Instead of talking about Liverpool making a great signing with Daniel Sturridge and a successful debut, Luis Suarez stole the show by adding another reason for fans to hate him.
Suarez has already said in the past: He doesn’t care what people think of him and about his diving. He’s out there to win games and score goals, which he has done in an impressive rate, finally, for the first time since joining from Ajax, turning Liverpool once again into a one-man team.
An away match in the FA Cup against Mansfield Town wasn’t going to be pretty. Muddy pitch, tough ground. Liverpool didn’t play anything like the vision of Brendan Rodgers, but they put themselves in front early on, which is exactly what you need to do in these matches. Not play pretty, even if it’s a team four divisions below you, just come out with the win.
And that’s what Luis Suarez is all about. Not scoring with his hand, but winning, and doing everything possible to get the W. Suarez already has one famous handball in his resume from the 2010 World Cup, that time as a defensive act of heroism, if you ask any Uruguayan. The rest of the world is still undecided, although I’m pretty sure how they feel about it in Ghana.
Against Mansfield Town, I don’t think he meant to touch it with his hand, but the ball went in, and Suarez didn’t have any second thoughts about celebrating or not. A regular goal. Any body part is legitimate to score with, regardless if it’s illegal or not. Let the referee see what needs to be seen, Suarez is about scoring goals and winning.
We thought Miroslav Klose set some sort of precedent by asking the referee to disallow his goal, admitting he scored with his hand. Apparently Suarez doesn’t watch Serie A matches. Acts of chivalry aren’t common on the football grounds, especially when they’re as muddy and so unwelcoming as the one Liverpool had to play in to kick off their FA Cup campaign.
Referees will continue to make mistakes like these as long as they don’t get the technological aid they need, that FIFA and other governing bodies are so afraid to introduce to the matches. Forget about goal line intervention; we need replays, that shouldn’t take up so much time as some people like to scare people with. A football match has its pauses, and having a replay on hand to use in these cases might even eliminate some of the arguing that eats up a lot of the clock.
There’s nothing to learn from such a win. Steven Gerrard didn’t play, the defense was mostly players who don’t play while the midfield, with Shelvey, Lucas and Joe Allen, couldn’t have been softer. Stewart Downing continued his good form from the last four weeks, enjoying plenty of space to roam around, usually halted only by puddles and mud.
Nothing new, just an addition to the reasons football fans around England dislike Liverpool’s best player, Luis Suarez.