The United manager’s assertion that Luis Suarez should never play for Liverpool again, based on a rebuffal of a hand shake, would be taken as a joke and ridiculed as whisky inspired mutterings from some biased sad old git if it came from some seventy year old geezer sat on his own in the pub.
Alarmingly though, this is being broadcast all round the world and being given credence simply because he manages our greatest opponents.
Ordinarily such comments are readily and routinely ignored as being spoken in the heat of the moment, just after a game, when tempers are flared and lucidity is in short supply, but if we have learnt one thing from Sir Alex, is that he is as sharp as a tack and every single word he utters is meaningful and well thought through.
Yet again we are seeing another carefully orchestrated part of their ongoing campaign to smear the name of our number seven with carefully chosen words and actions that they hope will see him driven out of the premiership. Of course, his fellow cronies in the L.M.A, the sweet FA & the fawning press will trot out every word as gospel in support now that the stitched up ban has been served and public enemy number one is again posing a threat to his “dignified” club.
Even in a relatively poor display where he is still finding his feet in terms of match sharpness, Luis still showed he had the quality that no one else on the pitch possessed and of course, Fergie is all too aware of that and can see it – even through those sunbed goggles. Bless him, of course he thinks he should never play for us again, he is bound to, isn’t he? But it has nothing to do with racism, handshakes or diving, it is purely about self preservation and nothing else. A team built around our mercurial talent would be a threat to them that is every bit as real as their noisy neighbours. He will know that if we continue to support the lad off the pitch and, unlike currently, bring in the quality of players on it to help him achieve his aims, Luis Suarez can be as effective in the premiership as the Messi is for Barca is in La Liga.
OK but let me continue this piece by stating two things before we go any further.
Firstly, that I thought Luis Suarez should have shaken the hand offered by Patrice Evra before the kick off. Regardless of everything that had gone on before, a simple handshake would have diffused a hell of a lot of the tension from the situation, drawn some kind of line, however feint, under the whole scenario and for the good of the game as a whole and sportsmanship in particular, it was the right thing to do.
Secondly, I thought Manchester United were the better side in all departments and deserved their win against a Liverpool side that, apart from the first and last ten minutes of the game, were generally poor.
However there were several incidents during the afternoon though that will probably not even get a mention in the media, bearing in mind the prevalent anti LFC / Suarez agenda, but in each case, a split second of timing and a different outcome would have been pivotal in terms of course of the match itself and the resultant Sunday morning headlines.
The implications of the first tackle made by Patrice Evra on Luis Suarez would not have been lost on anyone and what might have been the outcome based on the referee’s perspective. For that split second before contact, months of pent up frustration by both players, waiting for this moment and both would have been totally focussed on a clean contact with the ball knowing that anything else may well have affected the outcome of the entire game. A dive, a foul, maybe a card plus of course the inevitable confrontation by both sets of players would have surely occurred. Sure enough then, early in the game, it looked like it may happen as Luis raced after a through ball and that envisaged confrontation looked assured until our friend Rio intervened to literally become the fall guy and hilariously took the full brunt of the clattering meant for our number seven by a player still clearing his head and peering through the red mist.
Of course we will never know what might have happened but the sort of contact on Suarez that was perpetrated on Ferdinand would surely have merited a straight red and the consequences would have been so damaging for a player that was so lucky his team mate inadvertently got in the way.
Now I have not seen much of the sports news but, of course, the sight of Luis kicking the ball away at half time was, of course, being shown but surprise, surprise not the tackle from behind that led to his outburst of frustration? All season long we have seen red cards for players winning the ball cleanly and then making contact with the opponent. So how come if Rio did not even accomplish the former but categorically did the latter, no offence was committed, especially bearing in mind he was the last man?
Then we heard of the half time altercation, again instigated by Monsieur Evra trying to enter our changing room.
Finally of course we all saw the after-match celebration by the united captain which was perfectly understandable under the circumstances – no problem. Until that is, even that took an ominous twist that even the referee saw as potentially explosive as, accidentally on purpose, the jubilant Frenchman’s route veered onto collision course with a dejected Uruguayan leaving the pitch.
Even in victory then, this nasty, devious, head-working, piece of work was still looking to cause trouble.
Acting with dignity, as ever eh, Fergie?
Liverpudlian
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