Luis Suarez: Angel or Demon?

Luis Suarez’s dive against Aston Villa ends one and begins another chapter of his controversially colourful career

A massive goalkeeper confronts the diminutive man on the ball. The keeper tackles the dribbler. Or does he? We shall probably never know. What we know is that the possesor decides to give way; a tad too easily. You guessed it right, I am talking about THE Prince of controversy, and the subject of this post, Luis Suarez.

The Suarez of the years gone by is history by now. The racial abuse scandal was a thing of the past. The biting incidents and the suspensions were over. Or so we thought. Luis Suarez’s return from suspension was quite simply an explosion of goals.

He vented out all the frustration within him by wrecking havoc on the opposition defense. He cost his teammate Sturridge the positon of the highest scorer in the league, a handful of teams their self-respect, and AVB his job.

He made it clear that he intended to beat Ribery and Ibra to the Ballon d’Or final shortlist next year, teach Ronaldo and Messi a thing or two about scoring, and bring about the return of the eighties, back when Ian Rush and Kenny Dalgish terrorized defences, Gerrard was still a kid, and Liverpool were at the top of the league right before Fergie arrived to knock them of their perch.

Since then, the likes of Cantona, Giggs, Ronaldo, Rooney, and more recently, Robin Van Persie have kept them in their place. Suarez was supposed to put Liverpool out of their misery. He almost managed to do that, making them Christmas champions, and, more importantly, lifting their morale.

But one will notice that ever since Suarez’s goal scoring spree has ended, Liverpool are sliding down the table. In less than a month, they have dropped from champions to the fourth place.

Suarez’s return triggered a revival of sorts at Anfield, similiar to the way Ozil engineered a renaissance at the Emirates. His return to the diving antics have once again cost him his prestige, and the build up to this has seen Liverpool slide as well. The dive ended the mini-saga of positivity he brought about, one that lightened up the Kop.

He has again showed us his true colours, proving that it is practically impossible for him to rise above his dirty play. However, Suarez is not the only one to be blamed for this. Coaches, teammates and fans are also responsible for a player’s conduct. Coaches are required to guide their players.

Teammates must set an example to the junior players. Fans often provoke players into aggression. Be it the five-game stretch in January 2007, when he scored five goals and got 3 yellow and 1 red card; the Patrice Evra racial abuse scandal; the scuffle with an Ajax teamate over a freekick; or the Ivanovic biting incident, the club and the fans have always supported him, often wrongly.

In my opinion, a cold shoulder by those around him may marginally improve his conduct on the pitch. As long as all his actions are supported by everyone around him, he starts believing that he is the victim in this case, the wrongdoers being the opposition and the media.

It is the nature of the human that it belives itself to be right at any cost, especially others side with it. As soon as Suarez is isolated, he gets the time to independently think over his choices. This was shown last summer when Brendan Rodgers instructed him to train alone.

He relflected over his mistakes and was back with a bang. However, in their enthusiasm and eagerness to see the SAS partnership work out, Liverpool rushed him out too quickly. He was not afforded enough time to make amends and hence could only don his “Good Boy” persona for a short while.

The roots of this can be found in his childhood and adolescence. His parents separated when he was nine, giving him a trauma similar to that of Balotelli. He also moved to Europe at a young age, and though he was not consumed by this change of surroundings like some players, he took time to settle into them.

Also, his coaches at Groningen and Ajax often gave him a free reign, both on and off the pitch. By the time he arrived at Liverpool, he had an Eric Cantona-esque aura around him, one showcasing both talent and aggression. But unlike Cantona who got away with almost everything under Sir Alex, Suarez was completely reigned in by the new manager and the former wearer of Suarez’s no.7 jersey, Liverpool legend Kenny Dalgish. The similiar control exerted by the following managers agitated him further, until he gave way and racially abused Evra.

With Liverpool having been proven wrong about Suarez’s total improvement, Suarez enters another period of his career, one where he tussles with more controversies, criticisms and most importantly, himself. He must prove that he can rise above anger and give it his all in a clean and uncontroversial season.

What Suarez now needs is no more a change of environment, but a little time to himself, so that he can ponder over his mistakes and see where he went wrong. Post that, we shall probably see a new, rejuvenated and self-controlled Suarez. After all, charcter cannot, and should not be allowed to overshadow talent, right?