Suarez is Anfield's false hero

Craig Bellamy is not new to Liverpool, the last time he was here, there was Champions League football at Anfield and John Arne Riise to play golf with him back in 2006. When most footballers take a step down to championship football, Craig Bellamy, at the age of 32 took a step up to premier league football. The welsh striker had his share of controversies in the past and so has Suarez. A talented problem is always worth the trouble and especially for a club like Liverpool who have been chasing for a Champions League spot this season.

Bellamy hasn’t dropped a second in his pace since the last time he scored an away goal against Barcelona five years ago. Stories of his blistering pace could be still traced back to the Manchester derby played two seasons ago when he out ran, Rio Ferdinand, from the midfield before rounding off United Keeper, Ben Foster, to pull City level.

After Torres has swapped shirts with Chelsea, the Anfield faithful were looking for a new hero to replace their faded No. 9 jerseys; their life-size posters tapering off the walls of the bedroom; and their profile pic of multiple social networking accounts – screaming for attention that ‘I am a fan’.

And a hero they have found in Luis Suarez, wearing a pointy white mask and a red cape, as caricatured by the Manchester United fans.

When their ‘hero’ was branded as villain by, Patrice Evra, the FA nodded in agreement, and Anfield quickly hid behind an old picture of Suarez posing with an Afro boy.

With Suarez banned for eight games, the prospect of spending yet another year without European action was looming large over Anfield. A hero might have fallen but his sidekick is still alive and kicking even at the age of 32.

Bellamy who was signed on for free by Dalglish, appeared as an insurance cover for the £35 million pound, Andy Carroll.

In the five premier league games that Suarez had missed, Liverpool won two games, drew once and lost twice. In the Cup competitions, Liverpool won twice and drew once – two of those games being against Manchester City.

In a total of eight ties without Suarez featuring in them, Liverpool’s winning percentage was 50%. Bellamy has scored five goals in all competitions during this period. Overall (in all competitions), Suarez has scored nine times and assisted in six goals whereas Bellamy scored an equal number of goals and assisted in five goals.

If the comparison between Bellamy and Suarez is to described in a nutshell, Liverpool’s win percentage is just 50% in all competitions with Suarez in the squad. It is again the same with Bellamy when he is part of the squad. However, Bellamy edges Suarez when it comes to the impact he has had on the game when he started a match.

In the twelve games that Bellamy has started, Liverpool won a total of seven games and in the 21 games that Suarez has started, Liverpool won just twelve times. Liverpool has a 58% win percentage with Bellamy in the starting eleven to Suarez’s 57%. In the league, Bellamy, played just 893 mins to Suarez’s 1637 mins of game time – almost double of what the Welsh striker featured in.

Anfield will build their squad around Suarez for many seasons to come and Bellamy will retire to his football foundation for the disadvantaged children in Sierra Leone, West Africa. But, is Suarez the hero, that Anfield wish to root for? food for thought.