who has any semblance of creativity in his play.On a side note I just hope anfield has everyone standing and cheering his name for the full 90 minutes on Sunday.Im getting a tingle down my spine now thinking of Rafa coming back and bringing back memories of all the great times we had under him in the face of such adversity.i realise LFC will never compete in CL finals or go toe to toe with Man utd for the premiership ever again since he left but let this game be a celebration of a great man a great manager and of great times the like of which anfield will never see again.
ReplyDeleteI think just watching them play you can see who has the most impact, Suarez must be involved in nearly all LFC goals in some sort of way, he's a true defenders nightmare. I know strikers arent there to defend but he leads from the front by example.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't swap Luis for anyone at all, he has done it in England which is very hard to do.
ReplyDeleteMr K I know you don't really dislike Luis. He provides you with hours of blog time. Without him , as I have mentioned before, would not be worth watching, we certainly wouldn't be worth 45 quid to go and see. He is undoubtedly the premiership player of the year although I think Carrick runs him pretty close. With a decent centre back, Erikson fro Ayax and big Andy back, we shouldn't be too far off the top four next year.
ReplyDeleteI can't remember the last time I watched a player (Henry? Zidane?) who left me shaking my head at the things he can do week-in and week-out. He almost never scores the same goal twice and is absoutley incredible to watch. Luis would win the player of the year if he was either English or played for Man U but unfortunately for him he's neither and that award will go to RVP for a second year running. Good thing (fingers crossed) the golden boot is based on facts!
ReplyDeleteSuarez just needs to score goals now, so he can crown himself as the top scorer ... an award nobody could deny him no matter how much they dislike him !!!!
ReplyDeleteYNWA, Luis "El Pistolero" Suarez !!
nothing to do with the fact he's a racist, vile cheater?
ReplyDeletemmmm so you mean suarez is the best player in the world? delusional...
ReplyDeletenothing to do with the fact that RVP has been the difference between 1st and 2nd place, the biggest leap to make is going from a runner up to a winner.
ReplyDeleteNever mind, they say liverpool fans are the most knowledgeable, you just won't find them fans here,
How can you say he`s a racist? There is CERO proof on what was said. Its only FA and ppl from one of the most racist countries in the world can judge a man with no proof. Its not long ago you stood by the white men in South Africa.
ReplyDeleteSuarez is also 1\4 black. Mabe you are the racist one?
Jaimie, any striker that plays in a man utd team is bound to score more match winning goals in the 100th minute.
ReplyDeleteDo people believe that United's league title this season came out of nowhere? It's not like United jumped from 6th to first. They lost the league title last year on goal difference with a last minute goal at the death.
ReplyDeleteRVP was a great addition to an already very talented group. Has he made the difference between 2nd and 1st? The argument could be made for it and the argument could be made against it.
Suarez, on the other hand, has had little support up front (compared to RVP), and generated a number of quality chances and goals literally by himself.
The only area that I think RVP has over Suarez is the number of late goals to salvage draws and wins, obviously important. But to only credit RVP with that is unfair to the rest of the team he's on.
To me it should be a contest between Suarez and Bale. For obvious reasons (both objective and non-objective), I believe Suarez should win it. But if Bale won, I wouldn't have so big of an issue.
I would have an issue if RVP wins it for reasons both objective and non-objective.
there's a difference between correctly identifying innuendo and making up your own innuendo you idiot. people don't mind united fans on here, as long as you aren't deluded, blow in trolls just looking for reactions.
ReplyDeleteChelsea this weekend is the perfect time to start scoring agian.
ReplyDeleteIndividual form + team form is the way to win these things and to an extent, rightly so. Because of how mediocre we have been, Suarez's chances of winning it has been handicapped sadly. I don't place much importance on the angle of 'he plays in a better team and Suarez has to carry Liverpool', although I do see why people argue for it. Yep, Suarez does a lot more for himself and the team than RVP (then again, Suarez is allowed the freedom to do what he wants) but RVP doesn't need to do that. More than one way to skin a cat. Neither player has been flawless, nowhere near as both have had lean spells, Suarez has been incredibly toothless and wasteful at times, RVP has been very quiet at times too. Not a vintage year, in terms of individual form or team form, in PL this season. Neither have been anywhere near as good as past winners Henry, Ronaldo etc, in terms of individual form and their respective team form, in terms of entertainment but I guess they have been effective enough.
ReplyDelete