Snooker star Ronnie O’Sullivan has offered his support to under-fire Liverpool striker Luis Suarez – and claims the influence of sports psychologist Dr. Steve Peters can help the club to title success.
‘The Rocket’ is the current World champion and defending his title at The Crucible this week where he holds a very comfortable lead in the quarter-finals. He, like Suarez, is no stranger to controversy and says he can understand what happened.
Speaking in The Mirror, O’Sullivan said:
“I understand what Suarez did, I totally get it.
“It’s a moment of madness and you think ‘Wow, what have I done? You regret it afterwards, but at that moment you’re over-run by these emotions.
“Sometimes things like that could have been avoided if you’d have dealt with them earlier.”
O’Sullivan has worked with Dr. Peters – who was employed at Liverpool at the start of the season by manager Brendan Rodgers – and believes he can be key to getting the best out of not just Suarez but the whole football club.
“If Liverpool can have him [Peters] there for four or five years then they’ll win the Premier League.
“I have no doubt about it. It’s not a quick fix with Steve, but if Liverpool stick with him and Brendan Rodgers they’ll win the title.”
He explained:
“It’s about changing the mentality and changing the way you see things.
“They will become like Manchester United, resilient strong and hard to beat, like Liverpool were in the 1980s when they were untouchable.”
In an interview in March it was revealed that only 10 players of the first-team squad had worked with Peters, who is employed one day a week, so far.
Last week, amidst the fall-out from “bitegate” Rodgers explained that Suarez had not yet worked with Peters but that it was “in the pipeline”:
“Luis hasn’t worked with Dr Steve yet but that’s something that will be in the pipeline.
“What we try to do with all the players is ensure there’s a support mechanism there to help their human needs.”
Worth a watch: The importance of sports psychology (BBC Video)
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