He doesn’t have a real striking partner, but he’s managing. The referees don’t give him calls even when he’s actually fouled, but he gets by. Luis Suarez, probably the most hated player among non-Liverpool fans in the Premier League, just keeps on doing his thing, letting it all fly over his head and simply scores goals.
David Moyes began a media attack on Suarez even before the match. As it seems the world is sick of diving and see Suarez as the center of the epidemic, it seems everyone has an opinion of the way the Uruguayan striker tries to fool referees and put more pressure on the referee before the match, and criticize him afterwards for not sending Suarez off.
Suarez just does his thing. A troubled man wouldn’t have had fun after the first goal, which was actually an own goal by Leighton Baines, and flopped right in front of David Moyes, who admitted he enjoyed that celebration. Brendan Rodgers was definitely happy about it.
And about the match? Rodgers should probably be decently pleased as well. He got the most involved of Steven Gerrard he’s had all season. Gerrard usually takes it up a notch in matches against Everton, and his set piece taking brought on two goals; unfortunately only one of them was allowed. He was the best of the midfield trio, in the first and second half, and was actually a bit more aggressive with his initiative taking when he allowed himself to venture and join Suarez and Sterling.
Unlike the first half, the formation set up by Rodgers in the second half, some sort of 5-3-2 with Jose Enrique in between left back and midfield; a position he rarely plays and hardly knows how to perform well wasn’t giving Liverpool much of a chance to win the match. It was mostly built on keeping two men on Marouane Fellaini and letting Andre Wisdom feel less pressure after having a bad first half while trying to cover Kevin Mirallas.
Raheem Sterling has certainly peaked concerning his confidence level, and his positioning as a striker next to Suarez in the second half had to have given Rodgers some ideas. He isn’t fully adept at the position, but his speed and elusiveness gave the Everton defense a lot of trouble. Problem is both he and Suarez were annoyingly selfish in their decisions in and near the box, ruining the few chances the team got to in the second half.
As the season goes on, barring injuries to Suarez, Liverpool will do OK. When you throw aside the theatricality and constant complaining, he’s one of the top two-three strikers in the Premier League, scoring six goals so far for a team that struggles to find the net or produce long stretches of attack and pressure. It may not get him any love from referees or opposing fans, but he doesn’t really seem to mind it. He had the summer with the Olympic team to get used to the abuse on away matches. That’s not what stopping him and Liverpool from moving up the table.