Liverpool and Luis Suarez will appeal the FA decision to ban the player for eight games. The Uruguayan football association and Uruguay captain Diego Lugano has backed the striker and offered any and all assistance to the player. Hopefully common sense will prevail and the ban will be revoked, the flip side is that the FA could impose a longer ban and bigger fine at the appeal.
Former Liverpool player John Barnes have chimed in the Suarez ban, branding the whole situation a “witch hunt” saying “As much as we will say ignorance is no excuse, ignorance is an excuse”, continuing “cultural differences have to be taken into consideration”. I agree wholeheartedly, we can’t measure another culture by our own standards, something the FA completely ignored!
On the field, it was a disappointing result for the Reds at the DW Stadium against Wigan. Liverpool dominated the first half, doing just about everything except score, then the second half, the Reds were the second best team for much of the half. Wigan looked more likely to score upto the last 15 minutes when Liverpool piled on the pressure after Kenny Dalglish made changes. Inconsistency has been the story of Liverpool’s season, too many home draws and losses to teams that they should have beaten easily, then go on to beat top four teams, very disappointing overall!
The proof of that inconsistency can be seen on Sunday when Liverpool dominated Aston Villa at Villa Park, winning 0 – 2, the Reds fifth win on the road this season. Craig Bellamy having a great game, scoring one and creating another for Martin Skrtel. Liverpool do have the best defensive record in the league but haven’t been prolific at the other end, keeping a clean sheet is great but no so good if they can not find the back of the opposition’s goal. This is exactly why Liverpool find themselves in sixth place instead of fighting for the top positions, eight wins, six draws and three losses doesn’t make Champions League form with such strong opposition in the Premier League.