This Weekend’s other Games 16/09-18/09

[Insidious]

He might be fatigued. He hasn’t really stopped. Came into the team as a very young player, (one I said at the time had major flaws) and like all of Klopp’s heroes, he has been an almost ever present.

Just to add a couple of leaves to this possible branch of thought, he is high up the pitch a lot - so when making recovery runs he has to dig deeper to run further back - a multitude of times over a game/month/season.

Probably stacks up a bit, having to recover 50 yards rather than 30.

[Insidious]

Always a chance, however small it might be. Favourites for the Title of course, but they've played 7 League matches and aren't top yet, think Arsenal still are?

They've had a pretty forgiving fixture list to start have they not?

Wolves, Villa, Bournemouth, Newcastle, Palace, Forest and West Ham? How many were in the top half when Man City played them? How many are in the top half now?

Took a point from Newcastle - we took all three.

Haven't played us (in the League) or Man United, or Tottenham, or Arsenal, or Chelsea - will have to play sides that will be desperate for points and willing to play a bit rough (Everton) as well.

We don't know what the season will yield for us, but we always want to finish in the Champion's League spots at a minimum nowadays. Man United and Man City play each other on October 2nd so if we can grind a win against Brighton we are gaining ground on someone.

Let's just keep chalking up as many points as we can whilst integrating some of the newer lads in. By the end of October and November we will know more. Hopefully a few key lads can remain fit for most of that spell.

[scientificred]

Doubtful Jesus gets close to Suarez. IMO the single most potent player on the planet in his peak. KSS



We have never had player at this level before.

One man demolition squad.. Like 30% of a Maradona

Luis would always turn out on match day and give his best, whatever and whether national or international duty. What a star!

[ianlfc]

The only one Luis Suarez was interested in was Luis Suarez. He would've moved to Arsenal if they'd paid up plus the whole King Kenny T-shirt bollocks.
Brilliant footballer but a selfish fucker.

[scientificred]

The only one Luis Suarez was interested in was Luis Suarez. He would've moved to Arsenal if they'd paid up plus the whole King Kenny T-shirt bollocks.
Brilliant footballer but a selfish fucker.

Dear Ianlfc, are you disagreeing with my post? For me he was the best footballer I had seen since Cantona and then before Maradonna and then before Cruyff and then before perhaps Best or Greaves.

[Steveo]

The only one Luis Suarez was interested in was Luis Suarez. He would've moved to Arsenal if they'd paid up plus the whole King Kenny T-shirt bollocks.
Brilliant footballer but a selfish fucker.

This is absolutely true of course. He was an animal too. Pure hunger for the win, and more than prepared to battle, and do whatever it took to get there.

That’s a huge part of what made him so lethal. But as we know, his football was of the absolute highest quality.

At the time of Arsenals interest it would be hard to begrudge him, he knew he was one of the best in the world - FSG were never that inspiring - they still aren’t - Klopp wasn’t even on the horizon. Remember Stevie nearly left a better Liverpool side for similar reasons. He wanted the chance to win the big prizes. Until his (Luis) last season we couldn’t even get into the Champions League.

Thank god Brendan and Stevie G managed to convince him to stay another year otherwise things could be quite different, we would have had to go for another manager sooner than late 2015, and would have missed out on our Jurgen altogether.

[jozza800]

This is absolutely true of course. He was an animal too. Pure hunger for the win, and more than prepared to battle, and do whatever it took to get there.

That’s a huge part of what made him so lethal. But as we know, his football was of the absolute highest quality.

At the time of Arsenals interest it would be hard to begrudge him, he knew he was one of the best in the world - FSG were never that inspiring - they still aren’t - Klopp wasn’t even on the horizon. Remember Stevie nearly left a better Liverpool side for similar reasons. He wanted the chance to win the big prizes. Until his (Luis) last season we couldn’t even get into the Champions League.

Thank god Brendan and Stevie G managed to convince him to stay another year otherwise things could be quite different, we would have had to go for another manager sooner than late 2015, and would have missed out on our Jurgen altogether.

What a sobering thought! We almost certainly would still be sitting on 18 league titles.

Luis is the best forward I've ever seen seen. He was just unadulterated genius.

A lot try to compare him to Salah. For me, Suarez improves the 18-21 side. Salah doesn't single handidly get us to within a kick of the title in '14.

I'd have spent the Darwin money on a midfielder a brought Luis in for a season and made Divock the main center forward.

[scientificred]

This is absolutely true of course. He was an animal too. Pure hunger for the win, and more than prepared to battle, and do whatever it took to get there.

That’s a huge part of what made him so lethal. But as we know, his football was of the absolute highest quality.

At the time of Arsenals interest it would be hard to begrudge him, he knew he was one of the best in the world - FSG were never that inspiring - they still aren’t - Klopp wasn’t even on the horizon. Remember Stevie nearly left a better Liverpool side for similar reasons. He wanted the chance to win the big prizes. Until his (Luis) last season we couldn’t even get into the Champions League.

Thank god Brendan and Stevie G managed to convince him to stay another year otherwise things could be quite different, we would have had to go for another manager sooner than late 2015, and would have missed out on our Jurgen altogether.

Thiere was also a time when Rafa did not know what to make of Stevie G ! RB or RWB?

[huyrob]

He was mesmerising, yes he was selfish on the contract front .But whenever he was on the pitch for the club nobody could doubt his work rate. A phenomenal player.

[Insidious]

He was mesmerising, yes he was selfish on the contract front .But whenever he was on the pitch for the club nobody could doubt his work rate. A phenomenal player.

I often reminisce on "what if?" matches in football. A big one being the 4-4 against Chelsea in the Champion's League in 08/09 - we needed to win that second leg 3-0 and were 2-0 up at one stage. Sigh.

Thinking of Suarez, the "what if?" game that didn't go in our favour that felt a tragedy was in the Europa League. Admittedly the Sid Cup doesn't have quite the same clout and glamour as Big Ears, but a 2-0 loss to Zenit in the last-32 in the 12/13 season meant we needed a 3-0 win at Anfield. The stats didn't bode well for us - sides that lost a first leg 2-0 rarely got the job done in the second leg.

Carragher made a monumental cock-up pretty early in the game, leading to a Zenit goal. With the away goals rule still in place (I will miss it terribly!) we now needed to score 4 at Anfield as we were 3-0 down on aggregate.

We often thrived on being seen as the underdog in the Benitez years in these ties and that recent muscle memory, DNA (call it what you will) was still pulsing through the veins of our battered football club - a European Giant that had taken quite the spill off the Mountain.

Luis Suarez stepped up big time that night. Worked his socks off (as did everyone - a baying Anfield knew we had nothing to lose and loved a miraculous European comeback) and scored TWO free kicks on the night. The second one was our third goal of the game (possibly Downing got the second, Suarez got the first and third) and an absolute PEACH. Suarez reeled away, gee-ing up the crowd and the smell of those big ties in Europe under Rafa (2-1 with Juventus, 4-2 with Arsenal, 4-0 with Real Madrid, 2-0 with Inter, 2-1 with Barcelona etc) was in the air despite a new side and a new Manager.

Unfortunately, the effort of the match had taken a toll. By the 75th-minute or so I remember looking at our lads, spirited as they were and thinking "they are absolutely gassed, it's not going to happen" and sure enough we didn't quite do it - though a very athletic attempt from Stevie driven into the ground forced a good stop from their keeper in the later stages.

Coming up on 10 years since that night. Despite the final score it was a fun ride. The sort of ride that makes me get so frustrated when we (collectively, as fans) bemoan things not always going our way. Even in the most trying seasons, in the most difficult circumstances, there's always memorable stuff. That 90 minutes was certainly one of the highlights of 12/13, which wasn't a memorable year at all for us it must be said.

He was a Monster. At a time when it looked like Carragher really needed replacing and Stevie was no longer the absolute Colossus of his '04-'09 days (though still a very good player) Suarez was the glimmer of hope that we might see the Champion's League again after a drop-off in Europe - and indeed his exploits the next season in 13/14 ensured that we tasted it in 14/15 - though not in the way we would have wanted.