Good vs Evil: The Suarez Debate

In 90 minutes of football for Liverpool against Chelsea, Luis Suarez gave an all round performance that shows why he is a player that is either loved or hated. Unfortunately it is the glaringly poor decisions he makes that gets the media attention and this time it is not a good image for the club or the player.

Suarez showed why he is considered the best player in the competition with a precision touch to set up Sturridge and a great header to even the scores at the death. But throw in a foolish handball to gift a penalty kick for Chelsea to regain the lead and then the moment that is now the hot topic of conversation. What goes through a players head to make them lash out at an opposition player by biting them? A disgusting act that is normally associated with rugby union or league and it is not something you expect to see on a football field.

The first thoughts that came to mind watching, is what made him do it? Did something happen during the game for Suarez to have a brain explosion of this magnitude? Unless the opposition player had a good squirrel grip in action I can see no reason that a sane person could think of to take such action.

Unfortunately for Suarez it is not the first time he has bitten a player, in 2010 he was suspended for ten games when playing for Ajax after biting the shoulder of PSV Eindhoven's Otman Bakkal. This is where the club of Liverpool is in a tricky position. They have signed a player that they know had done this before. Whilst he does deserved to be suspended they need to carefully consider any greater punishment.

Myself, I have no time for any player that takes such action on the sporting field and would have no problems if they decided to offload Suarez in the off-season. No player is bigger than the club and some actions should never be tolerated. On saying that, if the club decides to let him go, they need to ensure they get the asking price on his abilities, not his reputation. This is why the club needs to take the next step carefully. There have been plenty of poor decisions made by players on the field and their club has stood by them. This may be one of those times.

Liverpool as a club has to ask how much evil it is prepared to put up with to see the good in Suarez's game.