The Uruguay international currently tops the Premier League scoring charts and has thrilled the Anfield faithful this season with a series of sizzling displays

COMMENT
By David Lynch

It would be difficult to find a more fruitless pursuit than calling for Liverpool forward Luis Suarez to win the PFA Player of the Year award.

For starters, voting for the prize is all but finished at this stage; the window of opportunity to influence the managers and players who decide its recipient has already passed. But there is, of course, a more obvious reason to avoid backing the Uruguayan – that being that his standing in English football dictates that he simply will not win.

Admittedly, the stain of last season’s damaging racism row involving Patrice Evra has yet to fade, and the striker maintains a reputation for a brand of diving which is duplicitously viewed as definitively South American. However, the 26-year-old has both served his punishment for the former misdemeanour – disregarding the argument over whether it was adequate – and curbed his taste for the theatrical in, well, dramatic fashion over recent months.

Despite that, the top-flight’s deadliest marksman is still some way from being the bookmakers’ favourite for the gong. And it is largely due to his immovable status as the Premier League’s pantomime villain.

The very moment when Suarez’s chances of earning recognition from his peers evaporated came in January, when the striker infamously handled the ball into the net to help knock Conference National side Mansfield Town out of the FA Cup courtesy of a 2-1 win.

Though the incident provided the catalyst for two weeks of faux moralising, it was the more immediate explosion of vitriol from social networking websites and an ill-judged outburst from a well-known commentator covering the game which proved most telling. Observers, it seemed, did not need a replay to know what they had seen; Suarez had reverted to his naturally recidivistic tendencies by default – that much was clear.

Had a football fan – or, more importantly in this context, a player or manager – viewed the incident just once, they would have been denied the right to make up their own mind on the matter courtesy of a tidal wave of outrage. Suarez was and is, to borrow the word most commonly used in the fallout, a cheat.

And cheats do not deserve to win any awards, never mind matches.

Were this recognition to be handed out based on the evidence provided on a football field, Suarez would be the odds-on favourite to take the prize next month. The fact that he has scored 22 goals so far this term in the Premier League, three more than his nearest competitor, would usually be enough to ensure victory. But it will not.

That the Salto-born forward’s clear cut-chance conversion rate of 58 per cent dwarves those of his challengers for the award – namely Robin van Persie (36%) and Gareth Bale (55%) – should also have turned the tide in his favour. But it will not.

The former Ajax man has even created more chances (79 to Van Persie’s 49 and Bale’s 65) whilst playing for a decidedly less competitive team – a marker which would clinch the award in a just world. But it will not.
These impressive statistics do not even come close summing up the striker’s true worth to his team. No figures can account for the amount of times onlookers have simply laughed in disbelief after Suarez has emerged from another blind alley with the ball or nutmegged yet another unwilling opponent.

That this perfect combination of aesthetic quality and undeniable effectiveness is allied to a work-rate unrivalled in the top flight should make the question “which player have you least enjoyed facing this season?” a rhetorical one for stars of the Premier League.

Unfortunately for Suarez, that is not what the PFA ballot sheet reads. A tainted popularity contest has emerged in its place.

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The Spanish shot-stopper has been linked with a move to the Liga outfit as a replacement for Victor Valdes, but insists he is happy at Anfield despite an indifferent season

Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina has played down speculation linking him with a move to La Liga giants Barcelona.

Reina has been in indifferent form for the Reds this campaign and has been linked with a return to Spain, especially given Victor Valdes’ decision to see out his contract with the Catalan club and leave next summer.

However, speaking at the presentation of the film Invictus, in which he stars, Reina said: “[A move to Barcelona] is not in my hands and the rumour mongering is part of that.

“They’re such a great club, but I’m happy at Liverpool”

Asked about the future of Spain team-mate Valdes, Reina added: “He’s a friend, I’m going to respect him in everything that he decides. He will have his reasons. He’s not told me anything”

Reina is one of several national team stars to feature in the short film directed by Javier Fesser and is the first Spanish professional footballer to act in a leading role.

The 30-year-old missed Liverpool’s 3-1 defeat to Southampton as he continues his rehab from an ongoing calf problem, but urged the club’s fans to stick with the team when things aren’t going well on the pitch.

“Here, if things are going well or badly, if you give 100% the fans admire you, respect you and love you,” the Spaniard told El Mundo.

“It’s important that a team is great, but even more that the fans keep believing in the players when things aren’t going so well.”

Spain face Finland on Friday and France next Tuesday in two important World Cup qualifying fixtures, and Reina emphasised the honour that he feels when picked for the national side.

“Everything indicates that I will play, but I won’t change my attitude because Iker [Casillas] isn’t here,” he said. “I’m always excited and prepared.

“Not everybody that is called up is lucky enough to play. Only 11 play, but being called up by your country is an honour.”

When asked about the current form of Real Madrid goalkeeper Diego Lopez, who was snapped up by Jose Mourinho from Villarreal in January following first-choice goalkeeper Casillas’ hand injury, Reina was full of praise for the 31-year-old Spaniard.

“Diego [Lopez] is playing so well; he has been decisive in many games and he is a Real Madrid-quality goalkeeper, without doubt,” he said.

“But in the national team it is the manager that makes the decisions.”

Reina also spoke about his personal side, insisting that he wants people to value him as a sportsman, and not just for an exuberant personality.

“I’m not the showman. I’m an extrovert and joyful, and I have been lucky enough to be able to celebrate three great titles,” he continued.

“I have been one of the most dedicated, but I am one of La Roja’s goalkeepers, not the showman.

“It’s not something that I prepare; I’m like that and whoever knows me knows that. But at the same time I don’t want people to prefer the funny Pepe Reina.

“I want them to value me as a sportsman.”

The former Reds midfielder says supporters should not forget the important goals he scored for the Anfield club

EXCLUSIVE
By Russell Stoddart

Former Liverpool midfielder Ray Houghton has urged the club’s fans not to let Michael Owen’s time at fierce rivals Manchester United tarnish his Reds legacy.

Owen announced on Tuesday that he will retire at the end of the 2012-13 season, and Houghton believes the 33-year-old was at his best with the Reds, notching 158 of his 220 career goals to date for the club.

“Michael might live to regret going to United in 2009 but it was a decision he had every right to make if he thought it would better his career,” Houghton told Goal.com.

“You only have one career and footballers cannot afford to have the same emotional attachments that fans have for clubs.

“He would have weighed up the pros and cons of going to United and I’m sure it would have been difficult to make that choice knowing how it would go down with Liverpool fans.

“United are known as ‘the enemy’ by Liverpool fans and I understand where [they] are coming from, but Michael’s loyalties are to his family and he would also have seen it as the best opportunity to win more silverware.

“Michael is not accepted as much as a Reds legend as his goals might suggest even before he moved to United and that is probably because he wasn’t a die-in-the-wool fan of the club, unlike, say, John Aldridge, who is still adored at Liverpool despite only being there for a couple of seasons.

“I think you will find that future generations of Liverpool fans will hold Michael in higher esteem because they will see videos him at his best in a Reds shirt and won’t be too bothered with where he ended his career.”

Houghton left the Anfield club before Owen joined as a schoolboy but watched his career closely as it developed from raw talent to world-class goalscorer.

“Michael was blessed with blistering pace and a lethal scoring instinct,” he added. “His goal against Argentina in the 1998 World Cup was unusual because he rarely beat three or four players.

“His strength was to get on the shoulder of the last defender and when the ball was played through no one could stop him.

“The secret to a good finisher is the ability to relax in the box and Michael had that in abundance. He always looked at his calmest when he had the ball at his feet and was ready to shoot.

“It was a shame he was struck down by so many injuries because I’m sure his career would have flourished.”

Owen left Anfield in 2004 to join Spanish giants Real Madrid and, although his scoring record was good, his career was already being clouded by injury and he soon moved back to England with Newcastle.

Houghton continued: “It is just human nature that fans will feel let down by a top player wanting to move to another club.

“Michael was a friend and former team-mate of Steve McManaman and would have been envious of him winning two Champions Leagues with Madrid.

“He was also someone who would have enjoyed the challenge of playing not just for arguably the biggest club in the world, but also the challenge of a new culture and learning a new language.

“We sometimes think in this country that the Premier League is the only competition in the world, but it’s not. You only need to look at the lack of representation in the Champions League quarter finals this season to realise that.”

Houghton believes Owen showed he still had the appetite for the game by his desire to keep coming back from injury, but probably realised at Stoke that his career was in danger of going off the tracks.

“I wonder if last Saturday was the final straw for Michael,” he added. “Stoke were struggling with just one league win in 2013 and the pressure was on boss Tony Pulis.

“When it was goalless near the end and the game was just crying out for the Michael Owen of old to grab it by the neck, Pulis would have looked around and wondered he could trust to get that goal.

“The fact that he didn’t pick Michael must have told its own story. I don’t know if he had made his decision to retire before it, but, even if he did, he probably had it confirmed at that moment that his time is nigh.”